What was contrast original meaning

You wrote:. Why is that intransitive? OK, now I feel fairly stupid. My problem is that a lifetime of reading good fiction and having it read to me before I was old enough to indulge myself has left me with fairly good instincts for what is grammatically correct, but not much depth of understanding of why it should be so.

Which is why I love this blog. However the creation of web sites just keeps pulling me in. Like others have said, Brilliant!

Great Job! This is a topic many of us are haunted by. No wonder people develop attention deficit — the intellectual world can seem boring because there is too much attention to organized content and not enough to color and design. I found elementary school a wasteland — very little artistic opportunity. I was always an honor student anyway, but became warped and stifled. The art I had worked on by the day at age 5 was relegated to a dark corner when I entered school. Most websites achieve one facet while being faulty on the other.

Your illustrations of what indicates emphasis graphically are important reminders. I actually read blogs based on pleasing design and smooth pageload more than on content. A well-designed blog or website has an ambience, which I think can inspire confidence in what the site has to offer.

Since I have just recently given up searching out the latest hacks for browsers and now use Yahoo grids, I am pleased at the first results. I have put up a lightning banner this week, which I can see on quick analysis is subconsciously a reflection of spring storms here in TX but also illustrates my tattered synapses — hopelessly firing up new hacks for the past several years.

Let YUI handle the skeleton, and I can spend all my time on the skin and content that I may even have a little free time to think about. It comes just as I have shifted focus to design on my site and blog. The longer I am working in the web design business, the more convinced I am that I am missing some very basic design skills.

The rules of contrast are among the basic rules that should be understood by all web designers. Really enjoyed reading this one, really well written, as a non-designer it has given me a lot to think about!

I look forward to reading further articles. Thanks, Andy! As another non-designer myself, this article does help clarify my own thoughts about communicating concisely with designers, as well as with clients who need help understanding the purpose of all creative aspects related to front-end Web production.

Great article. I received my college degree in marketing, not art, and this article was very informative in showing how to bridge the gap between copy and design. Great article! Optimizr… I crapped my pants from laughing. But — you forgot about the wet floor effect sic!

Andy, your articles are always helpful. The more I think about design the more I believe contrast is the foundation of design and any other principles we may use are derived from it. This article reinforces what I had been thinking.

It certainly is communication though, as you remark. Your article made me realize how artistic principles apply, not only to the web, but to every single part of our everyday living. Such a delightful article that was, and you, you have such a direct way to convey your messages.

I neither have an artistic background nor strong ability to communicate design ideas I every now and then come across at work. Thanks for the inspiration Andy. I must echo the other comments as I lack a strong understanding of the fundamentals of art and it makes communicating more and more difficult as I try to express more complex ideas.

Combine that with the necessity to keep up to date with technology and it becomes a real challenge to concentrate more on the basics that are so important. Having said all that, would anyone like to share some great resources for learning in this field, or recommend ways to learn without going back to school. There must be some great books out there? Google here I come …. Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments.

I can recommend a couple of useful resources:. Both of these books can be quite valuable to anyone seeking a better grasp of design communication and human perception. Harper, D. Etymology of contrast. Online Etymology Dictionary. Harper, Douglas. Definition of contrast Entry 2 of 2. Choose the Right Synonym for contrast Verb compare , contrast , collate mean to set side by side in order to show differences and likenesses.

Examples of contrast in a Sentence Verb Her black dress and the white background contrast sharply. We compared and contrasted the two characters of the story. Noun I observed an interesting contrast in the teaching styles of the two women. Careful contrast of the twins shows some differences. In contrast to last year's profits, the company is not doing very well.

The queen's wit and humor made the prince seem dull by contrast. They spent millions of dollars on advertising. By way of contrast , our small company spent under 5, dollars.

Smith, cleveland , 30 Oct. Roberts says, one that anticipated Victorian respectability.