Lesson 6
Visual Creation Tools
So what happens if you can't find the style or graphic you're looking for? This week we will look at using some professional tools to create our own graphics. Adobe creates the software that has become the industry standard for graphic design, and there are several ways to accomplish your goals in creating graphics. Unfortunately for graphic designers right now, technology has become so prevalent that it promises, "anyone can be a graphic designer," simply by using an app on your smart phone, tablet, or even using professional tools and watching videos on YouTube to learn how to use them! It has never been easier to create your own images and sprinkle in some visual spice to your presentations -- well, except for maybe the advent of "Clip Art" in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
After this lesson, you will be able to identify resources to help you create your own images, and utilize tutorials and follow steps to create graphics in professional tools.
WATCH
*NOTE: When he says "roster graphic," describing how the image gets pixelated when enlarged, he means RASTER (rhymes with plaster).
Practice using the bezier tool in the game below. If it has trouble loading, visit the website https://bezier.method.ac/
READ
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Read this post about a variety of resources for Instructional Designers.
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Adobe has many options -- Illustrator and photoshop are of course the standard for image creation and both are available as a desktop or ipad app. But they recently released a new option (formerly called Adobe Spark) called Adobe Creative Cloud Express. This is a new tool very similar to Canva. It's supposed to be easy to use online tool (for browser, and mobile devices) where you can create images by dragging pieces around the artboard and using pre-made templated designs. Check it out and start a free trial here.
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Creative Cloud also offers a student discount. Simply contact Adobe and let them know you're a student and you can get discounted rates on your Creative Cloud subscription. This would be especially helpful if you plan to keep using Creative Cloud long term.
YOUR TURN
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Your assignment this week, due at the end of the week, is to work together with in a group to create an original participant guide for a course.
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Work with a group of 3-4 and divide the work up between yourselves.
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Create a participant guide that is at least four pages per group member -- for example, if you have 3 group members, your participant guide will be 12 pages. If you have 4 group members, your participant guide will be 16 pages.
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Choose one of the modules of this course as your template -- for example, if you choose to do this lesson, lesson 6, create a participant guide that would go along with this lesson and be a supplement to it. Feel free to choose any of the lessons 1 through 6. Please do not do a lesson we have not progressed to yet.
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Your participant guide should be sized to 8.5x11" and exported as a PDF.
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Be sure to include a cover with all names of group members listed. Also, list after each name the chosen tool used.
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Work together as a group and help each other understand how to use the tools. You may use Adobe, or Canva, or any design tool of your choosing.
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You must include at least one graphic, image, chart, or visual of some sort on each page.
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Each member of the group will be graded on their individual contribution (4 pages). Each page will be graded on mastery of the tool, visual included, spacing and layout, image quality, print-readiness.
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The instructor will provide one round of feedback and allow the opportunity to correct mistakes. Mistakes corrected within one week after feedback received will be included in an updated grade. Mistakes not corrected will be counted off.
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Submit complete assignment including all pages and cover by the end of the week.
SUMMARY
In summary, graphic design takes many years of experience to master, but thanks to technology it's easier to obtain original graphics on your own, even without much experience. If you're interested in improving your skills in graphic design, YouTube has many tutorials. There are also courses on LinkedIn and even tutorials on Adobe's website in a learning section. If you're willing to put in the time, effort, and energy, you could definitely get better at graphic design. Of course, if you don't have the time, effort or energy to invest you can always hire a professional who would surely appreciate the opportunity to work, since all these magical apps are quietly stealing our jobs! LOL