Summary of Digital File Preperation

This class was by far one of my favorite graphics classes I have taken. I did not have to do projects line by line out of some book. This class actually let us use our creative abilities to create our own projects. Also the grading was very straight forward. At the beginning of the year Mrs. Benson had us grade an article just as she was going to grade ours for the entire year. I also like the variety of projects we had to make. This class will be very helpful to me in the future, for once I have taken a class and I will actually use the information later in life. Can't say that for my descriptive astronomy class.

As far as changes for the class, I don't see anything that I would changed. I liked how the class was setup from beginning to end. In the beginning we were taught how to critique our projects and how they were supposed to be setup. This is also the first class that I have actually had to have my projects printed. This is also helpful in making students realize that some things that look great on a computer screen just don't cut it printed on paper.

All in all I am glad that I took this class and I actually had fun doing it.

Final Project

Greenbox

For my final project I have decided to recreate a pizza box I have found on the internet. This is not just any pizza box. It is called the green box for its recycle abilities. Below is a video of the green box

My pizza company I have created is called Pope's Pizza. It uses the slogan "Temptation never tasted so good."


Target Audience/Call to Action

My call to action is to make people want to buy pizza. I do this by using humor and having a professional looking product.

My target audience is anyone of any age.

Image Copyright

My images are vectors I created in Illustrator, and fonts were taking from Dafont.com


Dimensions/Specs

Pizza Box- 10.1875"x10.25"x2.125"

Total indesign file size- 15.4375"x27.875"
Margins- .5"
No Bleed

Pricing-

Cutting Die- $210



Inside- B flute corrugated oyster white 
Outside- 2 color print plus varnish
 $3.84 each
x1,000 qt
________
$3,840 


Delivered quantities may vary up to +/- 10%

Pricing quote from All Packaging Kansas City, MO


Thumbnails

 Rough

Final Version Image

Magazine Ad

For my magazine ad I decided to use a snow report website. The site is called onthesnow.com. This ad if it were to be published would be put in Freeskier magazine.

Magazine Specs- Full page ad 8.5x10.8125
                             Bleed- .25
                             Margin- .25

File format for submision- PDF of TIF- CMYK at 300 DPI

Regular issue- 7,800$

Image taken from free category at Dreamstime.com

Target Audience- All skiers of all ages

Call to Action- Scan the microsoft tag and visit the website

Newspaper Ad

This project is an advertisement that is to be placed in the University Newspaper, The Collegio. I was given a budget of 197.00$. I am required to use a hand drawn scanned in image (bitmap). Going into this project I know that there will be no bleed on the document. Also I need to make this add stand out more than all the other adds in the paper. To accomplish this I will use white space to silence the crowded noise that newspapers are known for.

First thing I had to do was figure out what dimensions the ad would be. Newspapers use a different measurement system than say the normal 5"x7" dimensions. The first number does not mean 5 inches. It means 5 Column Inches. The second number however remains the normal 7 inches. For the Collegio 5 column inches is equal to 9.67 inches.

So for my ad the dimensions will be 7.71" X 6.375" with no bleed and .25" margins. This will meet my budget and give us the largest ad space possible. It comes out to 196.65$. Just 35 cents short of my budget.

My audience for this ad is fishermen and women not only on the PSU campus but also around the community because the paper is also delivered to them.

My Call to Action for this ad is to persuade said fisherman to come to the store and purchase fishing gear.

This is going to be a advertisement for Bo's Bait and Tackle. It is the one stop shop for all your fishing needs. We have new items stocked weekly and have everything you will need from beginner to pro. 

This is my hand drawn image that is to be scanned in and used as my bitmap.
I am going to scan it in at 9.5"x4" large enough that if I need to scale it down I will not lose resolution.
I also will scan it in around 1395 PPI. I figured this number by taking 9 times the line screen of the paper which is 155. 9x155=1395

Direct Mail Project

This direct mail project will consist of one layout and changing information.

It will be 5"x7"

After thinking about what the demographics would be I landed on men and women. My first thought was to do dog and cat owners but ran into a dead end on my design.  These were my roughs for the cats and dogs idea. I was going to be promoting a deodorizer that got rid of all animal smells.

After that I moved on to the demographic of men and women. I am now promoting a bar. The two ploys i am using to appeal to the demographics will be beer specials for the men, and no cover charge for the women.

The front will consist of the opening line to catch the recipients eye followed by the bars logo. On the right side will be a picture of a bar scene or bottles or a bar itself, etc. On the back will be the specials which vary on the recipient. Above that will be another picture relating to a bar and grill.

Interesting Pictures

Found both of this pictures using stumble upon on the internet thought they might be interesting for others to see.

Notepad Project

Notepad Information


Notepad's dimensions will be 5"x7".

It will have a 1/8" bleed and a .25" margin.

Notepad will contain 50 sheets with a chip board back.

The price estimate I received from PSU's Printing and Design Services stated that it would cost 1.77$ for one notepad. To print they only need a PDF file and it would take 1 day to complete.

The purpose of the notepad is to appeal to future employers and students my age. I plan to use a mixture of vector images and type. The type will only to define the logo and contact information. I am trying to find a happy medium between professional but yet still fun enough to appeal to the younger crowd.

The call to action will relate to the QR code where the employer or interested customer will be able to scan the code and see my email and blog information.

Thumbnails

Sketch 1 is just a basic plain Jane idea. Simple Defiant Design logo QR code in the bottom corner and name in the other.

 

Sketch 2 was basically just an upgraded thought I had from the first design. I wanted to add more design to the pad. So same basic logo at the top corner but now at the bottom 4 more vector images have been added. It portrays a sort of evolution timeline of an idea evolving into life. I want it to portray that customers can come in with nothing more than an idea and we will be able to bring it to life for them. 

 

Sketch 3 is again just a more advanced version of sketch 2. Same logo in the corner as the prior two. I wanted to give the evolution timeline a little more detail. So I made the second man look a little more like the idea bubble and the end man is now pointing at the QR code. If they notice the evolution it will lead their eye right into the QR code. Also in the upper right hand corner I want to put something along the lines of "bringing your idea to life" or something along those lines.

After going through the on screen critiques I decided to break my notepad into two different ones. For the one I am going to turn in took away the border and defiant designs logo. This way it looks like a more professional notepad. This will suit my audience much better. I decided to keep the other design and just use the logo and border. So if needed I will have a different design if needed to reach an audience of my peers.

Rough for Final Notepad:

Final Notepad proof printed from PSU Printing Services:

 

I was a little worried that the shading I have on the evolution vector at the bottom may not have been right the first time. However it worked out as planned and the proof turned out just like I wanted it. Also I managed to shrink the QR code a little more and it still brought you to this Blog!

Chapter 1 & 2 blog assignment

Chapter 1

The number one difference between the then and now aspect of a print shop was the expansion of who could do what when  Apple desktop units, laser printers, and a page layout programs became available to the everyday consumer. Anyone who possessed these three elements could more or less do the same things that print shops had been doing for years with X-Acto knives and hot wax applicators. The next big leap forward in the print business was the creation of page-layout applications. These applications rolled setting type, creating mechanicals, and stripping film all into one job. Not only were jobs being minimized but the pace that these jobs could be completed was increasing exponentially. Not only was the speed of the job being increased but who did what was being also being changed dramatically. Distribution of work was set to look more like this diagram below.

Graphic taken from Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications. Claudia McCue. Chapter 1 Page 4.

For example; before designers would indicate color break, however it was the prep workers job to use a process callled mechanical color to accomplish the color break.  Now the graphic or article is ready to print the minute they hand it or submit the file to the printer. It is not just a template for someone elses work.


Sales Rep/Customer Service- The sales rep is your first contact and will get the ball rolling on your job. You discuss any concerns you have with him or her. Also determine if there will be any special finishing touches needed. The sales rep will also provide you with a cost estimate and give you an idea of the timeline the job will follow. Customer service rep will be your prime contact through out the job. Any changes or updates will be sent to him or her. They will also help you find or prevent problems with your job. The average salary for these types of work runs on average around thirty thousand dollars a year

Estimator- An estimator determines the job cost as a whole. In some cases estimating and planning are combined. A job cost estimator rakes in right around 57k a year.

Preflight Technician- A preflight technician is who checks for problems in the job before it runs. When problems are found you will be asked if you would like to fix the problems yourself your add a charge and have the company fix them. Preflight techs make on average around fifty three thousand dollars a year.

Prepress Operator- These people prepare the job for print. They prepare the plates that transfer the images to the substrate. They make around 27 thousand dollars a year.

Imposition- The layout of a job on the printed page.

RIP- Component in a printing system that makes the file ready for the printer. The middle man in a sense.

Trapping- Provides a combination of colors at the edge of abutting color areas to mask any slippage.

Die Cutting- A form of specialty finishing that includes a special cut.

Chapter 2

Halftone Dots- Tiny color dots printed to simulate shades of grey.

DPI- Dots per inch. Used to describe the resolution of an imaging device
LPI- Lines per inch. Frequency of halftone dots measured along a row of dots.
PPI - Pixels per inch. Describes resolution.

CMYK vs. RGB- Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black make up CMYK or process color. Red, Green, and Blue make up RGB or spot color. CMYK is used usually for print where as RGB is used for web based monitor viewing.

Spot Colors- Used when necessary to print colors that fall outside the range of CMYK.

Registration- The alignment of all inks printed on a press.

Rich black happens when solid black areas larger than one square inch happen. They need to be beefed up to avoid appearing anemic. It is important so you are able to achieve the dark solid black you are looking for.