Tag Archives: Fall 2021

Computer Graphic Design

THE PRINCIPLES OF C.R.A.P. 2021

Today we are going to start learning about the Principles of Design. Specifically, we will be studying four major principles that will help make everything you create more visually pleasing and easy to read. Understanding these principles will help you to identify how to improve your own design choices as well as the design of others.

These four Principles are Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity, which form a very amusing (if slightly unfortunate) acronym: C.R.A.P.

Follow along with the in-class demonstration or watch the attached PowerPoint presentation to learn how we’re going to use the Principles of C.R.A.P. to make things that don’t look like crap!

Objective:

I can name the Principles of Design and describe what they mean by creating a document that shows what each principle looks like so I can effectively identify when these principles are (or are not) being used in a published work.

Links:

Topics Discussed:

  • Principles of Design
  • Contrast
  • Repetition
  • Alignment
  • Proximity

Assignment:

  1. Read “1 – README – The Joshua Tree Epiphany” silently while I read aloud in class.
  2. Read the rest of the document that introduces the four Principles of Design.
  3. Watch the C.R.A.P Design Principles Presentation for further clarification on what the principles are, how they are used, and what they look like.
  4. Visit my Google Classroom page, and complete today’s activity: Answer the questions in the “Check for Understanding 1 – The Principles of Design” form.
  5. We will go over the principles in detail next week.
  6. Make sure you understand what the four principles are, what the terms mean, what they look like, and how we use them in our documents, as we will have a Check for Understanding later this week.

Assigned: September 3rd, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: September 7th, 2021

Computer Graphic Design

STUDENT PROFILE PROJECT 2021

Objective:

I can use InDesign to make a document that represents myself and my goals so I can prove that I can continue to use the tools in InDesign to express my unique perspective and individuality.

Links:

Topics Discussed:

  • InDesign Page Layout
  • Default Settings
  • Pages Palette
  • Layers Palette
  • Links Palette
  • Stroke Palette
  • Color Palette
  • Swatches Palette
  • Fill
  • Stroke
  • Type Tool
  • Type on a Path Tool
  • Character Palette
  • Character Formatting Controls
  • Paragraph Formatting Controls
  • Font
  • Leading
  • Kerning
  • Tracking
  • Vertical Scale
  • Horizontal Scale
  • Baseline
  • Baseline Shift
  • Skew
  • Alignment (Left, Right, Center, Justified)
  • Indent
  • Drop Cap

Assignment:

  1. Download the Student Profile Example and use it as your guide to completing this project. Create a new Letter size (8.5 inches x 11 inches) document in InDesign, change your measurement Units from Picas to Inches, and leave all the other settings at the defaults.
  2. You must have all of these sections on your profile, with all the information listed on the sample. Create a subheading in 24 pt type for each of the four sections:  
    1. “My Schedule“
    2. “Vital Information“
    3. “Personal History“
    4. “Favorites“
  3. You must have at least five different pictures in total. Save all pictures in a folder in the same location as your .indd file to preserve the image links.
  4. Your pictures should include:
    • A picture of yourself that clearly shows your face.
    • Four other pictures of your choice. (You may use the Internet.)
  5. Headlines:   Each section must have a headline (bigger text) describing the section.  
    See the sections above for the four subheadings (not as big text, but bigger than the body copy) for the sections that you will need 24 pt type or bigger.
    • The largest headline will say “Student Profile: Your Name” in 36 pt or bigger type
  6. Fonts:   You may only use three different typefaces (fonts).  
    • The size for the body copy (all the words that aren’t headlines) is 12 point.
  7. Color:   Use as much color as you want. I will be printing them in color and hanging them on the cabinets in my classroom.
  8. Design:   This is your design. Do not make it look exactly like the example shown in class, or anybody else’s profile.

Use “File -> Adobe PDF Presets -> High Quality Print” to Export the document as a high quality Adobe PDF called “Your Name – Student Profile.PDF”, and turn in this completed file to the Google Classroom assignment page by Wednesday, September 1st, 2021.

Assigned: August 27th, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: September 1st, 2021