Vectors – Day 5

Its Day 5. My hand was starting to hurt at this point. The tutor had suggested I use a hedera in my design. I wanted to try it. I liked this one.

http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/punct3.jpg?w=600&h=600

It means ivy.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hedera?s=t

Since I noticed that my designs were sometimes unbalanced, I thickened the stroke. The coloured lines are guides.

Mmm this turned out quite well. I thought that the smaller parts might be too small.

I think this one turned out really well. I tried to use bigger elements. The butterfly looks a bit small I suppose.

Conclusion
I had to stop at this point because my hand was hurting. It was obviously a repetitive strain injury. I quite like the last one I made here. Designing these things is difficult! I might make some more. Its lucky I’ve got this one to fall back on if none of these turn out well.

Vectors – Day 4

I did an image search to get some inspiration. I really like this design.

http://www.freevectors.net/download.php/8403

I wanted to make a leaf like this one.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-young-leaf-image13415236

I put it into Photoshop and cleaned it up. I then made it into a vector.

Whoa…not sure what I was thinking here. This doesn’t look right at all!

Lets start again. The coloured lines are guides.

I wanted to have a butterfly in the centre so I used this one.

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/dimkasl/dimkasl1012/dimkasl101200010/8350894-blauer-schmetterling-isoliert-auf-weiss.jpg

I really like how this turned out.

Conclusion
The last design turned out well. I noticed that it may still look unbalanced though because the type is so bold and dark and the vector is really delicate. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Vectors – Day 3

Its Day 3. Today I wanted to make a design that went all the way around the type. Here I am making some pieces and seeing what is going to work.

I decided to make this idea from the sketch I made.

Well the piece from the sketch turned out OK. I think the rest of it doesn’t look that great.

I think this idea turned out OK but it’s too top-heavy. The design takes attention away from the type.

Conclusion
I’m glad I tried these ideas but I don’t think any of them are massively successful. They are either unbalanced or just not how I wanted them to look. I will try again tomorrow.

Vectors – Day 1

I decided I wanted to try to design my own vector. I went on a five-day vector binge which culminated in my right hand getting a repetitive strain injury! This is Day One. I made this sketch.

I thought I’d try to make this middle piece.

I coloured it in using Photoshop, to make it darker.

I used Image Trace in Illustrator to turn it into a vector. Here I am using the Pen Tool and the Direct Selection Tool to define the shape I wanted.

I used a box as a guide to show me where to put the elements of the design.

Here I used object > transform > reflect > copy so the two sides would be symmetrical.

This is as far as I got. It took a long time just to get this far.

Conclusion
Wow vectors take so long to make! It was quite frustrating. The pen tool should be renamed the frustration tool. This session has gone okay. There is obviously a long way to go. I will carry on tomorrow and see what I can make.

Idea – Calligraphic Floral Design Elements – Fleur-de-lis

The client sent me this photo. I decided to make a design like the one here.

I wanted to see how others have made a design and placed the fleur-de-lis in the centre. I think the client wants calligraphic floral design elements.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-set-calligraphic-floral-design-elements-image24272419

I liked the way this one had the fleur-de-lis in the centre.

I looked at some fleur-de-lis designs. I wanted to see how others have made them.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-142961383/stock-vector-lily-flower-vector-image-isolated-on-white-background.html?src=pp-same_artist-132326441-uQATtD0FP–u-2rFIbvilA-5

I thought this one looked good. I like the way it fits together.


http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-fleur-de-lis-image15627594

I really liked the look of this one.

I wanted some calligraphic floral elements like these.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=177907079&src=id

I put it into Photoshop.

I cleaned it up and made it black and white.

I made both pieces into vectors. Here I began to put them together.

It wasn’t too difficult to fit the pieces together.

Here I started reshaping the pieces to give them back their definition.

Here I am editing the handles to define floral shapes.

Here is the design so far.

I made the design smaller than the type.

Conclusion
I need to show this to the tutor to get his feedback. I really like this design. I will explain to the tutor the angle I’m going for.

Sugarpill Cosmetics

I’ve always though Sugarpill Cosmetics had really cool and eye-catching graphic design on their website and packaging. They make really awesome eye shadows but that’s not what I’m going to talk about here.

The image below arrived in my inbox. I love the bright colours of Elektro Cute. I started thinking about whether or not I’d be able to design something this awesome.

I started looking at the different typography on the site and wondering if I could make something like this. Here is the Sugarpill logo.

A sticker.

http://www.sugarpillshop.com/products/glitter-logo-sticker-light-pink

Here are three more pieces of typography. I find it really eye-catching. As a customer of Sugarpill I think whoever did their branding and packaging did an amazing job. I would love to know how this typography was made. I assume the designer would have used a program like Illustrator and made them from vectors. I also wonder how long it would take to make typography like this.

I think I will ask my tutor if he will show us how to make one of these and then we can make our own one.

New Designs for Identity

Last year I wanted to make a repeating pattern for my stationary. I tried but as you can see in this post (link below)
http://inspiredideasheresecondary.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/making-a-repeating-pattern-for-the-back-of-my-letter/
I really struggled and eventually gave up.

I had faith that the design would work so I started again. I looked on Shutterstock to see what type of vectors they have. I liked this one. I used it to help me make a similar one.
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=126475913&src=id

Here is the design I made. I really like it. It looks like a flower.

I used a gradient to make this effect.

I rotated and copied the vector into a circle.

Here is a quick demonstration of how to rotate a vector. First make your design, then copy and paste it. Select both and use align.

Click object > transform > rotate.

Get the angle you want. This is probably the most difficult part. You may have to try a few different angles till you get the one you want.

Click copy. The rotate options box will disappear. Click object > transform > transform again. Repeat until you have the desired effect.

First arrangement: I then used the design to make my business card.

Second arrangement: Here I’m trying a different typeface.

Here is the name of the typeface.

Third design idea.

Forth arrangement.

This is Pluto Sans Light in 9pt.

This is Pluto Sans Light in 9pt again.

This is the design for the back of my business card.

I added a shadow in Photoshop to see what it would look like.

This is an idea for my letterhead.

I made it a bit smaller. I think it looks neater.

I tried this arrangement but I don’t think it works. It looks strange.

This is the design for the back of my letter.

I made this repeat pattern (above) using Illustrator’s Pattern Options menu.

I would recommend this video. This is how I learnt to use the Pattern Options menu.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-illustrator-cs6/creating-a-simple-pattern/