The Fictional
Postcard
Project

As an introduction to working with photos, type, and effects, the Fictional Postcard Project offers a useful introduction to composition and Photoshop.

To help assure originality, 2 or more photos and appropriate effects must be combined to create a postcard for a fictional location. This location could be a reference to a place from a book, movie, or other imaginative source (See pro examples on this page).

As a workflow for this project, check out this Lord of the Rings Photoshop example that covers a lot of useful tips.

Assessment

As with all projects, your Postcard Project will be assessed by:

  • Professionalism - Project is done "to spec", follows directions, and fulfills all requirements.

  • Craftsmanship - Project exhibits an admirable application of design principles, an aesthetic style, and use of app workflows.

  • Challenge - There is producible evidence that the final design underwent the entire design process and was significant challenging.

  • Originality - Project content is unique (not copied, derivative, a template, AI generated in part or whole, or a reproduction of a tutorial).

    Note: Images referencing drug use, guns, violence, hate speech, etc. are not permitted.

Process

1. Communicate

Because the Fictional Postcard Project requires you to be both the client and the designer, the design process is simplified from the traditional Graphic Design Process. But you will still communicate, just with yourself. Do some self-examination, and write a short design brief based on the following questions:

  • Do you have a favorite book, movie or TV series?

  • From this source, what location stands out ?

  • What types of images, visual effects, and fonts would be thematically aligned to recreate a composite image of this location?

2. Research

Based on your design brief, visit the following websites and others to conduct focused research:

Google
Behance
Dafont
Google Fonts
TextureLab
Pexels

When an images resonates with you, screen grab it (CMD+Shift+4 on a Mac, Win + Shift + S on a PC) and drop the collective images into gomoodboard. Note: You should have at least 20 images to reference.

3. Ideate

Based on your moodboard, grab your sketchbook and draw at least 6 possible solutions.

From these initial 6 solutions, selected one favorite (or a combination of your top two) . Flip the page over and draw 6 new variations based upon the initial solution you selected.

From this second round of 6, pick your top solution.

Before you fully commit, get some feedback from classmates, family, . . . anyone you can. Listen to learn - and be open to suggestions - you might come up with an even better solution with some outside feedback.

4. Formalize

Using Illustrator, either draw from scratch or import/trace your favorite solution. Paying close attention smooth curves, aligned edges and other professional standards (see “Specs & Standards” below).

Specs & Standards

 

Your Fictional Postcard Project should be setup in Photoshop with the following specs:

  • 6in x 4 in

  • 300ppi

  • RGB

Your Fictional Postcard Project should be submitted with the following specs:

  • .jpg file format

  • File name standard: lastname-firstname-project-version#.jpg

Issues and
Guidlines

A Fictional Postcard Project presents a number of design challenges. Scroll down to view some common issues and helpful guidelines.

Make sure the most iconic aspect of your location is clearly visible - and all type is legible.

While you can use filters to create an illustrated style, be sure to work with photos - and avoid pure illustration for this project.

Be careful to align the colors, fonts, and fx style to the location.

While its fine to stylize type, make sure the emphasis is on the location.