Unit 30 Digital Graphics

In this design unit I had to create a professional logo and poster that advertised a product of my choice. Before these were made official, I had to make various sketches to plan what they will look like. To make these, i used Adobe Fireworks which i had never used before. By doing the project on this unfamiliar program, i was able to improve my graphical designing skills through learning by trial and error. There were also guides that i was able to follow to make the designing process slightly easier.

Adobe Fireworks
Adobe Fireworks was the choice of software for creating the logo and poster. I had never used Fireworks in the past so this came as a challenge to me. The tools were fairly straight forward and very self explanatory. In the past i had used a little bit of Photoshop therefore i had a basic understanding of what most of the tools did. The only issue that i ran into was where everything was. Although i had a basic understanding of the program, there were still videos and other support methods that i used to guide the through the designing process. I specifically used this support for the more advanced skills such as masking a photo and changing the colour balance. These videos helped me a lot and left me with a better understanding of the software and how to complete advanced techniques.

Reflective Practice and Working With Others
After the logo and poster was complete, we got into groups to discuss the good points about our creations and the areas where things could be improved on. This process was very helpful and outlined the improvements that could be made to the final products. By doing this, the quality of the logo and poster could be made better by simply changing some colours, or adding a border to the poster. It also improves reflective practice so that you can gain ideas on how your work can always be worked on and made better.

Effective Communication - working in a group

When working in a group, it was all structured and organised well. We all had different roles to play whilst making the presentation. One of use done the research about the topic, one done the typing and the other designed the presentation.
We all negotiated well and shared ideas to make the final product better. We didn't really have a leader as we all got along well enough to construct an organised presentation. We were all motivated to finish the Power Point therefore none of us needed to 'nudge' each other.

Jayne's Presentation

When speaking in front of a group I gave a clear presentation with simple facts about the components and features. Some of the important things were further elaborated with other facts and an explanation of why Jayne would need them.

When presenting the presentation I faced the audience, made eye contact and made the speech of each page minimal to keep the audience engaged. I kept my hands by my side or behind my back to make the presentation seem more professional.

Jayne's Presentation Design

The style of writing in my slides is short, informative and well structured English. On the slides I added short bullet points with the price and name of the product on the page. Each component has a picture of the product next to it for reference. Capital letters and full stops are all used in the correct context and added where they are needed. Vocabulary is normal and doesn't have anything which is too complicated. All spelling and grammar is correct and as it should be.

I used a large font that would stand out on the page along with a cream background so that the black font can be seen easily on screen. All the information is displayed with bullet points next to it so people are able to see the facts quickly and easily.

When it came down to the technical knowledge I looked at the facts about the product on Ebuyer and put them in bullet points. I then explained it further using my own knowledge. Key facts about components are on the visible slides but the a further explanation is in the notes for the presenter.

Using New Software

Using New Software

Throughout my time on the course i have used a couple of pieces of software.

Tagxedo
Tagxedo is a piece of software that we used to create a mindmap diagram relating to what type of learner we are. We had to think of words that related to the types learner we are. It was simple to use and i managed to master using it fairly quickly.

Wix
Wix was the software that i used to make a website. It was really simple to use as most of the instructions and features were drag and drop items.

Installing Software

Installing Software

After the software install, I learnt a new skill which was how to install a new Operating System onto a computer. The install was fairly simple and straight forward. Before hand, I had never done a full operating system install before but I felt that I knew how to do it as i started. I felt confident and enjoyed doing this task. I worked well with my peer and we equally shared the tasks.

Installing Hardware

Installing Hardware

Before the installation, I knew quite a lot about computers and installing components. Although i had never done it before i learnt through YouTube videos on how to assemble a PC and where the parts go.

Overall i felt confident when installing the components as i knew already how to install them. I had watched quite a lot of videos before hand on how to build your own PC.

This task was fairly enjoyable as it made a change rather than writing up reports and documents.

From this task i learnt how to install a graphics card and a hard drive into a PC.

I worked well with my peer when completing this task. We helped each other if there was an issue also.