Newspaper Ad

Newspaper Ad
Easily one of the toughest assignments I've had to design yet is the Newspaper Ad. Though a very simple layout trying to really figure out what I wanted to portray in this ad is the tough part. Ulitmately again I decided to portray a photography ad (however this might change before critique day). After looking over good and bad examples today I'm going to keep this one simple, logo, bitmap, coupon, and contact icons. 
Here are my thumbnails: 













Altough these are very rough thumbnails I decided to use this time to really figure out my layout of how I wanted the ad to look.
After working with a $97 budget on this ad and using a system we learned today on how to figure up my ad size, I went with a 4 column spread, that was 6 inches high. Due to my logo size I felt this would best fit the content that I wanted, totaling out to be $96.

Here is my rough:













I went with the bmp image of the camera because it "hopefully" will draw attention to the add right off the bat with the next largest part of the ad being the coupon. My logo will be put next to my social media icons.
I'm really struggling if I want to make the entire ad a reverse also, but that will be determined later.

After struggling with how I wanted this ad to be portrayed, I decided to use this ad as a sort of a coupon to try and bring in some new customers. So the easiest way to do this is to attach a coupon the magazine ad, so I went with 25% off any work of your choice with the mention of the ad. So this is my final image of the design that I put together.

Chapters 8,9, & 10

CSR rule/ Talking with the Printer

Short for Customer Service Representative the CSR is the second person that you will normally be handed off to whenever your giving a job to the print company, the first being the salesman. One rule about CSR's is that you always want to make sure that they are knowledgeable at the print processes. In some cases your printing knowledge might supersede those of your CSR, in this case it is absolutely important that you handle this situation in a cor-gel manner. Asking to speak to someone directly on the print line about your job is not consider pestering them until you take it to that point. If you are able to speak directly with those handling your project on the print line then it is also imparitive that you keep your CSR in the loop. This will in turn improve your CSR's knowledge and make your job turn around in the future possibly easier.

 Planning for Print

Print planning is an essential process when it comes to a designer, and it is highly important that you know these steps to insure your job security, plus it will save you the embarrasement of the printers telling you to redo the job. Now let's learn these steps:

External Document Size: Whenever creating a piece whether it be a one page poster or a tri-fold brochure, knowing your final document size is crucial. This can be done either from your clients specifications or from an example that you already have, if you already have the example then get a ruler and make certain the final size.

Adequate Bleed: Most projects are set bleed is 1/8th of an inch, you should be fine to set your bleed at this. However speak to your printer to ensure that they do not require any larger.

Internal Panel Sizes: If your setting up a job that folds, make sure that you incorporate those folds in your document. One easy way to do this is to establish guidelines in your layout program, also you can speak with you print service to see if they provide a template.

Artwork Interactions with folds, perforations, or die cut trims: It is important to speak with your print provider on your folding jobs to ensure that any artwork that is placed up against a fold line does not bleed over. Speak with your print company so that they can ensure that this doesn't happen by giving you guides or bleed lines that you should establish in your document.

Correct Number of Pages: In all multi page documents the number of pages should be divisible by four. An example used in the book is, "pull out the pages in a book, look at the loose pages remaining and you will notice that they are fours, two front and two back." If you are putting together a notebook or something of the sort then you can get away with an odd number by using the blank pages as a place to write notes.

Correct Inks: Delete all unecessary colors that are in your swatches panel. This helps the printer in establishing which colors in your job are used.

Checking Raster Images

Making sure that your images are named correctly, colored correctly, and are the correct resolution is imperative so that your design comes out correct and that there are no hiccups in the printing process.

Resolution: When using a raster image normally it needs to be set to 300 ppi at it's final image size however there are exceptions. In large format printing your customers will probably be several feet away from your final design so with a lower ppi setting you will achieve the same result as if they were looking at a small document up close. So on your large format prints most the time you should be able to get away with a 150 ppi.

Color Space: In most print shops you will want your final file to be colored in CMYK, however again in a color managed print shop you may be allowed to use RGB. In your grayscale projects then make sure that they are truly gray scale and are not just colored in gray in a CMYK format.

Retouching: If you have an image that needs retouching and you are not comfortable doing so then ask your print shop to provide this service for you. If you are going to ask this question however come prepared. Have your images that will need retouching printed before hand and explain to the printer what you are wanting to retouch on those images.

Rotations and Scaling: This is always to be done in the native software that the image was created in, example being photoshop, or illustrator. When you perform these rotations or scales in your layout software your image will most likely become pixelated and you will not receive your intended quality of that design.

Filenames: For easy use avoid useing any special characters in naming your files for the simple fact that whenever carried across platforms the file could not open correctly. Always instead of using a space use a _, and always try and keep your file names short for ease of recovery.

Vectors

Correct Colors: If you will be placing a colored illustration into your page layout software always use pantone colors. These can be located in Pantone books that will also ensure upon print that you will have the desired color you are looking for.

Images: If using an image in your vector art make sure that if you are planning to do any alternation or retouching to that image that you attach the image in your final file. Also always embed your images to ensure that image comes along to the final layout file.

Fonts: If possible try and do your typing in your layout file software, if you are bringing type into this software then make sure it is embedded. This will ensure that the final file has the correct look that you are trying to design. Also make sure that your layout file is packaged so that the fonts used are brought along.

Bleed: Set a bleed that is matching to your layout software in your illustration software so that if your vector art is going to bleed from your layout it you will know the precise size that it needs to be and it will be embedded into your layout without any pixelation.

Types of Proofs

A proof is a rough draft of what your final file will look like. Submit these as PDF's for ease at your local print shop. Most print shops will have the same software as what you are working on and can open the file however this is not a guarantee. Always do a final check of your project to ensure all of your vector and raster image checklists are correct, then export as a PDF with the correct file name. Whenever going to your print shop as them to print a proof and provide them with a high quality print PDF file.

Photoshop Elements

After finishing any editing that you might do within photoshop it is imparative that you flatten your file. This ensures that you are only bringing in one file to your layout software and not every layer you have from your photo. This will cut down on file size whenever exporting and packaging your file later.

If you are using a transparency on your final layout file make sure that this is done in your layout software. If you bring in a already opaque file then you will lose detail in your final file and this will give you no room to make changes later after seeing your printed proof.

AI artboards are what your working on within your Illustrator files, whenever you resize your illustration and place it into your layout software that board will come with it. It is always a good thing that you make your artboard a little larger than you 100% illustration to enable you to move the file if necessary within your layout software. Some people however like to scale there artboard down to that 100% illustration to ensure that your are not picking up any extra space.

Change is Everything: VDM

Getting AntlerShed Out

For the direct mail assignment it was really a struggle on how I wanted to assemble this piece. After looking at multiple examples I still hadn't got a set idea on what I wanted to go with. Of course the way it works with many design pieces after looking over my roughs it really hit me, I wanted to send people something that really portrayed our photography skill set. So I decided to go with a flip mail piece. The direct mail piece will be a 5x7 horizontal set that will fold open to tell people a little about our skill set with design and photography.

Here are my sketches:

After look over my sketches I realized that I really liked the layout of the second rough. The way I will portray this in a fold will be that I will be standing in the foreground in focus on the cover, and when you flip up the front cover my colleague and I will be reversed. Now this will be the version that new companies, and people trying to gain identity's for themselves through design will get. The other version will have Devin standing in the foreground and that version will be sent out to our photography customers seniors, family's, etc.

Although vague these are my roughs:

This is the front cover for the design customers

This will be the back of the front cover, or the top when you flip the card.

This will be the inside portion for our design customers

And finally this will be the back portion of the mailer

Keep in mind these are only my roughs so some things might change when it comes to the final piece but this keeps my ideas in line. Although vague this gives you a small idea on what I am going with when it comes to the direct mailer.

The Name of the Game is Change
You will notice that my roughs look nothing like my final draft. As I've come to learn within the design world change is the name of the game, things are never done until the customer is happy with the design. I went through an enormous amount of change with this project but ultimately ended up with a design that I love.
After really sitting back and taking a look at my rough I just didn't feel that the folding design would gain me anything more than a basic front back design. So my original target audience was going to be family and seniors. Mainly targeting the females within the house hold, because in my mind if you could win over those females you could gain the business. This was my ultimate plan going into on screen critiques.
These were the drafts that I made up going into critique day:

This was the second front cover that I designed:

After designing these in my eyes I loved this look, it went with my original mindset of targeting the female audience.

However, in business you gain an edge by doing something different. After critique day my eyes were opened on seperating myself from my competition and creating something away from the normal. From my previous blog my logo has an edge to it, more leaning towards a male appeal so after direction from my colleagues I decided to CHANGE.

I went from trying to target the female audience I decided to switch my target audience to target the male and female crowd. So with this in mind I really did struggle on the way I wanted to portray this mailer. I knew for a fact that I really wanted to emphasize our photography skills with this mailer, trying to gain those family portrait and senior clients.

After completely redoing the design process I came up with my final mailers.

As a courtesy I want to apologize the tough reading on the ladder half of the 6/7 blog, I'm not really sure what happened but I've tried to fix the problem and there is nothing that I can do to change the way the white is highlighting the text, so again I apologize.

Chapter 6/7 Summary

PostScript

PostScript fonts consist of two files: A bitmap "screen font" component for onscreen display and a printer component that contains PostScript instructions for actually printing the character. One of the drawbacks to using PostScript is that since it is made of pixels it can't provide acceptable resolution for output. Also if you do not have the PostScript font activated inside your operating system well your out of luck and your font will recall back to the screen default ultimately not giving you the designed feel of you work. (Print Production)

TrueType

 TrueType fonts were brought forth in a collaboration between Apple and Microsoft. Creation of the TrueType font was to have a font that did not need a file for screen and a separate file for print. However in the early days of TrueType the PostScript RIP's couldn't process the TrueType files correctly, so your finished product again wouldn't come out the way you had the design on screen. Now currently, the modern technology of the RIP's can process TrueType as well as PostScript.

OpenType

OpenType fonts are the best of both worlds. An OpenType font is a cross platform font, this means that there is no separate files needed for screen and print, nor is there different files needed to view on a Mac or a PC. Along with this font is the ability to add up to 65,000 glyphs, which in short means that anything that can be added along with a font, such as fractions, symbols, etc., comes along with an OpenType. This does not mean however that all OpenType fonts contain all of these things, it is up to the creator of the OpenType and what he or she adds.

Font Family

In Short a font family is an entire set of the font you choose, by entire set the family should include regular, Bold, and Italic. There are other variations of these three such as Bold Italic, or semi-bold but these three are the main differences in a font family. The actual definition of a font family that I have found is " a set of fonts all with the same typeface, but with different sizes, weights, and slants." (Webopedia) 

Glyphs

A Glyph is a distinct letter form. Also multiple Glyphs may exist for a single character position in an OpenType font. Example shown to the right. (http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/lehrusovsky/glyphs-example.png)

 dfonts

A dfont is easily put as a mac version of some of our most popular fonts. These fonts are essentially OpenType fonts that whenever opened on a Mac or PC they will show up as the font you've chose, but however the fonts for the two operating systems do have there slight differences. Now if us mac users want a cross platform jump with some of our default fonts then this can be done by using dedicated font-management software.

Multiple Master Fonts

Multiple Master Fonts are yet another printers nightmare. Created from a PostScript font, then allow the user to give this font multiple weights, angles, and widths. The problems this created wasn't that they were allowing a user to manipulate, the problem was that it wasn't obvious how to make all the cool variants, how to collect the variants necessary, or how to ensure that the print service provider knew how to use them. (Print Production) 

Licensing

In order to protect those font constructors out there we have font licensing laws. Just like creating a song and having it taken from you without getting any credit for it, we need to a protection for those out there taking the time and consideration that goes into creating a font. One of the most popular agreements is a EULA (End User License Agreement). This is the agreement that a lot of us have probably agreed to and not even read it. Most of the fonts able to be nabbed are free for personal use but will have problems whenever it comes down to you and the printer. (Print Production) 

File Naming 

Now that file naming has become a little more forgiving than it used to be, there is one common consensus when it comes to file naming, keep it brief. Between platforms there are limitations as far as characters are concerned and that is an allowance of total characters, so to be safe whenever nameing your files, two things, keep it brief and avoid punctuation. If you follow those two rules then you should have happy days with your file names and you and the printers will get along great.

Extensions 

In the olden days, a file extension for mac users was unrequired. Files then consisted of two forks, a data fork and a resource fork. Pretty much self explanatory on what each side held, the data fork held all the "guts" and the resource told the system which icon to use. Although still you manually adding a file extension by type isn't necessary, you do have to specify so that opening files cross platforms is still possible.

Cross Platform Formats

Cross Platform Formats is exactly what the name says, formats that can cross platforms without any special software required to open them. Some of these formats are things such as JPEG's are saved with the extension .jpg and both Macs and PC's can read this file format the same and open this image that is present. 

Sources

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/font_family.html
"Print Production" Textbook

Chap. 4 & 5
 Files to Print
 The most commonly used file printing formats would be TIFF, EPS, and Photoshop PSD or PDF.
Now a TIFF (tagged image file format) is the most widely accepted file format because of it's transferability skills that is pertains. Happy being transported from Illustrator, to Microsoft Word and everything in between. Along with the import features TIFF's also use RGB and CMYK color spaces and allows to contain spot-color channels.
EPS (encapsulated PostScript) really is described as encapsulated art. Able to contain raster images, vector artwork, or both combined EPS is said to be postscript in a bag. Historically EPS files were saved to preserve a special function, such as a vector based Clipping Path.
Photoshop PSD's and PDF's were two formats saved through the Photoshop program. PSD's used to be saved strictly as a Photoshop document that was then flattened and saved as a TIFF or an EPS format. A PDF however contains about the same information as a PSD but is just encased. There is no reason to use a PDF when a PSD will work.

Files Not to Print
 There are a list of files that are strictly only used for web content and print is not an option. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a graphic that can contain alot of neccessarry qualities for print it has no CMYK color space. BMP (Bitmap) can do black and white but again has no CMYK color space. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a strict web use file because of it's low resolution qualities. JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) mainly because of it's loss qualities that it has through devices. Every time you save a JPEG you lose your Image quality.


Pixel vs.
A pixel (definition from the book) is shorthand for picture element, the smallest unit of information in a digitized image. Before pixels came to be cameras were used to capture artwork from drawings to painted illustrations. The job of capturing these images was time consuming to say the least. It required years of apprenticeship and experience to master the skill of capturing these images.
Now that we have discovered the pixel instead of having family photos smashed in a closet somewhere we now can have a stack of CD's organized and neat atop our desk. The pixel is the way of the future you could say comparing it the cave paintings and the ways that were done before the pixel came to be. It allows work to be done faster and more efficiently than any of these earlier ventures into photos.
 


JPG vs. RAW
 JPG is a compressed file format that can either be compressed a lot loosing image information or compressed a little only compressing a small bit of information. Image RAW is a feature that comes on higher end digital cameras, the point and shoots do not allow you to shoot in RAW. Camera RAW format is subject to no compression what so ever from the digital camera, this allows that whenever you open your RAW file into Photoshop you can change alot of the settings as if you were while you were taking the photo and not loose any picture information. Now camera RAW files cannot be dropped directly into Indesign, or Illustrator they must be ran through Photoshop first.

PPI Resolution
 PPI or pixels per inch this is the resolution on which you set your images for different mediums, for instance if you are setting an image for the web it would be set at 72 ppi at it's final size. These standards change however for every medium that you are using and print is widely debated format on ppi resolutions. With the updated technology that we use today we have settled on a resolution of 300 ppi. The debate use to be that 300 was insufficient because the RIP's would choke down and take all kinds of time, an also because the hard drives would be filled up rapidly, but with the technology of today we can run a 300 ppi image quickly and therefore efficiently.

Bitmap Images
 The main part of Bitmap images is that they are strictly black and white with no shades of gray in them at all. Commonly used for scans of signatures, or black pen sketches because it can offer a sharp, clean high resolution image. Yet another advantage to a Bitmap file is that they can offer these very high res images on a small files size.

Cropping and Rotating
 Cropping images is when you pretty much cut off the excess fat around an image that is unnecessary to be there. Cropping images is also used to center up a subject or to reduce the size down to what's needed for you to place onto a job. One major important factor to remember about cropping is to always keep a backup image on hand for any just in case purposes.
Rotating images is used all the time within logo design, page layouts, web design, etc. However one key note to remember about rotation is that the only safe rotation is a 90 degree rotation. Whenever you rotate an image less or more than the safe 90 you get the softening of detail inside the image.


Transparency Tip
 Whenever you are using any sort of transparency you must be careful switching between editorial programs. For instance whenever you are transporting your file into Indesign from Illustrator and you have a drop shadow upon print that drop shadow will show up gray, so it is best to make sure that whenever transporting files that everything matches up.

Vector Graphics
First and foremost things to know about Vector Graphics is that they are pixel free. What does this mean? This means that scaling dimensions is no limit, you won't ever get that pixel line at any point of your project.

Vector File Formats
Again you need to know what file formats are acceptable in the printing world and what's not. We back to EPS files, this file format is the most common file format for vector artwork. As for use with this EPS file you will find out that if you try and stick and EPS file into a microsoft word document that it's not going to show up correctly because the software cannot read it correctly.  So mainly use your EPS files for placed artwork.
Adobe PDF is one that we haven't been brought to yet, saving you vector art as a PDF ensures that your art cannot be changed. Also it is only intended for the use in page layout softwares that are going to be a finished print.


Embedded Fonts
Fonts that are embedded means that whenever you created a file in Illustrator or save it as an EPS this means that the font should now be available for print and viewing purposes, however this doesn't mean you can change the font in your layout software. Also not all fonts can be embedded, at times font sites will put a don't embed flag on there fonts to ensure the use for personal only.

Outlining Text
Converting your text to an outline text eliminates that someone will embed your font and cancel all edit ability. Also if your saving you file out as a PDF then outlining is pointless because of the edit ability restrictions that come with a PDF.


Simplifying Paths
Fewer Points smoother the drawing. Simple right? However it used to be believed that the more points the more detailed your drawing would be but however that's not the case. It is important to try and use as few points as possible but make sure those points are the right points.


 


 

AntlerShed Media

AntlerShed Media
Self Promotion Notepad

After careful consideration I decided for my self promotion notepad that I was going to change the name of my own media company that I've been trying to get off the ground. Double B Media is now going to be changed to AntlerShed Media, after asking some of my friends and aquaintances which name they liked more. Apart from my collegues choosing the name this also allows me to fulfill this assignment to the max, starting from scratch I designed my own logo, and now will use the notepad as a promotion device.
These are a few VERY ROUGH sketches that I had drawn out mainly for ideas on the layout of this notepad and how much content I wanted to be added.

Sketches 

As you can tell these are very rough but served the purpose I was after. The two on the right and the bottom sketch are all turned the wrong way due to my sheet, they actually lay out as a 5x7 vertical spread.

Rough

This is the rough draft that I created. It is measured out to a 5x7 vertical dimension notepad.

The antler that is in the middle will be taken down to a 13% opacity so for better use as a notepad. In the photo all that you see that is colored in will be black, along with a black outline on the antler again this will be at 13% opacity. Now from my screenshot you can't tell what my writing tells you so I will explain. In the top left hand corner of the pad I will have my QR code that I created for my blog, I have decided to not put any sort of text along with the code because this code will have you sent straight to my facebook page where all of my work can be viewed, I will let my work do the talking.

In the bottom right hand corner my logo that I have created in illustrator will be placed. I will have an 1/4" edge around the entire document to ensure that I do not make my drawing too large for the pad.

There was some changes made throughout the rest of the design process. Originally I had found a font that I like but upon our on screen critique day a lot of my classmates told me that it was hard to read. So after careful consideration I decided to change the font to accommodate both my taste and to give the name more readability.

This the original build of the notepad with the font that I first chose. As you can tell the Script like font is a little hard to read at first glance.















The next screenshot is off the final file that I decided to go with. This was with the new font that I had come across on dafont.com.

After listening to my peers in the on screen critique it really allowed me to see how other people viewed my product and really allowed me to make a better more useful product that more of the public could read and understand.














This is final product after print.