Image Making
Carla Viviana Coleman · 2017
Images in interfaces are made of pixels varying in size and resolution. Images became an important part of the graphical user interface (GUI) with the Apple Lisa, but only in monochrome and at an extremely low resolution. Fred Crockett Billingsley, who dedicated his life to the research of digital imaging, wrote the first papers that used the word pixel , an abbreviation of picture element . A pixel is the smallest piece of an image that a computer can display onscreen and through printing on paper. Graphic images are usually part of the interface design itself, including navigational icons, illustrations, or even abstract color shapes. Such images are usually smaller in file size compared with photographs, because they use fewer colors and have less detail, while photographs are extremely detailed even if monochromatic. Images must be made at various stages of the interface prototyping process, from paper to digital.