Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Scenario
‘Down
time’
Practice Model Assignment
This is a guided trial assignment that will help you to prepare for the real thing.
You have been asked to design and create a series of digital graphics by the editor of
a new monthly youth fanzine called “Downtime”. The fanzine will be distributed free
with your local newspaper. It will also have its own fanzine website and blog.
The project aims to encourage young people to engage more fully in local activities
and to inform them about what’s happening of interest to them in their local area.
The editor wants you to give the publication a contemporary, youth branding. For
the fanzine launch you have been asked to produce:

A logo that can be used on all print publications including advertising posters,
flyers and leaflets, as well as on the website and blog.

A composite image for a poster campaign to attract the target reader to a
forthcoming local event. The poster will be displayed at bus stops, on the side
of buses and in the local paper.

Four images for the home page of the “Downtime” website showing a range
of different local youth activities. There should be a visual link between the
four images and the other
products, but they will not
show the logo.

A flyer to promote the launch
of the fanzine with a plan
showing the location of the
launch party venue. The plan
does not have to be drawn to
scale. The flyer should also
use at least one of the
graphics you have created
and show your logo design. It
must measure 21 cm x 10 cm
at a resolution for print of 300
dpi.
© Serif Europe
1
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 1 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Describe and evaluate a range of images
What you must do
Read through the practice assignment scenario carefully. You can make a note of any first
thoughts you have, but at this stage you are not being asked to produce any computer
graphics. You will be asked to produce something in response to the same scenario brief at
the end of each section.
Your first step is to research existing sources for similar graphic products. This will give you
some ideas and inspiration for your assignment tasks. You collect digitally and in print
examples of logos, posters, websites and flyers.
Select at least four of the images you collect from two or more different
sources and write a personal evaluation of them by answering the following
questions:








What size is the image? (give physical dimensions for print; dimensions and file sizes
for digital images)
What is its purpose?
Who is its target audience?
What message does it communicate?
How does it convey this message?
Is the graphic fit for its intended purpose and audience?
Why do you think it is effective or not?
How might it be improved?
Use your process book and digital images folders to save the graphics. For higher grades
you may be told to only need to collect and display a minimum of four graphics
from at least TWO sources.
Record the sources of all the images you collect now because you may not be able to
find them later. Use the sources log document from section 1 to do this.
© Serif Europe
2
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 2 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Plan the production of graphic images for a client.
What you must do
Read through the scenario carefully.
Make a ‘Creative platform’ document for the assignment brief. Identify the target audience,
purpose, location, message and other elements needed for your graphics. What dimensions
are appropriate for each graphic? Does the graphic have to work at different scales? Is it for
web or print? What file format would be appropriate in each case and what resolution?
Include this information too. Save the document to your product_planning folder.
Using one or more of the techniques suggested in section 2, develop a range of initial
ideas for each of the graphic images you have been asked to produce. Save them to
your process book or to your product_planning folder.
To achieve higher grades you should label your roughs or design sketches with key points
you have identified on your ‘Creative Platform’ for the assignment, such as purpose, target
audience, location, planned size, target resolution, target file size, planned file format.
Make a list of the elements you think you may need for your graphics and another list of
elements that you could use to create strong visual links between your products. Save them
to your process book or to your product_planning folder.
Finally, make a time plan of the main tasks you must do and add all necessary subtasks
or steps. Indicate the timescale e.g. how many lessons you think you may need for each
task. You will have 40 hours for a real assessed assignment, but as this is a practice run
to help you get higher grades, your teacher may give you your deadlines this time.
Include dates for deadlines on your plan, as well as times for getting feedback from
your target audience or fellow students and your teacher. Save the plan in your
project_plans folder and keep checking and updating it.
Remember to save each updated version with a different filename e.g.
assignment_planXXX1 (replace XXX with your own initials) > assignment_planXXX2
© Serif Europe
3
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 3 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Source and Store components for your graphic products
What you must do
Read the ‘Downtime’ scenario again and look through the ideas you have begun to investigate
and develop for the poster campaign.
3a) Source components for your graphic products
What you must do
Use a CD-ROM image bank, an internet search engine, a clip-art library or one of the image
libraries on your list to locate copyright free computer images that you can use in the
composite image for the poster.
Save at least one from each of these sources to your secondary_images folder and
make a record of where you found them with relevant copyright data etc in your sources log.
Take some photos yourself that you could use for the poster or the website with a digital
camera. Save these to your primary_images folder and make a record of them in your
sources log.
Scan some related small objects, natural or manufactured, to use in the composite image
too. Save your scans to the relevant images folder (scans of natural objects to your
primary_sources folder; scans of printed images to your secondary_sources folder). Save
your source images at the highest resolution for now, but be aware that you may need to
adjust the resolution later in depending on whether the final graphic is for print or web. You
will learn how to optimize different types of graphic so they are fit for purpose in Section 5
(A and B).
Update your project plan. Are you keeping to your deadlines?
For higher grades you should find or create and store suitable graphics from all four types of
source – web, CD-ROM, digital camera and scanner.
3b) Store components for your graphic products
What you must do
Graphic products for print output
Identify which products in your assignment are for output to print. Add notes to your
project plan to remind yourself to use the correct colour mode for all of these. Update your
plan and save it with a new filename in your project_plans subfolder.
Use the print resolution formula to calculate the dimensions in pixels for the “Downtime”
flyer. It must measure 21 cm x 10 cm at a resolution for print of 300 dpi. Make a note of the
answer in your process book or on your project plan for future reference. Record the file size
© Serif Europe
4
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
later when you have completed the design. How many flyers will fit on an A4 page? Should
the paper orientation be landscape or portrait for best fit to save printing costs?
The composite poster will also be printed. The artwork for the poster should be A4 size. Use
the same formula to calculate the dimension in pixels that you will need for the poster.
Record the file size later when you have created the design.
Decide if your design will be more effective in portrait or landscape format. Although the
poster will be sized up later for bus-stops and sized down for newspaper adverts, you do not
need to calculate this.
Update your project plan and save it with a new version number in your project_plans
subfolder.
Graphic products for web output
Identify which products in your ‘Downtime’ practice assignment are for output to web.
Add notes to your project plan to remind yourself to use the correct colour mode and
resolution for them. Record the file size later when you have finished designing the graphics
and optimised them for screen/web. Do you plan to have landscape, portrait or square
format graphics, or will they be an irregular shape with a transparent background?
Update your plan and save it with a new filename in your project_plans subfolder.
© Serif Europe
5
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 4 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Record the sources of computer graphics
What you must do
Read through the assignment scenario again. As advised in Section 1 of this unit, you should
start a reference or sources log just as soon as you begin your project and keep adding to it
as you go along. Don’t wait until the end to do it.
You should make a record of where you found every graphic, the date it was collected, and
for digital graphics you should also note the file name, type and size. Use or adapt the blank
‘Sources log’ template. Save it to your sources folder and keep it up-to-date.
Make a record of all the secondary sources you use in your final graphics: whether
images scanned from books or magazines, downloaded from the internet, or sourced from
other media.
You must also show evidence that you have considered copyright law by finding and noting
the copyright information that applies to every graphic. Make a note of it in the log.
This is a good time to check back over the sources that you have already logged to make
sure you have all the data you need to evidence.
To get higher grades you must give enough information for other people to be able to find
your sources too. It is advisable to test this on your fellow students to make sure that you
have.
It is a good idea to clearly identify your primary sourced graphics too in the log – the
images you have taken or scanned yourself
© Serif Europe
6
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 5 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Use Bitmap tools to create, edit and combine graphic images
Read again the ‘Downtime’ practice assignment brief and look through the ideas you
have begun to develop for the logo and for the venue plan.
What you must do
Poster graphics: use the skills you have acquired in this section to create your poster for
the ‘Downtime’ launch campaign.

Make sure that the resolution and colour mode you choose are suitable for print.

Get feedback about your designs and modify them if necessary.

Don’t forget you to save screenshots of the process for an evidence document.

Label them to explain how you created the graphic and why you used those
particular tools or techniques.

What file format is best for this type of print product and why? Add this information
to your evidence document too.
Save your finished graphic products with suitable filenames to your final_products
folder. The evidence document should be saved to the Process subfolder of your
graphic_products folder. Call it evidence_bitmaps.

Web graphics: produce four images for the ‘Downtime’ website.












Make sure that the resolution and colour mode you choose are suitable for web.
Will the graphics be laid out on the web page horizontally, vertically or in a block for
greater impact?
What size should the images be?
Should they be landscape, portrait or square format?
How will you optimise them so that the file sizes are suitable?
Get feedback about your designs and modify them if necessary.
Make screenshots of the process as evidence of your skills and how you developed
your designs.
Paste them into the evidence_bitmaps document and label the screenshots
with information about how you created the images and why you used those
particular tools or techniques.
Save your finished web images with suitable filenames to your final_products
folder.
Have you met your deadlines, or do you need to revise and update your project
plan?
© Serif Europe
7
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 6 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Use Vector tools to create, edit and combine graphic images
Read again the ‘Downtime’ practice assignment brief and look through the ideas you
have begun to develop for the logo and for the venue plan.
What you must do
Logo: use the skills you have acquired in this section to create a suitable logo that you must
use on all the products.


Try variations by changing colours, line styles, arrangement of elements and save
your versions with different file names.
Does your final logo look as strong in black and white as it does in colour? Is it as
effective on a large scale as it is small? Test it out.

Take screenshots of the process and label them as you did for your bitmap graphics
to show how you did it and why you made the decisions you did.

Save this document as evidence_vector to the Process subfolder of your
graphic_products folder.

Get feedback about your designs and modify them if necessary.

Save your finished logo in an appropriate file format and with a suitable file name to
your final_products folder.
Venue plan: produce a simple diagram to show visitors the location of the party venue for
the launch. It doesn’t have to be drawn to scale, but it should show main roads, the nearest
bus stop or train station, and some local landmarks.






The plan must fit on the back of the flyer, which is 21cm x 10cm. What dimensions
would be suitable? Is the map easy to follow at this scale?
Would colour be more effective or black and white?
Have you used different line sizes and styles to indicate different features?
Get feedback about your designs and modify them if necessary.
Take screenshots of the process and paste them into your evidence_vector
document. Label them as before to show how you created the final plan and why you
used particular tools and techniques.
Save your final plan in an appropriate file format and with a suitable filename to your
final_products folder.
© Serif Europe
8
Digital Imaging
Practice Model Assignment
Task 7 ‘Down time’ practice assignment
Present work to a client for a specific purpose, using a suitable format
for display
What you must do
The agreed deadline for completion of your graphic products for the new ‘Downtime’
monthly supplement has arrived and you must present your work to the editor of your local
newspaper and to his art editor.
You must prepare the presentation in a suitable format to impress your clients and
communicate your concepts in a direct and professional way.





What presentation format will you use?
Why? What reasons can you give to explain and justify your decision?
Depending on your choice of format, what resolution, colour mode, dimensions and
file types will you use to make your graphics fit for purpose?
What file size would be appropriate – optimised or high resolution? Why?
You should record this information and save it to your presentation folder as
evidence for the assessor.
Congratulations! You have now completed this project.
© Serif Europe
9