GWA1

This is how my mag layout is right now. according to my original layout idea. i intend to add some tiny details under the header for Lola's cafe and some touch up on the empty spaces for Wheeler's yard. Submission is next week god

Magazine layout ideation

This is my progress from my first grid line layout to my finalized one!

TRY 1 for Wheeler's Yard

TRY 2 and Final try for wheeler's yard

TRY 1 for Lola's cafe

TRY 2 for Lola's cafe
I realy liked this ideation very much. but too bad there will be too much visuals as compared to actual content. ):

The layout is upside down. oops haha. i do not know how to rotate it. But anyways, this is my TRY 3 and final try for Lola's cafe. 

Ive merged two of the lessons together as one because we spent quite some time on the ideation of the magazine layout. So this is all of them collated into one post.

Lesson 19

We learnt to do the book file today. it was a really short lesson for us because he only took a short while to go through how to collate our pages into a book at the end of the GWA1. After that we were split into our groups to complete the layout of our magazine page.

Lesson 18

We did the Goudy text style sheet today.And also learnt how to do individual text styling and also paragraph styling. I played around with the different functions and this is what i got!

I really liked the final product haha. the one on top. However, for the title.. i think it'll be good to be able to learn how to only edit the text "O" itself to become pink instead of both the blue underline and text together. But i guess i can also just draw the line itself and fill in the text in a different color editing only one character. okay, i probably dont make sense now, but this tool is going to be very useful for my own magazine page for GWA1.

Lesson 17

It was another indesign lesson today. We tried this page out with Mr Cheo’s guidance

I was able to star off with the simple elements of the article first like the different text boxes, the polacing of the placeholder text and the stoppress header. But It was har for me to figure out how to have the text wrapped around so perfectly on the baby. It was  using the pen tool and type tool. It surprised me how easy it was, but I think for more complicated images in the future, it would require a keen eye for the strokes and curvature of the line drawn haha. Also, there were a few hiccups during the placing of the baby. The image came out different and unlike the one in the picture, there were little holes that were transparent and it was cause some settings were left out during the placing of the image during the text wrap step.

Following this, we had to complete our own page on indesign. When I first saw the example I was shocked cause there seemed to be a lot of elements needed to complete the page. And yes there were a lot of elements. I took a slightly longer time to complete the thing, however I managed to complete the thing before the end of the lesson without any help. Quite happy with the result and final look as compared to the example. Haha. Oops.

Lesson 16

We learnt about grid lines today. Turns out all the magazines, no matter how different the magazine page looks they all follow grid lines set up on the Indesign page itself, during preparation itself. We learnt three different grid line styles today. And we got to see many different examples of magazines following the same layout yet having totally different designs. The different layouts ive seen served as an inspiration. Here are some magazine layouts i found online

Lesson 14

Today we did our first indesign exercise. It was really confusing at first having to remember the different measurements needed to attain the right formatting for that particular page. For example, the right bleed, how many columns, the spaces between each of them and such. After the first part, listening to what Mr cheo had to tech we had time to complete our own magazine page which  is the one above. To create the effect around the MRT picture we had to create a text wrap around the image itself. The different sections were created through the colored text box tool. One very essential part of this magazine creation thing that I overlooked very often was the leading for the font and text. It is very important that the font size was the same as the leading, if not there would be very odd spaces around the article. We had to slowly figure out how to re create the magazine page ourselves, but luckily It didn’t come hard for me.. :b

We also had a brief for our GWA1 today. We were tasked to come up with a 8 page magazine, me and my group have decided to do a magazine based on cafes in singapore. 

Final presentation IWA1

We had to present our own work today to help them to understand our work better. Honestly, I don’t think that my work goes with chanel’s image, it isn’t like their usual advertisements on tv. And I should maybe have tried making my chanel cutout overlay black. it might.. MIGHT have been suitable for an anniversary of chanel no.5 or something like that. I could have done better for the little images at the back itself cause some of the images might have been a little too pixelated or blur. There were some really good work shown like Dawama’s and Alicia’s. Really surprised when the results came out and I got an A for it because I thought that they would think the advert was too messy or complicated or didn’t suit the company’s image. But YAY!!

E-Learning

During this week of "holiday" we had to do up the lesson that was posted online. Having 4 levels to choose from, i decided to attempt the poster for intermediates! So here's my attempt haha

Honestly, i ont think i did a good job. There was supposed to be alot of touching ups to do. Alot of softening of the edges of the smoke extracts that i needed to do. But time was such an issue. Will probably give it a 2nd attempt after i get photoshop on my laptop.

So that was for tutorial b of e learning week. Down below would be my attempts on tutorial a!

I think i did okay for this haha. oops. But i was unsure what font to use for the background font, so i went with impact because the font appeared more compact which means less space in between which i thought would have been appropriate since we are actually depicting a human model? haha

Other than doing the e learning assignments, i also completed my own individual advert. i dont think its the best, and i guess there was little photoshop elements that i had to deal with, making it quite an easy piece so here it is:

The message im trying to portray through this advert is that every chanel no.5 bottle contains elements of a women. Since the women that are "inside" the bottle are probably the few most well recognized and feminine figures to us, it ultimately sends the message that every chanel no.5 is essentially a bottle of "women", "lady" or "ladyhood", i hope im not too far fetched right now haha.
All in all, chanel no.5 symbolizes women on a whole and thats the main message.

Ideation

So, for the individual project, i picked chanel to advertise for, chanel no.5 in specific, haha. very ambitious, i know. but anyways, have been thinking very long and hard on how to portray such an iconic perfume in all of it's glory haha (siao), i hope i can still retain it's classy facade that all the chanel no.5 adverts have in common. Chanel. no.5 i think was all aboiut simplicity is beauty, and also what most of the advert shave in common i guess would be the use of contrast. The black and white background of the face of chanel then followed by the classic and very prominent bottle of chanel no.5 perfume bottle like the one below

SO, that being said, i did a research on the faces of Chanel no.5, and ended up with 6 of them. Mrilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bonquet, Nicole Kidman, Gisele Bundchen and finally Sigrid Agren. All of them from different years and centuries,

 Layer 1 : pick photos of them, preferably black and white shots of them, put them onto an A3 sized collage, all equally sized.

Layer 2 : do a cut out of the iconic chanel no.5 bottle perfume shape on a black "paper" / sheet. So it can turn out like an overlay, something like the one below

Finally, put them together, justifying it slightly to the left leaving space for a quote on the right,

"Every woman alive wants Chanel No.5, every woman alive loves Chanel No.5"

and of course with the standard chanel bottle of perfume and it's logo.

Lesson 11

Learnt about typography today! Ive been seeing alot of typography nowadays, like only of recent. it seems to be around us alot, or maybe i only took notice of them now. Even SBS is using it! the poster they have on the bus, about 97% of people who take buses will move in poster.. i think thats typography?? i think...
but anyways, we learnt what makes a good typo, like how the secondary font must not be any larger than the primary, if not the audience would not be able to capture the main  message the advertiser is trying to put across, or they may just lose sight of the main idea just like that. We also learnt that the font type used is especially important because a font on its own can have a portrayed meaning, like how italicized handwriting fonts give off a very classic and romantic vibe, how block, oddly shaped fonts will give off a fun vibe, so the font used is always very important. Here are some good typographies i found online!

the above is the example of using typography as an artwork

Lesson 10

3 hour session! which means photoshop fun!

 before the 'find and replace' the building was purple. i think i did quite a good job hahaha. changing it to red

Changed the entire color of the skies' background from the normal blue one to this one. We had to make sure that the correct outline was along the sky and not affecting the buildings or any other parts of the picture.

Using the color replacement tool, we were supposed to change the woman's red tank top to a color we prefer. It was really hard to not try and color the rest of her body part especially her arms. Had to switch between thickness to ensure,m but even after doing that i still got some on her arms and fingers, thank god for the eraser tool

We added a textile or texture whatever you call that onto this guy's suit. mine's a little faint cause it would have been too damn gay. All we had to do was place a layer of the textile we wanted and the tool would help us 'mould' it into the shape of the suit, afterwards we adjusted the opacity and stuff to make it look less edited, like mine!

                                       
 using the blemish tool, we removed the woman's facial blemishes and we could extract the part of the skin we want to cover the blemishes with, if the photoshop would just extract from around the blemish area to cover the blemish up. the spot on her right cheek nearest to the white background was really hard to perfect. still, A* for effort. :b

Using the liquify tool, we made the guy smile! small little steps to success if not he would have turned out looking like joker.

We blurred out the background of this photo to add more emphasis on Shakira and her crystal ball

 The third eye using the cut and paste tool? i forgot....

Using the patch tool, we patched up this lady's wrinkles using other part of her skin that we had to 'extract', again i think i did quite a good job.

AND THEN FINALLY AT THE END OF THE LESSON WE HAD TO DO THIS. THE CAT'S TRAY MADE ME WANT TO PULL MY HAIR OUT BUT THANK GOD I STILL DID IT IN THE END.

Lesson 9

We learnt about layouts in advertising today. The main focal point of the advert doesnt have to always be placed in the middle of the advert itself. Sometimes, justifying it to other sides or corners of the advert can make an equal or even better effect. We learnt how the human eye follows lines when looking at an image. Just like the image below,

We follow the lines of the railway to the small little white box in the middle. Which can ultimately be the focal point of the entire advert. Like in the case below

The letters and tiny messages lead up to the picture of the cut up manipulated fish, this gives the eyes a path to lead up to which is ultimately the picture that portrays the entire purpose of the message the advertiser is trying to put across to the receiver.

Colors, on the other hand is also a very powerful tool to creating a good advertisement. Sometimes, creating contrast can help create a stronger impact on the entire advert, like below!

Lesson 8

Lesson 8 was E-Learning!
I would have preferred the lesson be done in school obviously haha, because i dont have photoshop installed. and i dont have a laptop for myself yet. So i had to wait till i wasin school to borrow the laptop from my classmate to complete the assignment or at least try out photoshop.
The videos i saw from the links were all really interesting. and i went onto youtube to watch some extra videos too. Photoshop is really amazing. i was really in awe haha. Here's the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph0e6GMIRKo

Anyways, i didnt get to watch the full 17 minutes of it haha. But the fact that she was able to morph the picture of the girl and make her left shoulder look uncropped was really amazing. I do wish i will be able to play around with the other functions of photoshop more especially edit my own photos with it. But i dont have an actual or good dslr, which means the whole editing thing would go bust.
Alright onwards, i tried out the tasks that were meant for us on e-learning so here they are

The backgrounds are transparent btw. i really did it ahaha. cant wait for a proper lesson on photoshop itself.

Lesson 7

Had 2 hour lesson today! And we learned about what makes an advert controversial. Sometimes controversy is good and some are bad. The controversy gets us talking about it and occasionally companies use this method to gain more popularity. And they can all mean different things to different people. For kids some adverts may seem like a normal advert, but to adults or teenagers who are more exposed, we know that the advert has an ulterior meaning and theres more than meets the eyes. The element of surprise is very effective because it will speak to us and catch our attention. We got to see alot of examples and the 5 that we had to rate was just plain disturbing, i would never give it thought even if i were to see it on TV or online, because although it may catch my attention, the feeling of disgust will still be more overwhelming. I found somemore controversial adverts online right below!

This may be disturbing, but it is very effective as the purpose behind the advert can be understood immediately and there is appropriate emphasis. 

This may not be socially accepted by the more conservative generation of people.

Lesson 6

Finally it's friday which means a 3 hour lesson haha. Had fun drawing and colouring the ant! 

Everybody's ants were of different colours and everything. but i decided that mine should be black haha. cause ants are black. It was alot of hardwork for this little thing. I had to use the pen tool to trace out meticulously the lines and all things. The worst part is having too many things done on one layer and having to correct one of it. i ended up having to delete an entire layer which was the whole of my ant head just because i screwed up the eyes. >:(

i thought i did a pretty good job... until Mr Cheo decided to remove the bottom layer, the original image which was what i was tracing on. haha. everything was in such a mess! the alignment and everything was not done right. hahaha, but i fixed it i guess. i just moved them into place. and i ended up with that on the top!

Im pretty pleased with my final product, honestly. at least with it at this distance and not up close. (muahaha).

Anyways, once i got the hand of it i did start to enjoy it more. but it gets really frustrating with time. if such a simple image already gets me so frustrated i really dont know how im going to cope with the more complicated and much more detailed images that i believe will come haha. oh well!

Lesson 5

Today we learnt what makes a good advertisement.
In many ways, advertisements can get to us.
Some use really attractive things to get our attention. some companies advertise through means of humour. some through the credibility of the endorser, some through the size and the object in focus and some by engaging the audience.
It is just like the first lesson, we learnt the importance of placement and other elements to what makes a good graphic design. All the advertisements that we saw on the power point slides were all very eye catching and relatable and a joy to look at, it honestly makes me interested in that particular product or service.

Lesson 3 & 4 (sorta)

Had to give lessons a miss cause i was............. Away

Lesson 2

hey!
lab sesh 2 was definitely alot more exciting than the previous one. this 2 hour lesson obviously packed so much more fun than the previous one haha. finally got to try out adobe illustrator on the mac!
mr cheo allowed us to let our creative juices flow. to design a greeting card or something like that on our first try. i really didnt know what to get down to haha. so i just followed him and did a christmas greeting card!
it didnt come easily and naturally obviously. and it got alot more frustrating halfway through since all of the functions were so new to me, it did however resemble the "paint" that windows PCs have, used to meddle with that so much when i was younger. but now, finally being able to understand their true uses and the difference between each function like the pen and pencil tools was very enlightening. it was alot to take in for a first lesson. but i do hope i get better, still have difficulty remembering the different functions, but there's always google! haha, and the course docs on LMS. So, yeap! i would upload the picture of my first piece of graphic design but my thumbdrive was in windows format. bummer.

Lesson 1

Hey!
Lab sesh 1 we learnt the principles of design. its like the base of everything and the basics that all graphic designers should know i guess. it helps guide them to arranging the various elements in that one particular project to achieve the desired effect on the audience they are presenting it to.
i found out about the many types of different elements, and how they affect the overall outcome of the entire project done by the graphic designer. the shapes, colours, typography and images used all are essentials building blocks to the final product all serving its very own important purpose.
we also got to see the different graphic designs each presented through the different elements. I especially liked one of them, the Gardena 35E lawnmower poster, it spoke louder than alot of the other designs because with all the minimalism, the message was even clearer and more stronger in a way. It proves so much and also the importance of the right use of the elements in any form of graphic design.