Visual Appeal01

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Visual Appeal

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	*Visual Appeal is the "red thread" which* *weaves in and out of all other K-Wall considerations.*
Topics covered on this page: Balancing the Layout Appearance of Materials Displaying Materials Framing & Shading Lettering Color Images	To see more K-Wall images (including Welcome Walls) click on this link
Balancing the layout • Symmetry and balance • Mix stuff up. Use a variety of media on one wall: hand lettering, printed material, drawing, etc. • It’s not always a bad thing to leave some blank space
Consider the appearance of your materials • Retype xerox nightmares if you have time • Trim crooked sheets square to the type • Cut off ‘dead space’ • Copy onto colored paper • Consider size vs. importance
Displaying material To link material together: • Draw frames around like material • Use arrows and other connectors • Repeat bullet point motifs (stars, circles, triangles, etc.) • Use the same lettering style and colors for lettering • Place in the same vicinity
To separate materials: • Draw frames around different pieces • Use different colors or type styles • Use different bullet point motifs
Emphasizing material: • Use brighter colors for frame or text • Make items larger • Place them at eyelevel
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Framing & Shading • Framing: lines, double lines, clouds, etc. • Shading: hatching at the sides or behind objects • Colored construction paper behind xeroxed pieces.
Lettering • Use the magnetic straight edge or WRITE ON A CURVE ON PURPOSE! • Type your text into the computer using a fabulous font you like, print it, and use the printout as a model to copy from OR cut it out and use it as a stencil. • Don’t try to center your lettering. It's too hard. Start from the left. • Make up a lettering style that’s easy for you to use. • Colored text can be highlighted with black for greater visibility (or vice versa). • Lettering may be used to convey mood: serious, silly, even violent!
Color • Consider visiblity for both camera and audience. Orange and green are the hardest to see against the gray background of the work walls. Use these two colors to highlight or decorate but not to convey important info. • If you're going for color, use all the colors, even yellow. But you can also use color thematically, sticking to a more limited palette.
Images DON’T BE CONCERNED ABOUT DRAWING ABILITY! • Images are essential for a good K-Wall! • Drawing by hand is extremely appealing. It adds an immediacy and honesty to a K-Wall that no printed image can. Anyone can learn to draw bean people and simple shapes. It’s all good. You don’t have to be Picasso. People LOVE hand drawn images and they are NOT going to judge you in this NavCenter atmosphere. Trust us! Most people are so insecure about their own drawing ability that they won’t critique yours. • Good “how to draw” books include Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad, Rapid Viz by Hanks and Belliston, Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing on theArtist Within by Betty Edwards. • Other image sources: the K-Wall archive in the production room, clip art collections on CD, magazine pictures, the internet. Good sources for images from the web include www.corbis.com Alta Vista’s Multi-media Image Search Microsoft.com's Clip Gallery KnetArt (our own NavCenter’s clip art page) GLOSSARY RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE