The English Department will be hanging posters sharing their unofficial department motto, "Read. Write. Speak. Truth." It's from a Clint Smith TED Talk that was shared with all freshmen.

Design a series of posters of the phrase in the different languages that our students speak. They can each reflect a different culture (of that language spoken) — integrating different cultural art and style components.

At least 4 final designs (each for a different language)
(You may have multiple treatments for the different languages.)

Distance of text from left and right borders must be equal.

Setting Up Document:

• Letter Size (8.5 x 11"), Portrait orientation
• Start with four art boards in a single Adobe Illustrator document.
• Margins/borders for text should be at least 1/2" on all 4 edges, and should be consistent on left and right.
• Start with four art boards in your document (You may add more if needed.)

Objectives:
Alignment and Spacing

• Adjust Kerning, Tracking, and Leading
• MUST be Justified (Aligned on both left and right margin edges.)
• Equal spacing from left and right edges of document

Reflect home region/culture through COLOR and STYLE

Tips:

• Multiple treatments of each language
• Test out swatches of colors side-by-side

Graded on:
Studio Habits of Mind

Project:
Using Adobe Illustrator, design a book cover for the Burlington High Program of Studies.

• Use type and shape to create visual impact and express an overall sense of academics and pride.
• It may include the school seal, and incorporate a list of all courses.
• Use simple shapes as design elements.
• Must include "Burlington High School"
• Must include "Program of Studies"
• Must include "2023-2024"
• May include a list of all courses
• May include the school seal (EPS)

Objectives:

• Gain skill with the Type tools of Adobe Illustrator
• Apply your understanding of the principles of good graphic design:

               Contrast
               Balance
               Repetition
               Alignment
               Proximity

• Communicate an idea through selection of appropriately expressive type.
• Arrange elements to maximize visual impact

Materials:

• Adobe Illustrator

Requirements for Format:

• File Format: Illustrator EPS
• Size: Letter (8.5 x 11")
• Orientation: Vertical (portrait)
• Color Mode: RGB
• Bleed to edge (no white border)
• May be created in any combination of red, black, and/or white
• NO CLIP ART may be used
• No copyrighted imagery may be used
• Convert all text to outline (Keep a copy with all type.)
• Save as: "programofstudies yourlastname.eps", in EPS format
• Submit as EPS, PDF, TIF, and JPG (5 MB)
  

(See the instructor for an editable EPS of the school seal. You can check the online Program of Studies for a list of all courses.)

Grading Criteria:

• CONCEPT
•      Looks academic
•      Inventiveness
• DESIGN
•      Well-Chosen Typeface(s)
•      Image has Visual Impact
•      Considers contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, balance
• CRAFTSMANSHIP
•      Skillful use of tools of Illustrator
• WORK HABITS / PERSONAL INVESTMENT

Tips to Get Started:

Consider what would be both appropriate and special for an academic publication.

Ask yourself how you can make students excited to get their hands on one of these publications? How can you use simple shape and text to energize the design?


Helpful Resources:

There are a number of Graphic Design books and magazines in Room 215. Use them for inspiration and tutorials.

Project:
On a tall vertical art board in Illustrator (18 inches high x 12 inches wide), draw the facade of a house or another building you might see in a village. Set it in a winter environment, and leave room for a quote near the top of the picture plane.

The intention is that the designs will be enlarged to vertical (3 foot x 1.5 foot, or larger) banners to stand up as outdoor displays. Ideally, weatherproof vinyl mesh banners would be affixed to pole brackets in the Burlington Sculpture Park and would be on display during December and early January.

For alternative version of this project, click HERE.

Student Examples


Parameters:
Limited Color Palette: So that the various banners are unified as a set, use white, blues, silver (grays), and gold/copper. You may use a minimal amount of one other hue (such as violet) as an accent.

Using photographic references, draw the design in Adobe Illustrator, then use Photoshop (300 ppi) to add painterly effects, lighting effects, and textures.

You may incorporate your designs or patterns from one or more of any of your previous digital art work into this new design.

Objectives:

• Create a positive mood/atmosphere.
• Apply skills with tools and techniques of Illustrator and Photoshop together
• Create strong visual impact
• Work with others to create a series of designs that work together stylistically and in their color schemes.

Materials:

• FIRST, Adobe Illustrator for drawing
• THEN (possibly, depending on time), Adobe Photoshop for painterly effects, lighting effects, and textures
• FINALLY, Adobe Illustrator for typography

Grading Criteria:

• Design (Visual Impact)
• Technical Quality
• Personal Investment

To Start:

1. Study photos of homes and villages. Your drawing will be a straight-on view of the front of the building.

2. On paper, draw to develop your design. Create at least a few thumbnail sketches and some color studies using color pencil. In designing, consider the relationship of positive and negative space, visual movement, and other principles of art to create a strong composition.
You may use the this worksheet for a larger drawing or this thumbnail sketch worksheet.

3. In Illustrator:
Create a New Document
        File -- New Document
        Size: 12 inches wide x 18 inches high
        Orientation: Portrait
Use the pen tool to draw, based on your best sketch. You may even scan or photograph your pencil sketch, and trace over it using the pen tool in Illustrator.

4. Open the EPS in Photoshop. When the dialogue box comes up, be sure to change the resolution to 300 ppi and the color mode to RGB. The size should be at least 12 x 18".
Add painterly effects, layer styles, lighting effects, and textures.
Flatten and save as a TIFF.

5. Back in Illustrator, use the Character and Type palettes to incorporate quotes about peace, love, and community into your design, integrating words and image.

Save as EPS, TIF, and JPG files: "winter yourlastname.eps", etc.

Recreate your black and white folder design as a full-color digital drawing/design in Adobe Illustrator.

Create at least 2 treatments (versions).

Grading Criteria

• Creativity
• Design (Visual Impact, Effective Use of Elements and Principles of Art)
• Technical Quality - Skill with Adobe Illustrator
• Studio Work Habits

After designing 2 - 3 treatments, then:

1. Convert all Type to Outline

2. Convert final documents to:

• EPS titled “name quote yourlastname.eps”
• PDF titled “name quote yourlastname.pdf
• TIF (RGB, letter-sized, flattened) titled “name quote yourlastname.tif”
• JPG 5MB (just under 5 MB file size) titled “name quote yourlastname 5MB.jpg”

2. Save all 4 files to your desktop

3. Turn in the 4 files to Drive folder “01. Name Quote Digital”
          (Subfolder of  “___CG GD II 22-23”, which has been shared with you)

4. Critique in class:

• Describe
• Analyze
• Interpret
• Judge

5. Touch Up designs after receiving feedback: gradients, etc.

6. Print

• Printer: Epson P600 Graphics
• Scaling: Fit to Page (or “Scale to Fit Media”)
• Paper Handling: Size: Letter
• Media Type: Coated
• Quality: Best

7. Prepare for Display

• Mount on black paper
• Label (Name, Class of, Course, Burlington High School) flush against bottom right
• Velcro dots on back

Project:
Using Adobe Illustrator, incorporate your logo design into a corporate identity that includes the following:

• letterhead (stationary)
• envelope
• business card
• product label
• (other)

Objectives:

• Apply the principles of good design
• Communicate the “personality” of a company
• Create a cohesive set of usable documents

Materials:

• Adobe Illustrator

Grading Criteria:

• Design (Visual Impact)
• Technical Quality
• Personal Investment

To Start:

1. View and discuss professional brand identity design
2. ​Develop color scheme for stationary
3. Select typefaces
4. Create motifs and additional graphics
5. Experiment with different arrangements
6. Use the provided templates for the business card and envelope. You can adjust them as necessary.
   
   

References/Resources
https://www.lucidpress.com/blog/the-7-key-elements-of-brand-identity-design
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32158897/Brand-Identity-Design
http://www.draward.com/best-corporate-identity-design-packages-branding-projects/
https://designmodo.com/branding-design/
https://www.pinterest.com/cubicpromote/corporate-identity-design/

Due Date:
Four days

Project:
Using Adobe Illustrator, create a logo that incorporates lettering and representational elements

About Logos:

• The word "logo" is derived from Greek ("language").
• A modern pictogram
• Identifies and represents an organization, business, product, or special event such as a conference.
• A symbol; an identifier.
• An embodiment of an organization that fosters instant visual identification and recognition.
• Large amount of information compressed into a single visual statement
• "Can't help but see it."
• Can evoke a strong emotional response.

A logo takes a great deal of thought to make.


Objectives:

• Communicate ideas about a company
• Be inventive
• Use letters as shapes
• Make connections between letters and pictures
• Create finely detailed work
• Create order, cohesion and visual impact

Materials:

• Pencil and paper
• Adobe Illustrator

Grading Criteria:

• Design (Visual Impact)
• Technical Quality
• Personal Investment

To Start:
View and discuss professional logos.

Process
​
1. Answer these questions to help define the logo's message and spark ideas.:

• What's the name of the company?
• What image does the company want to project? What do they want to say about themselves?
• Who is the audience?
• Where and how will the logo be used? (Large or small formats, or both?; On trucks? On signage? Letterheads, business cards, other printed materials.

2. Brainstorm ideas to symbolize the message you want to convey.

3. Collect photographs that can serve as inspiration and reference for your idea. In Photoshop, combine these photos in a document to create a visual reference board for your sketches. Print it.

4. Using these references, sketch many drawings so that you better understand the visual nature of the subject(s).

5. Try various ways to combine the subjects/ideas.

6. Further develop (streamline, stylize, and refine) one or more of the sketches so that it is a self-contained image that clearly conveys information about the business in a highly impactful and easily identifiable way.

Project
Using your photo-edited image from the previous project ("Extreme!"), create a magazine advertisement that includes:

• A product name
• Descriptive "copy" (text)
• A tagline or slogan
• A logo for the product or brand

The ad can be either full page (8 1/2 x 11") or a two-page spread (17 x 11").

Organize your design based on the following design criteria:

• Visual Hierarchy
• Contrast
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity

Objectives:

• Work with Illustrator and Photoshop in combination.​
• Apply your knowledge of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity
• Apply your understanding of visual hierarchy
• Sell a product by selling an idea
• Write informative and engaging text
• Use type expressively.
• Unify a design through color
• Create a design that will grab the viewer's attention, draw them in, engage them and give them a sense of the product or service you are selling.

Parameters:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Use a Sans Serif font for the copy (descriptive text).
• The product you are selling cannot be a medication (That's been overdone.).
• Save as "ad yourlastname.eps" in Illustrator EPS file format
• DO NOT put image in Photoshop in the last stages.

Tips:

• If a two-page spread, be aware of the gutter midway through the design.
• Use guidelines to align elements with one another.
• Use colors in the photograph as the colors in the text.

Grading Criteria:

• Concept
  • Clear Communication of an Idea
  • Inventiveness
  • (Clearly convey information about the product/service; grab and hold the reader's attention; get reader interested in or excited about the product/service by using humor or other strategies of visual engagement)
• Design
  • Well-chosen typefaces
  • Skillful application of these design concepts: Visual hierarchy, contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity
  • Overall visual impact
• Technical Quality
  • Skillful use of Adobe Illustrator
  • Proper inclusion of photo edited TIFF file from Photoshop
  • Use of guidelines for alignment
• Personal Investment

Due:
Three days

Project Description:
Using the Type Tools and Layer Styles of Adobe Photoshop, create two treatments of a type-based graphic for a band that can be used for a CD cover, a T-shirt, or a button. It should include the band’s name and an album title, and the style and color should be appropriately expressive. THIS IS NOT AN ALBUM COVER, JUST THE GRAPHIC.

Alternatively, you may create the title-art graphic for a video game. This should include a title and subtitle.

The graphic must:

• Be self-contained -- The graphic itself is a beautiful shape
• Combine type plus shapes
• Alter the type - Not just downloaded and dropped in
• Look three-dimensional - Imply depth
• Use Layer Styles in Photoshop
• ​Have texture (Use the Texturizer in the Filter Gallery)
• Be 300 pixels/inch at printable size

Objectives:

• Experiment with the type tools (horizontal type tool, vertical type tool, type mask tool)
• Experiment with the shape tool
• Experiment with layer styles
• Experiment with filters.
• Rasterize and transform type
• Use all of the above to create heightened visual impact.

Materials:

• Adobe Photoshop (You may begin your work in Illustrator, but elements will need to be modified and refined in Photoshop)

Parameters:
Format as follows:

• Width: 10 inches
• Height: 7.5 inches
• Resolution: 300 pixels/inch (Important: A lower resolution will result in a printed image of poorer quality.)
• Color Mode: RGB
• If you would like to work beyond these limitations (for example: work larger than letter-size) consult Mr. Ratkevich.
• Don't just download special fonts. Convert fonts to outlines, then modify them to make them distinctive and unique.
• Include other design elements (shapes, outlines, textures, layer styles)

 



Grading Criteria:

• Work Habits
• Skill with all the tools and methods listed above (type tools, layer styles, rasterize, transform)
• Experimentation / Exploration
• Design / Visual Impact