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. 

Final Essay

At the beginning of the year, my first project was entitled Branding and Corporate image. I joined the course a month after it started, so I missed all introductions to everything etc, but I don’t think this has made an effect on my work. In this project I think my final piece for the School of Creative Industries logo was done to the best standard I could achieve, however my final logo design for the Newcastle music hub could have been thought about more, as I just went with a generic headphone idea, which I don’t think I thought outside of the box for. I learned in this project that to come up with a good logo, you have to think differently to designers, otherwise if you don’t have something that makes you stand out from the crowd, then clients won’t be attracted to your work.

Digital skills were a chance I had to apply the stand out the crowd note, and that’s what I tried to do. The idea I had for the logo was a scribble behind the T.M. and it all in lowercase letters so that it looked like a child had wrote it. The final piece that I came up with didn’t look like that at all. The fancy typography I used underneath for the strapline was too big and looked out of place. On my poster, the photographer didn’t listen to what photos I wanted, but didn’t show me so I didn’t find this out until I had been sent the photos. I think if I had of known how to use InDesign properly at the time my poster would have been laid out better and I would have liked my final outcome. I learned that in order to get something you like you have to make mistakes in the process.

By the time we got too after Christmas we started Typographical and Editorial design, this project taught me how to use and apply the grid system to lay out a magazine page properly. I also learned how to use photo captions, headlines, subheadings and by lines. A headline being the main title, subheading being something that makes it stand out, and by line to tell you who the story is by. I did achieve the learning outcomes in the project. I felt my time management worked well, I kept to the time plan in the brief and did everything weekly so that I didn’t fall behind or get lost, or confused in what I was supposed to do that week. I completed my project on time and handed it in before the deadline on the 22^nd of February.

Work based learning 1 was the first brief I found that really challenged me this year. It wasn’t focused as much on the portfolio as normal, but on how you work with 3^rd parties, as in the photographer, and the client, which in this case was Tyneside Cinema. We had a briefing off the cinema, and the woman told us that they are 80% specialised film, and 20% mainstream films, which is what keeps people coming to the Tyneside cinema, as they have a reputation for being ‘weird’ and also that when the cinema first opened in 1937 it was a news theatre. She also told us their creative process for between them and their graphic designer, a lot of people like to have a say in the posters etc so the designer has to go in circles before he gets everything right. I took all this into consideration when I was designing my final idea. Me and my photographers had the same idea of what we wanted, so we didn’t have to do different shoots. I wanted some different expressions, which I got, but I found it hard to communicate with the photographers as they didn’t really listen well. If I was to do anything differently in this project I would try and communicate better with the photographers and the model, to get a better picture to work with. I wouldn’t make any changes to my final piece, I like how it turned out. I like the typography, although feedback from people has made it clear you can’t really see the slight gradient which I put in the background. I completed this project on time, and I learned from it that working with other people and bringing more people into the project makes it harder to work as you have to communicate between yous.

The final project of the year is called Practice Enrichment, and this project is an illustration module. I like this module, because it means I can do a lot of cartoons, and hand drawing things, as it means messing around with different illustration styles, mixed media etc. I chose to do The Wind in the Willows, and the first thing I did was buy the book so I knew the story. I’m not quite finished but I understand what the story is about. I have kept to the time plan for this module, and did everything by the week that it’s stated. This project had a clear flow through the whole thing. And I could put all photoshop, illustrator and indesign skills into use. Photoshop was used to apply different styles, and change pictures around etc, Illustrator was used for typography and indesign was used to put everything together. I wouldn’t make any changes to this module. This module has made me sway more to this kind of style for what I want to do as a career.