Print Publication

This is my final outcome for the print book, I decided to opt away from adding an acknowledgements section and just having a glossary instead. When given feedback, I was told that the book served the purpose to the audience in clearer sense when it was reduced in irrelevant information, which is why the glossary is staying.

Print Publication

 

This was my final design after I had changed a few aspects of my design. I received a lot of feedback from the year group and the third years which lead to some final design decisions which can be found in the revised version of this Issuu in the newer post.

Design for Print

In todays session, we looked at how to work with colours in Adobe Photoshop.

Once Photoshop is open, first check the colour mode to see if the file is set up how you need, CMYK, RGB etc.

Photoshop files usually open in RGB, which is the standard file for web based design and the computer screen.

RGB colour is an additive process whereas CMYK is subtractive.

Design for print has to be set up to work with CMYK, which is a bit of a dip from the bright colours available with RGB and spot colours. CMYK mixes the ink on the page which can only create darker with more layers, whereas RGB being light based mixes into white, leaving some colours being unable to transfer to print via CMYK due to the gamut of the inks.

In Photoshop, we still work in RGB when designing for print, but can use a couple of tools in Photoshop to check whether the image will be printable by using either the 'Gamut Warning' or the 'Proof Colours' tool.

If prompted, the 'Gamut Warning' shows the areas of the image unable to translate to print as a grey mass, as pictured below.

You can render this problem though by opening up 'Hue/Saturation' and lowering the saturation, in effect dulling the image and reducing how vibrant the original was.

 

 The other way to check if the colours in the image are all suitable for print is by the 'Proof Colours' tool, just above the 'Gamut Warning' option (which is probably a better tool).

This indicates that the 'Proof Colours' tool is on, showing you're working in RGB colours but it's showing you the image you'd see, or a closer representation to the print, in CMYK.

Adobe Illustrator swatches can be displayed in CMYK percentages if the user wants, however, this isn't available in Photoshop. Bit of a strange thing to leave out, but you can have a palette which can be opened across Ai, Ps and Id when the swatch library is saved as an ASE.

To clear your swatch palette in Photoshop, you can't just delete all the colours at once because there is not an option to do so, you have to delete them all individually. Once deleted, add one colour to swatch palette and save the swatch as a blank swatch and a good reference for a document that you'd need to remove the swatches from.

To open the blank swatch palette, from the same menu, select 'Replace Swatches...'

Any colours that can't be translated to print, show up in your palette tool with a little exclamation, similar to the default one on Illustrator.

The easiest way to apply a colour to a swatch is to have it set as a foreground colour and then move your mouse over the swatch menu then add it.

Print/Packaging Workshop

We were set the task to gather examples of print, which show branding and identity. I decided to go for products I found aesthetically pleasing and with a high quality of print or/and design.

Check out flick book for some of my products, put together with Issuu.

During the session, we had to arrange the products into 3 categories of bad, ok and good.

Our group decided the best way to do this would be to assess the quality of print, consider the design highly and the stock used.

We arranged the products using this general outline for what would fit into the categories available.

Good
High quality print.

Textures, both print and stock.

Innovative printing.

Personal taste.

Minimal, uncluttered design.

Good colour choice, foiling, embossing.

Bad

Cluttered design, badly considered.

Tacky.

Poor quality print.

Cheap stock, no textures.

Poor colour choice.

Badly considered design.

Bad colour choice.

Products that didn't quite make it into either, fell into the middle category of 'OK'.

I feel we got most of the placement of products in the right places, there was some food packaging which I thought belonged in the bad category. Following this, as a class we all decided what were the boundaries for each category.

Good

Nice feeling stock.

Sustainability.

Expensive appearance.

Durability.

Net complexity.

Ok

Disposability.

Good durability matched with bad design.

Average design.

Bad stock choice.

Mundane, familiar.

Bad
Overcrowded design.
Mass produced appearance and feel.
Poor quality imagery.
Mimicry.
Unneeded packaging.