Digital media

• Client Goals


  What the client wants to get from the project
• Audience and Purpose


  • Understand demographics of target audience (age range, gender, education level, ethnicity, geographic region)
• Accessibility


  Ensuring people with disabilities can enjoy the work (Section 508, World Wide Web Consortium standards, adjusting for color blindness)
• Project Plan


  1. Demographics of target audience

  2. Technical needs

  3. Roles

  4. Scope (what, when, budget)

  5. Benchmarks (planning, analysis, design, building, testing, implementation, publishing)

  6. Feedback

  7. Communication

  8. Technical and visual requirements

  9. Deliverables
• Scope Creep


  Client keeps asking for more to be added to the project without giving more time or money
• File Management


  How files will be stored and delivered (cloud collaboration, version history)
• Copyright Permission and Licenses


  Intellectual property, copyright, fair use, derivative works, model/location releases, Creative Commons, public domain, work for hire, stock images
• Pixel


  One dot on a screen that can have a different color
• Raster Image


  Made up of a bunch of pixels, can become pixelated when zoomed in
• Vector Image


  Made up of mathematical formulas for text and shapes, can be resized without losing quality
• Rasterizing


  Converting a vector image to a raster image
• Typography


  The text that appears in an image or visual communication
• Rendering


  The process of creating or displaying an image on the screen, or modifying an image using artistic tools
• Resolution


  The amount of detail an image holds, higher resolution means better quality but larger file size
• Destructive vs. Non-Destructive Editing

  Destructive permanently alters the image, non-destructive saves the original
• Resampling


  Resizing an image by increasing or decreasing the number of pixels
• Vector Image Elements


  Paths, points, shapes, objects, stroke, fill
• Color Modes


  RGB for on-screen, CMYK for printing, Hex codes, bit depth, gamut, white balance
• Image Sizes


  Pixels for digital, inches for print
• Color Theory


  • Primary, secondary, tertiary colors, color wheel, complementary, analogous
• Cinematic Principles


  Aspect ratio, framing, field of view, rule of thirds, focal point, foreground/background/midground, cropping, resampling, proximity
• Creating a New Document


  File menu, presets, custom settings (name, size, orientation, artboards, resolution, color mode, bit depth, background)
• Creating a New Document Preset

  Saving custom document settings to reuse
• Canvas Size


  Changing the size of an existing canvas
• Multiple Projects


  Having multiple Photoshop files open at once
• Panels


  The small windows in the Photoshop interface, can be docked or floating
• Document Preset


  Specific details about a document that can be saved and reused
• Creating a New Document Preset

  1. Click the icon at the top right of the Preset Details window

  2. The new preset will show up under the tab when creating a new document
• Changing the size of an existing canvas

  Go to Image menu -> Canvas size… and enter the new settings for the width and the height of the canvas
• Project


  One file in Photoshop
• You can have multiple projects at one time in Photoshop
• Panels


  Little windows in Photoshop, e.g. Layers panel
• Docking panels


  1. Pull a panel away from its usual spot, it can float anywhere in the user interface

  2. Move it back to its original location until a blue light appears and it will be stuck back in place
• Showing panels


  Click on the button for it on the far right, or choose it from the Window menu
• Hiding panels


  Click on the icon at the top right of the panel
• Nesting panels


  Move one panel on top of the other until a blue light appears, they will be combined into one panel
• Workspaces


  Groups of panels and tools that are good for working on a particular project such as painting, photography, web design, or animation
• Choosing a workspace


  Go to the Window Menu -> Workspace -> and pick one of the options
• Saving a custom workspace

  Go to Window Menu -> Workspace -> New Workspace…
• Deleting a workspace


  Go to Window menu -> Workspace -> Delete workspace, and choose the name of the workspace you want to delete