2-Sided Brochure

This project is about setting up a 2-sided trifold brochure. I chose Roaring Camp Railroads which is located near my home. So I was able to use a combination of my own photos along with a few off of their web site. This was first and foremost an exercise in layout, so I used the ruler, grid, and guides.
I went back and forth from Photoshop to Illustrator constantly, as I used Photoshop to format the images before I brought them into the Illustrator layout. I embedded all the images so I wouldn't have worry about linked files. I framed all the images with a 5 pt. path and added a drop shadow to unify them. The background on the inside is a live trace of one of my images of a bank of trees bordering the property. I used the high fidelity photo preset in the live trace options and then took the opacity down to about 40%. Due to embedding the images, and the high fidelity preset on the live trace, the file size is huge. If this was a print project I would've handled it differently, but it's easier to upload without attaching all the extra files.

Google logo

This project is my variation of the Google logo. I am somewhat infatuated with the canine species, so I decided to use various aspects of them to represent the letters. Not much fancy work involved here, just straight illustration. I developed each animal separately and composited them for the final image. I never would have attempted to pull this off if I hadn't seen all the variations on the Google logo that have been documented. Some are a much bigger stretch than this.

3d Feature in Photoshop

This project involved creating a line drawing and converting it into a 3d object, then placing it in a 2d image. There was a separate assignment to work with text in 3d, so I went ahead and incorporated that in the final image as well. The line drawing must have a fill before it can go into 3d, and the text must be rasterized. The 3d feature itself is very handy and manipulative, but I would like to see a greater range of materials for covering the surfaces. I also found that it can be a challenge to successfully place a 3d object on a 2d background without it looking awkward. The text stands on its own pretty easily, but I ended up using the multiply blend mode for the arrow so that it didn't look pasted on. I ended up with the arrow taking on the texture of the asphalt, which was really what I was looking for in the materials list of the 3d feature, (kind of a speed bump effect), so it worked out pretty well.

HDR Imaging

 This project showcases the HDR merge feature in Photoshop. A composite is made using six copies (in this case) of the image shot at different exposures. This image is the result of the preset for high contrast photorealistic. But the feature has sliders for custom settings for everything from color to tone and detail to edge glow. On the right is the original, to the left is the composite.

This assignment was to create a graphic descriptive of a dinner I would have with someone, (not living), of my choice. I set the image up as a tri-fold hard-cover menu. I used the emboss effect in the layer blending panel for all three panels, and the pillow emboss for the photographs. I believe the center page was promotional copy for Cafe Society, the nightclub in Greenwich Village where Billie Holiday's reputation as a jazz vocalist really took off. I used the style and colors of this image to inform the opposing pages. The background for those pages was created with a watercolor filter and reduced opacity to compliment the table cloth on the center graphic. The photo on the left page is of the inside of the club. I adjusted the hue on both that image and the photo of Billie Holiday to create the duotone effect, and used the multiply blend mode on both layers. There are a couple of things I integrated from my research for the menu. I found some programs for the shows, (lists of the songs that were going to be played), so I decided to integrate that idea into the menu.  I also noticed that many menus are dated as the offerings change. I found a font (Sachiko) that was very similar to that of the tag line "The wrong place for the right people", and used that for the fixed parts of the menu text. I found a menu for the Cotton Club that appeared to come off of an old typewriter. I downloaded an old typewriter font, but when I tried it on my menu it didn't work with the script I had used for the rest of the menu, so I compromised with Didot, a cleaner type. 

Web Page

This is a mock up of a web page I might design for myself. In the interest of time and aesthetics, I kept it a simple as possible. The background is one I designed earlier in this course which utilizes the half-tone effect. The 'faux' Adobe icons would operate as buttons linking to a gallery of work I have done in each of the respective applications. The email address would link to a self addressed email page for anyone wanting to contact me. The entire page was created using the snap to pixel command, to avoid any distortion on uploading.

Graphs

This project involved learning to use the graph tool, and using the 3d effect. The company and statistics are fabricated. But if the company did exist, I believe the inverse relationship indicated on the second graph would indeed exist.