Moorpark College Graphic Design

Week 4 – 09/12/07

Design a postcard – project due date 09/19/07

Color/Ways:
4/1 – 4-color printing on front, black only on black.

Bleed:
Yes
1/8″ bleed (4.25″x6.25″)

Trim Size:
4″x6″

Stock:
Printed on 14pt. card stock with 1pt UV coat.

Quantity:
1000 (no you don’t have to print 1000 postcards)

The postcard will be used as an announcement of the publication of your “Book,” your final project.

The illustration on the front of the postcard must include:

1. a sphere
2. a background image that consists of multiple elements giving context to the scene, but at the same time presents a different way of seeing the sphere – incongrous
3. front of the card will contain “display text,” and back will contain “return address” and “body copy” Techniques:

• Making Selections
• Layer Masks
• Copy/Paste techniques
• Workflow discussion
• Set up front and back of Postcard in InDesign
• Print from Adobe Acrobat

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There has been some confusion about how I expect students to submit the postcard assignments, due tomorrow, Sept. 24. I’d like to see them printed on an 8-1/2×11 sheet with crops, showing the bleeds. Print front and back centered on separate sheets. Tack onto a presentation board with low tack so we can stand them on the crit rail for review. You can remove the papers later and hang onto the board for another presentation.

After a short critique, we will continue with a short demo and review of text flow.

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My family had been pressuring me to get new cell phones since our contract was about to expire. Our batteries were in desperate need of replacement, but I was holding out, putting off the inevitable decisions and expense one encounters when upgrading to new technology. The truth was, I could not enter into a new, two-year phone contract knowing full well that it would be 730 days…24 four long months before I would own an iPhone.

Three days ago the family backed me into a corner. It was time to enter into a new cell phone contract, and I needed to make my decision. With a gun to my head I conceded, and I am now the proud owner of a brand new iPhone. To say that the iPhone is awesome is almost an understatement. The first thing I said to myself after handling the iPhone was, “It’s Apple’s Knowledge Navigator, only palm-sized.”

I hadn’t thought about the Knowledge Navigator in ages, and I hadn’t paid too much attention to the iPhone because I wanted to wait until the hype settled. When Apple dropped the price of the iPhone to $399, I started looking and couldn’t resist the temptation. Immediately I the recognized the functionality and elegance of an Apple product. Once Apple won the right to get into music, that released the floodgates.

Flash back twenty years to Apple’s mind-blowing concept video, one of many reasons I’ve been a Mac addict the past 22 years. While we may not have mastered the same level of voice technology and artificial intelligence as that portrayed in Knowledge Navigator, no doubt we’ll be there in just a few more years…say by 2012?

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Looking for a reliable worker. Work requires using vector base software. Creating graphics for use in decals, T shirts and Hats. Printing heat transfers and applying them to T shirts and Hats. Training will be provided, prior knowledge and understanding of Illustrator is a plus.
Company name: Topanga Customs, Contact name: Haig. 818-716-5622 email: topangacustoms@hotmail.com

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I don’t know about anyone else, but after I’ve settled into my comfort zone with a great piece of software, I almost dread upgrading. I haven’t made the switch to Adobe’s CS3 yet, but I’m teaching it, so I have to learn it nonetheless, and I’m constantly sifting through the menus to see where they have moved things. Today as I was presenting a tutorial on the Adobe “workflow,” it came time to convert a 4-page document from reader spreads to printer spreads. And that’s where everything started to go south. Yes, InBooklet, a plug-in written by ALAP and later sold to none other than Quark, no longer exists for InDesign users. Adobe has written it’s own, pared down version of InBooklet they call Print Booklet. Here’s what it doesn’t do…

1. You can no longer save your imposed document to a unique and editable InDesign file.

2. I used InBooklet to create crop marks…I found a nice little trick in InBooklet, but you need to be able to create a separate InDesign document. Before I figured out how to quickly create custom crop marks, I used an Extensis plug-in, but they sold out to Quark.

Hmm…speaking of selling out, I was as surprised and outraged as other printers when I heard that Adobe put a button into CS3’s Acrobat so that users could send files directly to FedEx/Kinko’s. Bummer…no respect for the trade that supported them for the last 20-plus years? If that’s not a monopoly, I don’t know what is. Apparently Adobe saw the error of their ways and have updated Acrobat, removing the button. I’m not sure we’ve heard the end of this one.

Bottom line…I’m not anxious to find new workarounds to creating custom crop marks. If I could find a third party imposition program for a reasonable price, I’d snatch it up…wait, that’s why I bought Imposer Pro, also by ALAP. Great program, but they sold out to Quark.

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Looking for a reliable worker. Work requires using vector base software. Creating graphics for use in decals, T shirts and Hats. Printing heat transfers and applying them to T shirts and Hats. Training will be provided, prior knowledge and understanding of Illustrator is a plus.
Company name: Topanga Customs, contact name: Haig. 818-716-5622 email: topangacustoms@hotmail.com

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Adobe Create Suite 3 Design Premium academic pricing is only $314.00 at www.collegesoftware.org. Go to this website for additional information and how to qualify for this fantastic price. CS3 Design Premium includes the newest versions of Photoshop Extended, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash and Acrobat.

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Finally, a politician who can read and write. I don’t know why we didn’t elect this guy president…oh, yeah, we did.

This is an important read for anyone concerned with the state of our nation. Al Gore presents a seething indictment of the Bush administration. After the first few pages, you’ll be wondering why the whole bunch of them weren’t tossed out long ago. As I read The Assault on Reason, I suspected Gore had read Jerry Mander’s Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, as he makes similar points about the communication tool that captivates and hypnotizes while spewing out its one-way message.

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by Bradley Trevor Greive

This is a little book, not much larger than a CD. It’s a feel good book chock full of warm and fuzzy black and white animal photos accompanied by surprising simple, yet insightful observations. Pick it up to read a page or two at a time, and I challenge you not to say, “Aww,” and read on. Ultimately the book does answer the questions it poses, so if you’re searching, or even if you’re not, this is an amusing book about life’s purpose. Great for gift giving. After you’ve read your copy, don’t tuck it away in the bookcase. Leave it out where everyone can enjoy it and you can enjoy it over again.

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The art galleries across from Pier 39 were the highlight of my recent visit to San Francisco. Not only was I able to enjoy exhibits of Nieman, Picasso and Rembrandt, but I was also treated to the artwork of Theodore Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. I was particularly amused by his “adult” paintings and his ongoing interest in painting cats. Here is the painting I saw in all of its original splendor, The Rather Odd Myopic Woman Riding Piggyback on One of Helen’s Many Cats. http://www.drseussart.com/myopicwoman.html

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