The Process of Creating a Campaign Graphic

The Quick Yet Thoughtful Process of Creating a Campaign Graphic

Uptown Studios has always had one hand in design and another in social change, now learn how creating a campaign graphic fits in with design and social change. Social change is in our DNA as a studio and we always jump at the chance to use all of our skills to create something that helps the community. As the end of the year nears and cold weather takes hold, it’s those who are less fortunate that need our help. That’s why when Tina told us we were going to help gather 3,000 pairs of socks for those in need, I flexed my design muscles and got to designing a quick, yet fun and noticeable campaign graphic.

First step, what’s this campaign called? Sock it to me. Get it? Very clever. The idea was simple. I was going to need a lot of sock graphics and come up with a fun title graphic for our campaign materials. I searched our usual sources: istock and bigstock looking for socks on a white background with as many different kinds as possible. Score! I found several and bought them. Well, Uptown Studios did. Next, bring them into Photoshop and do the tedious part. Pen-tooling out each sock. The idea is to be able to have a variety of socks, each on their own layer so that I can manipulate them in any which way I want. The fun part is that I can manipulate the colors as well using hue adjust.

Once I discovered a fun way to layer the socks (a little different from my initial sketch, but that’s usually the case) it was a matter of setting up the type. I wanted something fun, but not overly crazy. The typeface textile fit the bill and I added the stitching elements using Illustrator’s clever dotted line attribute and imported into photo shop. The idea was to make it seem as though the type was cut from a variety of sock fabrics. Colorful and eye-catching!

What do you think?

Tina’s Two Bits

Each morning we put on a nice, clean, warm pair of socks with hardly a thought. But for our community’s homeless men, women and children, it’s often a luxury. That’s where we decided to come in! We’re taking on the challenge of collecting 3,000 socks for Loaves & Fishes – consider it our holiday gift to the community. Join the challenge and drop off socks to our office at 410 Alhambra Blvd. The sock bin is next to Simon the Christmas Sock Monkey, you can’t miss it.