BRIEF

For this project, you will design an eight-page print layout (front/back cover and three spreads) to present a portfolio of your own art/design work OR a zine on an art/design related topic. You will develop a simple, flexible design language that can be adapted for your front and rear cover designs while successfully presenting at least three projects/campaigns/etc. Layouts will be made in Adobe InDesign and exported as PDFs for review, as well as printed and staple-bound.

GUIDELINES

  • You can put any work in your portfolio, not just things you made for this class
  • Each portfolio piece must be captioned
    • At minimum, the caption must include the title of the work or project and when you completed it, e.g.:
      Pattern Portrait Project
      Fall 2022
  • Each portfolio piece/zine topic should be introduced/explained.
    For some pieces, this can be a brief sentence: “These posters for the Brooklyn Historical society are inspired by architectural details on historic buildings in downtown Brooklyn.”
    For other content (especially in zines) you may need a meatier explanation.
  • The pages in your layout will be 8.5” x 11”, portrait orientation
    • this means it can be printed on standard tabloid (11” x 17”) paper for a folded and stapled booklet
    • use the standard margins and gutters for the layout – they’re good sizes
  • Your cover should include a “hero” image (prominent, visually-striking imagery taken from or directly relating to work you’re featuring in the book), and a prominent title containing the following information:
    • Your name
    • The name of the class
    • The current semester
    • (the class and semester do not have to be prominently featured, especially for zines; you can also add any additional titles or text as desired)

Check out video tutorials on using Adobe Indesign here.

PROCESS

Collect & Setup

  1. Select the images you plan to use for your portfolio and copy them to a new folder. The new folder isn’t strictly necessary, but it helps a lot with organization
  2. Create a new InDesign document using the settings in the image.
    screenshot of adobe indesign new document interface
  3. Select typefaces for display text (your name on the front cover), title text (names of projects) and body copy (captions, paragraphs). These can be totally different fonts and/or different versions of the same typeface (such as Futura Extrabold, Futura SemiBold, and Futura Light). Consider how the type design relates to the personal style expressed in your work, as well as how the type styles relate to each other.

Placement and Layout Design

  1. In your InDesign document, lay out one two-page spread and one single-page spread. These will be templates for additional pages; rather than design each one from scratch, we can copy these and swap their images and text with only small adjustments.
  2. Design your cover art. This should reflect the look, feel, and tone (aka vibes) contained in your portfolio. It must contain an image (the size/placement/content is up to you) and the following information:
  • Your name
  • The name of the class
  • The current semester

NOTE: you can design your cover art in Photoshop or Illustrator – just make sure your document is the correct size (8.5” x 11”) and resolution (300ppi+)

  1. Place your cover art in the InDesign document, along with any additional work (using the previous layouts as templates)

Export, Print and Submit

  1. Export your portfolio using the “high-quality print” preset. Print double-sided – make sure you have the page alignment and numbers correct!

SCHEDULE & DUE DATES

4/25 (Tuesday) – project assigned

5/2 (Tuesday) – media collected, cover planned ready to start layout

5/5 (Friday) – front/back cover drafts complete

5/9 (Tuesday) – full draft complete for review

5/12 (Friday) – STUDIO DAY/Study Session

5/16 (Tuesday) – project due, FINAL DAY OF CLASS

 

DUE TUESDAY MAY 16