Creating Banners: Less Is More

As a quick follow to our Photoshop/banner session this week, I want to reiterate that simple and clean and tight is the way to go. Shoot for no more than four words in your banner--a catchy phrase will do. You'll have an additional line in your headline with which to get more specific (with a subject/verb/object). Remember to unify the elements in your banner -- text and images. Don't put a huge gap of space between the two. And remember that less is more with drop shadows; too much in the way of shadowing looks unprofessional. Here are some banner examples from previous students in my news bureaus: Making In in America: (text, image, background color in gradient) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/politics/specialreports/immigration/default.htm Elections 2010: (the banner is essentially the site logo; the special report name; and a capital silhouette) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/politics/specialreports/election2010/default.htm The Pentagon Memorial: (The text was dropped directly onto the image, as a second layer) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/justice/specialreports/9_11Memorial/default.htm Snowmaggedden 2010: (Text/image/background color in gradient) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/etcetera/specialreports/2010blizzards/default.htm