Blog Post 41 - Stage 2 - Completed Design: Border

My finished design for Stage Two: On Disc Label

As mentioned in Blog Post 39, the following posts will be in regards to the explanation of not only how, but more importantly why I went about designing the On Disc Label in the way that I did. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In a similar vein to that of the DVD Amaray Cover, these posts will be split into the following elements: Background; Border; Titles; Gene Hunt; Trio of Cars; Background Pattern; Logos; Information. The next element that will be discussed is that of the Border.

Border

The Border was one element on the On Disc Label that you will notice is absent from the design ideas and layout ideas in Blog Post 38, however this is something that I thought of after the design posts and when I was making the on disc label. The element of a border came to mind as I thought that I would like a definitive edge to the design of the on disc label. However, I had to bear in mind the safety and bleed areas of the disc that I had already set out as to ensure that the border would not be cut off. First things first was to create a new Layer for this background to be part of, so navigating to the Layers and Artboard Toolbar a new Layer named Border was chosen. Personally I chose to use layers in this as in the future if one was to come back and need to edit a certain aspect then this would mean it would be easy to find in the future. To begin with I decided to head on over to Illustrator and start by using the Ellipse shape tool. As per usual, I also decided to hold down the Shift and ALT key which meant that not only would the circle be drawn perfectly (an equal diameter all around), but once selected in the middle of the border this meant that the circle would be drawn out from the centre. 

Border

Personally I decided to use these two functions as it would mean the circle was guaranteed to be perfect, which is what I wanted. Although, I did decide to once again draw a circle of a random size, and then revert back to the previously used Transform option on the toolbar. I previously used this option in Blog Post 40 in regards to the Background, and by using the Transform option I was able to exactly type in the exact size of circle that I was looking for. The Transform option is beneficial as by typing in and specifying the  exact dimensions of the circle that I was looking for this is guaranteed to be correct, as opposed to being difficult to get that accuracy when resizing manually with the mouse. To begin with, I decided to type in the dimensions of 117.5mm which meant this ran up to the safety area. However, after thinking about this further I decided to revert to 115mm diameter of the circle. The reasoning behind this is in regards to having to take into consideration the stroke and thickness of the border that I wanted to include, and also did not want this to fall past the edge of the safety area either as that would risk the border being cut off if the on disc label was to be printed.

Appearance Options

Heading to the Appearance Toolbar on the right hand side, I was then able to choose how I would like this new Ellipse to look like. To begin with, I obviously decided to opt for the House Style colour of grey for the Fill which matches in with the colours of the background originally set out and explained in Blog Post 40 - Background. The next aspect was the most important though, as it was in regards to the effects of the Stroke, or edge, of the Ellipse that would make up the Border of the disc label. Once again heading on over to the Appearance Toolbar this meant that I could choose which type and style of Stroke that I was going to use. After much consideration I decided to opt for Dashed Line 1.5 with a Stroke size of 1 Point and colour fill set to Black. Looking at the different stroke options there were quite a few different options ranging from single stroke to the dual stroke like I chose, however I personally thought that the dual stroked outline gave a much better overall appearance to that of the border. Personally I also thought that the dual stroke gave that extra bit of weight to the design, whereas when the single stroke option was tried and even with the point size increased, the design still lacked the weight and appearance that I was looking for. 

Having now placed the border onto the background, this meant that I was now able to start on the main content of the On Disc label and with this in mind the next element that will be discussed and explained will be in regards to the Titles.

Blog Post 40 - Stage 2 - Completed Design: Background

My finished design for Stage Two: On Disc Label

As mentioned in Blog Post 39, the following posts will be in regards to the explanation of not only how, but more importantly why I went about designing the On Disc Label in the way that I did. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In a similar vein to that of the DVD Amaray Cover, these posts will be split into the following elements: Background; Border; Titles; Gene Hunt; Trio of Cars; Background Pattern; Logos; Information. The first element that will be discussed is that of the Background.

Background

Back in Blog Post 36, the very first element of this stage of the assignment was undertaken which was in regards to setting up the template by using guides. As I was about to find out, the guides were sincerely useful indeed and meant that the design was much more accurate as a result of using them, as well as making the entire design process much easier for me too - reason being that the allowed me to know exactly where the edges of the design were which is obviously something to very much bear in mind of course so one does not extend off of the side of the workable area.

Background

First things first was to create a new Layer for this background to be part of, so navigating to the Layers and Artboard Toolbar a new Layer named GreyBackground was chosen. Personally I chose to use layers in this as in the future if one was to come back and need to edit a certain aspect then this would mean it would be easy to find in the future. To begin with I decided to lay down a background which would form the basis for the rest of the design. For this, the Ellipse Tool was used which would allow me to draw circle that spanned the entire area that I previously set out with the guides. When using the Ellipse Tool it was important to also hold down the Shift and ALT Key which mean that the circles orientation was 100% true, and that when the circle is being drawn it is being drawn from the centre. I decided to use this feature as I could place my cursor at the mid point of the guides and draw a perfect circle outwards. I decided to firstly not create a circle to the correct size, as I thought that this would not be the most accurate way to go about this first stage. Instead, I decided to draw a circle of random size, and then go to the Transform option on the toolbar. This mean that I could then type in the exact size of circle that I wanted. 

Transform Options

Reverting back to Blog Post 36 and the dimensions of the On Disc Label and guides that I had previously set out I was able to conclude that for the background to extend to the entire area I would be looking at a circle with diameter of 125.5mm. Having typed these in and pressed Enter this meant the dimensions of this circle was absolutely perfect to what I was looking for - something that would be much harder to achieve by manually adjusting the dimensions of the circle by using the mouse. With the circle now in place I decided to head over to the Appearance toolbar which mean I could then choose how I would like this particular circle to appear. This was something I had been thinking about and reverting back to my previous comments in regards to the House Theme I wanted to keep to, I decided on the same grey colouring that I used on the Spine on the Stage One: DVD Amaray Cover. My reasoning behind this is that by using a House Theme I feel that this ensures that even though they are separate designs this means that they subtly link in and work together as a whole. Over in the Appearance Toolbar this colour was selected, and I also decided to add a Stroke of 1 point to the edge of the circle too. Admittedly as the circle was extended to the edge of the guide and thus into the bleed area this will more than likely be cut off in production, however in the production I felt that it was worthwhile to add this as it makes the overall appearance clean and crisp which I feel is important to have an aesthetically pleasing piece of work to work with. 

Having now placed the background, and explained my reasons behind why I did what I did, this means that the next element is the Border.

Blog Post 39 - Stage 2 - Completed Design

Since the last Blog Post which was in regards to the design ideas and layout ideas for that of the On Disc Label (stage two), I have been using that of Adobe Illustrator (as well as the combination of Adobe Photoshop, too) to come up with the completed design of the On Disc Label. Therefore, below is my completed design:

My finished design for Stage Two: On Disc Label

Overall, as an initial conclusion I must admit that I am very happy with the end result for stage two of this assignment. At the moment, I do not think that there are any modifications I would like to carry out, however if there are then these will be documented in a future "modifications" Blog Post.

At this point in time, now that the design phase has been completed and I feel that I have finished this stage of the assignment, I will now revert back to my notes that I made during the manufacture stage to explain how, and more importantly why, I made the On Disc Label in the way that I did. As this will be very in-depth, I have decided that I will split this into the following sections: Background, Border Titles, Gene Hunt; Trio of Cars; Background Pattern; Logos, Information. This was also the order that I created the On Disc label too.

Therefore, the next Blog Post will be in regards to that of the Background and how the design started.

Blog Post 38 - Stage 2 - Design Ideas

Having now completed the research behind that of the disc covers, as previously mentioned I am now at the stage whereby I can start to put together some design ideas for this second stage of the assignment for the On Disc Label. 

Design Ideas Layout Plans

Personally I feel that at the beginning of a design phase of a project it is very worthwhile to put across that of some layout plans, in a similar way to that of the Blog Post 10 - Design Ideas for the DVD Amaray Case Cover. I chose to do a rough layout plan for the On Disc Label as this will enable me to think more about how the design will work as a whole, as opposed to individual elements. For this I decided to use Photoshop whereby it would be quick and easy for me to utilise different layers for shapes and texts so that I clearly know whereabouts I might wish to place certain aspects. 

In regards to the layout ideas that I have placed here, I feel that it is worth mentioning that these are very much thoughts that will no doubt change in the future. Just to run through the ideas, to begin with I have decided to place the Film Title in a prominent position at both the top and bottom of the on disc label. This is because I have another future idea that I will be applying to these Titles that will give a unique effect which also plays on the film title name too - so there is reasoning behind this choice of having two instances of the Title. In the centre of the on disc label I have opted for a portrait of Gene Hunt, reason being that he is the main character so he should definitely be part of the on disc label...which also links into the Trio of Cars as well. The cars element is one that is also a big part of the DVD Video and therefore I felt that they should also be incorporated into the design too. Various logos have been placed around the edges (labelled "L"), and they have been staggered like this so that they are aesthetically pleasing and form part of the professional design element. 

I also feel that I should point out that I have also placed the Logos, and Information elements in these places as I decided that I would like to keep a feel of symmetry within the design - you will notice two logos each side, as well as two Information elements each side too. Hopefully during the design phase in Adobe Illustrator I will be able to keep to this symmetrical design. Finally, another part of the design ideas is that I really want to keep to the house theme, and in this I mean that the On Disc label when completed must appear in keeping with that of my previously designed DVD Amaray Cover. Personally I feel that if it was not in keeping this would not be a very professional approach to this stage and it is something that really should be kept in mind at all times during the design phase of this stage of the project.

Having now thought about the possible route for design ideas and design layout for the On Disc Label, I now feel that the next stage will be going ahead and creating the On Disc Label using the software of Adobe Illustrator.