The inspiration for the design came from the above average productions logo which has the giant A design. The circle inspiration came from NBA logos and what is aesthetic and is effective to market with merchandise and business materials such as business cards.

The most critical element of the logo was the stroke width and color. Blending the K into the leg of the A took a lot of precision and tries so that it not only lined up but met at a point that made the A aesthetically pleasing. An obstacle that came up was how to properly utilize the paint bucket tool. I only wanted the A filled black but the points were not closed so it took an extra pass through an increased the level of precision to ensure all lines intersected and the A was a closed shape. The line across the A was a rectangle tool where the cut tool was then utilized to cut any unwanted corners off of the logo. By combing both text and vector lines, transitions were not always smooth so multiple pass-throughs and enhanced focus were needed.

A stylistic decision I made was to make the hyphen in my name a sword as a play on words with Knight, this was used by having three lines intersect at a point and leaving small gaps in between which is aesthetically pleasing, but also represents an important piece of journalism which is to read between the lines. Black and white coloring were made to look like a newspaper, and modern designs leave the logo open for interpretation which is the intended goal. For the final draft, I want to reduce some of the empty space and clean up some of the sloppiness around the edges.

For my final design, I made some big changes that really enhanced the piece in comparison to the rough draft. The most prominent change was the background color. The feedback on it was positive, but a multitude of errors came as a result of the stark contrast between the powder blue and images. I also added shadows to the back of every image because I got feedback acutely stated that the images appeared sloppy on the background.

I switched the bottom left picture from a shot of just Persephone to me holding my nine-month-old pug. However, that picture was from finished when it was placed so I had to make many technical changes before it was project ready. First, I removed the border around all of the images which were noted by my group’s comments. I then added a drop shadow to enhance the contrast between myself and the background. The final step which is not visible in the image is that Persephone’s eyes got overexposed by the picture so I went frame by frame and made the eyes the rightful shade of black.

The lettering of the title changed a fair amount as well. In the first draft, I blended the title in with the picture of Persephone, on the final draft I brought the title to the front making it easier to read and more visually appealing. I also added a fictional preview for the magazine inside which made it look a lot more legit and believable as a magazine. I got my inspiration for the magazine cover from Nathan For You which often showcased oddly specific publications and Dog Parent Monthly would fit that bill well.

Overall, I am very pleased with the result and feel like the images fit well and look natural on the neutral background. Adding drop shadows, cutting out the images from their background more precisely and removing borders were the main changes for the final draft. Although the technical portion was not amazing, I made big improvements from where I started.

For my graphic design project, I wanted to create a fictional magazine that summarized my life well. Then I wanted to create a cover for that magazine that compassed many important things in my life. For this, I used a picture of my fiance and me from the day we adopted our Chiweenie from his shelter which provided a meaningful starting place for the project. The picture of my pug Persephone was taken in portrait mode on my iPhone XS, the high-quality camera made image editing easier. As you can see from the visible borders I had some difficulty clearing the border which I am going to work to improve by the time the final draft comes along.

I am pleased with the result of the piece in its current state as a first draft, but I will probably start over and use the rough draft as inspiration and create more opportunity to make the piece look like a real magazine. The rule of thirds was followed to keep the image interesting and visually appealing, but for the final draft, I may work to make the cover centered rather than having three images in different sections of the page.

The text appearing at the top is intended to show a theme which is that the cover is not only centered around the puppies themselves but the owners as well. I chose a dark red to provide a strong contrast with the blue background chosen for this fictional magazine. The image of Persephone is set at a lower opacity from the rest of the image as to make the text readable. Being placed on the top of the page at a larger size is meant to make the image appear more visually appealing as to the viewer.

Each image was cut out from its rectangular background using the quick selection tool. The process was long and arduous, especially for the picture of my fiance and me with our Chiweenie. I selected as accurately as I could but, then I precisely deselected any large chunks of the selected image that was inadvertently selected. I modeled the design off of a lifestyle magazine and exclusively used photoshop, but I look forward to adding more tools in my tool box going forward.

Personal suggestions: The group members gave me excellent suggestions that will definitely be taken into account for my final draft. The most pertinent one was the suggestion of the eraser tool for the outlines of my cutouts. This is a problem I faced designing the piece that I did not know to solve, so by incorporating this tool into the final draft I look forward to the results that it will yield. The other suggestion that I think will yield the best results for my project is the use of the blending tool. This will enhance the clarity of the piece and make the images seamlessly integrate which was a component I was lacking before. The successes I had when creating this fictional magazine cover are the designs themselves, such as the center aligned text, and pictures around it. The challenges I face will revolve around my photoshop skills. I am most definitely a beginner and my rough draft reflects that. However, with adequate time and perseverance, my final draft will come out very well.

These four images would be useful for a perspective magazine cover or story. I feel like the four of them sum up my life well and would look good on a graphic design project.