Photoshop NSS Banner Let's Build a Future Together
Photoshop National Space Society Banner Let's Build a Future Together by Jim Plaxco
Last night I submitted an entry to the NSS (National Space Society) Banner Design Contest. What made my submission unusual is that I am one of the judges for the contest. This left my fellow judges wondering what my intentions were – was I dropping out as a judge to become a contestant? Did I want a crack at the $500.00 cash prize? Not at all I explained. The night before (Wednesday) I had gone to the NSS Banner Design Gallery to look over the submissions that I would be voting on. Unfortunately I didn't see any that I really liked. Most were far too science fictiony for my tastes given that these designs are to be used to produce a banner promoting the NSS and its chapters. I expressed my negative feelings to my fellow judges in an e-mail. After sending that e-mail, I thought “why just criticize – what can I come up with?” I figured that I would see what I could do so later that night I set out to create my own banner design. It is that design which is the illustration for this post. You can see a larger version on my submission page.
In creating this banner, there were five basic elements to consider:
- the background image
- the NSS logo
- the NSS name
- an appropriate slogan
- creating a composition from these individual elements
For a background, I decided to go with a lunar landscape that featured an Apollo LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). To achieve this, I composited together a series of Apollo 16 70mm Hasselblad images. These became a single layer in my Photoshop document. I located a separate image of the Earth, also from the Apollo 16 mission, taken en route to the Moon. I brought this into Photoshop as another layer. To this I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer as a clipping mask and slightly increased both the saturation and lightness of the Earth.
I now had to come up with a slogan. A page full of scribbled ideas later, I decided to go with “Let's Build a Future Together.”
Lastly, with the Moon, the Earth, my slogan, the NSS logo, and the NSS name all on separate Photoshop layers, I began to work with both the placement and the sizing of the individual elements. At this point the only element that remained static was the lunar background. I eventually arrived at a composition that I was happy with and called it a night.
Yesterday after work I used the automated design submission form to enter my design in the contest. Why not give it a try yourself. You can find all the details about the contest at the National Space Society Banner Design Contest web page.
Ad Astra, Jim
| Return to the Blog Index | This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 at 12:03 pmand is filed under National Space Society, Photoshop, Space Art.
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Please note that submissions will not be accepted after Sunday May 13 2007.