subject: Flash Designing As Easy As Pie [print this page] Designing in flash is quite different than designing an ad or a company banner or logo or even a web page done using photoshop or paint. The main difference is that flash design requires another factor to consider aside from the usual two-dimensional space of x and y. Working on a flash project requires working in a three-dimensional space. Flash allows movement, meaning creating images with the additional component of time.
Remember the concept of making movies before everything went digital? Every shot was stored in frames similar to snapshots of pictures. Then the frames were made to "move" like a slide projector with every frame "flashed" very quickly. This allowed the illusion of movement and hence the concept of motion pictures. The central idea of flash is actually based on this. Frames are made where each frame contains certain images with slight changes with the next frame.
Aside from the idea of frames, flash allows layers or layering much like onion skins placed on top of each other. You can overlap images to add depth to your creation. You can add multiple images on top of each other, each having different motion or animations.
The great thing about designing in flash is the built-in animation features that help you create your project. It means that you don't have to create frame per frame images with slight changes. For instance, you can create a moving ball by simply setting the start position of the graphic image, click on the tenth frame, then move the ball to the end position. A feature called motion tweening allows your ball to move without creating all the rest of the eight frames between the start position and the end position. It's really neat.
Knowing the preliminaries in creating projects in flash is important. Now, starting off with flash, an advantage would be the knowledge of using Photoshop or Corel or any photo editing software. There are basic tools in flash that allows creating simple objects like circles and squares, but to have a really creative design, a really good graphics software is a must. There are a lot of features in a photo editing software that flash lacks.
Some tips on creating a flash design:
Be wild. There are a lot of flash enabled websites nowadays and the last is trendier than the previous one. There are no restriction in your design just make sure you use the animation and interactivity components wisely.
Use animations sparingly. Usually, the added animations would mean slower download time when a user accesses your flash file. You need to balance the number of graphic motion you add to your project. It's the same thing when choosing colors for your graphic design. Don't be too colorful or too dull.
Try again. It is best to create different prototypes of your flash design. It would allow you to add new ideas and even get inspiration from your previous flash designs for more creative projects.
Be yourself. What makes a design original? It's giving a bit of yourself to the piece. You are an artist, except, you have a way more techie tool as your paintbrush and canvass.
