Design Ideas & Design Process

I approached this task with the goal of learning how to use more tools in the software. So, after some research, I had ideas to develop, tools to learn and skills to master.

Design 1

Figure 1 – Final edit 1

Like many others, there are countless photos I have taken that include an object or person that just ruins it, the original photo from this design being one of them. In instances like this, once you remove the item that feels like it doesn’t belong, it gives off a much more peaceful feel. So, my aim for this edit was to seamlessly remove the sign from the image.

 

Design 2

figure 2 – final edit 2

As someone who loves flowers, I have seen lots of different types and colours, but very rarely do I see blue ones. The fact that Photoshop has the ability to edit the colour of specific sections of images is fascinating to me, so after some research I developed the skills of how to do this.

 

Design 3

figure 3 – final edit 3

This idea stemmed from visiting a Mini car dealership. Their cars can be seen as if they’re driving up the walls and I wanted to replicate this in my work. To develop the idea, I selected an image of a skyscraper to give a much more dramatic feeling and to ensure this was the sole focus of the design.

 

Software Tutorials

Design 1

Figure 4 – Original image

Figure 5 – Close up of edit

figure 6 – retouching layer

The use of the clone stamp tool is how my design went from the original image (Figure 4) to the edited version (Figure 1). I used a portion with similar pixels as my sample area and covered the sign with duplicates. Different brush sizes really helped me achieve the result as they allowed me to be precise with my placing. With the background not being consistent, I had to take multiple sample areas to conceal the sign. This raised some challenges as this was not covered in tutorials I watched, but I solved them by using great attention to detail. I would like to develop this skill further in terms of accuracy as the tree trunk is not completely straight and there is some obvious repetition.

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/how-to/clone-stamp-remove-object.html

 

Design 2

figure 7 – original image

figure 8 – use of eyedropper in hue

figure 9 – refining the background

figure 10 – use of curves

After following tutorials, I learnt that the first step was to add a hue to certain colours using the eyedropper tool (Figure 8). Then, to erase the unwanted colour changes, I used the brush tool in black and white. As seen above, I paid close attention of the finer details of the flower outline to create a realistic result (Figure 9). Once I was happy with these refinements, I experimented with a curves layer to add some depth to the image (Figure 10). Although I was careful with editing around the flower, a skill I would like to further develop is ensuring no original colour comes through. I will experiment with different brush types as I think ones with soft edges don’t help this matter.

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/using/replace-colors.html

 

Design 3

figure 11 – original image

figure 12 – use of object selection tool

figure 13 – adding layer mask

The efficient way I did this was using the object selection tool. This selected the car and once I added a layer mask, the car had been cut out of the image. I had to research further about how to refine the cut as it was not as smooth as I had desired. After this edit, I placed it on top of the background image and that was my edit completed. Technically, this edit is not the strongest I created as the image cut is not perfect, meaning this is a skill I would like to improve on in the future.

https://petapixel.com/2020/04/08/how-to-make-photoshops-object-selection-tool-way-more-precise/

 

Design Resources & Articles

Design 1

After looking into lots of tutorials and articles, this one stood out to me. I came away with multiple ways to approach the task of removing a defect from an image. This really helped develop my idea generation as I knew the capabilities of the software, and therefore could select an appropriate image.

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/how-to/photo-retouching-basics.html

 

Design 2

My inspiration for this design was the idea of colour psychology. This refers to the emotions that certain colours convey. I researched into what each colour could represent but made the choice to use blue as it has connotations with calmness, an emotion also related to flowers. It is also a contrasting colour to the warmer colours like yellow and pink in the image, meaning it stands out effectively.

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-blue-2795815

 

Design 3

figure 14 – Mini car dealership in inverness, Scotland

Linked below is an article that explains some of the advertising choices behind placing MINIs on the walls of their buildings. This reading really emphasises the lengths the brand has gone to so I decided to reflect that in my work by selecting the type of building that is taller than everything, a skyscraper.

Learning Across the Module

Personally, I would say my knowledge in which software to use for certain tasks has improved tremendously, along with combining softwares for desired outputs.

• For InDesign, the design skill I developed most was how to use grid systems for even layouts.
• For Photoshop, my overall skill in manipulating images to look a certain way has improved, but in particular my ability to edit positioning of pixels to give off a different impression.
• For Illustrator, I have a wider skill set thanks to this module, especially when it comes to the amount of tools I know how to use and what situations to use them in.

In regards to my quiz results, a skill I gained over the course of the module is the ability to set up documents correctly for both digital and print purposes. I still need to develop my skills in file and font formatting as I have not come across these a lot. Also, I need to further revise settings for importing and scanning images.