Brochure

The photos below show my Indesign Composite, which, as the assignment dictated, is a brochure. I did the brochure for my photography business, Tara Johnson Photography. The first photo shows the front cover, back cover and inside flap. The second photo shows the inside front cover, center of the brochure and the back of the inside flap. I chose a unique size because it allowed my photos to be bigger. I also didn't want the common "brochure" feel, which having a unique size alleviated.

Brochure Reflection

I found this brochure online. Although the picture with it partially folded is misleading, this is a tri-fold, full color brochure. I think the colors are spot on for the subject matter and I love the effects. It is very eye catching and seems to have a lot of information, however the use of “white” space is clean and the graphics lead you through the brochure. The graphics may be slightly overwhelming to some readers and the font is a little small. I think increasing the font a few points and making the graphics a little smaller could improve the reader’s experience.

Advertisement Reflection

I found this ad for Paper Mate’s Ultra Fine pen on the internet. This is a benefits and differentiation ad. Clearly, Paper Mate is insinuating that their pen can help you cheat by being able to write super small. I think Paper Mate is trying to differentiate themselves from the competition and this ad will definitely catch your eye. Whether you are a “cheater” or not. I love how clean the ad is. A crisp picture that is allowed to speak for itself. The company’s logo, a product shot and the name of the product are the only pseudo-headline in sight. Again, I think the visual is enough in this situation.

Good Design

I just love this layout. I am a big fan of the double truck, which is one photograph over two facing pages in a layout. This is a bit of a modified version and I think it is fantastic. The headline is bold and the line beneath is separates it perfectly. The white space in the layout is pleasing and leads you to look at the photo for a moment before you being reading the article. I also really like the subtle use of bold, regular and italics to set off different sections. For example, although this picture is small I know that the italics paragraph at the bottom of the column is about the photo and its photographer.

Working Smarter with Photoshop CS4 and Illustrator CS4 Video Tutorial

• Design at a hundred percent.
• Typically, but not always, you should design in the largest size you will use the artwork. It is much easier to go smaller than it is to increase size.
• If you can conquer the pen tool everything else will be easier.
• The pen tool is ESSENTIAL to illustrator and learning its ins and outs will help you with everything from selection to creating new vector objects.
• Just like you can in photoshop, illustrator allows you to blend from a solid color to transparent with gradients.
• This makes adding details easier to create because now you don’t have to fade from one color to another color.
• Using a no fill, no stroke bounding box on items created in illustrator makes them easier to place into photoshop.
• If you working between the two programs and will need to bring an illustrator file into a specific spot in photoshop you need to work in the same size document in both programs. Set a no fill, no stroke bounding box on the illustrator item’s desired location and it will automatically copy into that spot in photoshop.
• You create actions by going to the actions panel, selecting new action and everything from there will be recorded. Then you select the square at the bottom of the panel and the action stops recording.
• This is particularly useful for me because I am starting a small photography business and this would allow me to create cool effects on photos in a fraction of the time. Using actions will also help give a cohesive look to your photos.

Logo Reflection

I love this use of text as a logo. Circles are infinite and this company is Zoom, Infinite Resources. I also love how dominant Zoom is. The use of interlocking circles as the double o is great because that is another sign of something that is infinite. What a simple idea with great execution. I prefer the two versions that use white for the interlocking double o because white is a great contrast color and symbolizes simplicity. Black is a message of strength and sophistication. Silver is cool, valuable and futuristic.

Shapes

Recently we learned about different uses for shapes in Illustrator. I found a cool tutorial on how to create a 3D object (monster thing) with 2D shapes. Check it out at http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?FeatureID=3264767

Photoshop Composite

Below is my photoshop composite assignment so far. A lot of the elements I used are very subtle and you probably won't be able to see them in this screenshot. If you're wondering what in the world this is, its the back cover for my final project! I'm planning on doing somewhat of a promotional book for my photography that I can give to my potential clients.

Illustrator

I haven't worked with Illustrator very much and I am excited to explore it through this class. Below is a screenshot of our first assignment.

As I said, I haven't done much in illustrator. However, I have started playing with some logo ideas for my photography. Eventually, I'd like to have a small photography business on the side an I want a very distinct, but professional look. Below is a screenshot of a preliminary logo idea that I have been playing with recently.

Which logo do you like better, left or right? Again it is a preliminary idea and will probably change. :)

Brushes and Blogs

Hello,

I'm leaving for Ohio today and I wanted to get my blog post out of the way. Here's a link to a post about photoshop brushes: http://www.topdesignmag.com/20-awesome-adobe-photoshop-brushes/

Also, if you're interested in photography, I'm taking a photography special problems class and blogging about my photos. My areas of concentration for the class are as follows: landscape photography, pet and animal photography, portrait photography and food photography. I'll be updating today and throughout the trip to Ohio. Check it out! Here's the link: http://photoexploration.wordpress.com/

Have a great week!

Photoshopping

Above is my version of assignment 3C. I did photo filters for color on each photo and other filters like the gaussian blur.

If you want to see an amazing photoshop transformation check out the following link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Weekly Post

Once again, we didn't have class on Wednesday. I found a cool tutorial on creating a grass effect in photoshop. Check it out!

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/text-effects-tutorials/create-a-spectacular-grass-text-effect-in-photoshop/

Here's a simple tutorial about starting to use the brush tool:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/brush-tool-photoshop/

Weekly Post

Due to the snow there isn't much to reflect upon from class. I'm glad levels and curves have been used in class. Those two adjustments are my favorites for improving photographs. Below are a few links I found today that I thought were useful.

The website below shows 60 free floral type brushes that can be downloaded and used in photoshop to create some pretty cool effects.

http://artatm.com/2011/02/60-fantastic-and-free-photoshop-floral-brushes/

The following link is another article with further explanation on old tips and new tips on how to compose great photos.

http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/composition-articles/hints-tips-for-composing-a-perfect-photo/

Photography Composition and File Formats

In the above image, taken by Erika Dotson of Erika Dotson Photography, the subject is framed by the doorway. I think the look of the framing and its use really made this picture. The file format is a JPG. As mentioned during lecture JPGs have a lower image quality.

The picture above shows the rule of thirds. Though the large stone of the ring isn't precisely on the top right point of placement, it is very close. The rule of thirds gave this image a much more professional and focused look. I took this photo, but pulled it off of Facebook for this assignment. This image is also a JPG. Typically, images that are uploaded to Facebook are JPGs with low resolution. Facebook has recently created an option for uploading high resolution images.

The image above, taken of a rice field, shows curved leading lines. This image was taken off a blog I wrote for my internship and was also a lower resolution JPG.

Clearly, simply saving an image off the internet probably isn't an option for a high quality graphic design project. There are websites where you can purchase high resolution images, or you can take your own high resolution images with a DSLR camera.

Principles and Theories

The above blog layout employed balance to keep posts and the other boxes in harmony. Though a very simple design principle, balance really helped keep the design clean.

The above ad obviously uses continuance, however it also uses dominance. The road is dominant to the chickens burrowing under the road. The ad is for a car, the eye looks from the road to the chickens and the brain almost expects the car to roll through the picture. I thought the use of both continuance and dominance worked well.

The above ad creatively employs closure in its design. In the hand shown is a cigarette, the shadow however implies that the hand is holding a gun. When this ad is viewed, the brain finishes the message on its own: Cigarettes will kill you. I thought this was a great use of closure.