Graphic Design 2 Project:
"The Abstract Com pany Logo."

The Project: You will be creating a Figurative Alphabet, using your design skills and Photoshop talents to illustrate all of the letters of the alphabet, while imbedding representative images into the letters to carry out out a consistent theme.

The Purpose of this Project: Being able to modify and and "illustrate" letters should be a basic tool in the toolbox of the graphic designer. Letters and words that impart meaningful imagery are used in company logo design, posters, advertisements, etc.

The Inspiration: The inspiration for this project is a typographically centered commercial- The Ford Truck Commercial for 2013, in which typographical words appear with imbedded imagery in the letters. That commercial can be seen here-

2013 Ford Truck Commercial

(Students using the school network system will not be able to view this, but it will be shown in class.)

The Alphabet: When creating your alphabet, students expected to use complete words starting with each letter of the alphabet and will illustrate the word by including an imbedded image into the word that shows the meaning or look of the word in question. Some examples of this can be drawn directly from the Ford Truck Commercial:

Part One, Creation of the Themed Alphabet: To create your alphabet, complete the following steps:

  1. Create a “lastname_alphabet” folder on your “lastname on violet” network drive.
  2. In Photoshop, make a new canvas, 300 x 300 pixels. This canvas will be saved as “A.jpg” into your “lastname_alphabet” folder.
  3. Upon conclusion of the assignment, the student will have a total of 26 300 x 300 canvases, one for each letter of the alphabet.
  4. The student will execute their Alphabet Letter using the following rules:
    • A Capital and a Small Letter for the Letter Square.
    • An illustration of some person, place, animal, thing, etc. that illustrates that letter, according to the theme chosen for the alphabet.
    • A written caption of the illustration of the letter.
    • THE STUDENT MUST CARRY OUT A CONSISTENT THEME TO EACH LETTER! Remember, it is the THEME, the colors used, the borders used, the font used, etc. that constitutes a THEME.
    • Students may use any tools at their disposal, clip art, pictures, fonts, colors, etc. If you wish to use crazy fonts from urbanfonts.com, feel free to do so.
    • REMEMBER, the goal is to create an age appropriate alphabet that could be used with Kindergarteners and 1st graders! Make it age and school appropriate!

A sample Letter Canvas might look like the one to the right:

Some Help with Alphabetical Stuff: Finding stuff with alphabet letter names is tough. Here is a website, found by Kayla Boldry, that might help you out: Kayla's Very Cool List of Alphabetical Things.

Part One, Alphabet Options: If the students wishes to "try something different", they are free to create a different sort of alphabet, such as the one created by the Mitchell Library in Australia. To celebrate their 100th anniversary, the Library commissioned an alphabet to be created using the images of the objects in their library collection. The resulting font set is being used for all of their 100th Anniversary displays and public relations materials. If you would like to create something similar to this, you can. I recommend possibly using a central theme, then gathering images from that theme which you can use for your Alphabet.

Some Samples from Years Gone By:

Mr. B.'s Sample Themed Alphabet:

 

Part Two, Creating the Contact Sheet: When you have completed all 26 letter blocks and saved them as JPEGs, please check out this short Video Tutorial, which will show you how to make a Contact Sheet for your Alphabet.

Video Tutorial:

Part Three, Grading of the Assignment:

This will be a 100 point assignment, due in two to three class periods! The more fanciful, complex, well illustrated and THEMED an alphabet is, the better the grade will be.

Mr. B. will be grading based on the simple 0/50/100 percent principle. Each letter that is completed in a professional manner with a consistent theme will be worth 4 points. Letters not completed will receive 0 points. All other offerings will receive 2 points (half credit). I will only grade 25 of the 26 letters in your alphabet, for an even grade of 100 points.

PLEASE NOTE: Anyone who insists on creating an alphabet with inappropriate materials will immediately receive a ZERO grade for this assignment.