Tag: cuny

Weeks #7, 8 & 9- Info & Resources

Welcome back to MMA100!

Weeks #7, 8 & 9!

Here is this week’s useful information and class resources:

Please keep in mind, there is a lot to see here below, take your time through out each week to explore what is shared, if you have any questions or reactions please add them to the comments section. The comments section is helpful for extending our in class dialogs and gaining clarity by organizing your thoughts in a written format.

*Did you miss the post from Weeks #4 &5 – go Here!

Zoom recording from 11/9: Assignment #3 full recap

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/aNkWsbdtSoIpwY9Wy6WUgOBUZK3xmV65fUe4jOYadRO0yqgNwG8FFeVjNCfAdBNA.MJgmMAS5ehm73st-

Passcode: m%&ww*7N

Zoom recording from 11/3: Illustrator & Assignment #3 Continued

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Lh4Nu8-3Wmu-z3dYaf1Q97gdwpibh5ac1mFHiIPvdKYL-i7di-8VqM5KukIsOu9p.kVdo8fFSCr5qbAKJ

Passcode: h=kz8r.e

Zoom recording from 10/19: Illustrator & Assignment #3

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/OYqAxWhbFvxOHSQ42ciK0M4SBe3rEfyzm6ZgjAYXH-iYJ3hVXJm-EaUuh8SbyE9C._0LAn1_vx36PcQzl

Passcode: .J9y7ivG

During weeks #6, 7 & 8 we will take a class tour of Adobe Illustrator and get talking about Assignment #3 

Let’s jump back in and start with some NYC Design History!! Behold, the NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual. See below

Inspiration – The NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standard Manual

The link above will you take you to a page with an active full PDF version of the manual. If you wish, leave a comment at the bottom of this page after exploring the manual and answering the questions below (you can work on this outside of class over this week or next)

Designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda, Unimark, 1970

Some Questions to ponder and react to:

  1. What is your general feedback on the manual? Do you like it? Dislike it? Please Explain. Do you find it to be well designed, illustrated and clear in its application?

2. The manual was published in 1970. Does it still hold up for today’s world? Why or Why not?

3. What is missing or should be added for today’s world to help and expand the NYC Transit System?

4. What additional questions are you left with?

Video – Micheal Beruit from Pentagram Design discusses the manual here – Link to the video above – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg03z1H6cfA

Imagine being offered the opportunity to visually solve, design and illustrate the entire NYC transit system!? What goes into this process and research? Do you know who is responsible for this? How much does the designer charge for a project of such scale? Let’s discuss.

Last week we continued talking about Assignment #2  – The Post Card project ! Let’s look at student work and talk about your progress and the potentials of the project. There is a lot of room for image manipulation and creating aesthetics with your work. Discussions about presentation methods and why presentation is so important. Please navigate to the assignment #2 page to view the assignment details with me again.

More Photoshop Masking Video Tutorials ->

  1. Creating Layer Masks / Photo Composites – The video below is great example – click here or the image below to view it.

2. Double Expose Technique – Click here or the image below to get started

<———{ transmission snip }———–>

Color Theory!

Adobe’s awesome Color Wheel Simulator (must see)

GO HERE to Experiment

Several up and coming assignments will surely benefit from the use of understanding Color Theory and the Adobe Color Wheel!

*Above – Color Theory Continued -> GREAT RESOURCE – Must Read

*Above – Color Theory Continued -II >https://99designs.com/blog/tips/the-7-step-guide-to-understanding-color-theory/

Let’s Talk about Adobe Illustrator! 

During weeks #6 & 7 we will take a class tour of Adobe Illustrator and get talking about Assignment #3 

You can also take an additional tour with Adobe Wizard – Terry White

10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do with Adobe Illustrator (subscribe to Terry’s Channel!)

Adobe has a great series of videos on their channel on YouTube: 

Check this series with a focus on Illustrator

https://www.youtube.com/c/AdobeCreativeCloud/search?query=illustrator

Designer Inspiration :: You need to know Paul Rand

Weeks #4, 5 & 6 – Info & Resources

Poster Designs by Paula Scher

Welcome back! Weeks #4, 5 & 6 – here we are!

Do you need a recap of Week #3? Go here!

Assignment #2:

Post Card Design – Photoshop

**Video Tutorial from class on 10/12 – Post Card Project Continued / Graphic Assets / advanced image making techniques

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/W60zoXZG7oQlQUXxXOuXsyFcn5AvFuknwR5j8gtd4puqBoWTOe3hVOYY95uud5r2.SW4U__ALcvOTmhWe
Passcode: T18QGui@

**Video Tutorial from class on 9/28 – Post Card Project Introduction / Graphic Assets / Asset creation / Masks & Compositing / Pen tool –

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/UaoXRw-c43fFW9ra3mP6vn12zibY5HBqM5j7mY9Jx9FmsZpeJlDruNFUvI08ozim.FScpJk_WafRh2yLQ
Passcode: %51@!qK=

**Video Tutorial from class on 9/21 – Post Card Project Introduction / Graphic Assets / Pen tool – 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/tp8gvJr2RLEjSSBBDRkUTD-EYWB25ClK706NN5VP8G-h_KuyHRhenn8iUohvzv3B.-nl38k4UTkRtGpp3
Passcode: U9!?!ybu

The Elements of Design – A Video Description: Enjoy! See the Elements in action in this great lil’ video.

This post will reflect a 2-week time frame for weeks #4 (9/21) & #5 (9/28) as we delve into assignment #2 – The Post-Card Adventure Series! First things first though, let’s see how everyone is doing.

Lets jump in and take a look at some student work in progress during our class-time tonight – Would you like to share your progress? I will always encourage students to share their progress so that we can engage in dialog about the works and how we can make improvements and iterations. Learning how to discuss your work in progress takes practice. Learning how to discuss the works of others also takes practice and develops a “troubleshooting / solution focused mindset”. If you choose to opt out of sharing your work in class, thats also OK – please save your work in progress files to your Google drive folder and let me know when things have been placed there via e-mail (rseslow@bmcc.cuny.edu)

*Remember, you can always find a class recording for each Assignment’s tutorial under the Assignment page for that individual assignment, the process for Assignment #1 – parts 1 & 2 are on the Assignment #1 page

I will be introducing Assignment #2 – AKA – “the Postcard Project” on 9/21. A class video recording for Assignment 2’s tutorial will be placed under the Assignment #2 page for that individual assignment along with the assignment specifications.

***please don’t move on to assignment #2 until all aspects of assignment #1 are completed..

We will get well versed working with the photoshop pen tool, electronic imaging, cutting out images, compositing and creating graphic assets. We will also be creating and working with various file types and bringing our ideas into photoshop to produce the finished designs.

Im a big fan of iterations and revisions! We will discuss using multiple art boards and the iteration process while our work flow is in process.

*This Week’s Exercise – Cutting out Images in Photoshop / Making Graphic Assets: Cutting out images in various fragments is a task that all graphic designers will face on a regular basis. Learning various methods for cutting out images is a necessity. We will explore, experiment and share a few methods on how. 

Practice practice! As practice this week while working on the postcard project – you may wish to find 3-5 images that you would like to cut out / extract from existing images, look for various curves and edges that are both attractive and challenging.

Students will select and practice from images taken from a public domain, OER or creative commons sources on the Internet or they may use images that they have on their devices. Again, We have a huge selection of OER Resources on our class resources page here too

(This exercise/technique will be applied to the post card project – assignment #2 ).

A vintage postcard example from New York!

Video Screening Tutorials: Cutting out images in Photoshop (Pen Tool examples)

These tutorials above will help get you started with our class exercise, but ultimately, you will need to master the pen tool in both photoshop and illustrator for the cleanest vector cut-outs. 

**Are you looking for a photoshop psd. file template example to create along with, format and submit your postcard? (Photoshop newbies can edit and change the layers as you need to) Those with experience should make the template themselves –   Click HERE

(Is there a specific tutorial that you learned from recently or over time? Share the URL link with a description of your experience in the comments section below)

Graphic Designer and inspiration of the week!

Paula Scher! (please get to know her work!)

Watch this great talk by Graphic Design icon Paula Scher!

Graphic Design Trends for 2021

Week #3 – Information / Resources

Welcome to MMA100 Week #3!!

We’re BACK!

Here is this week’s useful information and class resources:

Do you need a recap of  Week #1&2 – Go Here <–

***Here is the photoshop demonstration with Assignment #1 part 2 from 9/14 (Tutorial)

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/vN3PfycaIz2xm0BjRStbfBwKq4WXSrGGExSDL1MDcM53ADty8rZPgwT4pPcF-YyR.GqWVv6Z5VCTUMFdUPasscode: +d@H1Wb3

Lets be patient with our ourselves and ease in.. Design is communication!

Here is a video tutorial from Assignment #1 – Part 1 (from last semester) it will be helpful as a recap 🙂

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/wHWKYCFb29FFSLchOXGbgb_pMKWRruNCFIEL7iTAVMYk7Ap7pO59AvCn_X2giY-u.JUBze-P2fvZXwvUz

Passcode: pL#b*7@Z

We will begin tonight’s class by recapping week #1’s introduction to photoshop as well as jumping into Part 2 of assignment #1 – our first assignment! The first assignment has a few parts and I will be sharing more tutorials during our class time. I will give a deeper demonstration with adobe photoshop on how to prepare your design layout, place and resize images, apply layers and also preparing your final designs file format for sharing it on the web and in print.

Remember, each assignment will have its own page with all of the specifications needed to work on, complete and submit the assignment. Assignment #1 can be found here.

** another Video tutorial from week #2’s Zoom class of assignment #1 – part 1 will also be posted here and on the assignment #1 page after our class**

Becoming familiar with terms and items like: “design briefs, project sheets and project specifications” are essential to the design industry. We will become familiar with this process and following a simulation like experience 🙂

We will discuss the progress and submissions process of your finished assignments and how to send and share them via google drive. We will discuss the maintaining of your files and data and how to keep it safe and easy to access.

Assignment Submission guidelines:

When your assignment / assignments have been completed please add them to our class google drive shared folder (link is on blackboard).

Please create a folder for yourself with your first and last name. And, please name your files with your name, assignment# & assignment status – here are a few Example file names – they may looks like this:

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_progress.psd – (.psd is a photoshop document) 

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_Final.JPG

Tutorials – Getting further acquainted with Photoshop – (Terry White is one of my favorite Adobe evangelists!)

Adobe’s youtube channel is here – (so much good stuff!) https://www.youtube.com/c/AdobeCreativeCloud

Inspiration / Resources: Graphic Design Trends from 2020 –

What kind of design do you like? What inspires you and makes you want to learn more? Do you resonate with the “trends” in the examples below? Share your thoughts and links in the comments section below!

And Some More Inspiration:

**The Underground Sistine Chapel is a free documentary on youtube telling the story of the street artist Pascal Boyart‘s construction of a modern Sistine Chapel in the heart of an old gold foundry in the suburbs of Paris, in what some would call a cut-throat area.