Posted On: May, 23, 2007 14:05:58 By

Building a Texture Library for Web or Print Design

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." - Henry David Thoreau

If you’re a designer, you might say it’s not what they look at that matters, it’s what you can make them see. Texturing invites the viewer to look deeper into a design, to spend more time with it. In this sense, texture plays a large role in the success of visual communication, and maybe even in the realization of a design’s purpose.

With the HOW Conference mere days away, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the HOW Conference blog. The other day, I was snooping around there, and I found this great link to a site promoting a book called Crumble. Crackle. Burn.. The author, Von R. Glitschka, will apparently be at HOW, prepared to lead the ‘creatively curious’ on a texture-hunting tour through Atlanta.

For those who have just arrived on this planet, designers – and not just 3-D graphic designers – are deeply and passionately enamoured with textures these days. In a recent conversation witha colleague of mine, a dyed-in-the-wool adherent to simple, clean web design, he mentioned that he would probably haven eaten glass before adding textures to his designs even a couple of months ago, but now? Texturing is just so…mesmerizing.

In this context, we are talking about textures that you layer into a print or web design to give it added depth. Over at DT&G, the experts say that you can never keep the eye too busy in a design. When we look at things, we expect to see many layers, colors, and tiny details, so to keep the eye glued to a design, texturing comes into play.

Glitschka’s book is all about where to find compelling textures for design. Learning how to see these textures in the world around you can fuel creativity and spark great design ideas. The secret is to learn to see textures that will contribute to beautiful designs in the most unlikely places. For example, in a dirty, rough alleyway wall, a muddy puddle, or a farmer’s field, burnt down to stubble in the fall.

Every designer should have a personal library of textures that includes photos taken of interesting elements in the world around us. Images of water, wood, stone, metal, and organic matter in varying stages of flourish and decay are all worthy additions to a texture library.

If you’re not much of a photographer, there are also thousands of background textures to be found online at places like istockphoto.

Failing a strong desire on your part to use stock images, you can always make your own. There’s a great post on Bittbox discussing how to use typography to create nice textures. This technique can be a great outlet for all those who love wacky fonts, but know that an excess of font enthusiasm rarely improves the look of copy in a design. When creating typography-based textures, you can experiment with all those barely legible fonts that your good sense has never allowed you to mess with before. Huzzah!

For print designers, there is yet another option available in terms of texturing, which is to add texture to a design after it has been printed. Print materials can be embossed, foil stamped, engraved, burnt, roughened, or even crumpled to create texturing effects. In this way, print designers have a lot more freedom with their medium than web designers, who are restricted by the tactile uniformity of the computer screen.

Do you have a favorite texturing effect or technique not mentioned here? A gem in your texture library that you're willing to share? Let us know about it. And stay, as Von R. Glitschka says, “creatively curious.”

10 Comments Posted So Far:
Posted By: Duednetle On 2008-09-23 20:30:45

I am getting more and more worried about the economy and global meltdown.

The more things change the more they remain the same. The fundamental challenges we face today have changed little since Chaucer penned his observations on life and distilled them in a set of tales. In the modern city of Canterbury University Students analyse and dissect the meanings conveyed in texts set in that very locale in the 1300’s.

Youngsters face today’s Jekyll and Hyde society not knowing that the Constants remain; love, betrayal, desire, fear. Each story conveys a lesson as we study for our degree in the University of Life, the big diploma mill of which we are all Alumni. We sit grinning like Cheshire cats, thinking we have all the answers.

We call it a success when we pollute our atmosphere shooting down our own Satellite USA 193, Market Street Credibility is our preferred accreditation and recognition from our peers and fellow consumers, we Poison our Planet for Profit. Banks have crashed before and remember – you can’t eat money.

Globalization has consequences. Everything we do has consequences, even something simple like buying firewood. The Oregon ODA advises not to obtain anything from out-of-state because of all the insects and diseases it might carry. That is just a relatively local issue. Imagine all the things that are carried around the world each day – each hour. We must protect our future, just as we should remember our past. All over the world, From the UK to the USA and the Seychelles to Egypt, still, yes, STILL, there is no REAL alternative to fossil fuels.

Are we all going to purgatory in a wheelbarrow telling each other stories to pass the time? Sometimes I wonder!

Sorry guys, I had a long day and feel sick of the world. Rant Over!

Posted By: DDDepressionnn On 2008-11-20 10:29:40

There has come winter :(
It became cold and cloudy!
Mood very bad :(
Depression Begins

Posted By: Rexpemy On 2009-01-23 06:24:47

a few typos in the article :) but overall not bad

Posted By: DaveCahonne On 2009-03-10 08:21:31

Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing number of people use the internet
to search for a business or service so having a web presence is an important media for promoting
your company. Web design is a real skill and if your website is to not only look good but work well,
it should be constructed by a professional web designer.

If you are interested, you can contact me: hqwebdesign (AT) gmail (DOT) com

Posted By: MalinAK On 2009-03-27 10:30:39

Hello, I'm Malin.
This is my first post so I just wanted to say hi to y'all!
I'm a native frenchmen living in Lyon and are currently working as a webdesigner.

Posted By: Vince Delmonte On 2009-04-14 17:07:00

My friend on Orkut shared this link with me and I'm not dissapointed at all that I came to your blog.

Posted By: Beattagolob On 2009-06-30 03:32:24

I can't believe this, I used to be a Michael Jackson fan and was shocked to hear of 3 celebrity deaths in such a short amount of time and I just read this article that Jackson did in fact have a pulse at one point.

Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyer is now saying that when Murray found Michael Jackson, he had a faint pulse.

Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, says Murray went into Jackson's bedroom
and saw that he wasn't breathing. Chernoff told the AP, "He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing. Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse."

Chernoff says Murray immediately began administering CPR.

Chernoff says Murray did not prescribe or give Jackson Demerol or OxyContin. Chernoff says any drugs Murray did prescribe were given in response to a specific complaint from Jackson.

Posted By: Dirnov On 2009-08-30 10:23:46

Hi,
Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.
Dirnov

Posted By: LaptopAces On 2009-10-30 15:17:40

Thanks! Its really cool. I think you do really great work.

Posted By: miller bennett On 2010-02-09 10:49:49

Nice work! Why cant we just keep it simple and talk about the superbowl?

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