Photographic Backgrounds
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Feb. 3, 2006
The Design Element
Photographs for backgrounds? Friend or foe? Up until the creation of this
article, I would have universally answered foe! But, it turns out this is
just a preconceived notion that only serves to limit my creative ability.
Anything is possible, and certainly anything is potentially successful as
proved by the samples below.
As with other subjects, Got Wood? for instance,
custom treatment of otherwise lame photos can create a striking and powerful
design. In every sample below are signs of the artist touch, this combined
with the contents of the photo provides powerful insight into the purpose
or content of the site. I believe that many of these images on first
glance seem to be purely aesthetic, however upon deeper consideration each
one of them serves to reinforce the concept or purpose of the web site.
One of the most appealing aspects of this technique is it's ability to
distract one from the overtly technical nature of the web. These sites are
comfortable and expressive and leave me feeling refreshed and inspired.
Of the sample sets assembled on Design Melt Down, this one just might be
my favorite. Which
is really ironic considering how closed I previously was to the idea of a
photo for a background. I think the idea here is to be willing to step
outside the standard 3 column layout and instead consider what will communicate
your message best. In this case photographs do just that.
Sample Usage
