Course Summary - Digital File Preparation

From this course, I learned a great deal. After completing the class, I look back on past projects I've done and work I've done for other people and I think about all that I know I've done wrong after learning how to do everything right in the class. I've learned about the importance of a bleed/margins, how to create duotones, the importance of Pantone colors, how to properly set up new files, how to link different files to one another, how to export them correctly, and so much more. I've learned so much from this class that I know will be extremely beneficial to me in the future. This is one of those classes that I can take away so much knowledge from and be able to apply it to things that will be relevant in my future career.

My favorite project from this class was the Designer's Choice project. I loved being able to use what I learned over the semester and apply it to a project that I got to create on my own. I also loved getting to see the final prints of my project, and I definitely will be putting my notebooks to use!

My second favorite project was the magazine ad. I thought it was really interesting to find out what all went into making an ad for a large company and I also liked using a studio photograph that I had taken last semester for the ad.

Overall, I really think that this class has been the most beneficial thing to me out of all the classes I've taken so far at the College of Technology. I was not expecting to have gotten this much out of it when I first started the class.

Pictures that will definitely bring a smile to your face.

http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/jason-lees-crazily-creative-kid-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fjason-lees-crazily-creative-kid-slideshow%252F-photo-2338208-195600632.html

Check them out!

Adobe Tutorial - Color Replacement

In this tutorial I learned how to replace one color in a photo with another.

Before image:

Steps Involved:
1. Load the image you plan to edit into Photoshop.
2. Go to Image>Adjustments>Replace Color
3. In the dialog box that appears, select the Eyedropper tool.
4. With the Eyedropper tool select the color that you would like to replace in the image.
5. Use the Add to Sample Tool to make sure that all of the shades of the same color that you chose are also selected.
6. Move the Hue slider in the Replace Color Tool dialog box to choose the color you want to replace the original color with. Then you're done!

After image:

Source: http://www.photoshoplayer.com/beginner/how-to-replace-a-color-in-photoshop/
Images in this post were taken by me.

Job Search Analysis - Art Director

Art Directors are responsible for the visual look and feel of different mediums such as magazines, movie and television productions, packaging and others. They are in charge of the overall design of whatever project they are working on, and they direct others who also help complete the project.

A Bachelor's Degree in the graphics field is required for Art Directors. One to five years of experience are required to become an art director, and one does not usually start out as one - you must work your way up and gain plenty of experience to become one. Median pay in 2010 for an Art Director was around $80,630 a year or $38.77 an hour. Art directors should know Adobe software, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, and knowledge in other software would be beneficial. Skills in photography or graphic design would also be helpful to get someone the job as art director.

Information Source: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/art-directors.htm
Image Source: http://2one5.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WEAREHIRING-art-director.jpg

Lawsuit Article Review - A&M Records v. Napster

One very well known copyright infringement case is A&M Records v. Napster and this case occurred in 2001. Napster started a peer-to-peer music file sharing website that allowed people to share music with others for free.

A&M Records filed a lawsuit against Napster saying that the website stole music and shared it worldwide. A&M Records won the lawsuit and in 2002 Napster closed the site, and then payed $26 million dollars to A&M and other record labels and songwriters. Napster ended up apologizing for what they had done.

The Napster lawsuit has set an example of what happened to those to commit copyright infringement in the music industry, but that still does not stop some websites today from giving away free downloads of music.

Information Source: http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/74022.aspx
Image Source: http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.01/group10/napster_activnews.gif

Job Search Analysis - Web Designer

One career I've been considering for awhile is Web Design. A web designer is someone who designs websites and puts them together with computer languages such as HTML, CSS, Actionscript, Flash and others. Like graphic designers, web designers should have a good eye for page layout, typography, and other forms of visual design.

A typical education requirement for a web designer would be a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Arts or something similar. Equal knowledge and skills can land you a job in this field also. A web designer today is usually required to know the Adobe software, mainly Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator. Some knowledge in Flash may also be a requirement for some companies. Years of required experience vary from business to business, but the more you know, the more likely you are to get hired. The median expected salary for a web designer is around $51, 898 a year.

Information source: http://www1.salary.com/Designer-I-Web-salary.html

Image Source

Adobe Tutorial - Digital Tintype Photos

In this tutorial, I learned how to create a digital tintype photo. Usually, tintype photos are created with special equipment under certain conditions, but this tutorial shows how to achieve the same effects digitally.

Here is my Before image:

Steps involved:
1. Add a Hue/Saturation layer
2. In the Hue/Saturation menu, check the "Colorize" box, choose a hue you like, desaturate the image almost completely, and then use the Lightness slider to darken the image slightly.
3. Convert the base layer for Smart Filters
4. Select the Surface Blur effect, and change the Threshold to around 10. The goal of this step is to remove small details and make the image appear smoother.
5. Select the Motion Blur, set the Distance setting to around 4. Keep this effect to a minimum.
6. Add a Brightness/Contrast layer. Raise the Brightness to a setting you prefer (only a little) and adjust Contrast a great deal. The tutorial raises it to +74.
7. Go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction. Pull the Vignette slider all the way to -100.
8. The last step consists of adding a texture to the image. The tutorial tells you that you can download this concrete image for the effect. Place the image over your original, and then the tutorial suggests selecting Overlay in the Blending Modes menu.

 And here is my After image!

Source: http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tutorials-effects/digital-tintype-photos/

The images above were taken by me.

15 "Real-Life" Disney Princesses

I thought these were so neat!

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/creative-inspirations/digital-art/15-amazing-qreal-lifeq-rendition-of-disney-characters-by-jirka-vaeaetaeinen.html

Job Search Analysis

The work of a graphic designer can be seen anywhere and everywhere. To sum it up, they create images that we read. The images are made to help send us a message and portray ideas.

The 2010 median pay for a graphic designer was about $43,500, or $20.92 an hour.  Entry-level education for graphic design requires a Bachelor's degree, but I've seen that equal experience and skills can also land you the job. Graphic designers today are also required to know the Adobe software, mainly Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. It is also a plus for any designer that also knows about Flash and/or has other web experience. A certain amount of years of experience are not usually required for people going into graphic design, but like any other job, it is best to go in with as  much experience as you can.

Information Source: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/graphic-designers.htm

Image source

The Final Project

For my final project, I decided to make a 4 by 6 inch notebook that will be saddle-stitched and the paper will be "die-cut" so that the corners will be rounded on all the pages. The inside pages will all be lined, and I'm thinking I'm going to include a few graphics on some of the pages throughout the little notebook.
The notebook can be used for anything. Taking notes, making lists, writing yourself reminders. I already have something like it, and I use it a lot to take To-Do lists, because I'm extremely forgetful, but since the pages will simply be lined, the notebook will be for anything the person using it wants.
I thought about creating a notebook that would work for both genders, but I figured girls would be more likely to use something like this, and I want to make the notebook pretty, so I'm going to give the book a girly cover.

Here are my thumbnails:

And my rough drafts:

All of the pages inside the cover will be 8" by 6" to make a final product that is 4" by 6" when folded. All pages will include a 0.125" bleed and a 0.25" margin on all sides.

Here are a few photos of my dummy:

To print 500 of these it would cost me about $506. To save money, I did not include graphics on the inside pages, making them only have grey lines to write on.

Here are my final prints! I made two versions of the notebook, but I only turned in the notebook on the left for my final project grade.

Adobe Tutorial

In this tutorial, I learned how to make a photo look like a retro comic book picture.

Here is my before image:

Here is the after image:

The steps involved include:
1. Adjust the levels of the image under Image>Adjustments>Levels. The person giving the tutorial said that the numbers they plugged into the menu were 60/1.00/220 but said you should adjust the image to your liking.
2. The next step is to add film grain. The goal is not to keep the image looking realistic, but give it an artistic quality that will add to the end result.
3. Duplicate your layer and name the new layer HALFTONE
4. To the HALFTONE layer, apply the halftone effect. Go to Filter>Pixelate>Halftone and set the max radius to 4. After you've closed that menu, in the Layers Palette, apply the Darken effect to the same layer.
5. Select the HALFTONE layer and set a STROKE LAYER STYLE of WIDTH: 20px, POSITION: InsideCOLOR: #F5ECE1.

The next couple steps include adding comic book-like text and captions to the photo, which I count as optional.

My image didn't turn out as well as the example did. I think if I would have zoomed in more it would have looked better. Certain images are going to work better for this tutorial than others.

The tutorial also shows you where you can download special comic book fonts, which I thought was nice!

Sources:
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/09/13/give-your-photos-a-retro-comic-book-effect/

National Logo Redesign

Recently, JCPenney came out with a new logo and a new pricing strategy. Their new goal is to not have "One Day Only!" sales every other day, but to always offer the lowest prices possible.  The CEO of the company says that they will offer prices that will draw customers in all year long, rather than on the days of sales. They felt that the new makeover of the pricing strategies called for a new logo.

Here is the old logo:

And here is their latest logo:

 

The new logo still incorporates the square that the old logo had, except this time it is used to help portray an American flag. They also cut the name in the logo down from "jcpenney" to just "jcp".

I personally do not like the new logo compared to the old. I think the new logo has too much empty space. I don't even really like that it resembles an American flag. I think that they should have stuck to the old logo, although it is quite plain too, or came up with a new idea all together.

Sources:
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/JCPenney-Rebrands-012612.aspx
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/what-to-expect-j-c-penneys-new-pricing-strategy/

Everyday Inspiration

Wherever you go, you can find design inspiration. Something can catch your eye while you're shopping, cruising the internet, or even just driving through town. Here are a few things that got my attention just while I was out shopping around at Walmart, Bath and Body Works, Hibbett, Academy and JC Penney.

One of the first things I saw when I walked into JC Penney was this "Donut Shop" coffee in the kitchen appliances section.

I think what first caught my eye was the color combination. I really like the mint green color (it's the color I've been into lately) along with the red orange and light blue. I thought they all worked well together for the retro-looking theme the package seems to be going for. I also liked the fonts they used, and that they curved the lines the letters sit on a bit. The logo really looks like something you would see in an old fashioned coffee shop.
I think the target audience for this would be anyone who enjoys coffee, but the package I think would attract more women, or people who like the "retro" feel. The production process would include designing the piece and sending it to a printer would could print on the special thick paper for the box. The printer would also need a die cut so that the box could be folded properly. The call to action is to buy this coffee to enjoy, preferably with your donuts/breakfast.

My boyfriend and I left JC Penney and walked into Hibbett to look around. It one poster that seemed the most interesting to me in the whole store was this one:

I liked that the person in the picture was a dark silhouette against a bright yellow background, along with the orange and green pattern strip above the line of trees. I'm not really sure why, but I don't really like that "OUT" is larger than all the other text. I feel like "BLACK" should have just as much emphasis at "OUT" and they should be considered one. Other than that, I really like the design of this poster. I like the "COLDBLACK" logo at the top next to the Under Armour symbol. I think that's a really unique font and it fits well with the poster.
The target audience would be men/boys for this particular product, because they were men's t-shirts, and it would be for the men who are into sports or exercising. The production process would include the designer putting together the image with the text and creating the pattern on the poster, and then sending it off to print on poster board. The call to action is for you to buy this shirt and feel the benefits of its new design.

When we left Hibbett, we went into Bath and Body Works, where I was really tempted to buy a bunch of new stuff. My boyfriend doesn't help much when he keeps telling me to go ahead and just get something! Here I saw a lot of color combinations that I would really like to use when the time comes.

A lot of Bath and Body Works' designs are simple, and that may also be why I like them.

I like that they used different shades of the same color. My eyes were really drawn to the blue container. It's simple but still really pretty to me. I also thought the little designs on the coral containers were interesting and I liked that they were a little abstract. The logo is simple, all lowercase, and that is something else that I like. It also contrasts well with the dark blue.

I think these products target audience would include mainly women/girls. The pretty designs and colors are girly and would attract any girl that is interested in spending a little more on their bathroom essentials. The production process would include the designer designing the label, and they would need to include a bleed for these images, and then having the designs printed on a sticky label and places on the plastic containers. The call to action is to buy this to help relieve stress and feel more calm.

I had to make a trip to Walmart after we left the mall, so when we got there we decided to look around. We went to the electronics accessories area and I saw this iPod case that I really did not like.

I've never liked "glam" designs like this. I think it looks really tacky. The lips, stars and butterflies do not appeal to me. I think that some girls would really like this though, and I would imagine the target audience being mainly younger girls, such as preteens, and maybe some teenagers. The production process for this piece would include coming up with the design, creating it in Illustrator and having it printed directly onto the plastic. If you feel the case you can tell that there is not sticker on the case and that the ink is slightly raised. The call to action would be for you to buy a protective case for your iPod.


All information in this post is my own knowledge, and all of the pictures were taken by me.

Billboard Project

The billboard we are supposed to design will be an extension of the magazine ad we create. It will have the same content, only it will be designed for requirements of a billboard. The billboard requires RGB images and images with 72 ppi. You don't need to have high resolution images since the billboard would be seen from far away.

The purpose of this ad will be the same as the magazine ad. It is to get women/girls interested in a new girly perfume that is out by Vera Wang. The billboard's call to action will be for the people interested in the product to go to the nearest store (such as Macy's) to check out the fragrance.

The file will be set up to be 10 ft. 6.5 inches by 22 ft. by 9.5 inches. The finished product will be 10 ft. 5 inches by 22 ft. 8 inches. That allows for there to be a 1.5 inch bleed.

Here are my thumbnails:

Here are my rough drafts:

Here is my final image for the billboard campaign:

Magazine Ad Project

Our fourth project for Digital File Prep is a combination of a magazine ad and billboard ad. I decided to create an advertisement for Elle magazine, and I was able to find their ad specifications online. They offer a PDF download of all the requirements for advertising in their magazine. My ad with advertise Vera Wang's fragrance called Princess, and I will be using the photos I took of my own bottle of the perfume last semester in Studio Product Photography. I'm excited to see how this will all turn out! I'm also excited to use something I previously did in another class and apply it somewhere else.

My target audience will be females would enjoy girly things and are looking for a perfume that portrays that. This target audience will also enjoy reading about and finding new fashion, since that is what Elle magazine is focused on. The magazine ad will tell the audience to go to their nearest Kohl's, Macy's or other department store to find the fragrance. The magazine ad will also include a Microsoft tag, and I plan on having that tag redirect the person to a page online that advertises Princess.

Elle magazine requires a minimum of .125 bleed and .25 margins on a full page ad. The ad must be submitted to Elle in PDF/X-1aformat and CMYK color mode. The final ad size will be 8 by 10.875 inches. Live area size will be 7.5 by 10.375 inches. The price to have an ad in Elle magazine is $148,270. At first I thought that had to be a typo! I had to email the Group Production Manager from the Hearst magazine company to find out the price, because it is not included in their downloadable PDF of magazine specs.

Here are my thumbnails:

And my rough drafts:

And here is my final image!

Adobe Software Tutorial

 In this tutorial provided by Photoble I learned how to add a retro color effect to an image. Here is the Before image I used:

 

Here is my After image:

 

To achieve this look:

1. Open the image you wish to edit and duplicate the Background layer. You will now have a layer called Background and a layer called Background copy. 
2. Make sure you still have the copied layer selected and using the rectangle marquee tool, drag the tool across the left half of the image. 
3. Press "ctrl+backspace" to delete the image, and fill that space with a red color.
4. Now Choose Select>Inverse to select the other half of the image.
5. Repeat step 3, except fill the empty selection with a green color.
6. Choose Image>Adjustments>Match Color
7. Change the source to the original Background layer you started with, and choose the Background copy as the Layer option.
8. Now you can adjust the settings of Luminance, Color Intensity and Fade to achieve the look you want. (I mainly adjusted the Fade option.)
9. Now you're done! Save your work and have fun doing these effects to other images you'd like.

Tutorial link:
hhttp://www.photoble.com/photoshop-tutorials/retro-color-effect-photoshop-tutorial

Adobe Creative Suite Tutorial

I completed an Adobe Photoshop tutorial on how to mask layers with clipping masks. A clipping mask allows you to cover a layer with the one above it, but only show certain parts that you've drawn out to allow the image to show through.

Here is my Before image:

I will then add this picture with a clipping mask to make it look as though it is on one of the screens:

To create this clipping mask, first I had to cut out the screen that I wanted the flowers image to cover and paste in onto its own layer. To cut the image, I used the rectangle marquee tool, drew it around the single screen, cut the screen, created a new layer, and pasted the screen in place. So, the layers from top to bottom include: flowers image, the single screen (cut and pasted), and then the rest of the computers that the single screen was cut from.

You have to make sure that the image you want to show through is on top of the one you want to cover. To get your clipping mask to do this, simply press Option (Mac) or Command (Windows) and click the dividing black like that lies between the two layers in the Layers panel. You have now completed a clipping mask!

Here is the final image:

To use this image, save it as a flattened TIFF or EPS file and import it into InDesign. Make sure any image you import has a resolution of 300!

I completed this tutorial with this link.
All images used were obtained as copyright free images from iStock.com.

Newspaper Ad Project

Our third project for Digital File Prep is a newspaper ad for our PSU Collegio. The budget for this ad is $97. An example of how to figure out how much the ad would cost looks something like this:

5 column inches by 3 inches = 15 column inches
15 column inches by $4 per inch = $60

If I used that size of an ad, I would be $37 under budget.

Project specifications include:

• no bleed
• minimum .125 inch margins
• black and white only

It is also suggested that we enhanced the contrast in our black and white photos, and be careful if we choose to use a background image or a watermark. In this project, we are required to use a bitmap image, and that will take care of the bitmap on our Master Image List.

I have decided to do a newspaper advertisement for a made-up coffee shop called Grain de Cafe, which means the Coffee Bean in French. I love coffee, and I know a lot of college students rely heavily on coffee to keep them going.

Here a my five thumbnails I sketched for the project:

 

Here is my rough draft:

Here's my final image!

Master Image List

Something we have to keep track of and include in our projects for Digital File Prep is a Master Image List. This list includes various images that must be used up by the end of our final project. On this list images types such as bitmap, vector art, duotone rasters, 4 color rasters and screen tints are included. As we use these different types of images, we learn how to create them and how they should be used.

Bitmaps only contain black and white pixels to make up an image with no shades of grey. Bitmaps are very compact but can still contain very high resolution. For our projects, our bitmaps are to be saved as EPS, and they must be strictly line art and no shading.

Image source: http://www.clipartlab.com/flowers.php

A reverse is when you create art that allows the color of the paper to show through.

Image source: http://www.showyourlogo.com/custom-tote-bags/Paper-Bags.htm

Vector art is art that is not resolution dependent. You can scale vectors up or down to whatever size you want without affecting the image quality. The file format for vectors are AI files, created in Adobe Illustrator.

A grayscale raster is a raster image in grayscale mode. You can change the mode in Photoshop. It should be saved as a tif or an eps.

A duotone raster can only be saved as an eps. To create a duotone, you must first convert your image to grayscale to get right of all color information. Then under the same Image>Mode menu, select duotone. You will then be prompted to choose two spot colors to create the duotone. Black plus another color are typically used for duotones.

The colors I used are Black and PANTONE 1645 C.


A silhouette raster is a raster image created using a clipping path. It cannot bleed on all four sides, and it can be saved in grayscale, CMYK, or duotone. You must save this file as an EPS. To create a silhouette/COB image, select the pen tool in Photoshop with your image opened. Draw a path around what you want to "cut out" of the image. Making sure that your path is still selected, save the path in the Paths panel. After you had completed that step, select Create Clipping Path in the same panel and save it as an eps.

A full bleed raster is a raster image with a bleed on all four sides. To create it, you would make it in Photoshop and file formats can include EPS or TIFF. You can have a full bleed raster in any color mode, including duotone, grayscale or CMYK.

A four color raster is a raster image that is saved as a flattened TIFF or EPS, with a color mode of CMYK.

A screen tint is a pattern on the screen that consists of dots that are evenly spaced and the same color to create an even tone.

Sources:
http://www.forbesproducts.com/artworkfaq.aspx
https://pittstate.angellearning.com/section/default.asp?id=12SP-TE-GIT-341-02

McCue, Claudia. Real World Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit, 2009. Print.