USING POSTSCRIPT FILES
STEP 1. Download the logo you'd like to use from the ODU Logo Library.
STEP 2. Open Adobe Photoshop.
STEP 3. From the File menu, select Open. Navigate to the logo file you wish to open. You may need to drop down the "Files of type" option menu and select "all formats" in order to see the Postscript files. The example picture at left gives an example of what you could see.
STEP 4. The screen capture at left shows exactly what you should see upon opening your Postscript file. That little box is what makes Postscript files so prescious. It allows us to change dimensions, choose a resolution for the image, and more before we open it. By default, anti-aliasing and constrain proportions should be checked. If they are not, please check both boxes before proceeding.
STEP 5. Using the drop-down menus, select pixels for Width and Height measurements instead of inches since pixels are easiest to work with for the Web. Note that the numbers in the boxes to the left of the drop-down menus will automatically change as different units are selected.
STEP 6. Once both dimensions are set to pixels, go ahead and pick a width for the logo. There should be no need to adjust height - it will keep itself automatically proportional to the width selected. The "Resolution" should remain 72 DPI for Web use (choose 300 DPI for print publications). Mode should remain "RGB Color". Click "OK", and your custom logo will appear in Photoshop.
STEP 7. Now that your logo is open, you will notice that the background is checkerboarded. That's Photoshop's way of telling us that the background is clear. Setting the color of the background is always preferential to saving a clear background, because "clear" background images tend to have an unprofessional halo around them.
Changing the Background Color of a Postscript File in Photoshop
STEP 1. First, locate the layers window, shown at the left. If you do not see it, you can open it by using the top navigation by going to Window-->Layers.
STEP 2. Make a new layer by hitting the new layer button, shown in the picture at left.
STEP 3. Here's the new layer, but it needs to be moved below Layer 1. Click and hold Layer 2 while dragging it under Layer 1. You should end up with something like this:
STEP 4. this. Now, turn off the visibility of Layer 1. Do that by clicking once on the little eye icon, shown at left.
STEP 5. Locate the tools pane. It is shown at left about 2/3 of actual size. If you cannot find the tools pane, you can activate it by using the top menu Window-->Tools.
Double-click on the big black box near the bottom. That's the color picker. It may not be black and white, as shown, but black and white are the default colors. Whatever the color of the area shown as the big black box at left, double-click it.
STEP 6. When the color picker opens, you may choose any color. For the sake of this example, we've typed "002b5f" into the box along the bottom with the # sign next to it. 002b5f is the hexadecimal value for ODU blue. For more information about ODU colors, see University Web Styleguide: Colors.
STEP 7. Select the paint bucket, shown by the red arrow in the picture at left. If the paint bucket isn't there: The paint bucket may not be showing in that place, since it is also shared with the gradient fill tool. If you do not see the paint bucket, click and hold the tiny black arrow in the lower right corner. A menu opens up, from which you can select the paint bucket.
STEP 8. Click with the paint bucket anywhere in the image area, and it will fill with the color you've chosen. Next, click the layer visibility icon to reactivate the logo layer (Layer 1). You should have something like what's shown at left. If you do not see your logo: One of two things has happened. 1) the fill color that has been selected is the same color as the logo, or 2) the logo layer is underneath the fill layer. Return to Steps 3-4 for information on how to change layer position.
Saving Your Custom Postscript Logo in Photoshop
STEP 1. From the File menu, select "Save for Web".
STEP 2. On the "Save for Web" menu, you're presented with a barrage of options. The most intimidating section has been captured in the image at left. Just get the settings to match as shown, and hit "save".
GIF files can contain a maximum of 256 unique colors. They're ideal for logos or line art because those types of graphics need only a few colors. JPG files, on the other hand, can contain 16.7 million unique colors and are best suited for photographs.
STEP 3. When you close a Postscript file, Photoshop will ask if you would like to save the changes. If you pick Yes, you will be prompted to save the image you've created (but the original Postscript file will remain unharmed). If you select no, then the image you've created will be lost, and you will have to open from the Postscript and repeat all steps again to create the same logo in the future.
Remember that the logo has already been saved -- we saved a copy of the finished logo with the "Save for Web" feature. For that reason, it is best to just click "No", but it is ultimately up to you.