DEMONSTRATE BASIC TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY WITH ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
For this assignment, you will be using Adobe Illustrator to design a label for a sports or health drink.
You will be inventing your own imagined sports drink or health beverage. I encourage you to have fun with this. You can imagine advances in science and food engineering that make remarkable performance/results possible.
While this is primarily a design exercise intended to give you experience using Adobe Illustrator to build vector graphics, you can also use this as an opportunity to explore artistic concepts or social commentary. This conceptual dimension of the project will not be directly factored into the grading rubric, but a strong concept or message can help provide focus and direction for your design decisions and simply make the project more fun to work on.
Learning Objectives
DEMONSTRATE BASIC TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY WITH ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
This means you should be able to:
draw lines and shapes using a variety of different tools (pen, pencil, primitive shapes (rectangle, ellipse, polygon, etc.).
modify the properties of lines and shapes (fill, stroke, dimensions, etc.)
organize content in layers and sub-layers
adjust the stacking order of elements
DEMONSTRATE BASIC PROFICIENCY WITH THE CREATION, LAYOUT AND EDITING OF TEXT USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
You should be able to:
Change fonts and basic text properties (size, style, paragraph type, etc.)
Modify colors of fills and strokes
Use specialize text design tools such as
Area type
Type on a path
DESIGN ABSTRACT REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGERY USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
You should be able to draw a simplified, stylized representational image of something that will serve as a logo or icon for your product.
DEMONSTRATE A THOUGHTFUL AND INTENTIONAL APPLICATION OF THE ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN.
You will be asked to submit a brief written statement regarding your design for a graded discussion for this assignment.
The design principle of “Unity” should be a high priority for this design.
Look for ways to give your overall composition a cohesive quality.
Use similar shapes to produce a cohesive quality of harmony
Maintain a limited, carefully selected color pallet
Use a very minimal variety of fonts and look for complimentary contrasts between font choices
Instructions
GETTING STARTED
Sign up for your free Adobe Creative Cloud account through ASU: ASU UTO Adobe Creative Cloud access request
Download Adobe Illustrator using the Creative Cloud application or Adobe website.
You will also need Photoshop, Audition, Premiere Pro and Media Encoder for upcoming class modules. I recommend installing these right away so you don’t have to worry about doing so later in this very compressed class timeframe. The raster graphics (Photoshop) module starts next week!
For this assignment you will only be using Illustrator. (As we progress throughout the semester you will start combining tools and techniques using the optimal tools for the specific task.)
Create a new illustrator file. In the document settings window:
Type a meaningful name for your document (include your last name as part of the document name (ex. laheySportsDrinkLabel.aic)
Set the document width and height to 1000 Pixels
Orientation doesn’t matter since this is a square aspect ratio.
Set the number of Artboards to 1.
Leave the Bleed settings at 0 pixels (px).
Set the Color Mode to RGB (If this was for an actual product label and print quality was the top priority, we would set this to CMYK to optimize for the standard printing process which uses Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks. We will be sharing this work through web browsers so it is instead optimized for screen display.)
Set the Raster Effects resolution to Screen (72 ppi) (pixels per inch).
Even though Illustrator is primarily a vector graphics editing tool, it as some raster graphics capabilities. This setting optimizes the rendering of these effects for the target destination (print, video, web).
Leave the Preview Mode as Default.
CONCEPTUALIZATION/FOUNDATIONS (THESE STEPS CAN OCCUR IN ANY ORDER AND MAY CHANGE AS YOU PROGRESS)
Come up with an idea for a new sports drink or health beverage.
See the assignment overview section for more notes on this.
Don’t spend too much time working on, or worrying about this aspect of the project (it is not directly part of your graded evaluation).
Give your product a name.
Again, don’t worry too much about this, but a creative name may help you visualize a design direction for your project.
Think of something that can be abstractly represented as an icon or pictographic logo on your label.
examples include
animals
machines/tools/vehicles
famous historical figures
technological devices
Define the shape of your beverage container.
This can be as simple as a common soda/pop can (which gives you a rectangular profile).
Other varieties of bottles, cans, boxes, etc. can be used, but avoid making the profile of this overly complex. A complex container shape is likely to distract from the label design and make the project more difficult.
Don’t worry about the optical distortion that would occur if the label wraps around a curved surface.
The container shape is simply intended to give you a basic frame for your design and only needs to be represented as a flat profile.
PRODUCTION
Save your file.
Save frequently (this is less critical if you use the Creative Cloud save option).
I recommend using the option to Save to Creative Cloud while you are working on the project.
When your illustration is complete, you will use Save As to save a copy of your illustration to your computer. You will submit this copy as part of your submission. For this step, do the following:
File > Save As
Select “Save on your computer”
Set the Format as Adobe Illustrator (ai)
Click “Save”.
In the “Illustrator Options” panel that pops up
Make sure the Version is “Illustrator 2020”
Check the box for “Include Linked Files”
Leave the other boxes checked.
Click “OK”
Use the Export process to save a flattened, compressed jpg version of your illustration. This file will also be submitted as part of your final submission.
File > Export > Export As
Set the Format as JPEG (jpg)
Click the “Use Artboards” option (this will maintain the white background that you composed your illustration on as part of the final image)
Click “Export”
In the JPEG Options panel that pops up
Set Color Model as RGB
Set the Quality slider bar to 10 (Maximum)
Set Compression Method as Baseline (Standard)
Set the Resolution to High (300 ppi)
Set the Anti-aliasing to Type Optimized (Hinted)
Check the box to Embed ICC Profile
Click “OK”
Create additional files for technical or creative experimentation.
If you are trying out techniques that are new to you. Try them out on a new file first, so you can get an understanding of the technique in a simple, low stakes environment!
Draw/construct the shape of your beverage container. Possible techniques for this include:
Stack primitive shapes to establish the profile of your container
Use Pathfinder > Unite to combine your individual shapes into a single closed path (shape)
Adobe Illustrator help: Methods of combining objectsLinks to an external site.
Draw the profile using a pen or pencil tool
draw a half profile of the container, then use a reflect tool to produce the other half
Locate your Layers panel
Change the name of your top level layer to “container” (or some other meaningful identifying name)
Create a new layer (not a sub-layer).
Re-name this layer to match the next content that you intend to work on.
Continue this process of creating new layers for all of your content.
Layers and sub-layers give you an effective way of keeping your content organized and lets you easily hide, lock and target specific elements or entire groups of elements in your design. Layers and layer content can be moved around to reorder the stacking order of elements in your design.
Always name your layers as you go!
Draw / build your abstract representational image
You might find it very helpful to add a reference photo to help you visualize your image (tracing, as a starting point, is encouraged).
The simplest way to do this is to drag an image file from your computer into your illustrator document.
This will link the image to your document. This means it is not directly added to the Illustrator document itself. Illustrator just has a file path to the original image file on your computer.
You have the option to embed your image file.
Linking and embedding images have different advantages and disadvantages. You can read more about those here:
Adobe Illustrator Help: Manage linked and embedded filesLinks to an external site.
Don’t use the automatic tracing tools in Illustrator for this work
The automatic tracing tools are great, but
I want you to learn more foundational techniques first
Automatic tracing does not easily translate into more stylized and simplified designs.
Yes, you can go back and modify the results of automatic tracing, but this can be a very tedious process.
Place your reference image on a layer above your container shape.
Adjust the transparency of your reference image so you can easily see your drawing/shapes on top of it.
Adobe Illustrator Help: About transparencyLinks to an external site.
Identify the major lines and shapes that are most important for recognizing and characterizing your chosen image.
Start by tracing lines or overlaying shapes to match your reference image.
Periodically turn off the visibility of your reference photo to see how your version of the image is looking on its own (you are not allowed to maintain the photographic content as part of your final design).
Trying adjusting the proportions or shapes of various elements in your image.
For example, larger eyes are often used for stylized animals or people if a more cartoonish or comic book style is desired.
Think of how the shapes could reference something else (ex. flowing or spiky hair could look like flames or lightening bolts)
Experiment with mirrored copies, patterns, or harmoniously layered versions of your abstract representational image.
Continue to add (and name) new layers to build the remainder of your design.
Label content will likely include some or all of the following:
Product name
Product description
Product volume/mass
Background color and/or texture
Additional imagery
Label border
Adobe Illustrator Help: Tutorial: Add text to your designsLinks to an external site.
Tip: Lock any layers you are not actively working on to avoid accidentally moving, deleting, selecting or otherwise editing this content.
Don’t forget that you’ll need to unlock the layers if you want to work on them again!
Deliverables
Upload
Your final Adobe Illustrator file (.ai)
Your final exported JPEG file (jpg)
Requirements: n/a
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