Weekly Progression

This week has been pretty interesting seeing all the different ways images can be edited in photoshop. I already knew the basics, but this has helped me understand way more on how to make my images look a lot more professional. 

As well as doing my digital skills task I also started research into the live brief, set by Instant print. I started looking into Instant print, as a company, and what they already have on their website. I also started looking into other examples of banners for food places to see how other people set them up. I've looked into main food brands like greggs, mcdonalds etc and also instant prints competitors on the market. I have only started looking at these, I haven't started putting them together in a document yet.

Digital Skills Task 1 - Image Styling

This week the Digital Skills tasks were 4 different Image Styles. These include color overlay, over exposure, gradient overlay and changing the tonality. We were given lectures and demonstrations on how to do all these and then had to do our own version and evaluate them. 

Work Based Learning Introduction

Today we were given an introduction to our Work Based Learning module. It's not going to be the same as last year, as it's going to run along side our other projects, with our final submission being in march.

We have to get ourselves a file and document everything, from CV workshops, to building our CV, to our progress in work placements and documenting all our live briefs from outside clients.

This should help me understand how industry works.

Instant Print/ Digital Skills Action Plan

Skill I would like to develop:
How to do a color replacement on photoshop.

What will I do to achieve this?
I will listen carefully to the lecture and take appropriate notes from it, in detail so I understand myself.

What resources or support will I need?
I will need photoshop to complete this in, and I will need to make sure I'm in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Listening carefully to pick out the important information so that I have a clear understanding of what it is I need to do. I will also ask questions when I am unsure.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to make an image look overexposed on photoshop.

What will I do to achieve this?
I will pay full attention to the lecture, and watch the demonstration properly, so that I can take appropriate notes and understand what I am doing when I come to doing it.

What resources or support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to correctly apply a gradient overlay to an image using photoshop.

What will I do to achieve this?
I will be there for the lecture and take appropriate notes.

What resources or support will I need for this?
I will need to be able to access photoshop, and I will need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Listening carefully to pick the important information so that I have a clear understanding of what it is I need to do. I will also ask questions when I am unsure of something.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to change the tones of an image (tonality)

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to create a scatter brush in photoshop.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use different blend modes and clipping masks correctly.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use an adjustment layer/ what is an adjustment layer?

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use a layer mask correctly.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use a gradient map correctly.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on photoshop. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use the Extrude and Bevel tool on type in Illustrator.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on Illustrator. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use effects on shapes in Illustrator.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on Illustrator. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

Skill I would like to develop:
How to use tabs and paragraph styles correctly in InDesign.

What will I do to achieve this?
Listen carefully and take appropriate notes from the lecture.

What resources of support will I need?
I will need to make sure I can get on Illustrator. I will also need to be in for the lecture.

What will my success criteria be?
Asking questions when unsure on something, paying full attention to the lecture and taking extensive notes to read back over to complete the task.

SWOT Analysis For Instant Print/ Digital Skills

Strengths

Ability to use Photoshop for image manipulation
Abillity to use Illustrator for vector shapes
Ability to basically set layouts up in InDesign


Weaknesses

Not confident on using tools like the appearance palette in Illustrator
Not confident on using the paragraph styles tool in InDesign
Not sure how to use the Extrude and Bevel tool in Illustrator properly
Not 100% confident on how to use a layer mask properly

Opportunities

Learn a lot more Photoshop skills than I already have
Learn a lot more skills in Illustrator, as this is the program me I am least confident in
Learn how to use a paragraph style properly in InDesign
Learn how to set the appearance palette up properly for text in Illustrator

Threats

Not having access to the programs outside of college could limit how much I put these into practice

Instant Print/ Digital Skills

This week we have started our first brief/ live brief of the year. It is called Digital Skills Application. We are required to complete a range of different tasks, one for every week of the module. We then should apply these skills to a template for an online print company (Instantprint). This can be anything from business cards, to banners or even a poster. We can also choose our category as well and I have chose to do food and drink. This live brief did have a number of restrictions, as this is just a template to go on their website. We had to take into consideration the number of layers we used and the colors/ fonts we chose to use.