Graphics Company Research

Today we are going to start exploring what a graphic design company is and what they do.
This is some preliminary research before you begin to plan your own freelance graphic design company.

Explore the design-directory and browse some of the different graphic design company websites and answer the following questions as a comment on this post:

1. Which design companies stand out to you and why? (Include their URLS)





2.  What design services do the companies offer? List 5 products or services





3.  Which design firm has a sense of style that appeals to you?





4.  Copy and Paste a URL to an example of a product design from that design company:





5.  Identify some of the clients that the company has worked for below:

100 Records Proposal

•What record cover from ‘100 Records’ inspired your design?

•What materials will you use to create your record cover?

•What is the style you will be executing your design in?

•What techniques will you be employing in your record cover?

• Briefly explain the concept of your record cover. What image, story, or mood are you trying to use to ‘market’ the musician/band?

100 Records Ideas

Project Description: To participate in the next exhibition, you need to imagine and create a ficticious musician, band, or group and design and execute a design a 7” record cover for them. You will need to develop the musician/group’s biography, a record name, and a list of 4 – 5 songs before you start designing the record cover.

After you’ve created your band, you will do a series of sketches to brainstorm your album cover in your sketchbooks. You will develop one sketch into a final, handmade 7” record cover for the next exhibition. You will have to write a paragraph describing what materials, techniques, and styles you will be using and how it connects to the album cover that inspired you.

The Musician/Group: Biographical Details:

1. Musician(s) Names:

2. Date(s) and Place(s) of Birth:

3. Where they went to high school/college:

4. What genre of music does your musician/band peform?

5. List their major musical influences coming up as musicians:

6. How many records has the musician/band released? What are the titles?

7. What is their #1 or most popular single? Why was it so popular?

8. Write one line of the musician/bands lyrics (If they are an instrumental group describe the mood of one of their songs)

9. Briefly describe the ‘image’ of the musician/group that they use to market themselves to the public.

Biographical Summary: In the space below, write a two paragraph summary of the above information that would provide a new listener with a brief background of the musician/band and their music.

100 Records Research

1. What is your favorite kind of contemporary (new) music? Describe why you connect with the genre.
   
   
2. When you listen to music, do you focus on the music or the lyrics?
   
   
3. How would you describe the mood of the music you listen to? Describe one part of the music that supports your perspective.
   
   
4. List 5 of your favorite contemporary musicians:
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5. What other genres of music, contemporary or historical, influence/inspire your favorite contemporary music? What are the roots (historical connections) of the music you listen to?
   
   
6. 10 Minute Research – To inform your understanding of the roots of contemporary musical genres try and find some historical background about the music you listen to today. Find a relevant source and summarize important historical facts in a list or brief summary. Cite the source using for the format below:
   
   Source (website name):
   URL (website address): http://
   Date Page Last Updated:

"100 Records"

Visit Cinders Gallery and scroll down and click on the "100 Records" link on the right side. Read the press release and explore the record covers on your own and answer the following questions. You may (A) write the answers on loose leaf and place them in your folder or (B) Copy and paste the questions into your gmail and email me your answers. If you don't finish you can save a DRAFT in gmail and finish the questions tomorrow.

1. Whose ‘big idea’ or art is ‘100 Records’? Where and when did the show take place?

2. How long did it take make the show and how many people did it involve?

3. What different roles did people ‘play’ in creating the show? Identify two different people/groups and what they contributed to the art show.

4. Look through the album cover images and choose one record to describe in detail. What artist made the record cover? What is the title? What text/words can you see or read? What ‘subjects’ can you identify? What elements of art can you identify in the album cover?

5. Briefly analyze how the artist composed the composition. How has the artist arranged the text, images, and elements in the space of the 7” square?

6. Briefly interpret what story or mood the record cover conveys to you.

7. Why did you choose this record cover? Why does it connect with you?

What are the Scholastic Awards

Today we are going to explore one of the main reasons we are learning how to use applications like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, the Scholastic Awards. It is a national competition for arts and literature with many different categories. We are going to develop class-based projects for submission as well as one independent project that you design, plan, and execute using Illustrator or Photoshop.

To begin this process, we will visit the Scholastic Awards website sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and then you will do some research and brainstorming.

Research Questions:

1. What are the eligibility requirement?
2. How many steps are in the application process and what do you have to do? Summarize each step of the process:
3. What categories of the awards do you think you might be eligible for in Digital Portfolio?
4. What Special Scholarships are available at the National Level? Which one(s) might you be able to compete for?
5. What category are you most interested in creating a project for in Digital Portfolio?
6. Based on your answer to #4 leave a comment on this post with your first idea(s) for a project or projects you would be interested in designing this semester. Be sure to include your name at the bottom of your comment.

Lab 2 - Elements of Art

Adobe Illustrator can be a frustrating program for beginners because it is a vector-based graphics programs. Instead of coloring things with paint buckets or pencils, you use Illustrator to draw outlines of shapes, which have a FILL COLOR and a STROKE (outline) COLOR. It is like cutting out pieces of construction paper and stacking them together to create a picture. Once you draw a shape, it is a discrete object until it is joined, grouped, or merged with another object.

Purpose – Today’s lab is a step by step drawing exercise to learn how to control the tools in Illustrator. If miss any of the steps or prefer to try to learn on your own, please read the instructions below. Following these steps will help you begin to control the tools and create the basic elements of art.

Procedure – Today’s lab will involve the following steps
1. Observing the demonstration at the front of the room.
2. Reading the instructions carefully and completing the lab.

Drawing Instructions
1. Vertical Line –
a. Click on the LINE tool.
b. Hold the SHIFT key and pull your mouse downward.
c. Click on the TYPE tool and type in the element name.
d. Click on the SELECTION tool to deselect the text box.

2. Horizontal Line
a. Use the LINE tool again holding SHIFT but this time drag the mouse to the right.
b. Use the TYPE tool to label the element.

3. Diagonal Line
a. Use the LINE tool again holding SHIFT but this time drag the mouse on a downward angle.
b. Label the element.

4. Cross Hatch
a. Make sure your STROKE color is BLACK.
b. Create two VERTICAL lines holding SHIFT.
c. Create two HORIZONTAL lines holding SHIFT.
d. Label the elements.

5. Curvilinear Line
a. Double-click the PENCIL tool.
b. Uncheck the KEEP SELECTED option and click OK.
c. Draw an S shape.
d. Label the element.

6. Organic Shape
a. Use the PENCIL tool to draw an organic shape.
b. Connect the ending point to the starting point to JOIN the line and close the shape.
c. Click on the FILL color and choose a color to fill the shape.

7. Geometric Shape
a. Click on the RECTANGLE tool.
b. Draw a rectangle.
c. Label the element.

8. Geometric Circle
a. Click and HOLD on the rectangle tool.
b. Change it to the ELLIPSE tool.
c. Use the ellipse tool and SHIFT to create a perfect circle.
d. Name the element.

9. Geometric Pentagon
a. Click and HOLD on the elipse tool.
b. Choose the POLYGON TOOL.
c. Draw out the shape and hold the mouse button down,
d. Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to find the PENTAGON.
e. Label the shape.

10. Star
a. You can do this one on your own.

11. Tree
a. Click on the PEN tool.
b. Start by creating a point for the bottom left of the tree by clicking once.
c. Move the mouse to the next spot where the line changes direction and click.
d. Continue to click where the line changes direction until you reach the starting point.
e. Click on the SELECTION tool to deselect the tree.
f. Label the shape.

12. Cloud
a. Use the pencil tool to carefully draw the cloud shape.

13. Geometric Form
a. Use the RECTANGLE TOOL + the SHIFT key to draw a square.
b. Change the FILL color to BLUE by selecting the square and double clicking on the fill color.
c. Click on the PEN tool.
d. Use the PEN tool and SHIFT key to draw the side of the cube.
e. Click on the SELECTION tool to deselect the side.
f. Click on the side and press APPLE + J to join the shape if it isn’t closed.
g. Click the PEN tool to draw the top of the cube.
h. Make the side and top of the cube lighter tints of blue.
i. Label the form.

14. Organic Form.
a. Try this one on your own using the pencil tool.