Creating a cookbook

Good Morning!

Initially, this cookbook project seemed like a daunting task. I did my best to apply everything I have learned and make it all come together. This class has forced me to confront topics I had previously avoided and put my knowledge to practical use. I must say, it has been one of the more challenging classes, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to take what I learned and apply it in a hands-on way. What a cool idea it is to create a cookbook!

I began by creating parent pages, setting up my page numbers, and ensuring they were positioned correctly for an eBook format. I asked ChatGPT for assistance in creating recipes for four appetizers, four entrées, four side dishes, and four desserts. Unfortunately, I didn't have the premium subscription for ChatGPT, so I couldn’t generate the images I needed. Finding images online and adjusting them to fit took a while. However, using the "Fit Image to Frame Proportionally" option helped immensely, and I’m glad that feature is available in InDesign. I cropped images and applied what I learned in photography to make them more aesthetic and interesting to the viewer.

  

I then created my table of contents and incorporated my story, using the Rasa typeface, which I also used in my restaurant branding project, along with Athelas for the body text. I developed various paragraph styles for the headings, table of contents, subheadings, and body style, adjusting the leading and size to ensure clear and legible reading. I sampled colors from my logo to apply the same palette to the text in the table of contents and on the cover. Overall, I learned a lot about the importance of paragraph styles, placing images in frames, and using parent pages.

 

I was excited to see that I completed my first eBooK (what a cool accomplishment!) Once I grasped the process, everything came together much more quickly. I would have liked to add a bit more personality and creative design to the eBook, but I lacked the time. Nevertheless, I feel like I have built a solid foundation to work from going forward and am much more confident in using InDesign.

Creative Challenge 34

I took a sketch and uploaded it into Lightroom. Then, I created three masks: one for the eyes, one for the lips, and one for the pupils. I added color to each mask and adjusted the levels accordingly. It was fun applying my new skills to my previous knowledge and creating something new that felt more vibrant and alive. 

creative challenge 33

Good morning! Today, I decided to revisit a painting of my name. I applied various adjustments to the levels using Photoshop to create a black round shape and added a splatter brush to blend and give it texture. I also experimented with an oil painting effect at different intensities until I achieved a look I liked. Additionally, I tried out various cinematic filters in Illustrator, adjusting the levels and curves. I know there are some exciting effects I could explore using Adobe applications, and I plan to attempt some more complex ones soon. I'll be sure to update you with my progress as soon as I can, so stay tuned!

Oil painting effect . This one is my favorite

Brush splatter effect in photoshop 

 

Lightroom cinematic filter with adjustments to levels

Creative Challenge 32

Good evening, design friends,

After a challenging three weeks of learning the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign and creating articles for our magazine, I have been feeling quite drained. In search of an inspiring creative challenge, I ended up giving in to my emotions and allowed shapes and colors to emerge naturally from within me. This experience reminded me of my love for art, and it felt refreshing to reconnect with that part of myself. 

In the process of trying to learn new skills and technical aspects, I realized I had neglected essential elements of creativity and emotion. It may just be colors and shapes, but I really like it.

Articles 2 and 3

Good evening, friends,

I have been incredibly sick lately, so meeting the deadlines for this magazine did not go as planned, and it makes me very sad. I gave it my best and learned a lot about paragraph styles, spacing, leading, text wrap, and making photos fit proportionately within the frame. I experimented with different layouts and styles. I chose to extend the menu across to the next page and tried to create balance with the other photos. I sampled colors from the logo for the title and used the Rasa typeface for the title, as that is what I used for my brand identity, which the article is about.

 

For this article, I decided to cover my hobby of photography. Although I would consider myself a beginner, I still have a love for it and am learning more each day. I got a lot more practice with Lightroom, adjusting levels and curves. I also placed a stroke around the photos to create a cohesive look and aimed to balance both sides of the layout using similar cool colors. 

I truly feel that this has been one of the most challenging projects I have taken on and the one from which I have learned the most so far. As overwhelming as it has been at times, I am grateful for this project because it forced me to revisit areas in which I lacked confidence and improve my skills. Well done, Mr. Williams!

Magazine Article #1

Good evening, design friends.

I initially thought this article would be something I could complete quickly, but I’m here to tell you it was not so simple. We are all learning, and while I have gained some knowledge about master pages, paragraph styles, character styles, and formatting an article using a baseline grid and rulers, I encountered significant challenges with formatting.

Unfortunately, I had to make an emergency trip to the hospital for a family member who may not have much time left. This took away valuable time that I desperately needed. However, I am determined to meet the deadline, come hell or high water, and I plan to go back and address any issues with orphaned text, leading, kerning, and typeface that are clearly present.

I will update this post soon. Take care and live well!

 

Magazine Ads

Good evening. This was a difficult task for me. Time management is one of my weaknesses that I am trying to eliminate. Meeting deadlines is vital, especially with a magazine. I was really hoping to meet the deadline, but I tend to be my own worst critic and spent too much time on one project, which left me with less time for the others. That being said, I am going to work EVEN HARDER  this time around to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

For the first ad, I chose Peace River. I used AI to create an image of a girl in despair, and then placed it in InDesign. I found a logo for Peace River that I felt would work and made several attempts to create a clipping mask of the circle that was as close to perfect as I could achieve. I then added some text boxes and lowered the opacity to make them less distracting to the overall image while helping the text stand out more. I also added a drop shadow to both the logo and the text boxes to emphasize them, experimenting with different types of drop shadow effects and intensities until I found the look I liked best.

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RGB

 The half-page ad, I decided to go with the restaurant we created for last month’s class, Bistro Bella Vista. I added a black and purple background using the eyedropper tool to save the colors I liked and incorporated a slight shadow under the image of my restaurant to give it some depth. I used the line tool and guides to place my text with the company information and adjusted the tracking and leading to improve legibility. I tried various typefaces but ultimately stuck with the ones I originally used for my restaurant.

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RGB

For the first quarter-page ad, I decided to use the brand my friend and I have been working on and recently trademarked for a clothing line called American Royalty. I used puppet warp to make the lions appear to be standing up and looking more ferocious. I sampled the color of the crown and font to color the lions and had them facing each other. I then used the rectangle shape and the pen tool to create triangles of various shapes and placed them according to my ruler and guides to ensure they were centered. I changed the rectangle color to match the lions and lowered the opacity so as not to overpower the image. I added a motto I created: "Power, Prestige, Presence," followed by "More than a clothing line; it’s a way of life." I felt this would eliminate any confusion about what the ad represents.

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RBG

Lastly, I chose my personal brand for myselfon the 2nd 1/4 page ad. I took a sketch I made of my name and added color and shine marks in Illustrator. I attempted to add shine marks while considering the light source. I then added a gradient and a solid rectangle, using the eyedropper tool to sample the gradient color on the bottom half. I added a rectangle with a thick black border and no fill to create a frame, as well as an image of my famous stuffed French toast as a feature dish. Finally, I added a soft light overlay and subtle bevel and emboss effects to the image.

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RGB