Lab 15 Reflection

     In our 15th lab for our VD course we were yet again introduced to a new program, Adobe Indesign. Indesign is very similar to Illustrator except Indesign is used more to design magazines and posters rather than make art.
     The only new tool we used in this lab was the Convert Direction Tool, associated with the Pen tool which we also used. Other tools used were the Rectangle Tool and Text Tool This lab was more foucused on text editing. Not neccisarily changing the shape of text by creating outlines but editing fonts and sizes of bodies of text and their placemant and positioning.

     The first thing we did was a review from Illustrator. We were to create a black banana shape using 2 curve and corner points. To make the points we used the Pen tool and to curve 2 of the points we used the Convert Direction tool. The color was changed to black in the Properties bar.
     After that review we wrapped fully justified text around a rectangle. First we put some text in a text box and in the properties bar selected the fully justify option. Next we created a rectangle using the Rectngle Tool. We opened the Text Wrap panel from Window in the Menu Bar and with the rectangle selected we selected the option to wrap the text and set the offset on all sides to be 0.09 in. Then we moved our text on top of our the rectangle and

watched as the text wrapped around it.
     Our next task was to create 2 paragraphs with each having a header. We needed to use Paragraph Styles to define Headers from the Body paragraphs. We did this by opening the Paragrapgh Styles panel (Window/Styles/Paragraph Styles). Then we created a new style called Header copy and changed how we wanted the headers to look by altering some details in Basic Character Formats. The headers were selected and this style was applied. The same was done for the body paragraphs.

     The last task was to make a series of lines using '123 fido' with some slight altercations each line. The first 3 lines had ligatures turned on for them, meaning the letters were closer together/combined making them easier to read. The 123 in the first line was made lowercase and an infinity glyph was put at the end from Window/Tables and Types/Glyphs. The 123 in the second line was made to have tabular lining. This was done by checking tabular lining from Window/Types and Tables/Character/Open Type/Tabular lining. From the same panel the 123 in the third line was made to have proportional lining. The symbols in the second and third line were selected from the same glyph panel from before. The fourth line has the word 'fido' tracked out and ligature was turned off.
     These skills are important to a web designer because these skills broaden the scope of what a wed designer can design. Indesign is almost like MS Word on steriods (still a gross oversimplification) so if a web designer seeks to make media which is primarily text based they can use Indesign. Indesign has alot of flexibility with text so using Indesign to design primarily text based media can help a web designer enhance their work instead of working under the limitations of the other programs.

Project Logo Reflection

     We are currently working on our third project for our VD class. So far we have designed our logos in Adobe Illustrator and combined them into a single PDF file. We started off by sketching our logos onto paper. We did 3 drafts for 3 types of logo style; iconic, composite, and wordmark; making a total of 9 logos. Once we did our sketch we transferred the logos into Illustrator. The way that we transferred our logos required us use the skills we garnered from previous labs using Illustrator. So we used skills such as drawing lines, curving lines, and editing vector shapes and text.
     Once we were done transferring our logos we separated the logos into individual PDF files. The way we did this way copy and paste each individual logo into an Illustrator file and resized the Artboard to best match that of the logo. Each Illustrator file containg only one logo was saved as a PDF and a PDF file containg all 3 drafts of a single logo type was saved as a PDF, making a total of 12 PDF files. We were then introduced to a new program called Adobe Acrobat. In Acrobat we went to File/Combine into single PDF. Then we selected all the PDF files to be combined into a single PDF file. Once the combing was done we were done with a portion of the total work in our logo project. Stay tuned for the next part next time on Visual Design Jornal Z.

My Third WBL Workshop

     Our third WBL workshop was about working jobs as a teen. We learned about some ways teens can get injured on their job. The most common injuries came from slips, falls, burns, and cuts. We also learned that working as a teen can be stressful. One of the reasons why is that much is expected from you from your employers, managers, etc. Another reason is that teens are inexperienced and don't know how to do a lot of things required of them in the workplace. We were told to combat this we should ask questions. If we don't know how to do something it is better to ask how to do it rather than risk doing it wrong or injuring yourself doing it.

     We also learned about safety rules and rights. We learned that as teen we are not allowed to work with machinery. We learned that there are a certian amount of hours we are allowed to work and past a certian time if we're still working there must be an adult present. We also learned that if we get injured on the job it is within our right to file a claim. If we don't feel comfortable doing something at our job and our employer is not listening we can tell an adult in school. Overall this workshop taught us various aspects of working a job as a teen.

Lab 14 Reflection

     Many logos are wordmark logos. This means that the logos are only composed of text and many times these logos are a custom font. The font used to make the logo exists but it has been altered. In our 14th lab we learned how to alter text in Adobe Illustrator.
     The three tools we used in this lab were the type tool, type on a path tool, and the direct selection tool. The type tool types out letters. Similarly the type on a path tool types letters on a path, think of a path as a line that you created. The direct selection tool works like the the normal selection tool except you can use it to select individual points of an object.

     The first thing we needed to do was create a word with 30 pt san serif bold text, scaled 200% horizontally and tracked to -100 vertically. Let me get a few terms out of the way. Serif and san serif are classifications of type. Serifs are little flags or serifs at the ends of letters, such as in Times New Roman. Serif text will have these serifs while san serif will not. Tracking is spacing between all letters in a word. Tracking can be increased to space out letters or decreased to bring

them closer together. Horizontal and vertical scaling is simply increasing the size of a letter or letters along the x or y axis respectively. To set all of these specifications I first typed out the word. Next I went to the Character panel. Here I am able to change these things to fit the specifications to fit these conditions. Once they were changed I ended up with the picture above. But I also needed to create my own specifications with another word. So I made a word with 60 pt serif regualer text, scaled vertically 200% and tracked to 100. The result is the bottom picture.

      The next task was to create the word top and kern only two of the letters, and change its color to grey. Let me get some terminology out of the way again. Kerning is the spacing between individual letter. Unlike tracking, kerning foucuses on space between specific letters rather than all letters. Here you can see there is more space between the T and o than usual. The color of the text was change to grey by changing it in the properties bar. When then needed to create our own specifications again. I kerned all letters but I made sure the B and first o were more spaced out along

with the second o and m being more spaced out as well. Then I made sure the space between the 'otto' part of the word was closer together. Once that was done the fill color was changed back to black.

     After that we needed to create two 60 pt letters which we needed to convert into outlines, change the shape of one letter, turn off the fill, and have a black stroke. The way I changed the shape of a letter was first making the outline of the shape. The way I did this was go to Type in the menu bar and go to create outlines, having the letter selected while doing this. Then I used the direct selection tool to select individual anchor points on the letter itself, holding down shift to select multiple at once. Then I draged them in one direction changing the shape of the letter. Once this was done I created outlines of the

other shape, placed them in a specific way, turned off their fill, and turned on their stroke. We again needed to make our own version. I made three letters, repeated the exact same steps as before in a previous way but in a different way, and resulted with this.
     We then made a copy of the outlines and combined them into one shape. This was done using the pathfinder panel. To access this panel I went to Window/Pathfinder. Then I selected an appropraite option to combine the letters. I ended up with this:

 I again did the same thing for my version and ended up with the picture below the previous.
     It was finally time to type on a path. Using the Pen tool I made a wavy path. Then I selected the type on a path tool, a tool associated with the type tool. Then I put the cursor on my path and when the cursor looked like a normal 'I' but with a slash going through it I clicked on the pathe and started typing. The result was this:

There was unappealing spacing between a few letters which I fix by kerning them. We needed to make our own version so I made a slighlty curved path and did the same thing I did previously to type on it.
     These skills are important to a web designer because text is an important part of designing a website. Things like spacing between letters and shape of letters can mean the difference between a fine work of a website or a web page with words vomitted on to it. Your audience will be reading a lot on your site so if you know these skills you can make it easier for your audience to read your site. It overall makes your website more appealing.