New product at ALLOURSTOCK.com:

So to date, this is one of my favorite stock pieces that has been up on the site. As it continues to roll forward I really think even more robust and quality stock will be put up! I'm going to use the original stock to make something cool and show some of the potential uses for these products.

Here's the product itself: http://allourstock.com/product/path/36_38/product_id/337

It's a nice dadaist-like collage that I've created with random elements from old projects. It's great how versatile some design pieces are, in that you can reuse them all the time in various ways without watering it down or seeming copied.

I'll type out my instructions vs. loading up a bunch of in-between screenshots.

Since this is a nice big, high-resolution image, I'm going to shrink it down for a smaller project.

1. First I'll take the original image and resize it to 600x800 -- I want a vertical layout, I think it will be very engaging and dramatic.

2. I'm going to use solely the texture, and not the color of this image, so I want to change the hue to a yellowish color. I'll pick my color, then in photoshop change the layer property to hue. Now I've got a much more dramatic play of shapes with one solid color.

3. Of course I'll just my logo as a foundation, and to give it some edge and allure with the logo's shape. Since I want to bring attention to the logo, I'm going to mask the background slightly, so it has some nuances that are subtle yet powerful. This gives depth to the piece because of the 2 layered effects created by the logo and the background. Now we're getting somewhere.

4. I think I'd like to use text as well, namely the typeface and name of the company. I don't think it looks good horizontally though, as the text is more of an artform when its presented vertically, and it families with the orientation of this piece.

5. I like the way it creates an artistic nature to the typography, but all white text is too much, so I'm going to make "studios" black to break it up. Now its looking really good.

6. For added effect, I'll add a vertical bar of pink and then set it to darken so the layeres show through. This creates some heavy contrast, sets the stage for the symmetrical nature of the piece, and adds some flare to the more subdued nature of the piece.

And voila! It took me a total of 5 minutes to make this, even longer to write the post. But what a result, way cool!