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Tile Ad Redesign Assignment

Purpose
This assignment has two purposes. First, this is an opportunity for you to become familiar with the basic concepts and tools in the graphic design program Photoshop. This software has incredible capabilities for creating and manipulating digital images for both print and screen.

Second, this assignment will provide another chance to experiment with and apply the basic design principles from your textbook and from Robin Williams' Non-Designer's Design Book.

Instructions
This assignment asks you to use Photoshop to apply the CRAP principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity) to an advertisement for a tile company. Your task is to manipulate images, change fonts, and reorganize the various elements of the ad so that it incorporates the principles. There are no right or wrong ways to do this, but you will need to write a short memo justifying why you made particular changes. The following steps will walk you through the assignment:

  1. Download the Photoshop tilead_remake.psd file to your Documents folder
  2. Open the file in Photoshop and make appropriate changes to the ad.
  3. Save your file in .gif format and email it to me at jasheppa@nmsu.edu by 5pm on February 19th.
  4. Write a brief memo (1-2 pages) explaining which of the CRAP principles you used in your redesign of the tile ad and why. Email this along with your image file by 2/19.

Further Resources
Because Photoshop is a complex and sophisticated program, you may want some additional help with this assignment. I would be happy to work on this assignment with individuals or small groups during my office hours. You may also want to explore some of the following tutorial links: