Week 5: History: Design Styles

In researching different design styles for the label assignment, I found a website that gives a brief visual history of some 2oth Century styles and breaks down their characteristics. The first one it mentions is Victorian, which is symmetrical, ornamental, has type is on a curve, has romanticized floral patterns, and is idyllic. Arts and Crafts styles is a revival of Medieval craftwork with detailed wroth-iron-like design work. Art Nouveau is Asian-inspired with flat illustrations and feminine curves. Modern design lacks ornamentation, loves structured, geometric design layouts and sans-serif font. Art Deco also uses geometry but utilizes lines of force and aerodynamic shapes with tall fonts. American Kitsch is casual, using script fonts and caricatures. Swiss International is very abstract, using mostly only type with basic geometric shapes. Contemporary is simple and uses visual metaphors.

http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/9000_review/review.html

Week 5: Onion Label Sketches

Week 4: History: Website

Week 4: Photoshop Logo Layouts

Craft

For these layouts I used InDesign and imported the necessary Illustrator files, most scaled down. The black bar at the top is set on a master page. The font is Myriad Pro in Regular and Bold.

Concept

Each spread is treated as a showcase of the actual Adobe Photoshop logos, ideas, revisions, and students' revisions.

Composition

Titles are at the top to organize the layouts. Each layout showcases the designs with captions underneath.

Week 3: History:

Week 3: Photoshop Logo Revisions

Craft

For these revisions I simply adjusted the color and the gradient for a lighter blue. Then I tried another revision removing the starburst from the background. The new design is a single outline traced from a sketch. It has a gradient effect to create three-dimensionality. The shine is achieved with a pair of path shapes with a transparent white solid color.

Concept

The revisions follow the same concepts of simplicity as the current Photoshop logo does. The new design is a blend between the current logo and the old logo by combining a P with an eyeball.

Composition

The new revisions are brighter, less busy, and easier to see. The new design is noticeably a P and the eyeball is a secondary aspect.

Week 2: History: Photoshop Logo

From '88 to '02 the photoshop logo has consisted of an eye. It was mainly a photo editing software and people are common photography genre. So something like a human eye was appropriate in dictating that this was photo editing software. Once Adobe launched Creative Suite, the logo drastically changed for '03-'05. It went from eyes to feathers. This move might have been done to emphasize the creative and painterly side of photoshop since the software was already well known and really becoming an industry standard. That logo quickly faded and a simple blue square with the P.S. initials took its place in '07 and on. Again, photoshop is widely known to the point where it has become a verb. An elaborate logo was unnecessary. The current simple logo is shared with other Adobe software to suggest interconnectivity. The blue color and initials are the only identifiers needed.
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/evolution-of-photoshop/
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/02/20-years-of-adobe-photoshop/