缺省的設計Tranquille
Zen Garden的前五個設計已經證明了這個項目最初的成功，只有默認的設計方法能夠在長時期內保持較高的可用性。該項目的默認設計中往往儘可能少地包含Tranquille,在#002設計中，Salmon Cream Cheese有考慮過更直接使用tranquille的效果，值得慶幸的是，這一設計由於Tranquille而增色不少。
在默認的設計中，所有的圖像與文字，除了文本的字體外，都是通過photoshop以手繪的方式作出的。在最初的設計中，Shea花費了整整一個小時的時間，用筆刷和墨水的效果一筆一畫地來表現標題的字體，但是後來，他卻發現Calligraphic 421字體是一個更好的選擇。（如圖）
由於漢字的錯綜複雜、美妙無比，很多設計者都非常欣賞用漢字來表現出額外的細節。Shea 在設計中，試圖避免僅僅利用漢字神祕性與複雜性來表現思想，而是花費了更多的時間，讓佈局在頁面左上角的漢字的意義能夠使設計更爲豐滿。雖然經過了諸多的苦心經營，這些漢字元素只是粗略地表達了幾個意思：開始、結束、或者完整、熟練。
你在小學的時候，做過這樣的活動嗎？把墨水隨意地潑灑在紙面上，然後用吸管去吹那些墨水，使它形成一棵樹。然後粘上一些弄皺了的紙來代表花。設計頁面右下腳的樹的靈感，就來自於我們小時候玩過的這種活動。就如你在屏幕上所見一般，這棵樹的設計經過了幾個步驟的修改。這幾個步驟就是從草圖然後到添加簡單的顏色再在草圖之上添加各個層次的細節。
原文
Default DesignTranquilleThough the first five designs would prove important for the project's initial success, only the default design would retain a high visibility over the long term. The subtle and minimal Tranquille was always designed to be the default, though design #002, Salmon Cream Cheese, was considered for a while due to its more immediate impact; thankfully, the decision was made in favor of Tranquille. All images and text within the default design, aside from the body type, were digitally hand-painted in Adobe Photoshop. The intended rendering of the title text was a series of hand-painted calligraphic brushstrokes, but after spending an hour with a brush and india ink, Shea decided that the Calligraphic 421 font from Bitstream was a much more desirable option (FIGURE 12).
Figure 12. Calligraphic 421 samples.
Because Chinese characters are intricate and beautiful, many designers appreciate the extra detail they can add to a piece. Trying to avoid the typical Westerner method of joining a bunch of random Chinese characters together for mystique and detail, Shea spent some time researching the characters to add some meaning to the scroll hanging down from the top-left corner of the design. Well intentioned as this approach was, the result still ended up largely nonsensical anyway: The symbols chosen roughly represent a beginning, complete or whole, and skill in English. Remember the project in grade school where you dumped some india ink onto a sheet of white paper, then blew on it with a drinking straw to create a black treelike shape, and finally pasted on crumpled pieces of tissue paper as "blossoms"? The tree in the bottom-right corner of the design grew out of fond memories of that project. As you can see from the screen shot, it went through a few revisions (FIGURE 13). The process involved sketching a rough outline with simple colors and then building up layered detail over top of it.
Figure 13. Building the tree illustration. |