For this image I used the Rule of Thirds to place the attention more to my face rather than the food. I would’ve recreated the photo because it has a bit of blur that went unnoticed in my original photo. This represents my digital self because of how random I can be. I wouldn’t want to be one person online and then a completely different person in real life. Of course, being professional when needed is required, but it doesn’t hurt to have fun with our technologies and with ourselves.
Above is the interview in which I conducted. I interviewed Trent Biggs who is a geology professor here at SDSU. I should’ve added who I was interviewing instead of cutting it to a part where we were already talking. I also should’ve added music in places where there is no noise, something to hide the white noise. Overall, I met the principles by trying to make the noise as best as I could while not trying to sound too nervous.
For the infographic I should’ve made the font larger and easier to read. The infographic itself should’ve been larger as well. I tried to be simple with the design and not overwhelm the page with too many images that will distract the reader. The choice of red gives it vibrance and is easier to notice when looking through websites. It shows my digital self because it talks about one of my favorite interests, which is important because I’m able to express myself digitally.
My digital self has been able to adjust to the applications and technologies that have been released in our time. I like to make things in a simple format and I display that with the infographic and the interview. Even if I had expensive equipment I’d still stick to simplicity as my goal to make the information easy to comprehend. In regards to the digital image, it displays that as much as these applications and technologies can be used professionally, it doesn’t hurt to use those skills in ways that’ll make my friends and family laugh.
This class has helped me understand that there’s reasons why things are the way the are. Advertisers using a bold font or brands using certain colors are all part of media principles and design. This class made me aware of my surroundings. Given that there’s branding and advertising in every corner of the city and the web, I can now identify certain strategies that they’re using to make their point. I feel like I can apply what I learned to the real world and be able to make graphics that will grab the attention of others while also making the information memorable.
My favorite media principle was the digital text segment. I never thought that it would be so complex and that it’d have terms for little things. Words such as kerning and leading come to mind. I also enjoyed learning about stroke and contrast because they affect how we communicate. Words impact people differently the way the word is designed, I found that to be fascinating but also very useful.
My experience in creating the digital image was the most hands on because I had to take a picture while also keeping in mind of the principles I learned. The one I was most nervous about was the digital audio because I never interviewed someone. It didn’t take long for me to think about using my phone as a way to capture the audio. The infographic was the one where I felt I had the most control due to the broadness of the topic. All three assignments tested a different skill which I liked.
I used the integrated camera on my iPhone to create the digital image, I found it to be the most accessible to me. For the audio I used my phone to capture my audio, then after that I used iMovie to trim the clip to show only the part I wanted to show. I chose to upload it to SoundCloud because it’s an application that I use on a daily basis. Lastly, for the infographic I used the website Piktochart. I wanted to use Photoshop but Piktochart already had everything set up for a nice infographic. I chose software that I was already familiar with such as iMovie.
The most challenging moment I had was with the infographic. Since it was new for me I had to get used to all the different tools that it had. I ran into some problems when I uploaded it WordPress. The image was too small and it was unreadable. After a few attempts I was able to stretch it enough where it was large enough to be readable without ruining the quality.
My most enjoyable moment was coming up with all the animes for the infographic. I spent time researching a topic that I was interested in and usually doesn’t happen in school. I showed a few of my friends the finished product and they thought it was a solid list. It was fun seeing their reactions in something that I created. They thought it was made by a media organization. I may have not created it from scratch because I used a template, but it definitely showed my thought-process by the way I ordered things.
Andres Ames 