11-29-10 Holiday Cards

Your final project for this class is something I hope to see amazing things from. It is going to look like an easy, quick project, but I want you to dig deep into your creative bag of tricks and dazzle me! The final project is a HOLIDAY CARD. It is something all of your parents, friends, family, etc. will appreciate and it will say something about you as a designer. But you know me. There are always lots of rules:

• You can NOT use the colors green or red.

• You can NOT use holiday clip art of any kinds (photos or vectors.)

• You can NOT simply draw (no live-trace, either) holiday stuff and slap it on the card.

• If you want a Christmas tree on the card, you'd better have a REAL creative way to show it.

• Typography must play a large role in the design of your card.

• You can NOT use the colors green or red. I know I put this in here twice. I really mean it!

You will use InDesign to lay out this card.

Finished size will be 4.25x6 when folded.

Your document size should be 8.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall. You will need TWO pages.

If you are using Photoshop for your images, make sure your files are 300ppi at actual size.

You must design at least the front of the card and one inside panel (like most greeting cards.)

These will be due by the end of the last class on Monday, December 6th.

11-22-10 Editorial page layout

This week you'll be working on laying out your mock articles in InDesign. As requested for homework last week, you should have 1) come up with an idea for your article, 2) made at least five rough sketches, 3) tightened up at least two of those sketches into reasonably developed page layouts and 4) gathered up all the text and images needed.

I'm not going to constrain you to a single page for this layout project. If you would like to make a spread (industry term for two pages together) then you are more than welcome to do so. I think you'll find that sometimes it helps to have two pages to work with rather than just one. Here's a word of advice: Don't try to over think your article. It doesn't have to fill every square inch of the page. Sometimes, negative space can be good.

Try to throw yourself some curve balls and see how you can challenge yourself. I don't want all of these projects to come out looking like the demonstration I walked you through last week. Be creative and try to come up with something a little different. Look around for inspiration is fine as long as you don't copy something directly.

You'll have all of tonight's class to work on these projects and you may even want to spend some homework time to finish them up. Remember, this isn't a race. The first one to finish doesn't win. Honestly, sometimes it's quite the opposite. Take your time, try to accomplish what you detailed in your sketches and then sit back and look it over. Think about what it may be missing. Figure it out and get back to work on it. The devil is in the details with page layout. I will be grading these based on the amount of time, thought and effort I feel you've put into them. Don't rush through this project or it will reflect badly on your grade.'

One last thing. There will be a QUIZ next Monday to test your know-how. Study your sheet of InDesign tools and make sure you know how to lay out a page in InDesign as this quiz will require you to turn in a sample layout made on-the-spot! Ask questions in class if you don't understand something!

HOMEWORK:

• Finish up your page layout(s)

• Be ready to turn them in at the BEGINNING of class next Monday.

• Be studying your InDesign tools and make sure you understand how to use them to lay out a page.

• Quiz next Monday (November 29th) on tools AND laying out a test page!

11-15-10 Adobe InDesign

This week we'll start working in Adobe InDesign. Adobe InDesign is the industry-leading page layout software. It can do just about anything you can imagine (page layout-wise) and then some. We'll start with the basics this week to get you working with importing and formatting type, learning about paragraph styles, placing images and more.

I want you to be thinking about great page layouts this week because next week you're going to have to work on your own! And don't forget, great page layout begins with sketches! So dust off those sketchbooks, cause you're going to need them!

First, I want you to look through some magazines and find some great examples of page layout. This does NOT include ads! You must find 3 examples of editorial content (articles) that you like and bring them, or a copy of them, to class with you next Monday.

Second, I want you to start sketching some ideas for cool page layouts. I want to see at least five rough sketches and then I want to see you tighten up two of those into highly developed layouts. You'll use these to create your page layout in next week's class.

Third, I want you to come up with an idea for an article to lay out. When you decide on a topic, you can find text to use on Wikipedia (or wherever you'd like,) but you'll need multiple paragraphs of body copy. You'll also need to find some appropriate images to use with it and also be thinking about what sort of font would work well. Maybe your headline needs to be a bold font? Or a script font? Or a grunge font? All of that is up to you, but your choices should reflect the type of article you are laying out.

Be ready to work on your layouts during class time next week!

HOMEWORK:

• Bring in 3 examples of articles with page layouts you like

• Make at least five rough sketches of layout ideas

• Refine at least TWO of those ideas into tighter drawings

• Decide what type of article you want to lay out

• Get a text file of your article to bring with you

• Bring appropriate images to class

11-8-10: Technical difficulties

Well, due to unforseen technical difficulties, like my car needing an emergency serpentine belt tensioner replacement (shown at left), I won't be in class tonight. However, I encourage you to use your time wisely and stick around during class time (if we could persuade Miss Chipps to be our lab tech) to learn a little about Adobe InDesign.

Our class tonight was going to be going over the basics of Adobe's page-layout program: InDesign. Just because I'm not there, doesn't mean you can't learn about it. Have a look at this series of video tutorials from Adobe's website. You'll only need to watch episodes GS-01 through GS-07. We won't be messing with the later stuff in our class, like adding interactivity, motion or outputting for the web.

So, get acquainted with InDesign so you can hit the ground running next week when we start working on our first InDesign project!

For those of you who needed to turn in late work, you just gained an extra week. So everyone had better be caught up by next weeks class!

HOMEWORK:

• Watch GS-01 through GS-07 Adobe InDesign video tutorials.

• Bring in all unfinished work to class on 11-15-10

Regional Job Openings

Just letting everyone know of some Regional Job Openings in the area. This information was passed along to me and I wanted to share it with all of you.

11-1-10: Your homework is your make-up work

All pre-mid-term make-up work must be submitted by next Monday, November 8th. For this reason, I am not assigning any new homework this week. If you are are caught up on all your work, you get a week of not having to worry about homework. If you have not turned in assignments, this is the week to get them done.

I will NOT accept late pre-mid-term assignments after November 8th. They will go down in my gradebook as a permanent zero. Nobody wants that, so get them all made up and turned in at the BEGINNING of class next Monday. You've had 10 weeks to get them done, so no excuses!

It's HALLOWEEN week!!!! Let's do something fun!

Halloween is upon us! Now is the time to use your creative skills to make something spooky, scary and fun! This is going to be a fun assignment with very few boundaries, so let your minds go wild!

Your task is to create some sort of Halloween imagery. It could be a flyer to a Halloween party you are hosting or attending. It could just be a graphic designed to scare the bejeezus out of others! It could be a fun Halloween illustration! It could be a Photoshop zombie self-portrait or an Illustrator zombie self-portrait!

You are free to use any software you would like and there are no size requirements. The only thing I'm requiring is that it fit in somehow with a Halloween theme. So, knock yourselves out with this one!

These will be due at the end of class on Monday, November 1st. So, I want you to have at least three ideas sketched out in your sketchbook by (the beginning of class) next Monday. If at all possible, try to have your digital work started before class next Monday. At the very least, bring all of your images and sketchbook to class, so you'll have everything you need to get started.

Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun this week and most importantly, be safe!

HOMEWORK:

• Make at least three different Halloween imagery sketches in your sketchbook

• Come up with an idea for your Halloween imagery and start digitizing it

• Use ANY software you want

• Use ANY subject matter you want (keep it at least PG-13 though. . .)

• Most importantly, use your IMAGINATION!