Before&After ®

Continued

XiBAmagazine.com U

Build a picture path 0625

A single row of photos carries your reader from here to there.

Build a picture path Continued

2 of 7

Before&After ® XiBAmagazine.com U

Build a picture path 0625

BELLTRAN SNOWBOARDING BOOTS & BOARDS

1545 East Sutterville Road Placerville, CA 95667

Store hours: Sat. 8–9, Sun. 10–6 www.belltransnowboarding.com

BOOT SALE

Model 462

Build a picture path It’s out of the ordinary, attractive and easy, too—a single row of photos carries your reader from here to there.

Here’s an easy way to make your message stronger. Turn your page sideways, and line up a half-dozen (or so) identically sized photos starting at the left edge. Put your copy on the right, and the reader’s eye will follow the path directly to it. Like this:

Here ThereOur eyes naturally drift left to right. Starting on the left, the picture path picks up this natu-ral motion, accelerates it and stops it right at your message—logo, title, sale prices, whatever you put at this end.

Thomas Wright

Paint catalog 2006

Swatches, palettes, ideas, advice

www.twpaints.com

Before&After ® Build a picture path 3 of 7 XiBAmagazine.com U

3 of 7 Build a picture path 0625

It’s as easy as 1 – 2 – 3

3 Set the focal point Add a focal point—typically your logo or a photo—at the end of the path. Silhou-ette the image for eye-catching contrast (freeform vs. straight); a slight overlap links the two naturally.

1 Use a panoramic page To get the reader moving, page and path must run the same direction. A 2:1 ratio (above) is excellent online, for small spaces (ads) and as a single printed sheet (postcard, flier, poster).

2 Make a path Arrange your photos in a single row starting at the left edge and stopping short of the right. (The short gap will hold the reader on the page.) No space between photos; you need an unbroken sweep.

4 Add the words Place your copy near the path’s end along a vertical axis. Don’t upstage the images; use a conservative typeface, and let the path do the work of leading the reader to your story.

Thomas Wright

Paint catalog 2006

Swatches, palettes, ideas, advice

www.twpaints.com

Before&After ® Build a picture path 4 of 7 XiBAmagazine.com U

4 of 7 Build a picture path 0625

More is better Fewer photos slow the path’s move-ment; their large size demands attention (a fine asset but not here), forcing the eye to scan each individu-ally and not the path as a whole.

Things to watch for . . .

Eye level is the most natural place for the path. Avoid uni-form spacing (right), which cre-ates distracting stripes.

Use a white gap about this big (above) to stop the reader’s movement. Too small and the eye keeps right on going (right)!

Small

Medium

Large

No bumps Most effec-tive are images identical in size and shape; irregu-larities will slow and even stop the reader.

Same

Same

Same

Before&After ® Build a picture path 5 of 7 XiBAmagazine.com U

5 of 7 Build a picture path 0625

Before Seven snowboarders—some are close up, some are far away, each is positioned differently in the frame, and some frames have different proportions. To get the images more alike, first enlarge or reduce until everyone’s the same size, then crop into a similar position—in this case, everyone’s centered in the square.

The tightest natural cropping makes this your control image; crop all others to match it.

Scale, crop, alignA picture path is most effective when its images are similar enough that the eye just glides along. Size, cropping and alignment are key . . .

After The eye still sees seven different images, but now they’re similar enough to “read” in a continual sweep. That’s what you want. This is not the place for images that stand out and arrest your attention.

Before&After ® Build a picture path 6 of 7 XiBAmagazine.com U

6 of 7 Build a picture path 0625

BELLTRAN SNOWBOARDING BOOTS & BOARDS

1545 East Sutterville Road Placerville, CA 95667

Store hours: Sat. 8–9, Sun. 10–6 www.belltransnowboarding.com

BOOT SALE

Model 462

4a

Typefaces

1 (a–b) Goudy Old Style | a) 26 pt, b) 10/12 pt

2 Myriad Pro Semibold | 10 pt

3 (a–c) Clarendon Light | a) 50 pt, b) 20/26 pt, c) 10 pt

4 (a–b) Clarendon Bold | a) 36/24 pt, b) 18/24 pt

Images

6 (a–m) iStockphotos.com | a b c

d e f g h i j k l m

7 Photos.com

Article resources

Colors

C0 M0 Y0 K65

C0 M0 Y0 K45

C0 M0 Y0 K30

C15 M100 Y100 K0

7

8

9

10

1aThomas Wright

Paint catalog 2006

Swatches, palettes, ideas, advice

www.twpaints.com

2 1b 5f

3a

3c

6

Image row 5a–e (left to right)

Image row 5g–m (left to right)

4b 3b

8

9

10

7

Before&After

7 of 7 | Printing formats

® XiBAmagazine.com U

Build a picture path 0625

Build a picture path 7 of 7

Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative directorGaye McWade Associate publisherVincent Pascual Staff designerDexter Mark Abellera Staff designer

Design advisor Gwen Amos Before & After magazine323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995E-mail mailbox@bamagazine.com www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright ©2005 Before & After magazine, ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved

You may pass this article around, but you may not alter it, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections for review. If you do this, please credit Before & After magazine, and let us know. To feature free Before & After articles on your Web site, please contact us. For permission to include all or part of this article in another work, please contact us.

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Be

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&A

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Seven snowboarders—

some are close up, som

e are far away, each is positioned differently in the fram

e, and som

e frames have different proportions. To get the im

ages more alike, first enlarge or reduce until everyone’s the sam

e size, then crop into a sim

ilar position—in this case, everyone’s centered in the square.

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control image; crop all others to m

atch it.

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is mo

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at the eye

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pin

g and

alignm

ent are key . . .

Afte

r The eye still sees seven different images, but now

they’re similar enough to “read” in a continual sw

eep. That’s what

you want. This is not the place for im

ages that stand out and arrest your attention.

BE

LL

TR

AN

S

NO

WB

OA

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ING

BO

OT

S &

BO

AR

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15

45

East S

utterv

ille Road

P

lacerv

ille, CA

95667

Store h

ours: S

at. 8–9

, Su

n. 10

–6

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elltran

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ing.com

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ld Style | a) 26 pt, b) 10/12 pt

2 Myriad P

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3 (a–c) C

larendon Light | a) 50 pt, b) 20/26 pt, c) 10 pt

4 (a–b

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old | a) 36/24 pt, b) 18/24 pt

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6 (a–m

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C0

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Be

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& A

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ag

azin

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Befo

re & A

fter has b

een sh

aring its p

ractical app

roach

to

graph

ic design

since 1990. B

ecause o

ur m

od

ern w

orld

h

as mad

e design

ers of u

s all (ready o

r no

t), Befo

re &

After is d

edicated

to m

aking grap

hic d

esign u

nd

erstand

-ab

le, usefu

l and

even fu

n fo

r everyon

e.

Joh

n M

cWa

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Pu

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creative directo

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ay

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cWa

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Asso

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blish

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ince

nt P

ascu

al Staff d

esigner

De

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be

llera

Staff design

er

Design

adviso

r Gw

en

Am

os

Be

fore

& A

fter m

ag

azin

e323 Lin

coln

Street, Ro

seville, CA

95678 Te

lep

ho

ne

916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995E

-mail m

ailbo

x@b

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amagazin

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Co

py

righ

t ©2005 B

efo

re &

Afte

r ma

ga

zine, IS

SN

1049-0035. A

ll righ

ts rese

rve

d

You

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