The Elements of Design – A Video Description: Enjoy! See the Elements in action in this great lil’ video.
This post will reflect a 4-week time frame as we delve into assignment #1 part 2 and assignment #2 – The Post-Card Design Adventure Series!
First things first though, let’s see how everyone is doing.
I will be introducing Assignment #2 – AKA – “the Postcard Project” on 3/6. 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 for the week of 3/6 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.
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)
Note: You will only be able to install CUNY-licensed Adobe Creative Cloud applications using your CUNY Login Credentials—do not use Google, Facebook or Apple credentials.
The link above is super important as that is where all of the course content will be published each week. I’m not a big fan of using brightspace / blackboard – so only password sensitive things (like the shared google drive folder link) will be placed there. Only the minimum info needed will be placed there mainly as reminders. I will go over this in full during our 1st class.
The Class Structure – MMA100 will be taught in person.
As per the CUNY academic calendar (please be aware of the cuny calendar for this semester)
I am here to help you be the best that you can be in our course. And we are all here to do the same for each other. A big part of our class is learning new skills, being experimental with design and seeing how it forms a relationship with “how” you solve problems and revise them. We will cover the many tools that are available to us. (Adobe and beyond) We do quite a bit of the fun and creative work from our own personal work spaces as we integrate the class work into our lives.
Please know, I will screen record each and every class sessions “how-tos” and “assignment tutorials” for all assignments and share those videos here on our class website. (I said that twice, haha, just want you to know again) 🙂
The Class Website – Our class website takes place here on the BMCC OpenLab! You will soon discover that the OpenLab is a huge resource and regular source of inspiration!
If you have questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me here – rseslow@bmcc.cuny.edu
Everything that we cover this semester will be posted and published to this website as a weekly blog post (much like this one) and as individual pages that host specific content (like assignments and their details). You will be asked to visit this website each week. At the bottom of each page and post there is a section for comments, please feel free to use it to ask any questions that you may have.
What is Graphic Design? Design Solutions: Strategy, Concept, Design, Execution & Production Exploring the Design Process.
Software skillsthis semester will focus on– Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Illustrator as well as a few other apps and non-conventional methods of image-making.
Logos by Paul Rand
What is Graphic Design?
“Graphic design, also known as communication design, is the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The form it takes can be physical or virtual and can include images, words, or graphics. The experience can take place in an instant or over a long period of time. The work can happen at any scale, from the design of a single postage stamp to a national postal signage system. It can be intended for a small number of people, such as a one-off or limited-edition book or exhibition design, or can be seen by millions, as with the interlinked digital and physical content of an international news organization. It can also be for any purpose, whether commercial, educational, cultural, or political.” (Via – Juliette Cezzar)
The History of Graphic Design – We will be exploring and referencing Design history in our class. Lets explore these two references below over the course of this week.
Lets talk a bit about assignments – Most assignments are broken down into 2-3 parts. For example, assignment #1 has 3 parts. For each assignment, I will be sharing a series of video tutorials during our class time. Each assignment has its own page with all of the details and specifications needed to work on, complete and submit the assignment. The Assignments page is here
Starting next class we are going to ease into assignment #1 with just a few easy tasks. Let’s check out the assignments page for that here.
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 (the google drive link is located on Brightspace)
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
Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_FInal.JPG
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Tutorials – I will always share a few video tutorials each week that coincide with our assignments. This one below is about getting further acquainted with Photoshop – (Terry White is one of my favorite Adobe evangelists!)
I’ll also share Designer Inspiration each week? Let’s be inspired and see Who’s Who in the field? There are so many great designers out there to follow these days! Each week, let’s showcase one and talk about how their work functions.
Who is Aaron Draplin? Surely by now you have heard of Aaron Draplin?
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Assignment #1 will introduce you to Adobe Photoshop, working with and finding images, and the Elements & Principles of Design, (vocabulary), thats the language of design.
(please note, there are several variations of these definitions that can be found across the web and through out the design world, its ok to mix and mingle variations from other sources to help expand your knowledge)
The Elements & Principles of Design are the governing vocabulary that define, illustrate and communicate how Graphic Design functions all around us. These terms are of great value and importance and should be understood and applied by designers.
