Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Design tips
Here are some pretty good design tips. It frames it in the advertising world, but you could apply this to news and information, too.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Update
Good work day today. Here's what we will be up to (subject to change..):
Wednesday: Work day for photo story (demonstration) spreads
Monday Oct. 5: Work day .. planning on having magazine spreads due at the end of class, we'll see how this works out.
Wednesday Oct. 7: I'll show some brochure examples, we'll look at some of your microwave boxes and magazine spreads, and talk about how to use the brochure template
Monday Oct 12: Brochure work day
Wednesday Oct 13: Introduce the video assignment, Video Assignment #1
Monday: Oct 19: No class (Fall break)
Wednesday Oct 21: Brochure due at end of class (Work day)
October 26: More video techniques Video Assignment #2
Start thinking about who you client will be for your brochure!
Wednesday: Work day for photo story (demonstration) spreads
Monday Oct. 5: Work day .. planning on having magazine spreads due at the end of class, we'll see how this works out.
Wednesday Oct. 7: I'll show some brochure examples, we'll look at some of your microwave boxes and magazine spreads, and talk about how to use the brochure template
Monday Oct 12: Brochure work day
Wednesday Oct 13: Introduce the video assignment, Video Assignment #1
Monday: Oct 19: No class (Fall break)
Wednesday Oct 21: Brochure due at end of class (Work day)
October 26: More video techniques Video Assignment #2
Start thinking about who you client will be for your brochure!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Updated class schedule
_____________________________________
Monday, September 21
Twilight poster
Assign Photo Story & Brochure
Wednesday, September 23
In-class Indesign assignment
_____________________________________
Monday, September 28
Work day for photo story, read chapter 8
Wednesday, September 30
Photo story, continued
_____________________________________
Monday, October 5
Photo story due, read Chapter 6
Discuss photo stories, brochure examples
Wednesday, October 7
Brochure work day
_____________________________________
Monday, October 12
Brochure work day
Wednesday, October 14 -- Mid point
Brochure work day
_____________________________________
Monday, October 19 -- No class, fall break
Wednesday, October 21
Brochure due, intro to video/audio storytelling
Assign: In-camera short story
_____________________________________
Monday, September 21
Twilight poster
Assign Photo Story & Brochure
Wednesday, September 23
In-class Indesign assignment
_____________________________________
Monday, September 28
Work day for photo story, read chapter 8
Wednesday, September 30
Photo story, continued
_____________________________________
Monday, October 5
Photo story due, read Chapter 6
Discuss photo stories, brochure examples
Wednesday, October 7
Brochure work day
_____________________________________
Monday, October 12
Brochure work day
Wednesday, October 14 -- Mid point
Brochure work day
_____________________________________
Monday, October 19 -- No class, fall break
Wednesday, October 21
Brochure due, intro to video/audio storytelling
Assign: In-camera short story
_____________________________________
Photo story & Brochure info
Photo Story and Brochure Assignments
(Some changes from the syllabus here)
• Photo Story due October 5 (50 points)
• Tri-Fold brochure due October 21 (50 points)
These are the last two assignments of our "print" section. We'll be moving on to video after this.
Photo Story: this will be a four-page magazine spread demonstrating a multi-step task, procedure, service, etc., of your choosing.
Details:
Choose a dominant photo for the entire spread. This should be the best photo – in technical, compositional and story-telling quality – that you have. Then, choose a dominant photo for each of your other pages. Then choose secondary photos for your pages. You may use as many photos as good design and storytelling necessitate and allow. Use InDesign for the design and layout of your spread. Use Photoshop to correct, resize and/or enhance your photos.
Type, objects, lines, photos and illustrations are all permissible
You must include at least 7 photos in your design
Each of four pages is 8.5in x 11in (portrait orientation)
Use at least one color, plus black
Use captions to answer the necessary information about your demonstration…the who/what/when/where/why/how. But, remember, this should be mostly photos.
Don't forget a headline for this "story" (e.g., "Grilled cheese the college way: on an iron!")
Use Paragraph and Object Styles to save time.
Incorporate the elements of graphic design we have covered to this point
Tri-Fold brochure: For this assignment, you will pick a client -- it could be an on-campus organization, business, club, athletic group, or even professor. You will then create a tri-fold brochure (one 8.5in by 11in sheet of paper, front and back, folded twice into a brochure).
You will work with your client to figure out what images will be best to include. They will also give you some basic information to be communicated in the brochure's copy.
I will give you a ti-fold template you can use in InDesign, but you'll need to supply photos and information for the copy. You don't need a huge amount of text, but you'll want some introductory sentences about your client, some supporting facts and information (in the form of paragraphs or bullet points) and a summary/contact information section on the back page.
See me if you are having trouble thinking of a demonstration or a client.
(Some changes from the syllabus here)
• Photo Story due October 5 (50 points)
• Tri-Fold brochure due October 21 (50 points)
These are the last two assignments of our "print" section. We'll be moving on to video after this.
Photo Story: this will be a four-page magazine spread demonstrating a multi-step task, procedure, service, etc., of your choosing.
Details:
Choose a dominant photo for the entire spread. This should be the best photo – in technical, compositional and story-telling quality – that you have. Then, choose a dominant photo for each of your other pages. Then choose secondary photos for your pages. You may use as many photos as good design and storytelling necessitate and allow. Use InDesign for the design and layout of your spread. Use Photoshop to correct, resize and/or enhance your photos.
Type, objects, lines, photos and illustrations are all permissible
You must include at least 7 photos in your design
Each of four pages is 8.5in x 11in (portrait orientation)
Use at least one color, plus black
Use captions to answer the necessary information about your demonstration…the who/what/when/where/why/how. But, remember, this should be mostly photos.
Don't forget a headline for this "story" (e.g., "Grilled cheese the college way: on an iron!")
Use Paragraph and Object Styles to save time.
Incorporate the elements of graphic design we have covered to this point
Tri-Fold brochure: For this assignment, you will pick a client -- it could be an on-campus organization, business, club, athletic group, or even professor. You will then create a tri-fold brochure (one 8.5in by 11in sheet of paper, front and back, folded twice into a brochure).
You will work with your client to figure out what images will be best to include. They will also give you some basic information to be communicated in the brochure's copy.
I will give you a ti-fold template you can use in InDesign, but you'll need to supply photos and information for the copy. You don't need a huge amount of text, but you'll want some introductory sentences about your client, some supporting facts and information (in the form of paragraphs or bullet points) and a summary/contact information section on the back page.
See me if you are having trouble thinking of a demonstration or a client.
Poster assignment
Poster Assignment
20 points • Due: End of class
InDesign tools we have introduced so far:
• Image placement and scaling
• Creating paragraph and object styles
• Changing fonts, font sizes, adding a drop shadow
• Creating swatches, adjusting kerning
For this assignment, we'll learn these InDesign tools:
• Creating shapes
• Creating and adding a gradient
• Adjusting vertical and horizontal scale of text
And practice these principles of design:
• Contrasting, dynamic typography
• Harmony of between your elements of design
• Strong visuals through alignment and color selection
• Reinforcing the power and implications of proximity of and between elements
You'll be creating a movie poster for what is sure to be the hit of the year, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Elements you'll need to include (be as creative as you want with these):
• A moon
• Title (The Twilight Saga: New Moon)
• It stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• That it is based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer and directed by Chris Weitz
• It opens 11-20-09
I would suggest sketching out your basic design on paper first. Your main task is to use type in a dramatic and dynamic way so it will make the movie look interesting, while communicating the facts about the movie. Your use of type will be very important since you only have one main graphic (the moon) to work with.
Other notes:
• You can use other shapes (circles, squares, lines, etc.) if you want, but no photos.
• Use at least one color besides black. Think about having your background color something other than white.
• Use at least one gradient
• Adjust the kerning and horizontal/vertical scale of some of your text
(OVER for InDesign notes)
To create a circle:
1. Click and hold the mouse button down on the "Rectangle Tool" on the left side toolbar
2. Select Ellipse
3. Click and drag to make an ellipse. Hold the shift key down to constrain it to a circle.
4. Resize it by clicking and dragging on an corner of your object's blue box.
5. To fill your shape in with a color, make sure your object is selected (it will have a blue box around it) and click on a swatch.
To create a gradient/gradient swatch:
1. Open your swatches palette.
2. Create your two colors that will make up each end of the gradient.
3. Click on the Gradient pop-up window (on the right side, near Colors and Effects)
4. You'll see two small boxes at either end of your gradient slider. Simply drag a swatch into one of these boxes. If you miss and create a third box, simply click and drag the new box out of the gradient pop-up to delete it.
5. In the top left, you'll see a larger box with sort of a preview of what your gradient looks like. Drag this box to your swatches pop-up window to create a gradient swatch. Now you have it saved (or right click and select Add to Swatches). You can double click on your new gradient swatch to edit it.
6. To see your gradient swatches, go to your swatch pop-up window and click the third small icon from the left on the bottom (it looks like a gradient).
Note: Whenever you create a new swatch or gradient, be aware if you have any object selected. It will create a new swatch or gradient based on whatever you have selected.
** Also note the angle option in the gradient pop-up. Don't just stick to the default!
Kerning, Vertical and Horizontal scale adjustments:
1. Click on the "Character" pop-up window on the right side
2. Here you have font type, style, size, leading, kerning, tracking, horizontal scale and vertical scale (and a couple other things we won't worry about)
3. Select the text you want to adjust (or in the case of kerning, just place the cursor between two letters) and adjust away! Remember:
• Kerning: Space between letters
• Tracking: Space between all the letters selected
• Leading: Space between lines (if you have one line selected, it will adjust the space above it)
• Vertical scale: How stretched the characters are up and down
• Horizontal scale: How stretched the characters are left and right
Other tips:
• To select more than one object, hold down the shift key while clicking on multiple objects.
• Use the alignment pop-up window on the right to align two or more objects to each other.
• Use the Apple Key and Minus/Plus keys together to zoom in/out. Hold space bar down to be able to move your page around.
20 points • Due: End of class
InDesign tools we have introduced so far:
• Image placement and scaling
• Creating paragraph and object styles
• Changing fonts, font sizes, adding a drop shadow
• Creating swatches, adjusting kerning
For this assignment, we'll learn these InDesign tools:
• Creating shapes
• Creating and adding a gradient
• Adjusting vertical and horizontal scale of text
And practice these principles of design:
• Contrasting, dynamic typography
• Harmony of between your elements of design
• Strong visuals through alignment and color selection
• Reinforcing the power and implications of proximity of and between elements
You'll be creating a movie poster for what is sure to be the hit of the year, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Elements you'll need to include (be as creative as you want with these):
• A moon
• Title (The Twilight Saga: New Moon)
• It stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• That it is based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer and directed by Chris Weitz
• It opens 11-20-09
I would suggest sketching out your basic design on paper first. Your main task is to use type in a dramatic and dynamic way so it will make the movie look interesting, while communicating the facts about the movie. Your use of type will be very important since you only have one main graphic (the moon) to work with.
Other notes:
• You can use other shapes (circles, squares, lines, etc.) if you want, but no photos.
• Use at least one color besides black. Think about having your background color something other than white.
• Use at least one gradient
• Adjust the kerning and horizontal/vertical scale of some of your text
(OVER for InDesign notes)
To create a circle:
1. Click and hold the mouse button down on the "Rectangle Tool" on the left side toolbar
2. Select Ellipse
3. Click and drag to make an ellipse. Hold the shift key down to constrain it to a circle.
4. Resize it by clicking and dragging on an corner of your object's blue box.
5. To fill your shape in with a color, make sure your object is selected (it will have a blue box around it) and click on a swatch.
To create a gradient/gradient swatch:
1. Open your swatches palette.
2. Create your two colors that will make up each end of the gradient.
3. Click on the Gradient pop-up window (on the right side, near Colors and Effects)
4. You'll see two small boxes at either end of your gradient slider. Simply drag a swatch into one of these boxes. If you miss and create a third box, simply click and drag the new box out of the gradient pop-up to delete it.
5. In the top left, you'll see a larger box with sort of a preview of what your gradient looks like. Drag this box to your swatches pop-up window to create a gradient swatch. Now you have it saved (or right click and select Add to Swatches). You can double click on your new gradient swatch to edit it.
6. To see your gradient swatches, go to your swatch pop-up window and click the third small icon from the left on the bottom (it looks like a gradient).
Note: Whenever you create a new swatch or gradient, be aware if you have any object selected. It will create a new swatch or gradient based on whatever you have selected.
** Also note the angle option in the gradient pop-up. Don't just stick to the default!
Kerning, Vertical and Horizontal scale adjustments:
1. Click on the "Character" pop-up window on the right side
2. Here you have font type, style, size, leading, kerning, tracking, horizontal scale and vertical scale (and a couple other things we won't worry about)
3. Select the text you want to adjust (or in the case of kerning, just place the cursor between two letters) and adjust away! Remember:
• Kerning: Space between letters
• Tracking: Space between all the letters selected
• Leading: Space between lines (if you have one line selected, it will adjust the space above it)
• Vertical scale: How stretched the characters are up and down
• Horizontal scale: How stretched the characters are left and right
Other tips:
• To select more than one object, hold down the shift key while clicking on multiple objects.
• Use the alignment pop-up window on the right to align two or more objects to each other.
• Use the Apple Key and Minus/Plus keys together to zoom in/out. Hold space bar down to be able to move your page around.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
