Cello Final Project

In this design, I was hoping to explain how beneficial it is to take up a musical instrument and share my personal story of how much I loved my cello. I wanted to express the fact that music is more than just notes on a sheet of paper or taking up space on an iPod; each song, note or instrument carries an emotional tone with it and can be used to express emotions.

Some decisions I made when creating this project was the type of pictures I used. Because my project was completely geared towards personal experiences and emotions, I wanted 1-2 pictures at most per slide, so viewers could emotionally understand my message and connect to the picture on the screen. I also chose to use pictures that had hearts, teardrops or other emotional objects with music notes to further explain that the cello, or a musical instrument in general, can be used to demonstrate or release emotions. Some other decisions I made were which quotes I wanted to use, because I wanted to begin and end my power point with quotes and what color I wanted the background. I knew black would work because many of my images were black and white or sepia toned, and the black would pair with the tones nicely.

This project was very interesting and fun to do because it was about something I loved and was passionate about, but it was extremely challenging. I found that the audio was especially challenging because I could not figure out the correct way to upload my tape-recorded speech about the cello. Posting the finished project was also extremely difficult, and took much time and trial-and-error before I posted using our traditional application, SlideShare.

I overcame my challenges by much trial and error, but eventually, it all came together. My sound slides did give me the most challenge, however. At first, I used a traditional tape recorder and attempted to upload the content to audacity; however, the file only uploaded the second half of my speech, so it was unable to be used. Next, I attempted to use final cut pro, but that application would not work for me as well. Finally, I used Garage band and learned how to cut and create my own speech, adding in my music clips, to create a full speech. It took a very long time, but it eventually was able to allow me to save it as an mp3 and import it into iTunes, which made it accessible in my PowerPoint.

After all of the challenges, I am most proud of the timings in my project. The audio clips took forever to create, but it worked out because the music and voice clips would enter at the same time as the pictures would change, making the Power Point have great timing. I really liked that the slides and audio were matched up because the viewer can emotionally connect with the speech and have the visuals to support what the speech is saying.

If I had more time, I would have definitely tried to figure out a different way to post the project, and would have re-recorded my audio one more time. I finally got the hang of garage band, so creating more clips may have been fun now that I am able to create, cut and formulate songs.

Cello Final Presentation

Ecomm final ppt

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Bind-In Cards

Quark Bind-In





InDesign Front and Back


In this design, I was hoping to make both of the designs in InDesign and Quark look identical to the actual bin-in Cosmo card. I liked that the design had images, text and shapes that I had to create, which made the project somewhat challenging; however, I realized that I find it easier to use InDesign, and Quark is somewhat harder to use for me.

Some decisions I made were which card I wanted to create first, and which card I liked the best so I could create the back cover. I chose InDesign as my favorite program, so decided to make the back of the bind-in card on InDesign. Other decisions I made during the creation of these cards were which fonts to use that looked the most similar to the card, which colors to use that looked the most similar to the card, and how to create the arrow in the bottom left corner of the card.

What I found most challenging throughout this project was finding the right fonts. There were many different fonts used in the bind-in card, and finding the fonts on InDesign and Quark that looked identical to the card was somewhat of a challenge. It required a lot of trial-and-error when finding the correct fonts, but in the end I found fonts that worked well with the project. Another challenge I encountered was creating the various shapes that were on the bind-in card, such as the "plus sign", arrow and check mark with check-mark boxes.

The way that I overcame the challenge involving certain shapes that were not easily accessed through InDesign were drawing them myself with the pen tool. It took multiple trials, but I eventually got the lines to go the way I wanted. Once I correctly connected all of the anchors using the pen tool, I was able to add a background color to the shapes as well, like the arrow in the bottom left corner. A challenge I had also included shading behind the boxes. To overcome this challenge, I simply made a black box that was slightly larger than the colored box and put it behind the other box, which added a shading technique.

I am most proud of my InDesign bind-in card, both back and front. I really like how the pictures of Cosmo Magazine Covers are in the card and positioned. Im also extremely proud of the pink background, because it was difficult to find a background that looked identical to the one in the actual bind-in card.

If I had more time, I would have worked to perfect the little things on the bind-in cards, such as the arrows, fonts and positioning of each image. I am extremely proud of my bind-in card, but if I had more time to perfect it, I would have.

Digg Design Rationale

When creating this powerpoint, I was hoping to create a powerpoint that would help someone with no prior knowledge of Digg and all of its uses, understand more about the social media website. I also wanted to associate the powerpoint with the website by using similar colors, such as the white, green and blue hues that appear on the website in my project. This project helped me learn a lot about Digg, and I used information that would help other people understand more about it as well.

Some decisions I made were which information to post in my powerpoint that I found important, the use of the icons in the bottom of the page to decipher that it was indeed a Digg powerpoint and how I wanted each group of information to be animated. I wanted each group of information to seem important, so I had each slide's bullet points enter in a different way. The "personalized Digg" slide is the one that I made each bullet point inside the slide different to further emphasize the use of customization.

What I found most challenging, to be completely honest, was posting the powerpoint via slideshare. It was unable to work in the beginning, so, in an attempt to post my slideshow in time for grading, I simply took screen shots of the blog. I then asked my peers and my professor what I could possibly be doing wrong to prohibit my powerpoint from being submitted and after a few tries, my powerpoint was successfully uploaded onto slideshare. One other challenge I found was the ability to post the "Digg" and digg critter in my powerpoint succcessfully without the white space.

The way I solved the problem about the "Digg" logo and the "Digg" critter was by putting their images into photoshop and erasing the background. By erasing the background, saving it onto the desktop and placing the images into the powerpoint, they were able to be added into the presentation without any white background.

I am most proud of how uniform the project looks and how fluid the slides are. Collectively, all slides together look like a large continuation of a project, and everything is uniform. My main goal was to take the ideas Professor taught us and apply them to the project: uniformity, do not put everything in capital letters, and make sure there aren't too many bullet points per slide.

If I did things differently or had more time, I would have added different animations to the bulleted slides. I like the way that they are, but experimenting and adding different animations might make the project more upbeat and fun, like Digg really is.

Digg Powerpoint (on Slideshare!)

Dig gecomm

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Digg Powerpoint Slides

Newport Fine Arts Program Website

Newport Schools Brochure Rationale

When Kay and I first began our brochure design, we were hoping to achieve a fresh, exciting and new image for the Newport Public School Fine arts Program. We noticed that many brochures, websites, etc were extremely boring and cheesy when they attempted to promote their school's programs, and used out dated pictures to demonstrate the programs, which doesn't look aesthetically pleasing. We wanted to use fun colors, bright pictures and a fun yet informative font to create a brochure that people would find noticeable and pick up and read.

Some decisions we made were how to split up the project, and what colors we used. We wanted to use typical primary colors to demonstrate "art" and school, so we picked a purple because it was not a primary color but it sends a powerful message because it's a bold color. Other decisions we made were which fonts to use that were fun and childish to demonstrate the k-12 school, and the amount of type vs. graphic to use were very important. Because this brochure represents a school, we wanted to have lots of pictures of students and artworks; however, we needed to sell the school through writing out accomplishments, school names, contact information, etc. Balancing the two and using the right amount of white space was important to us.

In this project, I found importing or placing pictures challenging. I wanted to add our logo to the front of the brochure and also wanted to add multiple pictures on one of the panels; however, I could not figure out how to size the the picture the right way where the gradient was not harmed. I realized that it was simply scaling the picture the correct way that would fix the problem, and cropping out the logo created in photoshop that did the trick.

Some problems I encountered were, like I said before, figuring out how to place pictures into the brochure, along with figuring out the correct typography and placement of graphics and words so I didn't have too much white space. To solve the white space issue, Kay and I used other, smaller paint splatters to fill up extra space and add some extra color. We had a lot of purple background, and we felt like the brochure needed some brighter colors, so we used different colored paint splatters.

I am most proud of the logo and how it was incorporated into the rest of the brochure. Kay and I worked extremely hard on incorporating the ballerina, music, paintbrush and theatre faces into the logo and brochure, and the black silhouettes of each graphic made it look great on the cover. We used those same silhouettes to be a graphic beside each of the arts inside the brochure, so the graphics inside tied the brochure to the logo on the front. It feels more fluid that way, and I like how it all blends together.

If I had more time, I would have figured out if any other purples would be a good background color, or if I could add some more graphics to it. I think it looks great, but perhaps experimenting would allow me to find an even better fit for my background.

Concert Poster Design Rationale

I created this design for a Public Relations plan I am creating which focuses on increasing awareness of fine arts in public schools. This project's vision was created to promote an "honors recital" event for the Rogers High School in Newport, and throughout completion of this design, I had hoped to create a poster that was sleek and professional because it is promoting a recital of the most talented High School music members in the district, but also demonstrate that it is a music recital and give all the information in a visual, organized and aesthetically pleasing manner.

SOme decisions I made centered on color schemes and the placement of the typography. I understood that Rogers High School colors are burgundy and gold, but I wanted to create a poster that stood out; not only because it is a special event, but because it breaks away from all posters of the past that focus on school colors and cheesy pictures. I decided to go with the dark blue because it makes the type stand out, it is a somewhat formal and professional color which demonstrates that it is an event that is worth paying admission to get into, and because the dark blue connotes that it is an event taking place at night.

WHat I found challenging was importing each image into the design, and all of the detailed steps that were necessary to include. My pictures were especially difficult because, unlike an artist you can simply eliminate the background and import them in, I needed instruments htat I could eliminate all color and only use their outline in my design. That involved much photoshop work, importing and re-aligning my type multiple times, but it proved useful in the end.

Some things I definitely found challenging were trying to photoshop the images enough that they lost all of their color and were completely transparent, but also that their outline was clearly visible. I attempted to draw with the pen tool a cello and trumpet, but the anchors would not allow me to draw an instrument I thought would fit well into the design. After much googling and searching on flickr, followed by much trial and error with the background eraser tool in Photoshop, I believe I created a background I am proud of. I was also nervous about the paint splatter. I love the design, but placement of such a design was somewhat hard. I decided to place it in the middle of the page and the trumpet on the bottom instead of vice versa, which was my original idea, because the "z" idea of an eye looking at a poster made me think that the trumpet was more important and relevant. ANother huge challenge I encountered was how to post the concert poster onto the blog, which I obviously failed because the poster is not up yet.

I solved these problems simply by trial and error, and taking breaks to look back at my progress and make changes. It was easy to see what I wanted to change or what I liked/didnt like after taking a step back and critiquing myself.

I am most proud of the cello image inside the design, because it took me forever. I really wanted to create a design that was professional and portrayed music without writing that it was a music recital, and I think i did that well. If I could do some things differently, I would have worked on placement/outline of the trumpet to make it more transparent, like the cello. I also would have looked into dance during the recital as well.

"The Spice Girls" Design Rationale

When we were assigned this project, I wanted to create a powerpoint that was exciting, fun and unexpected. I began to create powerpoints with artists such as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, but soon realized that they were too popular and other students were doing them as well. I knew the use of the Spice Girls would be original, and when I began to create this powerpoint I was hoping to achieve a colorful, fun powerpoint that was not only interesting but paired the high intensity beat with the slides to create a really unexpected presentation.

One of the major decisions I made when creating this powerpoint was deciding which artist to use. Because each student was given the artistic freedom to choose an artist or band of their choice, I overlooked the Spice Girls until one day my roommate was discussing how they were still on her iPod and I remembered how much fun their music was. Other decisions I made were how to bring back a group with the right backgrounds and facts, because they are a somewhat '90's outdated group. Working with different colors was also a big decision, because I could not decide if I wanted one constant background on all slides or not. Eventually, I made each slide their own, just like how each Spice Girl has her own personality.

There were quite a few challenges to this presentation. Because I constantly use powerpoint, I figured creating a powerpoint would be an easy feat; however, incorporating music and having the slides move on their own got quite frustrating. My main goal was to have the music and slides work together, having each bullet or picture appear with the beat of the song. Although it took a while, I eventually got the music and the slides to cooperate with one another and work together. Another challenge I had was having the slides move on their own. I am used to having them move by clicking them on the computer, so allowing them to move at the right times was confusing. I wanted to have each piece of information move quickly enough to finish the powerpoint on time, but I also wanted there to be enough time on screen so people can view and understand the information.

When I encountered the challenges above, I was able to overcome them simply by being patient and looking for the correct button on the computer, or use trial and error. To fix the issues with the slides corresponding with the music, I simply had to use trial and error and see which timings fit within the song. When I couldn't figure out how to allow the words to appear on their own, I had to find the application that said "appear after previous" or fix the delay time. It was not hard, but I played through the powerpoint at least 50 times to make sure it was right!

I am most pround of the music, and some of the timings during the project. My main goal was to line the pictures up with the song beats, and in slides 1, 4 and 5 I really think I did that well. Because I used familiar songs by the Spice Girls, people can antcipate the change of a slide or new information because of the beats in the music. I also liked that they were a group extremely famous growing up, so everyone knew the band when it was placed up on the screen in class.

If I had more time, I would have changed little details about the powerpoint. I probably would have changed the backgrounds in all slides, expecially in the first slide, and added more pictures to the last slide. I also would have made the bullets fade more, to make the effect greater. Overall, however, I was happy with the results.

Spice Girls F I N A L

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Font Poem Animation Design Rationale

The font poem animation was somewhat difficult, but overall a very exciting computer skill to learn. In this design, I was hoping to achieve fluid movement with the appearance of each word. I tried to have each word appear on its own to demonstrate that every word in the poem was important. I made it so some appear faster than others to make it appear like how you'd read this poem. Some words such as "trade winds" appear faster that ones like "lines. Sail" because trade winds is in one sentence, and spoken faster. Lines and sail are the beginning and end of a sentence, so there is more of a break in between them. With the final collage at the end, I was hoping to create a beachy scene that demonstrates all the things people think of when they see "sail, bow, cast away" because that is what I imagined when I read the poem, and why the poem's words create a boat.


Some decisions I made in this project were the appearance of words, and the times they appeared on the page. "Away, Explore, Dream, Discover" are words that appear slowly because I wanted them to stand out more. "Explore dream discover" were three wrods that I wanted to be the most visual in the poem, so I had them slowly appear. I also chose to use flip flops, colored sunglasses and a child's sailboat as pictures in my collage because they remind me of adolescent years, which is what this poem reminded me of, also. Marc Twain's poem to "catch the trade winds in your sails" made me think of being a child, where anything is possible. This is why I playfully made some words slowly enter the page, and ended with some childhood pictures of summer.

Things I found challenging in this project were integrating the collage into the final frame and deciding which words should appear, when. It took me a while to figure out that the eye icon next to each layer should be switched on only if that layer should be included in a frame. After that, I figured out how to get the collage into the last layer, and not include it anywhere else.

I solved certain problems by simple trial and error. I tried many words appearing together, which I did not like, and certain words fading in and out, which I also did not like. It took multiple tries before I decided that only certain words should be fading into the frame because they stand out.

I am most proud of my design as a whole. I really do like the fact that my poem slowly creates the image of a boat, and then the final frame is all nautical themed items from a childhood summer. I am proud of the fact that my project has fluid movement, and that it all has a common theme of summertime and nautical.

If I had more time, I would have tried to either add more images to the collage, or attempt to make the collage the background of the font poem. Although I like my current background, it would involve much trial and error with colors and spacing to get the collage into the background, since multiple colors are used.

Hands and an Exquisite Corpse

The hands and Exquisite Corpse was a very stressful yet interesting project that really helped when we began to animate our font poems. For both designs, I was hoping to follow the directions and achieve an almost identical picture of both the hands and the corpse, and I do believe I achieved that. I wanted the corpse to have the right colors, a golden color around the body parts and a blue in the background, and for the hands I wanted a turquoise color and both hands together.

Some decisions I made involved placement of the body parts. The hands were my first project, and successfully placing them on the same photoshop window was hard enough, placement was the least of my worries. The hands are somewhat off centered, but I kept it because I think that it gives it a character and emotion. These two hands could be handshaking, holding hands or high-fiving...and the fact that they aren't perfectly positioned on top of one another makes the viewer question the cause of this hand-to-hand interaction. The corpse was less difficult because I had already gone through the process of the hands. Where I wanted each body part, the size of each body part and the positioning were big decisions that affected the whole work. I decided I would place every body part in it's designated place, but move the arms so it looks like he's in motion.

I found following the directions extremely challenging, because transitioning from the directions to Photoshop was very confusing. There were many steps that if I lost my place in the directions I would ruin the whole work, so backtracking and starting from scratch happened more than once. It was so frustrating that during the first class, I left the room in order to step away and clear my head. After rereading the directions and making sure I covered each and every step, the hands began to come together. Arranging the corpse body parts and then merging them was difficult, especially adding the gold to only the background of the body parts. It was challenging because the whole background would turn gold. As I kept re-reading, however, it became easier and I eventually finished the corpse.

Solving certain problems I encountered was easy, as long as I made sure I covered every part of every step. For example, I could not figure out how to resize the hands so they were the same size, nor could I figure out how to add the second hand into the first hand's window. It took forever, because the directions said to use the "move tool". It wasn't until I found out how to arrange the windows side by side that I successfully transferred the resized image over that I became successful, and this arrange option helped me in my font poem, as well.

I am most proud of the corpse, because it really gave me some trouble. The hands I'm proud of as well because they took me FOREVER to achieve, but the corpse is my favorite because of the two-toned colors and different body parts. I remember looking at the corpse the first day and thinking "I don't know how I'm ever going to do that!" and sooner or later, I got it. I also love how the hands are in the background, because the hands are joining together like the body parts, representing unity. I think it looks great, and sends a message about unity because there are so many different objects that are united.

If I had more time, I probably would have made the edges less harsh and straight. I probably would have blurred the lines, and made them blend more into the background. Although I do like the edges straight because it further demonstrates the difference between the two images and the colors, I would have blurred them somewhat if I had time.

Contact Sheet Finished Product

The contact sheet was a great way to discover the capabilities of Adobe Photoshop and how simple changes can improve, distort or zoom in on everyday photos. I hoped to create every picture with the correct changes, but what I wanted to gain from this contact sheet the most is a grasp on which Photoshop applications change certain aspects of each photo, and that is exactly what I learned. I also learned how many different changes one can make to a photo to severely increase the photos quality, color or size.

One of the biggest decisions that had to be made during this project were the pictures chosen, mainly because this project involved following directions. The photos I decided to choose were picked because of their color and their potential. For example, when working with format/mode, I knew I wanted a photo with many colors, so I chose feathers. However, when I was working with Framing which involved zooming into photos, a picture with more of a landscape worked better. Deciding which picture to use for each Row is extremely important to the outcome of the contact sheet as a whole because each row caters to a specific type of editing. If I used the feathers for the orientation row, it would not have the same drastic effect cropping a portrait from a landscape because the feather photo is already a portrait size.

One of the biggest challenges was cropping each image, and fitting it onto the screen while still maintaining the image's clarity. Many of my previously picked photos, when cropped or zoomed in were unrecognizable because the image became blurry. Although we were taught how to fix the blur to a degree, it took many attempts before finding the correct picture to represent each editing technique. The city landscape in the orientation row 3 took three attempts at finding and cropping pictures before I found one that was not too blurry. The strawberries in the Content row 5 were also extrmely difficult. Although there was a very high clarity when I began to crop the image, zooming into the image of the strawberry to the "abstract" picture made the image somewhat blurry; however, I attempted to fix it using Photoshop capabilities as best I could.

The problems I encountered involved, like I said before, finding correct images and once found, making sure that they remained clear. This project was about editing images and using Photoshop tools, so to solve some of my issues, I used other Photoshop tricks to help the amount of blur in each photo.

I am most proud of the fact that each picture I picked was completely independent from one another, and they all demonstrate the editing abilities they are supposed to. My favorite row, the framing row 4 is the one I am most proud of because I successfully zoomed in on an object in the picture that would otherwise be overlooked. The ferris wheel in the opposing corner draws the eye, and so the house on the left side of the picture is not even noticed. Zooming in, or "framing" allowed me to examine smaller parts of the picture and make them noticeable, which I think is a really interesting editing tool. I am most proud of learning about and executing that editing ability.

If I had more time to work on this contact sheet, I would most likely attempt to find more pictures that represent myself. I like each picture I chose and they all represent the editing techniques they are supposed to, but if given more time I would have used all images that represent me and my interests in some way.

Font Poem Finished (finally!)

Font Poem Design Rationale

When I first read this quote, I knew I wanted to attempt to configure the words so they would resemble a sailboat. Mark Twain's poem was about dreaming and exploring, which I figured would best be resembled if I took the emotion and concrete imagery from the poem and created an actual image for the reader.

Once I realized that I wanted the words to resemble a sailboat, the main challenge I encountered was how I could possibly accomplish that. Originally created in black and white, the image was hard to decipher as a sailboat: people critiquing my image thought it was too symmetrical and pretty before they realized my intentions when they first saw it. Once I changed the words "explore. dream. discover" from being wavy under the boat to curving out and creating the bottom of the boat, it started to take form. Changing the background from plain Black to a beige flowing into a blue also allowed the words to pop out more, and the image began to come together. The change from beige on top of the image to a blue resembled the sky and water, like the boat was floating on the water. It became more lifelike. Another small change I made was moving the words in the bottom of the boat around so they weren't in a straight line. This was accomplished in an attempt to create a feel of the boat being rocky while it's sailing on the water. Changing the structure, color and placement of the words helped make the image more recognizable.

I am extremely proud of this image, because not only is it a quote that uses different typefaces and colors to convey an image or emotion, but I was able to visually create an image for the reader. Inside the image, I am most proud of the colors used. I was at a complete loss as to how I was going to use colors to demonstrate a boat; I got so frustrated after class that I decided I needed to take a break and come back to the project later. Once I decided that simply using different colored browns to make the bottom of the boat would make certain words stand out and better resemble a sailboat, everything began to come together. Using different swatches, like outlining the words on the sail and making "explore dram discover" under the boat bold, it completely changed the way the poem looked.

If I had more time, I would probably try to make the sail stand out more by playing with the background colors. As much as I like the background, I feel like a warmer top color and different blue would allow the sail to stand out and be a little more recognizable.

Font Poem Revised

Font Poem