Research on CD covers

Before i started to design my CD cover i looked at other CD covers that are used by other bands. I liked the idea of having the band members on the front of the CD cover, but i did not want to have real life people so i decided to have cartoons.

Evaluation

What software I used?

I only used Photoshop to produce my two products for my assignment. I only used Photoshop as InDesign is more used to create magazine front covers or leaflets. I would say I am a beginner on Photoshop. I know the basic controls, but not know how to use these tolls to create amazing graphics.

Which exercise have I learnt the most from?

I think I have learnt the most from doing my two products for my assignment. This is because I was able to design what I want. This meant I was able to experiment with Photoshop and see what I could create. I learnt a lot more about Photoshop from this exercise, a lot more about the tools in Photoshop.

File formats

I have learnt a lot more about different file formats since I started researching on them. I now know about different file sizes, quality and what they mean. I know that a higher quality image will be a bigger file type. Before I knew about file formats I only knew about JPEG image files, as this was the file I use all the time.

Most successful product of the assignment

I think the most successful product would be the gig poster. I think this because it is a simple design. There is not much on the poster apart from the text. This is how I wanted it to be, very simple. I did not want to over crowd the poster, just the main information needed. The text also blends really well with the background image of the guitar. The quality of the image as a final product is very sharp and clear.

Least successful product of the assignment

I would have to say the least successful product would be the CD cover. I still really like this image design its just I prefer and think the poster is a better image. On the CD the small cartoon people are not the best quality and have quite a rough edge, even pixel elated in some places.

How can I use the knowledge I have learned in the future.

I can use the knowledge I have learnt from this in many ways. Fro example if I was every to get more into photography and use Photoshop I would be able to use the software and create some good looking images. Also now that I know more about file formats this will help me to produce better quality images for internet display. Also if I ever create something that involves still images/graphics I will now know what file formats to use and how to get the best quality possible.

Final outcome of CD Cover + Gig Poster

 This is the final outcome of my CD cover for my band (By Assumption).

By Assumption - A New Light

This is the final Outcome for my Gig Poster. It could be put up any where to promote the bands gig/tour.

By Assumption - Gig Poster

Development Of My Gig Poster

Fisrt i started by finding a good qaulity, nice looking image of a guitar. Next i then came up with what i was going to put on this poster. I wanted to keep it very simple so it would draw peoples attention. Once i had the infomation i was going to put on the poster i started to put it onto the poster its self.

Once i had finished putting the infomation on the poster i wanted to improve it a little more. So i gave the text a slight drop shadow. This help to give the text a 3D feel and also added more detail to the text.

Development Of My CD Cover

First i started by adding the name of the band to the top of the CD cover. I added shadows, bevels and a glow to the text to give it a nice 3D effect.

I then made four avatars of each member of the band. (this was done on ) I then brought them onto the CD cover and started to get rid of the black around the edges of the avatars.

I then gave the avatars a drop shadow and a inner shadow to give life to the avatars. I then gave a blue tint which made it seem like the blue background was a light shinning onto the avatars.

I encontered the problem of photoshop shutting down a lot whilst working on my CD cover.

File Formats

JPG
RGB - 24 bits,
Grayscale - 8 bits
JPEG uses lossy JPG compression, but its degree is selectable. For a higher quality image but larger files, or lower quality images and smaller files.

GIF
Indexed color - 1 to 8 bits
GIF uses lossless LZW compression, effective on indexed color. GIF files contain no dpi information for printing purposes.

PSD
The PSD file format was created by Adobe. It contains graphics/photos created by image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. The PSD file format is more popular as it can be used on a Macintosh or Windows.

PDF
The PDF (Portable Document Format) file format is a binary file which contains page description primitives and combines a subset of the Postscript language in the format. The PDF file is a page description language designed to enable the creation and transfer of printer-ready output.

	Photographic Images	Graphics, including Logos or Line art
Properties	Photos are continuous tones, 24 bit color or 8 bit Gray, no text, few lines and edges	Graphics are often solid colors, up to 256 colors, with text or lines and sharp edges
For Unquestionable Best Quality	TIF or PNG (lossless compression and no JPG artifacts)	PNG or TIF (lossless compression, and no JPG artifacts)
Smallest File Size	JPG with a higher Quality factor can be decent.	TIF LZW or GIF or PNG   (graphics/logos without gradients normally permit indexed color of 2 to 16 colors for smallest file size)
Maximum Compatibility (PC, Mac, Unix)	TIF or JPG	TIF or GIF
Worst Choice	256 color GIF is very limited color, and is a larger file than 24 bit JPG	JPG compression adds artifacts, smears text and lines and edges

Animated Banner

^^^^^^Click image above to see the animated banner ^^^^^^

This is my web banner i have made in photoshop and imageready for post secret.

First was to create the backgrund and then image you were going to animate. In my case it was a stickman and Boris Jonhnsons head.

Next was to duplicate the layer and move the stickman slightly. Then to keep doing this over and over untill you are happy with your banner.

Then was to put this into imageready. Once all the layers were in imageready you then turn these layers into frames. After you are happy with your web banner you can save i/export it. You can either save as a gif or export it as a swf.