Wed, Apr 08
InDesign continues
Today's objectives
- Review InDesign
- Images: Sizes, formats, links, resolution
- Text wrap
- Guides and grids
- Colour modes
- Review assignments
- Prepare for practical quiz
Type design
Nebula Sans is a typeface developed for Nebula, and online video platform. This video explains some of the thinking behind the design.
In-Class Assignment next week
You will have 90 min to complete a project using Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, based on provided materials. Basic image manipulation in Photoshop, drawing or altering vector images in Illustrator, and assembling text and images into a final product in InDesign with be the core skills you will need to demonstrate.
Make sure your computer is functioning properly before the in-class assignment and consider using a NSCAD lab to write the assignment if you are not sure your computer will be reliable. Making sure you have access to a working computer with the necessary software is your responsibility.
The in-class assignment will be done under quiz conditions - no outside resources or help is permitted.
Resources
Samples
Download the sample files Samples.Grids
Production
A detailed guide to preparing files for commercial print.
Book recommendations
While there are many good online resources, learning about typography requires reading printed books. Here are a few:
Free! Erik Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works is in a new editon and is a free download sponsored by Google fonts. Spiekermann is opinionated, direct, sometimes grumpy, and almost always correct. Well written and accessible for beginners but valuable for all.
Ellen's Lupton's Thinking with Type is recently revised, and covers many newly added topics like non-latin alphabets and accessibility. Highly recommended
Most technical and practical, InDesign Type: Professional Typography with Adobe InDesign, 4th Edition covers how to use InDesign's powerful but sometimes daunting type and layout controls. Worth every penny
Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographical Style is what I refer to when I want to end an argument about type (or start one.) Opinionated (notice a trend), sometimes quirky, but brings a poet's love of language to typography, something many style manuals lack. Strictly focussed on printed text, such as books.
Presentations
Fundamentals of animation
The 12 Principles of Animation: https://idearocketanimation.com/13721-12-principles-of-animation-gifs/Animation with After Effects
After Effects is a bit like Photoshop for video. It's a huge and powerful program, and will take some time to understand. A few basic concepts:
Projects
A project is where everything associated with your particular work is located. A project has one or more compositions
Composition
A composition is a combination of graphics. A simple project may only have one composition, a complex one may have hundreds.
Layer
AfterEffects layers are similar (but not identical) to Photoshop layers. They may contain still images, motion graphics, video footage, type, effects or 3d elements.
Timeline
The timeline allows you to move through projects and compositions in time. Each layer has its own sequence of frames/
Frame
A frame is a single point on the timeline. When frames are played back rapidly, the illusion of motion is created. A typical frame represents 1/30 of a second.
Basic animation
- Transform:
- Position
- Scale
- Opacity
- Rotation
- Animate lines with trim paths
- Import from Photoshop and Illustrator
- Animate text