Proposal

In this unit, I will be designing digital graphics in the form of promotional

material for a Manchester based band called The Pixels.
To start this assignment, I had a client meeting with the client to discuss
finer details about the promotional material I will be developing and
producing. The assignment brief states that I must create an A3 poster
with relevant content about the band included. As well as a poster, I have
been tasked with creating a CD cover for the band. The CD cover must
follow a similar format to all CD covers and must have a front, spine and
back to it with relevant content included on all three aspects of the CD
case.
In a previous unit, I have already created an animated web banner for the
same band The Pixels. I can choose whether to use my original logo from
this previous assignment, design a completely fresh one from scratch.
Below are some of my client meeting notes from the client meeting:

Produce promotional materials- already created we banner

Logo- use original from web banner or create new one
A3 Poster- Check size when creating, Include tour/ concert dates
CD- Check size
CD- Include logo, song titles, usual information
CD- FRONT-SPINE- BACK
Design 3x storyboards
Print correct size
Software for creating graphics- Photoshop, Paint, Adobe Illustrator.

Establish Concept

The concept of this assignment is to develop and produce a set of

graphics for a local Manchester band called the Pixels. The graphics that
I will be designing will be a CD cover as well as a poster for the band. I will
also need to create a logo for the band that could be included on my CD
cover and the poster.
Format
I will create all of my graphics to suit a particular format. For example, I
will be creating a CD cover for The Pixels as part of the 3 graphics in total
that I will be producing for the client. The CD cover will have to follow as
certain standard which I must stick to when I start the production of the
cover. As I will be using Photoshop to create all of my graphics I will need
to set a certain canvas size for all of the graphics I will be producing. For
the CD cover, I will set the canvas to actual size of a CD cover when
printed. This will be 12cm x 12cm, this will mean that when I come to the
completion of my graphics and start printing out, my CDE cover will be
printed the actual size of a CD cover.
For my other graphics like the poster, I will be making it to be A3 in
Photoshop, on an A3 sized canvas.

Nature of Content

I will be including similar content in all of the promotional materials that I

will be producing. The logo will be clearly visible on all of the digital
graphics that I design. I will most likely include the logo of The Pixels
clearly on the front of the CD case. The same applies for the A3 poster
that I will also create. I will also include the bands name is a fairly large
and bold font so that it stands out from the page and catches peoples
eyes.
I will include a variety of colours in each of the graphics I am required to
design. The client has stated they want me to create a poster for the band
to advertise the band and give people a little more information on what
the band is about.
As well as the poster, I will be designing a CD cover for the bands album.
The CD cover will include an 8 set track-list of the bands songs which will
be shown on the back of the case. The front of the CD case will include the
bands logo as well as plenty of colour to go with it to make the cover more
interesting and vibrant.

Consideration of Audience usage

For this assignment, I will need to decide upon my target audience for the
band The Pixels and the each of the graphics I will be developing and
producing. I think that people of both genders aged 15- 19 will be my
target audience. This is because I think that if The Pixels were a band in
real-life this is a similar age group as to what theyre own music would be
aimed at. I have not made my graphics gender-specific as I think The
Pixels as a band would not specifically target a particular gender. This will
be important to remember throughout the planning and production of my
digital graphics, as I will also need to design all graphics and logo for The
Pixels to appeal to the same target audience.
I will need to include, as much content as I can that will appeal to the
target audience so my digital graphics can be as successful as possible
and fulfil the clients requirements. This means that I will try to limit the
amount of standard text and instead use more visually appealing
techniques to communicate information to the viewer to make all of my
graphics more interesting and unique. As mentioned
previously, I will try to include an array of colours in my
graphics to try to represent the band as vibrantly and
colourful as I can to show the band in a good light.

Layout Design
The layout and dimensions of my graphics will vary with all three
individual graphics. As mentioned before, the CD cover will have a 12cm x
12cm canvas size In Adobe Photoshop. This is the standard size for the
majority of CD covers currently available. As for my poster, I will set a new
canvas sized on an A3 layout so when I come to print my poster it will be
printed on a large A3 page. For the final graphic I will be just be creating
the logo. The logo will feature on both of my other graphics with the logo
going on the front of the CD cover, as well as running across the top of the
A3 poster. The logo does not have to have a specific canvas size although
I do not want it to be bigger than A4 or smaller than about 11cm so that it
can be easily fitted onto my CD cover and be enlarged slightly to fit the
poster.
When starting the production of the poster I will create for the band, I will
need to set a specific canvas size. In this case, my poster will be printed to
be A3 sized as stated by the client. This means when beginning the
production of the poster, I will set my canvas size to be 29.7cm x 42cm as
this is the actual size of an A3 sheet.
For my CD cover, I will use a standard layout that is used on the majority
of CD covers. This means I will display the bands logo on the front cover of
the CD. This will all that will be on the front of the CD with a mixture of
different colours.
As for the back cover of the CD, I will include an 8 set track list of the
bands greatest hits as said on the cover. The back cover will also include
a range of colours to keep the theme of the band throughout the graphics.
As seen on all CD covers in the real world, I will place a barcode on the
bottom left of the CD cover back to make the cover as realistic as I
possibly can. I will also include a copyright message on the back in small
print as a way of showing that all the content included on the CD cover
and information about the band cannot be replicated by anyone else
without permission.
For the poster that I will be creating, I will design it on an
A3 canvas and upon the whole assignments, completion
will print, the poster on A3 sized paper. I had to change
the dimensions of the canvas in Adobe Photoshop to
29.7cm to 42cm for an exact A3 sized canvas. I will
use the same logo for the poster that will fit across the
top of the poster. I will enlarge the logo slightly so it fills
across the whole of the A3 canvas. I will also add a
pattern of colours that will be partially attached to the
logo.
For all 3 of my graphic designs I will be using the same font for each
graphic. This means that on the poster, I will use a single font for all text.
On the CD cover I will also be using a single chosen font, though it might
not be the same font as the poster. I will be keeping the fonts so that the
text is all equal, this makes it easily readable and keeps all the graphics
standardised. The same thing can be said about the actual size of the
font. This is because for each graphic I will be keeping the font size the
same just like the actual font. However, there are a few exceptions. This is
because I will change the font size on the poster for the dates of the tour
venues. I did this mainly because it would have been difficult to fit dates
that are the same size as all other text on the poster, because there is just
too much content. As well as this, the font size on the CD cover will
change. On the back of the cover, I will include a copyright message.
This message will be in small-print meaning it will be purposefully made
very small when compared to all other information and text on the CD
cover. This is done as the copyright message is still important to include
on any commercial products, but is probably the least relevant piece of
content to regular users of a product.

Images- Editing

As part of this assignment, I will be doing some image editing. This will
involve importing images into Adobe Photoshop either then altering the
overall content of the image and changing it almost completely or just
tweaking some aspects of the image. Once creating my logo, I will be
changing it slightly to fit each of my graphics (poster and CD cover). For
example, I will make the logo larger to fit across the whole of the poster. I
will certainly need to make the logo bigger for this as the poster will be A3
size, so considerably larger than the 12cm x 12cm sized CD cover.

Selection of Style and Tone

I have chosen to have a colourful theme and style to my graphic designs

and logo for the band. This is because I feel this would reflect the band
and the music that they would create as best as possible. I will use a
selection of solid colours as well as colours that fade into lighter shades or
even different colours all together. I have decided to vary the tone of the
colours so that the audience is not bored by
just having the same types of colours or just
plain solid colours that have no variation.

Deadlines

I have been given an ILP (Individual Learning Plan) to help me with this
assignment. The ILP will tell me how long I have until the deadline for this
assignment, it will also give me a guide as to what I should be focussing
on each day, however, I do not need to stick to the ILP completely. This is
because I can complete various different tasks in an order of my choice
whichever I feel best to work on first and which task should be worked on
last. By filling in the ILP as I progress in this assignment, it will let me
know what I have tasks I have already completed and what still needs to
be done.

Advantages of Format

For this assignment, I will be planning and creating all of my digital

graphics. I will eventually produce all of my graphics using Adobe
Photoshop. My logo, CD cover and the bands poster will all be designed
using Photoshop.
I think Photoshop the most suitable software to use when designing any
type of graphics, but my graphics in particular are appropriate for editing
in the software. This is because I will be adding various different styles to
the content of the poster and the CD cover. For example, I will be adding
rays of colours to the poster which will appear to come from just beneath
the logo itself. I will be making the logo in Photoshop as well. I will try to
make it usable across both of my graphic. However, I will probably have to
alter the logo slightly to fit across the top side of my A3 poster. This will
only mean that I will have to enlarge the logo and spread the text to fit the
poster more suitably.

Schedules

Continuing from the deadline, I will need to create my own schedule if I

am not working to what the ILP says I should be working on. This means I
will have to plan what tasks I want to work on first and what should be
done nearer the actual deadline for the assignment.