[Niche Site Articles]

By: Tom Williamsen

Product boxes give your websites visitors a glimpse at the products that you sell such as books and software. It helps in selling your products because customers prefer an image of the product they will buy over simple descriptions.

There are several software out there that can automatically generate a product box for you. This is good if you have no time to devote in making boxes. However, it is always better to learn things by yourself.

Want to create your own product box? Here is how.

1. Open your favorite graphics editing software.

2. Place the images of the front and side of the box on the working area.

3. Remember that giving the illusion of a perspective is the key to making a convincing product box.

4. Place the front image on the right side. Skew the upper and lower portions of it so that the left side of the image is taller than the right.

5. Align the image of the box side with the left side of the front image.

6. Skew the upper and lower portions of the side image so that its right side is taller than the left.

7. Adjust the angles of the front and side images so that they form a box that is seen from the corner.

8. Add a shadow or a reflection to create a 3D effect for your image.

9. Save your work into an image format. Also make sure to save your source file just in case you need to edit the image in the future.

Reflection is another design element that is used heavily in Web 2.0 websites. This technique is often employed in icons to create a 3D effect on the image.

The use of this design turns images that are otherwise
plain into visually-pleasing ones.

Want to make a 3D icon? Follow these steps:

1. Open your favorite graphics editing program.

2. Open or paste your image on the working area.

3. Create a copy of that image and place it directly where you want to place the reflection. Remember that a reflection is a mirror-image of the image. This is important when making any reflections on your design.

4. Create a layer mask over a good portion of the
reflection.

5. Place a gradient effect on the remaining portion of the reflection to create the illusion of a reflection.

6. Voila! You have now created a 3D icon.

Of course, there are several ways of creating this effect.

The one that we have shown you is only one of them. You can find a lot more tutorials on the internet that will help you achieve this effect. Choose one that you find most effective.

However, keep in mind to use this effect sparingly. Just as in any kind of visual effect, overdoing your reflections can make your overall design look tacky and unprofessional.

You do not want your design to look amateurish, right?
Subtlety is the key to creating great designs and you should incorporate this in the designs that you make, including creating reflections.

Thomas is a Direct Response Graphic Designer. You can see his latest sites here: Online eCover Generator and eCover Action Scripts Package

Tags: Internet/Web Design/Graphics ecover ebook cover web 2.0 graphics how to design cover design

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