Archives for October 2012

Photo retouching is a big part of Photoshop and commonly used in magazines, books, advertisements. It is not too exaggerated when saying that you see this kind of work every day even if you are not a graphic designer. Various methods can be used to achieve stunning effects, sky is the only limitation. However, it is definitely hard to master and requires you to have strong understanding about layers, color and brightness, sometimes filter effects as well.

Elizabeth Wessing did an excellent job on utilizing all retouch tools, such as Dodge, Burn and spot healing to name a few. This was some minor surgery that she performed on the artist Prince. Keep up the good work!

Joe Roenker IMC/Intro to desktop Publishing

Package design is deceptively simple. Many designers wrongfully approach this task as merely a matter of aesthetics and give no thought to the fact that packaging has to succeed on many variables. The fact that a package is created to hold a product is really a secondary goal from the designer’s perspective. From where you’re sitting, a package is created to sell a product. Many designers like to approach packaging as their own little canvas of creativity and the current trend is towards minimalism: the less the better. As much as we designers would love for that to be true, it simply isn’t always the case.

Elizabeth Wessing, John Winegarden, and Genevieve Lohr did a fabulous job in these layouts by displaying enticing graphics and beautiful color theory to catch the buyer’s attention. Layouts were built in Adobe Illustrator along with utilizing brushes in Adobe Photoshop for added graphics. Also, all Typography, Barcodes, Ingredients and every piece of line art were rebuilt in Adobe Illustrator. Notice the spot colors and registration marks; these are ready for print and packaging! Fantastic job to all!

Joe Roenker / IMC Intro to Desktop Publishing

Words and visuals are not enough. Words, charts, illustrations and photographs are just the starting point. To succeed in communicating your ideas, you must organize your words and graphics into attractive, easy-to-read layouts. Often a business or restaurant may want a redesign of their existing layout to something more appealing or fresh. Nikki Schutz redesigned this Asian restaurant ad  in three different concepts, utilizing Adobe Illustrator and typography from dafont.com. Excellent work!.

Joe Roenker / IMC Intro to Desktop Publishing