I have to design a prom ticket for the high school and their theme is Listen to your Heart. Here is what i have so far. Please tell me what I can do to improve it. If you want the psd just ask.
I would honestly recommend starting over. There is a lot wrong with this. The colors don't flow together. Specifically the background Gradient. I understand that you are trying to utilize the school colors but you need to use them in a different manner. Also just because the motto is "Listen to your heart" doesn't necessarily mean that you need to add a heart to it.
But with all that said, I took 10 minutes and went to the Gosnell High website and put together a version to show how your artwork should flow. I don't know the specifics of your artwork, but always make your graphic larger so when it is printed off it comes out sharper. I utilized the school Logo and then I pulled from the colors to keep it all flowing together. If you add red to it you will lose the color flow. The Listen to your heart font might be the wrong font to use depending on the size of the artwork, in which case you would want to change it to a heartier font that would stand out if printed smaller.
I don't like to share my website because I haven't updated in a long time to the point I think it was done in Tables which I do not do anymore. I need to redesign it but haven't had time since I am volunteering full time on a Congressional Candidates Campaign. But it is http://www.fireproofgfx.com like my name
Anyways, I like the look of your site. Good job on the logo and color scheme. Needs Contact info but I am sure you are still working on it and will add that later. Is it going to be a jquery slide down when you select say Logos from the menu? Instead of having to scroll down. Good Job though.
Here is the graphic adjusted to the 4" x 2" @ 300Dpi
When you go to print it, it will down sizes to 4x2 and prints clear and sharp. In some programs you might have to manually downsize it but in PS it does it automatically for me. I changed the cursive to a bolder Cursive and made the school logo a pattern and added it to the BG and made it overlay to give it some depth and a nice little touch. But of course everybody like different things. You might not even like this idea.
You can see that all the colors work well together. If I add red to it, it will throw off all of the unity that is why red won't work for this. So instead use fancy writing to get your message across.
You're welcome, did you get a chance to print out a sample of it to understand what I am talking about when I say you need to make it larger. With PS its simple, start a new document and put in the size of your artwork in this case 4x2 and then in the resolution area change it from 72ppi default (Pixels Per Inch) to 300ppi and your canvas will be set properly.
Yeah, I understand now. I didn't get to print it as i don't have a printer in my house. I will when i go to school tomorrow. Hopefully as small as it is the words listen to your heart will be able to be read easier and the word PROM when printed.. Not entirely sure if I am able to not put April 21, 2012 on there.
As it is now, I did print it off and everything is readable. You could use a Arial Bold for the date and put it on top, maybe to where it goes behind the School Logo using White as the color I think it would stand out just enough that the date is there but not to distracting.
Ok instead of adding the drop shadow, add a black 1 pxl stroke and lower the stroke opacity to 28% so that it's not to dark, and make all of the letters UPPERCASE 18-20 pt and center with the head on the logo, that should do it.
OVERLAY
Set things to overlay by going over to the Layers Panel ( I am assuming you are using Photoshop and if not I think Gimp has a similar set up) and scroll from Normal to Overlay or Soft Light.