Tutorial 3

Multimedia: Making It Work (8th Edition)
pg 101,102

Question 1.
Discuss the difference between bitmap and vector graphics. Describe five different graphic elements you might use in a project, for example, the background, buttons, icons, or text. Would you use a vector tool or a bitmap tool for each element? Why?

A sample of a vector background such as this seen in The Sims 3 by Electronic Arts. The text and background are the only vector images while the rest are bitmap.

Bitmap utilizes pixels to form the image whereas vectors used the measurements of the image. When bitmap is being resized or rescaled, the amount of pixels are fixed therefore reduce the sharpness as the rescaling is made that the image turned larger. For vector, however, the image retain the same amount of quality as some computation is done to recalculate the proportion therefore making the pixels change based on that same length rather than it being fixed making the image maintaining its sharpness as the rescaling is done.

The video explains the core differences between vector images and bitmap images.


The 5 different graphic elements that are commonly used in a project are Backgrounds, buttons, icons, texts and images.

1. Background is the main design of the website. It serves as the main framework for the design. The ideal image suitable for this would be vector. The most important thing for the background is that it must always be clear.

2. Buttons served as a site navigation tool. Usually comprises of bitmap images as the buttons are small. Less focus is on the buttons.

3. Icons serve as small images in a webpage. They usually comprise of bitmap images as they are small.

4. Text- the core component of the webpage. Information is passed through text and therefore plays a crucial role in a webpage. Therefore, text are usually vector.

5. Images/Pictures- the images are usually large photos to help in describing the texts. Can be both vector or bitmap. More commonly used are bitmap due to file size.


Question 4.
You are a designer given the task of creating a web site for a new division of your company. Start by defining the characteristics of the customers of the company and the kind of image the company wishes to present to its customers. Then specify a colour palette to be used for the design of the site. Defend your colour choices by discussing the associations people have with the colours and how they relate to your customers and the company's image.

Colours determine the emotion of the people who are going to read. Sometimes different colours represent different feelings. Colour should also represent the company's image. For example, Apple website gives you a sense of luxurious feeling and simplicity which is why their background colour is white and simple.

The simplicity of Apple's website

Colours are also based on the preferences of a certain group of society because of their different meanings. For example, the Chinese community prefer red because it reflects prosperity. In some cases, the consumers prefer the colours based on their lifestyles. Gamers would prefer a mixture of black, green or red. Environmentalists prefer green. Therefore, to please the customers one must always understand what type of customers we are facing.

The customers in this case are gamers. Therefore a mixture of black, green or red is suitable. Gamers have a preference of a stealthy personality. Therefore, the ideal colours I would choose is a combination of black, green and red. a 24 bit colour palette is also a must. Gamers want the most realistically looking website and therefore would prefer a colour palette that is the most photo-realistic.

An example of a video game website with a fusion of Black, Light blue, Green and red.