Portfolio (Scribd.com):
Project Corrections / Time Spent:
Flier – 40 min:
- Changed title copy font/size/tracking/kerning.
- Changed body copy size/leading.
- Removed distracting objects from image and added Gaussian blur to the background behind the man.
Event Ad – 10 min:
- Reduced size of main body copy.
- Moved and resized text boxes to allow more white space.
Photodesign – 15 min:
- Replaced main quote font with an oldstyle font.
- Readjusted tracking/kerning/text warping for main quote text.
Montage – 25 min:
- Removed a distracting shooting star from the sky.
- Adjusted color levels of and added Gaussian blur to clouds, and otherwise cleaned up boundaries to make transitions smoother.
- Adjusted text leading.
- Refined man’s shadow on water by reflecting his outline, transforming it, adjusting darkness/opacity, and using the smudge tool to create ripples.
Logos – 25 min:
- Adjusted font sizes/weight/tracking/etc. for subtitle copy. (This ended up taking a lot longer than expected, since I’d turned all my text into outlines when making my variations, so I had to redo those from scratch.)
Web Page – 10 min:
- Removed the “noshade” attribute from the <hr> tag.
- Added “lang=’en'” attribute to the beginning <html> tag.
- Edited copy text to remove an errant widow.
- Widened the screenshot window to show off more of the background.
- Edited out more distracting lights from the background image.
Total time spent: 2 hours.
Message: I am a skilled, educated, accomplished designer who can follow objectives to create effective, attractive designs.
Audience: Potential design employers or clients.
Top Thing Learned: I’ve been surprised at the quality of the designs I’ve been able to produce with just the introductory information provided in this course. The principles are surprisingly simple and easy to implement once you begin practicing with them, but they do wonders to make designs look more professional. I know that the techniques I’ve learned and the skills I’ve developed aren’t incredibly in-depth, but they are very fundamental, and I now have a nice, strong base to build off in future classes.
Future Application of Visual Media: Even though I don’t plan to become a professional graphic designer or the like, these skills will still be of great use to me in my intended web design path. And with these skills, I wouldn’t be surprised if I get to do quite a bit of freelance design work alongside whatever my main profession is. I’ve already had two friends ask me to design logos for them, and if I can make a good name for myself with my output, that should open up other opportunities for me to get more commissions.
Color Scheme and Color Names: Complementary – Blue & Orange.
Font 1 Name & Category: Egyptian Slate – Slab Serif.
Font 2 Name & Category: Avenir – Sans-serif.
Thumbnails of Images Used: No images used in this portfolio design.