Photoshop Workshop

Photoshop is only used to amend existing images and it works with Bitmap Graphics as oppose to Vector Graphics, therefore to avoid getting a pixelated outcome, you should never adjust the size of the image you're working from. The higher the quality of the image the more pixels in each inch.

When using Photoshop work primarily with RGB which is the colour mode the image will be displayed on the screen in. The image can only be converted to CMYK once you have finish editing, because CMYK cannot replicate the colours in the image. Changing the colour mode to CMYK is a destructive transformation, it makes the image appear duller and cannot be changed back to RGB

You will need to produce a 'proof'  while in CMYK colour mode for your client to show the colouring while not permanently affecting the image.

Put the image in 'Gamut Warning' before amending the colours, to ensure that the changes will not be destructive.

By using an adjustment layer (half circle symbol) the image itself is not being altered. Click on Hue/Saturation and adjust accordingly to change the level of detail in the original image.

In Gamut warning you can change the colour of the light which in some cases enhances the detail of the image.

We worked with another image to look at levels. You can access the levels option under the adjustment layer symbol.

The graph shows the spectrum of colours, enabling you to adjust the lights darks and mid tones. When editing in an adjustment layer you can apply a mask attachment to the layer, symbolised with a white rectangle next to the padlock symbol. To mask an area you must ensure that the foreground is black and then paint the areas you don't want adjusted using a 0% hard brush to ensure that the edges will not blur.

A problem for many photographers is then a light background blocks out the detail of a darker foreground. Using the Quick Selection tool you are able to select the dark foreground and go to Levels under Adjustment Layer and alter the selected area.

To avoid bleaching out the gaps in the statue, use the Magic Wand option to select each area. Go to Edit - Fill and select to use black.

You can use the same Quick Selection tool to alter any other part of the image, for example by selecting the sky background I was able to adjust the saturation of it without affecting the rest of the image.

Design Principles - The Anatomy Of Type 3 and 4

Typography is considered to be a form of illustration - 'Type is speech made visible.'

It should embody what is being written as if it were being said aloud.

It is required for type to be designed/chosen based on it's context/audience. Image contributes to how type and the message it is delivering is going to be interpreted, for example, associating guns with a stencil typeface will give connotations of the military. The way a type is interpreted is based on the image associated with it, the colour of the font, and the typeface itself.

Vocab:

Typeface - A collection of letters, numbers, glyphs etc which bare the same individual and distinctive design.

Font - The physical attributes within a typeface, used to create it. Different fonts can be from the same type face but can differ in terms of size and weight, for example, Helvetica and Helvetica Bold are two different fonts that fall under the same typeface.

Collectively these are called a typeface of a typefamily as they are all variations of the same type (light/bold/regular/italic). Bolder fonts are more condensed due to the tighter kerning and leading and this makes the type harder to read, requiring it to be larger.

Gothic - simple sans serif fonts.

Block - bold, heavy fonts, used for headlines and short sentences, never body copy.

Script - Calligraphic style, like handwriting.

Roman - Formal, serif fonts.

Legibility - How understandable or recognisable are individual characters based on their appearance - relies on the anatomy of individual letterforms/glyphs.

Readability - How easy can text be read and understood. Line length, leading, justification, kerning, typestyle, tracking and point size all factor into readability.

Tracking - the spacing of a set of glyphs

Kerning - how glyphs are put together in terms of the baseline.

LEGIBILITY AND READABILITY

The term 'leading' is deciphered from the amount of lead between blocks for a letterpress.

A 'counter' is the negative space within a letterform.

The eye will read what it sees, which isn't always what is written. It becomes harder to read Bold and Script fonts, whereas Serif and Gothic fonts are considered easier. The serifs on Roman fonts help a reader determine the space/counters around the letterform or word. However, increasing the size of Roman fonts to that of Block or Gothic makes them more difficult to read because of the serifs.

Spacing can be altered to improve legibility and that is factored into the design of the font. Manipulating things like spacing of a font can ruin the effect of the typeface.

It is advised that no more than 3 typefaces should be used for one design, while the fonts are able to vary more.

Design Principles - Introduction to Typography

For todays session we brought in 10x10 cut outs of the letters Aa, Bb and Cc in Gothic, Roman, Script and Block fonts, and on a long piece of tracing paper we drew over the letter and adjusted different aspects of each to change the characteristics of the letter.

The first experimental attempt, where we simply traced our Roman A, B and C, with varied weights of one stem and the Gothic B with varied weights of the whole letter came out quite messy and brought to my attention that surprisingly, the most difficult part of this task was trying to draw a smooth curve free hand. I tried using a compass but it didn't do anything to help as the curves were not circular.

For the second attempt, I started using the Gothic font Aa and had to make the stem as bold as possible and the bowl as light as possible without adjusting the characteristics of the letter. Since there is no bowl in A the stem remained the same and this allowed the letters to look like they are of a different typeface to each other.

I reversed this rule for the Gothic Bb and these two letters ended up looking very similar as the bare the sam qualities to the adaptations were the same on each.

For Cc one letter had to be ultra light and the other ultra bold, which was the most simple change, but the ultra bold C did have to maintain it's characteristics so it didn't appear as bold as expected.

Module Evaluation OUGD403

Message and Delivery Part 3

From the ideas that i experimented with briefly I decided to make my mailshot unfold and have all the information printed on the inside of the envelope. The measurements we had to use are that of a DL envelope, 22cmx11cm.

For some of these design ideas I reverted back to ideas I didn't get to use for the posters, for example printing the outside of the envelope with a securely locked door when the flap is down, and when it came up to be an image of an unlocked door underneath, folding out to show the stats and precautions that should be taken to keep the house safe.

I briefly toyed with the idea of the envelope folding out to reveal a page with the image of a door, on one side locked up with the stats of breaking in to a safely locked house, and having the page turn over to show and unlocked door and compare the stats on each side with each other.

I decided to keep the window image as the second idea I had would be quite difficult and complicated to make neatly. As well as this I wanted to keep the mailshot consisted with the posters, using the same type and maybe using the same image.

I wanted the mailshot to be an extension of the posters, holding more information, pointers and actions to be taken. The posters were very simple and in some cases didn't give away much about what they were made for.

I pretty much jumped right in with designing the envelope, making a template on illustrator with the dimensions of the envelope. I used the same window image I used for the posters and referred back to my original research to include some stats on home security and it's relation to burglary. I wanted to include some infographics as a basic image of the information is more likely to draw in a viewer than the type, hopefully prompting them to read further.

I found some suitable information based on what part of the house burglars break into most and went on Excel to make a simple spreadsheet so I could make a pie chart showing the stats.

I used the same colours that were in the posters as I was going to keep the jungle theme. I used part of the background behind the window frame to design the bottom part of the envelope to exaggerate the theme from the posters. I came up with some simple tips to include in the hope that some sort of action would be take from this, and to make the whole thing more practical.

I had to make a lot of amends to this, as a lot of colour was being used. I decided against putting any of the information on the inside flaps as there was just too much going on.

I simplified it by taking out a lot of the colour, i changed the background to just be plain white, added the green colours to the pie chart in place of the colours used. I got rid of the information on the left side and made all the text a dark colour, since having it white proved pretty difficult to read.

I wanted to keep the three main slogans I had from the posters but there was something very off about how everything was positioned on this. However this was a problem I had to do deal with after the crit as I was having a big problem with the dimensions of the envelope, so i spent a long time trying to amend the dimensions.

Despite not being able to get my mailshot properly printed in time for the crit, it was still helpful and did reiterate a lot of the issues I already had with the first version I did of the mailshot. I gathered from it that I needed to limit the colours, make the point of it more obvious and amend the envelope dimensions to fit the brief.
I accidentally put two versions of my posters with the mailshot which led people to believe that they were the contents which was not the case.

With these in mind I simplified the whole thing greatly and finally managed to sort out the dimensions at the end I simply included the window image, type and pie chart on a simple white background, still managing to include all of the slogans I wanted in it.

For my mailing list i though about where in Leeds would be best for the mailshot to be sent, and decided to send it to places in which someone would take notice of that sort of thing. For example someone visiting a police station, maybe reporting some other crime would become aware of something to do with security and safety after going through something like that and may pay attention to something like this.

I kept the same colour scheme as that used for the mailshot and posters, and abandoned the window to us the shape i used for the picture frame in my first poster, to maintain a level of consistency throughout the whole project.

When I had finally sorted out all the problems I had with the dimensions and was able to print my mailshot, I was much happier with the end product than I had felt about the first version. I would have loved to explore the idea of the envelope being a door but I wouldn't have had the time to finish it. I am pleased with the content, the small example of infographics and the end layout, although the printing was slightly uneven on some parts of it. Other than that I am pleased with what i managed to do in the time I had.

Alphabet Soup - Illustrator Typeface

For my illustrator type face, I though it was best I chose one of the more simple designs since a couple of mine were pretty complicated, and I wouldn't know where to begin with doing the whole alphabet. I chose my adaptation of shattered glass:

I had a pretty clear idea of how I was going to do this, despite not often using illustrator. I used Tahoma 140pt for a simple but adaptable typeface to manipulate. I used a simple uppercase letter and used the line tool to create a spectrum of lines from the bottom left hand corner across the rest of the letter, breaking it up into segments.

 I changed the colour of the letter and lines to a light grey so that I could use them as a template. Using the pen tool in black I outlined each segment and moved them in a random fashion along the line that segmented it, adjusting the size accordingly.

It took quite a while to make sure that every segment was perfectly aligned with the template, and the adjustments made to the size sometimes made them fall out of line. I tried to keep them as aligned with each other as possible and made some adjustments when the whole letter had been done.

When I deleted the template I was left with warped and fragmented version of each letter. With some of the more simple letters I tried to incorporate more fragments than others, to keep them dynamic and not appear less intricate than some of the more complicated shapes.

I had in my mind that I was going to keep the shapes white with a black outline, but since some of fragmented parts were very difficult to keep in line with each other I looked at making the outline black with a white outline. This immediately changed my mind as they were already seemed to have more impact than the white version.

While I was happy with this outcome, the less complicated letters still looked quite bland and uninteresting. Luckily, by accident I drew a white line across the V, and then tried scattering white lines all across the letter.

I added white lines randomly to each letter and found that they became so much more dynamic and interesting. It also exaggerated that it was meant to appear shattered, and when all put together, the typeface as a whole appeared smashed a broken down.

I am pretty pleased with the outcome of my typeface, although I would have loved to have been able to try one of the more complicated 

Design Principles - Legibility and Readability Task

For this preparatory task we were required to identify what sizes various typefaces were most readable at as in some cases a larger font isn't always the most readable.

Optima

A typeface as simple as Optima doesn't necessarily need to be very large to become readable as it is already very easy to identify the letter forms and words. I kept this at 24 pt and even that size it might not need to be depending on the context.

Stencil:

Since Stencil is a block font it is considered ideal for headings and headlines, and simple doesn't work here at 12 pt. It is all in upper case and so when in a small font they are all compressed. Similarly, in this compression many letters within the typeface lose their characteristics.

I chose 42 pt for this typeface as the characteristics already demand enough attention by the reader for it to need to fill up more of the page.

Zapfino:

Although in comparison to many other script typefaces I find Zapfino to be one of the most legible, and while it still is decipherable at this size (12 pt), it would benefit from being larger, as readers won't be required to spend as much time working it out as they otherwise would. I chose to show it in 30 pt but found that in spit of it's size, the nature of the overlapping letterforms are what makes this type more difficult to read.

Thonburi:

A basic sans serif type like this would be perfect for body copy, it's regular format is already very light and the fluidity of the line makes it very easy to follow. Here in 12 pt it would work as body copy but to stand on it's own it does need to be a little larger.

I enlarged the font to 20 pt here to make it easier for this sentence to stand alone, but I tried to still keep it small as I wanted to exaggerate the readability of the type regardless of it's size.

Lucida Sans Typewriter:

The spacing on this typeface can be quite abrupt and confusing for the reader and combined with the promenant serif on each letter, it all appears quite jumpy and unsettling. Here in 12 pt, it's already a struggle to read in terms of size and isn't helped by the type itself.

I enlarged it to 24 pt and I think the difference is huge, in spite of it's style, the size allows for each letter to stand on it's own making it appear more legible as a whole.

Message and Delivery Part 2

After deciding to make the outside scene a jungle, a drew a rough idea of how I wanted the window to look, before scanning it in and adapting it on illustrator. When I saw it on a computer I thought it could do with being simplified, a lot of what I drew wasn't really necessary. I used brown for the window frame and two shades of green for the jungle. I used the pen tool to define and straighten the edges of the window and just made some make shift shapes on another layer to fit behind the window frame.

For the first poster I filled the background the same lighter shade of green, and on the second I used Impact pt 120 with the slogan 'It's a jungle out there.' and written underneath was 'Prepare and prevent, don't repair and repent.' which I oddly remember being told when a policeman came to talk to my class in year 3. I chose the typeface based on headlines and titles, what you would read before delving into something.

I thought upon seeing these versions that while I wanted to go for simplicity these just seemed too simple and a little dull. I thought of a second slogan for the type poster to explain how easy and simple it is to lock up your house. I tried to play with the phrase 'It's as easy as ABC' and soon came up with A.B.C. standing for Always Be Careful.

To make the image poster a little more dynamic I decided to split the window and put it at each side, putting a picture frame in the middle. To make it all a little more unsettling, I used the pen tool to create a crack in the middle of the picture frame. While I was doing this I realised that there was too much colour with the green background so i replaced it with a white stock.

However, I was still unhappy with the lack of impact made by the type poster so I changed it around, leaving only the 'ABC' slogan. I blew up ABC and put the words 'always be careful' within them. Annoyingly since I had only a couple of days to complete this brief I was running out of time and moved onto the final poster.

This was kept very simple, using only the window and the original slogan from the type poster. I just placed one next to the other, and played around with highlighting some elements of the type.

Final three posters:

I wasn't too happy with the type or the type and image poster and would have liked to have the chance to spend more time on them, I may go back to them when I have the time and try and change them to a version i'd be happier with. I feel like the type poster looks like it's trying to have some sort of impact but it isn't really having much.