Random Album Cover

Random Album Cover Assignment

This assignment forces you to get creative with a random band name, album title and image. You must decide, based on the name of the band you are given, what the style of music and personality of the band is. Then, based on your decision, create the album cover by choosing an appropriate typestyle and layout. The only things you can use are the image you are given, the name you are given and the title. Have fun! When you are finished, write a brief paragraph justifying your choices.

Instructions:
1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.2. Go to "Random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 . Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use Photoshop or Illustrator to put it all together.
5. Repeat this activity twice! Make two completely different album covers.
6. Post the results to your blog with your written statements.

Click here to see examples of Random Album Covers with a written description.

Poster and Logo - Written

Your Final Logo and Poster for Young Company is due on Friday November 1st both in the drop off folder AND on your blog.

1. In the drop folder you MUST submit both the black and white AND colour versions of your log - in the original file format!!! .ai. I need to see the layers and how well you organized them etc.
Your poster should be submitted in .ai or .psd format at the correct image size with all original layers visible.

2. Post on your blog - png of both black and white and colour logo AND the finished poster.

3. Written - Due by 9 a.m. Monday morning - posted on the blog.

What to write about:

LOGO:
1. Explain your design choices (elements and principles of design - be specific!!!) used to express the desired effect. ie. that Young Company is fun, a family and professional.

2. Your opinion. Are you satisfied with your final product? Why/why not? What would you change if given more time?

3. Any technical issues you had using Illustrator, OR new technique you used. Explain here.

POSTER:
1. Explain your design choices (elements and principles of design - be specific!!!) used to express both the message of what the play is about - or the defining moment of the play - AND how the poster achieves the goal of being visually enticing and dynamic, serving to attract an audience.

2. Your opinion. Are you satisfied with your final product? Why/not not? What would you change with more time?

3. Any technical issues you had using either Photoshop or Illustrator, OR new technique you discovered/used. Explain here.

On Designing posters

Here is an article on colour modes. Please read through it to understand the difference between CMYK and RGB colour modes.


Here is an article on poster design - 10 tips

Some typographic posters to check out

Also, google "event posters" and see what you find.

Logos and Posters - Research

Please take a look at these sites to begin your research. Remember that the first step in the Design Process is to UNDERSTAND YOUR GOAL!

Review the handout from Mr. McAlpine (your client) to recall the objective of the assignment.

Design a logo for Young Company AND a poster for one of or both of the plays for this season.

Deadline: October 15, 2013

Step 2. RESEARCH!

What do I research? In no particular order, research the following:

Gather your information on your blog, on your pinterest board (if you made one), or your tumblr (if you have one) for each of the areas below. Post the information so that I can access it, OR create a word doc and gather the info. Be prepared to share what you find on Thursday with the rest of the class.

1. Logos in general. What makes a good logo?

        On making logos - tips

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/web-design/logos/

        Types of logos
http://www.logodesignsource.com/types.html

http://www.nodinx.com/5-basic-types-of-logos/

2. Logos for theatre companies.

Google theatre company logos. See what you find.

3. Event posters - specifically theatre posters. There are some amazing theatre posters.

Use the amazing posters book and google.
Try HERE too 

4. Theatre posters for these plays in particular.

Twelve Angry Jurors. I just googled Twelve Angry Jurors.
The Audition is harder to find. I found a little synopsis of it HERE

5. And finally....research the plays themselves AND Young Company's aesthetic, personality and spirit as a theatre company within our school.

Here are a few interesting  sites to check out.


http://www.demilked.com/logo-history-future/

http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/50-kick-ass-logos-for-inspiration/

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/72-creative-and-smart-typographic-logo-inspiration/

SIGN SYMBOL LOGO (Intro to GD, Wk 3) from Shawn Calvert

Vector tracing assignment

Assignment: 

Create a vector drawing of a simple everyday object - choosing one that has interesting shape, texture, lines etc and that will be easily recognizable by it's overall shape.

1. Create a sketch of the object - you can first sketch it on paper and then do a freehand sketch in Illustrator based on your drawing, OR you can create a freehand sketch in Illustrator based on the photograph you will be using to trace.

2. Trace a photograph of the object using the pen tool. Create various layers to represent different parts of the object. Label each layer and keep them organized. Remember that in order to fill in a shape, your lines need to end where they begin. Look for the little "o" when you have reached your starting point with the pen tool.

3. Create a colour version of #2.

We will be printing these to put up in the display case.

To submit:

1. Post all three on your blog - properly labelled in your blog post with a written analysis below.

Export as png files.

Written should include a paragraph that describes each of the three following points:

a) Elements and Principles of Design. 

Discuss the use of elements and principles of design as they pertain to your drawings. These heavily rely on line and shape, possibly texture and obviously colour for #3. Also look at variety, contrast, emphasis and unity. You may even have rhythm in your object.

b) Technical.

Explain what you did and how you did it. Be sure to name each of the tools you used accurately and to name each step along the way. Mention the use of layers, as well as file formats used to export your drawings.

c) Your opinion.

Describe which of the three you like the best/ think is the best design and why. Which "works" as a good design and which isn't as effective?

2. Submit to the drop off folder - All three with your name in the file name as well as which version.

eg. Name_Sketch_Object.ai  Name_Trace_Object.ai

Be sure to submit the Illustrator version so that I can see all the layers and how well they are labelled and organized!!

Due: TODAY by the end of the class. Tuesday.

 

Intro to Illustrator

Introducing Illustrator. Please follow the steps below to learn to trace an object in Illustrator. For Step 1 you can use the "Leaf Guy" image found in the pickup folder - Lakeshore C.I. folder on the desktop - Ms. Silverman Pickup -  Graphic Design TGG 3M1 - LeafGuy.jpg

Step by step they are below. Make sure you go through each step. Or you can find all of them HERE.

1. Layers and placing images

2. Pen tool basics

3. Tracing with the pen tool

4. Symmetrical Objects

5. Using the Ellipse Tool

6. Symmetrical Curves

7. Lines into Shapes

When you have finished, save your finished 'Leaf Guy' by choosing Save As - and saving the file as
YourName_Ex1.ai. Create a folder in your home drive called Graphic Design or TGG 3M1 and then drag and drop the file into the Drop Off folder marked Graphics under Ms. Silverman.

The Pen Tool Comprehensive Guide


20 Essential Tutorials for Illustrator

What is Graphic Design?

View these three videos from the Design Council and then scroll to the bottom of the post for further instructions.

What is graphic design? from Design Council on Vimeo.



What is graphic design ... what a graphic designer does from Design Council on Vimeo.

Graphic design: Great examples from Design Council

Your Task:

FIRST: After having viewed these videos AND the brief slides of great examples of graphic design, begin or continue setting up your blog using blogger.com. If you haven't done so already please create a blog using blogger. Come up with an original and anonymous name for your blog, but please put a comment on the bottom of THIS post with a copy of your URL in the comment. If you're confused about this process, just ask me and we'll get through it together!!

NEXT: Once you've got your blog set up - see if you can change some of the features to choose a template and make some design decisions. Keep in mind READABILITY. If I can't read your posts because you've chosen a bright blue background with a bright red font, I'm not going to be happy. Keep in mind all the principles of design you just learned and make some elegant and aesthetic choices.

THEN: Your first blog post will be to search for some cool graphic design links, blogs or websites. Find some eye candy (something that looks great to you) and share it by posting the link on your blog.
You can link anything in a blog post by creating a word that you want people to click on, highlighting it and then hitting the link button on the top menu of the post window. Then you can copy and paste the URL of the site your are linking to. Add a few sentences to explain what it is you like about the designs/designers you have found and why we should check it out.

BONUS: Start a pinterest board of great designs and link it to your blog in a blog or link list. You can start a list by going to the DESIGN tab in blogger. AND/OR start a tumblr blog to post designs that you're interested in. Both are great ways to collect ideas and cool images that you like. Think of them as online idea books. We'll talk more about this later.

Good luck and have fun with this assignment. I'll be checking and marking your blogs and first blog entry. You'll find the rubric for the blog in the Ms. Silverman's PICKUP folder. Look for a folder called GRAPHICS.