Case Wrap Template

Today I'll be creating the template for my video game case wrap using software called "Adobe Photoshop".

Before I start, I'll need to consider the following factors that will affect my case wrap:

• Dimensions - What will the height and width of my case wrap be, including the spine and considering things like bleed and safety margins.
• Resolution - How detailed will my cover art be based on the number of pixels present in my template. The higher the value for the "Ppi - pixels per inch" the more detailed the work will be.  
• Colour Space - How big the variety of colours will be present on my cover art. This will be either 8,16 or 32 bits. The more bits the more accurate the colours due to more colours being available. Also I'll need to consider what colour mode should I use. 
• Background Contents - This will determine what kind of background will my template have. It could either be transparent of coloured. 

After doing some background research I have finally decided to set my template using the following settings:

• Dimensions - 7.5" x 11" (whole template), 7.25" x 0.5" (spine)
• Resolution - 300 pixels/inch
• Colour Space - RGB Colour (32 bits)
• Background Contents - Transparent

The dimensions set are exactly the same as the ones I found on the internet which are used for an Amaray DVD case wrap. This is because the specification for this assignment has specifically required this format of the case wrap. 

I've set the resolution to 300 Ppi because during my research I've noticed that most businesses required the resolution to be a minimum of 300 Ppi or higher. I've decided to do the same as I thought that it would be a good practice for the 'real world' work environment. 

I've decided that the colour space should be in 'RGB Colour' mode as this is the mode that monitors use to display colours. This means that when I'll be creating my cover art, all the colours that I'll use will be displayed correctly. Also since the cover art will be for a video game, I've decided that the colour space should be in 16 bits as video games often use graphics which are highly detailed and rich in varieties of colours, therefore if I am to reproduce that I'll need the high range of colours while keeping the file size smaller.

The set the background contents to transparent because throughout my experience with the "Adobe Photoshop" I've always found this option to be the most useful and the one that will least get in my way later on when I'll be applying different techniques of image manipulation.