Postcard Project

In this project, we were to demonstrate different printing options for a postcard that is advertising something. In the beginning, I wasn't aware of what the project would be so I ended up selecting the most difficult image to work with but I sucked it up and went right along! Here is the finished product.

This is the back of the postcard set-up for mailing address and a little bit of mailer information on what it's advertising.

This first image is a full color, CMYK image. These prints will generally cost more to produce as they use all 4 of the colors of ink.

This next image is the greyscale image. These use 1 color of ink (Black) and whatever color the paper is that you're printing on. These will generally cost significantly less than a full color print.

Here is the duotone image. This uses the 1 color + spot color ink. The spot color is a special mix of the inks to create a "5" color available for you to use.

Finally, we have the dutotone with a clipping mask. A clipping mask cuts out a selected part of the image you want and uses it in whatever publication you choose to use. Once again, this uses 1 color + a spot.

Project #1 - Self-Promo Notepad Project

For our first project in Digital File Prep, We were told to design a notepad that "sells" or "advertises" us as designers. We were told to follow all steps of the design process when making out design choices.
Our perimeters are as follows : 

• 5x7 or 7x5 notepad
• Black ink only
• 50 Sheets
• Padded
• Chip board back
• Find out a price and a turnaround time

Our first order of business was to create 10 thumbnail sketches of just general ideas of what we wanted. These thumbnails are smaller and can all fit on one page. They all should be different in their own ways but still contain all of the same information about us and present it in a clear and meaningful way. 

Our next task was to create a larger "rough" of one of the thumbnails. This is a blown up version of the thumbnail we liked best. I ended up enlarging one of my designs and then chose to do another but I'm still undecided on which one to actually follow through with and fully finish to the end. I have a more complex one with a lot going on and then a simple, clean design to go with.
 

The overall purpose of the project is to show potential future employers my skills and assets in the design field. It shows that I have been able to follow a piece of work from the very beginning of thumbnail sketching and layout to the finalized printed project doing all the steps on my own in between. It also shows that I understand the scope of the printing process and how it works as well as knowing what it means to design for print.

With all of that said, my target audience is potential employers. This is a talking piece. It lets them see that I can do this from start to finish and allows me to stand out as a designer amongst the many others out there. The call to action is to stand out and be seen. With all of the contact information on the same page, they are able to easily access me and it is on every page of the notepad. This means that in theory, if they use it, they will essentially be constantly reminded of me.

Here is my final design as it would be printed. The crop marks show where the paper cuts will be placed and how it will look after it is trimmed and finalized. (I have blanked out my cell phone number for obvious reasons)

I chose to go with a more fun and illustrated look because it isn't intimidating and it shows that I have a fun personality. I also enjoy doodling and illustrating so I feel that it does a fantastic job of projecting that idea to the viewer as well. 

All elements of the design are created and copyright Jordan Frederick with the exception of the QR code generated by Kaywa and the Social Media Icon set created by Sebastiano Guerriero at WeGraphics.

First Post...Whoop!

To start off this digital portfolio of sorts, I thought I would share a little bit of what I've been working on for the past few weeks.

I have been creating album art for various songs in an upcoming reaction-based music game called ReRave. It's a music game where markers come up and you tap, slide or hold them in time with the music. Fairly basic and easy to understand. The team in charge of the game is Step Evolution LLC and their team has two fantastic rhythm game pioneers, Chris Foy and Kyle Ward. I had worked with both of them making stepcharts for another game by the name of Positive Gaming iDANCE which is a DDR-like game but geared towards group fitness and exercise. I had just made some song covers for fun and posted them online and Kyle had caught a glimpse of them and asked if I would be interested in helping them out with more so of course I had to say yes. It was a chance to work on a really awesome product while doing what I love - designing.

These are just a few of the album covers I designed for the game -

Freestyle Disco by S.I Futures. I chose to go with a more simple, retro 80's feel for this one. The song is very funk and dance-y. I have the song title the imprinted feel by adding in an inner shadow and sharpening it up a bit. I recreated the artist "SIF" logo in the middle of the disco ball with the pen tool as well. I gave the "S.I. Futures" text the 3D effect by selecting the original text, holding alt, and pressing the down arrow multiple times. I then merged all of the new layers and gave them the "in your face" perspective. 

In The Hall Of The Mountain King by KaW. KaW is one of Kyle's aliases when he performs his own music. This was a remix of the classical song by the same name that everyone knows. Not much manipulation to the stock image of the mountain landscape. This one was more typography tweaks and layer styles. The cover pretty much says it all. 

Fleadh Uncut by Ian Parker. This song is more of an Irish flute sounding song so I wanted to kind of capture a nice hillside in Ireland. I added a filter to the original image to give it a nice painted look and then added the clovers on top of the background. How could I have not put in the clovers in the background? It's Irish!

Paradise by Smiley. Smiley is also another alias that Kyle uses when making his music. He reserves it more for his happy, upbeat music. To get the base image the way it is, I cut the photo in half and brightened up the lower half of the image since it was darker and adjusted the overall contrast. For the "Paradise" text, I doubled up 2 layers of text to give it the double-stroked look.

Spot On Phunk by Basement Freaks. For this one, I chose to go with a funky disco look with a little bit of crazy mixed in. I added a blur filter to the base image and then a stylized paint filter to give it the oil painting on canvas look. I then applied layer styles to the text and positioned them.

For those interested, ReRave will be released on March 10, 2011 on all Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch AND iPad!). I would definitely check it out if you have the chance. It's shaping up to be quite a game!