Design Skills Workbook by Maria Gorski

S n g i s e D

k o o b k r o W ik lls

Design Skills Workbook ART 211 Graphic Design Production 1 Professor DKB Hoover Maria Gorski University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Fall 2016

Table of Contents Section 1 7 Design Process 8 Design Principles

Section 2 9 Design Software Programs 10 Adobe InDesign 11-13 Introduction to Adobe InDesign 14 Binding and Label Design 15 Paper 16-17 Printing 18 Page Structure 19 Analysis of a Magazine 20-24 Typesetting 25-26 Color

Table of Contents 27 Adobe Photoshop 28-29 Introduction to Adobe Photoshop 30-31 Images 32 Image File Formats 33 Printing 34 Duotones 35 Masking 36 Automatic Corrections 37 Adobe Illustrator 38 Introduction to Adobe Illustrator 39-43 Adobe Illustrator Tools Section 3 44 Projects 45-46 Project 1: Photogrid 47-49 Project 2: Creature 50-51 Project 3: Brochure

Section 1: Design Process

Design Process

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].

Design Principles Design Principles: Visual Hierarchy

Alignment, Balance, Unity Elements on a page need to have some alignment to look purposefully laid out and to unify the composition. This is a basic tenant of 2D Design. The layout also needs to achieve a visual balance either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Unity in page layout is achieved through deliberate use of a few well-chosen typefaces and a limited or purposeful color palette. Graphic elements or treatments such as gradients, specific textures or borders can add a sense of completion to a layout. Choose these thoughtfully in order to add visual power to your conceptual communication.

All layout design is concerned about the communication of ideas. As a designer you need to figure out what is most important and present that first in the visual hierarchy. We follow general rules for reading. In Western cultures we read from left to right and top to bottom. Thus attention usually goes to the upper left hand corner of a page. An effective poster design will have a focal point, something that catches the eye first. There are plenty of methods to create this using scale, color, and/or contrast to draw the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention.

Photography & White Balance When taking photographs of an object or a product, you will want to control your lighting. The White Balance is something you set in the camera so the color temperature of the lighting is recorded correctly. Auto settings can often get good results, though you may want to use a gray card or measure the light and set the WB in the camera at the time of the photo shoot. Of course, it is possible to correct color casts in an existing photo using Photoshop, however it is far preferable for you to use the proper white balance to begin with as every digital adjustment will result in a loss of digital information.

Paper Creature with Lighting Studio

8Design Skills Workbook

Section 2: Design Software Programs

Graphic Design Production9

Adobe InDesign

Introduction to Adobe InDesign Adobe InDesign | Overview Workspace, Pages, Tools, Panels, Guides, Grids, Master Pages Adobe InDesign is the industry standard software for page layout of print documents. With it you can control the number of pages, page size, grid structure, type styles and image placement. This is an overview of the interface and the basics on how to use the program. To begin, setup a New Document. Go to File > New > Document--or use the key command, Command (⌘) + N--to open the New Document window. Here you can set the Intent, number of Pages in your document, Page Size, Orientation, whether you want Facing Pages and many more options.

Rulers and Guides There are rulers running along the top and the left of your document window. The units of the ruler can be changed to read in points, picas, inches, centimeters, pixels, etc. Right click or Control click on the upper left corner where the rulers intersect to change the units of measurement. You can create a new guide by clicking and dragging on one of the rulers. Change the location by dragging it to new position.

Tip: Pushing Command and the R key turns on the rulers function.

Tools In the toolbar there are basic kinds of tools to get to know. There are Selection Tools, Frame and Shape Tools, Type Tools, Drawing, Cutting and Transforming Tools, and the Stoke and Fill ‘Coloring’ Tools. Application Bar, Application Frame and Control Bar These are the two horizontal bars across the top of the workspace. The Application Bar can be used for setting up the workspace. You can turn on the Application Frame, which creates a perimeter around your workspace. The Control Bar can be used for controlling the characteristics of different elements. It is contextual which means it changes depending on what you have selected.

InDesign File Tab

New to working on a Mac? >>> How to Take Screen Shots on a Mac >>> Select the keys, Shift + Command + 4 to get a Crosshairs cursor. With this you can draw around what you want to capture. The screenshot goes automatically onto your desktop. Use Shift + Command + 4 and then hit the Spacebar to get a camera icon cursor and you can capture the entire open window by clicking the mouse. You can move the camera icon over any part of your desktop to capture different panels or Tool bars.

Graphic Design Production11

Introduction to Adobe InDesign Pages and Master Pages The Pages panel allows you to see a thumbnail version of your document. From here you can navigate to specific pages or rearrange them. You can add and delete pages, and choose how the thumbnails are displayed. A Master Page is like a template that you can apply to multiple pages in your document. By default the A-Master is activated. You can make adjustments to it and you can create new Master Pages for different kinds of page layout or sections of your document. To make adjustments to the Master, double click on the name in the panel. It will highlight and the name by the thumbnail and the name will appear at the bottom left side of your document frame.

InDesign Pages Tab

12Design Skills Workbook

Introduction to Adobe InDesign Panels Different Kinds of Grids The page layout of your document is controlled by a grid structure that you create. There is also a Document Grid, which is like grid paper. To turn on and off the visibility of the Document Grid, go to the top menu and select View > Guides & Grids > Show/Hide Document Grid (⌘’). Another kind of grid is a Baseline Grid, which is used for aligning text. We will discuss this a bit later. Grids and guides can be adjusted to suit the document needs or your preference. Under InDesign choose > Preferences > Grids (or Guides) to get to the Preferences window. There are a number of other preferences you can set here.

In addition to the Tools on the left side of the workspace, InDesign has a Panels area on the right side by default, that house a slew of different options for controlling your document and content. Presets for groupings of Panels can be selected that are specific to different tasks. Individual Panels can be opened by going to the top menu bar under the ‘Window’ drop down menu. The Panels can be configured anyway you would like and the stack can be expanded, minimized, or pulled apart to suit your needs.

Columns and Margins You know that every printed multi-page document has top, bottom, inside and outside margins and that they use a grid with columns to govern content placement. When you open a New Document you have the option of setting columns and page margins OR you can set them to ‘0’ (zero) and use Margins and Guides to set these. There are a number of ways to create a layout grid for your document. One of the most common methods is to select Layout from the top menu > Margins and Columns and set your specifications.

Graphic Design Production13

Binding and Label 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.

Label Design

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.

Saddle Stiching and Folds

14Design Skills Workbook

Perfect and Spiral Binding

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.

Paper 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, Vellum, 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.

Types of Paper

Graphic Design Production15

Printing 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. Printing Options

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.

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.

Printing Options

16Design Skills Workbook

Printing

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.

Offset Printing Commercially produced print work is most often created through a process called Offset printing. This process involves the digital image of 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 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also known as CMYK.

Tip: Go to DigiCopy in Stevens Point for reliable and cheap printing.

Graphic Design Production17

Page Structure 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.

Page Furniture Design elements that appear consistently from page to page are referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;page furnitureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. 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.

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 readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

18Design Skills Workbook

Analysis of a Magazine

Analysis of a Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Format and Properties Type of Binding: Saddle Stitched Paper used for Cover (Weight, Quality, Finish): Normal Weight, High Quality, Glossy Finish Paper used for Interior Pages (Weight, Quality, Finish): Normal Weight, High Quality Paper, Glossy Finish Page Size: 8 1/16 in x 10 15/16 in Page Margins: Top, Bottom, Outside, Inside Top:1/2 in, Bottom: 5/8 in, Outside: 1/4 in, Inside: 7/8 in Number of Columns in Grid: 3 Column Width: 1 1/2 in & 2 3/8 in Column Gutter Width:1/2 in & 1/4 in

American Bungalow Magazine

Page Furniture used: 1/4 in footer, page number

Magazine Article

Magazine Dimensions

Graphic Design Production19

Typesetting 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.

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 typefaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

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.

20Design Skills Workbook

Typesetting

Typesetting Alignment Options

Letter Height

Measure

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 or Justified.

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 4565 characters including spaces.

Graphic Design Production21

Typesetting 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.

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.

22Design Skills Workbook

Typesetting

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 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;airâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 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.

Leading Options

Graphic Design Production23

Typesetting

Flush Left

Centered

Flush Right

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 nonaligned edge style is referred to as the ‘rag.’

Centered text is reserved only for things like invitations or sometimes for short pieces of text like pullquotes.

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.

Alignment Options

Randomized Finally, text alignment is sometimes purposefully random to create a liquid, or poetic feel. The random alignment is only used for short passages.

24Design Skills Workbook

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.

Color 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 Targetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

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.

Kashi Cereal Box Colors

Graphic Design Production25

Color 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;builtâ&#x20AC;? out of CMYK. You can specify Pantone colors in InDesign as well as in other Adobe programs, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Color Wheel Pantone Colors

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.

26Design Skills Workbook

Additive Color System

Subtractive 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.

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.

Adobe Photoshop

Graphic Design Production27

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop 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.

Workspace Options: Tool Bar / Tools 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

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.

28Design Skills Workbook

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.

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

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 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Windowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the top drop down menu.

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).

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. 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.

Graphic Design Production29

Images 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.

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 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;at sizeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; for photographs. If for online, then the images need to be optimized when saved for the screen resolution.

30Design Skills Workbook

Images Illustration The term â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Illustrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 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 drawings or explanatory drawings (Exploded view, Multi-view projections, etc.).

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.

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 resolutionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; 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.

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.

Graphic Design Production31

Image File Formats

The most common file formats, their file extension acronyms, what they stand for and their specific uses include: 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 maintaining image integrity and clarity. .eps (Encapsulated PostScript) which are used for printing to PostScript printers. .pdf (Portable Document Format) which are used for viewing, navigating, printing, or sending to someone else. Formats for Screen .jpg / .jpeg (Joint Photographic Expert Group) which is the most common format. .png (Portable Network Graphic) which supports lossless data compression and 2 levels, 24 bit and 32 bit. .gif (Graphic Interchange Format) which are used for animated affects and supports animated images.

Image File Formats 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 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.

32Design Skills Workbook

Printing

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 spreadingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;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.

Graphic Design Production33

Duotones Duotones Duotone images carry a specific aesthetic style. As the name implies, they are created with only two Spot Colors. There are Tritones and Quadtones, also, though the most common form is a Duotone.

True Duotone

False Duotone 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.

False Duotone

Creating Duotone

34Design Skills Workbook

Masking

Masking, Foreground/Background Masking allows for the isolation of a specified area so that a treatment can be applied to just that area. Making a mask starts with using a Selection Tool. Quick Select is a go-to tool when there is enough differentiation between the subject you want to isolate and the background. You can then refine your selection using the ‘Refine Edge’ or ‘Refine Mask’ processes. These both are essentially accomplishing the same thing but are accessed from different places. Refine Edge is visible on the Control Bar when you have a Selection Tool chosen and Refine Mask is available through clicking the mask in the Layers Panel. These both contain sets of options you can use to fine-tune your mask edge.

Graphic Design Production35

Automatic Corrections 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;tone downâ&#x20AC;? unnatural looking saturation in photos and Auto Contrast will enhance the differentiation in low contrast situations.

Automatic Corrections Image Editing Options

Automatic Corrections

36Design Skills Workbook

Adobe Illustrator

Graphic Design Production37

Introduction to Adobe Illustrator 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.

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 HQP (High Quality Print) format and require a pretty high resolution, commonly 300 ppi (pixels per inch), to look their best. For screen, the same photograph would be saved in tiff 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.

38Design Skills Workbook

Adobe Illustrator Tools 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.

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.

Creating Gradients

Batch Processing

Shapes Illustrator has quite a few Tools that you can use to build shapes. Some are more intuitive than others. Regular Shapes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 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 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 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. Shape Options

Graphic Design Production39

Adobe Illustrator Tools Sharpening 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.

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.

Pen Tool

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.

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 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;tear offâ&#x20AC;? this little Pen Tool sub-menu and position it anywhere in your workspace.

Stroke and Fill

Pen Tool

Eraser vs Scissors vs Knife Tools There are numerous ways to divide or subtract from shapes. The Eraser, Scissors and Knife Tools all do this, but achieve different results. The Eraser takes away parts of the shape wherever you use it, while both the Scissors and the Knife simply cut apart with no loss of shape area. For the Knife Tool, hold down the Option key to constrain the cuts to straight and use both Shift + Option for horizontal, 45 degrees or vertical constraint.

40Design Skills Workbook

Adobe Illustrator Tools Creating Blends You can blend shapes together to get a morphed shape and color gradient. The three types of blends you can choose are: Smooth, Specific Steps and Specific Distance. Smooth gives you a seamless blending of colors, whereas the other two will give you chunky steps based on the perimeters you use. You can also use the blends icon in the Tool bar. To blend the two objects using the tool, you will need to select an edge of the first object, and then select the edge of the next object, and Illustrator will blend these two objects. When using the blend tool, please note, it will blend to the next point that you select. If you shift your selection point from the original, it will warp/twist the blend. You can change a color in the blend by selecting a specific object and then changing the color on than object and it will automatically re-blend it. If you use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select a point on the Blend you can stretch it out. By using your Anchor Point Tool in the Pen Tool set, you can introduce curvature.

Create two different color boxes.

Click Blend, Make

Click Object, Blend

Blend Created

Graphic Design Production41

Adobe Illustrator Tools Creating Your Own Paintbrush Pattern You know you can create your own Fill Pattern. You can also create your own Pattern Brush. To do this, draw a shape or a series of shapes that you would like to use like as a brush. With the Brushes Panel open, drag the vector art into the row of choices. You will be prompted to select Scatter, Art or Pattern Brush. • Scattered Brush should be selected if you want to follow a drawn line or want to randomly place a single vector art with the click of the mouse. • Art Brush should be selected if you want the vector art to fill the whole line - no matter the length. It will stretch and distort to accommodate your stroke. • Pattern Brush should be selected if you would like the artwork to follow the drawn line. You are able to make adjustments for spacing, rotation and size. Double clicking on the brush in the brushes panel will allow alterations. You can also shift select pieces and drag them into the Brushes Panel to create a new brush.

Working with Clipping Masks Masking areas of image can be accomplished in a few different ways. You can create a custom shape and use it to delineate an area of image you want showing through the shape. Do this by placing the shape over the image and ‘clip’ the image into it with Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

42Design Skills Workbook

Adding Visual Texture You can add textures to your illustration in several ways including using Illustrator’s many painting and drawing tools to make inside the program, and capturing / creating your own texture. Taking your own photo of a texture allows for more realism. Always resize and transform your photographic images in Photoshop first before placing them into a document in Illustrator or in InDesign.

Creating a Custom Gradient Open the Gradient panel: Window > Gradient. There are several default gradients that you can apply. If you start with one of these, you can change the colors on the slider by double-clicking on them or by dragging a new swatch color on top of it. You can add more colors to the gradient by clicking along the slider. You can reposition the squares on the bottom and also the triangles on the top to the adjust the range of gradient and the transition areas. Save your custom gradient by grabbing the sample square in the upper left corner and dragging it onto your Swatch panel.

Adobe Illustrator Tools Working with Strokes You can create a layered effect with varying weights of Strokes on copies of the same object and then using the Align Panel to center them on top of one another. When working with Strokes you must consciously select whether the alignment of the stroke is center (default), inside or outside.

Type a word and highlight.

Turn the stroke on

Select a color

Word with stroke

Graphic Design Production43

Projects Photogrid

Paper Creature

Brochure

44Design Skills Workbook

Project 1: Photo Grid

Original Picture

In Progress Color Test

Graphic Design Production45

Project 1: Photo Grid

Final Photogrid

46Design Skills Workbook

Project 2: Paper Creature

Paper Creature Plans

Paper Cutout

Graphic Design Production47

Project 2: Creature

Assembled Paper Creature

48Design Skills Workbook

Project 2: Creature

Paper Creature Poster

Graphic Design Production49

Project 3: Brochure

UWSP Adventure Club Logo

Front Cover Sketches

Front/Back Cover Image

50Design Skills Workbook

Project 3: Brochure Front/Back Cover

Finished Brochure

Graphic Design Production51