N180 Final Project Assignment

Due Date:
          December 6, 2007, 6:00 p.m.

Deliverables:

  • 1 URL with a link to the following (please leave the content on the web for 1 month after this project is due):
    • A portfolio of your images in a presentation format of your choice
    • If I ask to see your layered Photoshop files, have them available, otherwise they are not required (I may contact you during finals week for a copy of your PSD’s…)

Assignment:
For your final project you will need to complete 12 original images in Photoshop. The emphasis is on “original” images – try to keep the use of appropriated images to a minimum. You may use existing photos for your images, but you need to make sure that your Photoshop work is evident (and that you have made the image your own through your work) and that if you did not take the photo that you give credit to the original photographer. If you do “appropriate” images you must give credit to the original artist regardless of how much you changed the final image. You may choose to include a before-and-after of the image in your final portfolio if the Photoshop work is not evident.

You may incorporate techniques from any tutorials you want (from your books or from the Internet – it doesn’t matter) but you may not just do the tutorial and hand it in. You will need to incorporate the techniques into an original image of your own.

You may also design an interface for your portfolio that would count as one of your 12 images, but this is not a requirement.

Your final images need to be large enough that your work can be seen, but small enough so that your portfolio is viewable on the Internet.

For your 12 images you can choose from these categories:

      • 1 image that you have decided to re-do for the final portfolio – in this case you must show a before-and-after of the images – the original image may have been created in this class or another class
      • 1 image based on an adjective of your choice
      • 1 image based on a piece of music
      • 1 image that is based on typography
      • 1 image that has no words at all
      • 1 image that is completely made from scratch in Photoshop
      • 1 image that is based on a photograph
      • 1 image based on one color of your choice
      • 1 image based on a movie or TV show
      • 1 image based on a famous work of art (any medium)
      • 1 image that is masculine
      • 1 image that is feminine
      • 1 image that is aimed toward children
      • 1 image that uses Zoomify
      • 1 image completely of your choosing

In your portfolio for the images outlined above you will need to identify which image is from which category. If you choose to do more than one from the categories that is fine (i.e. 2 images that are aimed toward children.)

If you choose the music option you may want to consider including a sample of the piece of music you choose if you are technically able to do that. Credit must be given to the artist if you include any audio, and if you do not have permission to use the music you need to state that the audio was used without permission.

Your images for the final project need to be presented in a professional portfolio and the category for each image needs to be identified somehow. The goal of this portfolio is to be as professional as possible, so make sure the images really reflect your best Photoshop work.

Since we all come from a variety of skill sets I am being extremely lenient as to the format of the portfolio. The only stipulations are that it be accessible on the web, professional, neat, and not just a bunch of files in a folder on a server somewhere.

Grading Considerations:
      I will consider the following points when grading this project:

  • Your ability to successfully communicate the ideas for each category you choose
  • Originality and creativity (more so than in previous assignments)
  • Aesthetics, composition, and technical mastery
  • Thoughtfulness of the treatment and aesthetic approach
  • Application of concepts from lecture and reading in your original images
  • If the deliverables match the requirements of the assignment
  • Your ability to create a professional portfolio
  • If you merely fulfill the requirements of the assignment without proving that you have tried to stretch yourself, you will get middle-of-the-road grade (i.e. if you wait until the last week or two and try to put all the images together and just squeak by on the requirements)
  • If you go all out and take chances with these images and prove that you are really trying to be original, professional, creative, and thoughtful in your approach and treatment, you will get a much higher grade