History of Graphic Design: Chromolithography and the Fruit and Vegetable Crate Label
PROJECT: Chromolithographic Advertising- The Fruit and Vegetable Crate Label

GETTING STARTED: Make yourself a lastname_label folder. Save all of your original and created files to this folder.

CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY TUTORIAL: The first step of this assignment is to take this picture (right click>save image as):

and turn it into an image which resembles a chromolithograph. To do this, follow the steps below:
Graphic Design
Chromolithographic Picture Tutorial

In this Photoshop Tutorial we will be taking a photograph and with Photoshop effects and filters we will convert the picture to an emulation of a chromolithographic print.

1. Open the image “chromolithography_girl.jpg” from the highlandtechnology.org website (see above). Make sure the image is set to RGB color mode. To check this, go to Image>Mode>RGB Color.

Make a duplicate of this layer (CTRL-J), use the new layer for the following steps.

2. Click Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges. Adjust the values so that the picture look like it is more of an illustration than a photograph. I recommend settings for “chromolithography_girl” of Edge Thickness= 8 or 9, Edge Intensity= 1 or 2, Posterization 2-4. You will need to adjust these values to get the desired effect on your photograph.

3. Click Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Brightness Value= 10 Contrast= 30.



4. Click Filter>Artistic>Cut Out. Adjust the settings to Number of Level= 8, Edge Simplicity= 0, Edge Fidelity= 3. You should have a picture that looks like this:



5. You can now use this “chromolithographic” image as a piece in your Chromolithograph Advertisement!

 

Please complete this tutorial on Chromolithography Girl first and save the completed tutorial to your label folder. I will give 50 points for completing this tutorial properly. Then use the same ideas on any other images that you would like to use in your Fruit or Vegetable Crate Label!

THE RULES: In this assignment, the student will be creating an advertising label representative of the chromolithographic advertisements of the late 19th and early 20th Century.

To begin, the student must decide on a suitable fruit or vegetable to use as the product of their Label. Locate a large, colorful photograph of your fruit or vegetable. Save this to your lastname_label folder.

Your product will have an appropriate Brand Name that fits the picture that you have created. Locate a couple of PHOTOGRAPHS (please do not use pinup graphics from years gone by, all the work will have been done for you!) that you can use for the layout of your label. Save these to your lastname_label folder. Bear in mind that your Brand Name and your graphics need to be school appropriate. Some "sexiness" is ok, as there is massive precedent for this in the genre, however, violence, drinking and drugs will not be allowed. Any school inappropriate imagery will earn your project a ZERO!

Also note, you DO NOT have to include "pinups" in your crate label, plenty of labels had pictures of animals, birds, trees, landscapes, buildings, etc.

Use the Chromolithography Tutorial to transform your photographs into suitable graphics for your label.

Once you have your chromolithographic pictures, layout the design of your advertising label. Make sure to include the following elements in your advertising:
  1. Prominent placement of your chromolithographic picture that exemplifies the Brand Name of your product.
  2. Layered effects of varied layers of your label, various elements in the advertisement should be placed in front of other elements to look “three dimensional.”
  3. Bright, bold, prominent and fanciful Brand Name TEXT, combined with the small word BRAND (example: “Cool Teacher Brand”). Use strokes, borders, three dimension text, use “Warped Text” or “Distort” to give your Brand Name some excitement.
  4. A prominent picture and text label of the type of fruit or vegetable that you are advertising.
  5. A “Grower’s Statement” that tells where the fruit or vegetable was packed and by what packing company.
  6. A decorative and colorful border.
  7. Balanced and thoughtful layout to the label, without unplanned or meaningless open space.

A VIDEO TUTORIAL THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL: You might want to check out the

"Modifying Text" Video Tutorial

from last semester to refresh your memory on how to use the Character Panel. If you head to about 3:00 in the Video, you should locate the information that you need for this assignment regarding Warping Text and other text modification tools.

EXAMPLES FROM YEARS GONE BY: Some samples of Fruit and Vegetable Crate Labels from years gone by:

SUBMITTING YOUR WORK: Save your finished work as “lastname_label.jpg” and copy your entire lastname_label folder to the class drop box on the M: Drive. This assignment will be worth 150 points total (including the 50 points for chromolithography_girl).

GRADING: The “A” product will include a well balanced, colorful and eye catching label with an interesting chromolithographic emulation as its central feature, a catchy brand name with colorful and decorative brand name lettering. In addition, all of the elements discussed above will be included, especially the decorative border.

Remember, completing the Chromolithography Tutorial on chromolithography girl and turning in that file is worth 50 of the 150 points for this assignment!