Graphic Design 2: Magazine Cover and Spread

The purpose of the following assignment was to create a magazine cover and two page spread for an existing design magazine.  I chose to work with Photoshop User magazine.  The content of the spread and the focus of the cover I designed were the results I achieved from Photoshop tutorials I completed from Smashing Magazine. 

I began the project by purchasing Photoshop User magazine and examining the format and structure of the cover and inside spreads.  I then completed two Photoshop tutorials from Smashing Magazine.  The first tutorial gave step-by-step instructions on how to replace the sky in a photograph.  For this tutorial, I started with the following two pictures:

I followed the tutorial, and when I replaced the sky in the original photograph, this was the result:

I also completed a second tutorial that gave step-by-step instructions on creating a burst of light effect surrounding text in Photoshop.  This was the final result:

I chose to use the burst of light effect for my cover of Photoshop User magazine.  For the inside spread, I used screen shots I created when I followed the step-by-step tutorial instructions.  However, before designing my cover and two page spread on the computer, I created several thumbnail sketches.  There was not a lot of variation in the sketches since I was following the existing format and structure used in Photoshop User magazine.

After selecting my favorite layout, I then created the cover and two page spread in InDesign.

Graphic Design 2: Travel Brochure

I designed an eight page travel brochure for the city of Paris, France.  I began this project by researching Paris on the internet.  I also gathered pictures of Paris from public domain websites and purchased pictures from Shutterstock.com.  Since this brochure was created for a class project, I designed the brochure for a fictitious travel agency I named EuroVision Travel.

After my research, I created several thumbnail sketches of possible design layouts for the travel brochure.

After choosing a layout from the thumbnail sketches, I then used InDesign to create the final brochure.  Below I've included the front and back cover along with the first spread of the brochure.

Graphic Design 2: Four Page Menu

After I designed logo possibilities for Hibachi Grill (see post below), I sketched designs for the actual four page menu.

 

I then chose what I felt were two of the best menu and logo designs and created them using InDesign.  In the first design option below, my goal was to create a menu with a sleek, modern, minimal feel to it.  In the second option, I used oriental style lettering and an oriental style motif/symbol.  In both designs, I chose colors that are associated with oriental culture.

Graphic Design 2: Logo Designs for Menu

The next assignment was to create a four page menu for a restaurant.  I chose to create a menu for Hibachi Grill, a restaurant serving Chinese and Japanese cuisine.  Before creating the menu, I designed a logo for the restaurant.  I sketched out several options for the logo.

After drawing my sketches, I created various logos using Illustrator.  On the first page of options below, I created a logo using oriental style fonts.  For the second page of options, I created my own font inspired by the shape of chopsticks.  On the last page of options, I combined chopsticks with Optima and Futura (condensed) typefaces.