The document provides step-by-step instructions for developing a CD cover design. It describes selecting and editing images, applying effects like low poly and filters, arranging design elements, and testing different layout options. Key steps include cutting out backgrounds, turning images low poly using triangles and blurring, placing the title and adjusting colors, adding related background images, and positioning track listings and barcodes. The final instructions refine a concert ticket design with tropical images, gradients, and basic event details.

1. Production Development

2. Step 1
I started developing my ticket by selecting
an image that had a lot of variation in
colour, with deep blacks and vibrant reds to
contrast with it.
I then cut out the background to remove
any un wanted features that would not add
to the look and style of the cd cover. For
example the tree in the background. To cut
out the image I used the lasso tool which
can be selected by using the ‘L’ on the
keyboard as a shortcut.

3. Step 2
• The next step was to turn the image low poly.
The first step was to add a grid on top of the
image to give me a point of reference for each
triangle. To turn this on you have to go View >
Show > Grid. However this grid is not the right
size and to change this I had to go to Edit >
Preferences > Guides, Grid and slices. I changed
the settings of the grid so that there were no
subdivisions, so that each grid was only 0.01
cm². I then made the lines dotted and grey so
that it did not greatly obstruct the image.
• I then started to create the low poly effect. I
started by using the line lasso tool so that I got
hard edges. I would start at one point and
make sure that I came back to that exact point
using the grid, creating lots of triangles. Once I
had a triangle selected I would go to Filter >
Blur > Average. This makes the area that I
selected an average colour based on all of the
colours inside the area. After I did this once I
could just press Ctrl + F to use the previous
filter which would always be Average.

4. Step 3
• In this step I first created a new
document that was 12 CM X 12
CM, as that is the size of a CD
cover, the DPI was set 300 Pixels
per inch. 300 DPI is best for print
as the image can be large in file
size due to it not using a lot of
data.
• I then cut the head from the rest of
the image using the straight line
tool as this was easiest when
cutting out hard straight edges.
• When I dragged the head onto the
12 CM x 12 CM it was much larger,
this is not what I intended to do
however when I saw the outcome I
kept it as it had a very abstract
appeal.

5. Step 4
• I then added two separate adjustment layers, I added a
hue and saturation and a colour balance layer. This was to
make the image look brighter, it especially made the reds
pop out and contrast heavily from the black.
• With the colour balance I set the tone to midtones, and
persevered the luminosity. I then changed the cyan and
red slide to be +44, this meant that the cyan were
replaced with reds, I then changed the magenta and red
slide to be +36 so that the magenta were slightly replaced
by greens, this stopped the reds being to light, allowing
you to be able to see the difference between shades more
easily. On the yellow and blue slide I changed it to +25,
this added more colour to the face so I didn’t look as pale.
• In hue and saturation I made very small adjustments only
changing the saturation and lightness. I changed the
saturation to +17 which added more colour making the
image more vibrant. I then changed the lightness to be -8
so that the dark areas were darker creating more contrast.
• I however didn’t want this effect over the eyes, so using
the line select tool I drew around the eyes. Once I had the
eyes selected I chose the mask area on the layer and used
the brush tool to paint the eyes area black, this revolves
the effect from around the eyes.

6. Step 5
• I then started to work on the title of the CD, I
decided on ‘Fake Band’. I then chose to use the
black sword font from my pre production. I then
used a sybol provided by the font to put the
underlining on. I then skewed both features using
CTRL + T. I then Selected ‘Fake Band’ then went
select – expand which I then increased by 5px. This
meant that the selection was 5 pixels bigger. I then
selected the layer with the underline and deleted
the selected area.
• I then added the gradient overlay making sure the
cut off between two colours was sharp. I used a
cyan and a magenta colour making sure magenta
was at the top.
• I then duplicated the layer and changed the whole
colour overlay to a dark purple. Then using the
move tool I pressed the down arrow 5 times and the
right arrow 5 times moving it away from the
gradient layer. I then moved the new layer behind
to create a hard drop shadow

7. Step 6
• I then duplicated the image
size so that I could create the
back of the cd cover, I did this
in Image – Canvas size. Doing
it in canvas size doesn’t change
the image just the size of the
canvas that you are able to
work on.
• After this I worked on the
placement of the title. I
started by testing it in large
central size. The idea of this
was to have it running round
the cd cover from one side to
the other. However after
seeing this I decided against it,
as when you first look at the cd
the first thing you see is ‘Band’
rather than the first word of
the title. I also didn’t like the
large scale of the font as it
covered a lot of the overall
cover design. The best location
was at the bottom as it only
covered the lips, which were
still distinguishable. However
it didn’t cover the eyes which is
what I was aiming to achieve
as they are very vibrant and a
re key point on the cover.
• I then tested it in the same size
but moving from the front
cover to the back, moving left
to right. However this didn’t
work the way I wanted it to. It
is not clear that the rest of the
name is on the back and the
angle the text is at is much
more distinct and doesn’t quite
have the same appeal as when
it doesn’t have a divide in it.
• I then tested the text much
smaller and more central to
the front cover rather than to
the whole cover. This worked
much better as it didn’t cover a
large part of the cover image
like the large size did. Even
when placed in the centre of
the page it doesn’t cover any
of the eyes and the only detail
it slightly covers is the nose.
However overall it looked
much more appealing when
placed at the bottom of the
image as it only covered part of
the lips and did not take any
colour or distraction away from
the eyes.

8. Step 7
• I then used another image
taken on my camera and used
the same low poly style I had
before. I chose that image
specifically as the color scheme
was quite similar to the text
and the eyes. As the main
colors were purple and red, the
whole image had a purple hue
that worked well with the
bright white areas to give quite
a tropical chilled aesthetic. I
used the low poly effect as I did
on the other image as it
created a theme between the
to sides of the cover.

9. Step 8
• The final step was to add track names and a
barcode, This was very simple. I used a
barcode generator to get the barcode, which I
placed in the bottom left of the image, this
was primarily so that it was out the way of any
detailed parts of the image, so it did not effect
the aesthetic.
• I then created the track list using the exact
same technique as I did for the title, without
adding the underline effect. I put this in the
bottom right of the image for the same reason
I put the barcode in the left. As it did not
cover any of the details on the image.
However this time it is much closer to the
focus of the image which was intentional. I
did this because the track list actual has
influence on purchase so moving it closer to
the image detail makes it appear more
involved in the overall design.

10. Step 9
• The next step was to create a tick for a
gig. I created a document that was
14.54CM Long and 5.8CM high. I then
started by dividing this by three with a
guide layout. This was because in my
research I found that tickets often had a
part that was used by the ticket collector
and a part that was kept by the person
attending the event as a memento. So I
planned on having 2 thirds of the ticket to
be kept for the person attending the
event.
• I then chose an image that I ha taken that
was very tropical to fit the theme I had
gone with when creating the CD cover.
For the same reason I used the low poly
effect I did before to get the same design
aesthetic. Once I did this I duplicated the
image 2 times, I then flipped one of the
images, this was so that I could tile the
images to look like one image.

11. Step 10
• The Next step was to decide color. I
decide that the two thirds kept by
the audience would look different in
color to that of the ticket collector
to keep a distinct difference
between the two parts. So I first
created a new layer, and then
created a linear gradient that goes
from purple down to orange. I then
changed the blending option to
difference to get the look that is
seen to the left. This look worked
well as it still looks very tropical but
also has a very vibrant dance
aesthetic to it.
• I then added a separate image to
the final third of the image, I
wanted to use a DJ as it is fitting
with the dance theme of my
imaginary festival.

12. Step 11 • I then used the same low poly effect I have through out my
project to make the DJ image fit in with the rest of my design.
• However I quickly adjusted my image quite drastically, I have
instead aimed to create a much simpler ticket design that is
much more aesthetically appealing in my opinion.
• I first remove the left third of the ticket changing it to be just
the tiled images that I had first used, I did this because I
believed the ticket to be far too long and all the space I had
would not be necessary in my evolved design. The next thing I
changed was the blending option I had used on the overall
image, I changed it from difference to hue. This drastically
changed a lot of the colors, make it seem much more tropical,
mostly to do with the sunset appearing to come much more
clearly from behind the brick wall.
• I then created an opaque box with rounded corners which I
moved to the left half of the ticket. I made the box opaque so
that the image behind was still visible and not completely
removed.
• I then added basic details using a font called ticketing, this is
because the font was easy to read and still aesthetically
pleasing. I put a black box around ‘**WEEKEND TICKE**’ to
show that it was important to the ticket.

13. Step 12
• I then added a few more details into
the box on the left just to fill it up while
also using information necessary to the
ticket.
• I also added ‘Fake Fest’ into the top
middle of the ticket in the same style I
did on my CD cover, using a text called
Blacksword. This built a link between
the band name and the ticket, which is
also connected with both having ‘Fake’
at the start of the name.
• I also experimented using fake
sponsors on the ticket, however I
though this took away from the overall
design of the ticket.

14. Step 13
• The next step was to create a poster advertising
the concert for the band. I started by creating a
background that I intended to use my low poly
effect on. The first idea was to have a radial
gradient that faded from dark purple to pink. This
was so that there was a large focus on the centre
point of the poster, more emphasised by the
white border.
• The other design was focused on splitting the top
and bottom half of the poster. I did this by
creating a linear gradient, the gradient fades from
pink to baby blue with a sharp cut off in the
middle of the page. To show the divide even more
I added a division line.
• The intention on focussing on areas allows there
to be an area dedicated to art intended to get
peoples intention. The other area would be
allocated to giving information about the event.

15. Step 14
• The next step was to use the low poly technique I used on the
other products. However I used a different technique to get the
effect. I used the line tool, in white, this allowed me to have more
control over the triangle shapes as I did not have to follow a grid.
However using this technique I had drawn around 1500 lines which
was very taxing on the computer, it was also problematic when
trying to do the next stage of the technique. So I had to merge all
of the layers, this however meant editing a certain triangle was
much harder. The next step was to select each triangle and use
filter – Average – Blur. However before I I used the blur I had to
make sure I was on the layer with the picture rather than that of
the drawn triangles.
• Having the drawn lines ( Triangles ) on a separate layer allowed me
to use a blending option that made the triangles and the difference
in shades stand out much more clearly.
• The next step was to add a hue/saturation over the background so
that the background fits in much more clearly and aesthetically
with the low poly image.

16. Step 15
• I then changed the background layer
by adding a light flash image over the
top of the dark background, I then
changed the blending options of this
light flash to be divide which gave it
the look of soundwaves pulsating from
the centre of a speaker. This showed
the purpose of the poster in a very
subtle way.
• I also added the text to the centre, this
was done the same way I did all of the
other text on the other products.
However I did add an outer glow to the
text so that it stands out much clearer
from the backgrounds.

17. Step 16
• In the end I changed the rotation of
the page, I also enlarged the size of the
low poly image so that it was the key
draw to the poster. I also moved the
headline to the top middle, this was so
that it didn’t cover the image and so it
also didn’t cover the light effect I used
in the previous step.
• The final step was to add the date and
location of the gig, I used the font
‘ticketing’ which is the same as I used
for the text on the information part of
the ticket. I used it because it had a
very electronic aesthetic.