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.
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.
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.
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.
PAST AGE (SERIES I) COMPLETE INCLUDES A TOTAL OF 15 PHOTOSHOP LAYER STYLES THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO TEXT AND ICONS IN THE VARIOUS CARD STYLE TEMPLATES. THE LAYER STYLES ARE INCLUDED IN SEPARATE PHOTOSHOP .ASL (STYLES) FILES FOUND WITHIN THE MAIN FOLDER OF EACH CARD TEMPLATE STYLE. 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.
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.
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.
