Graphic Design Final Project: CTE Promotional Poster

Hello Students,
Your final project is to design a promotional poster that will create interest for students in taking ROP classes. You could design a poster that creates interest for a specific class or multiple classes. If your poster qualifies it will be printed and displayed on campus and you will have another great design project for your portfolio.

Project Description:
You have just been hired by me to create a promotional poster. Your goal is to design an eye-catching and engaging poster that is suitable to display on High School bulletin boards. You should have an understanding of your audience and what will appeal to them. Your design can be creative and fun but should look professional.

Project Specifications:

• Poster dimensions must be 11"X17"
• Must be created in CMYK with Adobe Illustrator and/or Photoshop
• Must use bold eye catching colors
• Must be created with no more than 2 different font styles
• Must be readable when printed from 10-15 away
• Pick a class to promote, choices are Graphic Design, Web Design, Digital Photography, Video Production and Animation, Bicycle Technology or the Automotive Technician Program
• Use your own ideas to make this poster unique. Poster can incorporate artwork you or other students have created to show as examples. Poster should provide an eye-grabbing headline to interest the viewer and guide them to a "call to action" such as requesting more information or signing up for the class with their counselor.

Project Copy:
Poster may contain this text, creative editing is encouraged as long as the message stays on point:

• Headline: "Learn (choose a class to feature) at Santa Cruz High School!" or an alternate headline could start with "Would you like to learn _______?"
• Body copy example (would be different for other classes): Do you enjoy learning through hands-on projects and activities? Learn digital media skills in our newest computer lab with cutting edge software and equipment. ROP offers several exciting classes in your school. Talk to your counselor to sign up for one of these great courses. Space is limited, sign up today!
• Here is what our students are saying about this great course : "Insert student testimonial quote here" <-- you will need to interview students for these quotes...
• Success Starts Here! Career Technical Education is your first step!

Grading and Evaluation:

• Poster design should be clean, eye-catching and professional
• Poster design should include all relevant and important material
• Design should showcase effective use and understanding of: Typography, color theory, application of elements and principles of design
• Poster will be judged on how well it incorporates your clients input and how that is translated into your design
• Poster needs to meet all specifications
• Due by end of finals

Student Examples:

Design and Create an Original Magazine Cover

Hello Students,

Your new assignment is a combination of using Digital Photography and 3 programs to create one product, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign. Find a high resolution image and process the photo with filters if you wish in photoshop and use it to design an original magazine cover with Adobe Indesign. You will create additional artistic elements with Illustrator as well. This project is a good lesson in utilizing multiple software tools. You need to use original photos and content!

Part 1 - Launch and Explore InDesign

• If you are confident with Indesign you can skip ahead, if you feel you need more familiarity with Indesign than read through and try out all the tools in Indesign before proceeding.
• Go to the dock and launch InDesign, or look in your Applications folder to find the app
• Go to the File Menu and create a New Document
• Go to the Window Menu and set your Workspace to Advanced
• Explore the tool bar, click on the text tool and draw a text box to create text, try the shape tools and look for the color modifiers to change colors
• Open all the palettes under the Window Menu and explore all the functions, look at the quick guides below for reference
• See if you can create text of different sizes, change the colors, modify the text kerning and tracking and draw shapes in different colors and with different borders

Hidden Tools and Shortcut Keys

Character Formatting Panel In InDesign

Paragraph Formatting Panel in InDesign

Part 2 - Magazine Cover Design Project:

• Think up a magazine topic and title for your cover design, create a simple pencil sketch of the cover including all photos, art, titles, headers, text insets Your magazine must have a title header that is created in Illustrator, a cover photo that has been post-processed in Photoshop, a photo inset, text headlines with effects created with Indesign. It should also include all details such as month, date, edition number, etc.
• When you design is ready grab a camera and shoot your cover photo, use Photoshop to post process the image for your cover. Crop, colorize, convert to black and white, use filters for an illustration look.... do something creative with your cover image
• Design your magazine title with Illustrator, spend time making the typography and any illustrative elements look perfect. Consider colors that will blend well with your cover image
• Create decorative borders or inset elements with Illustrator
• Set up your document in Indesign for standard letter size.... import all your different elements and begin arranging them on the page.... create any additional typographic elements in Indesign... use colors that are complimentary and read well.
• Add your image insets and additional details for a polished look, make it perfect!
• If you need some standards to go by or some inspiration, check out this tutorial: Magazine cover design tutorial with Indesign

Here is the progression of my magazine cover design. I took the photo, processed it with Photoshop, added colorful borders in Illustrator and brought it into Indesign to create my magazine cover design.

Designs are due on friday, this should be another great design piece for your portfolio!

 - Mr.W


Student Examples:

Design an Original Album Cover

Hello Students,

Your new assignment is to create an original album cover design. All artwork, photography and illustration used in your cover design must be 100% original. Use all of your skills you have learned this semester, you must demonstrate your competence in using design and software skills.

Introducing: Fou Ts'ong, Piano, Mozart Piano Cocerti , K503 & K595,  Westminster , Rudolph de Harak

Assignment Paramaters:

You will be creating a CD album artwork. Start by listening to an album you would like to create a design for. Think about how you can visualize the physical and emotional response the music creates inside of you... how can you put those influences into a visual representation? When listening to the music it can help to create a list of words that come to mind... think of it as creating your own inspirational word cloud.. this can help influence your visual design and give it focus. They key to this assignment is to make sure the artwork on the album cover is representational of the music it is showcasing.

Assignment Specifications:

Utilize all of the skills you have learned this semester. This project should be a shining example of your graphic design skills for your portfolio. This project will be graded against the class rubric, see the link above and read before proceeding:

• Find a template for a CD jewel case insert for the dimensions and layout. You will need to design the cover and spine to fit in a jewel case, front and back.
• All artwork, illustration and photography used must be 100% original
• Make sure the design shows unity with the music it is showcasing, it should show creativity, be appropriate for the audience and demonstrate an understanding of design
• Typography must display the album title and name of band
• Use all design principals that can be applied, alignment, typography, contrast etc. Focus on typography and composition for a professional looking result
• Use Photoshop or Illustrator or both, your choice. Utilize any and all artistic creation processes to create your design, including illustration, photography, painting, collage, sculpture, etc...
• Refer to our grading rubric for clarity on the assignment expectations

Links for Inspiration:

35 Beautiful Music Album Covers

History of Record Cover Design

50 Amazing Album Cover Art Examples

Designs are due on Monday the 16th, have fun!

- Mr.W

Previous Student Work Examples:

Event Poster Design

Hello Students, 

Your new assignment is to design an event poster for a musical group. You must adhere to the specifications below and use your own creativity to design an eye catching and original poster design. This is your chance to flex your creative and design skills. All elements studied are to be utilized and will be scrutinized: color, design, illustration and typography.

Poster design by your instructor, Seth Wilson

Event Poster Design Project:
Utilize all of the skills you have learned this semester. This project should be a shining example of your graphic design skills for your portfolio. This project will be graded against the class rubric, see the link above and read before proceeding:

- You MUST produce 1 FULL PAGE pencil sketch of your poster design idea

- Your poster must be designed at 11"X17" at 300DPI if you are using Photoshop

- Your poster must contain ORIGINAL ARTWORK or ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY. You can use found images as reference only, but direct artwork tracing or photography used in your project must be original. Time to bust out your camera's!!!

- You may use Photoshop or Illustrator or both... your choice

- You may use no more than 2 fonts

- You must choose 2 bands/musical acts/artists to include in your poster, one group is the headline act, the other is the opening act

- Your poster must contain the following elements:

   • Band #1

   • Band #2 Opening Act

   • Location (the venue, such as The Catalyst or The Greek, Shoreline, etc...)

   • Date of the show

   • Show Times

   • Ticket Price

   • Ages Admitted

- When you post your final work to your blog you must display the color palette used, list all fonts used, what software and hardware was used, including the camera

TIPS, TRICKS AND RESOURCES FOR POSTER DESIGN

• Designing a poster isn't always easy, especially if it is your first time. Don't be afraid to experiment and don't feel held back by your drawing capabilities. There are lots of tricks to creating original artwork from photographs that don't require elite artistic techniques.
• Pay attention to the spaces BETWEEN your letters. Take some lessons from our typography studies and pay attention to the spacing, pace and rythmn of the words.
• Use colors that COMPLIMENT each other. When your color choices clash it affects the entire composition of your design.
• Communicate your message with the right images. Poster design is about communicating and delivering information. Your design should fit the style of music that the poster is advertising, pay attention to what will speak to your intended audience best.

Links for inspiration:

Link - Creative Event Poster Design Samples

Link - 30 Inspiring Poster Designs

Examples of student work: