Pixel Realm

Graphic design can be a boon for your website or curse if done wrongly. Visual pleasure is the strongest asset and quality of any website which makes them a visitor attracting medium. No matter how good your online content and information is useful for the end user, if it is not presented well and have unattractive graphic design, visitors would not devote enough time to see your website and would exit it quickly. Graphic designing is an art it is the designer’s job of combining art with technology for better functionality. A website has only few seconds to impress the site visitor, an image conveys thoughts and can be a substitute for thousands of words too. Therefore graphics on the home page has to be eye-catching and sensible enough to keep the potential customers hooked to your website for long. For better website speed try to stick to graphics of lower resolution, you can have high-resolution graphics if it’s necessary for the website. In case your graphic image is too big, it can be broken down to small modules so that loading is faster. The graphic that is being used should be related to the website and its content and should not look out of place. Not all computers of the target customers are equipped with faster downloading speed and better connectivity, so keep the graphic design simple that can be assessed by simple connection as well. Before designing the final graphic, consider the dimension of the graphic images, and then these images are assigned sizes by specified width and height during the process of tagging. This procedure makes sure that exact position of the graphic image placement is known to the browser. It helps in instantaneous displaying of text along with graphics that is being loaded. So that the site visitors can read the text and see the graphic image simultaneously. Assigning all images description is essential which can be done by alt-tag function for each image separately. This option is extremely useful in times when a visitor is not able to view the graphic image for some reason, here they can at least have a short description about the graphic design. Good content and graphic design go hand-in-hand for website success, putting up images where content is required would not serve the purpose. Well-designed graphic design can form long lasting positive impression on the visitors motivating them to come to your website again and again. The home page is the most important page of your website, so make it attractive and information source giving a gist about what your website is all about.

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Image taken on 2010-05-28 05:31:25 by wendy crockett.

My graphic design company gets requests from freelance designers frequently about advice on how much to charge for design jobs. Accurately bidding on design jobs is easily the hardest part of this business. I’ve been doing this for quite some time now with what I consider to be pretty good success. Bidding on jobs gets easier the more you do it, because with each prospective client you get a little better at feeling out their individual needs. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule that can be used over and over again. You’re not going to get every job you bid on and you probably don’t want to. However, no designer can afford to spend large amounts of time putting together proposals that don’t get accepted. I’m sure any freelance graphic designer with a mortgage can verify this. Sure, part of accurately bidding on design jobs comes from experience but there are some things you can do to help streamline your bidding process to weed out time wasters and land more legitimate clients.

The first thing you should do is know what the other advertising agencies, design companies and freelance designers in your area are charging so that you can establish a guideline for what is a fair and acceptable hourly rate or flat fee. You don’t want to charge too much but you don’t want to be known as the cheapest in town either. I would personally rather bid too high than too low.

When you speak with a client about a new job make sure that you get as much information from them as possible. From this information you should be able to ballpark the time involved based on previous projects. Yes, I know every job is different, but at least this gives you a place to start. It’s been my experience that the majority of clients want to know a hard cost for the finished work and not an hourly rate. Sometimes an hourly rate can even scare potential clients off simply because it’s too open ended. To bid a flat rate effectively, set an hourly rate for yourself based on what is competitive to your area while allowing you to operate your business profitably. Compare your hourly rate to the actual time spent on a flat rate proposal for a good way to know if you’re profitable in the jobs you’re bidding.

One thing that I do that really helps land a job is to determine price ranges for specific types of jobs like; logo design, post cards, basic website design, e-commerce sites, etc. I’ve found this to be useful on two levels. First, I have established a slight buffer for myself when working on the project. Second, I have found potential clients to be more receptive of a price scale, because they feel like you are open to working with them on getting them to that lower end of the scale. This, of course, is entirely up to the client and how they affect the flow of the project and approval process.

The key to coming up with a reasonable price scale is to use the information that the client provides you about the job. This information will help determine where they may fall in your price range. Use your own design experience to help determine the potential hours that may go into a job. For instance, a client wants you to bid on a logo, letterhead, envelope and business card design package. This could take you anywhere from 6 to 16 hours depending on the client and complexity of the job. So, you estimate the job at 16 hours and a rate of, we’ll say $65 an hour, which equals $1,040. Hourly rates and design fees are going to vary from state to state and location to location, but here’s what your client proposal may look like;

Example: Company Logo / Identity: $800 – $1,200

Work Flow:
• Will provide at least 2-3 initial directions for your logo and letterhead system and work chosen direction to your satisfaction.
• Will proceed with development after verbal or written approval on directions.
• Concepts will be presented via email and / or other specified method.
• You can expect to see initial directions within 2 weeks.
• If major changes or reworks are requested after an approval design is subject to hourly rate of $65 per hour.
• Art will be provided to you in print ready format (Set up for print production)
*If you choose to proceed with us our payment terms are 50% deposit to start and 50% upon completion.

You will notice that I threw in some extra information in that example. I like to make sure that I’ve covered all of my bases just incase a project does take longer than expected. It’s been known to happen. I always write my proposals in contract form and have the client sign two copies when beginning a project. One for me and one for the client. At that time I collect a non-refundable 50% deposit. I recommend that every graphic designer implements a policy of retaining a deposit to begin work. You will find this useful if for some reason a client backs out of the project or drags the project on longer than expected. That has also been known to happen. The other point that can come in handy is stipulating that reworks after approvals or unending revisions will be billed at an hourly rate. Sometimes you will get a client who wants work done beyond the scope of a project. You should make sure that you’re covered in that event too. I would go to my hourly rate for all work provided above and beyond the scope of the project.

Here are a few more examples for your reference only (based on a $65 per hour rate). Remember these are guidelines to help you. You should evaluate each client and the information your client provides to determine your own price estimate structure. These examples are estimates on design work only. I suggest providing a separate estimate for printing if you are providing printing services.

1) Logo Design Price Scale: $350 – $800
• Price scale reflects amount of conceptual design, type of illustration and detail of illustration used.

2) Tri-fold Brochure Price Scale: $650 – $1,000
• Text and images provided by client.

3) Post Card: $175 – $350

4) Basic Website Design: $850 – $1,800
- Site could include:
- 4-15 page site with CSS Optimized for Search Engines
- Contact Form
- Stock Photography
- Simple Content Management System
- Populate site content from “text” information provided by client
- Please visit our blog at www.pixelproductionsinc.com/blog to view our article about using a website design contract.

Like many things the key to an effective estimate is to be clear! Specify a fair price and include the services you are going to provide. This could be anything from stating that you will provide 2 to 3 initial directions to your time frame and terms of payment. Be specific! The less questions you leave your client with, the more professional you appear and the greater the chance of securing the job at a price that works for both of you.

How many times have you thought of buying the furniture that matches with the colors of your walls? Or, how many times have you thought of your furniture’s rounded edges match with your new curtains. Pretty much every time, of course those who care about the beauty of their own household do care about how all the articles in their rooms fit together. This leads to a lovely looking house where you always wanted to live in.

The abstract Art canvas prints also add to this decorative effect if you carefully select them considering few factors, such as:

Colors of your walls Shapes of the furniture Colors and edges of the furniture Prints on the window curtains Designs of the bed sheets (if it’s your bedroom) Patterns, such as carving of your furniture

You can actually embellish your interiors having the Art canvas prints with colors and effects blending well with rest of the design of your rooms.

Few design ideas involving the abstract designs may be:

only one huge canvas that hangs at the center of the wall of the drawing room, just above your head’s height looks enticing to the eyes of visitors Vibrant Art canvas prints looks catchy on the walls of your children’s rooms too.

There are numerous design ideas and we are here to make sure that your chosen prints completely match your choices. In addition, you can get the prints retouched by us to meet your very specific requirements.

We are the leading manufacturers and innovators of high quality stylish canvas prints and wall art in the UK, printing hundreds of pictures per week both for retail and trade customers, enabling us to keep our prices competitive. When you order a canvas print or a photo on canvas from us, it comes ready to hang straight out of the box on a deep 38mm chunky gallery frame.

Prior to September 11, 2001, the 16-acre World Trade Center site was one of New York City’s most familiar landmarks. Following the tragedy, workers spent months clearing the debris and remains of those who died in the attacks. On May 30, 2002, the last remaining piece of structural steel, which had come from the South Tower, was ceremoniously draped with the U.S. flag and carried out. This piece of steel has been recycled as the bow of the new assault ship, USS New York. In addition, Honeybee Robotics incorporated steel debris from the site into cable shields built for the Mars Exploration Rover mission.

The main developer of the new World Trade Center site, Larry Silverstein, heads the group of visionary leaders committed to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Plans include six acres of space, five new skyscrapers, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, a retail complex, and a performing arts center. When completed they believe it will create a more vibrant future for downtown New York with superior commercialized space, a more convenient transportation system, and a highly commemorative destination for people who live, work, and visit the area.

By 2012, completion of the five World Trade Center office towers will mark a major milestone in the project. Together, with the recently opened 7 World Trade Center to the north of the site and the rising Goldman Sachs global headquarters to the west in Battery City Park, the downtown skyline will feature no fewer than seven new corporate towers comprising 14 million square feet of office space. An architectural landmark for New York City, 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower, will soar 1,776 feet, symbolic of the year 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Freedom Tower will become the tallest building in the United States and include office space, an observation deck, world-class restaurants, and more. The tower is scheduled to open in 2011.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum will serve as a moving and important memorial to the 2,979 people who perished in the 9/11 attacks. It will also serve as a poignant learning experience for student group travelers. The memorial’s design, Reflecting Absence, will consist of two voids on the footprints of the original Twin Towers. Surrounded by a landscaped plaza filled with oak trees, each void will feature rings of cascading water falling into illuminated reflecting pools. The names of the victims in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, as well as the February 1993 WTC bombing, will be inscribed around the memorial waterfalls.

A state-of-the-art museum will offer student group travelers the opportunity to enhance their experience. Visits will begin at an entry pavilion, as students encounter both the enormity of the loss and the triumph of the human spirit that are at the heart of 9/11. Students will also be able to view a section of the massive slurry wall that held back the Hudson River during the attacks. Construction on the memorial and museum began in March 2006. The memorial is scheduled to open Sept. 11, 2009, with the museum opening to follow in 2010. To date, the September 11 Memorial and Museum has raised more than $300 million of its $350 million goal.

In addition to the Memorial Museum, the cultural component of the new World Trade Center will include a 1,000-seat performing arts center at the northwest corner of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. The modern-dance focused Joyce Theater will be the sole occupant of the center. Although the theater will have the performing arts focus, the building may occasionally used for non-dance events, such as the Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place each spring. Construction for the project will not begin until 2010 or 2011.

The retail area, occupying 500,000 square feet, will be interspersed throughout the site, stretching from as far as the new Fulton Street Transit Center to the World Financial Center. Developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with support from Silverstein Properties, the retail space is expected to be completed by 2012. When completed, the site will be one of the largest business districts in the United States.

More than 5.6 million visitors traveled to Lower Manhattan in 2006. They came to visit the World Trade Center site and to reflect on the tragic events of September 11, 2001. According to the Downtown Alliance, the downtown business improvement district, that’s only half of those expected to head downtown once the National September 11 Memorial and Museum opens in 2010.

Art glass means the modern art glass movement in which individual artists are working to generate works from molten glass in relatively small furnaces of a few hundred pounds of glass. It began in the early 1960s and showed continued growth throughout the end of the century. The glass objects created are not primarily serviceable but are projected to make a sculptural or decorative statement.

Prior to the early 1960s, art glass would have referred to glass made for decorative use, habitually by teams of factory workers, taking glass from furnaces with a thousand or more pounds of glass. This form of art glass, of which Tiffany and Steuben in the U.S.A., Gallé in France and Hoya Crystal in Japan and Kosta Boda in Sweden are perhaps the best known, grew out of the factory system in which all glass objects were cast blown by teams of 4 or more men. In fact, the turn of the 19th Century was the height of the old art glass movement while the factory glass blowers were being replaced by mechanical bottle blowing and incessant window glass. In an art glass studio, “production work” shows more hand worked variation than was allowed in pure factory work environment and every piece shows some of the lead glass worker’s creativity. Most studio glass workers also try to turn out larger individual pieces which might be the corresponding of a master piece in the journeyman system of guild and factory work in addition to smaller production pieces.

Types of Art Glass:

• Blown Art Glass

• Cast Art Glass

• Fused and slumped Art Glass

There’s one way to do it painlessly and easily by annoying some of the hot new paint shades that are available at your local paint store if you’re looking to stride away of your interior design comfort zone. If you’ve already lived in your home for a while, you can revitalize your walls by adding touches of bold colors. You’ll find that paint companies have made it much easier for you to add drama to your interior walls. You’ll be stunned at what a simple thing like varying the color of your walls can do to brighten up your spirits and add a little more relish to your life.

Medieval tapestries are one of the most popular forms of tapestries. These tapestries not only lend a rich and aristocratic look to your home, but can also be used as ideal gifts. From sceneries pertaining to the 18th and the 19th centuries like, Ancient Ruins and Awaiting the Chase, to French Tapestries like the Chateau Fountain, and the Adorazione, medieval tapestries will make your room light up with beauty.

Medieval tapestries are also helpful in providing social information of that time period. They depict the armor that was worn and the accessories that were used during the battle. In addition to these, medieval tapestries also show the original construction of buildings that may no longer exist, but still hold historical relevance. Things as food and drink and household customs are also depicted by the medieval tapestries.

Medieval tapestries also depict art forms of hunting scenes, gallantry of nobles and knights, the Unicorn, and dining and feasting of the nobles. Unicorn tapestries are one of the marvels of the world and they reflect incarnation, resurrection, passion, and the five senses.

You can easily use medieval tapestries if you have a room that is decorated with classic medieval decor, such as swords or shields. Medieval tapestries will help you turn your home into a castle. Medieval tapestries can also be used if you want to create a focal point in your room. By adding a single medieval tapestry or a selection of medieval tapestries, you can make all eyeballs turn towards your room and home. However, the size of the tapestry will depend on the size of the room. If your room is large, you may add large wall hangings and you may go in for small wall art tapestries if your room is small.

However, if you are the religious types, you may opt religious tapestries. A religious tapestry will help you create a serene environment in your house. Flanders tapestries is one of the most famous art tapestries that can be opted by religious people. Other than this, you may go in for Italian tapestries to enhance the decor of your house. Italian tapestries display pictorial designs of Italy which was a center for cultural renaissance. Available in bold colors, these tapestries gel well with all most all kinds of interiors.

• Hand painted by Nyoman Jendra and signed by this artist.
• Hand painted from Acrylic Paint and Velvet.
• Category (Subject or Theme): Hindu Painting.
• Shipped directly from Craftnetwork Office in Bali, Indonesia within 3 -5 days and delivered unframed.
• Dimension: 27.56 in L x 0.79 in W x 35.43 in H (70 cm L x 2 cm W x 90 cm H).

Product Description
Shiva is the Supreme being in Hindu mythology. Artist Nyoman Jendra chooses the blue-skinned god as the subject of this Ruthless Shiva painting. It was painted on the island of Bali in Indonesia, using acrylic paint on velvet. The color choice and detail on this painting are exquisite. It is delivered unframed…. More >>

Ruthlessly Shiva~Bali Paintings~Traditional Art~Canvas

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