Design Challenge #2 - April 2012 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, CHIT-CHAT

[Fran98765]

Great changes, looking forward to it!

[frogfish]

I just want to take a minute to explain the changes that were made to this month's Design Challenge and why things are different this time around. Since the March Design Challenge was the first one, this is very much a trial and error process. Some changes were inevitable...

First, anyone can enter either the "Earning My Ears" or "Mouseketeer" categories; they are not specifically newbie and pro categories. Even with absolutely no designing experience, you can enter the "Mouseketeer" category as long as you are willing to create items that follow the specific guidelines set out for that category and go through the quality check process.

The quality check was determined to be necessary because these items will be offered for sale in the MS store. When someone purchases a kit from a store, they expect it to be a high quality product. Expectations of kits in the MS store will be no different. The quality check process will help ensure customer satisfaction. With the enormous variety of submissions in the March DC, it also became evident that a more structured set of submission guidelines was necessary for items that will be put into the store. Everyone needs papers for their layouts, but if the DC collab contains 100 papers and only 5 elements it won't be very useful to most people. Hence, the "Mouseketeer" category.

So why two different categories? Understanding that some people may be intimidated by the quality control process and may not be ready to compile a complete mini kit, the "Earning My Ears" category was created. Challenges should be fun and if you just want to create what you can to have fun, the "Earning My Ears" category is for you.

If you are serious about designing, even if you have never done it before, entering the "Mouseketeer" category would give you the benefit of feedback and constructive criticism on your submission. There is a lot more to designing than many people realize and going through a QC will most certainly make you a better designer.

We are trying to make this the best it can be and I appreciate your patience and continued participation! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in this thread or contact me by PM. Thank you!

[jr4mni]

thanks Christina! I wasn't as good as I thought for the March Challenge and just getting PCS the week before the due date last month. I'm hoping that I'll feel better in my Photoshop skin this month to be able to submit something in the Earning my Ears category.

As a definite newbie to designing, I'm not as intimidated sending in a submission in the Earning my ears category and working my way up to the Mouseketeer category.

Thanks for setting this all up. It gives little old me a chance to see if I really want to start designing and if I have the stamina to be any good. It's a dream come true for me to dip my toes in the design pool in a "safe" and trusting environment.

I can only imagine how much work goes into coordinating all of this! Here's to hoping that this month, is my month!

[kaylalovesminnie]

I think the changes are great. This still enables each contributor the opportunity to design for fun or to improve upon their design skills.

One thing I noticed on DC1 is that we ended up with a lot more papers than elements. If each contributor does a mini kit each like you suggested, I think that would make the next kit even better.

[Cindyrelly]

So much fun to be involved in this challenge again and see how it evolves. I have One quick question about the no pre-shadow rule though... what about if you have a "clustered" element? Sometimes I thought it was necessary to pre-shadow the top layers?

[Pooh46]

Great changes! Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into this!

[Ronisdragon]

I'm still not sure whether or not I'm going to participate but I might try. Can anyone explain how to use HEX codes in Photoshop Elements? Thanks so much!

[frogfish]

Originally Posted by Cindyrelly

So much fun to be involved in this challenge again and see how it evolves. I have One quick question about the no pre-shadow rule though... what about if you have a "clustered" element? Sometimes I thought it was necessary to pre-shadow the top layers?

I'm almost positive that preshadowing refers to shadows that are on the transparent background (hang off of the element in question). That being said, if you stack elements and then flatten for the final submission, you would want to shadow where the two layers overlap (but don't include any shadow that doesn't fall on top of another element).

Does that make sense???

Designers out there, please let me know if I'm wrong in this or if there is a better way to explain it.

Thanks!

[3LilMonsters]

Originally Posted by frogfish

I'm almost positive that preshadowing refers to shadows that are on the transparent background (hang off of the element in question). That being said, if you stack elements and then flatten for the final submission, you would want to shadow where the two layers overlap (but don't include any shadow that doesn't fall on top of another element).

Does that make sense???

Designers out there, please let me know if I'm wrong in this or if there is a better way to explain it.

Thanks!

Hi, I don't mind trying to explain this.

Note: these tips are for PSE, but it should work in most programs.

The easiest way to get rid of outside shadows is to duplicate all of your layers, and remove styles from all of the duplicated layers, and then merge those layers into one layer. Then press CTRL+Shift+[ to send that layer to the bottom. Merge the other set of layers into one layer, and press CTRL+G to use the unshadowed layer as a clipping mask. this removes all of the drop shadows from the outside of the element, but leaves them on the inside for reality.

hmmm. did that make any sense at all??

I tried to find an online tutorial, or video, and couldn't find anything, but I will keep searching.

You can also buy an action from Wendyzine that does all of that for you here.