To create the logo I have decided to use the scanner to get the image of the daisies and then alter this image using ‘Adobe Photo Deluxe. ‘ I could have used the scanner program, which also allows me to manipulate the image, but it has fewer features. Adobe will allow me to save the image, alter it, and go back to the saved version if the results are unsuccessful. It allows me to change my original image in many ways including resizing, changing the colour of my image, change the background and using a large range of special effects.
It is the most advanced of the software I have at home and with other graphics programs it is often difficult to use a photo or scanned image. Adobe is specially designed for altering images of this type and I am also quite used to using it. Using Adobe will save a lot of time that I could have spent trying to work out how to alter a scanned image in a graphics program. The scanner I will use is a flatbed AGFA SNAPSCAN310. It is large enough to fit the daisies in, and the lid can be raised enough to fit the daisies, chain and paper under. It is capable of producing high quality images even if they are of 3D objects.
However the lid of the scanner can easily damage the flowers and you can’t see what the image will look like until you’ve scanned it. If I were to use a digital camera to take a picture of the flowers then this would not be a problem, but the scanner can alter things faster and I have found that the colour is often better when the scanner is used. The other problems with using a camera are that you often get unwanted items in the background, you can be out of focus and the lighting has to be right. Therefore I think that the scanner is overall a better way of obtaining the image.
Creating the logo- What I Did 1. The first thing I did was collect a few flowers and arrange them on the scanner, with a necklace for the chain and a coloured paper background, to create the image in my design. 2. I then scanned the image into Adobe and saved it into ‘hold photo’ so it was easy to revert to if I didn’t like how I changed the image. The original image is shown below. 3. I used the special effect called ‘glowing edges’ to create this image. I like it because it looks quite different and eye-catching but it wouldn’t be attractive to someone buying flowers for a wedding because it is so dark.
Also, the chain isn’t very noticeable and if the logo were on a business card it would be practically invisible. It isn’t very ‘Summery’ looking and this was of the things that I decided the logo should be. For all these reasons, I decide it wasn’t suitable for the task. 4. I went back to the original image and changed the background. This was a very slow process involving selecting the edges of the daisies and chain using the mouse. I then chose another background and put it behind the image I had left. This produced the image below on the left.
I decided against it because the background drew attention away from the daisies, as it was too overpowering and bright. In the selecting process I also lost a lot of the chain and the blue background is still visible in places. The chain is just as important as the flowers, so I decided that the logo could still be improved. I experimented with some other special effects including embossing, ‘solorizing’, ‘note paper,’ ‘funnel,’ (below right) and other distortions. 5. I decided that the chain was too thin and there were too many flowers, so I used some bigger, fancier daisies and a thicker chain and scanned these in.
They were a pale pink and I didn’t like their colour much (below left), so I used the ‘tint’ option to change the hue of the image (below centre) and then the saturation (below right). 6. I was now happier with the image, but I wanted the daisies to be more yellow so it would complement the purple and create a brighter image. I went back to the tint option and changed the hue slightly. I liked this logo the best because of the use of complementary colours and the bolder chain. The chain will also show up better when the image is shrunk down for the business card. 7.
I now needed to add the words ‘Daisy Chain’ somewhere on the logo. I decided that white showed up the best because the logo is so bright. I experimented with lots of different types of font. I had decided that it had to be quite simple so you could read it easily. I also decided that capital letters looked bolder and easily readable. To add text I clicked on the ‘T’ logo in the frame surrounding my image and typed in ‘Daisy Chain. ‘ I wanted the text to go down the side of the logo so I typed a letter and then pressed return so there was once on each line of text. I then chose the colour, style and size of font.
I got the image below. The letters were all lined up on the left hand side and I decided that they would look better if they were lined up centrally and were the same length as the daisies in the picture. 8. I changed the way they were aligned and changed the size and style of font. The font I chose is called Matisse ITC. I chose it because although it isn’t as simple as some of the other fonts I tried it is more interesting and not too fussy. It could also be made smaller and still be readable. I chose to put it on the right of the flowers. Below is the finished logo. Conclusion Using Adobe and the scanner has worked well.
I have only used the scanner to obtain an image and not to alter it. To change this image I used Adobe. I didn’t use all the possible features of this software but I used a lot of the special effects and advanced effects in designing the logo. This is a list of all the ones I used; instant fix, fix colour, size orientation, glowing edges, tint, mezzotint, distort, negative, change background, merge clouds, posterize, chrome, neon glow, funnel, swirl, crackle, note paper and emboss. In the actual logo I didn’t use all of these but I used tint, size orientation, sharpen, instant fix, remove dust as well as some other features like adding text.
All these were very useful and the only problem I had was losing detail when the image was made smaller and this would have been the case with any software. Adobe also allows you to send images via the Internet, send them to disks, files or to the printer. I only used this feature to print the images. The other main feature of this software is allowing images to be added to ready designed calendars, allowing cards, pages, labels, frames and T-shirts to be created. As yet I have not used this feature, but I will use it to make the letter-headed paper and business cards.
