So What IS Next?

Rachel gave me a great review of my first project and then asked "So what is next?" I figured I'd answer that here. Since I turned in the project, the game designers have finally approved the card layout and design, so this last week I have been actually creating new cards for the deck, using the Zeta Body card (Project 1) as my template. The designers want me to get a bunch of cards made, so that they can print out playtest version of the cards so they can try the game out under real world conditions.

WHAT I NEED TO LEARN...
In terms of tutorials, I'm going to have to find out how to do several things I've never done before;

1) Sticker Die-cut layer: since these are stickers I have create a layer that will tell the printer where to put the sticker cuts. The good news is all the cards will have the same die-cut. My big questions is should I create this layer in Photoshop or place it in InDesign?

2) A fifth color layer. Yes they want to add a florescent ink to the card for the logo and a few words. I think this may be something they will end up NOT doing in the long run, but they are planning for it and I'll have to figure out how to do it.

3) FOIL layering. I'm not completely sure how to even describe this, but some of the cards (the rare ones) will be printed on foil and I'll need to work out how to let that "bleed through" in various places. It was mentioned in class that maybe that could be done with lighting effects in some way - but I have no clue about how that would work - so I have my research to do there.

The Card shown in this post is a design that they rejected as they thought it looked too much like the Riddler's logo (from the Batman comics) Of course that was what I was going for. That's the way it goes sometimes, You have to design for the client and if you can't do that, you should probably be a fine artist rather then a commercial one...

PROJECT 1 - New Version of Card

As I mentioned in the previous post about the Card Project, the game designers and I are still moving forward on trying to pin down a final card design. Once that is done I can really start creating multiple cards for the set. I have some of the icon designs already done, and waiting to put on the final card template.

Meanwhile here's the latest version of the card. You can look at the earlier post to see the difference. The main change is that now the card text is placed flush left below the large icon image. I need to do more research to find out how printers want to have the diecut level should look like to let them know properly where the cuts go. I'm sure I can find a tutorial on that.

I heard recently that they want to add a 5th color as well, so I'll have to figure that trick out as well too.

Critique #1 Golden Arm Poster

I got this critique done weeks ago, but realized I had not actually posted it on my blog. So here is is now.
Critique 2 has been up on my blog for over a week at this, point. So here is finally critique #1.

Q 1) What is the Visual content of this image?
A) The image contains 2 blue, 2 black & 1 purple rectangles and an L shaped black shape with a symbolic arm extending from the bottom. The style is crude, almost tribal and the objects are arranged like bricks or a maze.

Q 2) Name 3 design elements that are prevalent in this image
A) olor: Black, white purple and blue each distinct.
Direction: In their own way, the corners of the rectangles "point" towards the center of the image.
Shape: the black arm and rectangles, and their rough angular edges create a mood and look for the piece.

Q 3) Name 3 design principles
A) Empahsis: the arm is the center and everything else in the piece builds around the arm.
Balance: the 2 bars at the top and the 2 bars at the bottom give the piece a sense of balance
Unity: The colors and tribal style give this piece a sense of unity. If feels like a building or a maze to me, with the hand trapped in the center.

Q 4) What types of color scheme is used?
The colors are stark, clearly defined and yet they share a similar color sceam: dark, sad and somewhat menacing. The color of rain or concrete at night.

Q 5) What could improve this image
I would eliminate the top and bottom bars and make the arm and the title MUCH larger than what are now. I would also make Frank Sinatra's name much larger across the top. It's an easy fix, that would still give the piece the same feeling as the orginal.

Q 6) What wins - what draws you in?
That white square in the center and the arm. My eye is pulled right into that center area.

Q 7) Do you like this image?
I think this is a very poor design for a movie poster. It does not emphasize that Frank Sinatra is the star or really give much hint as to what the movie is about. If someone were to try a do a movie poster in that style today, they would be fired. A fun exersize would be to redesign this poster using the same text, but totally different graphics.

PROJECT PROGRESS CARD PROTOTYPE

OVERVIEW: So over the last few weeks I have been discussing and working with the game designers on exactly what their card will look like. This is a particularly tricky prospect since the card has to do the following: A) it has to look "cool" B) it has to have all the game design aspects in place & C) it has to be as user friendly as possible to allow it to be easy to play. So I have developed a prototype of what a typical card might look like based on the developers input.

IMAGE: I created this multilayered image entirely in photoshop, though I suspect that the final version will have much of the smaller type placed in InDesign after importing the basic cmyk image (minus the type) I got the background of the galaxy from the Nasa Hubble site. The car is from a stock 3D image site I found. (though I changed the color and added the headlights.)

OPINION? At the moment, they seem pretty happy with this, but I have my doubts about the functionality of the small type running around the central image. It may be too hard to read, especially if one is trying to play a fast-paced game. This is really where the design and the function have to be balanced. I'd really like to get some feedback from the rest of the class group and see what suggestions or comments you 4 might have. (Rachel too for that matter)

Crittque #2 Truck in Winter Design Comments

1: Name the Objects in the picture...
A: The truck, the foreground, the wires a tree and the background.

2: Name 3 design elements...
Color: This is starkly red and white with some black.
Size: The truck's size dominates the image Shape: The shape of the truck centered in the picture, almost like the white snow is a picture frame.

3: Name 3 design principles...
Emphasis is the most important one as the truck is the most important object. There is a lot of Balance at work here as well. The truck is balanced on the horizon and the truck is blanaced in the picture as well for the most part. Proportion with the truck background and foreground is well represented.

4: What type of color scheme is used?
I see this as a 2 colors contrasting RED & WHITE. With the winter background and the red truck it brings on thoughts of Christmas without directly showing Christmas. The colors imply it.

5: What could be improved in this image?
I would digitally remove the telephone wires and show a little bit more of the sky above.

6: What wins on this page? What draws you in?
The child in the truck looking out the back window. Partly because the figure is NOT centered and thusly stands out all the more.

7: Do you like this image?
I really do like this image. it works on many levels and is strong from a design and photographic standpoint. Good balance, strong imagery and nice theme.

First Power Icon for card game

I made some forward progress with some of the icons that go on the cards I'm wokring on. And have taken one to competion. I took the daVinci drawing of (Vitruvian Man - Original link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man ) I used the magic wand tool to select him out of hte background then used the Saturation tool to colorize him blue. I added an atomic symbol in front of him and then put a glow around his figure to make him look like he is crackling with energy. Now I just have to create 65 more icons! Don't worry - I won't make a blog for each one. I'll be concentrating more on what I learned as I went along in making these. In this case, I got to try out using the glow option. Something I hadn't done a lot with in the past. Also getting the text to bend in a circle. I still may tweak this piece a bit more, but only in minor ways at this point.

MY MEGA CARD GAME PROJECT

Thought I would just put this all down so I can remind myself what I'm trying to learn and so the rest of my group have some idea or what the heck I am doing, which is a set of 66 stickers/cards and a printed foli wrapper to go with them..
I have a client that wants me to create a deck of 66 cards and a wrapper for it. I'll be doing all the design, graphics, typesetting and pre-press for the cards. Many aspects of this mega project are going to involve doing things in photshop I have not dealt with before.
Below is a partial list of some of the things i have to figure out how to do...
How to create a layer that will indicate where stickers will cut for peel offs.
How to create a reverse maks that will show where foil will show or not show on an image
How to indicate a mask that can indicate areas of transparentcy for an underlayer of white
How to better use HISTORY for recreating various photoshop effects on very similar files.
How to better convert images into web compatible pages or images
How to best prepare these images for working with InDesign.