By | April 1st, 2009


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How to Design Stunning Web Pages in Minutes!

By | April 1st, 2009

If you want to create a stunning web graphic or webpage design why not borrow from the best? it’s common practice for copywriters to keep a swipe file of great copy that has been known to generate great sales results. I’m amazed that graphic designers rarely follow this example. Even if you’re not a graphic designer you’ll want to try this technique.

This method is so simple, you’ll be producing web layouts quickly and easily. I want to share with you some tips to start your own image swipe file and how to build it up to be one of your most powerful design tools. Whether you just dabble in design or you are a serious graphic design professional, these tips will be extremely useful for you.

I follow this procedure almost every time I create a new design.

What is a swipe file? The swipe file is simply a file or folder where you collect examples of images colors and fonts and graphics that are appealing to you and appealing to a wide audience. Textures that capture your attention, color combinations that stand out from the rest, fonts that are bold and eye-grabbing, catchy graphics bursts and icons. photos, Web layouts, opt-in boxes, ding bats and arrows. I even swipe Web 2.0 gradients and text boxes. It’s important to note that we are not swiping material or images that we do not have permission or have license to use, we are borrowing layout and design ideas to create something original of our own.

If you don’t have an image swipe file yet, make it your top priority to begin compiling one. My personal swipe file is organized in these seven categories.

1. Templates. I like to use the phrase page layouts

2. Header graphics

3. Fonts

4. Photos

5. Lgos and icons

6. Forms and text boxes

7. Textures and backgrounds

Once you have created a folder for each of these seven categories, get in the habit of labeling your image swipes so when you do a search you can easily find what you’re looking for. I’ve learned this the hard way by having multiple “untitled” image files on my desktop and wasting time having to open them to see what they are.

How to select image swipe files??If you’re a Mac user your favorite key combination will be shift command 4. if you are a PC user you will need to use snag it or any other image capture software.

Step one: find a webpage layout or header graphic design that has captured your attention

step two: click and drag around the image and take a snapshot to your clipboard

step three: open up a new file in Photoshop, select 800×600 or 1024 x 768 and paste in your graphic

step four: continue to find icons and graphics and paste into separate layers in Photoshop

step five: use the human saturation command to change colors to get new ideas

step six: once you have assembled your page save your file and begin researching stock photos and graphics that are similar to replace any images that you don’t have a license for.

For a complete video tutorial on selecting image swipe files go to http://www.fastcreative.com/training/there you will find a complete step-by-step video showing you how to create a website in minutes using simple cut-and-paste image swipe files in Photoshop.

Now whenever you surf the Web, find items to catch your eye. If something catches your attention chances are it will work the same with others. You should always be on the lookout for webpages and web graphics that are proven to convert. There are websites that test and track their landing pages extensively and you can benefit from swiping from the best.

The most important thing to remember is that your image swipe file is not a place to infringe copyright laws. Any swipe file is there to give you a jump start and to help you generate ideas. Use it to find inspiration and continue to add to it to get you motivated when starting a new project.


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