I ask myself, is there a language to graphic design? Are there governing “rules”? What makes a good design, good? How can the pros make it look so easy, yet when I try designing, it looks unorganized, full of clutter, unsettling, boring, and something I like to call digital vomit?

Okay, enough with the questions, here are some answers.

There are two basic governing bodies in design: elements and principles. Everything in a design falls into these two buckets, and more often than not, a design utilizes several of both, tying each one back to another.

First learning the vocabulary of design and then realizing how to practically and creatively apply the pieces, is part of what separates a professional from an amateur. It’s the skillful use of the elements and principles in design that bring our concepts to life.

Entering semester one of design school…

The elements of design are the basic building blocks of any idea. To make the concept of “elements” simple to understand, think of them as the physical attributes of a design, such as line, shape, or texture.

The principles of design can be thought of as the application of those design elements, or how we actually use them in a design. A lot of this skill comes from natural intuition, but it’s crucial to be able to understand the philosophy behind design. You must be able to speak intelligently about the concepts and creatively use them to build and rationalize impactful designs.

Let’s talk about the basics of design elements:

Line: used to define shape, the path of a point, has many characteristics of its own such as direction, width, and length.

Shape: a perceivable area, when a line intersects itself to create a contained and defined area, can be geometric or organic, any positive shape creates a negative shape, edges of shapes create lines.

Type: if graphic design is the synthesis of content and form, then we must have type! Type not only communicates with written words, but it is also a powerful design tool and can be used to create other design elements, such as shape and texture.

Texture: a surface quality, can be real (not in the realm of web design) or implied, the actual or simulated tactile quality of an object in a design.

Value: the range of lightness or darkness of color.

Color: also known as hue, has three properties - chroma (pureness of hue), intensity and value.

Space: the illusion of depth, the areas around, between, and within a design - both positive and negative.

Now, let’s talk about the basics design principles:

Balance: the concept of visual equilibrium, equalizing visual weight of elements, can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Scale: overall size of an element(s), proportional relationships of design elements, can be used to create dominance and emphasis.

Unity: relating design elements, the sense that everything in the design belongs, creating harmony.

Pattern: keeping your design to a certain format, using similar elements throughout the design to create cohesion, can also be thought of or described as rhythm.

Movement: the illusion of movement, suggests action and/or direction.

Contrast: juxtaposition of opposing elements, refers not only to the difference of color but also scale and direction, used to create interest, focal point, movement.

Emphasis: the focal point of a design, used to create a visual hierarchy of elements and/or information.

This list is not comprehensive but it at least gives you the basics.

Thinking a little more in depth about the philosophies, it’s easy to point out that principles of design are a little more complicated than elements of design. In my opinion, that’s because principles are more conceptual and objective, while elements are more tangible and subjective.

Certain interpretation of principles can obviously mean multiple things seeing as the definition of anything objective can be blurred. For example, using pattern in a design creates “rhythm”, yet many times you will even see rhythm as being defined as its own principle. Confusing, I know, but don’t pull your hair out. Seeing examples of these elements and principles being used in application should only help you.

So let’s take a look-see at a few design pieces, and I’ll point out some of the dominant factors and how they compliment each other, or tie back to one another over and over again.

Here are a few logos. They are simple and easy to understand.

If you had to guess the dominant design element being used in this piece, what do you think it might be? Line maybe? Yep, it’s line!

I love the beauty and simplicity that the basic use of line can create. As for a dominant principle, this piece is a perfect and simple example of symmetrical balance. That’s easy, right?

Here are a few more, great, logo designs that utilize simplistic beauty from the concept of line alone (well okay, and type too):

Now, notice how the use of variations in the width of the line creates interest, direction and drama.

Okay, moving on to some more complex examples, we go to another logo…

First of all, how cool is this logo? Let me just answer for you. Really cool! There are some great elements and principles working together here. Watch how the pattern - or repetition - and close proximity of these shapes form such a tight unity within the design, that it creates a texture. The dark background provides a really nice contrast as well.

This poster design relies heavily on the use of a simple line, which creates shapes and textures. The use of space, more specifically negative space, plays an important role in this piece as well. The watercolor washes behind provide color, contrast, texture and shape, which helps define the negative space shapes. It has asymmetrical balance but feels like the weight of the elements are evenly distributed.

This magazine cover design is another good example (though less obvious than previous examples) of line usage, creating a heavy sense of movement and direction. The edges of the geometric shapes are where the use of line really plays out in this piece. Bright primary colors add to the sense of movement by creating contrast, not only with each other but also with the darker less saturated background.

This also creates contrast is the mix of smooth vs. gritty texture. The use of negative space that is made by the runner’s silhouette creates emphasis - again with contrast and scale - and becomes a focal point.

Typography plays a large role in this design by displaying information, being used as a design element, and by giving emphasis to certain pieces of information.

So can we begin to see how heavily the relation of design elements and principles rely on, and play off of, each other?

The table of contents design in this magazine shares many of the same elements and principles as the cover (creating a nice unity and rhythm to the overall design of the magazine), but the dominant element here is line by way of shape, which creates definite direction and movement. Secondary principles created by the use of line are repetition, rhythm, and unity.

What dominant elements do you see in play here? If I had to pick three, I’d say color, shape, and type. Texture is another big one being used. The swirls at the top create nice shapes with playful movement while the large scale and white color of the text, which creates contrast, helps to give the type emphasis. Texture lends unity to the piece. The amount of contrast and space around the text vs. the swirly shapes at the top, give it an interesting balance.

Okay, okay, for the sake of not getting into novel territory (because I could do this all day), let’s take what we have learned so far and see what elements and principles are being utilized in the following examples. Have fun! And be sure to study – you never know when I’ll be issuing a pop quiz.

Do you ever walk by an ad, or a piece of a marketing campaign and think, “Why didn’t I come up with that?” If something makes you take a “double-take”, chances are they did it right.

When it comes to advertising, you basically have anything to work with. From the usual billboards and magazines, to the toothbrush at the dentist office, or the shopping bag you walk out of the store with. There are only about a million ways you can tie your name to something. But it’s the ideas above and beyond that really catch your eye.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces of creative advertising:

So, utilize whatever it takes… your only goal is to grab the user. Think creatively and turn your marketing efforts up a notch!

A few bold and daring members of the lifeBLUE team have decided to embark upon a great adventure…cleansing their bodies! Everyone knows that we, as a nation, are in the middle of a Food Revolution with recent thought provoking movie/books such as Food Inc and Fast Food Nation, and the LB is no different. Five noble team members have embarked upon this valiant quest filled with yummy shakes, delicious fruits and vegetables, and enough pills to choke a majority of small animals. On the first day of the cleanse we have suffered our first casualty (Note to Self: If you refuse to eat vegetables, fruits, brown rice, or drink protein shakes, this might not be a good diet for you). With that being said, the other four are still going strong with the exception that one person hasn’t started yet because they somehow don’t think they will be able to control themselves on an upcoming visit to New Orleans…good call.

How did the LB get started on the cleanse? Well truth be told one of our clients, Watters Creek Chiropractic, located not 500 yards down the road from our office has included overall health and wellness in their list of services as part of their effort to promote a healthy America. They are helping the LB along on their mission providing their expertise making the shakes tasty and likewise coming in to make a few shakes for the team. Thanks WCC!

All in all the 21 Day Cleanse is a good way to promote a different way of eating and likewise force us to commit to a system that doesn’t allow the bad food choices we are faced with each and every day. Hopefully we will be better citizens and web designer/developers when it is all said and done. If we’re not then we will at least decrease the gravitational pull on the earth by being 10% lighter. For more information on the 21 Day Cleanse and Watters Creek Chiropractic, visit their blog.

So I was intrigued by a recent blog I read where a company gave their team a set of questions, to see how varied the answers would be. You can take a team of designers, all having the same “job” and see how their perceptions differ, or take a team of all different positions and see how polar opposite they are. There might even turn out to be some similarities. So I decided that for my own personal good, I’d take our production team, all which play different roles on our team, throw the same set of questions at each of them, and see what comes of it. So here goes, 15 questions to make us stop and ponder…

I would just like to point out that you can tell the difference between the 1 girl in the group answering questions and all the guys doing it. Oh, the fun in working with men.

How would you answer?

2009 was definitely an exciting year in the web world. At least it has been the most exciting since the prominent emergence of Google. 2009 saw the unleashing prominence of two new browsers; IE8 and Google’s Chrome (lucky us, we get more browsers to support!). A new search engine’s attempt take on Google, was tried by Bing. And of course it wouldn’t be a good year if Microsoft didn’t just unload a new operating system, for the sake of washing the Vista taste right out of its mouth. With that being said, lets take a sneak peek at some of the things we might see for 2010. Keep in mind this is just the opinions of a lowly, lowly, lowly web developer who just happens to see it all, all the time. Did I mention lowly?

1. Twitter goes tweet tweet out the door. Thanks Twitters. Its been real, its been fun; but it hasn’t been real fun. To me, Twitter was an online chat room when you have nothing else to do. While it won’t really go away for good, its value added to the social community has been obviously overshadowed by Facebook, which is not going away just in case you were wondering. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see this site go the same way as MySpace. Speaking of Myspace, those poor fellers just don’t know what to do with themselves. Every three months, I log in, only to see something they added that Facebook added 12 months ago. I digress….

2. You guessed it, Facebook gets even bigger. Not much of a prediction really, but you have to admire the possibilities Facebook can offer… not only to social stalkers of the world, but businesses as well. Very few businesses are capitalizing on the opportunities Facebook has to offer. While many are hell bent on just generating fans by giving away a cannoli to the next 100 fans, there is still so much potential to use Facebook as an extension to promotions, advertising campaigns, and many other facets of reaching out to one’s customer base. As these secrets get unveiled and lowly, lowly web developers and marketeers get creative, FB might actually begin to find a way to get profitable.

3. Bing peeters out. I just don’t see Bing being able to complete with Google. The only thing that is going to keep it alive is the fact of who is backing it, but ultimately there just isn’t room for another player.

4. Internet via your TV. Ok, I just had to pick something big that no one else is talking about. This currently exists in small doses through gaming systems, but I am predicting standard couch potatoes of the world will get their daily dose of Y&R with the exact same remote and couch position to browse the Internets, all of which to become quite commonplace before year’s end.

Ok, take this for what its worth and check back with me in 365 days to see if I am right. Mark your calendars…thanks for listening.

Inevitably, as the calendar turns to December and we get closer to closing out another year, our attention turns to one of our favorite pastimes – making lists.

We’ll have the “top athletes of the year,” “the top movies of the year” and even the “top celebrity scandals of the year,” but what about the Internet?

Fortunately, we have a really simple way of measuring what the top “buzz” on the Internet was for 2009 – search engine terms. Each of the top search engines just published their top 10 lists for the Top 10 Searches of 2009. Let’s take a fun look at the lists published in Business Week that might give us a little bit of insight into the modern human being’s head.

Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms (Global)

1. michael jackson
2. facebook
3. tuenti
4. twitter
5. sanalika
6. new moon
7. lady gaga
8. windows 7
9. dantri.com.vn
10. torpedo gratis

Yahoo’s Top 10 Searches

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twilight
3. WWE
4. Megan Fox
5. Britney Spears
6. Naruto
7. American Idol
8. Kim Kardashian
9. NASCAR
10. RuneScape

Bing’s Top Trending Topics

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard

What are the trends? Well, one thing is obvious – nothing created more of an Internet stir in 2009 than the death of the King of Pop. No person or thing was searched for more than Michael Jackson. In fact, the Internet probably played a fairly unique role in the whole saga as millions of people got the news from either a Facebook post or someone’s Tweet on Twitter.

The next thing that is obvious is that Internet users love celebrities. Just take a look at these names that showed up prominently in all three lists – Lady Gaga, Billy Mays, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, and Jon and Kate Gosselin. People love reading about celebrities especially when they die or are involved in something controversial. (This list was published before the Tiger Woods news broke so you can bet he’ll be high on the list as well!)

You can also gauge the hot topics by looking at this list – swine flu, stock market and cash for clunkers all made their way onto a list of the top trending topics for 2009. With the world becoming as “wired in” as it ever has been, it’s not surprising that the same hot topics that frequent the evening news broadcasts and the daily newspapers also top the search engines as well.

It’s always interesting to see what’s on the minds of the average Internet user (other than World of Warcraft and Porn, of course) and these lists give you a pretty good idea of that for this past year.

All of this is to basically say that, hey, our society has become intertwined with the Internet. You can’t separate one from the other any longer. Armed with this knowledge, you might ask, what’s going to be the hot topic for 2010? Bring up your favorite search engine and you just might find out!

As we approach the best time of year, everyone’s getting in the spirit in their own ways. Whether it be decorating the house with Santa’s and snowmen, hanging the mistletoe, dressing the dogs up in ridiculous jingle bell outfits, or putting antlers on the family car, there are so many ways to kick start the holiday season and begin getting into this blissful time of year. But as we add a little fa-la-la-la-la to the house, and spoil the children with candy canes, are we taking everything into consideration when adding that holiday touch to our lives. What about your website? They have feelings too, right?

What better way to dive into the hearts of your users than to give them a warm seasonal welcome when they come to your website. And you don’t have to go into over-kill mode with the green and red, balls of holly, and stockings. Something subtle will do. Tidy up your logo with a fresh holiday look, add a few presents, or simply change out a few images. A little bit of touch up work could go a long way and quickly turn your site into a winter wonderland.

Here are a few companies that have gotten into the spirit and made their websites festive for the holidays.

Let’s start with one of our own. Mom and Popcorn, a lifeBLUE designed website, here in McKinney Texas, went seasonal with a logo makeover and a Santa hat incorporated into their vintage look. These 2 very subtle features really give you a warm holiday welcome.

Even the biggest names in the industry change up their sites. Google and Yahoo are two that are notorious for logo changes.

Even something as simple as changing your main background can give your site a nice touch. Old Navy uses a nice Christmas collage as the background, as well as ornaments for displaying prices. Michaels took the very clean approach by adding snow flakes to the main background, with a touch of green and red accents throughout.

Then there’s always using your favorite seasonal characters as a way to get in the spirit.

And if you still need ideas, simply replace graphics, or add a few holiday images throughout. Some snow, a couple presents, or a Santa hat. No matter what your idea is, just one graphic could change the whole feel of your website.

Do you have any seasonal favorites that come to mind?

Inspired by David Letterman himself, here is a look at the top 10 problems with the internet.

10. Great Scott! If you click the back button enough times you will be transported back to 1955.
9. Google will become self aware in the year 2010. The Apocalypse is near.
8. True Story:  It is possible to eventually run out of Internet.
7. Unfortunately scratch n’ sniff monitors have not yet been invented or…released.  Experts think this technology is being withheld by the military until it is to be declassified in the year 2025 for civilian use.
6. Using IE6 is like driving a Ford Model T.
5. People are stalking your Facebook account just as much as you are stalking them. Likewise your “ex” does look better than you.
4. You cannot build Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, or Google for $199 w/ free hosting.
3. Odds are you will never win that $50 gift card to Chili’s by correctly guessing the picture of Jennifer Aniston in a lineup with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, & Barbara Walters.
2. I am still waiting for my $1,234, 467.72 from Bill for forwarding the Microsoft Beta Test Email to 1,131 of my closest friends 12 years ago.
1. Your children know how to find what sites you visit better than you do.