RCS Graphic Arts

You are going to create a Portfolio that displays your work as a Graphic Designer.  You should make it clear that you know how to operate In-Design, Illustrator, and Photoshop.  You will gather your work and put it into a clean PDF booklet that you will save in your Final folder.

Contents

This is a specific list of what should be inside your portfolio.

At least 14 quality projects  -  2 projects from In-Design, Illustrator, Photoshop + 8 "wild cards"

Cover Page - Your Name & Current Year

Objective Page - Explain what you hope to accomplish with your portfolio – this could range from a few brief words to a few paragraphs – explain what you want to achieve with your portfolio.  For example, if you want to be able to show to colleges or future employer you might want to explain why your giving it to them and what you want in return.  DO NOT put something like “…because I have to” or “for my graphic design class.” That is an automatic zero for this portion of the assignment!  Instead put something like “to display my skills as a graphic designer.”

3 Divider Pages - one for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Explanation Pages - One for each project, explaining what you want that project to show off.

TOTAL PAGES = 33 pages

EVERYTHING MUST BE 100% ORIGINAL (the only exception is if you created work for a client i.e. the RCS logo)

Steps to Do

Inside of your "Final" folder, create another folder called "Portfolio"

Press "CMD + N" to open a new window

Place copies of your best work into your "Portfolio" folder

Convert your files into .PDF files

Create a Cover Page in a program of your choice

Create an Objective Page in a program of your choice

Create a Divider Page for Photoshop Projects, Illustrator Projects, InDesign Projects

Create Explanation Pages for your projects

Combine the files using Adobe Acrobat

  How to Combine Files Using Adobe Acrobat

1.     Located inside the Launch Pad

2.     Open Adobe Acrobat 8

3.     Choose the “Combine Files” button

4.     Select the “combine files” link (bottom left)

5.     “Add files” (top left) choose all the files that you want

6.     To put them in the order that you want use the “Move Up & Move Down” buttons

7.     When everything is in order, select the “Next” button (bottom right)

8.     Make sure the option “Merge Files Into a Single PDF” is selected

9.     Click on “Create” (bottom right)

Chose a local small business or organization that you want to design a product package for.  You choose the brand.  You choose the product package i.e. pamphlet, poster, box, flyer, website, etc.  You will have to decide on the document size and resolution - and yes, there is a right and wrong answer.  You may need to do some research and find a Photoshop template.  The product has to have a function/purpose – something that the small business could use to generate revenue or increase attention.  You will need to research the organization and find out what they do and what they want to promote.  Will you promote an event or a new item, etc?  You need to have your design prepared 100% for implementation.  This means you need to create a folder called "YourNameFinal" and save all files in the correct formats inside of it.  At a minimum, you will have your .psd file saved in it and a .png file saved in it, along with a MS Word file (see below).   All files should be the correct resolution for the job and correct document sizes.  You should save all the files inside of one folder with appropriate names for each file.

The Word document will be a short 3-5 sentence paragraph that explains what organization you made your design for, what the product is, and what your design represents.  You should also list the 6 digit hex code for all main colors used and you should also list the font style if you used any.

Your goal is to take the main page of this existing website and make it look better. Remember that it also has to be functional.

Title: Rockford Christian Middle School Sciences

Dimensions: 1280 px width x 800+ px height

Links in Nav Bar (any order): Home, Robotics, Science Olympiad, Science Club, Coaches, Calendar, Links/Resources

Larger Buttons/Links: Science Olympiad, Science Club, Robotics

Include room for a footer

The main page should include the title, nav bar, a main picture or video, and space for text (see their current main page).

Font: Impact

Great job on the Yearbook - it's finally over!  Our next assignment is another real world application.  I'll explain more tomorrow, but I want you to be prepared with some ideas.  So brainstorm/sketch out how you would communicate the following:

1. A child transforming/growing into an adult

1. Visit this site - READ and UNDERSTAND what an infographic is.

2. Visit this site - Look at examples and UNDERSTAND what makes them good.

3. Create your own infographic using the data below:

Overview - Stats for a website called Bitmap Boom

Audience Location: United States 18%, Russia 9%, India 9%, Ukraine 7%, United Kingdom 4%, Germany 2%, Canada 2%, Brazil 2%, Japan 2%, Indonesia 2%

Audience Gender: 88% Male, 12% Female

Audience Age: 5% Younger than 18, 25% 18-24, 68% 25-44, 2% 45+

Guidelines

1.) An original poster design that reflects the theme “You Can Create Tomorrow”.   It should be 100% original.

2.) Your poster must be 300 ppi resolution and can be at minimum 8.5” x 11” or at maximum 11” x 17” in size.

3.) Statement of Interpretation: must be a minimum of 50 and maximum of 100 words. The statement should state (1) your intent of the work (what do you want it to communicate?) and (2) a description of your work.

Grading

- Originality of concept: poster cannot contain copyrighted, trademarked, or service marked materials of any sort (10%)

- Demonstrates Technical Proficiency (40%)

- Poster displays basic design skills:  including color and composition to effectively communicate the concept visually (20%)

- Design meets specified theme "You Can Create Tomorrow" (20%)

- Completeness: Turn in the Photoshop File and Statement of Interpretation on time and completed according to directions. (10%)

Resources

- sxc.hu (free images)

- morguefile.com (free images)

- Your Peers

- Your own photographs (including using the school camera)

- kuler.adobe.com

- subtlepatterns.com

You will create your own tutorial for the Graphic Design I students to follow. To do this you will have to use the following recipe:

1 – Have a Main Objective: do some research and look at what other tutorials have done.  Can you identify a need to learn something?  Maybe you felt that when you were a Graphic Design I student that Mr. Cropper was lazy and didn’t teach enough – you could review a specific topic. In Photoshop there is always more than 1 way to achieve the same outcome.  Maybe you found a tutorial that was poorly written and you have a better way of doing things – show us! 

2 – Create Something Unique: it can be text, a design, photographic effect, etc.  You can draw your ideas from multiple tutorials, but the end result must be something unique.

3 – Show How You Did It: you can take screenshots of each step and then put it into a PowerPoint or create a video. Graphic Design is all about communication – so you must be able to communicate your message to others.

Due Date: Friday March 8

 Grading:        Creativity/Original Ideas  30%

                        Communication (your Presentation)  30%

                        Visual Design (your Photoshop project)  30%