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TIMELINE

This Week
We'll build an ad for Adobe together
Next Week
You'll design your own ad.
The Final Week
Your ad is due.

DOWNLOADS

HEADS UP!

Before handing in your work:

  • Re-link images if you move them in the Finder.
  • Link images, don't embed them.
  • Name all your layers. Always.
  • Don't leave stray text anchors in your document.
  • Design a grid and use it.
  • Stay away from these fonts in your designs.
  • Unlock all your layers before handing in your work.

DELIVERABLES

  • A folder named "Lastname,Firstname, 010"
  • Your Illustrator document named "Lastname, Firstname 010.ai"
  • The fonts associated to your document in a folder named "Fonts"
  • The image which was placed in your document.

Illustrator Ad Design

We'll dive into Illustrator for this assignment by designing an ad with an illustration, text and a logo.

Project Highlights

  • This project is worth 15% of your final grade.
  • It is due at the start of the third class.
  • We'll learn how to trace images, use layers and set type.

On the Board for today

Today we'll go through a practice run for designing the ad. I'll walk you through these steps. These are also the required elements for your final ad design.

  • Create new document.
  • Set up the art board.
  • Add bleeds.
  • Correct colour mode.
  • Load fonts.
  • Area Type vs Point Type.
  • Paragraph Styles
  • Designing a layout grid
  • Copy the logo into the file.
  • Using the Find Font function.
  • Collecting & organizing all project files.
  • Output as PDF for print.

The Premise

The subject of your ad is actually Illustrator. Adobe has hired you to design an ad with silhouette people in it for their draw program. The head line for your ad is "Beautiful Strokes".

This is the practice image you'll use in your ad.

You'll use this photo in the practice ad. Your job is to trace the people with the pen tool. Then you'll be able to use them in your ad. The people should be traced as silhouettes for your ad.

Your Ad

Your assignment is to design an ad in Illustrator. The dimensions are half letter, tabloid or landscape. Your ad will be in full colour.

Illustrator Ad Design Page Size

You must have the following elements in your ad:

A clean logo in vector format.
You may download a clean version of a corporate logo from sites like Brands of the World or Logotypes.ru.. By clean, I mean that it looks as good as the original logo. It's well drawn and in the right colours. Re-trace your company's logo if you must.
A product name as Illustrator point type.
You must actually indicate the name of your product in your ad, which isn't surprising. Use the corporate font if you must. If the product has its own logo, for example Chevy Malibu, use it.
A slogan for your product as Illustrator point type.
You must use your product's real slogan. Go to the web to find what it is, if you don't already know it.
Promotional text as Illustrator area type.
You should have some promotional text. What is your ad promoting? What's the selling point? You are allowed to get such text from the product's web site.
A placed image which you have traced with the Pen Tool.
This is one of the central goals of the assignment. I want you to place an image in your ad. Trace it, as we did in class. Place it on its own layer. Once you are done, hide the visibility of that layer. Use the tracing techniques we showed in class. I'll ask you to be reasonable here. The goal is to get accustomed to using the pen tool. Trace a detailed object — maybe a vehicle, or a person — something that's a challenge.
Some content must bleed.
Ad an eighth inch bleed to your document setup. Some of your artwork should bleed somewhere in your ad.

A Word on Fonts

You should really only use one font family in your ad. If, for instance, your ad is for DesignSchool.ca (no, don't do it.) you would could use:

  • Regular
  • Bold
  • Bold Italic

You get the idea. We don't want to water down the impact of your ad with many font families.

Deliverables

This is what you should have in the folder you hand in:

Illustrator Ad Design Deliverables

  1. The Illustrator file is your main work. Do not create outlines on your fonts.
  2. The image is the one which is placed in your document.
  3. Place your fonts in a folder.
  4. The last folder contains any material you may have downloaded, including images, text files and logo.

How to get an "A"

  • Adhere to the technical guidelines on this page. (50%)
  • Trace your image accurately with the Pen Tool. (25%)
  • Design an aesthetically pleasing ad. (25%)