UPDATE FROM Graphic Design Draft

What is this? It’s a campaign encouraging females to travel the world. My motivation was to create a series of map messages inspired by the countries I have traveled. The world is a beautiful engaging place. Give it a try, see what you find. This message says, I traveled to China and found smiles.

How was it done? The design was created using Adobe Photoshop.

Phase 1 began after a careful selection of images from my personal collection. I applied the pen and path method to each face with a feather of 5-10px. Each image became its own layer and I placed them on the canvas following Gestalt’s psychology principles (Wikipedia, 2018).

Next, I added a creative commons China map (File: China, 2014) onto a separate layer, isolating just the outline of the map. I then used the eraser tool to remove any sharp edges around each of the face layers. After merging the face layers, I applied a clip mask to the China map layer. Last was application of a crosshatch filter with stroke length of 5 and a bevel embossed contour effect then adding the text. The purpose for the crosshatch filter was to form a unity to the faces, without this artistic filter the faces were not uniformed in texture and they became fragmented. I then turned the project in for feedback.

The feedback included:

Explanation of where the audience’s eyes were focusing

Too much white space

Sterile environment

Face of one man stood out

No decisive message

Lack of understanding which country was being represented

My original vision was an appearance of simplicity. After the feedback I realized it was too simple. The audience needs a bit of guidance to understand what the piece was intending, otherwise it would be just an image of floating faces smiling. Not the intended message of packing your bags and booking the next flight to China. Feedback is invaluable as it allows you to examine a product from the perspective of the audience and not as the heart-attached designer.

Phase 2 began with creating a background to rid the feeling of a sterile white space. I found a stock world map (© [mas0380] / Adobe Stock) and added a hue/saturation of red and changed the opacity to 50%, I worked with the map until it was viewable, but it didn’t overshadow the faces.

Next was the man’s face which stood out from the rest. I used the lasso tool and isolated the part I would enhance. Changing the hue/saturation and color balance I was able to modify the facial color to resemble a few other faces. I wanted to keep the integrity of the diversity of the people, but I also want the audience to study all the faces and not be concentrated on just one focal point.

I was then left to tackle how to represent China while enhancing the face map. This took the longest. I went through several variations. Through the reworking of the project I had to keep in mind this was to be one of a series, and I need to allow a pattern to emerge through the series of messages.

Do you remember when people collected buttons? They usually represented favorite bands or phrases. I decided to create a button out of the world map  (© [mas0380] / Adobe Stock) highlighting the country of China. I duplicated the layer to form two maps. On one layer, I used the pen and path to cut out China, and changed color balance to red, and then merged the two layers. I used the elliptical marquee tool and added bevel/emboss and a drop shadow. Above the button image, I created text with an arc to wrap the top of the button and added red China text.

The problem now was the map of China faces floating around in space. I could add little astronaut helmets, or I could formulate a relationship. I decided to sleep on it. As a designer you need to know when to walk away.

With fresh eyes I stared at the design, and thought why not beam a red light from the China button to the faces? I went through various tools, elliptical and lasso did not work,  the pen tool worked the best to create a triangular shape that didn’t over take over the entire canvas. I added a gradient of reds and changed the opacity till I felt you could see it, but you also see the country where it emerges. I believe this formed a relationship between the country of China and the faces map.

And I hope the message encourages you to travel and find your smiles, like I did in China.

Grey blank world map. © [mas0380] / Adobe Stock

File: China provinces Anhui.png (2014, December 6). Wikimedia Commons, the free
media repository. Retrieved September 6, 2018 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
title=File:China_provinces_Anhui.png&oldid=141617339

Wikipedia contributors. (2018, September 5). Gestalt psychology. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 6, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gestalt_psychology&oldid=858173011