Creating a banner

I don't have photoshop and I'm reluctant to go out an spend more money, so I've been investigating. My suggestions for free software is to go to www.getpain.net which is very similar to a photoshop layout or to go to blendgeek.com; they both ask that the user downloads their product. However blendgeek allows you to experiment with their site without a download. I liked how blendgeek seemed really easy to use and had some pre designed background colors. There are a lot of considerations, at least this gets the creative juices flowing.
The other option is to use a paint program, I didn't have paint on my computer so i went to http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/ and downloaded a copy.

Color

This past week we studied about color, I decided to focus on the contrast of colors when I commented on the discussion board. It's so helpful to know what colors attract the eye and how color combination plays such an important part.
Within the Jason Beaird book many aspects of color are mentioned including the psychology, value, theory, primary colors, scheme, and application.
I remember being in an art class and discussing the how in a painted room blues and purples make a person feel cold while the yellows, oranges and reds makes a person feel warm. The psychology of color is an important consideration to website design technique. For example, if someone was designing a website for a little girl the typical color association is either soft pastel colors like pink, or bright vibrant colors but not many would design a website for a little girl with blacks and browns because these colors are not associated to a stereotypical girl's tastes. The book goes into detail about more of the individual color associations. How can these colors be combined or left to one general color scheme? These are all important considerations.

Website design

Lately, I've been reading a lot about website design. There is so much to consider with layout, spacing and even colors. When I was scanning through the website called "Websites that suck" I had to wonder about why some people would ever think their idea for a website was good in the first place and then there were others for which I had empathy. I thought, my website will probably look like that. I hope I don't earn a spot on that website. Anyway, back to website design grind.

Planning a website

I'm learning about how I need to just keep everything simple when creating a website. It has been an interesting venture to try to plan out each step. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird has managed to give me a good idea of laying out the site. I really would like to work on it this week but fear that comps will get the best of me.