Diving into Adobe InDesign

This week we have been exploring page layout exercises in Adobe InDesign. InDesign is a powerful program with text layout, image, typography and special effects features. Students are able to put their newly acquired skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to use by combining the graphic elements they have created into multipage documents within InDesign.

To get the creativity flowing, students watched four installments of DesignSponge: Design by the Book, a video series produced by the New York Free Public Library. Studio visits and artist interviews give students a glimpse into the creative process--from initial concept to finished product.

Students completed two lab projects this week. In the first, they experimented with page layout, and in another, followed step-by-step instructions to recreate the Rally's logo.

Lastly, students learned about business cards and their uses, and created thumbnail sketches for a card of their own design. Students were inspired by some amazing and unusual business card designs by visiting http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs. Before starting their designs on the computer, students completed Business Card Planning worksheets and produced sketches of their ideas.

Self Portraits go Digital!

This week, we started a new Digital Self Portrait project. After watching a demo on PhotoBooth, students started their project by creating a writing worksheet, where they identified nouns and adjectives that described their personality, and then outlined short-term and long-term goals for themselves. From there, students created 2 to 3 photographs of themselves using PhotoBooth. Images were saved to their desktop folder, and opened in Adobe Photoshop, where they edited their selections, and applied Photoshop filters to achieve an image that reflects their personality. Lastly, their images are imported into Adobe InDesign, where words from their writing assignment are applied to their self portrait.

If you missed the video in class, check out the PhotoBooth tutorial for yourself, at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIVb7eX5XWQ

Wrapping up Last Year's Projects...

Due to the snow days before the holiday break, the end of the six-week's grading period has been moved to Wednesday, January 5th. Before moving on to new projects for the New Year, students will spend the rest of this week finishing up their package design project, as well as their line grid studies [drawing project]. Both projects must be turned in by FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2011.

The assignment details for the package design project are posted on the "Assignments" tab. Students will be graded on their final project, and will be required to bring in a water or drink container [ex.: Aquafina, Deer Park, Red Bull, Monster, etc.] so that they can produce a package prototype, affixing their designs to the container they have chosen. Students who have opted to design a soapbox may print their designs out on cardstock, and assemble their carton in class. 

Following project completion, all students will participate in a whole class critique, where student work will be evaluated. Then, each student will write a reflection/self-assessment of their work. The critique and reflection will each count as a quiz grade.

Happy New Year [the New Macs are Here]!

As Graphic Arts students return to school this week, they will start the New Year using brand new computers to finish their package design project, and will begin planning designs for business cards, which will feature students' unique "name" logos, created in Adobe Illustrator.

Additional projects will include "Digital Self Portraits," in which students will learn to use a digital camera, upload their image to Adobe Photoshop, and apply text or other graphics to create a unique reflection of themselves.