Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Jones and I'm really pleased you decided to learn with me today.

In this lesson, we will look at developing vector products to meet one of three possible project outlines.

You'll use the skills you have learned and apply this to create one of the possible vector products.

So let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called Developing a Vector Product from the unit Developing Vector Graphics.

And by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to plan and design a vector product for a given project.

There are three key words to today's lesson.

Logo.

Logo is an image that represents and relates to the organisation it belongs to.

Illustration.

Illustration is an image that clearly represents the thing it is.

Icon.

Icon is an image relevant to the navigational menu it represents.

There are three sections to today's lesson.

The first is choose a project and plan a design.

The second, combine techniques to create a vector image and the third, evaluate the project against its given purpose.

So let's start with choose a project and plan a design.

Vector drawings are often used to create logos, illustrations, or icons.

Here's some examples.

Can you categorise these vector graphics into logos, illustrations, and icons? Pause the video to consider whether those are logos, illustrations or icons, which ones are which, and then I'll go through them.

Let's have a look at that.

So in icons, we have these two.

Illustrations, these two.

And logos, these two.

Well done if you've got those correct.

So, a logo is an image that represents and relates to the organisation it belongs to.

It is often designed to be memorable and quickly recognised.

An illustration is an image that clearly represents the thing it is.

It helps explain or support an idea, object or concept.

An icon is an image relevant to the navigation or menu it represents.

It is designed to be easily recognised and help with navigation.

Let's have a quick check.

Which statement best matches which use? So you've got the keywords on the left there, icon, logo and illustration, and you have three definitions on the right, which one matches up with which.

Pause the video, have a look at those keywords and definitions and which one would go with which and then I'll go through the answers.

Let's have a look at those.

Icon is relevant to the navigation or menu it represents.

Logo represents and relates to the organisation it belongs to.

Illustration clearly represents the thing it is.

Well done if you've got those correct.

Artists and designers often work on different kinds of projects.

In this lesson, you will get to decide which project you will work on, logos, icons, or illustrations.

Each project will have a different theme and requirements.

Think about which you would like to create.

Project one is to create a logo.

You work for a graphic design company.

You have been asked to design a logo for a theme park called Solar City.

The park's theme is space.

And this is an example of a logo designed for a steampunk themed park.

The requirements for this project are use relevant text and symbols, use no more than six colours, look effective, large or small.

For project two, it's to create icons.

You are part of a website development team working on a website for a zoo.

To make the website more user friendly, the zoo would like to have icons on the navigation buttons, menu items. The icon should be simple and only include one colour.

Some examples.

The requirements are to create six user-friendly icons to represent these groups of animals.

The icons must match the following animal categories, primates, reptiles and amphibians, big cats, insects and arachnids, small mammals and marsupials and large land mammals.

Project three is to create an illustration.

You work as a freelance illustrator.

You've been hired to design the characters for a collection of children's books.

The books will tell the story of Carlos the crab, and Fiona, the fish and the adventures they have together.

Some examples there of a fish and a crab.

The requirements are to create character illustrations for Fiona and or Carlos.

The designs must be appropriate for a children's book.

Let's have a quick check.

Place the images in the correct group.

Look at those images there, and would you place them in the logo, the illustration, or the icon sections there? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

And let's check your answer.

Icon.

Illustration.

Icon.

Logo.

Illustration.

Well done if you've got those correct.

Let's do the first activity.

Choose a project to undertake.

You are gonna do the logos, the icons or the illustrations.

Spend 10 minutes carrying out research and developing your ideas.

Think about the requirements for your project, then plan your design.

Pause the video, have a look through those projects again and decide which one you are going to do and spend the time looking at research and developing your ideas and planning your design.

Then we'll look at some possible example solutions.

Let's have a look at possible solutions.

So Sofia said, I love zoo animals, so I have decided to complete project two and create icons for navigation menu buttons on the zoo's website.

To develop my ideas, I looked at a range of zoo websites to see what icons they used on their menus.

I also looked at some image libraries to look at vector drawings.

I know I won't be able to add too much detail to my icons as they're quite small, so I search for zoo animal silhouettes to give me inspiration and here's some examples there.

My favourite animal is a bat, so that is the first icon design I planned.

Some really good explanations there and plan from Sofia.

Let's move on to this second part of today's lesson.

Combine techniques to create a vector image.

What vector graphic skills will help you in this project? You can create a range of shapes using the shape tools, rectangles or squares, circles, ellipses or arcs, polygons and stars, and those are the three icons on the toolbar that you look for for those.

You can change the fill and outline the stroke of a shape as you create it or after you have created it.

The video here is reminding you on how to do that.

Inkscape will keep your settings for the next shape you create there.

Remember that.

So you can see here where they're changing the stroke, the colour, the stroke style.

To reposition shapes, use the selector tool, the arrow from the top left menu, then click and drag the shape to where you want it.

You can resize the shape using the handles around the edge, and there's an example of the shape with the double arrow on each of those corners and sides.

And when you click and drag those, you can resize the shape.

Once the shape is highlighted, you can click on it again to display the rotation handles.

Use the handles to rotate the shape.

Look there.

Click on it once, click on it again.

Now you have the rotation handles, and now you can click and drag and move the rotation of your shape.

Hold Control while rotating the shape to snap to whole angles.

To change the Z order, select a shape and then use the buttons on the top tool bar to move it.

You have the move to the top, move to the bottom up one step down one step.

You can group a set of objects to make them act as one object.

Use the selector tool to select all of it, and then you can resize it.

You can still move each individual part as you are doing it.

You can also ungroup a group set of objects as well.

You can combine shapes using union, difference or intersection.

Let's have a quick check.

How have these shapes been combined? Is it A union, B difference or C intersection? Pause the video to consider your answer and then I'll go through the solution.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was C, intersection.

Well done if you got that correct.

After you've added a shape or an object, a shape object in Inkscape, you can edit the path.

You select it, you click the path menu, you choose object path, and now you have the nodes that you're able to reshape the size or position of each of those to create a new shape.

You can then make changes to the dimensions of the shape using the node tool.

Let's have a quick check.

How could this tool help when creating your design? You have the magnifying glass there.

Is it A, add nodes to a shape that has been made into a path? B, resize objects to make them bigger? C, zoom in to make something appear closer? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was C.

Zoom in to make something appear closer.

Well done if you got that correct.

Look back at your plan and think about the skills you will need to use to create your design.

You may like to add some annotations.

So here's Sofia's plan for the bat and she's added some annotations.

The head, well, I could add a circle and change colour to black.

The ears, add circle and create a path to change dimensions.

Wings, add circle, and create path to change dimensions.

Let's do the activity.

Look back at your design and add annotations if helpful.

Create your design using Inkscape.

Once you are happy with your design, describe how you made it.

Pause the video, go back through some of those videos to look at the skills and look at your design, add your annotations and then create your design in Inkscape.

Describe how you made it and then we'll go through some possible solutions created by others.

Let's have a look at some solutions created by others.

So Sofia has created a bat.

I created a circle for the head.

Then I drew a circle, which I turned into a path.

I edited the shape to make a pointed ear.

I copied the ear and pasted it, but it didn't look quite right.

I looked for a tool to flip the ear horizontally so that it fitted better.

I found the flip horizontally tool.

I made another circle into a path and tried to create the bat wings.

I found this really hard.

I'd noticed in my research that many of the animal icons were symmetrical.

And as I found the flip horizontal button, I decided to draw one wing, then duplicate and flip it.

This worked much better for me.

Finally, I used the union feature to make my objects into one image.

Well done to Sofia on creating hers and explaining hers.

And I hope you've enjoyed creating yours and have explained yours as well.

Let's move to the last part of today's lesson.

Evaluate the project against its given purpose.

Now that you've created your design in Inkscape, you can evaluate whether it has met the requirements of the task.

There is a rubric for this task.

It includes considerations for your planning, creating and evaluating.

This grid helps you think about how well your project meets its purpose.

And here you can see the three different projects and it whether it's suitable for the purpose you've got for project one.

You've got the requirements project two requirements, project three requirements.

Let's have a quick check.

Why is it important to evaluate a project against its given purpose? Is it A, you can assess whether the project aims have been met.

B, you can highlight improvement points.

C, you can make sure your project is exactly the same as everyone else's.

Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was A and B.

You can assess whether the project aims have been met and you can highlight improvement points.

Well done if you got that correct.

Project one, create a logo.

You work for a design graphic company.

You have been asked to design a logo for a theme park called Solar City.

The park's theme is space.

Make sure your design has relevant text and symbols.

Has no more than six colours, the space theme, and looks effective, large or small.

Look at the requirements of the task.

Have all of the requirements been met? Does it have relevant text and symbols? Izzy says, my design has the relevant text as defined in the requirements.

Does it have no more than six colours? Space theme? Izzy said, I used six colours and my design matched the required space theme.

Does it look effective, large or small? Izzy said, I enlarged my design and it resized well.

When I made it smaller, the text was a little hard to see, but if it is going to be used as a theme part logo, I think it'll be okay.

Let's do a quick check.

True or false? The reason vector graphics can be scaled up without looking blurry is because they're made up of pixels.

Pause the video to consider if that is true or false, and then we'll check your answer.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was false.

Why was that false? Pause the video to consider how you would explain whether that was a false statement, and then we'll check your answer.

Let's check your answer.

Vector drawings can be scaled up without looking blurry.

However, this is because they're made of shapes which are resized using mathematical equations.

Well done if you got that correct.

Is there anything you think could be improved? Izzy says, the text doesn't look great written by hand.

My friend John pointed out the text tool.

You can see the icon there, so I'll use that instead to make it look better.

Show the design to someone else and ask them for their feedback.

John says, I really like the design, especially the rollercoaster track across the earth.

I think using the text tool will make the design look much better.

You could make the smaller writing, it's out of this world, stand out more.

You also need to use an apostrophe for it's.

Izzy's final design.

Let's have a look at project two, create icons, which was you are part of a website development team working on a website for a zoo.

To make the website more user friendly, the zoo would like to have icons on the navigation button's menu items. You need to make the icons for the following groups of animals, primates, reptiles, and amphibians, big cats, insects and arachnids, small mammals and marsupial and large mammals.

Look at the requirements of the task.

Have all of the requirements be met? You'll need to make icons for the following groups of animals.

Sofia has said though, when I counted up the animals, I'd missed one out.

I'd missed the big cats.

So these are the ones she had created.

She'd missed one.

Does it look effective, large or small? I enlarged the images and they looked fine.

I made them into icons to see if they worked okay once I'd reduced the size.

I think they look good.

And you can still tell what each animal is.

Is there anything you think could be improved? I need to make a big cat icon so that I meet the requirements and happy with the rest of the icons.

Show the design to someone else and ask them their feedback.

Even though the icons are black and white, you can tell what each animal is.

I like the way Sofia noticed that lots of the animals were symmetrical and used this to help her to complete her designs.

That was a great idea.

I'd like to see the big cat design too.

And here are Sofia's final designs.

Let's do the activity.

Evaluate your project using these questions.

Look at the requirements of the task.

Have all of them been met? Does it look effective, large or small? Is there anything that could be improved? Show the design to someone else and ask them for their feedback.

Pause the video, use your worksheet, look at your design.

Go back through the slides for any examples and questions that you have and start to your project, looking for areas to improve.

And then we'll look at an example.

Let's have a look at an example solution.

Project three was to create an illustration, and this one was, you work as a freelance illustrator.

You've been hired to design a characters for a collection of children's books.

The books will tell the story of Carlos the crab, and Fiona the fish and the adventures they have together.

Look at the requirements.

Have they all been met? So it's create an illustration that is clear representation of a crab and or fish.

So Jacob created the crab.

Have all of the requirements been met? For this task, the requirement was to create an illustration of a crab or a fish.

I created a crab design based on the example.

I challenged myself to use the skills I've learned to match the example as closely as possible.

Does it look effective, large or small? I used the software to make my design huge and also scaled it down.

It looked the same no matter what size it was.

Is there anything you think could be improved? When I enlarged my design, I realised that the eye colour is off white.

I'd like to change this to white so that it stands out.

Show the design to someone else and ask them for their feedback.

I think this design is great.

Jacob has added so much detail to his design and it really looks like the example image.

I like the way he is added highlighting on the crab's body and claws.

I'm not sure what he could do to improve this design, but I'd love to see what his version of the fish would look like.

And this is Jacob's final design.

Well done for completing the evaluation of yours, and I hope you are happy with your final designs as well.

In summary, you can plan a design for a vector product by sketching ideas or listing what shapes and tools you will use.

A vector image can be created by using a mixture of shapes and tools, illustrations, logos and icons can be created using vector graphics.

To evaluate a product, you should check whether your final design meets the goal you planned at the start.

Well done for completing this lesson, Developing a Vector Product.