Adobe Express Week (about me collage):
After learning about Adobe Express the prior week, I finally had the opportunity to practice and create a collage about myself. Although this was one of the first projects we had, it still remains my favorite because I found the process relaxing and a creative outlet to express my personality and interests hands-on. This was my first time using Adobe Express and it certainly won’t be my last.
As someone who only ever used Canva, a similar platform, I found Adobe Express to meet my needs better. The whole process was simply trial and error, playing around with space, placements, color, gradients, filters, and aesthetics. I often found myself using the remove background option to help amplify the focal point in an image; this enabled me the chance to layer more as well. I also favored using the different filters to help establish my vibe I lean more towards. The experimental approach was beneficial to achieve my final results, however, the tutorials and lessons given in class served as a great guide and starting base.
Introduction to Photoshop Week (photoshop activity):
Adobe Photoshop proved to be one of the most challenging programs to not just learn, but be able to implement what I’d discovered. The in class tutorials, lessons, and questions proved to be one the most effective ways throughout the process. I normally find Youtube videos helpful, however, for this project and week, I couldn’t find one that completely matched up to what I was seeing. I think this had to do with having different versions or less updated software compared to what I’d found on the Internet.
One of the greatest struggles had to be how the layers worked. Even after watching many videos or articles online, it was lots of experimenting; I did find after a bit, the process was becoming easier. For this project of creating the podcast banners, posts, etc. I was very excited even though Photoshop was difficult to navigate. The thought process and creative decisions were my favorite part–I chose to call my mock podcast Reeling It In which is meant to serve as the inside scoop of movies with opinions from average moviegoers, seeing if they picked up on these things. Designing the project on Adobe Express allowed me to focus on getting the correct ppx measurements correct on Photoshop. Additionally, the template found on Moodle cut out a lot of difficult steps for me. I eventually did figure out the correct way to go about everything from asking questions and getting help from Professor Dunmore.
Introduction to Adobe Illustrator (illustrator pathfinder activity and illustrator monogram and icon activity):
Adobe Illustrator was one of the coolest programs we used to design projects. I found most of my guidance from viewing the links found in the Moodle page, especially the Create Simple Icons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfnTG27rGCU. I’ve used Illustrator a handful of times for making stencils which also helped my navigation. Some other resources to help practice the movements and inclusion of vectors or other tools was The Pen Game and the four pathfinder activities. Getting familiar with the program from this and the in depth tutorial in class made it very easy when it came to making my own monograms and icons.
My favorite part of the process was drawing ideas and seeing what I liked best, but also being realistic to how that would translate in Illustrator. Overall, the creative process was very exciting and rewarding in the end. I also learned the importance of specific fonts and artistic choices that’ll compliment my vision. I’ve used my monograms on multiple accounts and feel this project was one of the most useful for things of my interest.
Introduction to Adobe InDesign: Creative Resume
Going into this week, I was very interested in Adobe InDesign because my friend who takes a book publishing class always talks about the program. Although I’ve never taken a class dedicated towards the design process of books or manuscripts, I do have a dense background in the basic design principles. This proved super valuable when starting my creative resume as I knew how integral alignment, color, placement, contrast, repetition, spacing, balance, and limited negative space is to captivating attention, while also not overwhelming a viewer.
The InDesign process was lots of experimenting and tutorial videos either from searching on my own or visiting the Moodle page. There weren’t many hiccups and I felt pretty confident after a while with the panels and tools. I was very grateful my monograms and icons had already fit the aesthetic I was going for; the creation of the creative resume was a matter of where to put the text and what graphics would complement them. Learning about fonts the prior week was also beneficial to the choices I made and ones I avoided.
All in One:
Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned a tremendous amount of incredible, resourceful information. Compiling everything together using Adobe Express and Adobe InDesign was smooth after having time to experiment and create my own projects. I felt very confident navigating both programs knowing little tricks here and there, but most importantly, the main functions.
Adobe Express Webpage:
I was extremely happy when I found out we’d be using Adobe Express again, just in a different format. This entire program was so simple and straightforward; I didn’t have to watch any tutorials and just took this project as time to be creative. I chose to do the time I went to a Coldplay concert and loved getting to choose different forms of media to tell the story. Using Adobe Premiere for the video component was easy since I’m very familiar with the program; I also made a collage on Adobe Express. This turned out to be one of the most fun projects and a way to put into action what I’ve been learning for the past weeks.
Starting WordPress:
WordPress was a foreign program to me, yet I’m so glad this class introduced me to the program. Over the past three weeks, I’ve been watching this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd5_MN-6kqs, to walk me throughout the entire process. Everything in the video has appeared the exact same way on my end, making it super easy to feel comfortable and have a creative space. In addition, the How the Web Works Short Answers helped prepare me for what I’d encounter while creating this website or interacting with other web related things.
Audio and Podcast Production:
Podcasts are definitely not my forte, however, using the Adobe Podcast, I feel I have the necessary tools to create a smooth, functioning podcast. I decided to choose the same mock podcast idea from weeks prior and talked about some behind the scene facts from the movie Mamma Mia; I also interviewed and talked with an average moviegoer to get her perspective on the movie and see if she knew any of these cool facts.
I recorded everything on my voice memos on my phone since my microphones are better equipped for this method of recording audio. I then put the audio in Adobe Podcast to even out the sound and make sure everything is clear. I finished up the podcast by editing in Adobe Premiere which was extremely easy given my background with the program.
