Design Tech 1- Exercises for Project 1
(modified 9/09)
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1. Use the Mac Help tutorial to review operating system basics.
 

1. In the finder (desktop) , select Help > Mac Help to open the help tutorial. Or, simply hit Command +Shift +?.
2. Open the Mac OS Basics quiz.
3. Answer the questions using information from the tutorial.
4. Print out the quiz page, put your name on the top, and hand in to your instructor.

2. Create project folders.
 

In this exercise you will demonstrate:

• creating and naming new folders.
• copying folders to the appropriate server directory.

1. Start on the desktop (make sure the word "Finder" appears in bold at the left of the menu bar at the top of the screen), select File > New Folder to create a new folder on the desktop. Or, simply hit Command +Option + N.

2. Name the folder (YourLastName)_(Your FirstName) Example : smith_john.

3. Locate and open the volume "AVA-Classes" on the desktop and open your class folder (GRDSN 102).

4. Copy your folder to the folders as directed by your instructor.

5. After verifying that the folder is successfully copied, drag your original folder 
from the desktop to the trash icon on the dock and empty the trash by selecting Finder > Empty Trash....
 
 
 

3. Adjusting and resampling an image.
 

In this exercise you will demonstrate:

• cropping
• adjusting levels (tonal range)
• scaling and resampling (changing size and resolution)
• saving in appropriate file format
• saving for the web
• optimizing with jpeg compression

Create the native file.

1. Open your image in photoshop.
2. Use the File > Save As... command and save the image to your tech folder using the "Photoshop" file format (.psd).
   
   

Create a file for Print.

1. Use the photoshop cropping tool to crop your image.
   
   
2. Adjust the highlight, shadow and gamma sliders using the Image > Adjustments > Levels command (Image>Adjustments>Levels).
   
   
3. Using Image>Image Size, resample the image  to 150 ppi (pixels per inch) and resize to 600 pixels high.
   
   
4. Use the File > Save As... command and save the image (with a different filename) to your folder .
   
   
5. Save as... again and choose "Tiff" file format. Use "LZW" compression. Compare the file size of each saved file. How much smaller is the Tiff file compared to the PSD?
   
   
6. "Place" the files in a new Illustrator document.
   
   

Create a file for the Web.

1. Use File > Save for Web Devices. Choose the "4-Up" tab on the top left. On the right, choose "JPEG" as the file format. Analyze various setting between "Maximum" and "Low". Select the setting which yields the smallest file size without losing too much image quality.

Repeat this exercise using an image of you

1. Using a picture of you, repeat this exercise
2. Save your images to your exercise folder before the beginning of the next tech class.
   
   

4. Formatting Type in Illustrator.
 

In this exercise you will demonstrate:

• using Illustrators type tools tools
• using the character and paragraph windows
• assigning color to type
• using layers

1. Read the material in the Illustrator Visual Quickstart Guide:

• Chapter 12- Create Type
• Chapter 13- Style and edit type

2. Look at the tutorial file -AI Basics.PDF.

3. Copy the type formatting exercise file provided by your instructor .

3. Complete the exercise and save the file, naming it "yourlastname_type.ai" (example: smith_type.ai).

4. Copy the file to the appropriate folder designated by your instructor.

5. Leading and kerning display type.
 

In this exercise you will demonstrate:

• adjusting leading to improve the appearance of display type.
• kerning character pairs improve the appearance of display type.

1. Create a new Illustrator document.

2. Using the type tool, create a simple headline on the top half of the page:

(YourFirstName)
wants to be a
graphic designer.

Format the type to be 48 pt and centered. You may choose any typeface except script.

3. Drag a copy of the text block to the bottom half of the page.

4. With the text block selected, reduce the leading so the lines of type are close but not touching.

5. Now use the kerning controls in the character window to remove space between character pairs so that the spaces are tight but not touching. Make sure that all character spacing look even.

(Note: You can command key to kern. With an insertion point inserted between two characters, type OPTION + LEFT ARROW to subtract space, or OPTION + RIGHT ARROW to add space.)

6. Now compare the appearance of the two text blocks. The kerned and leaded text block should appear as a stronger headline compared to the original.

4. Save the file to your exercises folder.

5. Scanning exercise.
 

After you go through the scanning demonstration, find a grayscale image to scan.

1. Put the material to be scanned on the scanner bed.

2. Open Photoshop to Drive the scanner.

3. Use File > Import to open the scanner interface (choose the device name which matches the scanner you are using).

4. Choose the 8-bit grayscale setting and set the resolution to 150 ppi.

5. Click the Preview button to scan a thumbnail image.

6. Drag a selection marquis around the area to be scanned.

7. Click the Scan button.

8. When the image window appears in Photoshop, use the Image > Image size command to scale the image to be no larger than 4 inches wide or high.

9. Save the image as a tiff (name it YourName.tif) and copy it to your exercise folder.