BY CHUCK GREEN Instead of creating illustrations and photographs in a rectangle, think of the page as a surface on which to set your image. One of the things that makes this design distinctive is the recurring theme of setting a story-related object or objects on the table of the cover.
BY CHUCK GREEN To get the maximum from stock and clip art, you need to develop a knack for seeing inside illustrations. For seeing beyond the limited application the illustrator had in mind, to the limitless potential of how the whole or its parts might be used to illustrate our specific applications.
BY CHUCK GREEN Sometimes the easiest way to explain the product or service is to let the pictures do the talking. In this case they spell out the primary benefits in a way that is easy to digest.
BY CHUCK GREEN A woman stands up in a crowded city council meeting and reads the research. “We recently asked a random sampling of 250 citizens how often they use the new toll road. Five percent say they use it four or more times a week, eight percent say they use it one to three times a week, 12 percent say...” and continues on.
BY CHUCK GREEN Has it ever happened to you? Your project deadline is fast approaching and you find a gap that needs filling—you need the kind of clip art image that slows your reader down long enough to get them interested. The visual puzzle piece that explains your point in a way that words cannot. You search your arsenal of disks, catalogs, and CD's to no avail—minutes ago you were sailing along, now you're dead in the water.
Not every project requires a “from scratch” solution. When I was asked to create an illustration to promote a program centering on a “reef” metaphor, I tracked down a clip art image from Dynamic Graphics (figure 1).
BY CHUCK GREEN Whether it's print or online communications, one simple way to punctuate the message or feeling you want to communicate is to inset generic images that build on the theme (figure 1).
