Videos I Like

Check out these videos! I like the music. It blends with the video =) I hope I can make something like these 2 videos:

Cadbury Truck Commercial


Ferrero Rocher - Dazzle

I'm still looking around and trying to figure out my concept. In the mean time, I'll look for more commercials to get more ideas.

Enough with the Poster, Lets get on with the Video!

Previously, I planned to create a video based on classical English look (with English music). Then I thought, why not create something light and fun? So instead of using English music for the video, I plan to use the evergreen song by The Turtles, Happy Together. It's fun, creates a Happy mood and it's catchy too! If we create a happy feeling, of course people will remember it ;)

Here's a preview of the song:

I'm still at the first stage - gathering Information. I plan to start with my video somewhere around next week. I need to gather more info., familiarize with the software and try to learn flash (to animate some images). But flash isn't important for this project, so I don't wanna go into that too deeply. I'm focusing more on Adobe Premiere Pro.

What have i Learned?

|Review of the Poster|
While creating the poster, I started using more shortcuts than I ever did. Shortcuts helped to speed up my work and saved loads of my time!

I also learned to create the 'Soft Focus' or 'Glossy' effect. Although I didn't do the whole process, I was able to create my own glossy effect. And that was very satisfying ;)

I haven't done poster design for quite some time. Thought I wouldn't be that difficult since I used to play around with Adobe Photoshop. But I was clearly wrong. It took me some time to remember the shortcuts and tools. So next time if there's a project, I'll have to start doing wayyyyyyyyy earlier.

The most difficult part isn't doing the poster, but transferring my tacit knowledge. Being a KM student, I know I have to try my very best to share what I know. But it ain't that easy. We often plan on something and know why we do it (in our head), but to share with others why we do this and that, it's rather difficult. But I did my best to share what I know =)

I have to admit, if we didn't have to create a blog, I might not learn as much. Why? Coz I might just do things and don't even bother to share or to explain why I did that. At the end of the day, I might not remember what I did and might not be able to create the same effects (in Phtoshop) again. And I call myself a KM student? Haha. Well, I'm still learning ;) But knowledge sharing has always been my culture..

=D I'm happy coz one work is done!

Creating the poster

The first thing to do is to choose the right picture. I spend quite some time choosing the best picture (like choosing a model for a TV ad). There are loads of themes and colours. I decided to go with the red and white coz it's simple and nice. Not too colourful as well.

Unedited cupcake image

| Step 1 |
Before designing the poster, i set the image to:

1. CMYK colour (which is mainly for printing)
2. Resolution 300
3. Size: 29.7cm x 42cm (A3)

| Step 2 |

I opened the image in Photoshop CS2

| Step 3 |

Since I wanted my image to look glossy and dream-like, i searched for 'Photoshop Tutorial' for glossy effect and came across something called 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect'. I followed through some of the step by step process and got a satisfying outcome. The trick is the more you try, the better outcome you'll get. My outcome was different than the effect in the tutorial coz I played around with it a lil bit.

First I make a duplicate layer of the cupcake image (Hit Crtl+J) and change the name to 'Blur' . Then go to Filter - Blur - Gaussion Blur.

Gaussion Blur Effect

Then set the layer mode to Overlay. To get the desired Glossy effect, I duplicated the 'Blur' layer a few times to make it more 'dream-like'. There are a few more steps to complete the 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect', but I stop here coz this is exactly what I wanted.

Glossy Cupcake Image

Tadaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

To view the Photoshop Tutorial, go to http://freephotoshopguides.com/. For the full 'Surreal Soft Focus Effect', click here.

| Step 4 |
It's now time to add some lighting. And as usual, I'll create a duplicated layer instead of using the original one (in case if I mess up).

Adjusting the lighting


The 'Soft Omni' light effect

Somehow I dont like the lighting effect. I need something light and tasty. Something that gives the dreamy-fantasy-cupcake-world look. So I'm gonna stick with just the Glossy effect.

| Step 5 |
I created another layer and make the Fill brown. This will be the background colour of my poster. Then I cropped the cupcake image and place it on the brown background.

Cropped Image on brown background

| Step 6 |

Next I added text. I chose pink text over brown background because pink is a light colour and it stands out on dark colours such as brown. In my opinion, pink and brown makes the poster look yummy! It suits the product.

According to my experience working in a web publishing department, there should not be more than 2 types of font in a design. So I decided to use just one font for the whole description. I chose 'Century Gothic' coz it's simple and it's easy to read.

Every text in the poster is double-layered (linked together) to make it sharper and stronger. With just one layer, the texts are dull.

Text added describing the product & service

| Step 7 |
If you notice, there's a few flower images that has a a watermark effect on the poster. For that, I pasted a vector image from Flutterby's business card (the raw material given by Kayla) and set the blending mode to 'screen' with 6% fill. I did that to make the poster looks filled but not too busy.

| Step 8 |
I added up Flutterby's cupcake logo and recreate the font similar to the original logo (the logo pasted will not have a sharp text). The font used for the logo is Bickham Script Pro (90pt) - double layered.

Logo without text

Logo with text

| Step 8 |

To make it more interesting, I re-create a vector graphic from Adobe Illustrator CS2. The reason for me to re-create (although I have all of Kayla's raw materials) is because Kayla did the whole design in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and created an outline (to print the image). I was unable to paste it in Adobe Photoshop due to 2 reasons :

1. The file was created in CS3 (It says that I will loose some data if open in CS2).
2. Outline was created.

So instead of installing Adobe Illustrator CS3, i decided to have a lil fun with Adobe Illustrator CS2. I used the pen tool to trace the image.

Tracing process using 'Pen' tool in Illustrator

Then I copied the image and paste it to Adobe Photoshop. The vector image was resized (using the transform tool) by going to Edit - Transform - Scale / Rotate. I hit Crtl+T for the shortcut. When I'm happy with it, I rename the layer as 'Curve'. I also added some small butterfly images (from Kayla's raw material) to make it more attractive.

Tracing outcome

| Step 9 |

For final touch, I changed the 'Blending Options' of the texts, adding a couple of effects such as 'Drop Shadow', 'Outer Glow' and 'Inner Glow'. This should give some weight to the texts making it more attractive.

'Blending Options' Effects

| Final Outcome |

There you Go!

Since I set the image to CMYK (mainly for printing), the colour isn't that accurate on the web. Anyway, I can say that I am 98% confident that there will be no changes for the poster. However, nothing is fixed untill the final submission.

Now I can move on with the video! =)

My current progress (Poster)

|Checklist|
I am focusing more on my poster design for the mean time (later on, I'll start on video). So far, I've done the first phase. Here's my checklist:

1. Survey on products and services
2. Decision : Product as well as service - Flutterby Cupcakes
3. Gather materials (Pictures, Logo, Information)
4. Planning on content (Theme, Tagline, Look & Feel, Colour, Information,etc.)
5. Start building the poster (A3 size) - Photoshop (with some help from Illustrator for vector images)

[ Red = Done ]
[ Blue = WIP ]

|Content Development|
My initial plan was to do something classy and elegant (where I planned to put classical english music for the video). But looking at the colourful logo, I think I'm gonna go with something light and yummy! To do this, the most important thing is the colour blend to give the right 'Look & Feel'.

• Theme : Light & Fun
• Tagline : 'The perfect gift for all occasion..'
• Look & Feel : Chocolate & Marshmallow
• Colour Blend : Dark brown, Pink & White
• Information :
• Company / Product name
  
• Types of occassions (Weddings, Showers, Birthdays & etc.)
• Contact Number

It's easier to create a design after knowing all the details. Now that I have most of the things organized, it's time to start the fun! Yeeeehaaaaaa! I've been waiting for this part ;)

Flutterby's Second Logo

Flutterby's Second Logo

Flutterby has 2 logo's. One goes on the business card. The other logo is for any other use. For this assignment, I chose the second logo because it symbolizes the product more. Here's what I think:

1. The little cupcake let us know the product just by looking at it.
2. The butterfly image symbolizes the name - Flutterby (Jsut the fcat taht you can atllacuy raed tihs psot porves taht fcat)

Student's Block?

Ever heard of writer's block? I'm facing a rather similar process i call 'Student's Block'.

Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.
<-- That's my problem!

Urmmmm HELP? I have some ideas, but i can't seem to transfer it due to a phenomenon called 'Koo~Koo In The Head'

------------------------------------------------------------

| The Poster |

I have the raw materials from Kayla, which is the Flutterby's logo. It's a .ai (Adobe Illustrator) file of the logo. She gave me the permission to make use of it in any way i want (as long as it's for the purpose of the assignment). In any way i want meaning that i can re-arrange the logo to better suit my design/concept.

Flutterby's Official Logo

Since this project focuses solely on Adobe Photoshop, I can use the logo given by Kayla and insert it in my poster. The .ai file allows me to change each and every bit of the elements in the design such as the strokes, the flower position, the butterfly position and even the colours. I can change it because the image wasn't flattened or converted into a Jpeg file.

This is the rough example just to give u a better understanding of what i meant


Flutterby's Edited Logo

| The Video |

For the Video, I plan to have something catchy like a catchy Scottish / English background music. I think that cupcakes, cookies and muffins was started off by the English during their 'Tea-Time'. So it would be nice to suit the tradition. But this is just a plan, nothing fixed yet. I have to search for the suitable music. Then try to put in some pictures in Adobe Premier Pro and add in the music. See if it goes.

Anyone have any Scottish music, feel free to pass it to me! :D

Owh and don't forget to check out the chat box i inserted recently from Xat.com.

It's kinda fun and quite cool too. You can choose any templates provided or make your own. I changed mine to Flutterby's cupcakes. Feel free to chat and give your feedback on my ideas ;)

TTFN!

Flutterby's Cupcakes

These are the pictures (unedited) of the Cupcakes I collected from Kayla!

The pictures gave me some ideas on the 'Tag line' of my poster. But ideas are still running through my head. Nothing fixed. I need a tag line that best fit the purpose of my product. Something relevant to the product that can attract buyers & get recognized.

I like NIKE's Tag Line (Just Do It). It's light, simple but gives us confidence. Need to survey more. Maybe something that sounds right and perfect.

For now, here are some options:

1. 'The Perfect Gift' <- Too short?
2. 'The Perfect Gift For The Perfect Occasion' <- Not bad
3. 'The Best Cupcake in Town' <- That's a little lame. Its too Kopitiam (The best White Coffee in town). Haha.

Well, I'm too sleepy to think of more. Its late, might as well do it tomorrow.

!! The Tragedy !!

Last Thursday, I went over to Kayla's (Hazlila) house around noon to get the pictures of her cupcakes. I spent some time there, collecting all the pictures for different occasions and themes. Most of the cupcakes are for birthdays. And the best theme i saw so far was ROCK. Interesting, ey?

I head straight to class after gathering all my info, feeling on top of the world. Got home after that, turned my laptop on and connected my portable hard disk to my laptop (With my owh-so-happy-mood), planning to update my blog with the latest pictures / raw materials which I gathered that afternoon .

!&@^#%^!&@*&@^!^%#$%@!^%@^%! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!!!!!

All the pictures wasn't in my hard disk! Can you believe how careless people can be? I actually created a folder on her Desktop and did not drag and drop the folder on to my hard disk. I guess because I haven't used MAC in a while (besides messing around with Aien's Laptop) and I was trying to remember how to use it till I actually forgot to drag it to my hard disk.

Gosh, thats was a sad sad sad sad sad sad moment for me.. ='(

The good news is, I managed to get the pictures again today. Yeayyy!

Ideas. Ideas. Ideas. They don't come easily, do they?

After a few head-cracking hours, i finally decided on a product. Hoorayyyy!!!

I think doing the poster might not be as hard as figuring out what to do / finding the concept of what i tend to do.

The Product: Cupcakes!

My friend just started a medium-sized cupcake business which i find very very interesting. Plus cupcakes are great for all occasions such as Birthdays, New years, Eid, Chinese New Year, Christmas, Valentines Day, Mother's Day, Weddings and even as a simple gift.

The great thing about it is that it is custom made according to what we like such as a RED theme for Valentines Day or a COLOURFUL theme for Birthdays including texts such as 'Happy Birthday Eza' and loads more. It's definitely suitable for all ages!

Business Name: Flutterby

Founder: Ms. Hazlila Harumaini (Kayla)

Since the purpose of this project is mainly to explore the tools and to figure out the best way to represent our idea/tacit knowledge, I will not be concentrating much on the product but on the process of creating the Poster and the Video instead.

In other words, it's more to 'Behind The Scenes'

I set an appointment with my friend this Thursday (8th May 2008) and she is more than willing to co-operate. Well, what are friends for ;)

So hopefully,

1. I will be able to get the pictures of her Cupcakes by this Thursday
2. I can start drafting my ideas and concept
3. I can stick with this plan

In the mean time, I changed my template to give a better look & feel to my topic. But of course, some adjustments have been made (by editing the HTML basic codes) where I increased the width of the Header & Body. This step really isn't necessary, but I'm just excited since this is my first blog. Here's roughly how I did it:




Anyone interested in the templates? Visit http://www.pyzam.com/bloggertemplates/tags. They have tonssssssss of cool templates!

Cheerio! =)

The Introduction

Okay, since I skipped this earlier, let me get on with it.

My main objective is to create a poster (of A3 size) as well as a video (with images) of a particular product / service. The main point is to create awareness (not just to advertise) and to get recognized plus to explore the tools in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Premiere.

The scary part --> The video will be posted on Youtube!

The difficult part --> Posting every teeny weeny processes & ideas on this blog (Warghhh!!)

The tough part --> Deciding on what to do (Gosh that's difficult)

Obviously, i haven't fixed any products or services yet (Students = Last minutes. Haha!), but i plan to by the end of this week. Okay, not plan but MUST!

So here's what I'm gonna do:

1. Choose a company
2. Why do I choose it? (What's interesting/attracting about it)
   
3. Find out the target audience
4. What kind of commercial will it be? Infomercial? or just plain commercial?
5. The concept of my assignment

Well, that's all for a start. Need to go step by step. So I'll update soon.

Cheers!