PAST AGE: STYLE 01 COLOR SCHEME 2

PAST AGE (SERIES I) STYLE 01 WAS DESIGNED FOR THOSE SEEKING TO EXERT THEIR CREATIVE INFLUENCE OVER AN EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE CARD TEMPLATE. ITS DESIGN IS HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE, AND SUPPORTS SYMMETRICAL AND ASYMMETRICAL LAYOUTS. STYLE 01’S DESIGN WAS INSPIRED BY THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS/IDEAS: FLAGS, RUNES & GLYPHS, WOOD CARVINGS, FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY, PIRATES, STEAM PUNK, FORESTS, NATURE, ARMOR, SHIELDS AND MORE.

CHECKLIST

$6 PURCHASE

CARD FRONT

OVERVIEW

STYLE 01’S FRONT CARD TEMPLATES ALL HAVE 14+ GRAPHICAL LAYOUT ELEMENTS (NOT INCLUDING TEXT AND ICONS) THAT CAN BE EASILY COLOR-EDITED. ALL OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE CARD TEMPLATE ARE ORGANIZED INTO NEATLY ARRANGED PHOTOSHOP LAYER GROUPS IN A WAY THAT ALLOWS CONVENIENT CARD LAYOUT CHANGES BY SIMPLY MAKING LAYER GROUPS VISIBLE OR HIDDEN. THE 14+ GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS ARE SORTED INTO 4 MAIN LAYER GROUPS: UPPER AREA, LOWER AREA, ARTWORK, AND BACKGROUND.

HIERARCHY

THE UPPER AREA LAYER GROUP CONTAINS ALL OF THE GRAPHIC ELEMENTS LOCATED ON THE UPPER-HALF OF THE CARD. THE LOWER AREA LAYER GROUP CONTAINS GRAPHIC ELEMENTS FOUND ON THE LOWER-HALF OF THE CARD. EDITING THE VISIBILITY OPTIONS OF THESE LAYER GROUPS CAN YIELD VARIOUS ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CARD.

ARTWORK

THE ARTWORK LAYER GROUP CONTAINS 3 DIFFERENT STYLES FOR DISPLAYING CARD ARTWORK. THE FIRST STYLE CREATES A LOWER TRANSPARENCY GRADIENT ACROSS THE LOWER THIRD OF THE ARTWORK. THE SECOND STYLE IS DESIGNED TO DISPLAY ARTWORK IN A RECTANGLE WITH ROUNDED CORNERS. BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND STYLES CREATE A BORDER AROUND THE ARTWORK USING THE CARD TEMPLATE’S BACKGROUND. THE THIRD STYLE FOR DISPLAYING ARTWORK IS A FULL DISPLAY, USING NO MASKS. THIS STYLE FILLS THE CARD AND COMPLETELY COVERS THE BACKGROUND OVER WITH ANY ART INSERTED. ALL OF THESE STYLES RELY ON PHOTOSHOP’S SMART OBJECT LAYER FEATURE. WHEN ARTWORK IS INSERTED INTO THE SMART OBJECT, ALL OF THE ARTWORK STYLES ARE AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED WITH THE ARTWORK. THERE IS ALSO A FOURTH STYLE OF DISPLAYING ARTWORK THAT DOES NOT RELY ON PLACING YOUR ARTWORK INTO THE DESIGNATED SMART OBJECT. THIS STYLE’S LAYER GROUP IS TITLED “PNG’S” AND WAS DESIGNED WITH INDIVIDUALS USING ARTWORK CONTAINING TRANSPARENCY INFORMATION IN MIND. PLACE ANY .GIF OR .PNG INTO THIS LAYER GROUP AND THE TRANSPARENCY WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CARD’S BACKGROUND DESIGN.

BACKGROUND

THE BACKGROUND LAYER GROUP CONTAINS A SINGLE SMART OBJECT HOLDING THE CARD’S BACKGROUND. THE BACKGROUND CAN BE FULLY EDITED BY OPENING THE SMART OBJECT IT IS CONTAINED IN.

CARD REAR

OVERVIEW

STYLE 01’S REAR CARD TEMPLATES ALL HAVE 5+ GRAPHICAL LAYOUT ELEMENTS (NOT INCLUDING TEXT AND/OR LOGOS) THAT CAN BE EASILY COLOR-EDITED. THERE ARE 4 MAJOR LAYER GROUPS CONTAINING THE REAR CARD’S ELEMENTS: BORDERS, ARTWORK, BASE AND BACKGROUND. THE BORDERS LAYER GROUP CONTAINS 4 MAIN GRAPHIC ELEMENTS THAT CAN BE MADE VISIBLE OR HIDDEN TO CHANGE THE CARD’S LAYOUT. THE BASE LAYER GROUP WORKS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE “TOP” AND “BOTTOM” LAYER GROUPS IN THE BORDERS LAYER GROUP.

LOGO/SYMBOL STYLES

A SPECIAL FEATURE FOUND IN THE CARD’S REAR COMES IN THE FORMS OF LAYER STYLES THAT CAN BE ADDED TO ANY SINGLE COLOR LOGO WITH TRANSPARENCY INFORMATION (I.E. .GIF’S AND .PNG’S). 4 LAYER STYLES ARE INCLUDED IN THE REAR CARDS ALLOWING ONE TO CUSTOMIZE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF ANY LOGO OR SYMBOL THEY WOULD LIKE TO BE DISPLAYED ON THE REAR OF THE CARD.

ICONS

OVERVIEW

INCLUDED IN THE STYLE 01 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.

LAYER STYLES

OVERVIEW

PAST AGE (SERIES I) STYLE 01 COMES WITH A TOTAL OF 6 PHOTOSHOP LAYER STYLES THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO TEXT AND ICONS IN THE CARD TEMPLATE. THE LAYER STYLES ARE INCLUDED IN A SEPARATE PHOTOSHOP .ASL (STYLES) FILE 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.

ACTIONS

OVERVIEW

THE STYLE 01 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.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

OVERVIEW

A FAIRLY DETAILED INSTRUCTION MANUAL IS ALSO PART OF THE STYLE 01 DOWNLOAD. THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL COMES IN THE FORM OF A 33 PAGE ADOBE ACROBAT (.PDF) FILE. IT’S TABLE OF CONTENTS INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS: LAYER HIERARCHY, PLACING ARTWORK, CHANGING ICONS, TEXT/ICON STYLES, EDITING COLORS, CARD LAYOUTS, BACKGROUND, ACTIONS, CARD REAR, 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.