Tuesday, 20 November 2012

SOFTWARE - Print session 3

Been given some reading to do on QuarkXpress about Hyphenation and Justification of type.

Specifying 'frames'.

Frames are what the text or images you put into InDesign are inside. You can specify very accurately where you want to position your frames.

Justifying text - everything is adjusted so nothing is aligned left or ragged right etc.

you can do quick changes in multiples or fractions of a frame size by typing /2 for example into the XYWH boxes in the top left of the InDesign document.

/ = divide
x = multiply
number = amount you want to multiply or divide by






Justified text.


Hyphenation and when its good and bad.




You can change the hyphenation and set it so it has a specific circumstance for when it should be used.




cmd + shift + - =  Override the default InDesign hyphen settings. Or you can do it through the tabs a manually.

More on Paragraph styles and Character styles

Character styles only apply to individual characters within a paragraph. Very similar way of creating them as the paragraph styles but you have less options.



Character styles are useful for changing the headings of paragraphs, for example, a hanging heading may need to be made bold to stand out more so you can change it to a bolder font.

Once you've edited a paragraph using a paragraph style and then used a character style within the paragraph style. You can then edit the paragraph style to include the 'nested styles' in the paragraph style. This saves you having to go over each paragraph and change them manually.




Booklets and master pages.

Bets to work in InDesign new document.

Once the document is set up, you get the spread of the booklet called 'readers spread' because you see it as you would when you read the printed article.




Double click on the A-Master button and it will take you to the template for the master page.


You can use the master page to set up layouts for print or for things not to do with print like guides and grids. If you make changes on the master page it will apply the same changes to the rest of the document.



Creating text frames on the master page that can be changed on different pages in the document. All of the items in the master page are locked so they can't be edited unless you press and hold cmd and shift whilst clicking on the item you want to edit. This is called overriding the master page settings. You can also override all the items with this function.



You can have more than one master page per document if you need to have specific changes in the document. You need to create a new master page which will come up as a 'B-Master'




To apply the different master pages to your document you simply drag and drop the master templates onto the thumbnails of the relevant pages in your document. You can change any of them at any point by doing this.


You can also add page numbers to the master pages. This is done by creating a text frame in the master page, going to the type menu - insert special character - markers - current page number.




If you don't want to start the document numbering from 1 then you can specify and edit where you'd like it to start and which number.




This still needs to change so that the 3rd page has the first number in the sequence. This is easily solved by selecting the page you want the numbers to start from before doing the above process.


The first two numbers will still be there you just have to delete them after applying the numbering.


Printing Booklets.

When printing the booklets we need to switch from readers spread to printers spread to see which way the pages go next to each other when printed. InDesign does this for you but it's useful to know this stuff anyway when designing.









If you need to print bigger booklets and want to avoid 'creep' from the pages then you can print several booklets from the document and bind them together. To do this you need to specify the range of page numbers that you want to print for each booklet.



Friday, 16 November 2012

SOFTWARE - Web session 2

Manage site - useful for when you have to move your root folder between computers or locations.

cmd + tab - allows you to switch between screens.

How to get rid of the 5 pixel border around the preview website.

Last session we used relative to piece the different segments of the website together. WIth this setting you can't get rid of the white border.








TADA




Aligning central.





Creating A DWT (dreamweaver template).

Concerting the index html into the master template.

Templates work be coding them to know which areas are going to change on each page, these are calling editable areas.

Anything visual goes inside the body tags.














from here you can creat new index pages that you can then title for the different pages on your website.








How to create buttons and roll overs.

You need to work in PS and create the art work to the same pixel spec as the button will be in DW. Create the roll overs in layers.
Save for web - you can view the different properties and file types in the save for web window. jpeg is the best compression but it doesn't support transparency. 
We're saving as png24 because it does.
When saving, make sure the rollover layer isn't visible and do the opposite and make sure the original isn't visible when saving the rollover.



ONce you have your buttons ready you then have to add them to the template file (dwt) this will apply the change to all the other html pages that have been made from that template.

Padding





Adding images.







Tuesday, 13 November 2012

SOFTWARE - Print session 2

This weeks session is focussing on consistency and efficiency and formatting text.

two types of formatting text

Character formatting

Paragraph formatting


Today we're going to be looking ar paragraph formatting.

Identifying a paragraphs

- text being broken up
- spacing
- a paragraph return or linebreak


In Indesign you can turn on indicators to show you where the paragraphs are.


Finding an changing things about the paragraph.

Edit - find/change




Paragraph window. Indents and spaces.




You can use the paragraph window to edit the layout of paragraphs and changing the spacing of lines an gaps between headings and paragraphs.


Widows and orphans - words hanging on the end of a paragraph on their own. Its bad to have these as they make the spacing between the paragraphs look too big or bigger than the other spacing. You can deal with this by kerning the whole paragraph but by no more than 3pt either way, but it's better to not negatively kern.


Keep options. Helps prevent having headings as widows - especially usefully when working in columns.




Tabbing - editing tabs and using them properly.





Soft return - allows you to edit and add text whilst tabbing. Makes it quicker.


You can set new paragraph styles so you don't have to repeat yourself for every paragraph when working.


justified type (left and right aligned) you can edit the amount of justification to your own style.

You can apply your new paragraph styles with short keys that are always cmd + and a number key.

After creating a style you may need to change it so you simple double click the paragraph style in the window and change it from the options and once you click ok it will apply the change to every paragraph you've used that style on.


cmd + / = a hanging heading. This makes a paragraph line up like this...








Friday, 9 November 2012

SOFTWARE - Web session 1

recap from last year

- what is the website for? purpose
- who is the website for? target audience
- what does the audience need from the website?

designing a website for yourself

audience:-
- friends
- design studios
- collaborators
- employees
- clients


Design should reflect the purpose of the website. Look at websites and the first three words that come to mind should describe the brand/ company/ purpose of the website. If it doesn't then its not a well designed site.


Think about what the client wants. Don't design for designers, the client is important and their input can be invaluable.

John Ducket - HTML&CSS (book on webdesign)



Internet is 22 years old (born 1990)

wed resolution - 72dpi WRONG!

its actually 96dpi - designers didn't like the change so they still work to 72dpi



meta tags - for keywords, for when people search in search engines like google



- means from now on we're talking in html

- means that the html is closed
- this is anything that adds to the functionality of the design, not anything to do with the design

- means that the head tag is closed

- close body tag


Working in dreamweaver you have to keep all your files in one folder so the file will work.

URL - uniform resource locator

You have to buy webspace and a domain name to make a website go live and be accessible.


Set up a root folder (in user work) name it but keep it lower case and just letters and numbers.
Create a folder called 'images' within that folder.

Go to 'site' in dreamweaver and click new site and link the root folder and name the site. Click save and the folder should appear in the files tab in dreamweaver.


Always save before you preview in the web browser.

Never copy and paste code from another website as it wont work. Typing it out will though.


CSS - write out the code once and then link it to the html pages - saves you writing out the code over and over or recoding.


CSS

/* */ - symbols for notes to yourself - these wont appear in your website.

{} - these open and close lines of code


body - relates to the html, not necessary but it helps to reference each of them.

alt +3 makes a hashtag # - use these to create a div id (


Friday, 19 October 2012

STUDIO VISIT - Duke Studios




http://www.duke-studios.com

Sophie got in touch with the people that run Duke Studios and organised a visit and posted it on the years Facebook group. Only a handful of us went down and we were there for no longer than 30 minutes but it was well worth it.

The studios take up one floor of Munro house near Leeds bus station and they have different kinds of spaces from hot desk spaces to full desktop space to a complete studio space. As well as the space, you have access to lots of creative in house facilities such as a photography studio and a wood work, design workshop complete with its own laser cutter.

Over all I wsa really impressed with the whole place, it had a great atmosphere and felt very alive and bright which made it seem like the perfect place to start a studio or perhaps join an existing one.


Wednesday, 17 October 2012

PROGRESS TUTORIAL - individual

The tutorial was the first one on one tutorial time I had and this time it was with Amber.  The feedback I got was good and constructive like in the group tutorials and it was very critical. It felt like for the most part, I was being asked questions that I couldn't fully answer and at this point I should be able to answer all of them.


These are the notes I took during the tutorial.

PCL

Don't let it distract me from the other briefs
Contact dots about printing


MONK

Constraint for deadline
break it down into two parts
- Brand & identity
    - corporate collateral
- package, branding and space

Get on with it


BIKOLOGY

go visit them
get permission to photograph the shop and bike parts
branding a publication


VIEW

Why are you doing it?
Who is your audience?
Get pitch together - make it a live brief
Define our purpose
Is the deliverable appropriate?


Basically what I got from this tutorial is that I need to really focus on balancing how much I'm working on each brief. I think I'll start with getting lots of contextual references and research done for each then move on to designing because each brief could be solved in the space of 2 weeks which is what I aim to do. Then from their I can push them further.