Digital File Prep - Final Project & Thoughts

(Part One)

This is the finished final product for my last project in Digital File Prep. I created the base image in Illustrator and had complications so I was forced to slice it up within Photoshop. The way the points of the graphic were put together wouldn't allow me to cut it in half easily. The back image is also a .tif file, as well as the cropped-out-background image of the cake on the bottom.

The one thing I found challenging was that in order to get the box the final size that I wanted, I would need to cut it in half, print it on two separate piece of paper, and then merge them together in the end physically when I assembled it all. I was also having issues with discoloration in the printed due to a number of variables such as the printer, type of paper and location of the print. This became a frustrating issue since I had a particular color scheme in mind (I'm pretty super picky about stuff like this).

In the end, I feel that I learned quite a bit from the process that started with a simple thumbnail sketch and led all the way into a full scale, 3-dimensional, printed piece. While it may have been frustrating and irritating at times, the final outcome was worth the minor struggles and turned out great in the end.

Cake image from Stock Exchange. All other images copyright Jordan Frederick.

Web-Based Software - Final Site, Flash Animation and Starter Pages

As the semester draws to a close, I'm finalizing all of my projects in my Web-Based Software class.

The first item is my flash animation. This is a short little video clip I made in Adobe Flash CS5 that uses typography as its main subject. I have had a little bit of flash experience in the past, with "little" being the keyword there. For what it is, I don't think it turned out too extremely terrible. Without further ado, Here is the flash video.

Next up on the list is my final site I have completed. I chose to create mine in WordPress as opposed to DreamWeaver as I felt more comfortable with it. I chose a template site and then went to town from there. You can visit the site here.

 

Final WordPress site

 And finally I have my Starter Pages to show off. This was a basic website assignment in which we took a single index, or homepage, and linked it to 2 other pages that related to it. My main page is about baked goods and then links off to a page about cookies, and another page about cake. You can check it out here.

Web-Based - Homepage

In Web-Based Software, we are creating a master page that will act as a homepage and link to all of the projects we have completed during the course of the semester. Some of these projects include a mini flash video, a WordPress Blog, Random Elements pages and Starter Pages which link within their file structures.

Mine is still slightly under construction but as you can see, It is getting off to a nice hearty start and should be up and running fairly soon!

Web-Based - Site Maps

Here is an example of a site map for a website layout of mine.

 You can see where each page links to and flow into the next. In addition, where each page links outside of the internal web structure to an outside page.

Web-Based - Random Elements

For Web-Based Software, we were told to create a page with random elements and tie them together with a graphic, body text and a small email form. Mine was fairly simple and plain.

The site taken from Adobe Dreamweaver.

The Final Project (Dun dun dun!)

Yes, it has finally arrived. The time to do my final project for Digital File Prep. For this project, we are required to create a piece that has some type of folding to it, whether it be a brochure or a three dimensional object out of the paper.

I chose to create a take-out carry along box for a fictional bakery called "Yum!". I found a template online for a folding box with handles that I will be tracing and enlarging with Adobe Illustrator and then putting my own personal design on the final product. The target audience would be anyone in the store. This one was difficult to pin-point because it's a box that will be handed out with each take-out order. My call to action is to get people excited for their food they are about to enjoy as well as provide additional advertising for the store as it will bare the store logo.

For my thumbnails and rough sketch, I chose to just sketch out my design of the package in sections since I have the base image with the folds and cuts already prepared within Illustrator. My document size will be 10x16 with a bleed of .125 and margins set at .25.For the final print, I hope to get it printed on a heavy paper to ease the folding process.

 

A folding dummy just to confirm that it indeed folds properly

Template provided by Milkbun Graphics. All other images created by Jordan Frederick.

Project #4 - Full Page Publication Ad

The next project in Digital File Prep is a magazine ad that will be full page. The guidelines for this project are set by the magazine we each chose to advertise in and we were told to submit our files as we would if we were actually submitting it to the magazine publisher. Our only real requirement for this project is to do a full page ad and include a Microsoft Tag. Microsoft Tag's are very similar to the QR codes that we had used in our notepad project but they are proprietary to Microsoft an require their special reader on your smart phone. One key difference with the tags is that they aren't near as ugly looking as the QR code. They can either be in black and white, 4-color CMYK or actually have an image embedded in them. In addition to this, If you are the creator of the tag, you are able to log into your account and check how many times the tag has been scanned and checked out. Very cool stuff!

Now, onto the project. I chose to advertise bikes in Men's Health. According to the specifications given by the magazine, my document size will need to be 11.22x8.46 with a bleed of .12 all the way around. My ad will contain a 4-sided bleed image that encompasses the entire page with minimal text and content to take away from the image. The content of the ad will be the image, a logo of the company, the Microsoft Tag and a tagline of "Conquer the Trails". My target audience will be men from ages 25-40 that enjoy biking in tough terrains. My call to action will be to get them to check out the bike, as well as scan in the Microsoft Tag and get more information about the product.

 

The final product

The background image I used is a Duotone image. One thing that I found challenging about this project is that the magazine I had chosen gave me their measurements in millimeters so I needed to convert them over to inches and then they didn't state exactly what the bleed, trim size and live area were. This required me to do a little math (Which I'm absolutely terrible at). Overall, I'm pleased with the final product and how it turned out in the end. 

Image of man on bike licensed under Creative Commons. Microsoft Tag is copyright Microsoft. All other images created by Jordan Frederick

Project #3 - Newspaper Publication Ad

For our next assignment, We are working on a newspaper ad using the PSU Collegio advertising guidelines and pricing for space. We were given a $100 budget and told to work within that budget. The Collegio charges $4 per "newspaper" inch with each column being a different size. The ad I chose to design is a long ad that makes up a giant sub sandwich. Each piece is 5x3 newspaper inches which is 9.67x3 inches big. This comes out to $60 (3x5=15x4) total.

The store I chose to make an ad for is a fictional sub sandwich shop called "Lenny's Long Sub Shop".  The ad will have a .25 margin and no bleeds featuring a frame in the middle of the 2 sandwich sides. My call to action will be to get the customer within the target audience of college kids to come in and use one of two coupons provided within the ad. I will also be scanning in my sub sandwich I designed and will be using it in the ad as a bitmap image.

 

The final product

All bitmap images created by Jordan Frederick. No other images used in the piece.

Project #2 - Direct Mail Piece

We have started a new project where we will be creating a mailer that takes advantage of variable data printing. This is where you have the same basic layout of the design and then change certain elements to cater to multiple demographics. This may be as simple as changing the name on each mailer to match the recipient or as complex as completely changing every element on the page but still maintaining the same basic design and layout. The project could have been done on a single 7x5 sheet of paper or a folded 6x4 paper. I chose to do the single 7x5 page.

For this project, We were to create 10 thumbnail sketches of some initial layouts (5 fronts and 5 backs) and then from there, narrow it down to two designs we favored most and then make a larger, full-scale rough image of them to design off of. 

My product will be a haircut from a hair care store with a coupon for 25% off the next haircut with mailer coupon by a certain date. My target audience will be both males and females at the college range. My call to action will be to get them to come into the store and use the coupon before the said date.

March 17, 2011 UPDATE

As the project comes to a close, Here are a few screenshots of the final design

As you can see, the design was altered a little bit from the original rough sketches as well as the 10 thumbnails. The variable items in the design are the 4 images (one on each side) and the 2 taglines for each gender. Designing this was partly difficult because you had to appeal to two completely different target audiences without changing anything layout wise, only items within the layout. The postcard is a 5x7, double-sided print. 

The 4 images included are a 4-color raster images. Two of them bleed off 3 edges of the paper and the two on the back bleed off the sides of the page. The fonts I chose to use are Serpentine for the "Snippy Clips" logo and Futura Heavy on all other text. All colors were converted to process color to avoid having to mix a spot color in the printing process as this drives the price up a little more than what it would be with just a 4-color print job.

All images used in the design are used with permission from www.istockphoto.com, Provided by Benson Share Folder with permission.

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.