Exploring Photoshop’s angle gradient tool

The angle gradient tool is an overlooked gem tucked away in Photoshop’s toolbar. Often passed over for its more popular sibling, the linear gradient tool, angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks. The angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks. Most people stop there. But when combined with other techniques and some creativity, the angled gradient has some surprising uses.

Thoughts on applying duotones to data

The ability to tint black-and-white photographs with color has been a staple of photography for decades, and modern image editors make warming and cooling grayscale images a snap. This concept of a steady progression of shades can be used to present information as well.

How to manage a controlled collision of type and imagery

Setting images into text mixes words’ straightforward communication with photos’ emotional implications. Words state; photos express. But conflicts result when the images get lost or the text becomes muddled. Or both. Images and text can successfully mix—if we follow some guidelines that balance readability in both text and images.

Big stature, small caps, good technique

Stately text doesn’t need to hurry. When used well, small caps make a design look stable and reliable. They can appear official or solemn. But like any technique, small caps requires understanding the why behind the how.

Save-for-web feature comparisons

Photoshop may be popular, but does it save the best web images? I compared it to Acorn and Pixelmator 1.5.1 to find out.