Design Ideas and Design Progress

As I had rarely worked in Photoshop before, my main aim was to understand the basics of the software and to create a design for my podcast cover. Firstly, I experimented with layering and adjusting and manipulating the photo editing tools to fit my theme for the podcast cover which was originally The Bauhaus. In my second design idea, I followed a tutorial on using the perspective warp tool. I applied this to the text and made it seem like there was text coming out of a microphone. For my final design, I brought everything that I had learnt so far and began create what turned out to be my final cover.

Three design ideas:

My most effective cover was Design 2 as it had the perspective warp tool being used which I learnt in Design 1 and has the most room for development.

I started by adding a textured background, to the background of the podcast cover as it was very flat meaning there was little depth. To do this, I watched a tutorial on how to overlay images in photoshop. (Adobe Asia Pacific, 2021). I then used my knowledge from Design 3, to make the background lose its brightness as it distracted from the main object of the cover. I also decided to change the color theme of the podcast mic. This was because the pink stood against the blue/sand background much more clearly. This design was very successful as it allowed me to utilise all the skills that I had wanted to improve on and learn more as I was able layer images effectively and be able to add type and have it be legible as well as being able to manipulating the photo editing tools to better the design.

Software Tutorials

Although, all the tutorials given in the brief were very useful, I found the adobe tutorial on adjusting the image quality (Adobe.com, 2021) and working with layers (Adobe.com, 2021) the most important for my particular design for my podcast cover. This is because the adobe page on understanding layers helped me to improve on my skills of layers, the use of them and how to view them the photoshop software. This article taught me about the ability to change the opacity of layers. This was useful for me in creating the podcast mic as I was able to lower the opacity of the background layers which enabled me to see what I was drawing even more clearly than it would have been at full opacity. The article on adjusting brightness and contrast was very useful for me as it allowed me to experiment with the brightness and contrast tool with my background layer and I ended up using this tool to make the background darker so it could push forward and help the main text and object stand out in the podcast cover. This turned out to be very successful and made the overall podcast cover look much more interesting and visually pleasing to the eye.

Another tutorial that I found useful, was the adobe tutorial on using the perspective warp tool in photoshop. I used this tool to have the title of the podcast curve around the podcast mic to give the illusion that the mic is 3D. I feel this was both successful and unsuccessful as although the text followed the curve of the microphone, it does not give the illusion of the mic being 3D. I would have continued to work on this, however, I felt it was more important to look the overall cover.

Adobe tutorial – https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/perspective-warp.html

Design Resources and Articles

For tutorials, I mostly used the Adobe website and a couple of youtube tutorials. In this task I wanted to be able to master basic layering (Adobe.com, 2021) and to be able to add text to my design (Adobe.com, 2019) in a way that did not crowd my podcast cover. However, the most important tutorial was on image overlay (Adobe.com, 2021) as this tutorial allowed me to experiment with my background and adding some interest to the overall podcast cover as it was looking flat and plain. From this tutorial, the most important thing I learnt, was how to blend images into the design or images I was working on. This was incredibly useful as I have previously struggled with merging images together smoothly and successfully. In my particular design, I was then able to go into color overlay and adjust the slider to make the textured layer sit in a way that gave the desired finish.

Another tutorial that was very helpful for my design, was an adobe tutorial on how to apply a gradient fill to a shape (Adobe.com, 2021). I decided to include a gradient fill to my podcast mic shape as I felt it give the cover some depth and help it stand out from the textured background. This tutorial helped me figure out how to change the appearance of my gradient as I felt having an angular gradient would add some visual interest.

I would still like to improve on my use of more photo editing tools and using them to adjust or manipulate images as feel I have not showcased them in this final podcast cover and am not too confident on how to use all the tools apart from the brightness/contrast tool, hue and colour saturation. Although, I was able to use the brightness/contrast to make the background darker so that it would not distract the eye from the main text and object of the podcast cover.

Tutorials:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/gradients.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/layer-basics.html#:~:text=The%20Layers%20panel%20in%20Photoshop,in%20the%20Layers%20panel%20menu.&text=Choose%20Window%20%3E%20Layers
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnSAnAolpmI
• https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/how-to/add-text-photo.html#:~:text=Go%20to%20the%20tools%20panel,appeared%20in%20the%20Layers%20panel