Overall outcome of this class

This class has taught me many things. I didn't realize how much work it took to actually make your files the right specs. This class has helped me visualize the final project more than any of my other classes. It has has also made me more confident when I am telling somehow how to get my product printed. I now know if it is the printer's fault or my fault for making the file wrong. But now I am more confident to know the checklist I need so that my files are actually created right. This is what I have learned in Digital File Prep.

Final Project

Here are the thumbs and rough for my final project.It is a 14X 8.5 that folds 4 times so the final project size is 3.5X 8.5. The intended audience for this brochure is for a younger (kids) who are interested in playing music so they can convince their parents to let them go to the camp. The call to action is either for the parents to e-mail the website for more information or mail the registration form back so that can register for the camp.

This is how the final project turned out. The pricing to print 500 of these including folding & cutting with color on both front and back would be 390.13.

Publication ad

Here are my thumbnails & rough for the publication ad. My target audience is people reading the New York Times so I figured this was a wide variety of audience. Instead of making it about books I instead made the ad about shoes. Here is my final image:

There were many challenges for this project. Figuring out what the bleed and margins. I realized that they had already added the bleed to the final image size so all I had to do was figure that out. Turns out it is the same bleed and margins we have been using this whole time. The challenges I had was resizing my picture so that it fit in-between the bleed line I'm still just a little off on the left but was just getting frustrated with it. I really like how my duotone with the sand turned out the main thing to remember when you are making a duotone is remember to save it as an eps. file. The call to action for this ad is the Microsoft tag which is basically like a QR code where you can scan it into your smart phone and go to a website or something like that. A QR code is only black and white though and tags can be in color and can also be customized from your own photographs. I do have permission to use all the images I have used. 

Newspaper ad

These are the thumbnails & rough for the the newspaper ad project. Our budget for this project was $100. The formula I used to calculate this was 3 column width X 8" = 24". 24X $4 which is equal to 96 dollars. Which makes the InDesign file 5.75"X 3". My target audience for this project is anyone reading the paper who loves shoes and needs to buy some more. My call to action is for people to come to the store and buy shoes. We are also using a bitmap for this project. A bitmap is  hand drawn element that we scanned in which has to be black & white. This element also has its own mode called bitmap. I had to resize my bitmap so first I had to change the mode to greyscale. When this was done I had to unlock my layer and then resize the bitmap. Once all this was done then I then changed it back into bitmap mode. Here is my bitmap. Then once all these elements and requirements were done I have my finished product. The picture I chose with the high heel I had permission to use.

logo change

Starbucks has recently changed their logo where the"Siren" (the lady the used for the logo) is the only element they now have for their logo. Their old logo had the siren a little smaller and the words of their company enclosed in a circle. Starbucks changed their logo for their 40th anniversary. I personally really actually like the change of the logo because it is more modern & it starts to make it not only a logo but I think turn it into a identifiable symbol. An of example of this is what do you think of when you think of a swoosh symbol-Nike, an apple with Mac, and many others. Also another reason why I think that Starbucks changed their logo is also to probably get more press for their company. Good or bad attention either way it being attention to their company.

Advertising

This may not be the most exciting packaging for workout gear but it does show many of the different ways to use the product. It is also in a color that will pop out from an aisle that you look at. Maybe a way to improve this packaging would be to make the person on the white background a different color because sometimes white can be a little boring for negative space. This packaging is mainly focusing on a younger audience that like to work out. Hence, why they put a younger person in to illustrate how the product works. This packaging helps to make the product a little bit more appealing but not enough for me to buy it.

The next four pictures are of the make-up brands Hard Candy & Revlon. The first three are the Hard Candy and the last picture is of Revlon. The Hard Candy brand appeals to a pre-teen to young adult audience because of their kind of script-feel to the lettering almost a goth/graffiti feel. I hardly wear make-up but I never heard of this brand until I saw the packaging and I like it so much that I am probably going to break down and buy some of the product just to try. I also really like their logo which is simple enough but also has interesting texture and flow to it. I think it would be really cool to put on a shirt I would totally wear it. The next I have is Revlon which is a brand most people think of make-up. But this ad is simple but it conveys the consumer the message loud and clear these are the here is the different nail polishes and Jessica Alba wears so you can too! Celebrity endorsements also helps a brand to stay current to their audience and make the consumers want to buy the product.

Next are my examples of effective signage and ineffective signage. My example of Salon 9 is effective because the 9 is appealing to audience while the other font is not in this same script-like style because then it would be to hard to read which is the main point of a sign. I also like that the background for the sign is black because it really has a great contrast to the pink of the nine making it stand out more. What I think is an ineffective sign is this 9th street shops because I think there is too much variation in the size of the font which makes my eyes moves too much which really gives me a headache. Also the color of this font does not contrast well with brick which makes it even harder to read for me.

Direct Mail

Here are my sketches for the direct mail project. My specific audience is for boys and girls between the ages of 10-15 elementary students to junior high students. The two specific people that I want to cater to for this direct mail piece is boys/girls. The call action for this piece will be that for them to tell their parents that they want to go to this soccer training camp and have them call or e-mail to reserve their space in the camp.

Here is the screen shot for my direct mail piece. The specifications for this job was to either make it 7"X 5" or a 6" X 4" that folds. I decided to use a 7X5 because I thought that it would be a little easier to get my mind around. One thing to consider while making a 7X5 is that you have to remember on the back to leave room around 3 inches on the back cover for a place to put the address bar. I chose the red color to make it appeal to a younger audience and also to contrast with the color of the grass. I picked Caxton bold italic and Caxton bold for my fonts because they are playful but yet that are still legible. I wanted to keep the piece simple so that the call of action of going to the website would not be overwhelmed by too many pictures or body copy. This direct mail piece I used a 4 color raster and a full bleed on all sides. 4 color raster that is from Photoshop and these elements can only but put in the InDesign through a tiff file or an eps file. The elements I chose to change on my direct mail piece the first name on the cover, the pictures for the boys and girls also for the front. Then for the back I only change the link for the boys and girls. I found all photos in the Clip Art>High-Res Photos>Sports and have permission to use them. 

Notepad Sketches

Here are my sketches for the notepad project. I looked at the prices for the notepad at the printing services @ Whitesitt Hall and without a bleed it is $3.25 there is only a couple cents difference with a bleed so I tried to do many different designs that featured both a bleed and without a bleed. This notepad is 50 sheets, padded, and with a chipboard back. I tried doing many different designs that were simple and had enough room to actual function for the purpose intended.
The purpose of this notepad is for it to self-promotional for future employers. These future employers are also the intended audience for this project. The elements I chose for this project was a computer and a mouse with the tangled cords. I chose the tangled cords because it shows a hand drawn element to contrast with the computer. I chose the text to be more curly to go along with the the tangled cords. I also did all the artwork for it myself in Illustrator. Here is how the final notepad turned out: