Class 4 Reflection - Logo and Headers

This was yet another task that required learning a program that I haven't used before. Illustrator is similar in some ways to InDesign and Photoshop but then some of the options I am familiar with I could not find and was constantly Googling for extra directions. I experienced a bit of confusion between the videos and the program versions that were being used also. There is nothing more frustrating than someone telling you this is how it is done and it is still not working. Case in point - using the 'Type on a path' option, video says access from the 'Type' tab...which is blanked out no matter what you do. But if you finally work out to access it through the 'Type on a path tool' from the left-hand tool bar then all of a sudden you have a result.

Anyways after playing around with some basic designs I put together an icon. I did use a pre-made vector (which I have attributed) as I am still not skilled enough to manipulate shapes as well as I needed. After viewing some of the work others have done I am thinking that I still have a lot to learn about these programs.

The video from Aaron Draplin was really interesting, the guy clearly loves his job, and helped me with a strategy for designing an icon. I was unaware that pixel size and different social platform requirements were the reason my pictures often turn out bad so that has been a really good lesson also.

Attribution for crossed swords: Icon made by Ortez, G. from clipfest.com

Class 5 Reflection - Online Portfolio

As I do not work directly in an e-learning environment I did not have much to add to my portfolio. I was also not willing to post much about myself by replicating the information I already share through LinkedIn.

I used the Behance option and filled in some basic details while posting a few different designs that I had worked on during the course. Seems like a good platform and is free.

In my field of work I use these programs to create digital content which can be embedded into course material. Learning how to use more of their capacity has been really beneficial and I plan to continue to explore.

In my portfolio I am showing the various stages that my digital image went through to get to the final product, and listed the software used to manipulate the image.

Class 6 Reflection - Formative Assessment

This took me a while to find a portfolio and to use the rubric to assess it. I found that searching for portfolio on Behance wasn't giving me great results so while searching for myself on a device I was not logged into I realised that this was bringing up a lot of good content for people with the same name as me.

I chose this Portfolio by Matthew Taylor because it appears to be an architecture project and I find this interesting. I also felt that I could offer some helpful tips on the layout and design based on what we had leaned in this course. I created a Spark page and took screen shots of the Portfolio to give a formative assessment that will help him to improve the effectiveness of people viewing his work in the future.

Final Reflection

I really enjoyed this Adobe course. There were some very challenging elements to it but I was always encouraged to be creative and have fun. This was my second course and I found that I was building upon skills that I had learned in my previous course. I still needed a bit of refreshing in how to use Photoshop and InDesign, Spark was easy to pick back up and I learned to use a new program with Illustrator.

Photoshop is becoming my program of choice now that I have started to get used to the basics and have seen some of the more complicated effects that it can achieve. InDesign is a great program and the sky is the limit with the effects that can be put into a document. Spark is really handy and so easy and practical to use, I will be using this for many projects in the future. Illustrator was difficult to use at first and some of the instructional videos I felt assume you are not a complete novice but the more I used it the more I realised how handy it can be. Probably to most trouble I had with it was thinking that it would work the same as InDesign.

The course content was really practical in helping me with ways to improve my digital presence and well worth the hours that I put into leaning the content and software. I find this style of self paced learning through Practical experience best suits my learner behaviour. I hope to find ways to use this style and these programs to help my students in the future.

Thanks to the Adobe EdEx team