Evolution of an Illustrator toolbar

This screenshot shows the various stages.

Here is a screenshot of the Illustrator toolbar that I recreated with vectors. I used layers to trace over the original toolbar, then add fill colour and outer bar.

My version of CS3 dosen't have Illustrator, so I had to get a trial. I downloaded version 10 as it was 80 odd meg as opposed to a gig or so for the latest version and I didn't want to blitz out my bandwidth allowance!!

Chowz!

Website development update

Ok,

So got the site almost complete, bar a couple of tweaks here and there.

Pictures and video are now being shown on a popup, and the image tiles are being shuffled at random (properly, this time!) on a timer delay.

We have a few background images that we need to decide on, and we are also going to tweak the middle banner too so it looks a bit more pro.

Also to update is the video thumbnails, which at the moment are the stock Adobe flash ones.

Vectors vs Bitmaps

Vectors are typically much smaller files as they consist of a series of vector 'points' that describe the image. This in turn requires some kind of algorithm (player/viewer) to reproduce this image on screen by rendering all the shapes according to the vector list. They are particularly suitable for more simple graphics made up of shapes and block or gradient colours.

Bitmaps are usually larger files as they consist of colour information for each pixel, which is multiplied by width and height. Although compression is often used, the file sizes can still be larger than vector files. Bitmaps are suited to complex, detailed pictures like photographs, and can be rendered on most devices.

Website Development Update

Since the last update I have spent some time developing the code used to construct the web site and now have a basic working prototype.

Our navigational banner is displayed along the center of the screen, with gallery-like thumbnails displayed above and below. These re-arrange themselves periodically to give the website a more 'live' feel.

The images are only temporary at the moment and will be replaced by our sourced assets when ready.

Clicking on the linked images will bring up a full-size picture or play the video clip associated with it.

Clicking on the info links will display the relevant information in the lower half of the page, with the gallery still displayed in the upper half.

Branding

Branding is all about creating a recognisable identity. This could be for a particular product or company as a whole.
Successful branding can take the form on an image, logo, tag line, motto, slogan or any combination of these.
Sometimes even certain colours are associated with certain products, a good (and obvious) example being Orange. Another being the yellow arcs of McDonalds, or just the simple 'arrow swipe' of the Nike brand.
Branding is enforced by advertising campaigns which can span all types of media, from television advertisments, to billboards, internet banners, viral media etc.