My experience in creating this postcard was a bit challenging, but that’s the point! Assignments involve overcoming obstacles and learning. I had fun creating the postcard. I feel proud about the outcome. Using all three programs (Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop) was tough, but it was a great experience in developing my skills. I feel as though working on this assignment in class with assistance from my very talented professor Maria, really helped to make certain problems I have been having with these programs stick in my brain. Taking detailed notes of step-by-step instructions has done wonders in helping me improve upon this assignment. Silhouetting pictures in Photoshop and removing the background, creating graphics in Illustrator and placing them into InDesign, and using a text wrap without any problems interfering have all been problems I have when using these programs. These are all problems that I have successfully overcome!
This assignment is essential in design communication. As a designer, you must be able to fluently create a project using all three programs. With constant usage of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign over time becomes natural and less stressful to say the least. When working with a client and they give you a project they want you to complete for them, you need to be able to design whatever it is and design it well. It should exceed all of their expectations to a T with no error. Being fluent in using all three programs is needed to create a perfectly assembled design.
With this postcard, dark colors were used in the background, using burgundy and black hearts to match the shirt in the picture. The text was placed over a lighter version of the background color which was a pinkish color. This was done to help the text stand out and easier to read. Burgundy was used to create a sense of what my personality is like. In the picture, I am wearing a burgundy sweater, which is a color I like to wear often. My car is even burgundy! I like darker color swatches and using lighter variations of colors to create contrast. This helps the colors to “match” just as if I was wearing those colors in my outfit. The picture was edited to create a watercolor effect to cover up a semi-blurry picture. It turns out that I liked the picture more that way and became intentional to create the image I wanted.
The font that was used for the title is a bold Algerian which draws the eye straight to it. The letters are thick and match the hearts on the right. “A Day in the Life of Stephanie Amaro,” is a bold introduction. The bold introduction combined with a light and artistic flowy font (Monotype Corsiva) for the text description works well in contrast with each other. It gives a little bit of variation, but is not overwhelming or too much on the eye.
The design hierarchy that was used in this postcard works perfectly with the use of balance, contrast, and space. The picture that was used and the way it was silhouetted had to be placed on the left side of the postcard. It was only natural for the text to be wrapped around the right side of the picture. The hearts that fall from top to bottom of the right side of the text helps to fill blank space and decorate the words. The hearts also help to display the part in the text that explains my personality that mentions my likability and being able to make friends wherever I go. The title of the postcard “A Day in the Life of Stephanie Amaro,” was placed at the very top and centered to create a starting point to the text and a starting point to the design hierarchy. The space is all filled up but not cluttered. The text and graphics are evenly spaced out with room to breathe.
The assignment requiring the use of all three programs was essential. Each program has its strengths and weaknesses and when all strengths are combined, a beautiful design emerges as a result. These programs are challenging to use and master. Certain tasks cause problems sometimes in these programs and being able to be patient and figure out a way around the problem, is a rewarding feeling. Text wrap always seems to give me problems, but with help from professor Maria, that text was going to wrap around that picture one way or another. By using the pen tool, we were able to make an outline of where I wanted the text to wrap around the picture. The pen tool is often used in Photoshop to silhouette pictures and I learned a new way to use that tool in InDesign, which I did not even know was possible. Overcoming these obstacles allowed me create a beautifully, well-designed in hierarchy, and pleasing to the eye postcard.
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