THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER ON OFFER but still may be useful.

Bill and Ted have decided that to save money during the credit crunch your role should include creating and printing posters and flyers for the company. You attend a meeting where they agree to buy you any special equipment you require up to a budget of £1000.

Q. What do you want to do at the centre?
Bill: Well we need to be able to take photographs of our clients to put into posters.
Bill: and we would like to use a digital camera to do this.
Ted: We need to be able to design posters and then print them in colour, but costs may be an issue as we don’t have much money. Ted: and we will also need to transfer pictures onto the computers.

Q. Do you have a budget in mind?
Bill: We have a £1000 budget for this and we have set aside £300 a year for consumables like paper, ink or toner.

Q. Will you need me to do anything else on the computer?
Ted: No, you are only going to use it for the editing and creating of posters. Anything else will be performed on the office computers.

You must now research the market to find out what is avaliable. You will need to report back to Bill and Ted with 3 possible options and a conclusion. Your report should be written in plain english and fully explain all the components.

Time Allowance
As you have just started this task Bill and Ted think you should be keen and enthusatic. It should not take longer than 5 hours plus maybe a bit of overtime (homework).

Grading Criteria
P1: describe what hardware and software is needed to create and edit graphic images.

Before Submitting

Make sure your work includes headers and footers (where possible) containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing.

You must also research and software that you may require to produce the graphics and subsequent images.You will understand that free software can be just as good for your purposes as the most expensive software, even if some limitations and differences exist. Although some software may not be completely free, the costs are minimal when compared to software such as Adobe Photoshop. Have a look at the information on this page which helps explain the difference between Photoshop and Illustrator.

You must research software suitable for

• Illustrating e.g. Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.
• Photo manipulation e.g. Adobe Photohop, Gimp and Macromedia Fireworks.

Your report should include the main features of the software and a comparison of the differences between Open Source and Proprietary (Paid for) software.

Time Allowance
As you start this task Bill and Ted think you should be keen and enthusiastic. It should not take longer than 5 hours plus maybe a bit of overtime (homework).

Grading Criteria
P1: Describe what hardware and software is needed to create and edit graphic images.

M1: Explain the limitations of three different software packages in respect of the ability to create and edit graphic images.

Before Submitting
Make sure your work includes headers and footers (where possible) containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing.

Bill and Ted are looking to expand their business from just the UK to include the whole world. They have decided that it is time to update their logo to one that shows the global nature of their business. You must create an original bitmap graphic that represents the company and meets the brief you have been given.

Time Allowance
Bill thinks that it should take you 4 hours to create the logo and 2 hours to write it up. Ted has said that its only fair that you are given a bit extra for problems so they have agreed upon 8 hours to complete this task.

Grading Criteria
P3: Create an original graphic for a defined user need using dedicated bitmap software.
M3: Create a multi-page document incorporating a variety of different original and acquired images (vector and bitmap) and text to meet a defined need (M3).
D1: Evaluate one vector image and one bitmap image produced against given requirements, suggesting ways they could be improved.

Before Submitting
Make sure your work includes headers and footers (where possible) containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing.

There are two main image formats:- Bitmap and Vector.

Bitmap images are made up from a grid of dots. Each dot is coloured indiviually and if viewed from a distance creates an image. The problem is that if they are viewed close up they become blocky, fuzzy or blurred. They do NOT resize well.

Vector images use mathematical equaltions to represent shapes. These shapes are then given properties such as colour, height, width, top position and left postition. These properties allow the image to be resized both smaller and bigger. They do not lose quality when resized but they can take up more disk space than a bitmap especially when small.

You think that a vector logo may be more useful to the company as it can be resized to fit any purpose and have decided to email Bill and Ted to ask for an extension to the project. This extension will give you time to produce a sample vector logo.

Time Allowance
You can only afford to spend 1 hour on writing this email.

Grading Criteria
P2: Describe, with examples, the uses of and differences between bitmap and vector graphics.

What must you do.
Write an email to Bill and Ted explaining the differences between vectors and bitmaps. Make sure the email includes:

• A definition for Bitmap
• A definition for Vector
• A summary of the differences between them
• Some examples of when each type would be useful
• Explain why you think a Vector may be the best format for their logo
• Ask for an extension so you can complete further investigation

You have recently learnt about Vector images and how they are different to Bitmaps. Based on your advice Bill and Ted have agreed that you should create a vector logo for the company and present your work to them alongside the Bitmap task. You must create an original vector graphic that represents the company and meets the brief you have been given.

Time Allowance
Bill thinks that it should take you 4 hours to create the logo and 2 hours to write it up. Ted has said that its only fair that you are given a bit extra for problems so they have agreed upon 8 hours to complete this task.

Grading Criteria
P4: Create an original graphic for a defined user need using dedicated vector software.
M3: Create a multi-page document incorporating a variety of different original and acquired images (vector and bitmap) and text to meet a defined need.
D1: Evaluate one vector image and one bitmap image produced against given requirements, suggesting ways they could be improved.

Before Submitting

Make sure your work includes headers and footers (where possible) containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing.

As you know, Bill and Ben are expanding to overseas holidays and in the future will need to up date their publicity material. They require a photo of a school they can use to show a typical location for their residential weekends but it cannot be identifiable. You will take a photo of your school and remove any identifying objects from it. They also require some location photos but again no person can be identifiable from the image. You will scan a location photo a magazine and remove any individuals from it.

Time Allowance
Bill & Ted need the photos within the fortnight so they have them for a meeting with the shareholders. Therefore you have 5 hours to get the images, make any changes and write up what you have done. As you are employed on a contract if things don’t go to plan you may need to work some unpaid overtime. This means you may need to work through your lunch time or at home to get the job done on time.

Grading Criteria
P5: Use specialist hardware to acquire and edit an image for a defined purpose.
M2: Compare two different hardware devices and associated software that are used to acquire graphic images in terms of the images they can produce.

Producing the Evidence
Bill and Ted need to present the images you have manipulated to the shareholders. Produce a presentation showing:

• Original image
• Modified version.
• Identify the tools you have used and adjustments made.
• Evaluate the software that you used to move and edit the pictures.
• Consider the ease of use and capabilities compared to other dedicated software.

Merit Task
They need to consider whether this is a good way to source images in the future. Is it better to arrange a photographer to visit all the locations and take original photos; or can suitable images be scanned from hotel and location brochures?

In your presentation evaluate the use of the scanner and digital camera to capture images. Consider ease of use and flexibility of moving the pictures into the computer.

Before Submitting
Make sure your presentation includes headers and footers containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing. Print it in colour as handouts with two slides to a page.

Bill’s Dastardly Uncle Dick has offered to take location photos on behalf of the company in the future. He is an experienced photographer who in recent years has used a film camera to take his photographs, but he has been informed that he could make changes and enhancements to his photographs if he ‘went digital’ and used a computer.He has been out shopping for a computer and the Computer Planet shop have supplied him with the following hardware and software specification. He has asked you for advice on if it will meet his needs. He would also like some advice on if he will need to make any changes.

Time Allowance
This should be a quick job for you and as its bonus time soon you are keen to impress Bill and Ted. You are also very busy so you can only really afford to spend 2 Hours on this task.

Grading Criteria
D2: You are to evaluate a given system specification (hardware and software) in respect of its ability to be used to create and edit graphic images and detail potential improvements and consequent benefits.

Before Submitting
Make sure your presentation includes headers and footers containing your name, class, page numbers and the date of printing. Print it in colour as handouts with two slides to a page.

This is an EXTENSION task for Students who have completed Unit18.

As you know Bill and Ted have expressed an interest in developing a website for your new global branch of the holiday business. You have been chatting to your friend Sir Tim Berners-Lee and he has suggested that one way to develop websites is to:

• Create your design in Adobe Photoshop.
• Use the splice tool to mark out the different areas such as navigation, header, footer etc.
• Export the splices as individual images with supporting HTML code.
• Use the result as a template for your website.

There are some advantages to this method including: being quicker to make changes and try ideas in the design phase; easier to get the positioning right for each section when you put it back together; and consistant page layout throughout your site – a big plus!

The Task
The task consists of three parts:

• Learn how to make buttons, banners etc. in photoshop.
• Create one or more different possible designs for your website.
• Splice it into appropriate sections for the page creating a template that you can use in your site development.

Hints and Tips:

• There are many sites on the internet offering tutorials (which you can adapt) that will guide you through the process.
• Think carefully about what will need to become a foreground object in the final design. All page specific text and images must be added later otherwise you won’t be able to change them. Anything that requires linking should also be kept out of the background.
• Use layers for everything – it makes it easier to remove things from your final export.