Requirements

Unit 1

Assignment 1: Illustrative Poster Design

Create a poster design utilizing the elements and principles of design.

Summary: In this assignment, you will use one of the Poster Templates provided to create a poster design that explores your understanding of the elements and principles of design (specifically emphasis and unity). We have provided the poster templates so that you may include type in your designs (a skill that you have not yet learned) without feeling the need to concentrate on typography, and instead be able to treat type as simply just another object in your design. Focus on the elements of design, which are the attributes of the objects you create, and the principles of design, which are the interactions different attributes create when combined. This will be your first true exploration in design theory. Your design can be an arrangement of abstract shapes, a photorealistic illustration, or anywhere in between. You will not be graded on the concept of your design, but rather, on the completion of the design goals in the requirements.

Technical Requirements

  • Use a Template
  • Vector Format
  • AI File Format

Design Requirements

  • Achieve unity with 1 or more elements and principles
  • Use at least three different hues
  • Use at least three values of each hue
  • Describe your work objectively

Skill Requirements

  • Use at least one stroke
  • Use at least one fill
  • Use a Shape Tool

Bonus Requirements

  • Utilize the image trace function to produce a vector artwork from a raster graphic
  • Utilize a warm, cool or neutral color mood
  • Use brushes to create vector artwork

Assignment 2: Book Cover Design

Create a visually interesting book cover design.

Summary: Download the Bookcover Templates to use for your design. Select a book to redesign the cover for, and use Pen and Anchor Point Tools to create vector artwork using the book cover templates. Use at least two elements and principles to achieve unity. Use an analogous color scheme. Also, use color to create a simulated three-dimensional space. Use Transform and Alignment Tools to modify and position your artwork. Finally, use any of the bonus requirements to enhance your design.

Technical Requirements

  • Use a Template
  • Vector Format
  • AI File Format

Design Requirements

  • Achieve unity with 2 or more elements and principles
  • Use an analogous color scheme
  • Use color to create or enhance a simulated three-dimensional space
  • Describe your work objectively

Skill Requirements

  • Use the Pen and Anchor Point Tools to create vector artwork
  • Duplicate an object and use Transform Tools to modify it
  • Align a series of objects using the Align Panel

Bonus Requirements

  • Create and modify clipping mask to mask artwork
  • Modify the positive/negative space relationships of an object using the Pathfinder Panel
  • Achieve unity with 3 or more elements and principles

Unit 2

Assignment 3: Typographic Poster Design

Create a poster using type as the primary visual element.

Summary: You are going to design another poster, but this time instead of using an illustration as the primary visual element, you are going to use typography. Use letterforms and wordforms to create line, shape, form, texture, and space in your design. Use only one type family. Your creative process should be the same. Use the elements of design to create design interactions that create a visually interesting and unified composition. Just make sure the objects you use to create these arrangements are letterforms and wordforms. You will have a few requirements. Your design will have format and size requirements. You must advertise some type of event (whether a musical performance, social event, or public speaking), and include the name of the event, the date, and the name of the organization or person responsible for the event. Design requirements address some unity, typographic, emphasis, and color concerns. Make sure to fulfill these requirements in your design.

Technical Requirements

  • Vector Format/AI. File format
  • 24 x 36 inches
  • Advertise an event (include a date, event name, and organization)

Design Requirements

  • Create a visually interesting composition
  • Achieve visual unity for the entire composition
  • Use a split-complementary color scheme
  • Use letterforms as the primary visual element
  • Use only one type family (available in Adobe Fonts)

Skill Requirements

  • Include only used colors in the swatches panel
  • Use a blend command to blend the color of 3 or more objects

Bonus Requirements

  • Apply transparency to at least one element
  • Use an alternate blending mode for at least one element
  • Use numerals, punctuation, ornaments, or other special characters in your design

Assignment 4: Book Cover Set Design

Create a set of three (3) book covers.

Summary: Select three books that are similar in author, genre, or theme. Design a book cover for each one. Individual book covers should use a monochromatic scheme. However, the set should follow analogous, split-complementary, or triadic color scheme. For example, you can have one book with a monochromatic color scheme using only values and tones of an orange hue, and the other two book cover designs use monochromatic schemes with red-orange and yellow-orange. Each book has a monochromatic scheme, combining the set creates a analogous scheme. 
The imagery must include an illustration, posterization, or shape arrangement. This imagery should convey a sense of conceptual unity within the book design and across the set. For example, each book could illustrate a singular object that makes reference to a physical object in the story, or each cover could illustrate a cityscape that is the location in the story, but each cover uses a different time of day (midday, sunset, and twilight). This conceptual symbolism is up to you. Try to be creative.

Use the elements of design to create one of the following interactions: contrast, repetition, movement, or proportion.  You want each book cover to achieve unity between attributes and interactions, and you want some of those similarities to work across all cover designs to achieve a similar unity across the set of designs. Make sure all of your type is readable and legible.
We also want to focus on some of the tools you have learned. We want you to export your final designs as PDF to submit to your instructor.

Technical Requirements

  • Submit 3 book covers
  • Book cover set should have a similar author, genre, or theme

Design Requirements

  • Each individual book cover should use a monochromatic color scheme
  • The set should follow analogous, split-complementary, or triadic color scheme.
  • Include an illustration, posterization, or shape arrangement that conveys conceptual unity across the set.
  • Create one of the following interactions: contrast, repetition, movement, or proportion
  • Achieve unity between the attributes and interactions utilized in each cover
  • Achieve unity between the attributes and interactions utilized across the set
  • Make sure all type is legible and readable

Skill Requirements

  • Export the bookcover as a PDF

Bonus Requirements

  • Achieve a conceptual unity between the attributes and interactions utilized across the set
  • No more and no less than two typefaces (artist/title)
  • Use a type of unity, such as similarity, closure, continuity, common fate, or parallelism

Unit 3

Assignment 5: Social Media Ads

Create a series of social media ads

Summary: Download the provided Social Media Ad Templates and Supplied Images. Create five different unique designs by introducing different vector and raster imagery into the existing templates. These elements could be as simple as vector polka dots or as complex as a highly-detailed ornamentation (each of which you would create in Adobe Illustrator and import and as a smart object into the template). It is up to you the level of complexity. The focus of this assignment is towards your understanding of unity, emphasis, visual style, and Photoshop tools. It is important to note that the imagery you use needs to take a back seat to the ad content, and do more to emphasize it than compete with it in any way. In essence, you will be trying to find ways to subdue your images to enhance the template content. While we are exploring emphasis, this can also be a good exercise in unity and variety, as the social media ads are required to have the same visual style.

Technical Requirements

  • Submit five (5) social ads in one PSD
  • Use one of the provided templates for each ad
  • Use one of the supplied images for each ad

Design Requirements

  • Use a different complementary color scheme for each ad
  • Typographic treatments must be readable and emphasized by imagery
  • Use design techniques to apply the same visual style across all ads

Skill Requirements

  • Use a smart object that contains an embedded vector graphic for imagery in each ad
  • Use the crop tool to non-destructively crop your images
  • Apply an adjustment layer or smart filter to every image in order to subdue it.
  • Use only non-destructive image editing techniques: smart objects, smart filters, and adjustment layers

Bonus Requirements

  • Name all of your layers so that your document is easily navigated by another designer
  • Use a gradient map adjustment layer in all added imagery
  • Use a blur filter, opacity, fill adjustment layer, or transparency in at least one ad. 

Assignment 6: Album Cover Design

Design a visually interesting album cover.

Summary: This album cover design is going to an assignment where you decide a majority of the specifics. The musical artist, band, or compilation is your choice. You can make an imaginary artist, redesign an existing album, or design a new record for a local band. It is completely up to you. 

There are some simple design requirements to guide you. As always, you want to achieve visual unity in your composition. We want you to use visual emphasis to highlight typographic treatments. Ensure that all of the type you use is legible and all of the wordforms are readable. As for color, you will be required to use a compound color scheme for your design. Finally, there are several application specific requirements to ensure that you are utilizing the Photoshop tools available to you.

Technical Requirements

  • 12.375 in. x 12.375 in.
  • Use sourced imagery of appropriate quality and resolution

Design Requirements

  • Create a visually interesting design
  • Achieve visual unity for the entire composition
  • Use visual emphasis to highlight typographic treatments
  • Make sure all type is legible and readable
  • Use a compound color scheme

Skill Requirements

  • Use a smart object that contains a vector graphic for imagery in each ad
  • Use the crop tool to non-destructively crop your images
  • Apply a global adjustment layer on all images
  • Use only non-destructive image editing techniques: smart objects, smart filters, and adjustment layers

Bonus Requirements

  • No more and no less than two typefaces (artist/title)
  • Create a color variant of the album cover another compound scheme 
  • Use a blur filter, opacity, fill adjustment layer, or transparency.

Unit 4

Assignment 7: Marketing Campaign

Execute the design for a digital marketing campaign.

Summary: Create a concept for a marketing campaign design. You may create an ad campaign for an existing product, company, or brand (such as Coca-Cola, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Disney, Nike, BMW, Nescafe, or any other brand you would like to explore). You may also offer your services to a friend, business owner, or local organization for pro bono work (or even paid work). Finally, you may use one of your existing designs and make ads for it.

For your campaign, create one Facebook ad, one Instagram ad, and four display ads from the concept. Make sure to use a headline, branding, and imagery to create an effective design. Maintain the established visual hierarchy from the approved concept, a ten-pixel margin on all sides, the text must retain legibility and readability and use the correct color mode for the deliverable.

There are some final technical requirements for your exports. These are relatively standard practical details that you will perform during these type of production tasks, such as dimensions, file format, scale, and file size. Pay careful attention to these requirements, as they can make or break the successful completion of this assignment.

Technical Requirements

  • In your final deliverables, include 1 Facebook ad, 1 Instagram ad, and 4 display banners (sized at 300×250, 300×600, 728×90, and 970×250).
  • Export files as PNG or JPG
  • All deliverables must be under 150k in file size, but at the highest possible quality

Design Requirements

  • Use one concept as the basis for all of your deliverables
  • Maintain the established visual hierarchy in each deliverable
  • Use the correct color mode for each deliverable
  • Use masking tools to overlap type and image
  • The type must be readable and legible
  • Each layout must retain a 10px margin on all sides

Bonus Requirements

  • Create an additional deliverable for print
    (Include technical specifications from the printer or publisher)