Monthly Archives: October 2012

Project 2: Tutorials

After watching a few tutorials and doing some reading I’ve decided to use another form of Photoshop which is Adobe Photoshop Elements because it offers a few more options for photo editing.

adjusting colors/effects:

The below YouTube video is a quick tutorial on adjusting colors in Photoshop Express.  This tutorial was beneficial because I plan on adjusting the colors in my photo to make them brighter and make them ‘pop’ to the viewer.

The below tutorial talks about how to apply the different filters to photos and gives a quick overview of each filter.

 adding text:

The below video is perfect for the text that I want to add on the image.  I had the idea of using a ‘circular’ feel for text and this video describes how to modify and insert the text.

 

Rhetoric on the Town: Balance

Finding Nemo movie poster

rhetorical analysis:

The main purpose for the movie poster is to advertise and build hype for the release of Finding Nemo into theaters.  The audience for this advertisement varies.  The main audience would of course be younger children maybe 5 and up and parents of children that fall into this age group because it is an animated movie.  Another audience would be for people who saw Monsters Inc because it is mentioned that the creators of Monster Inc also created Finding Nemo.

design element analysis:

The main design element seen in this advertisement is balance, symmetrical balance to be exact.  If the poster were to be folded in half the sharks face would be divided equally.  Another balance feature seen is that everything is centered and flows toward the bottom.  These elements work because they draw the viewers eyes towards the bottom where the poster displays the release date.

Project 2: Images

Image 1: (Main choice)

This image really caught my eye which is why it’s my first choice.  I’d first like to crop out the black edges and then adjust the brightness.  Somewhere on the image I’d like to incorporate the phrase “Digital Writing” in a text that has a ‘circular’ feel to it.

*I have minimal experience with photo editing with includes some minor cropping and adjusting an image’s color to black and white with a few accented color.  For this photo editing I’d like to use PhotoShop Express Editor since my experience with photo editing was with Adobe PhotoShop.  Some adjustments I’d like to make to the image is cropping out the black border and adding some text which will have a “circular” feel to it keeping with the circular theme.  I’d also like to adjust the colors hopefully obtaining brighter colors to attract the viewer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

image 2:

This image is perfect for the audiocard since most people participate in digital writing when they are participating on an online social media site.  The phrase “Digital World” should be incorporated once more but will be placed diagonally across the entire photo.  I’d also like to crop the ‘advertisement’ out of the image if possible in order to keep from confusing the viewer.

Project 2: Script

In today’s digital world it would only make sense for people to participate in something called digital writing.  Digital writing is any form of writing that takes place digitally.  Some common examples include, but are not limited to, online magazines or newspapers, comments on a website, and photo editing.  Believe it or not many people participate in some form of digital writing daily without even noticing it when they post statuses on Facebook, send text messages, or tweets on the Internet.

Rhetoric on the Town: Repetition

An advertisement for Kmart

Purpose: The purpose of this advertisement is actually for Kmart and shows some of the products that Kmart has to offer.  In a way this advertisement can be for more than one product, but it is mainly for Kmart and that products that can be found in the store.

Audience: The audience for this advertisement would have to be a younger, outgoing going crowd and could be male or female.  This conclusion is drawn because all of the people depicted in the advertisement are young and even two of them have brightly colored hair.  Also the products depicted, Sunkist, Slim Jims, and Tide are most likely things you’d find in a house with younger or college aged people.

After viewing the advertisement: Once the viewer has seen the advertisement it may make them want to go to Kmart and buy all of the products depicted in hopes that they will be as outgoing as the people in the advertisement.

Design element: The design element seen most is repetition.  Throughout the entire ad there is only the same basic colors, red, orange, and yellow with very few other colors mixed in.  The ad also repeats the stacking of products, stacked soda boxes, washing machines, Tide boxes, and Slim Jims in the shopping cart.  Repetition works for this ad because the products all have the same basic colors which makes the ad stand out.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” | Images

summary

When working on a page it is important not to bombard your reader with walls of text, but to be sure to include images.  Photographs can be extremely useful when used correctly.  They can help to establish a tone and help communicate information that you may not be able to do through text.  Photographs may also be edited to point to a certain area of text or to lead the reader to the next section.  When it’s come to credibility photographs carry more than illustrations or clipart because people assume that a camera can not lie.  Although not as credible illustrations can benefit a page as well.  Illustrations such as diagrams, maps, charts, or drawings helpful when displaying detailed or complex information.  Another form of images that can convey a meaning are clipart which can be a timesaver if you’re in a crunch.  The last type of images is text.  Text can be modified or special fonts can be used which can help enhance the page.  No matter what you choose to use, photographs, illustrations, clipart, or special fonts images help enhance the page and get the message across to the reader.

key terms

Cropping – removal of some of the horizontal or vertical edges of a photo.  Cropping can help the photo fit into a certain space, or by cropping a photo it draws attention to the remaining amount of photo

Flopping – changes the direction of the image in a photo from side to side.  Flopping allows you to use the photo to point to a certain piece of text that may relate to the photo.

Silhouetting – when portions of an image are selectively removed.  Another option when silhouetting is a vignette, which changes the shape of the original photo.

Photo-imaging programs – programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint are programs which can aid with photo editing.  Some special effects that these programs offer are:

  • Distorting images
  • Colorizing parts of an image
  • Outlining edges
  • Adding a drop shadow
  • Posterizing an image
  • Lightening an image
  • Applying a filter
  • Inverting a positive picture to a negative
  • Collaging many images
  • Adding a border

Illustrations – include diagrams, maps, charts, cartoons, or drawing.  They are used to reinforce a point mentioned in the text.

Clipart – are predrawn artwork that is sold in books, on a disk, CD, or found online.  Many clipart pieces are free to use, but some hold certain licenses which do not allow them to be displayed in some places.

Dingbats – are small ornamental pictures.  They can be used as bullets or icons instead of letters.

CONNECTIONS

This chapter was very beneficial in many ways and I feel that I benefited greatly from it.  The idea of learning when and where to use images, also what images are appropriate where will be something that I can use in many of my other courses.  This chapter may also come in handy when analyzing advertisements for the Rhetoric on the town assignment because now I’ll be able to understand a little more why they choose to put that image or use that font there.  In the end having a good understanding of appropriate image use is something everyone needs.


Rhetoric on the Town: Emphasis

 

An advertisement showing the Toyota 4Runner

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this image is to help boost the sales and get people interested in Toyota’s 4Runner.

Target audience would be people who enjoy the outdoors, there are some woods on the bottom of the advertisement, and the more obvious audience is people who enjoy fishing because of the boat being towed by the SUV and the picture of fish on the advertisement.  There is a ‘compass symbol’ on the left side and the background resembles that of a used map which may target people who like to camp or go off road.

  • Emphasizing the words “You in?” which can be taken in two different ways:
    • The words sort of wrap around the vehicle so Toyota could be implying if you could see yourself in the new 4Runner
    • The second way it can be seen is if you were interested in participating in the activity of fishing
  • The background of the advertisement looks worn which suggests that the 4Runner can be rugged
  • The color of the 4Runner really stands out on the ‘bland’ background
  • Larger boat emphasizing the towing capacity of the 4Runner

 

Wiki Work – Individual Reflection Letter

Over the past couple weeks my class and I have been developing a wiki based on discovering what Digital Writing is and the fun things that come along with it.  We’ve all submitted several pages and helped edit or complete others pages in order to make sure all of the information is included.

  • What are you most proud of in the entire wiki?
I’m most proud of the end result basically.  It’s great to have a place to visit if I forget about one of the readings or if I’m looking for one of the videos.  I consider the wiki like a digital writing study guide.  It has a break down for all of the readings and includes discussions to help refresh or improve understanding.
  • What are you most proud of in terms of your contributions to the wiki?
I’m most proud of the outside sources I was able to include in the pages I choose to work on.  I often find that I have a hard time elaborating farther on subjects after I read them, but in the wiki I felt like I was pretty successful in finding other articles, videos, or examples that related to the original material.
  • What do you wish you had time to further expand, include, or revise in the wiki?
The only thing I can think of is that there are some places that could have more examples, discussions, or supporting material.
  • When did you get stuck while working on the wiki? How did you overcome your problem?
The hardest part for me was formatting my submission.  I’m very OCD about these kinds of things and I was worried that other submitters wouldn’t try to follow the same formatting and that it would look like unorganized chaos!  I’m very happy to say that this was not the case and once people started submitting everyone followed the same format in a way.
  • What did you learn about yourself as a collaborative writer? What collaborative skills do you want to work on in the future?
That I can do it!  When the idea of a collaborative wiki was first introduced I was worried for two reasons.  The first is the fact that it’s a ‘group’ project in college and those are always so hard to finish.  The second reason is that I was concerned that the information would end up being repeated and not organized.   In the future as a collaborative writer I feel that I need to work on actually trying ‘collaborate’ with the others a little more.
  • Discuss at least four of the course outcomes you feel you worked towards with this assignment. Provide evidence of your learning by pointing to specific aspects of the wiki or your project journal.

Collective Intelligence – The wiki project is a perfect definition of this.  In order to complete the project we were required as a class to pull together and complete it. I worked towards this outcome by doing my part on the wiki which includes the pages I contributed and helped to complete.

Judgement – Many of the sources I used when working on the wiki to back up the original material or to expand on I had to make sure were creditable before I could use them.

Multitasking – Even though it’s not the best idea I have multitasked a lot while working on the wiki.  I’ve been listening to music, watching videos, and scanning articles in order to obtain material for the wiki.  For example when I was working on the Copyright page I actually listened to the A Fair(y) Use Tale video in the background to make sure I was including all of the key terms.

Networking – In the wiki at the start when we first started working on pages I was networking, especially when it came to the reading that not everyone in the class may have been assigned.  When I completed my page it was set up in a way with enough information to give a summary of the material and then expanded farther in order to get the reader thinking and give them a better understanding of the information.

In the end the wiki was a fun way to get everyone involved in the reading and discussions and now it serves as a way for us to refer back to if we ever need a refresher.