Portfolio

Nick Christensen

Contact
Nick Christensen 129 Princeton Ct #8 Rexburg, ID 83440 480.518.5501 nck.crstnsn@gmail.com

Table of Contents
Montage Logos Brochure Stationery Event Ad Imaging Flier Business Card Web Page Others

Montage
An inspirational montage made by the blending of two or more images, and the use of typography

Description

Programs
Adobe Photoshop

Date Completed
February 15, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Learn how to smoothly blend images together using filters and masks. Learn to manage photoshop layers and use of other Photoshop tools.

Objectives

I found three high-quality pictures using Google Images: the piano keys, a happy woman, and a sad woman. I opened Adobe Photoshop and set it to a 8.511 landscape document size. I used the piano keys as my background and the two pictures of the women in the foreground. I created a layer mask on top of the women and, while using my opacity tool, I erased and/or softened the edges of the pictures so they would blend in more naturally. With the opacity tool I also added more black color underneath where the text was placed. I also placed a canvas-style filter on top of the whole image.

Process

Logos
Description
Three logos for the same company

Programs
Adobe Illustrator

Date Completed
February 22, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Create three different logos to represent a company and appeals to the audience. Use the basic tools of Illustrator

Objectives

I used Adobe Illustrator to create these logos. It was a good new challenge as I have my previous projects have been either from Adobe InDesign or Adobe Photoshop. I mainly used the rectangle and ellipse tools as well as the pen tool to add detail and make the images more legitimate. I played with different weights of font styles to give the logos contrast. I used certain color schemes that would give the logo a certain feel or mood and add professionalism. I attempted to make the fonts and colors the main focus than the actual image by using contrasting weights and colors.

Process

Brochure
Description
A two sided (duplex) folding brochure. Adobe InDesign Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator

Programs

Date Completed
March 29, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Set up and align a two-sided, folded document. Create an original company logo and use it in a brochure. Incorporate quality images.

Objectives

For this project I mainly used Adobe InDesign but I also used a little bit of Adobe Photoshop. I created an offset layout in InDesign so there was more room on the backside of the brochure to have text and pictures and have a more narrow front. I placed photos in a way that created flow and repetition. For the film reel picture, I used the quick selection tool in Photoshop to crop out the background and then placed the image in InDesign and used a text wrap option to wrap my text around the alpha channel of the image. I used the same color scheme in my brochure as my logo to show rhythm and gestalt.

Process

Stationery
Description
Letterhead

Programs
Adobe Illustrator

Date Completed
March 1, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Create a variety of logos with Illustrator tools to brand a company or person. Design consistent layouts for a business card and letterhead. I created the logo using simple shapes in Adobe Illustrator. I used multiple elements to create the film reel: the ellipse tool to make the outside and inside rings, the star tool to create the triangles, the convert anchor tool to create round edges on the triangles, and the pen tool to create the film strip. After inserting the text, I placed the logo into Adobe InDesign into my letterhead document. I placed the logo on the top left corner with room for the margins. I included contact information on the top right side and created two squiggly lines to create my borders. I copied the film reel image and made it much larger but lowered the opacity to 15% to create a watermark, and placed that on the right side of the page.

Objectives

Process

Event Ad
A color full-bleed event ad to promote a fundraiser using only Microsoft Word and a scanner.

Description

Programs
Microsoft Word

Date Completed
February 1, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Scan and import a high-quality image and use in a full-bleed design in Microsoft Word. I scanned this image of the outdoors and wanted the scenery to be the main focal point of the ad. I chose to organize the ad into three sections and add the blue diagonal box to create flow along with the green dots to add repetition. I used a fun decorative font to make the title of the event stick out and used a contrasting smaller font for my body copy. When I finished the design, I used https://pdf2jpg.net to create my PDF into a JPG image. It was neat to see the hidden features within Microsoft Word and use them to make this advertisement.

Objectives Process

Imaging
Demonstrate good photography and image editing skills. Incorporating color into a poster layout with original photo.

Description

Programs
Adobe Photoshop

Date Completed
February 7, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Learn basic photography skills. Adjust image levels , saturation, color balance, sharpen tool on seperate layers for non-destructive editing. Use layers and size and crop image.

Objectives

When given this assignment, the first thing I did was choose a color scheme from the Visual FOCUS book to use for the layout. After selecting the Analogous color scheme, I took this photo of my guitar and its hard case in a composition thirds shot. I used Photoshop to place the image and added elements of repetition and contrast to make the overall piece flow. I used two contrasting fonts that worked well with each in delivering the message. I added the colors I used as well as the color scheme name to show the different swatch colors. I then exported the finished Photoshop document into a JPG file.

Process

Flier
Black & White flier advertising of the upcoming Graduate Leadership Conference

Description

Programs
Adobe InDesign

Date Completed
January 25, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Apply the design principles and use appropriate typography. Incoporate basic InDesign skills to improve basic flier layout.

Objectives

First I made sketches of potential flier designs. Then I selected the sketch that best fit my intended message and used Adobe InDesign to create the flier. I used the dark circles to create flow and repetition. I left white space to help balance the other elements. The logo, image, and body copy was given to help create this flier.

Process

Business Card

Description
Professional business card

Programs
Adobe Illustrator

Date Completed
March 1, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Create a variety of logos with Illustrator tools to brand a company or person. Design consistent layouts for a business card and letterhead. I created the logo using simple shapes in Adobe Illustrator. I used multiple elements to create the film reel: the ellipse tool to make the outside and inside rings, the star tool to create the triangles, the convert anchor tool to create round edges on the triangles, and the pen tool to create the film strip. For the business cards, I created two simple boxes and added a thin black stroke. I placed the name of the company on one side of the card, while placing the film reel design and contact info on the other side. Then I exported the files into JPEG formats.

Objectives

Process

Web Page
A web page designed to showcase a personally created logo.

Description

Programs
TextWrangler

Date Completed
March 15, 2014

Course/Instructor
Visual Media, Julie Peterson Optimizing photos and logos for the web. Designing a web page using HTML and CSS. Understanding hex colors, compressed files, and web language

Objectives

I mainly used TextWrangler and and a little bit of Photoshop with this activity. To make the web page I used TextWrangler to put in edit my code and text. I validated the text through the http://www.W3.org HTML validator. After marking content and putting in my image, I used a pre-made CSS document to my HTML. I decided to make my web page color scheme the same as my logo color scheme: monochromatic yellow. I chose colors that would help my image and text stand out. I changed the fonts and font families to have the web page text flow better. This was perhaps the most challenging assignment but it was a lot of fun to do once I became familiar with the programs.

Process

Others