INTRODUCTION TO GRAPHIC DESIGN
Portfolio
By the end of this course, students should be able to do the following things:
Explain basic principles of design and demonstrate how to use them.
Follow a basic design process to create appropriate solutions to design problems.
Demonstrate good craftsmanship in project creation and presentation.
Demonstrate an understanding of the basic characteristics and rules of typography.
Explain basic vocabulary terms used in the design industry, and use those terms to discuss graphic design.
Explain the basic purposes of standard software tools, and use these tools to produce graphic design.
CLASSWORK
This is all of the work that I did in this class
MODULE ONE PROCESS BOOK
In this module, I created a PDF using a template to document my design process. I learned about the following items:
InDesign
Becoming acquainted with this program
The Pages Palette
The black and white arrow tools
The Rectangle Frame tool and placing images
Fitting images to the Rectangle Frame tool (no squishing or stretching images!)
The Text tool
Saving a PDF file
MODULE TWO PROCESS BOOK
This week, I have become familiar with Adobe Illustrator. This is the software I will use to create my Final Shapes Project. I have learned the following:
Illustrator
Become acquainted with Illustrator. (What are vector graphics?)
Create and duplicate an artboard.
Create perfect squares, perfect circles, triangles, and lines (shape and line tools, the shift key).
Understand the difference between the black and white arrows (including key commands).
Fill in shapes, putting a stroke in lines, adjusting the stroke width.
Arrange shapes that overlap each other: Bring to Front, Send to Back, Key Commands.
Duplicate (copy) objects using Command+C, Command+V, and holding down option (alt), click, drag.
Use guides such as Command (Control)+ R, repositioning guides, hiding and showing guides.
MODULE THREE PROCESS BOOK
This week I learned:
Group objects together and ungroup them (using the drop-down menu and key command).
Center and align selected objects (using the Alignment palette).
Scale objects proportionally (using adjustment handles and the shift key).
MODULE FOUR PROCESS BOOK
In Module 04, I will be finalizing my shapes composition and learning how to create a press-ready file. I learned about bleeds, crop marks, and checking the colors in my file to make sure they are consistent. I will also make final refinements to your Shapes Project and making sure it follows all of the rules for the project.
I learned:
Create a 1/8 inch bleed for your project and adjust shapes that touch the edge of your composition so they touch the bleed line.
Check for color consistency using the Select > Same > Fill Color and Stroke Color drop-down menu.
Understand what crop marks are, and generate them while saving a PDF file.
MODULE FIVE PROCESS BOOK
In this section, I have been hired to design a logo for a company. I will begin by researching and sketching ideas on what the logo may look like.
Learning Objectives:
Use all of the principles of design to create meaningful, well-designed logos.
Add the element of meaning and concept to the design process.
Gain more experience with the software by creating digital versions in Adobe Illustrator.
Introduce students to a deeper process of design (playing, researching, concepting, creating thumbnail sketches and digital comps, and completing the final).
Allow students to see how their peers solve problems differently to gain perspective on the infinite number of possibilities when working with the principles of design.
Allow students time to think and reason through the principles and how they can work within a logo and provide opportunities for them to receive meaningful feedback from each other and the teacher about when they work and why.
MODULE SIX PROCESS BOOK
In this section I learned:
Use the Reflect and Join tools to create a symmetrical logo.
Use the Offset Path tool to create smaller and larger outlined shapes from an original shape.
Download a typeface from the internet, install it on a computer, match a preset logotype, and outline a typeface in Illustrator.
MODULE SEVEN PROCESS BOOK
In this section I learned:
Illustrator-
Type tool
Type on a path tool
Avoiding type crimes
Setting up typography key commands in the Preferences palette
Font size adjustment, kerning, and tracking using key commands
Leading
MODULE EIGHT PROCESS BOOK
In this Section I learned:
Type in a circle
The Stroke Panel
Width tool
Pathfinder Panel
MODULE NINE PROCESS BOOK
Poster One: Collage. Use only images of your artist’s work and/or portraits of the artist to build your image for this poster. You are encouraged to be inventive. You may create your collage using printouts, scissors, and glue, or software. You may also use the computer to set the required type for this poster.
Poster Two: Typography. Use only typography to design this poster. You are free to add more written content (quotes by the artist or words that will help the viewer understand the theme of the exhibit) to the poster than the required copy. You will be exploring how to apply the principles of design to type and how the form of type can produce ideas.
Poster Three: Photography. Use only photographs you take to create the image for this poster. You can take pictures of the environment, build images that relate to your exhibit theme and then photograph them, or even lay objects on a flatbed scanner or photocopier and create photographs using those devices. The final poster must relate to the theme of your exhibit (you’ll come up with that topic while you research your artist). You may also choose to use a photograph of the visual experiment you’ll be doing next week.
MODULE TEN PROCESS BOOK
Adobe Photoshop
Understand what pixels are and how image resolution works
Organize layers using the Layers Palette
Use adjustment layers to correct the image quality of a photo
Use layer masks to mask out portions of an image
MODULE ELEVEN PROCESS BOOK
Adobe Photoshop
Combine two images into one Photoshop file.
Use adjustment layers to correct the image quality of a photo.
Use layer masks to mask out portions of an image.
MODULE TWELVE PROCESS BOOK
In this section I learned:
Adobe Photoshop
Use the Cloning Stamp and Healing Brush to clean up images.
Use both hard and soft edges in a mask, and adjust a mask’s transparency.
Adobe Illustrator and/or InDesign
Create a simple grid.
MODULE THIRTEEN PROCESS BOOK
In this section I learned:
Typography: Shaping Text Blocks
​Posters: Final Refinements
MODULE FOURTEEN PROCESS BOOK FINAL
Combine and submit all of your process book files from the semester.
ILLUSTRATOR COMPETENCY TEST
This was a test I had to take in the class and. I had to get 100% in order to pass the class.