Jazz Poster Project

Posted on September 13, 2012 by L. Berezovskaya

Hi Everyone,

This is a good short article on how to use signage fonts in designs. I thought it might be helpful in designing the Jazz Poster.
http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fyti/situational-typography/typography-for-signage

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Some Basic Graphic Design Principles

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Prof. Mary Brown

In class we began to cover the basic principles of graphic design. Here is a video that may be useful to help you better understand some of the principles that we covered in class.

Posted in Graphic Design | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Resource – dafont.com

Posted on September 3, 2012 by roqueayala

Hello All. Since I think it’s safe to say that we are going to be dealing with typography I wanted to share a website that I have found to be useful on projects that I have done in the past. dafont.com is a website with free fonts that you can download (PC and Mac) for personal use. I  like to go there when I am looking for inspiration or when I am looking for a specific style of font for a project. Hopefully you will find it as useful as I have.

www.dafont.com

Cheers

Roque Ayala

Posted in Typography | 4 Comments

Check it out!

Posted on September 1, 2012 by larrious

Hay guys, I’ve just heard of this site called www.pinterest.com, and under the design category it shows many different designs ranging from product labels to posters. I thought this site gave me a lot of inspiration and would love to see what you guys think!

Posted in Inspiration | 5 Comments

Creating Thumbnails

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Prof. Mary Brown

As a designer, one of your first steps (after collecting all the information about your project) will be to create thumbnails sketches. Thumbnails sketches are small, quick, rough sketches to help you brainstorm and come up with ideas for your design. Before you sit at the computer and begin using InDesign or QuarkXpress to do your layout, you should do thumbnails. They don’t have to be perfect, but just to show various ways you may want to place your elements on the page. You should do as many thumbnails as you can to fill a page and sometimes more if needed. Once your get your thumbnails done you will select the one(s) that work best and proceed to do comps. Use the video below to help you get started if you’ve never done thumbnails before.

Posted in Graphic Design | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Dropbox: A Designer’s Best Friend

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Nicole Dominguez

To expand on what Professor Brown mentioned in class about backing up your files, I would like to say that Dropbox has been an absolute lifesaver and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

As both a designer and a student, I have found myself in tight situations that have been resolved with Dropbox. Here are some things that I have found that would be of intrest to you guys:

  • It’s like a virtual USB! As long as you have internet access, you’re good to go.
  • At work, my coworkers and I all use Dropbox to keep our files in sync. If I add a new file to the box, everyone in the room can access it just seconds after I upload it.
  • Dropbox comes with handy software for both Mac and PC that syncs your entire box onto your machine, and whatever changes you make (online or on your computer) will be synced to both places. When you’re using your computer, you would never need to use the main site!
  • They have a nifty feature called “events” that allows you to see a recent history of the files in your box. It comes in handy when you’re accessing shared folders, because it tells you exactly what others have done (aka, “Michael has deleted example.png“)
  • Shared folders – another great feature! You can create folders that you can make public or share with select people, and they can view or add to the files in the box. I personally have found it to be very useful to share files with clients, and friends.
  • There is a Dropbox app avalible for iPhone (I think android too), which is also great. If you save original design files (.indd, .psd, .ai), they won’t be visible, but if you save .pngs and .jpgs, they will be visible on your phone. So, if you’ve got a design you want to show off, all you have to do is pull out your phone! It’s like carrying your portfolio wherever you go!

That’s all I’ve got for now! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so via my referral link. Once you’ve made your account, you can post your link in the comments for others to use! (Signing up via a referral will give that person some extra space, 500mb per referral)

Posted in Tools | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Getting Started with InDesign

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Prof. Mary Brown

Before you can use InDesign for the first time, it is important to understand the application window and how to start a new document. Though we did a quick review in class, here are 2 great videos found on Adobe TV that you can use as references. These will help you get a basic understanding of what to expect when you get started with InDesign. You can view the videos in full screen by clicking the lower right corner.


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Hello and Welcome!

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Prof. Mary Brown

Hello students. Welcome to Publication Media, ADV1161 sections 7126 and 7130. As a part of the collaborative learning experience, this will be our website. You will find plenty of information and resources about graphic design and typography here. Aside from your required textbook, this will be your main place for resources,

Each week, each student is required to contribute by adding comments about the readings, class discussions or other information you find on the web, or create your own original posts. You will receive grades based on your contribution that will add weight to your finally grade. Discussions and critiques are encouraged, but always remember to be professional.

Hopefully this semester will be very fulfilling, so let’s get started.

Again… welcome!
Prof. M. Brown

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