Prior to taking Digital Graphics, Animation, and Desktop Publishing I was so excited about the coursework. My major in college was marketing and I teach marketing classes in high school now. I knew that after this class I would have something great to add to my current knowledge.In the first assignment, I enjoyed reading and going into about the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, and design (CRAP). With those principles I finally got to create something which just happened to be something I needed to make for an upcoming event (see picture on left). The principles of CRAP is something that I have since shared with my students and incorporated into my curriculum. I had the students create a poster for their pretend business in my Entrepreneurship class using the principles. I would like to learn more about this subject and create more ways to implement these techniques into design.
Designing a logo that represented us was the task for week two. I struggled with coming up with a logo that suited me. However, I knew that I wanted it to have plenty of contrast. "Contrast is the single most important element in design, usually. Properly done, it makes the design come life" (Yearwood, 2009, p. 8).
Even with that element as the first step, I still had to contemplate exactly what I wanted. According to Alina Tugend with the New York Times, you should dig deep inside yourself what makes you you and not that other Brand You. Finding your niche is the key (2009, 11). With me being a technology teacher, I knew I had to incorporate something that was related to that fact. I thought of everything related to technology. I needed something small that could flow into my initials. That is when I decided to use a mouse. The logo was to go with part of our self branding.From there we were to make an animation using an open source program. I began working with Stykz and I loved how easy it was. However, when I began to save my work, the program lost all of my work. I decided to give the program another shot, thinking my computer had just malfunctioned. After I reloaded the program, I lost my work again. After these strugges, I decided to create my animation using the alternative program, Scratch. This one reminded me of a program I taught in my computer programming class a few years ago. I was glad that I remembered Boolean to get what I needed, done. From this assignment, I learned to be a bit more patient. I was quite frustrated after losing all my work on two occasions, but in the end I was happy with my results. I would like to try out Stykz again with my students. Scratch seemed to require a little big of a programming background. I know that it certainly helped me to complete the assignment.
Making a newsletter in week four was nothing new to me. I used to make a company newsletter monthly for a nationally known insurance company. I decided to make a newsletter covering the career and technology department from our district. "Newspapers, newsletters, and other documents are just a few of the many tools that can make parents and other members of the community feel a part of the school. Newsletters are a great way to build positive relationships with parents" (Lamb, 2005, p. 1). I tried to give this positive sense out by sharing the latest news, student accomplishments, and even a highlighted a website. This department ususally gets overshadowed by the focus of core classes and meeting AYP. I think having a newsletter such as this to highlight student achievements would be a great way to showcase a growing department.
Lamb, A. (2005). Evaluating Newsletters. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sessions/publishing/evaluating.htm
Tugend, A. (27 March 2009). Putting Yourself Out There on a Shelf to Buy. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/your-money/28shortcuts.html
Yearwood, J. (12 July 2009). Basic design principles. Lamar University.
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