Blog Post 17 - Stage 1 - Completed Design: Front Cover - Miscellaneous Icons/Logos

My finished design for Stage One: DVD Amaray Case Wrap

As mentioned in Blog Post 11, the first element of the DVD Case Wrap that I will be explaining and evaluating is that of the front cover. The front cover will consist of a large range of elements which when brought together form the front cover. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In regards to the different elements of the front cover, these include the following which will be discussed and explained: Background, Trio of Cars, Gene Hunt Portrait, Title, Tag Line, Miscellaneous Icons/Logos. The next element that will be explained and discussed is that of the Miscellaneous Icons/Logos...

Miscellaneous Icons/Logos

Prior to starting the final stage of the Front Cover, I thought it best to commence a bit of research in regards to the logos and icons that had previously been used on the Ashes to Ashes DVD covers in the past. Looking at my previous research, namely from the collage that I created in Blog Post 6 for the DVD Cover Research. With this information in hand, I decided that there would be a total of three different logos; BBC Logo, 15 Rating; DVD Video Logo. 

DVD Logo

I decided to start off with the DVD Video Logo, and to do so I opted to use Google Images (www.images.google.co.uk) and Bing Images (www.bing.com/images) to source the DVD Video logo that I wanted to use. When researching it became apparently to me that there were a number of different variations, and not only was it important to me that I selected and used the correct one but also that the selection was complimentary to the design and worked well with what I already had on the design. With that in mind, I opted for the DVD Video pictured here as a base. As you can see, though, this features a large white background personally I felt would not of been at all complimentary to the rest of my design so this was an area that I definitely had to rectify. The first stage was to double click on the Background Layer which meant that I could then unlock it from editing and begin work on the image. Once again, I opted for the Quick Selection Tool. 

DVD Video Logo placed on the cover

To begin with, I decided on a 50 Point and 100% hardness which allowed me to swiftly select all of the elements of - this was particularly easy to carry out due to the high contrast between the black logo and the white background. Once I was happy with the selection I then navigated to Refine Edge and the selection was going to be output to that of a New Document. Then, this layer was duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file. Once the cut out logo had been duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file, I could then move it around and also resize it to my desired located. I personally felt that it looked best in the bottom right hand corner of the front cover, which was also in keeping with previous DVD cases too, and most importantly it doesn't overpower the rest of the design which was important to me. When placing the logo in this area of the cover, I was careful to ensure that the logo was in the Safety Area of printing, which you can also see in the image here.

BBC Logo

The next logo that I was going to include on the front cover was that of the BBC Logo. I once again opted to use Google Images (www.images.google.co.uk) and Bing Images (www.bing.com/images) to source the logo that I wanted to use. Once again there were a lot difference varieties to that of the BBC Logo, so I looked back to the previously used Logos that had been used on the past DVD Covers and by doing so I managed to find a logo that I thought was appropriate.  Similar to that of the DVD Video logo, the BBC Logo also featured a large white background which personally I felt would not of been at all complimentary to the rest of my design so this was an area that I definitely had to rectify. The first stage was to double click on the Background Layer which meant that I could then unlock it from editing and begin work on the image. Once again, I opted for the Quick Selection Tool. 

BBC Logo placed on my cover

To begin with, I decided on a 45 Point and 100% hardness which allowed me to swiftly select all of the elements of - this was particularly easy to carry out due to the high contrast between the black logo and the white background. Once I was happy with the selection I then navigated to Refine Edge and the selection was going to be output to that of a New Document. Then, this layer was duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file. Once the cut out logo had been duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file, I could then move it around and also resize it to my desired located. I personally felt that it looked best in the bottom right hand corner of the front cover, which was also in keeping with previous DVD cases too, and most importantly it doesn't overpower the rest of the design which was important to me.When placing the logo in this area of the cover, I was careful to ensure that the logo was in the Safety Area of printing, which you can also see in the image here.

15 Age Classification Logo

The final logo that I was going to use, which would also be the final element to the front cover too, was the 15 Rating Certification. As per usual, I started off by using Google Images (www.images.google.co.uk) and Bing Images (www.bing.com/images) to possible find a 15 certification logo, however the results found were very poor. It was obvious that the resolution of the logos were very low and therefore not of a quality that I would like to put onto my front cover. With this in mind, I decided that further research was going to be needed and therefore thought whereabouts these logos would be sourced from as they are a standard logo that every DVD should feature. Therefore, I then found the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, for short) (www.bbfc.co.uk), who deal with all the classifications for films and DVDs. Searching around their website I was able to locate a downloads section whereby I was able to download the vectorised file of the logos. 

15 Age Rating Logo on the cover

Once downloaded, my 15 certificate was firstly opened up in the vector program Adobe Illustrator, whereby I could Export this logo and place it into my DVDAmarayCover. Once this was in the file, I could then move it around and also resize it to my desired location which I felt was going to be best suited just above the BBC Logo, but also having an equal distance between the edges so that the appearance and presentation was consistent. I also considered the previous DVD Cases and the classifications logo was also in this position too which I felt was best to keep an in house theme of continuity.

With this being completed it was now time to move onto the next stage of the DVD Front Cover which was the Spine.

References

BBFC Logos - Link - Last accessed 4th March 2014.

BBC Logo - Link - Last accessed 4th March 2014.

DVD Video Logo - Link - Last accessed 4th March 2014.

Blog Post 16 - Stage 1 - Completed Design: Front Cover - Tag Line

My finished design for Stage One: DVD Amaray Case Wrap

As mentioned in Blog Post 11, the first element of the DVD Case Wrap that I will be explaining and evaluating is that of the front cover. The front cover will consist of a large range of elements which when brought together form the front cover. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In regards to the different elements of the front cover, these include the following which will be discussed and explained: Background, Trio of Cars, Gene Hunt Portrait, Title, Tag Line, Miscellaneous Icons/Logos. The next element that will be explained and discussed is that of the Tag Line...

Tag Line

The Tag Line for the DVD case was something that I had sort of considered in my design ideas in Blog Post 10, however at that early stage my idea was to have an area of brief information about the DVD. In hindsight, though, in production I felt that it was best to keep the information regarding the DVD to that of the back cover and the blurb. With this in mind I really wanted to think of an effective tag line however I kept coming back to one that I had really like and seen before on an Ashes to Ashes DVD Cover. Therefore, I decided to take inspiration from this and utilise the tag line of "The 80s are back and it's criminal" for my DVD too. I couldn't resist taking inspiration from this and therefore decided to go ahead with using it again.

DaFont and the Alien Encounters Font used

Putting this tag line into action was something that was going to take a bit more imagination, though, as I once again had to consider which font was going to be the most effective as portraying this tag line and keep up to the professional appearance that I was keen to keep going for the entire DVD Case. With this in mind, in a similar vain to that of the Title in Blog Post 15, I started off by I clicking on the Horizontal Type Tool which allowed me to select and area where I would be placing the text, and also select a point size. To begin with, I simply selected the font Arialwith a Point Size of 50 and typed my text of Mirror Man. At this stage the font was black in colour, and due to the very dark background at the top this was not very effective at all. So with this in mind I changed the font colour to white which make it stand out much more and increase the contrast. The next stage was to select a font which I felt was best, however looking through the different fonts that were available as standard in Photoshop unfortunately I once again didn't feel that any were that fitting and matched the image that I was anticipating. 

Tag Line using Alien Encounters Font

Therefore I decided to once again visit the font website called DaFont (www.dafont.com) which allows you to view, search and download (mostly for free) a vast array of different fonts. Searching around on their I came across the font called Alien Encounters which when tried gave a fantastic font which I thought worked brilliantly. The reason for this was because there was a subtle strike through in the font which gave for a good effect, which was very much in keeping with the 1980s styling that I was aiming to keep to, as well as that of a professional looking overall appearance too. With this in mind, I downloaded this font package from DaFont and installed it onto my computer. Heading back to Photoshop I could then change my Mirror Man text to that of Alien Encounters, slightly decreased the size to 17.5 points and arranged in such a way that was still in the safety area whilst maintaining an attractive looking position on the front cover. With this element of the cover complete, I was now able to move onto the final feature of the front cover which was the Miscellaneous Icons/Logos.

References

DaFont - Link - Last accessed 1st March 2014.

Blog Post 15 - Stage 1 - Completed Design: Front Cover - Title

My finished design for Stage One: DVD Amaray Case Wrap

As mentioned in Blog Post 11, the first element of the DVD Case Wrap that I will be explaining and evaluating is that of the front cover. The front cover will consist of a large range of elements which when brought together from the finished front cover. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In regards to the different elements of the front cover, these include the following which will be discussed and explained: Background, Trio of Cars, Gene Hunt Portrait, Title, Tag Line, Miscellaneous Icons/Logos. The next element that will be explained and discussed is that of the Title...

Title
The Title for the DVD was one element where a fair bit of imagination was going to be needed as it was important for this to make a good impression as it is the first thing that anybody will look at when looking at a DVD Case; the name of the cover. The previous series' of Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars were both hit singles of the well-known singer David Bowie so my first thoughts was to research what other title hits I could use that David Bowie had produced. Looking on David Bowie's own website (www.davidbowie.com) allowed me to look through all of his previous hits, however I must admit to not thinking that any other hits of his fitted the title of this next series DVD. In light of this I decided to consider other artists of the 1980s, and The Human League came to mind, and in particular their hit single of "Mirror Man". Mirror Man was a song that was realised in 1982, so was perfect age wise, too, and as I would find out later on in the production of this DVD Case, would nicely link into a few other features on the case.

DaFont and the WrestleMania Font used

With this in mind and that I had decided on the title of Mirror Man, this meant that I had to move onto choosing the most suitable font that I could use. To start with, I clicked on the Horizontal Type Tool which allowed me to select and area where I would be placing the text, and also select a point size. To begin with, I simply selected the font Arial with a Point Size of 50 and typed my text of Mirror Man. At this stage the font was black in colour, and due to the very dark background at the top this was not very effective at all. So with this in mind I changed the font colour to white which make it stand out much more and increase the contrast. Looking through the different fonts that were available as standard in Photoshop unfortunately I didn't feel that any were that fitting and matched the image that I was anticipating. Therefore I decided to visit the font website called DaFont (www.dafont.com) which allows you to view, search and download (mostly for free) a vast array of different fonts. 

Title using the WrestleMania Font

You could literally spend hours and hours looking at all of the different fonts on offer, however in the Retro category I found a font called "WrestleMania" that I felt gave a very nice font offering. What also drew me to this font was that the M lettering had a very nice artistic continuation of the lettering which made it very unique. With this in mind, I downloaded this font package from DaFont and installed it onto my computer. Heading back to Photoshop I could then change my Mirror Man text to that of WrestleMania, slightly increase the size to 64 points and arrange in such a way that was still in the safety area whilst maintaining an attractive looking position on the front cover. With this element of the cover complete, I was now able to move onto the next feature of the front cover which was the Tag Line.

References

DaFont - Link - Last accessed 28th February 2014.