Article One

 What I Learned This Week 

Posters and Resolution

    Sadly our last week in design theory, I got a chance to learn quite a few thing in photoshop as well as getting to read a bit about posters. Our lectures in class were very helpful with getting familiar with all of the need to know photoshop tools we would be using frequently through out our design career. Going over resolution and breaking down file types really put things into perspective for me as well. I have a much better grasp on everything and am excited to see what we are going to be learning in our next design class.

    With photoshop, before this class, I really only ever touched levels and slight color adjustments. Always been afraid of text and masking, worried that my work would just look like I’m copying and pasting. Rather than blending together looking like a single image. This week we learned more about creating our own textures, using a blur to not only to blend but to draw attention. I have a better understanding of how to use text and when to use it, the more I use it the more comfortable I will be. I do struggle with finding typefaces right away, sometimes spending so much time looking for what feels right.  

    The text book has been a great tool to use for references and vocabulary. This week it was about posters, their purposes, and even how to make how to a poster series. When living in Chicago, they were my favorite things to see around the city. They really are eye catching in all of the other visual chaos. The book states they are used to inform, persuade, and promote. The 4 basics when creating a poster are to: Grab attention, Set it apart, Communicate key messages, and make it single surface. Project 4 has been fun to work on, creating some original images and getting to bring them to life. 

    I knew there was some extent of math in what we do, but I never actually used it. From finding specific colors to getting the number of mega pixels on an image, really made me realize how important it is. Also learning a little more about each file type, and when it is best to use each one really helped a lot as well. Just very useful information to have when you want to create a poster or a post online. 

    This week was a good end to a great class, and I am anticipating some exciting projects in the future. Also to see my classmates work and creativity developing as we go. I promise in our next design class together I will participate more in critiques, I feel like we have a pretty quiet class and since I don't know every one very well I tent to keep a bit to myself. That really helps no one, so I do intend to do my best with adding my input and being more involved in that aspect. It is a bit difficult for me to critique others work but I understand we do it to help each other in hopes that others are not afraid to be honest with me about my work as well.