Portfolio

Amber Strasser

Contact

Amber Strasser
2506 N. Taylor Road Hanna City, IL 61536 309.648.4480 amberstrasser@gmail.com amberstrasser.wordpress.com

Table of Contents

1.

2. 3.

Montage Logos Stationery Business Cards Flier Flier 2 Event Ad Web Page Brochure Imaging

4. 5.

6. 7. 8.

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10.

Montage
Programs Date

Adobe Photoshop October 25, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Learn to manage Photoshop layers. Learn to blend images together smoothly, using masks. (Two or more images). Use filters. (Apply at least one). Apply appropriate typography. Choosing good quality images. Apply typography principles (titles, quotes, events or scriptures). Unifying a piece with a consistent theme.
Description

Manage Photoshop layers, blend two images together smoothly using the masking tool, apply a filter and an appropriate typography using the typography principles, chose high quality images and unified the piece with a consistent theme.
Process

I cropped the Sunset background image in Photoshop, selected the Sunset-Child image and moved it in front of the background Sunset image. I sized it to about where I wanted it on my sunset and then used black paint mask at 100% opacity, soft-edged brush, and removed the hard edges from the Child image. I then used a larger brush, 30% opacity to blend the image into the background so it looked like it was her dreaming. This makes it so you can see the water and sun through her silhouette. I added the text using two contrasting fonts, Zapfino and Optima. I added the Oil Paint filter.

Logos
Programs Date

Adobe Illustrator November 2, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Create a variety of logos to fit a company or personal image in Illustrator.

Description Process

Create at least 3 logos for a company using Adobe Illustrator. I was asked to work on some logo designs for a business venture a frient was starting. I got specifics on his brand and logo, including colors, kinds of fonts he and company name. This is a specialized engine/auto shop focusing on 350 engines. Using Illustrator, I played with some different ideas. For the first logo, I worked on creating the VW Bug with the circle shape tool for the tires and then I used the pen tool to create the car and windows. I then used the text tool to put in the Company Name, using Brush 738 BT and Cooper Black. I worked with his color scheme to make the title really pop. For the second logo, I wanted to use only text and simple design. I first used the text tool for the Company Name, using Gabriola and contrasting Cooper Black. Then I used the rectangle tool to create the bars. I used color to enhance the design. For the third logo, I wanted to create a shape logo. I used the same car from the first logo, changed the tires so they had cartoonized hubcaps instead of text, and changed the color from black to red. I then incorporated his company name above and below the car using Apple Casual and Optima. I used the circle tool to create an outline for the logo. I got some critiques from peers and made some changes. Then presented them to my client for critique. I went and edited my logos and presented them to my client again. He loved all three of them.

Company: 350s R Us

350s
US

35Os R US
350 s R Us

Stationery
Programs Date

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign November 8, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Use the basic tools of Illustrator and InDesign to create a new logo to fit a company or personal image. Design consistent layouts for a business card and letterhead. Apply typography rules keeping small copy. Learn to keep things simple by having watermarks and drop shadows light and white space. Apply contact information.
Description

Using Illustrator, I created my logo for a maternity necessities company (clothing, baby items, and miscellaneous pregnancy items). I then mapped out what I wanted to do for my Stationery Letterhead and Business Card. Then I got on InDesign and worked on my designs some more.
Process

I got on Illustrator and figured out fonts and colors. I used the pen tool to make a pregnant torso for the B for the 3 words in the Company Name. I then created a little heart to symbolize a baby and put the company name inside the B silhouette. I worked with different fonts and loved Zapfino with Bernhard Modern BT. I also worked with color, and chose a scale between black, pinks and white. I used the pen tool for the scalloped edge on the top and bottom and used a stroke of three to repeat the curves of the B. I placed my logo in the center with an opacity. I placed my text in the document with alignment and focus. I also used the same fonts as the logo to make it uniform with the stationery and business card.

Baby Bump Boutique Maternity Clothing

Elianna M. Strasser 309.648.8042 els.bbb@gmail.com

aby

ump

outique

75 South 5th West Denton, TX 61536 BabyBumpBoutique.com

Business Cards
Programs Date

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign November 8, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Use the basic tools of Illustrator and InDesign to create a new logo to fit a company or personal image. Design consistent layouts for a business card and letterhead. Apply typography rules keeping small copy. Learn to keep things simple by having watermarks and drop shadows light and white space. Apply contact information.
Description

Using Illustrator, I created my logo for a maternity necessities company (clothing, baby items, and miscellaneous pregnancy items). I then mapped out what I wanted to do for my Stationery Letterhead and Business Card. Then I got on InDesign and worked on my designs some more.
Process

I used the pen tool for the scalloped edge on the top and used a stroke of three to repeat the curves of the B. I placed my logo in the center and the address and website text centered on the bottom. I used a lighter shade of black (gray) as the background to draw attention. I used a lighter shade of the pink in the logo for the background, inserted my logo to the left, and placed my contact info and store name asthetically across my business card design. I also used the same fonts as the logo to make it uniform with the stationery and business card.

aby

ump

Maternity Clothing
Baby Bump Boutique

aby

outique

ump

outique

Elianna M. Strasser 309.648.8042 els.bbb@gmail.com

75 South 5th West Denton, TX 61536 BabyBumpBoutique.com

aby

ump

Maternity Clothing
Baby Bump Boutique

aby

outique

ump

outique

Elianna M. Strasser 309.648.8042 els.bbb@gmail.com

75 South 5th West Denton, TX 61536 BabyBumpBoutique.com

Flier
Programs Date

Adobe InDesign October 4, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Apply the design principles and use appropriate typography. Incorporate basic InDesign skills to improve basic flier layout. Retrieve image and logo from links on this page. Creat a project folder with image, logo and InDesign document to keep links intact.
Description Process

Black, white and gray flier to promote Vouants graduates to go to the Graduate Leadership Conference. First, I drew some sketches of what I thought would look good. I then worked in InDesign to plan out the design. I used the rectangle tool to make all the boxes and bars in the design. I placed the picture and logo into my design. I used the text tool to type in all the text I was given for this project. I changed some things from my sketches to make sure it would look professional and clean. Then I got some professional critiques and fixed some things to make it look as good as possible. I aligned my text with my boxes, bars, image and logo and used enough white space to give flow and aesthetics. I repeated the black and gray colorsfrom both the image and logo to create a feeling of uniformity. I also placed the Date time and place away from the body copy to make it easier for the reader to read and remember. I also placed the website information with it because thats where the reminder area is. It helps readers remember to look it up later just as they are reminded to come to the conference later.

Graduate
Leadership Conference
Do you want to have the competitive edge in business?
Come learn how at Vouant Communications annual Graduate Leadership Conference. Vouant Communications is devoted to helping tomorrows leaders gain essential leadership skills in the workplace. During this dynamic three day seminar, attendees will meet with top executives of Vouant Communications to discuss breakthrough leadership techniques, while cultivating attributes of leadership that will market to any employer. Conference is available to graduating seniors. Space is limited.

October 21 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Lincoln Convention Center

Registration and more information: http://www.vouantcomm.com/leaders

Flier 2
Programs Date

Adobe InDesign December 13, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Apply the design principles and use appropriate typography. Incorporate basic InDesign skills to improve basic flier layout. Retrieve image and logo from links on this page. Creat a project folder with image, logo and InDesign document to keep links intact.
Description Process

Black, white and gray flier to promote Vouants graduates to go to the Graduate Leadership Conference. First, I drew some sketches of what I thought would look good. I then worked in InDesign to plan out the design. I used the rectangle tool for my entire layout--the border bars and the boxes. I I repeated colors from the logo and picture in the bars and boxes. I worked on the title so it would draw attention and help the reader focus on the message of the flier. I felt that the boxes with alternating colors would help the reader flow through the flier. I used Cooper Std from the Oldstyle Category and Arial from the Sans Serif Category. These fonts are contrasting as well as complementary. I made the date, time, and place be in a different area of the flier so it would be easy for people to read and remember. I put the logo in the bottom left corner because it isnt directly related to the rest of the flier, its related but minimally so I separated it from the rest of the flier but still aligned it with the border bars because it does relate.

G Leadership Conference
raduate
Do you want to have the competitive edge in business?
Come learn how at Vouant Communications annual Graduate Leadership Conference. Vouant Communications is devoted to helping tomorrows leaders gain essential leadership skills in the workplace. During this dynamic three day seminar, attendees will meet with top executives of Vouant Communications to discuss breakthrough leadership techniques, while cultivating attributes of leadership that will market to any employer. Conference is available to graduating seniors. Space is limited. Registration and more information: http://www.vouantcomm.com/leaders

October 21 8 am - 5 pm Lincoln Convention Center

Event Ad
Programs Date

Microsoft Word, Epson Scanner October 11, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Design a flier to promote a benefit using only Microsoft Word and an Epson Scanner. Find, scan and import a high-quality image. Create a full-bleed design. Use text boxes for layout in Word. Insert and edit images in Word.
Description

I was given the task of creating a fundraiser event ad using a magazine, Epson Scanner and Microsoft Word. It was to be a full-bleed print, meaning some element of color should go to the edge of the print. My advertisement is for a baby shower for all the pregnant women in the community. So everyone can come and bring old and/or new things they have that would benefit a mom or baby in need. I used purple and teal for my color scheme because it isnt a typical and overdone color scheme for babies. Its original, fun and cute. I also used alignment, repetition and contrast in colors and fonts to give an aesthetically pleasing visual appeal.
Process

First, I found a fitting picture for the advertisement and scanned it into the computer using a high quality Epson scanner. I then placed the image in a Microsoft Word document. Noticing the teal color in the image, I repeated the color as an accent in my design and used purple as a slight contrasting but complementary color for the ad. I used boxes and hearts to create my design.

Community

Baby Shower

Lets help the new and needy pregnant moms in our community. Bring anything a new mom might need. Donate any used or new items you have. If you have items you want to donate but cant make the shower, please stop by room 132 of the MC and we will make sure it goes to one of the new babies in our community. Thank you for making our community a better and happier place. And thank you for making a difference in the lives of these new moms and babies. Join us for some fun and snacks!

Friday, Sep 9 5:00-9:00 pm MC 132

Snacks and drinks provided

Programs Date

Web Page

Photoshop, TextWrangler, Safari, Firefox, CSS November 23, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Size (300-500 pixels) and optimize an original logo as a .png for a web page. Write content to describe the process of creating your logo and how it appeals to a target audience. Write a minimum of 200 words to describe the process of creating your logo, including rationale for color choices, appeal to target audience, design skills, and other pertinent information. Design a web page using HTML to display the logo and content using TextWrangler. Acquire a working knowledge of HTML including use of all required tags, head, title, meta charset, and body. As well as tags that link to external style sheet. Within the body include li, h1, h2, p, ol or ul, img, hr, and a link to your blog. Acquire a working knowledge of CSS. to add page formatting that complements the logo design, by changing at least the following: The h1 text color and background color, font colors, background color, and font families.
Description Process

A webpage to showcase the logo I created for my maternity and motherhood necessities shop, Baby Bump Boutique. I used TextWrangler to create and write my HTML code to create my webpage. Ive never seen, used or heard of this program or CSS so its been an interesting and fun week. I used the activity HTML code and changed it to have my logo, fonts, and colors, as well as my own wording for the body copy. I also changed font sizes to make my webpage look better.

Brochure
Programs Date

InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Microsoft Word December 7, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Set up and align a two-sided, folded document. Creat an original company logo and use it in a brochure. Incorporate at least 4 quality images. One of which should be clipped in Photoshop and test-wrapped in InDesign so the text follows the cutout shape of the image. Write at least 250 words of original text with at least three paragraphs for the body copy. Trim for a full bleed and print in duplex (two-sided) color.
Description

Create a full-color, two-sided (duplex), folding brochure using all the design elements, text wrap, a self-created logo, and 4 images. Can be informational or advertising something.
Process

I drafted my ideas in InDesign, created a new logo in Illustrator, found images online and in my personal files and placed them into my InDesign draft. I then wrote what I wanted my body copy to be in Word and placed that in my InDesign draft. I then worked with my design layout repeating the colors, line/rectangle designs and fonts. I then took my its a girl! image into Photoshop and edited it to look how I wanted and then placed it in my InDesign draft. I then used text wrap to make my paragraph form around the image. I printed my draft and fixed the alignment so it matched up correctly. I then re-printed my final project and folded it to look clean, crisp, and professional.

Front

Back

Inside

Imaging
Programs Date

Adobe Photoshop, Digital Camera October 19, 2013

Objectives

Course

Comm 130 Section 5

Instructor

Julie Peterson

Learn basic photography skills. Use a digital camera to take a quality photograph, then download it. Size and crop the image to 6x 6 with a resolution of 150. Adjust image brightness, contrast, hue and saturation levels. Use a selection tool to isolate a portion of the image. Desaturate the selected portion of the image. Desaturate the selected portion of the image. Use a filter or colorize a portion of the image.
Description

Take a photograph using a digital camera. Use the rule of thirds, have a sharp focus, and a strong focal point. Using Adobe Photoshop, edit the photo to make it look as sharp and clear as possible without making it look fake. Use a filter and desaturate a portion. Have clean edges and appropriate space around focal point.
Process

I took this picture using my digital camera, then I pulled it into Photoshop and cropped it to a 66 inch image. I then selected the background using the quick selection tool and applied the oil paint filter. I then desaturated the background and took out the pants and shoe of my nephew using Content-aware Fill. I then used the clone tool to take out the wood chip. I debated on how to make my nieces hand toned down a bit because the sun made it really bright. I thought it looked photoshopped, but it wasnt. I didnt know how to do it so I asked the lab assistant and he said that it would be better not to do anything with it so that its more like the original image I took.

Amber Strasser
Comm 130 Section 5