Yes it was a bit dark...for a toy. I tried a quick solution...change the background colour but it didn't quite work. Chris also suggested that there were too many elements competing for attention and i agree. So I've made a few more changes...

The brief for this assignment was to sell a prized possession. The process needed to include using layer masks with a gradient tool being mindful of the basic elements and principles of design.
They may not be my most prized possession but they're pretty darn cute!! Handmade with care by a doggy-lovin friend who uses recycled materials. Designed for dogs and their owners =)

Ahaha! Was really hoping you wouldn't notice the lighting condradictions Chris! How foolish of me =).
So I flipped the background. I suspect the perspective is a little off also...

I had a little trouble with the wheels, and in hindsight perhaps should have chosen a setting which covered them...

The design for my blog promotion came about from my tendency to dark, gothic imagery. I like mystery and intrigue, and the raven bears symbolic significance. I have kept the colour scheme minimal, using only a very soft green/blue hue to 'cool' the image. I like the use of interesting typeface in design, so i've chosen 'bleeding cowboys' for the title, and my favourite Halda for the blog URL.The image is made up of a couple of pics i took at the park, layered and manipulated in photoshop.

Learning Activity 15: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS: COLOUR

1. I would encourage the first client to use a nice bold blue which suggests the technological characteristic of engineering, and perhaps set it against a light steel grey which relates to construction. If the client preferred more colour in the design I would recommend orange as it is complimentary to blue, and denotes energy and enthusiasm.

2. For the second client I would choose a red umber to reflect the rugged Australian outback, with a sand colour to contrast. I would set the design against black to appeal to the stylish teens.

3. For the drug rehabilitation client I would suggest a calming turquoise blue and white for a clean, peaceful feel. I would warm it with purple to symbolize transformation.

4. A 24-bit colour palette contains 256³ = 16,777,216 colours. This is the most popular setting for computer displays because crt, plasma, led and lcd screens are designed for the RGB colour model, which uses light to display colour. 24 bit RGB is a broad and effective spectrum that includes most colours.

5. The Pantone CMYK process for print can represent 1,114 spot colours. Apparently the number of colours in the spectrum varies.

5. RGB gamut diagram

6. RGB & CMYK gamut.

This diagram suggests that the RGB gamut has a larger range, but some colours do fall outside of the RGB gamut that is included in the CMYK.

7. If a print-based logo were to be used for web application it would need to be converted to RGB.

8. ‘Safe’ colours for DVD are red green and blue??? Graphics with ‘unsafe’ colours apparently have grey fuzzy edges.

9. Some free-to –use online software tools are:

Color Blender Color Scheme Tool

Colour blender helps with creating colour schemes. Choose up 10 colour s hades between the 2 values that you select.

Colormatch Remix Color Scheme Tool

Choose and save colour schemes with 9 colours. You can export colour schemes to Photoshop and Illustrator.

Colour Scheme Chooser

Explore complementary colour schemes and double contrast colour schemes.

11. The BAM colour wheel is based on the model credited to Sir Isaac Newton

12.

RED love valentines day

BLUE depression beyondblue

WHITE peace white doves/poppies

BLACK power Audi A4

YELLOW joy Saab 9-3 convertible

DARK GREEN nature Enviro bags @ Coles

LIME-GREEN youth Nike

CHROME reliable apple.

ORANGE energy juice bar

PINK romance iphone

GREY conservative iphone

PURPLE royal iphone

BROWN earth body shop packaging

13.

· Hue: pure colour

· Lightness: pure colour plus white

· Saturation: intensity of colour

· Tint: a mixture of colour with white

· Shade: a mixture of colour with black

· Tone: how light or dark a colour is

· Gamut: a complete subset of colours which can be accurately represented by an output device

· Warm Colours: reds oranges and some yellows (fire colours)

· Cool Colours: blues and greens (water colours)

· Gradient: a pigment which consists of parallel planes of colour

· Value: the darkness or lightness of a colour, or it’s ‘number’?

· Primary Colours: sets of colours that can be combined to create other colours

· Secondary Colours: the combination of any 2 primary colours

· Tertiary Colours: the combination of primary and secondary colours.

An exercise in adjustment levels and exposure correction in photoshop. I used a photo that was underexposed and used the curves and levels tools to correct it.

finally got those pesky apples done. Not entirely satisfied with the end product...and can only hope to have satisfied the criteria on this one!!