The topic of this post is to provide a reflection on my quarter, refer back to my Blog 3 entry, and reflect on what it has been like to maintain a blog.
As a final assignment for my COMM 350 course, I put together a website about myself as an online portfolio of the work I have done throughout the course. As I found all of my past assignments and projects from the quarter, I was fun for me to see how much work I have actually done this quarter and also to see how much I have grown as a designer. Something I wrote on my website was that on the first day of class, the only design program I knew how to use was Microsoft Word. Since then I have learned how to use Photoshop, InDesign, Audacity, Wix, and Weebly, all of which hold their own purposes and tools, and abilities.
Here is a link to my online website portfolio: http://emilyeabbott.wix.com/onlineportfolio
Overall I feel that I've done the most work in the program, InDesign. Within this program I created a book cover, a two-page spread for that book, a party flyer, a magazine cover, a brochure, and a newsletter. While each product had it's challenges and successes, I found my brochure to be the most rewarding out of all the InDesign projects I created. The brochure is a two-page spread, each page organized in three columns. Actually designing and organizing my brochure was a challenge for me because I was struggling to have a visual of what I wanted the final product to look like. However, after looking at examples of brochures and several websites, I came up with a plan. With some research and my professor's advice, I created a brochure that I feel looks professional, welcoming, and vibrant, all while providing the reader with helpful information.
Here is a link to my final brochure: http://emilyeabbott.wix.com/onlineportfolio#!brochure/c1qakz
In my Blog 3 entry, I wrote about creating a Google+ account for myself. Since then I have not stayed extremely connected with my new social media site, though I have explored with it and started working with updating my profile. I feel like the next step is adding friends and creating circles with different groups of people I know that run together. I chose to include my Google+ account on my online portfolio website because it's one more way for a viewer to potentially connect with me and be able to relate with me if they too have an account. Now that winter break is about to happen, I'm hoping I will have more time to become familiar with my social media site, Google+, and begin adding friends and making circles.
Maintaining a blog has been an excellent way for me to reflect back on what I have been learning. In a way I found blogging to relaxing and enjoyable. Blogging is completely new to me so it has been a learning curve with becoming more comfortable with all of Blogger's features and applying them to my posts. Each blog post, however, I have felt more and more familiar with the program. It's rewarding looking back now on my blog and seeing multiple posts all lined up. It makes me feel as though I have created something completely unique and my own.
Every program we have used in class has been completely new to me. I have enjoyed learning about each one and thinking about how they can apply to my life and work after this course is complete. I think that I will without a doubt use Photoshop, Audacity, and InDesign after this class is done. InDesign is probably my favorite and I feel like there are still so many wonderful features that I have yet to learn or apply to my work. My hope is that I can remember each program and class activity we did and use it later when either class, work, or any activity requires some sort of design project of me.
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