The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the changes that I had made to a school prospectus. The prospectus was having a bit of a revamp in comparison to previous editions and it was important to show the work that I had completed so far, so not to waste time or head off in the wrong direction. The meeting was on a one to one basis and so it was rather informal, this was reflected in my presentation technique and the way I communicated with the client.
There is a range of presentation techniques that I could have used to showcase the prospectus to the client. For example, a presentation without electronic aids; this would mean that instead of electronic aids such as a computer screen or a tablet I could use printed materials to present it. Whether this is simply a printed copy, or in a poster format, this allows the client to physically look through the content themselves while the speaker explains and presents the ideas verbally. An alternative way of presenting work is through a digital format. Either on a computer screen, a projector or even a tablet computer this would allow for greater control in the way that the work is presented and viewed. On a screen, work can be manipulated and you have the ability to zoom in on specific areas to show the finer details.
For my prospectus I decided that using an electronic aid would be the best way to present it. As the meeting was on a casual basis I decided to use my computer monitor and show her the prospectus in Adobe InDesign; the programme I’d used to edit it. By hitting the tab key this hides all the floating tools and windows so that all is visible is the prospectus on a grey background. The reason that I thought this method would be best is because at this stage I was working on an incomplete prospectus, it still required text and images and so we both decided that the meeting would be a casual affair to see the basic layout and the way things were going so far. By doing this digitally it keeps the costs of printing down (as a prospectus with 50 pages in full colour can be quite expensive to print!) and it also means that I have control over which parts the client will see and when.
The method of presentation does really come down to the product you wish to present, it wouldn’t be much use presenting something dynamic and interactive like an app or even a video using a print presentation as this wont really give much idea of how the product works or what it is like. But with something like an image, a brochure or a logo idea it can be a better idea to present these physically as they can see the product in the environment it was intended. My prospectus was presented on a one to one basis in a small group. It allows for better communication than perhaps email as it allows the individuals to express ideas freely without having to word it too carefully. In my prospectus meeting we were able to explain our ideas thoroughly and reach a compromise quickly when trying to resolve problems.
It is important when working with clients that those involved communicate their own ideas and decisions clearly. This can be done verbally in a meeting or over the phone, or non-verbally such as through email. When communicating it is essential that it is done constructively and that you keep to the point when discussing ideas. Through email, you have better opportunity to think of appropriate responses and ways to express your decisions; however, by meeting in person this is a better way of getting ideas across as sometimes getting your ideas to paper can prove difficult. A mixture of written and verbal communication should lead to a simpler production process, speaking to someone over the phone to encounter a problem or writing an email when you have important information to get across are methods that benefit all and constructively utilise technology to improve working relationships.
During my meeting regarding the school prospectus, a disagreement arose when it came to selecting images for a particular page of the prospectus. The client had chosen an image that I deemed to be inappropriate for the particular page we were discussing. It was important for me to suggest an alternative option whilst at the same time appreciating her suggestion and negotiating to find a suitable solution. Firstly I had to listen to the client’s opinion and their reasoning’s for choosing that certain image. By listening I could get a better idea of what is was they actually wanted and tailoring a solution in mind to that problem. It is also important that even after pitching my creative solution and communicating my ideas to the client that I again listen to any concerns they may have and use my authority on the subject to reassure the client. It’s mainly about meeting their needs and producing an effective product that they are happy with. In my meeting after discussing the problem of the image and how it wouldn’t suit others on that page, we eventually reached a compromise that we use the image the client had suggested but that I would edit it and change the colour mode in order to make it match the other images. By having this discussion, this helped the production process as we agreed that if the situation were to arise again, we would follow the same solution as before.
After the meeting had ended, I was able to discuss some factors with one of the directors and colleagues. With products such as a prospectus it was important that I work as part of a team to put the prospectus together. Most often it is through face-to-face verbal communication, but occasionally it involves non-verbal communication too as it is convenient to send any thoughts and information through email so that colleagues can see the information at their own convenience. During the process of putting together a prospectus, it is also important to keep colleagues in the loop and give regular progress updates. In our case, we have a weekly morning meeting to discuss ongoing jobs. Here, we can discuss what work has been done on the prospectus since we last spoke, what work will need to be completed by a certain deadline and also the matter of how long is spent on the work. We also discuss whether the work completed so far has been efficient for time and whether a more productive role should be taken for example in contacting the client to receive more content. We also consider how long has been spent on the prospectus so far, and how many hours we have left that were originally quoted for.
The school prospectus contains a mixture of professionally photographed images taken mostly by us, and also images which the school have captured on occasion for themselves. In the original brief for the prospectus, it was agreed that we include full page, large impact images that attract attention. Being the authoritative figures when it comes to image manipulation, we established a technique/process amongst ourselves to meet the brief. Images from our photographer were firstly organized into folders; assigned to a code that is relevant to a particular job. From here, and using our database systems I was able to pull the images onto my own Mac computer and save them under that same job reference. I decided that in order to edit the images, I would use Adobe Photoshop, as it is a programme I am familiar with, it enables complete control over the appearance of an image and I can save images out at the format I need. From here, I selected the images, which I wanted to use, and moved them into a separate folder I named ‘Photography 2014’ on my machine. This allowed me to separate the images I wanted from those which I didn’t, and also by keeping them on my machine is allows my computer to run at optimum speeds rather than having to run files from across networks. From here I began to change the appearances of the images.
Whilst editing the images, I used a fairly systematic way of editing them so to keep them looking as consistent as possible. After opening the image in Photoshop, firstly I would check the general brightness of the image and usually adjust the levels just to boost the contrast between the blacks and the whites. By using the levels histogram you can get a general idea of how much black/white is in the image and adjust it by eye. I would also add a very small amount of brightness and contrast also, just to really give it a good amount of contrast but still keep it looking realistic. Then I would check the colours in the image and usually boost the saturation by about 10%, depending on the image and what the colours are like. Sometimes there will appear to be too much of one colour in an image, for example too much magenta in the pupil’s faces, I would reduce this and in general tweak the colours when necessary to keep them looking realistic. Next I would glance over it and see if there are any finer details that need retouching. For example in one image, a child had rather large red spots on his arms and it was decided by the client and us to remove them. The way that I did this was by using the clone stamp tool at around 70% opacity. This is a more delicate way of retouching and you can layer up the blemishes if necessary. And finally I would crop the image if required and use a smart sharpen on each image. After the image has been retouched, I save the file as a PSD (usually so to keep any retouch layers I may want to adjust), and then I can resize the image to the correct dimensions and at 300dpi before saving as a full resolution JPEG.
While I went through this process when it came to our own photography, we were also supplied images from the school on a CD disc. From the disc, I transferred over all of the files onto my own Mac. Once I have copied over the files, I check the compatibility to make sure that I can use them. Another thing to consider with images supplied to us is at what size they are. For the prospectus, a full-page image has to be sized at around 250 x 160mm at 300dpi. You can also check how an image will display but viewing it at full size on screen. Some images, although they are sized correctly, still appear blurry, as that was how the image was taken. This is where you can decide if an image is useable or not. It is possible to scale up images in terms of resolution, the process involves Photoshop making calculated guesses and putting more pixels into the image. This can cause the image to lose its sharpness; especially if it contains text, but on the other hand, sometimes this process can be helpful if you only need to increase the pixel dimensions slightly. When it comes to low-resolution images, we all follow similar steps to enlarging images; firstly we always ask if a higher resolution is available, as scaling images up is never going to match the quality of an original image. If not, this is where our resampling will come in. When up scaling images, we always select the option that reads ‘Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement)’, as this keeps the pixels as smooth as possible. We also will only enlarge the image pixels at a time. For example, an image, which is at 72dpi, can be resized to 100dpi without too much issue. The steps we would follow are to increase the dpi a little at a time as it allows Photoshop to insert pixels more accurately. For our example, it may increase from 72 – 80 – 90 – 100. We usually will then sharpen the image to try and insert some of the detail back into the image, but it is not recommended to stretch small images as you do end up with unwanted artifacts in the image. Another step we take with image preparation is making sure that when printing, they are in CMYK mode and not RGB. RGB is for web and the colour ranges are much brighter as a screen can produce almost any colour. CMYK are the four colour inks that printers use to reproduce colours on print. By converting images to CMYK it gives an on-screen accurate representation of what the image will look like in print and it makes things easier for printers who will digitally identify colours in their software.
And so, by following the above processes for pixel dimensions, DPI and setting the colour profiles this allows us to meet the client’s requirements of producing a prospectus with high impact images. They need to be high quality and they also need to have enough editing done to enhance them but not reduce the quality or the realism of the image. It is not only for the client’s benefit, but especially when it comes to enhancing our own images, we take pride in our work as a business - and producing a prospectus filled with dull boring images that are blurry and poorly produced reflects badly on us as much as the client. We have certain standards to follow when it comes to image manipulation and it is something that we regularly collaborate as a team about.
Proofing is the stage that will proceed after the prospectus and the images are complete. With such large files we always make it very clear that the file we send to the client is just a low-resolution proof. This enables us to send the file over quickly and easily, and when the client receives it they can send it amongst themselves without issues. During the proofing stage, I will usually give a clear and concise description of work that has been completed on the images and any specific edits that have been done not following the format. I will also discuss any future improvements I think are necessary and whether the client will need to provide any more material. Mostly the feedback from clients is agreeable on the spot; with simple amends that are completed quickly without discussion. Sometimes if instructions are unclear or cannot be completed this will lead to a phone conversation in which we can resolve the matter more efficiently.
When working on the prospectus is was important to liaise with both the client and with colleagues on any issues that arise. For example, an image chosen by the client, didn’t meet standards set by the rest of the images in the prospectus - the colours were dull as was the brightness of the image. To resolve this, at first I tried increasing the saturation and using levels to bring some whites back into the image but the increase of saturation made the image look unnatural and too garish. After liaising with a colleague, we decided that instead of simply increasing the saturation we would change the depth of field of the image. I blurred just the background of the image just slightly, but kept the students in the foreground looking sharp, and I de-saturated the background so that the attention was on the students. I then proceeded to change the levels of the student layer to bring in more whites and then topped this off with increasing the contrast of the image. When all of the alterations were complete, I saved this file as a second revision, JPEG format, and sent this on to the client explaining why the alterations were necessary and what they were. After showing this revised edition to the client, they agreed that the revisions were a great improvement and so the problem was resolved.
At GGS, we include a copyright notice in all images, which means that the image is owned by GGS. This information is embedded in the image and can be applied to many different images at once. This means that when producing final JPEGs for whatever application, this copyright notice will be attached to the image and will give information about its source and ownership. Others will have to request permission from us to use our images in a professional environment. It is customary to change the title of the image, the description, the author, copyright status and any keywords associated with the image. These settings can be saved as a separate file and applied to many at once if for example you are supplying a batch of photography and not just a single image. Although it should be remembered that when uploading images to the Internet, some sites such as Facebook, delete the embedded copyright notice and so images can be duplicated without this information attached. In these circumstances a watermark can be applied or the information can be entered again in the web application.
The way that we store our image files is considered very important at GGS. Each photography job that we do is assigned a numerical code that is stored on a back up hard drive that we can all access. These original TIFF files are stored here with their embedded copyright settings and at full resolution that enables them to be used for any purpose. When working with these images I will first copy the image onto my own hard drive and any editing that I do from there will be saved as an additional copy. From here I can analyse how large the image will need to be, for example in my prospectus, the images were saved as high resolution JPEGs at 300dpi and 300mm wide. These were intended for print, and so the images will need to stay at 300dpi to allow for maximum quality. This amended version of the image can then be copied over to the archive back up so to keep the file with the original and show what changes were made to the large original.
Copyright infringement is when an individual claims ones work as their own, makes amends to work that is not theirs or not paid for, or simply when copying someone else’s work. With regards to technical adjustment of images, you can only adjust an image if it is one that you have taken yourself, one that is bought through a stock library for example, or if you have permission to use it. If for example you were amending someone else’s work without their permission, i.e. not paying for it, any profits or rewards gained from that image must be shared with the author. Even if you produce an image and do not follow steps above to embed it with a copyright notice, all work produced physically is always protected by a copyright notice. The only factor that may be affected by not physically putting in copyright notices yourself is having to prove that you are actually the author of the product. This can prove more difficult without your own copyright notices. For example, with the school prospectus, I had permission to use the images provided by the school, as these were intended for their own benefits. I could also use any photography that was taken
by GGS as we own the copyright to these and can use and manipulate them as we wish.
When working on the prospectus I also had to consider possible health and safety risks. For example, when using my computer I had to make sure that my posture was correct and my wrists and arms supported to avoid injury, I had to know where the closest fire exit was in case of fire and I also had to be aware of the risks working with electrical equipment; such as avoiding spillages and keeping wires and such up to standards. I also had to know who was appointed as first aider incase of any emergencies and where the first aid kit is situated in relation to my location.
Overall, I was able to compromise with the client when it came to choosing images for the prospectus. We discussed what needed to be changed and I used my expertise in Graphic Design to keep the prospectus looking how we had envisioned. The meeting was a success as it allowed me to continue on with the project knowing that I was on track with the layout and after a few small tweaks it would be almost complete.
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