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The 12 Principles of Design ADV 93 Fall 2023 / Warm-Up #3

Postcards from the Edge

This is an example that captures a feeling of coziness and security

As you've seen, the 12 Principles of Design help us to design better with an eye to aesthetics and clear communication. Consider them as you work on this quick turnaround brief. Apply, not all, but as many of the principles as you can in its execution.

For this warm-up exercise you will be designing a postcard that showcases your immediate environment to convey a mood or message. With summer over, some of you having returned from your family homes, you will have to decide what your environment is. Will you focus on your hometown? Or maybe your street? Even your room? It's up to you. This brief requires you to replicate a typical 1950s vacation destination postcard. You will research postcards, your environment, identify focal points and then work through the design and implementation of your postcard initially pen on paper to generate ideas.

To complete production you will be using Adobe Photoshop to edit an image which you will prepare for social media sharing in Adobe Express. You will be using these applications because, on the one hand, Adobe Photoshop enables sophisticated image manipulation and, on the other hand, Adobe Express helps you to easily format images for social media publication.

Let's Get Started

Step #1

Spend some time looking at examples of vintage postcards. These are many and varied and are readily found online, try these two Pinterest boards to get started: Vintage Travel Postcards and Travel Postcards. Download or save as many as you are inspired by in a clearly labeled desktop folder. You should identify design conventions by asking yourself the following questions:

  1. Are there any color norms? Are the numbers of colors limited? Are they muted or bright?
  2. What styles are predominant? Photographic? Illustrative or painted? A combination of both?
  3. Are there any typography conventions? Is there a specific typeface you see over and over? Are fonts combined? What style is primary, what style is secondary?
  4. What language is used? Is there a tone of voice? What words do we see repeatedly?
  5. Is there a specific style of image? Do we see singular images mainly? Or multiple images in collage form?
  6. Are there size conventions? What are they?
  7. What elements send a mood or message? How?
These are a few examples that can help inspire you

Step #2

From the images you have saved, identify a style you want to emulate, and decide what your focus will be. Will you have a micro focus or a macro focus? (A micro focus for your immediate environment would be the corner of a room in your house, or an object in your house; a macro focus would be the outside of your house or your neighborhood, maybe a point of interest in your town.)

The choices you make will be driven by the point you are trying to communicate. For example, you may want to communicate the coziness of your family home by focusing on a glowing wood-stove in the corner of your living room, or you may want to characterize the uniqueness of your street by taking a panoramic shot that showcases the individualistic architectural styles in your neighborhood. Take as many photos as you can and save them to either your desktop folder or Creative Cloud.

Sketch layout ideas using pen and paper. Try and apply as many of the 12 Principles of Design in your ideation.

Step #3

Select one final image that you want to use in your postcard. You will edit this image in Adobe Photoshop. The aim is to streamline and simplify the image using filters. You will also add textures to achieve a vintage look. Follow the steps below to guide you through the process. Save your final image as a PNG in your desktop folder or Creative Cloud folder.

Step #4

Open Adobe Express on your web browser and create a new project. You will be adding text by following the steps below. Once the image is complete share your postcard on the #design-fundamentals Slack Channel.

Photoshop & Express: A Guide

Step #1

Open Adobe Photoshop and create a new project. This will be a custom size so you should adjust sizing in the prompt to: Width 9” Height 6”, color to 300 PPI Color may remain on RGB or select CMYK if you intend to print your postcard.

Step #2

Select the “Frame Tool” and click on the top left corner of your canvas. Drag the box down to the far right corner ensuring your frame covers the entire canvas.
From your desktop folder or Creative Cloud folder, select your image and drag and drop it into your frame. The image is resized and centered by default.

Step #3

Select “Adjustments” from the “Image” menu. Select "Posterize". This will reduce the number of color levels on your image.
Select 4, you can select more, it depends on how simplified you want your image to end up. Press “OK”. From the "Layer" menu, select "Flatten your image".

Step #4

Add a new layer above the existing image. You will need a texture effect to add to your postcard like this one here or this one here. Save the texture file to your desktop folder and drag it into your image. A new layer will be created and you may have to resize the texture so it obliterates the original image. Don’t panic!
Set the opacity of the layer to 70% or 75% and select the source to pinlight. You can now see how the image feels faded and vintage. Export it as a PNG to your desktop folder or Creative Cloud.

The Postcard is Complete ... for Now!

Next we add text. We can create and edit text in Illustrator or even here in Photoshop, but we are going to try something different instead.

Step #5

Open Adobe Express on your browser. Create a new project by selecting “From Your Photo” from the home page menu.
Select "Instagram" from the drop-down menu, select "Landscape" and then click "Start with this photo".

Step #6

Add “Text”, enter your text. This first line will be the intro. In this example we have “Greetings From” echoing the typical style of postcard. Select an appropriate font, this one is Yellowtail. Adjust the size and the colors, this example also has added shadow. Note that Express will also recommend fonts and offer a preview.

Step #7

Add”Text” again. This time we are writing the principal title. The location. In this example we have called the location “My Comfy Space”. Again, select size, color and style. This example uses a stronger color in the title for contrast and emphasis. It also has an outline as well as a drop shadow and the text is masked so the background comes through.

Now Download as a PNG and post it to the #design-fundamentals channel on Slack.

In your post, explain in a sentence or two your postcard choices. Also identify the design principles you have consciously applied.

And you're done .... oh, comment on a couple of your peers' postcards while you're at it!

Actually, there's one more step .... I know, I know ..... there's an Instagram account called @postcards_from_home.adv93. It currently sits lonely, but there are some from years' past. Help me populate it with your creations. I'll upload the images but I would like to promote your work as well. So I will add the link to your project on Behance and, if you allow me, I will also tag you in the image. In order to do that I'll need your Instagram handles, of course. But that bit is totally down to you.

Have fun!

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