Today we had the last of our design for print seminars with Amber. This one was a focus on stock although the presentation we had, titled '7 Things to Know About Print', featured a brief overview of what we had looked at in previous sessions.
Colour Modes
CMYK.
RGB.
Hexachrome.
Spot Colour.
PMS (Pantone).
Formats
ISO.
A & SRA.
Imperial & Metric.
Tabloid, Broadsheet and Berliner.
Envelope (C).
Stock
Weight (gsm).
Finishes (coated/nncoated, gloss/matt, silk etc).
Laid.
Wove.
Boards/cartons.
Plastics/acetates.
Artwork
Preparation of artwork, sign of a professional, making life easy for yourself.
Document preparation, packaging contents (fonts, images etc).
File formats and fonts (check with printer).
Spell checker.
Colour specification.
Printers marks (crop marks, bleed etc).
Pre-flight check.
Mock-up.
Proof colours and print.
Sign off.
Processes
Lithograph.
Rotogravure.
Flexography.
Screen-print.
Pad-printing.
Six colour.
Laminate.
Foil block.
Emboss/deboss.
Spot/UV varnish.
Finishing
Binding.
Folding and creasing.
Die stamp/cut and drilling.
Costing
Get an early quote.
3 quotes for the same work from different printers.
Work out unit cost.
Check minimum quantities and whether a higher print run would be a similar cross.
Extras/authors.
Delivery cost.
Friday 26 October 2012
Software Workshop: Design for Web
Today is the first session in Web Design with Simon. We looked at a few websites Simon had saved and judged them in the first 5 seconds for initial user experience.
Olly Moss
Bland
Minimal
Clean
Malika Favre
Bright
Images
Contrast
Minimal
Grid
SF Dok - Langstrasse Zurich
Google maps
Street
German
Clean
Simple
Merer Tavern
Vintage
Steps
Boring
Noble Design
Clean
Pastel
Vector
Simple
Caava Design
Circular
CD
Type
Contrasting
Main questions to inform the design of a website
What is the purpose of the website?
Who is the target audience?
What do the target audience need?
The questions in relation to our current brief
Purpose of our website is to: Get a job, show off, promote yourself.
Target audience of our site: Designers, studios, potential employers.
Needs of the target audience: Check their website, ask them, research the studio.
A website is a combination of text, image and navigation.
Limitations within web design
Font
Web standard fonts are the most widely known, although fonts aren't embedded in websites so the user will only be able to see a font if they already have it installed on their machine. A font family can eradicate this and make the change of font more subtle.
Colour
Restrictions apply, RGB the colour mode to be used, but limited still to the 'Websafe' colours online.
Size
Width and height of the website is restricted by screen size, providing standard web sizes due to the large range of available screen sizes and types.
Resolution (ppi)
72 dpi or pixels per inch is the standard from when screens were first created and the standard has stayed the same since. 72 is outdated and 96 is now the correct pixels per inch for modern day screens, however, designers are reluctant to change. Apples new retina displays are a whopping 227 dpi.
Building a web site
Languages
HTML, or hypertext markup language, is the most common, followed by CSS, or cascading style sheets.
Scamp
Creating thumbnails of the finished design.
Site Map
The pages of the website and how they are linked.
Domains
Every site has a URL, or a uniform resource locator.
FTP
Any time information is passed over the internet, FTP is used, standing for file transfer protocol.
CMS
To enable the client to manage the content on their website, content management system/solution, known as CMS. Facebook is CMS.
WYSIWYG
Dreamweaver is classed as a WYSIWYG which stands for 'what you see is what you get' is a term used for websites that once created in a local folder will be produced the exact same on the internet.
Olly Moss
Minimal
Clean
Malika Favre
Images
Contrast
Minimal
Grid
SF Dok - Langstrasse Zurich
Street
German
Clean
Simple
Merer Tavern
VintageSteps
Boring
Noble Design
Pastel
Vector
Simple
Caava Design
CD
Type
Contrasting
Main questions to inform the design of a website
What is the purpose of the website?
Who is the target audience?
What do the target audience need?
The questions in relation to our current brief
Purpose of our website is to: Get a job, show off, promote yourself.
Target audience of our site: Designers, studios, potential employers.
Needs of the target audience: Check their website, ask them, research the studio.
A website is a combination of text, image and navigation.
Limitations within web design
Font
Web standard fonts are the most widely known, although fonts aren't embedded in websites so the user will only be able to see a font if they already have it installed on their machine. A font family can eradicate this and make the change of font more subtle.
Colour
Restrictions apply, RGB the colour mode to be used, but limited still to the 'Websafe' colours online.
Size
Width and height of the website is restricted by screen size, providing standard web sizes due to the large range of available screen sizes and types.
Resolution (ppi)
72 dpi or pixels per inch is the standard from when screens were first created and the standard has stayed the same since. 72 is outdated and 96 is now the correct pixels per inch for modern day screens, however, designers are reluctant to change. Apples new retina displays are a whopping 227 dpi.
Building a web site
Languages
HTML, or hypertext markup language, is the most common, followed by CSS, or cascading style sheets.
Scamp
Creating thumbnails of the finished design.
Site Map
The pages of the website and how they are linked.
Domains
Every site has a URL, or a uniform resource locator.
FTP
Any time information is passed over the internet, FTP is used, standing for file transfer protocol.
CMS
To enable the client to manage the content on their website, content management system/solution, known as CMS. Facebook is CMS.
WYSIWYG
Dreamweaver is classed as a WYSIWYG which stands for 'what you see is what you get' is a term used for websites that once created in a local folder will be produced the exact same on the internet.
Monday 22 October 2012
Typography: Baskerville
The photograph I used to acquire the look I wanted for the spread, using light to create a depth in my work and mimic styles I like similar to that of Snask.
When I edited the image, I altered the exposure through photoshop and made the type lighter creating a better contrast with the shadows.
I decided I'd change the design slightly, and added some more content regarding John Baskerville, made some other minor changes and edited and placed the picture of the wooden type.
I think the spread works really well overall and was quite original with the use of the counters, and wooden type.
Here is the final pdf of the spread I created, I also added a colour to the spread although the task was set in black and white. I just wanted to try with the yellow as I have some stock I would like to use for this project.
Saturday 20 October 2012
Typography: Baskerville
Furthering my development into the Baskerville type, I have started to construct my spread which compares Baskerville and Times New Roman, Baskerville Old Face to be precise. I decided as I wasn't used to Quark to develop the spread in InDesign and then try to replicate the layout using Quark afterwards.
Firstly I compared the types in the same weight and sizing to see any obvious differences and document what I found.
Obvious differences between the two types:
1. Stroke contrast is more prominent within Baskerville Old Face.
2. Ascender head serifs are at different angles.
3. Counter shapes amongst the Baskerville Old Face have more character.
4. Both types were set at the same point size although Times New Roman is larger.
As Times New Roman is physically bigger than Baskerville and there is a good contrast between the counters, I decided to do an overlay of solely the counters and the tittle off the 'i'.
Firstly I compared the types in the same weight and sizing to see any obvious differences and document what I found.
Obvious differences between the two types:
1. Stroke contrast is more prominent within Baskerville Old Face.
2. Ascender head serifs are at different angles.
3. Counter shapes amongst the Baskerville Old Face have more character.
4. Both types were set at the same point size although Times New Roman is larger.
As Times New Roman is physically bigger than Baskerville and there is a good contrast between the counters, I decided to do an overlay of solely the counters and the tittle off the 'i'.
I really liked the feel I got from removing the rest of the type besides the counters and tittle, I feel it shows the character of the type maybe giving it a modern twist.
After preparing the document in InDesign I laid out all the aspects of the spread that were required.
The spread works well as a whole and I also have another Idea to change the prominent type to a monotone photograph of some type I cut in laser cutting. Having 3d elements in my work is something I am interested in, similar to that of Snask.
Thursday 18 October 2012
Design Production: Print Workshop 3
In todays session we will be looking at Process and Spot colours in regards to the processes we used last year on InDesign. Preparing our skillset and knowledge for commercial printing.
Always select new document, at least most of the time. Check the settings for your document and make sure everything is correct when setting up, saving time and hassle.
Page size in the document setting is never to be overlooked, you should always know what size your page will be finished and ready, which will help decide what size to make the document.
Columns can be used as guides whilst working and help for layout and placement of the context in your design. Similarly the margins will help to keep a uniform and consistent layout across your document/s.
When setting up the document, take into account whether bleed will be required within the document. Available in the 'More Options' menu, bleed is to be used when you'll be using colour up to the edge of the document, enabling you to be able to trim down the document removing unsightly white edges from your work.
Standard bleed is 3mm... talk to the printer to see how much bleed they require on the document.
Slug is the area around the document which can be used for crop marks and registration.
Facing pages can be useful to show double page spreads enabling easier alignment for cross page content.
This is a clip of the document showing the Margin, indicated by the far left violet line, black line is the edge of the document, red line is for the Bleed and the blue line is for the Slug.
To add colour to the document, you need to use a frame like above. Available from the tool bar to the left, similar to that of Illustrator.
To use your own colours from previous work, you can load a swatch library in the form of an ASE which works across Adobe software.
In regards to colour, colour can be applied in the frame either to the box as a whole or to the type using the box that's highlighted above or the 'T'.
Creating new swatches in InDesign is similar to that of Illustrator, InDesign even states the CMYK percentages as a standard.
To work with Spot Colours, change the Colour Mode and select the library you need. If you know the code for the colour you require then this can help source the colour faster.
Once applied, the Spot Colour will show itself in the Swatches menu, with a different icon to CMYK indicating that the swatch is Spot Colour.
The top icons being for CMYK and the bottom highlighted selection is to indicate a Spot Colour.
Using Spot Colours can help save you money, and to be clever with your inks you can set up 'Tint's of the colour to keep within your ink constraints but give you some flexibility.
Preparation of images into the document you're about to use is key, potentially the most important task. Incorrectly prepared images can cause enormous problems when going to print and maybe even ruining the whole run.
Preparation in Photoshop
Convert your image to CMYK or Greyscale if working within B&W.
Resolution of the image is important and should be set at 300 dpi in Ps, sizing should also be made to be the actual size in Ps so when imported, it will be right size for the document.
PSD or TIFF are the files used for images within documents, PSD enables use of transparency and can be edited still.
Preparation in Illustrator
Save the file as Ai.
Copy and paste is available from Ai to Indd.
Make sure you're working from CMYK mode.
Scaling in Indd from Ai files is enabled due to the files being vectors.
Always select new document, at least most of the time. Check the settings for your document and make sure everything is correct when setting up, saving time and hassle.
Page size in the document setting is never to be overlooked, you should always know what size your page will be finished and ready, which will help decide what size to make the document.
Columns can be used as guides whilst working and help for layout and placement of the context in your design. Similarly the margins will help to keep a uniform and consistent layout across your document/s.
When setting up the document, take into account whether bleed will be required within the document. Available in the 'More Options' menu, bleed is to be used when you'll be using colour up to the edge of the document, enabling you to be able to trim down the document removing unsightly white edges from your work.
Standard bleed is 3mm... talk to the printer to see how much bleed they require on the document.
Slug is the area around the document which can be used for crop marks and registration.
Facing pages can be useful to show double page spreads enabling easier alignment for cross page content.
To add colour to the document, you need to use a frame like above. Available from the tool bar to the left, similar to that of Illustrator.
To use your own colours from previous work, you can load a swatch library in the form of an ASE which works across Adobe software.
In regards to colour, colour can be applied in the frame either to the box as a whole or to the type using the box that's highlighted above or the 'T'.
Creating new swatches in InDesign is similar to that of Illustrator, InDesign even states the CMYK percentages as a standard.
To work with Spot Colours, change the Colour Mode and select the library you need. If you know the code for the colour you require then this can help source the colour faster.
Once applied, the Spot Colour will show itself in the Swatches menu, with a different icon to CMYK indicating that the swatch is Spot Colour.
The top icons being for CMYK and the bottom highlighted selection is to indicate a Spot Colour.
Using Spot Colours can help save you money, and to be clever with your inks you can set up 'Tint's of the colour to keep within your ink constraints but give you some flexibility.
Preparation of images into the document you're about to use is key, potentially the most important task. Incorrectly prepared images can cause enormous problems when going to print and maybe even ruining the whole run.
Preparation in Photoshop
Convert your image to CMYK or Greyscale if working within B&W.
Resolution of the image is important and should be set at 300 dpi in Ps, sizing should also be made to be the actual size in Ps so when imported, it will be right size for the document.
PSD or TIFF are the files used for images within documents, PSD enables use of transparency and can be edited still.
Preparation in Illustrator
Save the file as Ai.
Copy and paste is available from Ai to Indd.
Make sure you're working from CMYK mode.
Scaling in Indd from Ai files is enabled due to the files being vectors.
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Typography: Baskerville
In Graham's session we looked at how type is read dependent on the typeface chosen, weight, size and type modification (italics, small caps...). We used Quark, many of us for the first time ever, to trial how the program worked and to gain a knowledge of software.
Following from this, we were set the task to pick a type and compare it to that of Times New Roman. We were to all pick a type from the list available on the macs, mandatory that it was a serif type. I picked Baskerville.
Following from this, we were set the task to pick a type and compare it to that of Times New Roman. We were to all pick a type from the list available on the macs, mandatory that it was a serif type. I picked Baskerville.
Baskerville is an appealing font to me due to the contrast between the thick and thin strokes, sharp serifs and the curved dynamics enabling the type to be evenly regular.
I used an article on ilovetypography.com which helped me look into 'Transitional' type. I planned on using the Old Face type as I feel it has more character and history involved rather than the modern replicas.
I like the fact that type went through this transitional period, altering for a different platform, changing from handwritten to a reformed and consistent form of type. Type which can be read by anyone, depending upon literacy levels, in an easy to read manner.
Through my research I did find out that William Caslon had developed similar types, although it was claimed they were very different...
Design Production: Problem Solving
On the first page there was a couple of errors that became evident as soon as you exit the preview setting on InDesign. The image tree image placed in the document was missing it's link to the original file of the image which would cause the image to now print at 72 dpi as opposed to the original 300dpi image.
Secondly, there was a bleed set up on the document which wasn't being used, due to the background colour finishing where the document does, making the bleed ineffective and pointless.
This image illustrates that one of the images in the document had been set up at 72dpi, which again, could be a huge problem on a large print run. You could add pixels too the image but that will blur the image somewhat.
This image however was in 300dpi as required, but the size of the image was ridiculous. As we were supplied with the original image we could edit the image to the required size of roughly 463 x 312 pixels. Just saving the file over the one supplied and reconnecting the link solved the problem.
Another problem with the images was that one of them was left in RGB mode when placed and overlooked. Not a problem, we opened the original file in Photoshop, changed the colour mode to CMYK and saved over the original file. Reconnect the link, problem gone.
An abundance of unused Spot Colours still left in the Swatches, which could end up costing more money on a print job and confusion to yourself. Tidy up them swatches.
We checked that all the inks were fine to be printed via the Separations window which shows any colours that wouldn't be produced in the print. Weirdly the text on the back page showed up, it was set to be the registration. Change to straight black, everything is printable.
Another swatch problem was the fact that there was an RGB colour making an appearance somewhere in the document. Change the colour mode by opening up the swatch, luckily, this one transferred nicely from RGB to CMYK.
Use the Preflight menu at the bottom to see how many problems you have. This was indicating the missing link of the tree image, not available with the document and other images.
When dealing with a commercial printer, package your publication. This enables you to give the printer instructions that are embedded with the file as well as making sure you keep your fonts, images and a final update of the image links.
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