The Windsor Hotel photo before
The Windsor Hotel photo after
A while back the National Trust asked me to put the public in the picture of the proposed development for the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. I was given a photo of the Windsor hotel as it stands today and then asked to create a photoshop image of what it would look like if the proposed development were to be completed.
I had to base my artistic rendition on the developers own plans, as they had only published very tiny images to the public. The National Trust wanted to see a larger and clearer representation. But it had to be as accurate as possible based on the actual plans – well what we could see of them.
It was a very challenging job to do and required many many layers in Photoshop. I started by finding a photo of a high rise taken on a similar angle and used some of that as background colouring in layers. I filled in the side of the building with the cream colours and drew the squares down the side, filling those in with some transparency. The lines across and down the building were quite time consuming and were of different thicknesses and angles so only some could be copied and pasted. Of course critical to the effect was to create a path around the top of the Windsor hotel and all its little intricacies, so that I could cut that out from the image of the new high rise development and place it in front. I also found it essential to start with a high resolution photo with the original, so that it could be used in either print or web later on.
The image is still being utilized in the save the windsor campaign today:
www.savethewindsor.com
The site of the Windsor hotel was historically owned by a great great grandfather of mine, so it is close to my heart that they save this landmark historic building of such grace and beauty. I wish the National Trust all the best with the campaign.
Lisa is a graphical and pre-press designer with more than 15 years experience. She runs her own agency Twilight Emerald from Ballarat, Victoria Australia.
There are a heap of great original brochure designs out there but I have have certainly also seen some shockers!
Too often I have seen people try to design their own flyer at home on a program like Microsoft Word, and oh boy you can really tell the difference! I wouldn’t be seen dead with one of those brochures advertising my business. Talk about cheap and nasty. But if you’re an amateur at home who has an idea for their brochure, here’s a tip. Go ahead and do a rough layout on your home pc, and then take that layout to a professional designer. Your rough layout ideas will be a huge help and time saver for your designer, who can then see up front exactly what needs to be included on your brochure and allocate space and design accordingly – but then they can take it from there and turn your ideas into more of an artistic masterpiece. Most likely you will save some money if your designer is charging by the hour, by having your ideas laid out up front instead of changing your mind after the brochure has already been designed.
I’ve included a link below which shows some very innovative ideas for brochures too:
http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/12/06/best-of-brochure-design-cool-samples-and-examples-of-brochures/
Another tip for the average person out there wanting a brochure designed, it is well worth having professional photographs taken. The difference between having some photos taken on your own little digital camera and having them done professionally is enormous when it comes to the final appearance of your brochure. And if you can’t afford a professional photographer then ask your designer if they can access some professional stock photography that would be suitable.
Lisa is a graphical and pre-press designer with more than 15 years experience. She runs her own agency Twilight Emerald from Ballarat, Victoria Australia.
To print pictures with enough quality the electronic file needs enough information to do so. A web/internet graphic is sized for screen viewing at 72dpi and will not be suitable for printing. Although a web graphic looks of good quality when viewed on screen, the printed product, especially when it comes to press printing is a very different kettle of fish. It is a common misconception that you can just pinch an image off your website and use it in print on your brochure or business card.
Any image without enough resolution for print (such as a website graphic) will appear pixelated, “blocky”, unclear and of poor quality in print.
It is also important to ensure your digital camera is set to a high enough resolution when taking photos to be used for a print job.
As a general guide, a colour photograph needs to be around 300dpi (dots per inch) at 100% actual size used for printing.
If the original image is of low resolution, re-sampling up to a higher resolution will not fix the quality and resolution much. It is important that the original settings on your scanner or camera are of high resolution.
Lisa is a graphical and pre-press designer with more than 15 years experience. She runs her own agency Twilight Emerald from Ballarat, Victoria Australia.
