Colour/Color me Grey/Gray

Grey/Gray can be a useful backdrop for a splash of colour/color. Its a great technique for creating dramatic effects and bringing a key element into focus.

Repetition

Repetition is an easy way of making backgrounds and patterns for decorative panels on cards and invitations. You can take photographs of patterns or make them in an image handling program such as GIMP which is free at www.gimp.org

Texture is Your Friend

Texture can be text or pattern. You can develop a library of textures by taking photos of surfaces such as pebbles, leaves and fabrics. Texture can be used for creating backgrounds in documents or web pages.

Graduate to Gradients

Gradients are an effective way of creating simple and attractive backgrounds for web or print. Float text or images over a colour gradient to create the illusion of depth. You can create colour gradients in most image editing programs. We created this one in Adobe InDesign.