Moorpark College Graphic Design

1. NPR Radio Show with Terri Gross – Shepard Fairey: Inspiration or Infringement (7)
2. Electronic Highway Robbery An Artist’s Guide to Copyrights in the Digital Era by Mary E. Carter (Paperback – July 1996. Buy it used)
3. Discussion (7)

This week we move on to Adobe Illustrator. As we begin to understand the pen tool, we examine more closely the differences between raster and vector graphics. We’ll review popular cultural images and discuss the designer’s role and responsibility as relates to copyright law.

ESSAY: Copyright (7)
Objectives: Demonstrate an understanding of intellectual property rights and copyright law as they apply to digital and media arts. Explain the how copyright law can affect the work of a graphic designer.

• Minimum 1250 words
• May include photos and illustrations

Due Week 10 – Wednesday, March 27th

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Our class has decided to create a book on publishing and prepress, covering each topic area in a separate chapter that is presented in such a manner that a child could understand.

Possible topic areas for our book project:

1. substrates, papers and paper finishes 
2. printing processes and types of printers – Myriam
3. print finishes – Paul
4. bindery and binding methods – Kara Keeler
5. color models – Robert Pearson
6. bleeds – Robert Pearson
7. folds – Kara Keeler
8. imposition – Joshua
9. rasters and vectors – Paul
10. resolution – Joshua
11. 4-color process / spot colors – Kara Edwall
12. image capture devices – Kara Edwall
13. font formats – Maria
14. image file formats – Monica
15. Acrobat – Myriam
16. measurement systems – Michelle
17. copyright and trademarks – Maria
18. proofreaders symbols – Monica
19. proofing methods
20. glossary of terms – Michelle

Can you think of other topics that should be included in our book? Each student must choose two topics to write and illustrate.

Tonight we will create a template that will be the basis for each student’s chapters. We will all create documents with the same page size, margins and automatic page numbering. We will also work on some dummy layouts to prepare for creating our book in InDesign.

Your chapter of the book is Due April 25th, 2013 for the first proofing.

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Today was lab session. Because there are no classes tomorrow, Tues., Feb. 12th and Mon., Feb. 18th, the due date for the Retouching Projects has been pushed up to Wednesday, February 20th. On Wednesday, we’ll discuss using Photoshop as a painting tool.

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Part II – Tight comps with color proofs – due tonight Feb. 7.

Tonight we will have a group review of everyone’s color proofs. These are your “proof prints,” the last step before sending your files to the printer for reproduction.

We will also continue our discussion of the book project, which is as of now, loosely described as an easy reference book for publishing and prepress presented in a way that a child could understand. We’ll break the book down into its parts tonight. They might be broken down into something like:

• substrates
• color models
• reproduction methods,

with each part referenced as a “Chapter.”  Tonight we’ll assign each student with a Chapter to be completed in time for the printing and bindery of 17 books.

During lecture, we’ll take a look at a short run print job, and discuss steps the photographer, designer and printer can take to achieve pleasing color in print and how to predict color by the number.

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This week we reviewed the highlights of photo retouching and colorizing, completing both the “Joe & Lou” and “Fancy Lady” exercises. This should prepare you to included scanned photos in your poster project. The retouching exercises are due in “before and after” format on Wednesday, February 12th.

If you need assistance with color printing, please “Save for Web” and send your files to me with instructions for printing before the morning of Feb. 12th, 8 a.m.

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This week we will be working with photos, from old to new, damaged to “pristine,” black and white to color. That’s a whole lot of territory, so don’t expect a scientific treatise. But you should come away with a fundamental understanding of how a digital image is created, edited, altered, and printed.

1. Photo Retouching Exercises (3,4,5,6)
2. Chapter 6, Photoshop Magic
3. Chapter 7, File Formats & Compression
4. Chapter 8, Scanning Guidelines

As we wind up our sessions on working with photos, we’ll take a look and other creative approaching to illustration and painting in Photoshop.

1. Chapter 3, Art and the Computer (2)
2. More of Diane Fenster’s art
3. Painting in Photoshop (4,5,6)

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More on Color Models

In Week 2’s class, we learned the similarities in the Illustrator and InDesign document setup as pertains to bleeds, margins and accessing and selecting colors. We discussed the how each of the color models is used in the workflow, and how ink color models, papers, and print finishes can increase the prepress and production time (often done by the designer) and printing costs.

This week as we look at your rough comps, due tonight, you’ll begin the setup of your business card in InDesign or Illustrator.

Having had an overview of the color models:

• RGB
• CMYK / Process
• SPOT / Pantone, UV, Varnish, Emboss, Die, Foil, “Akufoil”

and having had the opportunity to get your books and complete your reading, in Week 3’s class we’ll take a closer look at color models as we set up our press-ready business card files. Check back here often as I update the evening’s agenda.

We’ll examine a variety of instructive color charts from a typical color digital printers and presses

We’ll Compare the output device color charts to the color you print from your “proof” printer, then from a digital laser in order to see if there are any color shifts.

Part I – Rough comps for a logo and business card design with low res (72dpi minimum) proofs – due tonight

Tonight we’ll discuss the final project, which will be a group book project. We’ll brainstorm the content and take chapter assignments.

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Here’s proof that a group can come up with at least 26 possibilities in the time it takes for attendance, and I’m sure with a bit of effort, you could each come up with more. Use these or other topics as a springboard to arrive at a topic that you feel strongly about.

We’ll spend more time in Monday’s (2-4) class looking at examples of posters that explore some of these topics.

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We will continue our Photoshop exercises with the Sphere Exercise.

Upon completing the sphere exercise, you should have an understanding of:

• Elementary Layers
• Marquee Selections
• Simple Gradients
• Feathering the edge of a selection
• Fill a Selection

In addition, upon completing the printed portion sphere exercise, you will create one additional image.

The new image specs:

• 8″x10″
• 300 ppi (pixels per inch)
• Image must include a new sphere that you create in an “active” and perhaps, unexpected role
• You must create an “environment” for the sphere and put it in action

The Spheres project is due Wed. February 6th at the beginning of class.

…preparing you for the poster project.

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This week we will begin a discussion of Color Management

A Printer is a Printer is a Printer – Check out the sidebar on p. 27 of the Cohen book, From Design Into Print, herein after referred to as FDIP.

The objective is to understand the digital workflow and the process of preparing the digital file to print properly for a variety of print processes. For example, a bleed vs. no bleed, Spot UV or Foil Stamp, Special Folds or Cuts, Card Stock vs. Cover Stock.

• Color modes/models beginning with the Camera and Photoshop and ending in ink
• RGB>CMYK – What all the hullabaloo? Color Mode Bit Depth Chart, p. 80 FDIP
• Understanding Color Gamut
• Resolution
• Bleeds
• Imposition
• Time and money-saving techniques – step and repeat

Project #1 – Business Card Design
Objective: Create a press-ready business card file for three different variations on the theme with the goal of three price-points: low, medium and high.
Part I – Rough comps for a logo and business card design with low res (72dpi minimum) proofs – due Jan. 31.
Part II – Tight comps with color proofs – due Feb. 7.
Part III – Final press ready PDF and Package Files – due Feb. 14.

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