FUTURE AGE (SERIES I) STYLE 03 WAS DESIGNED FOR THOSE SEEKING A MORE ABSTRACT, SURREAL AND ARTISTIC APPROACH TO FUTURISTIC CARD DESIGN. IT FEATURES A HIGHLY SYMMETRICAL, FLOWING, “TECHNORGANIC” LAYOUT. AT THE ORIGIN OF STYLE 03’S DESIGN IS A “FAR FUTURE” VISUAL THEME INSPIRED BY THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS/IDEAS: EXOTIC ENERGY, EXOTIC MATTER, METALLIC MATTER, POTENTIAL ENERGY, KINETIC ENERGY, INTER-DIMENSIONAL, EXTRATERRESTRIAL, ORGANIC CIRCUITRY, LIQUID PLASMA, ANTI-GRAVITY, MAGNETISM, VACUUM, ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, THE UNKNOWN, QUANTUM MECHANICS, META-PHYSICS, ASTRAL NAVIGATION, COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS, AND ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS.
STYLE 03 IS EASILY THE MOST ABSTRACT CARD TEMPLATE OUT OF ALL FUTURE AGE (SERIES I) DESIGNS. IT IS ALSO THE MOST EASILY EDITED DUE TO ITS SYMMETRICAL NATURE. OF THE NOTABLE GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS HOSTED IN STYLE 03’S CARD DESIGN ARE “ENERGY EFFECTS” COMPOSED OF LAYER STYLES THAT ALLOW THEM TO INTERACT WITH THE COLOR OF ARTWORK AND VARIOUS OTHER CARD ELEMENTS THEY ARE FOUND OVER.
STYLE 03’S FRONT CARD TEMPLATES ALL INCLUDE 100+ GRAPHICAL LAYOUT ELEMENTS THAT CAN BE EASILY COLOR-EDITED (EITHER USING THE COLOR-PICKER, OR INCLUDED LAYER STYLES). ALL ELEMENTS OF THE CARD TEMPLATES ARE ORGANIZED INTO NEATLY ARRANGED PHOTOSHOP LAYER GROUPS, ALLOWING CONVENIENT CARD LAYOUT CHANGES BY ADJUSTING THE VISIBILITY SETTINGS OF THE LAYER GROUPS. ALL GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS ARE SORTED INTO 4 MAIN LAYER GROUPS: UPPER AREA, LOWER AREA, ARTWORK, AND BACKGROUND.
STYLE 03’S REAR CARD TEMPLATE HAVE 50+ GRAPHICAL LAYOUT ELEMENTS THAT CAN BE EASILY COLOR-EDITED (EITHER USING THE COLOR-PICKER, OR INCLUDED LAYER STYLES). THERE ARE 10 MAJOR LAYER GROUPS CONTAINING THE REAR CARD’S ELEMENTS: ARTWORK, DESIGN 01, DESIGN 02, DESIGN 03, DESIGN 04, DESIGN 05, DESIGN 06, DESIGN 07, DESIGN 08, AND BACKGROUND. DESIGN 01-06 LAYER GROUPS CONTAIN THE MAIN UPPER, LOWER, LEFT, AND RIGHT ELEMENTS USED OVER THE FOREGROUND OF THE CARD. DESIGN 07AND DESIGN 08 LAYER GROUPS HOLD LARGE, FULL CARD DESIGN ELEMENTS ACCOMPANIED WITH OPTIONAL LIQUID SUBSTANCE ORB VISUALS.
INCLUDED IN THE STYLE 03 TEMPLATE ARE A PLETHORA OF ICONS THAT CAN BE USED IN THE CARD’S DESIGN. A FOLDER NAMED “ICONS” CONTAINS 30 .PNG VERSIONS OF THE ICON AS WELL AS A .PSD FILE CONTAINING ALL 30 ICONS IN FULLY EDITABLE PHOTOSHOP SHAPE FORMAT. THE VECTOR BASED NATURE OF PHOTOSHOP SHAPES MAKES THESE ICONS SCALABLE TO ANY SIZE, WITHOUT REDUCTION IN GRAPHICS QUALITY. OPENING THE .PSD ICON FILE REVEALS A LAYER GROUP CONTAINING THE 30 DIFFERENT ICONS ON SEPARATE LAYERS NAMED AFTER THE IDEAS THEY REPRESENT. SOME ARE MORE SUBJECTIVE IN NATURE THAN OTHERS TO PROVIDE CARD MAKERS WITH FLEXIBILITY IN DEFINING MORE ORIGINAL IDEAS. ALL OF THE ICONS ARE ALREADY IMPLEMENTED INTO THE CARD FRONT FILES AS SMART OBJECTS, IN SPECIALLY DESIGNATED “ICON/TEXT” LAYER GROUPS. THIS ELIMINATES ANY NEED TO PLACE ANY ICONS DIRECTLY INTO THE CARD DESIGN UNLESS DRAMATIC CHANGES IN THE CARD’S DESIGN ARE MADE BY THE USER.
FUTURE AGE (SERIES I) STYLE 03 COMES WITH A TOTAL OF 8 PHOTOSHOP LAYER STYLES, 5 OF WHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO TEXT AND ICONS IN THE CARD FRONT TEMPLATE. 5 OF THE 8 CARD FRONT LAYER STYLES ARE INCLUDED IN A PHOTOSHOP .ASL (STYLES) FILES FOUND WITHIN THE MAIN FOLDER. THE STYLES CAN EASILY BE APPLIED TO ANY ICONS AND TEXT BY SELECTING THE TEXT OR ICON LAYER AND CLICKING ON THE PREFERRED LAYER STYLE IN THE STYLES PANEL. 3 OUT OF THE 8 PHOTOSHOP LAYER STYLES WERE DESIGNED FOR LOGOS/SYMBOLS AND ARE LOCATED IN THE CARD REAR TEMPLATES.
THE STYLE 03 TEMPLATE INCLUDES TWO ACTIONS DESIGNED TO SAVE COMPLETED CARDS IN DIFFERENT FORMATS. THE FIRST PHOTOSHOP ACTION CROPS A FINISHED CARD’S BLEED SPACE AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SAVES THE CARD AT ITS DEFAULT RESOLUTION AND COLOR MODE (RGB). THIS MAKES THE ACTION USEFUL FOR SAVING CARDS TO BE USED IN DIGITAL MEDIA. THE SECOND PHOTOSHOP ACTION CONVERTS THE CARD FROM RGB COLOR MODE TO CMYK COLOR MODE (THE STANDARD FOR PRINT), AND SAVES THE CARD WITH THE .25 INCH BLEED SPACE. THIS SECOND ACTION WAS DESIGNED FOR SAVING THE CARD FILES FOR PRINT.
A FAIRLY DETAILED INSTRUCTION MANUAL IS ALSO PART OF THE STYLE 03 DOWNLOAD. THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL COMES IN THE FORM OF A 40 PAGE ADOBE ACROBAT (.PDF) FILE. ITS TABLE OF CONTENTS INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS: (CARD FRONT) LAYER HIERARCHY, PLACING ARTWORK, CHANGING ICONS, ICON/TEXT STYLES, SPECIAL ELEMENTS, EDITING COLORS, BACKGROUND, (CARD REAR) LAYER HIERARCHY, LOGO/SYMBOL STYLES, SPECIAL ELEMENTS, EDITING COLORS, BACKGROUND, (INDEPENDENT) ACTIONS, AND FONT RECOMMENDATIONS. IN EACH SECTION, THE TOPIC IS COVERED BY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THAT INCLUDES NUMBERS THAT CORRESPOND TO VARIOUS IMAGES OF LAYERS, POP-UP WINDOWS, EDITING TOOLS AND OTHER FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS FOUND IN PHOTOSHOP. THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL CONTAINS VARIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS ON THE SECTION TITLE PAGES, ALONG WITH SEVERAL CARD DESIGNS THROUGHOUT THE DOCUMENT, SHOWING VARIOUS LAYOUTS THAT CAN BE MADE USING THE TEMPLATE. IN THE FONT RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION, LIVE LINKS ARE PROVIDED TO DOWNLOAD FONTS UNKNOWN DEPTHS RECOMMENDS USING WITH THE TEMPLATE.
