Design Skills Workbook
Jasmin Pulchinski Art 211 Graphic Design Production 1 Professor DKB Hoover UW-Stevens Point Fall 2016
Design Skills Workbook Jasmin Puchinski Art 211 Graphic Design Production 1 Professor DKB Hoover UW-Stevens Point Fall 2016 Printed at the Office of Printing & Design University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Content Photoshop
6-19 Overview General Info Photoshop Digital Images and Printing Actions, Batch Processing, Sharpening and Optimizing Photogrid
InDesign
8 8-14 15 16-17 18-19
20-25 Control Your Text, Paragraph and Character Styles, Text Wrap Brochure
22-23 24-25
Illustrator
26-33 28 28-30
Overview General Info
Tracing, Closed shapes, Gradients, and Patterns Paper Creature
D
Design Process
30-31 32-33
34-50 34-35 36-38
General Print Design, Paper and Printing Process Publication Design, Grid Structure, Page Elements
39-40 41
Typeface Categories, Type Basics Fonts, Typefaces, Typesetting, Typography Color
48-50
42-47
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Photoshop: Intro Workspace Options: Tool Bar / Tools
Photoshop | Overview The main uses for Adobe Photoshop include the manipulation and adjustment of digital photographs, building composite or layered photographic imagery and creating digital collages. Thomas and John Knoll developed it in 1987 and then sold the distribution license to Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1988. It has been available to the public since 1990. Along with some companion programs (Bridge, Lightroom) it is the industry standard software program for working with digital photographs.
Located by default on the left side of your workspace, the Tools can be classified into several categories including: Selection Tools, Painting/Manipulation Tools, Drawing/Type Tools, and Display Tools. Many of the tools and processes have shortcut key commands. Make your life better… learn to use both hands when working on the computer to utilize key commands and boost your efficiency. You can study an exhaustive list of key commands for Photoshop here: https:// www.nobledesktop.com/shortcuts/photoshopcs6/pc A fair number of Photoshop Tools have tool sets embedded in them—indicated by the tiny triangle on the lower right corner on their icon. Click and hold on an individual Tool to access and select the additional tools in the set.
Control Bar As in the other Adobe programs, the Control Bar appears at the top of your workspace. The information displayed here is contextual—it changes to match the particular Tool you are using or element you have selected. You can select and customize your Workspace by using the drop down menu on the far right of the Control Bar. You can also find these choices for Workspace in the Windows menu. 8 Design Skills Workbook
Preferences Like Illustrator and InDesign, Photoshop allows you to set Preferences for the software. Some of these are for interface and workspace display options, while some are for individual tools and/or panels.
Panels
There are numerous Panels that allow control over various tasks. These can be docked together or pulled apart in various configurations. You can set how many and which Panels are visible, open and docked on the right side of your Workspace. All Photoshop Panels can be found under ‘Window’ on the top drop down menu.
One of the most important settings in Preferences is for the number of History States. History allows you to undo multiple steps of your work on a single piece. You can find this setting under Performance category. Many people recommend upping the number to 100 or 150. Be aware that his will increase the amount of processing power needed to keep Photoshop open and functioning.
Documents Most often you will open photos directly in Photoshop and work on them, although there will be times you need to create a new document. The process echoes other Adobe programs using the top menu File > New Document, or simply, Command + N (Control + N on the PC). There are Presets to select or you can enter your own settings for the document. A crucial difference in Photoshop is that you can choose your Background Contents for your document (White, Background Color or Transparent).
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Image Categories Photographs, illustrations and collage are macro categories that images fit into. Each of these has numerous subdivisions that correspond to processes used, subject matter chosen and technique applied toward achieving an aesthetic. Images can be produced by simple elaborate means. The subject matter can be understood as portraits, landscapes or abstraction. Visual stylistic choices can range over a spectrum of emotional responses.
Photographs
Photographic work can be classified in many ways according to use and subject matter. You can find a fairly exhaustive list here: http://www.mediacollege.com/photography/types/. Historically many different techniques have been employed. A good list with descriptions and examples is on the V&A website: https://www. vam.ac.uk/articles/photographic-p.
Illustration The term ‘Illustration’ encompasses a huge variation of styles and purposes. The major categories are: portraiture, cartoon, decorative graphic or ornament, data visualization, architectural drawing, scientific illustration, technical drawing and illustration. Visual styles of drawing can vary from the representational, to the hyper realistic, to the quirky caricature or highly stylized cartoon. Technical drawing can be further subdivided into disciplines including: scientific illustration (Medical, Botanical, Zoological, etc.), prototype visualization (Product, Packaging, etc.), mathematical and engineering drawings, patent 10 Design Skills Workbook
drawings or explanatory drawings (Exploded view, Multi-view projections, etc.).
Collage The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines collage as: 1. an artistic composition made of various materials (as paper, cloth, or wood) glued on a surface Also referred to as a hodge-podge, collages can be mixtures of materials, of styles or of kinds of images. In this respect, a collage is sort of hybrid, often combining photographic and illustrative elements.
The Impact of Image Resolution Resolution is a term that describes the amount of detail or visual information in an image. The term is used when referring to a digital image as well as printed images. On-screen and printed images have greatly different requirements for resolution. Images meant for display on a screen can look decent with a much lower resolution than images created for print. Most printed magazines a resolution of 300 ppi at the reproduction size for photographs. Vector images such as logos are saved for printing at a much higher resolution— generally saved at 1200ppi. Computer monitors have a resolution of 72 or 96 ppi. They can display images of this resolution and they look pretty good. High-resolution monitors do require higher resolution images to look sharp and clear.
Vector vs. Raster Images Vector images have flat colors without gradients and are completely scalable. They are defined by a mathematical formula. This makes them an ideal format for logos and symbols. Logos and other graphics are saved in this way. Rasterized images have continuous tones or smoothly blended gradients. They are defined by a matrix of pixels where each pixel has its own color or value. When saving raster images they are always saved at the resolution needed for the kind of display they will be seen on. If printing the rule of thumb is to use 300ppi —at size— for photographs. If for online, then the images need to be optimized when saved for the screen resolution.
PPI, DPI, LPI PPI stands for Pixels Per Inch and refers to the number of pixels per square inch. Whether working with images in a digital camera, scanner or in pixel-based software programs, PPI is used to define the amount of digital information that is present in the image. DPI stands for Dots Per Inch and refers to the resolution of output devices such as desktop printers. Laser printers use dots or toner and inkjet printers use dots CMYK ink. LPI stands for Lines Per Inch and refers to the coarseness or fineness of screen a commercial printer uses to print images. Design Skills Workbook 11
Resolution & Kinds of Printing Different kinds of printing use different resolutions in their screens to digitize images for printing plates. These screens are measured in lines per inch (LPI). For example, newspapers are printed using fast web presses on coarse paper that absorbs a lot of ink. In order to avoid the images getting all muddy from ink spreading—called dot gain, they use a lower LPI in their printing screens. Low LPI means fewer lines per inch to define an image. So photos for newspapers are saved at a ppi lower than 300. Alternately, some exclusive publications will use high-quality offset or gravure printing processes and high quality coated and calendared paper. These processes use screens with high LPI with this less absorbent paper so the dots of ink are small and sit on the surface of and images are super crisp and clear. In order to take advantage of this, images must be saved at a higher ppi. High PPI means lots of pixels per inch to define details. It is important to remember as you work to save your files regularly. Get in the habit of saving your work in the native file format of the program you are working in so you can open and rework as needed. You should also save your files uncompressed or not flattened when archiving the original. Saving iteratively will ensure against loss of all work if your file gets
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corrupted. (It does happen!) Use ‘Save As’ to completely to create a different version of the file. In addition to native files, there are many different file formats to choose from when saving your work. The formats you choose will depend on the purpose and the medium the image is intended for. Generally images are either saved for Screen or for Print. Every different file format is created using formulas and processes that are optimized for a particular kinds of imagery. Of course, each of these formats has numerous options for settings that you must set according to the image need. This is called Optimizing your images. The most common file formats, their file extension acronyms, what they stand for and their specific uses include:
Images should be 300 px/in
Native Files (common design programs)
.indd (InDesign Document) — for multi-page documents for print or screen .psd (PhotoShop Document) — for photographic, digital collage .ai (Adobe Illuatrator) — for vector graphics, logos, illustration
Formats for Print .tiff (Tagged Image File Format) which are used for ___Industry standard for saving files___. .eps (Encapsulated PostScript) which are used for _Designed to print to PostScript printers__. .pdf (Portable Document Format) which are used for __distrubuting compact documents___.
Formats for Screen .jpg / .jpeg (Joint Photographic Expert Group) which are a ___lossy__ format. .png (Portable Network Graphic) which supports _the same thing as a gif, but it has no color limitation___. .gif (Graphic Interchange Format) which are used for _graphical images and can have up to 256 colors_.
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Automatic Correction Options In Photoshop there are several options for color, tone and contrast corrections. They are not perfect for every job, though can help you detect if there are some problems. These automatic features are located under the Image dropdown menu. Auto Color will adjust major color shifts, Auto Tone will “tone down� unnatural looking saturation in photos and Auto Contrast will enhance the differentiation in low contrast situations.
Blending Modes
False Duotone
Photoshop allows for the combination of images in multiple ways. You can Blend two photographs with different effects and use transparency on the top layer to adjust the amount or strength of the stylization.
A false duotone has the appearance of a two-color image. It is really a photograph that has been de-saturated and placed on a color background. This is sometimes called a fake duotone. In order to achieve this effect, you need to use the Multiply Blending Mode on the two different layers.
Top: Blending Mode Right: False Duotone
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Photoshop: Digital Images and Printing
Color Spaces and Printing Most of the time when working on digital images, you will be in the RGB format. The RGB color mode creates a smaller image size than CMYK, and you are looking at the image on a screen, which uses Red, Green and Blue to create millions of colors. The color modes RGB and CMYK are set in the Image > Mode menu. In Photoshop you also can adjust the Color Settings for the document. If you are intending to prepare your image to hand off to an offset printer, you will want to communicate directly with them about what specific color setting to use for their digital system workflow and their specific press.
Color Perception: Screen vs. Print
Overall, on screen the colors are illuminated from behind, so you can perceive a greater range of midtones in an image, whereas a printed image reflects light off the surface of the inked paper.
Print Quality The quality of both the paper and the printer you use will affect the appearance of your final output and colors. Running color tests can help you see how the chosen printer will perform. Commercial copy and Print facilities can usually produce much better final results than desktop color printers.
If you are sending your image to a desktop color laser or large-format banner printer, the sRGB format will suffice. In fact, it will often yield better results than converting your image to CMYK. However, if your monitor is not calibrated—which many are not—there can be a pronounced difference in the appearance of the colors on screen verses the colors when they have been printed. Also, some colors tend to shift more dramatically than others.
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Actions, Batch Processing Sharpening and Optimizing
Actions In Photoshop, Actions are specific sets of sequential instructions for the manipulation of photographs. Similar to Styles you create for text, once you make an Action, you can then apply it to other images. There are a number of default Actions that come preset within the program, however you can also record your own custom set of commands.
Batch Processing Once you have set up an Action, you can apply it efficiently to process quantities of photos or images. You can select a folder of images and direct Photoshop to apply a specific Action to all of them. This works great for images you need to treat the same way, such as to resize images or make all screen shots Grayscale.
Top: Action Toolbar Bottom: Example of a distorted photo that was batch processed
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Sharpening
Smart Sharpen
Almost every photograph you work with can benefit from a certain amount of Sharpening. Done correctly it will bring out the edge detail with greater clarity. Of course, you need to avoid over sharpening because it will cause your photo to look pretty awful. Sharpening should be one of the last things you do to a photo as you prepare to place into a layout or an InDesign document.
Optimizing your Images: File Formats & Resolution The first thing to think about is how your images are going to be used. Will they be used in a print document or will they be used in a website? Maybe both. Each platform for delivery has its own requirements. These pertain to two major things: appropriate file format and image resolution. For print, photographs need to be in ______pdf/ tiff_______ format and require a pretty high resolution, commonly ______300ppi_____, to look their best. For screen, the same photograph would be saved in _____png/jpg______ format and needs to be optimized for screen with a lower resolution in order to perform best on screen. Photoshop will do this for us if we use Export As. Design Skills Workbook 17
PhotoGrid There are many things that one can do when working in photoshop. This piece was an excercise in layers and various effects in photoshop. There were over 45 different layers by the end. The image on the left shows the different boxes with the different effects being applied, while the image on the right shows the final b/w version.
Left: In-progress Photogrid Right: Finished project
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InDesign Intro Control your Text, Paragraph & Character Styles, Text Wrap Control your Text! —Keep it all in the same Text Box When you work with running text in a document, you need to control how the text aligns on the page. The only reliable way to do this is to work with the text in either single text boxes “Threaded” together, or to apply multiple columns within your text box. The importance of working with a section or chapter of text as a single entity becomes clear when you need to make changes to the layout. Sometimes, like with some headings, text may be set in a separate text box, but other than that, you control the text best by keeping it all in the same text box and using Tabs, Insets and Text Wrap to control positioning.
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Example of threaded text
Paragraph & Character Styles Styling your text to create clear, strong type hierarchy is one of the major goals for page layout design. You are expected to use Paragraph & Character Styles as the way to style your text. Not only is it the professional method for doing this, but it ensures consistency and efficiency in work flow. When you are starting out, it is easiest to style the different parts of the text visually and then make the New Style with your cursor in the selected text. Rules of thumb for P & C Styles Paragraph Styles are used for paragraphs or blocks of text. Character Styles are used to style words or phases within a paragraph. These are applied by selecting the actual words and then choosing the Character Style.
Text Wrap Working with images and text on the page means aligning both to your underlying grid structure. There may be instances where you want text to flow around an image. This is referred to as Text Wrap. You can control the offset or opening between the text and image on all sides.
Text Wrap Options You can wrap text around images in different ways and you can have it jump over something altogether. You can even have the text wrap around a geometric or an irregular shape. This, however can cause a number of serious issues with text readability, so needs to be used with restraint and care.
Text Wrap Example
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BroChure The purpose of this project was to research and design a brochure about an organization at UWSP. This particular organization is the Association for the Education of Young Children, or AEYC. We created several paper dummies, talked about content and images multiple times, and then printed out rough drafts and editied those before printing out the final. On the left there are two pictures that can be found on the inside of the brochure. We had to take our own photos and find information. We took that and created a layout. The top right is the whole brochure spread in InDesign while the bottom right is the front cover.
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A
ssociation
E
for the
ducation of
Y
oung
C
hildren
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Illustrator Intro Adobe Illustrator Overview The industry standard software for developing vector-based graphics, Adobe Illustrator is the go to program for designers building logos and symbols, as well as digital illustrators. In this program you can build vector shapes and fill or color and apply a huge variety of effects, shading and patterns.
Tool Bar / Tools Main Selection Tools — Like the other Adobe programs, Illustrator has Selection Tools. These are the ‘Selection’ and the ‘Direct Selection’ Tools. The ‘Selection’ Tool (the BLACK Arrow) allows you to move an entire object. The ‘Direct Selection’ Tool (the WHITE Arrow) allows you to select a single anchor point and manipulate it. Illustrator has quite a few Tools that you can use to build shapes. Some are more intuitive than others.
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Regular Shapes — Geometric Shapes can be created with the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Star Tool. All of these shape-making tools can be constrained to perfect shapes or configured to add or subtract edges or points. You can click and hold on the Rectangle Tool to get a submenu of Tools that can be detached from the main Tool Bar. Irregular Shapes — The Paintbrush and the Blob Brush Tools can be used to make irregular or organic shapes. You can adjust the size of the brush and of course the color of the brush.
Pen Tool Learning to work with the various Pen Tool options will increase your abilities in Illustrator exponentially. Drawing with the Pen Tool takes some practice. Each time you click the Pen Tool on the Artboard, a single Anchor point appears. If you click and drag, you will automatically get two Handles that can be used to manipulate the curve of an Anchor point. These curves
A few geometric shapes that can be made
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that make up vectors are called Bezier Curves, named after the mathematician who first described them. If you click and hold on the Pen Tool in the Tool Bar, you can see the entire Pen Tool set. These include the Add Anchor Point tool, the Delete Anchor Point tool and the little angle icon that is simply called the Anchor Point Tool. Again, you can “tear off� this little Pen Tool sub-menu and position it anywhere in your workspace.
Tracing, Closed Shapes, Gradients and Patterns Tracing There are two main ways to trace in Illustrator, one uses the Pen Tool and Layers so you can draw on top of what you want to trace much like you would do using a light table, and the other uses the Image Trace process, which digitally changes a rasterized image into a vector image. Each of these methods is best suited for some images and both processes have pros and cons. The Pen Tool is difficult to master, though it will allow for precise control. Image Trace has many options, though it can generate a result that is less than ideal. The Image trace window has a number of preset Tracing options and many different ways to manipulate the resulting trace.
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Above: Shape that was made using Pen Tool Below: Imaged that was traced with pen tool
Left: Circular Gradient Bottom: Stroke example
Gradients and Patterns In Illustrator there are numerous methods to fill shapes. Gradients allow blending colors or blend to transparency. Patterns allow you to fill a shape or area with a repeating motif. Gradients and Patterns have presets and are both customizable. The Pattern Brush Tool makes it easy to create and adjust your own original Patterns.
Stoke and Fill Strokes can be aligned to outside, inside or center of a shape. The cap or terminals can be blunt/flat, rounded or squared. Their joins can be square, rounded or beveled. It is important to keep track of the Stroke and Fill. You can reverse these by clicking the double-ended arrow on the Tool Bar.
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Paper Creature The purpose of this project was to create a 3D creature from scratch. These images show the process in how this was accomplished. While this process was actually done using InDesign, I think this process shows what could be done in Illustrator. The bottom left image shows the sketched out version of the creature that was scanned into Illustrator. That image was traced using the pen tool slash shape tool to get the product on the right. After making the shapes, color and special touches were added. The bottom right image is the final poster version. And last but not least, the top image is the final assembled creature.
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Sir Cophin
Backstory
Sir Cophin was but a humble worker in a crematorium. One day he found an old top hat left behind and tried it on. He had an idea. He hobbled on down to his nearest shop and purshaced fancy gloves and a beautiful bow tie to match his hat. Sir Cophin decided then and there that he was going to change his life. He quit his job at the crematorium and now performs for a living.
Instructions Hat
Cut out the large black circles and the band/top of the hat. Bend the band into a circular shape and glue the white tab to the other end. Fold the small circle on top of that and attach the white tabs to the band accordingly. Bend the two large . Once the body is formed, glue the bottom of the hat to the top of the head.
Body
Cut out the body. Each of the tabs are plain brown with no texture. The tabs where two sides meet need to be separated via cutting so that they are able to be bent. Start by folding everything along the black lines. Then start to glue the tabs to the side nearest to them. Glue the sides together around the face first. Once that is done, then attach the remaining outer tabs to the back.
Arms
Cut out arms. Fold them in on themselves and glue together. Make a fold on both arms and glue to the sides. Credits: Jasmin Pulchinski, Art 211 Section 2, 2016, InDesign
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Design Process
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When addressing a design problem, there are a variety of tools and techniques to help us find solutions. The most powerful tools we use are our brains. Only after a viable solution has been arrived at do we think of translating it on the computer. Some designs are not even built on computers, like a hand-drawn calligraphy piece, though would be documented—scanned or photographed—digitally. Computers and software programs are tools designers use, but they cannot think or solve design problems. The Design Process follows a reliable flow: research, brainstorm, sketch, sketch more, select options, refine, evaluate, articulate, choose best concepts, refine, present, listen…and then, repeat. More than any other step, research is key to creating successful design solutions. Research includes interviewing the client, ascertaining their budget, timeline and what they know about their audience; understanding the market, trends and history, options for delivery; and knowing the resources available to you. Creatives are always learning. With each new client you will need to research their business—and study the related subjects. When designing printed jobs, working closely with your printer will yield better results. They know their business, the size and capabilities of their presses, the best kind of papers to use for specific jobs, and they want your business, so it is in your best interest to consult your printer—especially before designing the project. Writing about your research, the client’s needs, your goals, what you are trying to achieve with your design will establish the basis for your preliminary client agreement, or design brief. This tool will keep all parties on the same page and help avoid ‘scope creep’.
Solving the design problem creatively requires experimentation. Getting outside your normal mode of thinking fosters inventiveness. Sketching, doodling, making, using our hands to translate ideas, helps our brains go there. Brainstorming or mind-mapping lists of associations is like playing, which enables plasticity of thought — we can think different. The sketching process begins with thumbnails, or thumbs, which are small, fast, loose drawings—a process/tool to get many ideas down on paper quickly. They are drawn with indications of only basic layout elements. Thumbs for any kinds of publication design should reflect the shape of the pages. A handful of your best thumbnails ideas are selected and refined into rough sketches, which are larger, darker and contain more detail. After some evaluation, the best rough sketches are revised and refined further into comps or comprehensive renderings. Comps can be tightly drawn in marker or produced digitally. Your comps will have all content represented in position and at scale. As a designer you will be often asked to create three or more directions for presentation. These need to represent different ways to solve the problem, not just variations of one design. At this presentation stage you may need to revise or refine the concepts. The process can get stuck in a feedback loop so your client contract should have state a maximum number of revisions. Once a design is agreed upon, the work goes to production. Often a dummy layout is provided to the printer to show the intended page structure and folding being specified. Once on press, printers will provide either a digital or a physical poof to show exactly how the piece will look [and feel].
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Print Design, Paper and Printing Processes
Varieties of Print Design
There are many kinds of Print Design. General categories include single page items like postcards, flyers or posters; multiple page pieces like books, magazines and newsletters; and label and package design for products of all shapes, sizes and materials.
Package and Label Design The range of design options, materials and forms for package design is astonishing, even though the level of over-packaging is problematic. Packaging adds a powerful layer of experience to the product display and brand involvement. Materials used in package design are different weights, thicknesses and structures of paperboard or kinds of plastics. Labels often utilize specialty lightweight papers, other synthetic materials, or specific processes (flexography) to print on non-flat surfaces.
Folding Folds in printing range from a simple single fold to multiple complex folds. Each type of fold is identified by a specific name. Double sided, single page pieces such as brochures are typically folded twice to produce three panels. The direction of each fold can be specified thus creating either a nested or z-fold brochure. Folds need to be scored first in order to crease cleanly. Problems can occur when folds go across the grain of the paper causing unsightly cracking of the paper stock.
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Package Design
Types of Binding Multiple page printed documents are bound using a number of different methods. Some more common commercial types of binding include: saddle stitched, perfect bound, spiral bound and comb bound. Binding styles can make a statement. Spiral bound books imply utility because they can lay flat or be maneuvered to show only a single page, useful traits for workbooks or manuals.
Kinds of Commercial Paper Commercial paper is manufactured according to industry standards. There are a range of characteristics and specifications used to identify the different types of paper. These are Grade, Finish, Weight, Color, and Grain Direction. The basic grades (or types) of commercial printing papers are: • Bond or writing — usually used for letterheads, business forms and copier uses • Book — the most commonly used coated and uncoated papers for printing
• Text — high quality sheets in a variety of surfaces and colors • Cover — used when greater bulk is required such as book covers, postcards or inserts • Tag / Bristol / Index — smooth surface papers, mostly uncoated, used for displays, file folders, tickets. Within each grade there are other distinctions, based on brightness, opacity, fiber content, and finish. For instance, there are matte, premium, and gloss finishes to coated papers. Text papers are distinguished by finishes like smooth/ vellum, felt/embossed, laid, and linen. Papers come in a variety of Surface Types. Common Coated types are: Gloss, Dull, Matte, Silk and Embossed. Uncoated paper comes in a wide variety of finishes including: Smooth, Linen, VelDifferent magazines lum, and Felt. Each of these surfaces will provide different print quality and overall appearance. Each has its strengths and appropriateness for a particular job. Most grades come in a variety of Weights for both Cover and Text. Get to know and learn to work with your printer to select the best papers for your print. design job.
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Printing Processes used in the Design Industry Designers use different printing options depending on the intent and scope of the project. Simple documents, like our course syllabus, are printed on laser, toner-based printers and duplicated on toner-based copy machines. Single, one-off, print jobs such as a laminated poster, would be produced on a color inkjet printer. A short run of several hundred brochures for a local event would get run on a color laser printer. Commercial projects such as the internationally distributed Print magazine or the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books are produced in large print publishing houses using the offset printing process.
Offset Printing Commercially produced print work is most often created through a process called Offset printing. This process involves the digital image of
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the design being separated into plates corresponding to each of the ink colors being used in the printing process. This can be 1 or 2-colors of ink or, more often, the four process colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black — also known as CMYK.
Digital Printing Presses
Fairly recently commercial printers began offering high quality printing using all digital machines. These are ideal for shorter-run jobs and highly customizable.
Post Press Processes
Commercial printers can print additional colors and can perform a number of post press processes. Post press processes include die cutting, embossing, spot varnish and foil stamping.
Copy Shops
Copy centers have a range of digital printing capabilities including high quality Black & White and Full color laser printers and larger Color inkjet banner printers in different sizes.
Publication Design, Grid Structure, Page Elements
Design Decisions for Print Publication Multi-page print publications like magazines or newsletters a number require a number of technical decisions. For the format, what size (height and width) are the pages and how many pages are needed? How will the publication be bound? What kind, quality, weight and finish of paper will be used for the cover and the interior pages? The answers to these questions are usually decided when discussing the audience of the publication, the parameters of the design job and the printing processes with your client and printer.
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Page Layout: Grid, Columns, Margins and Page Furniture In publication design you must consider the layout design of single pages as well as how page spreads work together. How pages are laid out is an important design consideration. You need to consider the size of the margins, the number of columns in the grid used and the kind and placement of the page furniture and other navigational elements.
The Grid: Columns and Margins and Gutters Grids provide structure and consistency for publications. A grid ensures there is alignment of elements on the page. Much like an armature inside a sculpture, the grid is not visible; though you see it by the way it unifies the page content. The main features of a page that a grid controls are the number of columns being used. A grid can have from a single column to twelve columns on a single page. The more columns in a grid, the more flexible it is. The space between each column is called a gutter. Even though the pages may look different because they show different numbers and widths of columns, the underlying grid structure remains constant. Publications use several page layouts to indicate different sections or kind of content presented. Margins are needed on the top, bottom and outside edges of the page so content does not get cut off in the trimming process or covered up by the reader’s thumbs as they hold the publication. The place where the pages meet in the middle, at the binding, is also called the gutter. Inside margins at the gutter prevent content from being swallowed up or cut off in the middle.
Magazine Analyzed above
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Page Furniture Design elements that appear consistently from page to page are referred to as ‘page furniture’. This includes the page numbers, also called folios; running headers, running footers and section markers. All pieces of page furniture are either part of an identity system or serving as navigational graphic elements.
Analysis of a Magazine’s Format and Properties Type of Binding: Perfect Bound Paper used for Cover (Weight, Quality, Finish): Heavy, glossy Paper used for Interior Pages (Weight, Quality, Finish): Heavy, matt Page Size: 9 1/8 in Width and 11 9/16 in Height Page Margins: Top, Bottom, Outside, Inside 1 3/8, 11/16, 1 9/16, 5/16 inches Number of Columns in Grid:6 Column Width: 1 1/16 inches Column Gutter Width: 1/8 Page Furniture used: Running Footer and Header
Typeface Categories, Type Basics Typefaces Categories There are many ways to categorize typefaces or fonts, but the two main ways we will learn about are general classifications and how they are used. General classification is historical; usage is about the names given to the roles type plays in different parts of the document.
General Classification: Serif vs. Sans Serif One of the most basic distinctions in type is Serif or Sans Serif. A serif is that little foot or spur or appendage on the end of the stroke of a letterform. The word ‘sans’ means, ‘without’ so this category has no little spurs or appendages, the letterforms end bluntly.
Type website
Both of these categories have additional classifications. Kinds of Serifs include Hairline, Bracketed, Slab, Wedge (and more) and Sans Serif include Geometric, Humanist, Transitional.
Text vs. Display Typefaces are designed for different purposes. The two major categories are Display and Text typefaces. Text faces are used for body text meant for extended reading and so their letterforms are clear, clean and simple. Display faces, on the other hand, can be more ornamental because they are used for use titles or headlines that only have a few words.
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Fonts & Typefaces, Typesetting, Typography Fonts & Typefaces Typefaces have Families There is confusion about what a Typeface is and what a Font is. Most typefaces are designed with several variations such as Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. Each one of these variants is technically a single font. Some typefaces have large families that include variations in character width with names like, Compressed, Condensed, Wide or Extended, and character weights with names such as Thin, Light, Book, Bold, Semi Bold, Extra Bold, etc. Designers will utilize a range of typefaces to complete their work. You need to own the fonts you use for your design work or the license to use them. Fonts and entire typeface families can be purchased and downloaded from digital font houses or foundries. Free fonts are available from plenty of websites, but are not usually professionally designed or prepared. That means they will have limited use.
Typesetting The act of setting type involves building or following the grid structure, determining appropriate typefaces, typestyles, measure (line length), leading (line spacing), type alignment and paragraph indicators. These are all factors affecting readability and legibility of text. Formal considerations of contrast also play a key role here. Some typefaces are designed as Display Faces... to be used ONLY for headlines at large point sizes. Other typefaces are designed specifically for use as body copy. Some are fairly flexible and can be used effectively at both large or small point sizes.
Font in Fontbook
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You must always Package your projects or digital files so you can access both the original images and the typefaces you used in them. Font Management software is used to control what fonts are available to you when you are working on a computer. FontBook is what is used currently at UWSP. The Adobe font library is part of what is provided for the graphic design program. You can download other fonts to use in your design work. You must add these fonts in FontBook to be able to access them.
FontBook, a type program
Legibility / Readability of Text Legibility refers to how a specific typeface is designed and how easy or difficult it is to make out the letters. The x-height of a typeface is a primary consideration in any typeface’s legibility. As stated earlier, legibility is strengthened when you use the appropriate typefaces for the specific purpose. That is, you should use a typeface made for body text (text face) and a typeface considered a display face for things like headlines, page heads and perhaps pullquotes. Readability refers to how the text is arranged on the page. A number of factors affect the readability of text. These include point size and leading, the measure, alignment and spacing. Design Skills Workbook 43
Examples of different sized text used to create a type hierarchy
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Point Size in relation to Text The point size of the type you set is an important matter that is dictated by the purpose of the text and the audience you are addressing. Very small type will be difficult for very young as well as older readers. Type that is set too big looks clunky and also interferes with reading. How Type is Measured: Points, Picas, Leading and ‘the Measure’ The units of measure used for type include: the point and the pica. 12 points = 1 pica, 6 picas = 1 inch, so 72 points = 1 inch Type size is measured in points. This unit of measure has been around since the 1600’s and was standardized in the 1990’s for digital publishing. Conventional point sizes are available in the drop down menus of most software programs. These sizes (6, 8, 10, 12, 14, etc.) correspond to the sizes that—once upon a time, and still today—hot type or metal type is produced.
Leading Another important factor in enhancing or detracting from readability is leading. The amount of leading affects the overall appearance of a block of text. Generous leading adds space or ‘air’ between the lines, which creates an open and inviting appearance. Tight leading will give the text block a dense, impenetrable look. Default setting for Leading is 2+ points. When typesetting the type size and the leading is expressed in this way: point size / point size + leading.
Measure The length of line or block of text is called its measure. If a line of text is too long, the reader will tend to lose their place as they go from one line to the next. If it is too short, the ideas in the text become chopped up rather than flowing. Line length is measured with character count. Optimum line lengths are around 45-65 characters including spaces.
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Alignment of Text Running text or a large amount body text such as for articles or books need to use the most appropriate alignment to aid in reading. The two best options would be either Flush Left of Justified.
Flush Left
Most commonly, the left edge of a column of type is aligned. This is called ‘Flush Left’ alignment. In this configuration, the right edge of the column is not aligned and has a ragged appearance. This non-aligned edge style is referred to as the ‘rag.’
Justified
Another commonly used alignment is called ‘Justified’ or when the text is aligned flush on both the left and the right. This arrangement produces a much more formal look to a layout.
Centered
Centered text is reserved only for things like invitations or sometimes for short pieces of text like pullquotes.
Flush Right
For a particular design of say, a poster or an advertisement, text is sometimes set Flush Right. This alignment is used pretty rarely and only with short amounts of text when the look it create adds strongly to the composition.
Randomized
Finally, text alignment is sometimes purposefully random to create a liquid, or poetic feel. The random alignment is only used for short passages.
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Typesetting Alignment Options
Spacing in Page Layout and Typesetting You know about spacing as in page margins can affect the feeling of a page layout. Spacing between headings, subheads and paragraphs is another area you need to be sensitive to. Proximity is comes into play when adding space after heads and sub heads. We tend to group elements together based on their visual proximity to one another. Subheads should be closer to the text they head than the text above them. Captions should align with and/or be near the image they describe. Headlines usually span a number of columns, and sometimes the entire page spread. This automatically communicates that the head refers to the entirety of the page content. There should be sufficient air between the heads and the copy below them.
Paragraph Indicators Indents or space between the separation of long texts into paragraphs allows the reading to be broken into distinct areas or ideas. There are a number of ways to indicate paragraphs; indents and spacing are the two most common. You can use space between paragraphs to separate them, however, be aware that an all-too-common mistake is to insert two returns after a paragraph, which produces too much space between them. Instead, apply Space After the end of your paragraphs. The best, most professional way to work with spacing in your text is to include it when you create your Paragraph Styles. When using indents, there are a couple of rules to be aware of. One is that you do not use an indent on the first paragraph of a story or article. There is no need to indent because an indent is used to indicate a new paragraph following a previous one. The other rule is to use indents only if you are not using space between paragraphs. They are both used to tell one paragraph from another, so only one is needed.
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About Color
Basic painter color wheel Photo edited in photoshop and taken by Jasmin Pulchinski
Designers need to know a lot about color. From color theory, the psychology, cultural and mythic meanings of colors, to the technical aspects of how to handle color digitally, to knowing the systems of used in specifying color, the knowledge base you need to acquire is expansive. This workbook covers a few fundamental aspects including: Color Systems, Color Spaces, Spot Color vs. Process Color, and Color Books.
Color Systems: Additive vs. Subtractive Humans see color because our eyes are equipped with specialized receptors called rods and cones that detect and translate different wavelengths of light. We perceive color differently depending on whether we are seeing light directly versus seeing light reflected off of a surface. These two different systems are called Additive and Subtractive. 48 Design Skills Workbook
Additive Color System When we look at a screen on any device, we are looking at light illuminating the screen from behind. When we look at a film or slide show being projected onto a screen we are also looking at light. The colors we see are a result of light wavelengths being added together to produce the whole spectrum of other colors. Thus this color system is referred to as Additive.
Subtractive Color System When we look at color that is painted on a canvas or dyed into a fabric or printed on paper we are seeing light bouncing off the surface. The colors are a result of wavelengths for colors being subtracted from the spectrum and those colors/wavelengths enter into our eyes. That is why this color system of dyes, inks and pigments is referred to as Subtractive.
Color Spaces (or Modes): RGB vs. CMYK As a designer you need to be aware of and consciously match the color spaces with the medium you work in. Colors on screen look different than those same colors printed on paper. So, when you are designing for the web or work that is mean to be projected, you should use one color space and when you are designing work meant to be printed, you need to use another. All of the colors we see on a screen are made up of pixels with varying amounts of Red, Green, and Blue. Thus, the color space for screen work is identified as RGB. Most all of the colors we see on a full-color printed piece are made up of dots of color ink in varying density. These colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black. Thus, the color space used for print work is CMYK.
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Working with Color in Print Design Process Colors
There is more to know about color in print than just CMYK vs. RGB. An important term to know is that cyan, magenta, yellow and black are referred to as the Process Colors. This name references the printing process where full color images are separated out into their component CMYK colors as dots. This is done in order to print the colors one on top of another and produce a visual recreation of all of the colors present in the image.
Spot Color
A Spot color is printed as a solid color either instead of CMYK or in addition to CMYK (Process Colors). Why would you use a Spot Color? Sometimes there is a specific color that needs to be consistently presented. An example of this would be the Target Red color. This is a valuable part of Target’s brand. In order to maintain consistency the color is mixed up using a specified formula of percentages of CMYK inks. Specifying a Spot Color in InDesign You have to go through a set of steps to specify a Spot Color in InDesign. Note that the process varies a little in different software programs such as Illustrator. If you want to use a tint of a specific color you must make it a Spot Color first.
Pantone Color The Pantone Matching System is the most used color matching system in the design industry. Pantone colors allow designers to spec colors for their clients and ensures that printers will be able to reproduce the specified color. Pantone colors are available in swatch books that fan out for easy comparison and selection. Because there are many different kinds of papers, coatings and kinds of options for printed design work, there are numerous Pantone swatch books to represent the various kinds of printing and papers. The most basic distinction between these swatch books is Pantone Coated vs. Pantone Uncoated. These simulated what the color will look like on coated and uncoated paper stock. There are also swatch books that show how a specific color will look when it is “built� out of CMYK. You can specify Pantone colors in InDesign as well as in other Adobe programs, Illustrator and Photoshop.
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