Class Summary

I have learned so much this semester. Things such as checking to see if an image is placed correctly in the document, how to fix them in their native software, how to package a file and activate fonts, how to change a Pantone color to a process color, the importance of copyright and how to site correctly. I have most definitely learned how to keep a blog going. I believe my favorite project was my newspaper ad. I don't really know why but I loved that project. I have learned so much in this course its hard to summarize it all. I will admit it challenged me a lot to keep up with the projects and remembering everything that I had to do, but overall I did learn a lot and I'm glad I stuck it out and pushed through it all. My projects didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would and some of them looked really good. My only suggestion is to not have as many blogs, because it gets a bit overwhelming, but it wasn't horrible. Thanks to Crystal Benson for teaching us this semester.

Adobe Tutorial 5

Start leaf

  

              In this tutorial I learned how to use the blend tool to make a vector flower pattern. I made the flower petals first. I created 2 stoke paths, one a yellow/green and the other a blue green color. Then set your blend options by going to Object, Blend, Blend options, and set the specified steps to 10.  Then select both of you paths and go to Object, Blend, Make. That blends the 2 strokes together in 10 steps. Then I copied and pasted the flower petal 6 more times and put them around a common point.

                Then we used the same steps, to create the rest of the flower. I made the stem using 2 long stoke paths and blending them together using 8 shapes, and the area was so small that you couldn’t see the specified steps, but it made it look cool.

                Then I made the leaf. I used one curved stoke and a straight line stroke to make half of the leaf and then I copied and pasted and flipped it around and put them together to make the leaf. Then I copied and pasted it to make another one.

                Then I put all of the elements together to make a flower and arrange them like I wanted. Then I made the long leafs with the pen tool, and just 3 on the specified steps, and added those to the very base of my flower. And the final product is my pretty flower.

End Flower

Sources:http://ndesign-studio.com/tutorials/stylish-vector-flower

Job search analysis 3

The third job I found was a graphic design job for "The Creative Group". The Job description is a graphic designer working for a specific client of theirs, designing all of the publications and creative jobs. The Education requirements is a 4 year degree in graphic design. The Preferred skills and software are you have to have a strong design portfolio, know how to use a PC and the CS5 Software, and know HTML5 and CSS3 and javascript/jQuery coding for web design. Very knowledgeable in design principles, and be able to be persuasive in presenting my ideas and designs.The Salary range is  $95,000 to $110,000 a year.You have to have at least 4 years of experience in professional web and other design.

Source:http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=JRKV0A&APath=2.21.0.0.0&job_did=J3I1F26R6JWVG7GXJWY

Lawsuit summary

For my lawsuit, I will be summarizing the lawsuit between Apple Inc. and Fei Lik Lam and his parents about Lams website business called whiteiphone4now.com.

                Apple filed a lawsuit against Lam and his parents for infringement on their trademarks and selling of their products without their permission. Lam had gotten white iPhone parts that were still being developed by someone he knew who was working at apple. He was getting the parts and selling them to people all over through his website.

                Apple asked for an injunction keeping the Lams from any further sales. Also to forfeit all the profits made from selling the iPhone 4 parts and other penalties as well.  Needless to say, Apple won the case and the Lam’s had to pay all the penalties listed above.

                My view on this is that you don’t mess with Apple. They are very serious about the use of their trademark.

Sources: This came from the actual case file that I found online at this website: http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/white-iphone.pdf

Job Search Analysis 2

The second job I found is a job with LHC Group Inc. They are a national home health and hospice service provider. The job description is for a full time graphic designer. That person would be designing ads, brochures, presentations, web pages and other material. They will work with other graphic designers and coordinate projects as needed. The education requirements are you have to have a bachelor's degree in a graphic arts or a related degree. The preferred skills and software are that you must be proficient in Adobe Creative Suite and have a strong portfolio of creative design work with proven results. And they also say you have to be able to perform under pressure to meet deadlines and be able to work in print and web. They don't give you the salary range on this website. I think you actually have to apply for the job to hear the salary range. You have to have 2 years experience in a high-volume corporate, or an agency setting.

Sources:http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=JRKV0H&APath=2.21.0.0.0&job_did=JHR2QH74Q96XRFXZS1R

Adobe Tutorial 4

First I created a circle shape in illustrator and filled it with orange. 

Then I copied it and pasted the new one in Front of the other circle and filled that circle with a lighter orange color, and scaled it down to 40% and put it in the lower half of the circle.

Then I selected both objects and went to Object > Blend > Make and blended the 2 circles together.

Then it said to make an oval and fill it with a linear black and white gradient. 

Then I placed it on top of the other circles. 

Then I went to the transparency panel and selected screen mode with made it look 3D. 

Then I just copied and pasted the whole thing twice, and changed the circles to blue and green. 

This is my final image. My beautiful 3d icons.

Source: http://ndesign-studio.com/tutorials/glossy-button

Final Project

Front Rough

Thumbs

         

Full Page Rough

Folding Dummy 1

Folding Dummy 2




The purpose of my final project is to inform people about the fundraiser that Hidden Haven is putting on. Make people interested and get involved in the event. My target audience is mainly the churches that support the camp, and the kids who will be in the event, and everyone who would donate money to the event. My call to action will be a date that way people will know when the event is and mark it on their calender. There will also be a pledge form on the brochure that people can cut out and send in if they wish to give money. And their will also be contact information on here that the viewers can call if they have any questions.The project specifications are:
Trim size:10.875 by 16.875 in
Bleed: .125 in
Margins:.25 in
Finishing:Just needs to be folded down.
Number of Colors: It will be 4 color.
Paper: Hammermill 28# white

Here are the prices to produce:
250: $217.65
500: $384.68
1000: $769.33

My master image list elements I used in this project are my clipping path and my other screen tint.
All my images that I got were from the server and images taken by me or my family. And I made the logo design for Hidden Haven.

Here are my final product images:
First we have the product before its folded and then showing the product after it is folded and how it looks when you unfold it.

   

Job Search Analysis 1

The first job I found was a graphic designer job in Bloomington, Indiana. The job description is the designer is responsible for creating book covers and designs for marketability. They will need a knowledge of current design trends that relate to fiction and non-fiction genres. Continual critiques will provide high quality work and designing of other projects will be assigned as they are needed. The education they require is a college degree that is preferably in Fine-Arts or Graphic Design. The perferred skills are to know the aspects of offset and digital prepress and print production processes and technology. Also a current knowledge of new technologies and current trends is also required, and expanding the company brand. Need excellent organizational, verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills. As well as 3-5 years experience in an ad agency or design studio. And the prefer superior skills in the programs MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook e-mail, Internet use, and typing skills at 50 WPM. The salary was not specified but the average graphic designer makes about a 30- 50,000 dollar salary range.

Source: I got my information from careerbuilder.com

Adobe Tutorial 3

before image

STEP 1: Open a new document in Photoshop
Make sure the Background contents is Transparent. I used 800×600 px size. You can use any size for this tutorial, but if you plan to make a printed poster I would recommend that you would use a much larger size.

STEP 2: Create your shade background
Fill your canvas with a dark gray, I used #383838. Then select the brush tool and use a large blurry (hardness=0%) and use a slightly brighter color, I used #6b6b6b, to brush at random spots in the canvas. You can also use the gradient tool to achieve this.


STEP 3: Insert your image into the canvas
…Either by dragging or pasting. It is better to use an image with a very simple background and where to main person or subject sticks out. I used this image:

STEP 4: Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast…
Use the following settings: Brightness: -30, Contrast: +40. These number do not have to be exact because your original image might already have a high contrast. So if these numbers are too high, use my example difference to come up with a good number.

STEP 5: Change Blending mode
Select the layer of your image and change the Blending mode from Normal to Darken (this option can be found in the top of the layers window).

STEP 6: Select the Custom Shape tool from the Tools window
Select the layer of your image and change the Blending mode from Normal to Darken (this option can be found in the top of the layers window). Then select the ‘Registration Target 2′ shape from your default custom shapes. This is the shape which resembles sun rays. Make sure the shape color is White.

While holding Shift, create the shape on the canvas in a way that the main subject of your design is around the center oThen Right click on the shape layer you have just created and select ‘Rasterize Layer,’ and move this layer right under your image layer in the layers window.

STEP 7: Erase the rays from under your image subject
Since you want the rays to go AROUND the subject and not ON them, select the Eraser tool and use a small blurry brush (hardness=0%) to get rid of the rays that show on the subject of your image. Then select a grungy or dirty brush for your eraser, and erase a little here and there around the rays.

STEP 8: Add more Grunge
Create a new layer (on top of all layers). In this new layer use a different grunge or dirty brush and select the color black to add some grunge on the sides of the image or wherever you find it fit.

STEP 9: Add Hue/Saturation Layer
Select the ‘Create a new fill or adjustment layer’ button which is the little half black half white circle button in the bottom of the layers window, and choose ‘Hue/Saturation

STEP 10: Add Gradient Map Layer
Once again select the ‘Create a new fill or adjustment layer’ button (half black half white circle button in the bottom of the layers window) but this time choose ‘Gradient Map…’ Then click on the gradient to edit the colors. In this step you can choose any variation of colors to determine the gradient map of your design.

STEP 11: Add Border Shadow
Create a new layer. Then Select All (ctrl+A) and go to Edit>Stroke and use the following settings and make sure the color is Black:

Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 42.0 pixels. Change the Opacity of this layer to 56%.

Final Image

Sources: I used my own image, and here is the tutorial I followed.

National Logo Redesign

The logo I chose was Walmart's Logo. It has changed a lot over the years and has recently changed again. I looked on the Walmart website about their logo and the only reason they gave for changing it was to freshen up their design. Here is the timeline of their logos that they provided on their website:

The new logo is very clean and modern. The new design is a lighter color which is more appealing to the eye, its not all caps which makes it look less bulky, and its all one word now instead of broken up which makes it look cleaner, and then they added the yellow star burst thing on the end that looks modern or futuristic and goes very well with the logo. My suspicion of the new design is that it is suppose to help advertise their "going green" initiative. To me it looks a sun, or something in nature. But the new font is not as bulky and just makes it more appealing, even though I loved getting the smiley face stickers when I was a kid, but since I'm not anymore, I really do love this new logo.

Sources: All the information I got(even though they didn't provide very much) was off of the Walmart website in the history section.

Everyday Design Inspiration

This is my first example and it is a convenient store chain, but I do not like their design. I find it too simple and plain and boring. The colors are weird because they are two primary colors and lighter than the actual colors. The typography is not inventive at all and has a generic feel to it. I'm pretty sure this is their logo and its all just cramped together with random shapes thrown in, and as I said I don't like this design. The target audience is obviously the people getting gas but they are gearing it towards people who are out at all hours of the day and their purpose or call to action is let people know that they will be open when other stores won't be and to make them come in. I think that they had a designer create the image in a program and had it printed up on a sign and started a chain for this type of convenient store. But I think they could of done a little better.



  This is a cool advertising bit Long John Silver's did when we stopped to eat there. They were advertising their new fish meal that they had come up with. They colors were very unique and used well with their contrasting colors. The typography was very well incorporated in the design and added to the appeal of the design to look at it. The logo for Long John Silver's wasn't actually on the product but since it was inside the store, I guess it doesn't have to be. Their target audience is people who like fish and also targeting the people who eat at Long John Silver's a lot. Their call to action was this number on one of the back fins that you could text if you liked their fish. I also thought just the actual product itself was awesome. How it looks like a fish. They would of had to create a layout for the design and probably create a folding dummy for it to show where all the text would end up, then get the product printed, and had to do some cutting on the edges of the product where the tail fits together, and they would have shipped it back to the companies and had them distributed to all of the restaurants and the employees would of had to put them together themselves and set them up.

This is another cool little design I found in a hotel with a bunch of other brochures. Again I really like the color scheme they used. I feel it really works well with the design. The typography was well used and creative. I love how they put text on either side of the stick and on the lollipop to make it look like there is wrapping on it or something. And then having the logo design at the bottom just really brings the whole piece together I think. I like the logo. Its simple but bold, and I really like how they did that. Their target audience is I think kids who love candy. And its appealing to the adults because its free and you get to see the factory and make your own candy. It is just appealing to everyone who would like to see how candy is made and to anyone who likes candy. The call to action is their website, phone number, and address that are on the card to inform people how to get a hold of them, they also have a little map on the back of the card to show people how to get there. For this card, they would of designed it in a program like InDesign and make the graphics in Illustrator or some program like it, and have it printed up and then it would of had to had a die cut on the top to cut out the lollipop, and then packaged and send out to wherever they wanted to advertise around Colorado.

I took this picture as we were passing this little cafe on a street. I didn't like logo so I took a picture. The color is plain. Its white and even the overhang thing is a weird color so its all out of wack. The typography is script but its still boring and has no meaning for the cafe. So overall the logo design is not too good. All they have is a little graphic of a basket with a roll in it I think and not a good one at that. I guess their target audience is the local community, and people who like small little cafe's on the corner. And the only call to action I can think of is the logo itself on the side of the overhand thing. Someone just would of had to design the logo and give someone the file to have it printed or pained onto the overhang material.

So for my inspiration I  found two bad designs and two really good designs that I like. It does inspire me to try to be more creative in my designs and I hope I can get there.

Billboard Advertisement Project

 
These are my thumbnails and roughs for my billboard advertisement.



The content on the billboard differs from all of our other projects because there can't be much of it. You only have a few seconds to get your point across when someone is driving down the road. Therefore, you need to have minimal content that extends a message to the viewer.

Again, the purpose of my billboard is the same as my magazine ad because it is a campaign. I am fighting for all those kids out there who don't get to enjoy their summer break and be a kid. Most kids these days either have to go to summer school, or go to all these different sports camps, or they have to work because they think money is the only way to happiness. My target audience is to the parents, teachers, and coaches or these kids. My call to action will be a link to a website informing them about this movement.

Sources: all images and fonts came from server.

Here is my final image:

Magazine Ad Project

 

These are my thumbnails, and my two Roughs that I drew for my magazine project.

The magazine that I chose to advertise in is Reader's Digest. The specifications for the magazine ad are as follows:
          file format: PDF/X-1A
          size: 5.187" x 7.25"
          bleed: 5.437" x 7.5" or .25 all the way around
          live area: 4.687" . 6.75" or .5 margins all the way on the inside
          budget: For a full page black + 1 color is $165,900 or Cost Per Thousand(impressions) = $30.16
          how to submit: submit my PDF to the Reader's Digest Ad portal at: http://rda.adventcheck.com

The main people reading this magazine are parents or the older generation and some single individuals. More women read it than men, but still a fair amount of a male readers. I am aiming towards this generation, because they are the ones who are having kids or already have kids, or possibly coaches. I am more pleading with them, to let their kids be kids and have fun in summer instead of working, or taking up their summers practicing sports at various camps that is taking up their summer completely. They still need to have a childhood and play. My call to action will my a Microsoft Tag that I will incorporate into my design.

Here is my final image:

Adobe Tutorial 2

Start Image

For my second Adobe Tutorial, I decided to make a film strip. I used Photoshop for tutorial, and for my start image I just used a gradient background to put behind my filmstrip.

Here are the steps for the filmstrip tutorial:

1. Need a blank empty layer.
2. With custom shape tool selected, load in the new shape called film. Push append button and double click the last one twice and draw it on your layer.
3. To add pictures to the filmstrip you need to click on your background layer, open mini bridge and click on the images you need for the filmstrip. Then drag them onto the screen.
4. Place the images one at a time into the boxes of the filmstrip where you want them and click the check mark to place the next image.
5. Select all layers that make up film strip and merge them into one.
6. Duplicate the layer.
7. Drag top picture underneath the other one and do edit > Transform > Flip Vertically. 
8. Take your opacity down to 50% for that layer.
9. With eraser tool, take off the base of that image on that layer.
10. Flatten these two layers together again.
11. Go to Edit > Warp and change from custom to flag and click the check mark to apply the change
12. ALL DONE

I know have my filmstrip.

The tutorial I used was: http://vimeo.com/14250097  and it came from this website: http://creativefan.com/30-best-adobe-photoshop-cs5-video-tutorials/
All the images I used were ones that I have taken myself.
Overall I think my ending image turned out pretty good.

Adobe Tutorial- Masking with channels

Before Image

Open you image, and go to the Channels panel and toggle through the different channels to find the most contrast between the subject and the background. With the channel selected go up to Image > Calculations. It makes a brand new channel that makes the background even darker than it is before, creating a better contrast. Press Command I to invert the image. Press shift/delete which brings up the fill menu. In Use menu select black. And set the blending section to overlay. And select okay. Grab brush tool and use a small brush and change the blend mode to overlay. Then color in the image that you want to keep with black. Then invert it back so the selected area will be white. Then go back into your RGB channel and turn it back on. Go to your layers panel and unlock the background layer. Go to select menu and go to load selection and load the Alpha 1 channel you created. Load it as a new selection and press okay. Click the layer mask icon in the layers panel, and put a new layer underneath that layer and give it a different color background to make it stand out.

After Image

Sources: The Tutorial came from Layers Magazine.com and the image is from my personal pictures on my computer.

Master Image List Elements

A Bitmap or sometimes called line art is a graphic containing a scanned image that contains only black and white pixels with no shades of gray. Need to save a bitmap as an EPS with transparent whites checked.

A Reverse is where the color of paper shows through a solid color. It can be the color of the paper, and can be used in any program, as any file type. Most often it will be made in InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop.

Vector art is pixel free, scalable graphics that have a sharp edge. Most likely will be a Native Illustrator file. And can be used in any color mode you want.

A Grayscale raster is a raster image that has is just black, white and gray. You have to convert your photo to a Duotone and then to a grayscale color mode and should be saved as a flattened eps or tif image.

A Duotone raster is composed of 2 images, usually black and a spot color but you can use 2 spot colors if you wish. Obviously you will have to be in the Duotone color Mode. A duotone should be saved only as an eps.

A Silhouette raster eliminates the background surrounding the important element in an image. Usually you create a mask or path to outline the element in your image. A silhouette can be in any color mode, and is usually saved as an eps.

A Full bleed raster is an image that extends off every side of the page. It can be any color modes, and should be saved as a flattened eps or tif.

A Four color raster is an image that using the CMYK to create the image. You would use the CMYK color mode and is saved as a flattened eps or tif.

A Screen tint is a screen pattern that consists of dots that are all the same size and create an even tone. You should either use spot colors or process colors. And they should be a part of your InDesign file, and should be saved as an INDD file.

Sources: I used the textbook(Print Productions by Claudia McCue) and Angel for the definitions, color modes and file types. I used Angel for all of the images except for the pen graphic which is my vector art. 

Newspaper Ad Project

The project we are working on now is a newspaper ad for the Collegio. Our budget for this project is $97. The formula we use to calculate our price to produce is as follows:

You take the number of columns your ad takes up (mine is 3) and multiple it by the height of your ad (mine is 7). You take the number you get and multiple it by the dollars per inch amount (ours is $4). The amount you get is your Price to Produce. 

So my formula looks like this:

3(col) X 7in= 21in. X $4 = $84 to produce my ad in the paper.

This project needs to be black and white only and needs to contain a bitmap image. A bitmap image is a hand drawn or traced image using a sharpie that you scan into a computer. It needs to be all lines, black and white with no shades of gray. You use Photoshop to edit it and clean it up and save it. Line screen is the measure of halftone dot frequency usually expressed in lpi (lines per inch). The higher the screen ruling, the finer detail in the printed image, however, newspaper stock is very absorbent and coarse. If you have a high line screen you will have dot gain, which is where the ink absorbs into the paper and spreads to where it is not supposed to go. The master image list elements I plan to use are: a bitmap, my second vector art, and a reverse.

The ad that I will de designing is a job opening ad for Hidden Haven. My target audience is towards high school/college students who need a job for the summer. The purpose is to inform viewers of a job opening and to get people to respond by calling or messaging us.  Then our call to action which I already mentioned would be a phone number to call us if they are interested, and listing out face book page to message us on there if they would like to ask more questions. 

Thumbnails:

 

 

Rough

Final Image for Newspaper Ad

Sources: All information came from our book(Print Productions) and notes I took in class. I drew the bitmap and scanned it in and the Facebook icon came from the free set of social media icons our teach(Crystal Benson) gave us to use for class.