This is a compilation of all the projects that we did during this semester. I have added an additional one I did for a good friend of mine based upon the class work.
Process
I started by going through the feedback from the teacher and other class members and making changes to the projects to include into this final. I started with the first one and went through them one by one and made the changes that could be made based upon the feedback. See the Updates Description section to read about all the changes I did in each project.
I then sorted the projects from the ones I like the best. After the first few they are in a random order and not really reflect my favorite to least favorite. I like all of them about the same. I just put them in a random order.
The hardest part of this project was coming up with the Front Page and the background image.
I started the background with a red painted wood image. By changing the color blance, Hue, and some other settings I ended up with the blue color. I then cropped the image to just the part I wanted to use and I made two images of it. I had cut a nail head in half near the top so I used that as my mid point and lined the images on either side of the paper to that. I used a white filled area with a 30px feather and set the opacity to about 87%. I created a new logo in Adobe Illustrator and brought it into Adobe Photoshop and made the front cover and the TOC pages with the logo. I then opened Adobe InDesign and create 20 facing pages and set the background image in the master page. I then started to add the text and the updated images from the projects.
Updates made to projects
I spent approx 3 hours making updates to the various projects in this portfolio.
- Info-graphic: I spent time smoothing out the lines on the horses and people images.
- Photo Project: I removed the light brown bar that used to go down the right side of the image.
- Business Identity: I increased the space between the text and the logo on the back of the business card
- Brochure: I add two more images to the inside
- Prezi: I fixed the titles so that they do not over hang the image and adjusted some of the text on the rights side of image so that it was wider and easier to read.
- Magazine cover: I removed the background and made it a solid color. I also adjusted some of the text so that it aligned better and the color on two items.
Critique Process
I posted the first few slide on Facebook for the initial critique from the teacher. I took his suggestions and incorporate them through my entire project. I also took the suggestions from a couple of class members and implemented the ones that made sense to do based upon the feel I was trying to portray.
I did have 3 different front page designs and I asked about 20 different people for their feedback on that and I used the one that was most popular. They all have their pros and cons.
MESSAGE
The message of this portfolio is one of the ability to create and deliver on a wide variety of graphic design and techniques. It showcases the proper way to display graphics and use tasteful typography in all that we do.
AUDIENCE
The audience for this for people that are looking to hire someone to help them develop their website and integrate it with their current marketing systems. At times that means some of what is created for the web is used elsewhere in the marketing system of the company. It is also for people that want to so see some of the work that can be done with the Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign products.
TOP THING LEARNED
Here are a few of the things I have learned doing this project.
- All printers print color differently even with the same color management applied.
- Everyone has an opinion as to what they like and it is a varied as night and day sometime. If you ask 10 people for their opinion, you will get 10 answers. Ask them to choose and you may find a clear winner.
- The Adobe programs that we used are not that hard to use once you take the time to learn how to use the tools correctly.
- Typography will always be a source of contention with people that have never learned what it means to have tasteful typography.
COLOR SCHEME & COLOR NAMES
The background is a Monochromatic blue with the darkest blue being HEX 526586 and the lightest being HEX afbed1 to too the wood look like old paint.
There is a white background with a 70% opacity where the text and images are put.
Fonts Used
TITLE FONT NAME & CATEGORY
Sika Text Bold / Slab Serif
HEADING FONT NAME & CATEGORY
Book Antiqua / San Serif
COPY FONT NAME & CATEGORY
Sika Small / Slab Serif
Images
Original image of Background Came from BGfons.com