I teach a number of production classes and often have to provide basic information on how to get started designing graphics for television. Without getting too in-depth about square vs. non-square pixels, or 16 x 9, here are some pointers to get you headed in the right direction.

Jim's tips for making graphics:

Technical:

• Use the safe text area. Remember that when you design graphics on a computer, much of what you see around the edges of your composition will be cut off by the frame around the TV display. Even if your text and other foreground elements fit inside of the safe text area, make sure they have a little extra room around the edges to "breath".

Related to this is the next rule:

• Avoid having boxes or squares end near the edge of the screen. Place the edges well within the safe text area or have them run off the edge of the screen. On a similar note avoid using a frame within a frame. If you must do this, make sure your inner frame easily fits inside of the safe text area.
• Avoid highly saturated colors- they will bleed and can contain noise. Use NTSC-friendly colors- these aren't very saturated. Photoshop has an NTSC filter you can apply to a layer or a flattened composition.
• Think in terms of brightness (black & white) when separating foreground and background elements. Don't rely on color to differentiate foreground and background elements- use contrast (brightness) instead. If you have an NTSC monitor hooked up to your computer, try turning the color all the way down so you can see your image in black and white. You should still be able to see the graphics well.

So in other words:

Use either light letters on a dark background or dark letters on a light background.

For keyed IDs and lower thirds, always do something to make your text stand out from the background (background box, edge stroke/border, drop shadow, etc.) If you don't you can easily lose white letters against a light shirt.

• Avoid thin, 1-pixel horizontal lines and thin or delicate text. Because of the interlaced video display, thin horizontal lines or small picture elements will flicker on and off.
• Leave text up long enough to read and then a little more (1.5 times the time it takes to read it is a good rule).

Composition:

• Lay out elements using tried and tested composition techniques. Most of the classic principles of visual design work quite well when applied to TV graphics. In other words you can use the "Rule of Thirds" or any of your other favorite classic aesthetic guidelines.
• Make sure your background doesn't interfere with the message. Delicate or ornate text or foreground elements need simple backgrounds. Complex backgrounds need bold and simple foreground elements. Your background and foreground need to work together.
• Don't think like a word processor - in left, right or center justified paragraphs. Instead break down your message into separate elements. For instance if you're doing a promo graphic you might have a title, a TV personality, a time, and a network. Think of each of these items as a separate foreground element that you can position and manipulate.
• Try not to use plain, bare text, unless you are going for the stark look or simply conveying information (e.g. displaying a quote on screen). Do something to make your text interesting or it will look plain. However, avoid relying on Photoshop's layer style effects to jazz up your text. These are overused and easily identifiable. If you want to do something interesting with your text, try rendering (rasterizing) it first. Then you can apply filters or manipulate it in interesting ways. It's often nice to try to make your text look more organic and to give it substance.
• If you have complex information to convey to the viewer, start the info in the top left & draw the viewer's eye into the frame. Think of the order in which viewers should interpret the info.
• Use as few colors as possible. Find a good color (hue) and try using variations of its brightness, and saturation. Watch some of your favorite network graphics. You'll see that most are made using just a few colors. that work well together.
• For keyed titles and captions, think of the video as part of your graphic. Place your text and other elements to coincide with the existing video.
• Add depth wherever possible. Try overlapping elements, shadows, skew (a 3D effect) to show depth.

Making Graphics for TV:

Graphics will be usually be for either a 4:3 or 16:9 display. Unless you're using the latest version of Photoshop, you'll have to design your graphics looking at square pixels. However, most editing systems use non-square pixel dimensions.(DV uses 720 x 480, D1 uses 720 x 486). Once you make your graphics, you will probably want to re-size a copy to import into your video editing application.

To create graphics for 4:3 (standard definition) television display:

Make your graphics using 4:3 pixel dimensions: 720 x 540 is optimum for making standard definition TV graphics, but you can also use 800 x 600, or any other pixel dimensions that are 4x3. If you have Photoshop CS, you can work directly in native non-square pixel sizes such as 720 x 480.

To create graphics for 16:9 widescreen (standard definition) television display:

Make your graphics using 16:9 pixel dimensions:.There are many that could work, but 853 x 480 works fine for standard definition graphics going into DV. For D1 you could use 864 x 486.

You can find nice preset templates in Photoshop specifically for TV graphics. They will put you into RGB color mode and set your resolution for 72 dpi.

Once you make your Photoshop graphic, store it with all of the layers intact in a safe place. Save a copy to resize and import into your desired video editing application.

Terms you should know:

• HSB - Stands for hue, saturation and brightness. Used to identify a color.
• Leading- the spacing between lines
• Kerning- the space between individual letters. For example you’d want to kern a small case letter “o” to fit underneath the capital letter “T”.
• Tracking – the spacing of an entire group of letters
• Anti-aliasing- Smooths out jagged edges on graphics. This is usually an on or off option. It works by creating intermediately shaded pixels between areas of high contrast.

How can you learn to compose good graphics?

Watch your favorite TV networks and try to duplicate the graphics you see. CNN, MTV, nickelodeon, and other cable networks do a great job creating fresh, eye-catching and well-designed graphics.