Today’s Plan:
- Cool Designs
- Lay Out Sins
- Mini-Project 1: The Remake
- Homework
Cool Designs
Let’s start with something fun–reviewing the designs y’all posted to Canvas.
Layout Sins Scavenger Hunt
Last class I distributed a handout from Golumbiski and Hagen’s White Space is Not Your Enemy. This class I’m going to send you out for 30 minutes to find examples of their sins in the wild. To Canvas–there’s a PowerPoint.
Mini-Project 1: Re-Make It Work
For homework I want you to read chapter 3 of the WSINYE, in which Hagen and Golombisky share their “Works Every Time” layout. They outline 7 parts of the layout:
- margins (no bleed)
- columns (two)
- visual (graphic image)
- cutline (alt text for image, not common)
- headline
- copy (body text)
- tags (logos, etc)
[Marc–share some grid ideas from chapter 6]
You can choose one of the flyers from your layout sins presentation for this mini-project. You can choose a flyer currently hanging on the bulletin board right around the corner, or something you saw hanging anywhere else around campus. Whatever you redesign, it should be something that is physically hanging on a wall around campus. You may not redesign something you find online, no matter how atrocious it might be.
What is a bleed?. I am going to ask you to print your design, so no bleeds on this one.
I’ve debated what technology to use for this first project. I’ve decided against Canvas–what I really want you to practice/internalize here is Golumbiski and Hagen’s formula, the “works every time” layout. I want you to practice selecting and sizing text, blocking out a page (working with space, proximity). I want you to select colors that work together and develop contrast. So, rather than work with a template, I’d like you to design your 8 1/2 by 11 flyer from the ground up.
If you have previous InDesign experience and want to use that, fine. You are also welcome to use Photoshop. Those who feel a bit of anxiety can design this thing in Microsoft Word. However–Word doesn’t allow you to design a document that uses a bleed (color/image/content all the way to the edge of the page). Word also can be incredibly annoying when it comes to placing blocks of text, aligning items, etc. I recommend using Photoshop for this one if you can. Just be sure to set your Canvas size to 8.5″ by 11″. If you have advanced skills, the resolution of this image (for printing) should be set to 300 px per inch. If that sentence frightens you, then you can ignore it (for now).
- If you design this in InDesign, then I will require you to turn in a .pdf. Do not turn in the .indd file.
- If you design this in Photoshop, then I will require you to turn in a .jpg or a .tiff. Do not turn in the .psd file.
One other thing: Golumbiski and Hagen’s “works every time” layout is designed around a strong, graphic image (“graphic” is a tricky word to define here–but it generally means something like stunning, engaging, vibrant, etc). I encourage you to take a photograph that you can use in your design. This could be a picture of a building, of students studying, of a book or pile of books, a tree–whatever fits your subject matter. If you can’t think of how to take a picture to fit your subject matter, talk to me! If you really, really don’t want to do this, then you can use an existing image for your design–but you might struggle to find a high-resolution image large enough that it doesn’t pixelate when inserted in a 8.5 x 11 inch document with a resolution of 300px.
If you take a photograph, think about adjusting the size, lighting, contrast, color, etc in Photoshop.
A few tips for taking a good photograph:
- Lighting: if you are outside, make sure the sun is behind you casting natural light on your subject. If you are inside, you want indirect light behind you–if you have a lamp directly lighting your subject, then you are going to get glare. Throw a tee-shirt over a lamp (make sure the tee-shirt is not touching the bulb or you might start a fire). Do not use a flash.
- Rule of thirds; this is a rule that you must follow until you have permission to break it
- Zoom in with your feet. Don’t use the zoom on your camera. If you want to be close to your subject, then get close.
Homework
Your “Works Every Time” revision is due before Tuesday’s class.
You are welcome to use any technology for this redesign. For those that want to begin playing around with Photoshop,
I did have time to throw together a quick .psd template of the works every time layout in the Draft assignment in Canvas. Here’s a link to it.
Idea for a remake project. Here is the sad sign posted on the hallway door to the faculty offices in Ross.
