Have you ever been sent images by a client and thought "could these be any more dull"? Or have you ever created a web layout and the gradients came out poorly? This talk by designer Andy Higgs (The Higgs Design Co.), given at Multipack Presents in Birmingham in November covers a number of techniques for Improving Your Images. http://higgsdesign.com/

1. Improve
Your Image
b y A N DY H I G G S

2. DESIGN BASICS

3. DESIGN BASIC
1

4. Always stay within the lines

5. DESIGN BASIC
2

6. Don’t run with scissors

7. DESIGN BASIC
3
NEW

8. Floppy Disks
Gradient
Blue
Using Computers
And Knowing Photoshop
Lens Flare Font Size
Circles/Lines

9. Techniques

10. Problem: 1
Banded Gradients

11. 1
Add Noise

12. 2
Golden Rule of Resizes
Only ever apply a single resize or
transformation at once*
*especially when there are thin lines, borders and sharp edges

13. 3
D U L L P H OTO S

14. 3
D U L L P H OTO S

15. 3
D U L L P H OTO S
Contrast
Saturation
Sharpness

16. 4
The Effect

18. 4

19. 4

20. 5
Download a free
‘Peel Off White’
Plugin
http://www.bergdesign.com/plugins/
http://www.cybia.co.uk/theworks.html

21. 6
Better Black & White
Use a Gradient Map Instead

22. What Have We Learnt Today?
• Add Noise to solve banded gradients
• Break Image Transforms into stages
• Contrast, Saturation & Sharpness
• Add Gradients to increase visual impact
• Get a ‘Remove White’ plugin
• Multiple ways to achieve black & white

23. J O B VAC A N C Y
KICKASS WEB DEVELOPER
Are you a talented web developer?
Code PHP/MySQL (OOP and MVC style)?
Fulltime, £20-30K p/a, Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter?
Opportunities to work with ace clients?
Click http://higgs.co/jobs for the job details

24. Fin
Contact
Twitter: @aajhiggs / @higgsdesign
Work: http://higgsdesign.com
Personal: http://justbeyondthebridge.co.uk
Photo credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mononukleoza/4500199835
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slightlywinded/66883761
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockergnome/1583389553
The BBC, Wikipedia, Sesame Workshop