Everyday Design Inspiration

We were assigned to pay extra attention to the designs we see in our everyday lives, and analyze their colors, typography, branding, and how well they get their message to their target audience.

Photo retrieved from Google Images
All Rights Belong to Dr. Pepper.

When it comes to analyzing design around my, the item I can probably speak best on is Dr. Pepper. I've been a "Pepper" for as long as I can remember. One of the biggest things I notice about Dr. Pepper today is the new branding. On the right is the can as it was while I was growing up, while below is a photo of the can I'm currently guzzling trying to power through homework.







The color palette has remained, as far as I can tell, the exact same. Also, the font of the Dr. Pepper logo is pretty similar between the older and newer versions. With the reinvention of the logo, and the new focus on the "23 flavors," it looks as though the company has simply updated what they already had, as opposed to starting over. There is also an incorporation of "Est. 1885," showing an emphasis on the history of the brand itself. Dr. Pepper has changed their branding to match the newer generation, focusing on the younger audience. However, it seems that because of this focus, they are making a point to keep their history intact, as they try to connect the new Dr. Pepper fans with those that have enjoyed it for years.

Billboard

This billboard project is paired with the Magazine Ad, and it is meant to be it's complement. Referring back to the post of the Magazine Advertisement, we see that I'm planning on doing a promotion for a fake band. This billboard will go along with a campaign for the band's album and upcoming summer tour.

The target audience for this billboard will be very similar to that of the magazine ad: young adult to middle-aged, mostly males. However, it will reach a larger, more broad audience than the magazine will. The call to action will also be the same: to get people to look up the band, check out their new album, and potentially see the band on their summer tour.

The specifications provided by the instructor include a JPEG template and a PDF with additional information. The template says to create the file directly on top of the JPEG image, and save as a JPEG (at maximum quality). Also, the image would be 400 pixels (h) x 1400 pixels (w), and it should be created in RGB color mode.

I did a bit of research on Lamar Advertising's site. I looked at their interactive rate card to get some pricing information. I decided that since this billboard was for a band, not a local business or service, I should price for a larger city. I went with Olathe, KS (I'm really not sure why, so don't ask). For a 4 week run of a 14' x 48' sign, the cost would be $5,000, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Anyways, back to the real work.

Here are scans of my thumbs and roughs for this billboard.

So then I got started on actually creating the billboard. I created the Magazine ad, since it would require more information. From there, I took bits and pieces out of the ad to place into the billboard template. This is my final piece!

Be sure to check out my post on my Magazine Advertisement to see the rest of my little mini-campaign!

                                                                                                                   

Master Image List Elements: The white text on the left counts as a reverse, and the background images are both 4 color rasters. 

Copyright statement: The match stick image was taken from the "Elements to Copy" folder on the server in the classroom. The textured background image was a free download from WeGraphics.

Magazine Advertisement

We're nearing the end of the semester here, and the next project up is a Magazine Advertisement. This piece will be paired with a Billboard, as a sort of campaign. Both need to cover the same subject, but they will have several differences. Check out my post on the Billboard Project for more information.

First, let's figure out the parameters of the assignment. Create a full page, full color advertisement including a Microsoft Tag, and the advertisement should follow the advertising specifications of the particular publication we are designing for.

I tapped into my inspiration, which led me to...listening to music. This seems like procrastination, but it eventually got me going in the right direction. I decided to look up the ad specs for Guitar World magazine, and, thankfully, I found them! So, with that in mind, I got to thinking of what I could conjure up that would fit into a guitar centered magazine. Finally, I came to the decision that I would create a promotional piece for a fake band, releasing a fake album, planning a fake summer tour. Simple stuff, right? I thought so.

Considering the magazine I chose to design for, I assumed I would need to have a target audience in young adult to middle-aged group focusing mostly on males. Of course, I'd also need to gear my ad towards music, which I've already got covered. One call to action here is to scan the Microsoft Tag, which would lead to this blog, rather than the band's sit (since there isn't a site). The second call to action would be to either look up the band, check out their new album, or go to one of their shows on their summer tour. I figured that depending on which one of these I chose for the magazine ad, I would choose the other for the billboard.

Here's some screen grabs from the PDF of the ad specs showing pricing and ad sizes:

So, there are various price breaks depending on the number of runs I would want to do in a year. For a one-time run of the advertisement, it would cost $12,060. The specs also tell us that the page will have a bleed of 8.25"x10.75", a trim size of 8"x10.5", and a live area of 7.5"x10". That means that the ad will have 1/8" bleeds and 1/4" margins. Compressed/stuffed high-resolution PDFs or TIFFs are accepted. Files are sent in via online submission. However, the specs give no information on preferred line screen or color mode.

Now that we've got all the basics covered, it's time to get some actual ideas out there. Here are scans of my thumbs (5) and roughs (2).

I decided to go with the more simplistic design, because I felt it was the most fitting for a magazine advertisement. I created this portion of the campaign first (before the billboard), because it would require more information. Here's what I came up with!

Just as a note, the image I used for the background was only meant for use on the web, so the resolution was 72 dpi. Since it was a dark texture, I decided to change the resolution up to 300, and then tile the image to fill the appropriate area, which I did in Photoshop. After that, I used the Patch and Spot Healing tools to get rid of any lines where the images met, and merged the layers down into one. The original Photoshop document I downloaded had a gradient overlay, which I then put over the new high-resolution image.

Also, I decided to do some extra work and add some scratched texture behind the social media icons. The texture came in a free download pack from WeGraphics. I used an appropriate one as an overlay on each of the icons, and turned them into clipping paths so the extra image wouldn't show around the edges. It was a lot of work for a very small detail, and it's difficult to see the different here on the screen. On paper, though, it's much more noticeable and adds a nice touch.

                                                                                                                   

Master Image List Elements: The white text counts as a reverse. The background image and the album cover are both 4 color rasters. The three social media icons are all clipping paths.

Copyright statement: The background and the texture used on the social media icons were both downloaded from WeGraphics. The social media icons themselves were supplied on ANGEL by the instructor. The Microsoft Tag was made online at the Microsoft Tag site.

Adobe Tutorial #2

For this tutorial, I chose one of Straightening a crooked image.

Straightening an image that is crooked or tilted is a very common practice today. Previously, photographers needed to take extra care to ensure their photos would be straight as they were taking them. But, with new tools in photo-editing software like Photoshop, those can be easily fixed after shooting.

Now, Photoshop offers the ability to straighten and crop an image with one tool in one step.

Here is the starting image from the tutorial:

1) Open the file.
2) Select the Ruler Tool (nested under the Eyedropper Tool).
3) Click and drag the Ruler from one side of the image to the other, following the horizon line, and release.
4) In the Control Panel, click Straighten.
5) Voila! A straight and cropped image is before you, like the one below.

                                                                                                                   

Sources:

tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-cs5/gs02-straightening-a-crooked-image/

Adobe Tutorial #1

I chose to do an Adobe Creative Suite Tutorial over making selections in Photoshop. Even though I'm fairly new to the Adobe Creative Suite, I know how difficult it is to make selections around areas like hair. This tutorial showed how Photoshop CS5 can make such selections much easier and produce far better results. 

These are the starting images (supplied from the tutorial), which will be put together in a composite.

Here are the basic steps (assuming you already have your images open and ready to begin):

1) Make a general selection around the subject of the image, staying well within the troublesome areas (hair) as this will make the following steps much easier.
2) Once you have the selection made, go to the control panel and select Refine Edge.
3) In the Refine Edge dialog, select how you wish to view the selection (on white, black, layers, etc.).
4) Adjust the radius slider so that there is enough detail of the hair intact in the image, but the other areas of the subject are still fully there.
5) Click the Smart Radius check box. This causes Photoshop to adjust the radius to be smaller in smooth, high contrast areas and larger in soft, detailed areas like in the hair.
6) Make small adjustments as you see fit to the Smooth and Feather sliders to make sure the high contrast areas are nicely selected.
7) Use the Refine Radius and Erase Refinements Tools on the areas around the hair to bring detail back into the selection.
8) Check the Decontaminate Colors check box. Move the slider below to the right and, when you release, Photoshop will now replace the areas of the image with a whitish cast with different colored pixels so that they will blend better with the background image. Find a setting which you feel gives you the best results.
9) Choose an output for the selection, check Remember Settings, and click OK.

And here is my final composite after completing these steps.

                                                                                                                   

Sources:

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-cs5/using-improved-selecting-and-masking/