Problem solving

Problem Solving
Charlotte Oliver.

Practical Problems-Equipment
• This is a list of resources needed to create my fanzine:
1. Adobe premier
2. Photoshop
3. InDesign
4. Images of characters
5. Grammar and punctuation checker (Microsoft word)
6. Potentially a camera
7. Batteries for a camera
8. Computer
9. Charger for computer
10. Memory cards
11. Written article
12. Images edited on Photoshop

Practical Problems- Techniques (Managing pages and spreads) as found on Adobe help website.
• I found these techniques within my research, I intend to find more techniques in order to develop my work. -Move, duplicate, and
delete pages and spreads
• You can use the Pages panel to freely arrange, duplicate, and recombine pages and spreads. Keep the following guidelines in mind
when adding, arranging, duplicating, or removing pages within a document:
• InDesign preserves the threads between text frames.
• InDesign redistributes pages according to how the Allow Document Pages To Shuffle command is set.
• An object that spans multiple pages stays with the page on which the object’s bounding box covers the most area.
• As you drag, the vertical bar indicates where the page will appear when you drop it. If the black rectangle or bar touches a
spread when Allow Pages to Shuffle is turned off, the page you’re dragging will extend that spread; otherwise, document
pages will be redistributed to match the Facing Pages setting in the File > Document Setup dialog box.
• In the Pages panel, drag a page icon to a new position within the document.

How to render an image on Photoshop (as found on YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoleEZfQBWI as used in research.
1.Load into Photoshop a picture that has an image you’d like to render. For
example, load a photo of a person whose background you’d like to remove
2. Click the Tools palette icon shaped like a lasso to run the Lasso tool.
Move the mouse to a point just outside the outline of the image you want
to render. Press and hold the left mouse button, then drag around the
image. Stay close to the image’s outline, but don’t try to be exact -- that’s
the job of Refine Mask. The important thing is not to stray into the image
itself.
3. Release the mouse when you’ve traced completely around the image,
then click the Layer panel button shaped like a circle within a rectangle.
This runs the “Add Layer Mask” tool, which creates a mask that hides the
image’s background. The mask appears as a black and white thumbnail on
the right of the currently selected layer in the Layers panel.
4. Right-click the mask thumbnail and then click “Refine” to open the
“Refine Mask” dialog box. Drag the “Radius” slider slowly to the right,
observing closely the image as you do so. When the background pixels,
which now appear in red, begin to intrude onto the image, drag “Radius”
back to the left slightly. There may still be a gap between the red
background and the image.
5. Drag the mouse, which is loaded by default with the Refine Radius
brush, over a portion of a gap between the image and its background.
Photoshop will remove the gap so the red background fits snugly to the
image.

How to Download a font from the internet to A PC/Mac as found on this website https://www.wikihow.com/Install-Fonts-on-Your-PC
• Find a reputable font site. ...
• Download the font file that you want to install. ...
• Extract the font files (if necessary). ...
• Open the Control Panel. ...
• Click the "View by" menu in the upper-right corner and select one of the "Icons" options. ...
• Open the "Fonts" window. ...
• Drag the font files into the Fonts window to install them.

Draw basic lines and shapes as found on Adobe.com help site. https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/indesign/using/drawing-line-or-shape-tools.html
• In the toolbox, do one of the following:
• To draw a line or shape, select the Line tool , the Ellipse tool , the Rectangle tool , or the Polygon tool . (Click and hold the Rectangle tool to
select either the Ellipse or Polygon tool.)
• To draw a placeholder (empty) graphics frame, select the Ellipse Frame tool , the Rectangle Frame tool , or the Polygon Frame tool
• Drag in the document window to create the path or frame.
• To draw from the centre out, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS).
• To constrain a line to 45° angles, or to constrain the width and height of a path or frame to the same proportions, hold down Shift as you
drag.
• To create multiple shapes in a grid, press the arrow keys while holding down the mouse button. See Draw multiple objects as a grid.
• To change the number of sides of a polygon, begin dragging, press the Spacebar, and then press the Up and Down arrow keys. Press the Left
and Right arrow keys to change the star inset. Press the Spacebar again to return to grid mode.

Draw basic lines and shapes as found on Adobe.com help site. https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/indesign/using/drawing-line-or-
shape-tools.html
• When using frame-creation tools such as the Rectangle tool or Type tool, you can create a grid of equally spaced frames by using modifier
keys.
• Select a tool that lets you draw a frame.
• Begin dragging. While still holding down the mouse button, do any of the following actions:
• Press the Left and Right Arrow keys to change the number of columns. Press the Up and Down Arrow keys to change the number of rows.
• Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and press arrow keys to change the spacing between the frames.
• Release the mouse button.
• If you want to use the arrow keys to change the number of sides or star inset while using the Polygon tool, press the Spacebar while holding
down the mouse button.

Practical Problems – Latest Issues found in 2019 InDesign and how to resolve them.
• Stability fixes
• InDesign crashes while importing certain word files.
• InDesign crashes while switching context after dismissing Tint slide in the Properties panel.
• Adding or changing formatting of text in an anchored text box with Auto-fit Height enabled causes InDesign to crash.
• InDesign crashes on launch in certain scenarios.
• InDesign crashes while importing some PNG files.
• InDesign crashes while opening Styles drop-down from Properties panel for some specific fonts.
• InDesign crashes while using Content-Aware Fit in certain conditions.
• InDesign crashes while moving text frames with Indent To Here and Baseline Grid alignment.
• Key issues fixed
• Text tool response is delayed on application start up and while switching to Text tool.
• Colour settings in InDesign revert to default.
• Applying font style from the Find More tab appends style name in the font family field.
• Unable to apply font if fonts are filtered by Activated Adobe Fonts in Find More tab.
• Unable to export PDF with some presents, when a PDF containing embedded Type 3 fonts is placed in the document.
• Control Panel, when un-docked, becomes blank upon resizing.
• Extra space is added between characters while creating outline.
• Clicking document installed font from the fonts list displays a message to "Activate Font" and does not change font.
• Export to PDF converts text with certain fonts to All Caps.
• Nested styles do not work as expected.

Theoretical Problems-Contingency
Potential Problem Effect on Production Solution Control Persons Responsible
Computer Breaks This could mean loosing all work
and delaying FMP production time
Ensure there is always a backup
computer.
Charlotte Oliver
Equipment Stolen No equipment to do work. Always have a back up equipment
and don’t leave equipment
unattended.
Charlotte Oliver.
Illness among personnel Unable to carry out tasks on
schedule.
Always ensure to leave enough
time in schedule for absences
among personnel
Charlotte Oliver
Accident among personnel Injury and taking up time In the
schedule.
Ensure all healthy hazards are
controlled, e.g not leaving wires
out to stop tripping or falling etc.
Charlotte Oliver
Equipment not booked Meaning no graphics pad, or
computer etc.
Ensuring that all equipment is
booked before hand.
Charlotte Oliver
Loss of documents on Adobe
software
Loosing all work and meaning to
starting again in very little time
To make sure that the InDesign
and Photoshop software's do not
crash I will back up my work.
Charlotte Oliver
Ensuring attendance among
personnel
This could delay any process in my
organised schedule.
Therefore I will ring/email and
personnel before to make sure
that they are able to come in
advanced
Charlotte Oliver

Theoretical Problems Risk Assessment
Risk Control Measure
Slips, trips and falls while using equipment/looking through
viewfinders
Ensure that I am familiar with my surroundings and any personnel
working with me.
Any monitors with wires should be observed when moving and ensuring
wires are tucked away after.
Manual handling carrying equipment. Not to carry/move and equipment beyond my comfort level.
Request help when transporting equipment/share amongst crew and
personnel.
Adhere to manual handling methods for carrying items.
Lost/Stolen equipment. Do not leave any equipment unattended
Electrical equipment, extension/data cables and plugs- Electric shocks Do not touch any equipment that appears faulty and report it to the
tutor/technician.
Preventing dropping laptop whilst moving it to different
locations.
Carry laptop in a proper case and in a backpack
To avoid eyestrain. Tilt the screen the screen slightly to avoid reflections or glare.

Issues had on other projects. (Fanzine, Client etc)
In one of my previous projects Fanzine, I
particularly struggled with keeping my
text in line and matching in each page.
For example; you can see in this image
you see that the lines of text do not line
up with the vintage paper lines behind
the text. Which I feel distracts the
reader. Now I know how to space out
my work through my research using
different tools etc.
I also feel that the font itself is
very difficult to read in
reflection. For my own FMP I will
ensure I pick easy to read, yet
still interesting to the reader, I
have already researched many
fonts and analysed them to
decide which are the best for my
Game Of Thrones fanzine.
I also learnt from my previous fanzine
to include more codes and
conventions needed for a fanzine
such as, mastheads, straplines, tag
lines, or even page numbers. I feel
these are essential to make an
fanzine look more accurate and
professional.
I also wish to add more colour
to my fanzine, as I feel this is
essential for keeping my
audience interested.

Experiment 1
For my experiment one, I wanted to make a front cover for my Fanzine. The reason why I wanted to do was to have an overall
idea of how I wanted my front cover to look.
I used photoshop to create this A4 page.
How to open an A4 page on photoshop
1- Go to image>canvas size and change the size to a4 (297x210). Use the arrows to select from where to enlarge.
2. Crop adding an exact size.

After setting up my A4 front cover, I wanted to add an background to be behind all my stock images and text. Firstly I wanted to look for a dark and eerie image that would convey
with the imagery of Game of thrones, This is why I picked a black, choppy sea. I applied this to the white A4 background by; hose Window > Layers.
Choose a command from the Photoshop Layers panel menu
Click the triangle in the upper-right corner of the panel.
Change the size of Photoshop layer thumbnails
Choose Panel Options from the Layers panel menu, and select a thumbnail size.
Change thumbnail contents
Choose Panel Options from the Layers panel menu, and select Entire Document to display the contents of the entire document. Select Layer Bounds to restrict the thumbnail to the
object’s pixels on the layer.

After applying an interesting background layer to my A4 document I wanted to select an a font for the front cover that would captivate the audience, I could use
some of the fonts I previously researched and analysed I used the ‘Game Of Thrones Font’ from Dafont.
Go to http://www.dafont.com in a Web browser on your computer.
Click a font category. ...
Scroll down to browse the fonts in the category.
Click Download when you find a font you want. ...
Locate the font file and extract it. ...
Double-click the extracted folder to open it.
Install the font.

After downloading my title font, I then went onto applying a main image to my work, First of this image of the Iron Throne is a royalty free stock image, I had to
cut round the image on a separate document on Photoshop, to ensure the image matched the background of the front cover, I did this by; Select the Magic
Wand tool from the toolbox and then left-click the object that you want to cut out. This creates a selection around the area that you have clicked. Hold down
"Shift" and click an adjacent section of the object if the entire object was not covered by the selection.
2. Continue adding sections of the object until the entire object is selected. This works best if the object is a uniform colour. Alternatively, if the object is
detailed but the background is uniform, use the Magic Wand on the background instead. Click "Edit" from the Menu Bar and then click "Copy" once the entire
object has been selected.
4. Click "File" and then click "New." Select "Clipboard" from the present drop-down menu and then click "OK."
5. Click "Edit" from the Menu Bar and then click "Paste." This places the object on a new canvas. Double-click the "Background Layer" on the Layers palette and
then click "OK." Right-click the background layer and then click "Delete." You can now save your object in a file format that supports transparencies. of the
object and then select "Inverse" from the Selection menu.

Finally I applied the necessary taglines, and subtitles and this is a key code and
convention to make my experiment front cover as accurate as possible.
I did this by using this website https://www.wikihow.com/Add-Text-in-Photoshop
1. Select the Type tool from the tools palette. It looks like a "T." Click on the icon, or
simply press "T" on your keyboard to bring up the text tool. Now, anywhere you
click in your image will allow you to start adding type.
2. Set your text settings using the menu at the top of the screen. Once you click the
Text tool, a bunch of options will appear at the top of Photoshop allowing you to
choose the color, font, size, and alignment. You can also use the "Character," or
the "Paragraph," which resemble the text editing boxes in programs like Microsoft
Word. You can find these boxes by clicking on "Window" from the very top of your
screen and checking "Character" and "Paragraph.
3. Click on the part of your image where you want to add text in Photoshop. If you
simply click somewhere on the image, a cursor will appear where your first letter
will appear. You can simply start typing, and Photoshop will add the words from
this starting point.
4. Click and drag with the text tool, before typing, to contain the text to one area. If
you need to text to fit with a specific area, you can click and drag out the area
before you begin typing. Any text that doesn't fit will not appear unless you shrink
the font size.
5. Click outside the text box or press the Ctrl (Control) and Enter keys on your
keyboard simultaneously to see how the text finally appears on your Photoshop
image

Experiment 2
On experiment 2 I wanted to focus on making a mock up contents page on Photoshop. I firstly set up an A4
document on, I wanted to add an aged/stained bit of paper to coincide with the look of my Fanzine of Game Of
Thrones, I simply found a stock image that I liked and saved them image where I could add new stains and marks
to make it my own and perhaps play around the contrast etc.
How to make a stained paper texture on Photoshop as found on; https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-
effects/old-paper/
Step 1: Create A New Photoshop Document
Go up to the File menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose New:
enter 1000 pixels for both the Width and Height, and I'll leave my Resolution set to 72 pixels/inch
Step 2: Fill The Document With A Light Brown
Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill
This opens the Fill dialog box. Set the Use option at the top of the dialog box to Color:
Add A New Layer
Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Step 4: Apply The Clouds Filter
Foreground and Background colours are set to their defaults by pressing the letter D on your keyboard. This
resets your Foreground colour to black and your Background colour to white
You can see what the colours are currently set to by looking at the Foreground and Background color
swatches near the bottom of the Tools panel:
Apply The Spatter Filter
Go back up to the Filter menu and this time choose Brush Strokes, then choose Spatter:
Change The Blend Mode To Overlay And Lower The Opacity
Select The Burn Tool
Select Photoshop's Burn Tool from the Tools panel, which we're going to use to darken the paper's edges. By
default, it's nested behind the Dodge Tool, so click on the Dodge Tool's icon and hold your mouse button down
for a second or two until a fly-out menu appears showing the other tools available in that spot, then select the
Burn Tool from the list:

In my contents page I wanted to ensure I
had all the codes and conventions of a
contents pages, so I simply googled; table
of contents usually includes the titles or
descriptions of first-level headings
(chapters in longer works), and often
includes second-level headings
(sections or A-heads) within the chapters
as well, and occasionally even includes
third-level headings (subsections or B-
heads) within the sections as well. The
depth of detail in tables of contents
depends on the length of the work, with
longer works having less. Formal reports
(ten or more pages and being too long to
put into a memo or letter) also have a
table of contents. Within an English-
language book, the table of contents
usually appears after the title
page, copyright notices, and, in technical
journals, the abstract; and before any lists
of tables or figures, the foreword, and
the preface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6R9jEitiAo

Reflective Diaries Front Cover & Back Cover
• What have you identified as potential issues so far in your problem solving work?
• I firstly struggled with positioning my title on my front cover.
• What have you do so far to solve those potential problems?
• I tried different positioning of my text on my front cover, to ensure the text/title stands out the most to the audience and captures the eye.
This also meant changing the colour from black to white to stand out. I also changed the size of my main images (smaller) to make the font
pop even more. This is something I keep going back to as I change my mind regularly.
• Has the initial problem solving process influenced your project?
Yes, In my research and planning, I downloaded many different fonts and typefaces from Dafont.com, this helped me immensely because
not only could I choose which font suited my aesthetic but I could also see which font stood out the most. I finally came up with two fonts
that I like the most which was ‘breathe fire’ and the official ‘Game of Thrones’ font, as they conveyed to most to the codes and conventions of
my work.
• What practical activities can you do to help solve potential production problems?
• In my research I looked at different ‘Text position wraps’ This essentially meant I was able to play around with the position of the words in
my text to see which I liked the most aestethically, I finally settled with the centre on the page. As I feel this looked the best and yet I could
still use the central images pop out. I also wanted to not use too many words on my front cover as I prefer it to simplistic and minimal, yet
still interesting.
• How will you record your solutions to problems as you go through planning and production?
• I will ensure that resolve any issues through my planning beforehand, such as learning to download a font from various websites. I will also
record any solutions within my reflective diaries.
• How good do you feel you are at solving problems? What could you do to get better at it?
• I will constantly add new practical techniques throughout my production, this is essential for future products and endeavours to self reflect
and get through issues.

Reflective Diaries DPS 1 Jon Snow DPS.
• I have struggles this week with rasterising and editing images to make them my
own, so I went on to filters on photoshop to make my work look almost like
• How good do you feel you are at solving problems? What could you do to get
better at it?

Reflective Diaries Daenerys DPS.
• It has been taxing taking up a lot of time finding a large image for Daenerys double page spread with big enough pixels from a royalty
free website this has to be done well even if it is time consuming because the image needs to be shown very clearly from the
consumer but also it needs to look high quality so the customer wants to buy the Fanzine.
• Collecting images beforehand to use my time more effectively so I can spend quality time editing them and making them interesting
to the audiences eye, I have also made sure each images is different to the other.
• Yes, I went on youtube on how to make my articles look professional, I used different text wrap positions which ultimately I came to
the decision to use central wrap and clicked on the option “no hyphenation” this overall made my article look less messy and more
professional as you see no hyphenation in existing products, this strikes me as more professional.
• I will record my problems in my reflective diaries as I go through my production as this will help me in future double page spreads
rectify the same issues I will also discuss my problems in my evaluation.
• To improve my problem solving I will leave more time in schedule for issues that occur, this is essential for making my production the
best it can be, and will help me in the future.

Reflective Diaries Lannister DPS
• How to render an image is something I have personally struggled with so I went on various websites to learn how to; Load into Photoshop a picture that has an image you’d like to
render. For example, load a photo of a person whose background you’d like to remove
• 2. Click the Tools palette icon shaped like a lasso to run the Lasso tool. Move the mouse to a point just outside the outline of the image you want to render. Press and hold the left
mouse button, then drag around the image. Stay close to the image’s outline, but don’t try to be exact -- that’s the job of Refine Mask. The important thing is not to stray into the
image itself.
• I perhaps should make a video of my myself doing these new skills so that I don’t forget and I could use these videos as evidence for my problem solving this is just a different way
on how to present any problem solving.
• Yes as it helps me learn new skills that I can use throughout my project I wish too implement these new found skills throughout my project.
• I will record my problems in my reflective diaries as I go through my production as this will help me in future double page spreads rectify the same issues I will also discuss my
problems in my evaluation.
I will ensure that resolve any issues through my planning beforehand, such as learning to download a font from various websites. I will also record any solutions within my reflective
diaries.
• I will constantly add new practical techniques throughout my production, this is essential for future products and endeavours to self reflect and get through issues.
• I will constantly add new practical techniques throughout my production, this is essential for future products and endeavours to self reflect and get through issues.

Reflective Diaries Map of Westeros
• One thing I struggled with in contents page and the map of Westeros, was using up most of the white space and tracing/creating the map on the second double page.
• As researched on https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2307606
• Trace or use the map as a template and re-draw the entire illustration. You can use image trace several times to target specific areas. Layer 1 adjust image trace settings to get a
good trace of the background or larger areas. Layer 2, bring in the image again, image trace and adjust image trace settings to get a good trace of the lines or details. Add
additional layers as needed. You can also use Ps to make color adjustments to your image and get a better
• I tried different positioning of my text on my front cover, to ensure the text/title stands out the most to the audience and captures the eye. This also meant changing the colour
from black to white to stand out. I also changed the size of my main images (smaller) to make the font pop even more. This is something I keep going back to as I change my mind
regularly.
• I will ensure that resolve any issues through my planning beforehand, such as learning to download a font from various websites. I will also record any solutions within my
reflective diaries.

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