While taking graphic design, I noticed that my strength is using color. I enjoy using color to create eye-catching, visually appealing designs and logos. Color has always been something that I admire, it gives things life and energy, excitement. I noticed this while we were working on our color wheel projects and explaining why we liked our favorite colors. We learned that colors can trigger different memories and mean a variety of different things for everyone. For example, my favorite color is blue because it is very calming like the ocean.
An area I need to improve on is simplicity. Sometimes I have so many ideas that it is hard for me to represent it all in one simplified version. Along with this comes timeless appeal. I would like to learn more on how this is accomplished and see some examples of logos and designs that have excelled in this.
My favorite part of this quarter is learning how to use a familiar program to make basic designs and logos. I have seen and used programs like this before such as Paint and Photoshop, but this program brings it to a new level. We learned how Adobe Illustrator is the preferred program over Photoshop because it has better quality photos and photo enhancing tools. I liked seeing that this was true and it was very easy to operate.
Later in my eCommunication career I plan to come back to my Adobe Illustrator projects from this quarter and improve them using my new skills. Since we only learned the basics of the program I think it will be interesting to see how my work can evolve. I can't wait to be able to see what this program and I are capable of and how I can create more clean, detailed, and inspiring work.
This semester I learned how to channel my thoughts and opinions through colors and shapes. I really enjoyed the element of representation we learned to include in our work. I will continue to use these artistic skills in all of my work no matter what class I am in. I really feel that I am learning more about computers and how they can help us in our daily lives
Next semester I hope to get into the depths of this program and how to use Adobe Illustrator to the best of my advantage. I can't wait to see what kind of work I can make with the help of my teachers, classmates, and computer.
Monday, December 19, 2016
e9 Semester 1 Final- Web Design Project
For the past week we have been using Adobe Dreamweaver to make a two-page website that holds all of our projects. Since the program was new territory for all of us, we downloaded videos made by Mr. Olsen to teach us how to work inside the application. First we uploaded some files to the e9 server. We created a new folder for these to stay in that was for web design and then downloaded this new folder into Dreamweaver. These files helped create the basic layout of our website. Next, we used photo booth on our computer to take a professional photo of ourselves to apply to our website's home page. Also on the home page we had our elevator pitch from the beginning of this quarter. Before we started the second page, we made sure that our website had a proper title if you pulled it up on your browser. The second page of our website was for our projects. We learned how to embed YouTube videos into the page so that you wouldn't have to go to another window. Lastly, we finished it off with some color.
We worked on this project all week long. If we used our class time wisely we should have been finished or very close. I tried to view at least one-and-a-half to two videos each day. There were six videos that were each around 15 minutes long. However, to understand the videos and provide the best work one may need to pause or rewind the video.
The videos and the program were very easy to use and follow. I had very few problems, most of the ones I faced were during the YouTube video uploading section. I was confused at first as to why you couldn't drag-and-drop a file containing the video into the website. Once I figured out how easy it was to embed the video, I went to work adding all of them. When I had gotten halfway through adding them, I made a mistake and I tried to use the undo button. However, I didn't save my work and the button took me back to my last save, deleting all of the videos I had just added. This set me back about ten minutes.
During this project I learned how to read and write some code for the website. I have very rarely worked with code so it was fun to see how it worked in the professional world. I also learned what a ZIP file is and how to use it. I liked learning how to use another Adobe program. I have never worked with professional computer project editing systems before and it is a great opportunity and experience.
I really enjoyed this first taste of web design and I might consider taking the class sophomore year. Creating a whole website may be a lot of work, but once you see it finished, you are really proud of yourself. I think that it is the best thing for someone to learn and understand a human's power to create and that you can do absolutely anything, the possibilities are endless!
I cannot provide a screen capture of my website at this time.
We worked on this project all week long. If we used our class time wisely we should have been finished or very close. I tried to view at least one-and-a-half to two videos each day. There were six videos that were each around 15 minutes long. However, to understand the videos and provide the best work one may need to pause or rewind the video.
The videos and the program were very easy to use and follow. I had very few problems, most of the ones I faced were during the YouTube video uploading section. I was confused at first as to why you couldn't drag-and-drop a file containing the video into the website. Once I figured out how easy it was to embed the video, I went to work adding all of them. When I had gotten halfway through adding them, I made a mistake and I tried to use the undo button. However, I didn't save my work and the button took me back to my last save, deleting all of the videos I had just added. This set me back about ten minutes.
During this project I learned how to read and write some code for the website. I have very rarely worked with code so it was fun to see how it worked in the professional world. I also learned what a ZIP file is and how to use it. I liked learning how to use another Adobe program. I have never worked with professional computer project editing systems before and it is a great opportunity and experience.
I really enjoyed this first taste of web design and I might consider taking the class sophomore year. Creating a whole website may be a lot of work, but once you see it finished, you are really proud of yourself. I think that it is the best thing for someone to learn and understand a human's power to create and that you can do absolutely anything, the possibilities are endless!
I cannot provide a screen capture of my website at this time.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Presentation Blog
This week we worked on presentation skills and how we can use them to present our personal logos in front of the class. We learned some key things that we need to remember while presenting such as: posture, facial expression, eye contact, loud voice and appearance. Your goal is for the audience to understand and like your presentation.
We watched some videos that showed examples of what to do and not to do. Then we watched TED presentations from Bill Gates, Bjorn Lomberg, and Jamie Oliver, and rated them based on what we saw in the first minute of their presentations. By watching these videos we saw that you don't always have to wear nice clothes, you should just watch your presentation. They also showed us how to engage with the audience.
The next day we presented our own logos, we explained the colors, the representation, and how the logo shows who we are. During my presentation I could have used a more happy facial expression and I could have acted more professional. Another thing I need to work on is ending a presentation, we should practice saying "Thank You" instead of "That's all".v I will keep these things in mind the next time I do a presentation
We watched some videos that showed examples of what to do and not to do. Then we watched TED presentations from Bill Gates, Bjorn Lomberg, and Jamie Oliver, and rated them based on what we saw in the first minute of their presentations. By watching these videos we saw that you don't always have to wear nice clothes, you should just watch your presentation. They also showed us how to engage with the audience.
The next day we presented our own logos, we explained the colors, the representation, and how the logo shows who we are. During my presentation I could have used a more happy facial expression and I could have acted more professional. Another thing I need to work on is ending a presentation, we should practice saying "Thank You" instead of "That's all".v I will keep these things in mind the next time I do a presentation
Monday, December 5, 2016
Personal Logo Project
Recently we have been working on logos. We learned what makes a great logo (consistency, simplicity, uniqueness, color, timeless appeal, and more), and how we can use these traits to make our own logo that represents us. First, we sketched out three ideas in our sketchbooks of what we might want our logos to look like. Next, we chose out favorite and redrew it to fit a full page. Lastly, we moved on to Adobe Illustrator to create our logo using the skills we have learned in the application and about logos themselves. My logo was my name in large, light blue block letters that were towards the middle/bottom half of the page and on the top was a music staff with notes that were colored green. The backdrop of the music staff was red. Using the traditional Christmas colors on my music staff represented my love for music and that my name means Christmas in French. This project was fun and I may come back to it later to improve.
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