S | 7 | Album Cover / Gig Poster
This is Unit 7’s project block, several class meetings under one brief. Bring everything you built in 7.1–7.4. You’ll be pulling techniques (and possibly artwork) from all four into one finished piece.
Project Idea
| Driving Question | How can a designer use layers, appearance, effects, and masking together, not as separate tricks but as one coherent visual system, to make a single image feel intentional? |
|---|---|
| Learning Goals |
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| Project Summary | Design an album cover or gig poster (your choice) for a real or invented artist/band, combining every Unit 7 technique into one finished composition. |
| Major Products | A finished, layered .ai file and a flattened export suitable for print or web. |
| Making it Public | Publish the flattened export to your Google Sites portfolio. |
| Key Project Documents | Rubric |
[10 Mins] Bell Ringer / Hook
Today’s stinger: name one album cover or gig poster you actually remember, and one specific visual choice (not just “it looks cool”) that makes it memorable.
[15 Mins] Project Brief & Demo
“Here’s a sample cover I built using one mask, one blending mode, and one effect. I’m going to walk through exactly which panel did what, so you can see all four units’ worth of tools working together instead of in isolation.”
Required techniques checklist (all four required somewhere in your final piece):
- Layers: a named, organized Layers panel (no default “Layer 1/2/3” names).
- Appearance: at least one object with a multi-attribute fill/stroke stack.
- Effects: at least one Effect (Drop Shadow, Glow, Feather, or 3D and Materials).
- Masking/Blending: at least one blending mode plus one clipping mask or opacity mask.
[45 Mins] Studio Time
- Choose an artist/band (real or invented) and a genre. This drives your visual direction.
- Sketch a rough layout on paper before opening Illustrator: where’s the title, where’s the focal image, where’s any secondary text?
- Build your composition in Illustrator, working through the required-techniques checklist above. Use your 7.1–7.4 files as raw material or reference where it helps.
- Structured Peer Review (middle project day): trade screens with a partner and run a Plus/Delta pass.
1. Prepare
- The Draft: Ensure your work is exported or ready to view. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Placeholders for missing pieces are okay!
- The Plus/Delta Chart: Create a simple T-chart on a piece of paper or a digital document:
- Plus (+): What is working well? (Strengths, clear storytelling, strong technique).
- Delta (Δ): What should be changed or improved? (The Greek symbol for “change”).
2. The Review Process
- Silent First Pass: Experience the work all the way through once without speaking. This allows the reviewer to experience the “flow” of the piece.
- Second Pass: Go through it again, but this time, the reviewer should jot down specific notes in the Plus and Delta columns.
- The Golden Rule: Feedback should be Specific, Objective, and Kind.
- Bad: “I didn’t like the ending.”
- Good: “The ending felt abrupt because the music cut off before the reporter finished speaking.”
3. Giving Feedback (The Reviewer)
- Identify the “Pluses”: Start with what is successful.
- Suggest the “Deltas”: Instead of just pointing out a mistake, offer a solution.
- Example: “The transition at 0:45 is a bit slow; maybe try a simple cut instead of a dissolve.”
4. Receiving Feedback (The Creator)
- Listen Without Defending: It’s tempting to explain why you made a choice, but for now, just listen and take notes. If a peer is confused, a general audience likely will be too.
- Ask Clarifying Questions: If a note is vague, ask for the exact timestamp or location: “Can you show me exactly where the audio got too loud?”
5. The Revision Plan
After the session, look at your Delta column and prioritize your edits:
- Level 1 (Critical): Technical errors (missing audio, black frames, typos).
- Level 2 (Message): Pacing issues or confusing sequences.
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Level 3 (Polishing): Color tweaks, fancy transitions, or extra effects.
- Revise based on peer feedback before your final project day.
[30 Mins] GMetrix / BrainBuffet Self-Guided Strand
Continue any remaining GMetrix Module 4: Dobson Poster progress during earlier project days. Students who’ve finished Module 4 may preview Module 5: Dobson Business Card, which opens Unit 8.
[8 Mins] Save, Export & Submit: final project day
Organize (File Management)
- Ensure that Google Drive for Desktop is syncing to your computer.
- Create a Project Directory (Folder) in your Google Drive
Google Drive/My Drive/Digital Design/YYYY-MM PROJECT NAME - Try to keep all of your project files for this project together, so your work is not interrupted due to technical issues.
Storing all your files in the /Downloads folder in your computer is a BAD idea. If any of these files are lost/deleted you will have to reconnect them. Put them in your project folder directly. This will also be helpful in the event of any computer issues.
- In your project directory, maintain subdirectories for every category of resource you will be using.
| YYYY-MM Project Name |
| 📁 Graphics |
| 📁 Sketches |
| 📁 Photos |
| 📁 Notes |
- It’s also good to include directories for related files
| 📁 Project Files |
| 📁 Exports |
- Save your file as
LastName_FirstName_S7_AlbumCover.ai. - Export a flattened PNG for your portfolio (a print shop would want a PDF instead, but a PNG is what your portfolio needs):
When you're finished, export your design as a PNG image for your portfolio.
1Open the File menu. Choose Export, then Export As…
2Choose PNG as the file format. Check the box for Use Artboards.
This crops your export to the size of your artboard (the page). Always check this box.
3Set your export options, then click OK.
Publish your work to your Google Sites Portfolio
- Create a new page on your Google Sites Portfolio to catalog your work.
- Your work should be exported in a web-safe format in a manner that allows for the work to be embedded without requiring Google Drive permissions
- Your work should be accompanied by a detailed project description
- Submit the published portfolio page to your LMS (Schoology)
🗂 Organize: Put a short written rationale naming which specific techniques you used and why in your binder. Save your finished .ai file (organized, named layers) in the Project Files folder of your Digital Design project folder on Google Drive. Save a flattened export (PNG or PDF) for your portfolio in the Exports folder of your Digital Design project folder on Google Drive.