PS Word as Image

ASSIGNMENT 1 for Project 1

DESIGN BRIEF

Creating a Word as an Image encourages you to see letters beyond their utilitarian dullness. It’s about discovering the magic behind the unique shapes and infinite possibilities of letters and words.

  • CREATE a new page on your website: Photoshop Word as Image

ASSIGNMENT 1 for Project 1

DESIGN BRIEF

Word as Image | 3 ORIGINAL WORDS

DIRECTIVE

  • Choose any THREE words of your own to design as an image
  • 3 separate documents
  • Each letter of the word should be create on a DIFFERENT layer

Challenge: Create an image out of a word, using only the letters in the word itself.

Rule: Use only the graphic elements of the letters without adding outside elements.

The font and image should be in harmony with the phrase. Read this to help you choose your fonts. Note: There are no images in this project.

  • Research
  • Inspiration
  • Three Sketches of Each Word

All of the above should be uploaded to both Flickr and your project page.

 DUE DATE: Week 9 | We will have in-class critiques

  • Three words with their dictionary definition and thesaurus
  • Research: Create a Pinterest and pin 10 pieces of inspiration
  • Low and High Fidelity Sketches of Each Word
  • Photoshop Iteration of Each Word

 DUE DATE: Week 10

  • Three words with their dictionary definition and thesaurus
  • Research: Create a Pinterest and pin 10 pieces of inspiration
  • Three Sketches of Each Word
  • Color Sketches of Each Word
  • Photoshop Iterations
  • Final Photoshop PSD Files
  • Final Photoshop JPG Files
  • Word Document Description (600 words minimum)
  • ALL files should be placed on Flickr, on your project page, and in a folder on your DropBox. Name the folder: date_yourname_WordAsImage

ASSIGNMENT 3 for Project 1

Animated GIF’s (Graphics Interchange Format)
Most popular name example

DIRECTIVE

  • Creative an animated GIF of each of the THREE words you designed in Photoshop.

Upload to both Imgur or YouTube and your project page.

 DUE DATE: Week 10

TUTORIAL on Creating Animated GIF’s

See below. This link is an additional resource. Photoshop / Creating frame animations

1. Collect all the images you want to use and place in a folder.

2. In Photoshop create a new image – image size: 700px wide, color profile: RGB, ppi: 72.

3. Drag all the images from your folder into the new document in Photoshop. When you drop the images into the new document, the first image displays an overlaid “x.” Click the Commit

Transform checkmark on the top-right or press Enter to position the images as separate layers. Bring in all the images until they are loaded and visible in the Layers panel.

4. You can rearrange the layers according to the sequence of the animation.

5. Go to Window > Timeline, to open the Timeline. On the Timeline (small pull down menu), select
Create Frame Animation.

6. From the Animation palette menu (the downward arrow on the top-right of the palette), select Make Frames from Layers. You can also select Reverse Frames if needed. The layered file is placed on the Timeline with each layer changing into an individual frame for the animation.

7. Set the time delay for each frame according to the animation you want to create. Click the drop down button just below each frame. Custom delays can be set up in the pop up menu. Each frame can be set individually with specific time delays. If all frames are selected, all frames can be set to
the same time. You can also use the pop-up (marked Forever) to set the animation loops. Forever can be used if you want it to loop indefinitely or any specific amount from the pop-up.

8. Go to File > Save for Web.

Internet tips to help make your GIFs as small as possible.

1. Crop away any extra space around the image. Reducing the pixel dimensions of your image is the single most effective way to reduce the file size.
2. Reduce the number of colors in the image.
3. Reduce the number of frames in the image.
4. Avoid dithering. Dithering may make some images look better, but it will increase the file size. If your software allows it, use a lower level of dithering to save extra bytes.
5. Some software has a “lossy” option for saving GIFs. This option can significantly reduce the file size, but it also reduces image quality.
6. Don’t use interlacing. Interlacing usually increases the file size.
7. Avoid useless animation.
8. GIF images with large blocks of solid color and horizontal patterns compress better than images with color gradations, soft shadows, and vertical patterns.
9. When reducing colors in GIFs, you’ll get the best compression when the number colors is set to the smallest possible of these options: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, or 256.

ASSIGNMENT 4 for Project 1

ADD audio to each of your three animated gif’s.

RESOURCE

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Ramapo College Adjunct Assistant Professor Najlah Hicks