When I signed up for this class, I knew I was interested in learning the basics of photoshop. However, my favorite project of the semester was definitely the personal logo I made using Adobe Illustrator. I thought this project was cool because it was something I could actually use in the future as a logo of some sort. Also Illustrator was easy to use and has a lot of cool features that would be helpful in business or creative projects. You can create anything from a fundraiser flyer to a brand logo!

I am currently applying for jobs after graduation in the professional business market, aiming toward sales, staffing, and recruiting. The job I want is all about relationships, professional appearance, and networking. Learning how to create a website in this class could help me create a professional portfolio online to show potential employers and anyone interested in me and my services. Having a professional logo would help my website and brand exponentially so I’m happy I have practiced creating one myself. I could confidently build off the one I already created, or start one from scratch!

I don’t have a strong, tech savvy background, so I am not sure what I still want to learn that I may not have in this course. I feel if anything, I have the basics down and could find video tutorials on YouTube to coach me through. A lot of people have the same problems when learning a new program so its not impossible to find help. The video project was definitely the hardest for me because I, (a) don’t have a passion for videography and (b) am not crazy about watching or listening to myself. The program looked like it was in a different language from my eyes, but looking up videos on YouTube helped me with things like changing the speed.

This was a great course that really allows students to express themselves freely in a way most classes cannot, so that was awesome! It pushed me out of my comfort zone with the last two units, but I knew I wasn’t alone in the process and that most people were probably in the same boat. Thanks for a great semester!

Inspiration

This sun salutation has been a valuable tool for me since I learned it my senior year of high school. Whenever I feel the need for a full body stretch, this is a quick and easy go to! It only takes about 2.5 minutes but you can go as slow or as fast as you see necessary. I got the idea for this video from an Instagram account I follow called coffeeandrainbows, where a woman posts videos of her yoga flows on a daily basis at a sped up pace. For some reason I find these videos entertaining so I decided to make one of my own for this project!

Technical Detail

For the final I decided to shoot all new footage so I could hold the poses longer, capture better angles, and not have my roommates dog in some of the frames. I like the videos a lot better this time around and I was able to speed them up a tad bit more to get the effect I wanted. I chose to use new music because the last audio was a little strange and not quite as relaxing. I wanted to record myself, but with the weather and cold season, my voice sounded raspy and not peaceful like I would have liked. I was able to add text in the upper left corners to inform viewers on the poses I was performing throughout the sequence. I included a title page and two other text graphics describing the sun salutation. Hope you enjoy my project and give it a try!

Inspo & Design Process

For this project, I decided to make a video of myself doing a basic sun salutation that is perfect for anyone new to yoga! This is something I like to do every once in a while in the morning to kick start my day. I learned this in high school from a yoga teacher and I really enjoyed the flow and how awake and relaxed my body felt after just a couple short minutes. For some reason, I find videos on Instagram accounts like coffeeandrainbows super entertaining to watch and they inspired me to create a similar video for this Almost all of the yoga videos on instagram I have seen are sped up to fit a longer yoga session into one short video, so I kept that in mind when taking my footage and during the editing process.

Technical Detail

I knew I should attempt to capture my sun salutation from multiple angles, however only two of them really worked with my space. I was able to alternate between between both videos to show the positions from different angles and keep it a little more interesting. It also helped in spots where my roommates dog, Tucker, decided to jump in the frame here and there! I googled how to increase the speed of my video which was just as easy as selecting the clips, right click, select speed/duration, and change the speed from 100% to 160%. I chose 160 to keep my video in the time requirement, but for my final I plan on rerecording this sequence and holding my poses longer so I can speed things up even more. Another thing I want to add next week is an introduction portion of myself introducing the sun salutation in a close up, seated position. Lastly, I added some meditation music I found through Creative Commons to accompany my video. I even used some tools from the last unit and edited the audio in Audition!

I had a really hard time with these tutorials. I tried following the instructions on the class WordPress page, but I think the free trial on my laptop must be different than the full version. This resulted in me being unable to add the audio recording for the first set of tutorials. I went to use the school computers but the library is closed, so unfortunately this is all I have for this week.

Design Process

For this project, I knew I wanted to create something to do with relaxation or meditation. To make it personal, I decided to explain a breathing exercise I do when I feel overwhelmed. This is something I have been taught by many experts as well as teachers over the years and is a common stress reliever as well as lung strengthener.

As I mention in my story, I grew up in a town that is right on the water. I have the Puget Sound as well as many other lakes and creeks at my disposal whenever I need an escape. To me, the sound of water has become so soothing, whether I am sitting at the beach or walking through the woods listening to a bubbling stream. Since I associate the sound of water with relaxation, I decided to implement water sounds in the background of my story. I feel this adds depth and sounds much better than just me talking.

Lastly, I added the testimonial from my brother at the end. He can attest to the waters calming affects considering we often run off to the beach together when I am home. He was willing to try my breathing exercise at the beach and ended up really enjoying the benefits he felt.

Technical Detail

The hardest part of this project, for me, was gathering clear audio of the water. Ideally, I would be on the west side and have access to my favorite Edmonds beach, but I had to settle for the stream that runs through Pullman, WA instead. I tested out multiple locations where the background noise was too heavy until finally, I found a waterfall sculpture that gave me the illusion of running water with the sound quality I needed.

I used the techniques we learned in the tutorials to fade the water in and out at the beginning and end. For my final, I increased the water volume, as suggested in one of my critiques. Another piece of feedback I incorporated was adding another speaker to my story. At first, I only had myself speaking but I think that the added testimonial helps my story seem more credible.

I found the razor tool to be extremely helpful in cutting out awkward pauses and even creating more space where I needed a longer pause. I enjoyed how user friendly audition was; once I collected my desired pieces of audio, the rest was a piece of cake!

Design Process

For this project, I decided to explain a breathing exercise I do when I feel overwhelmed. This relates to the mental health and meditation portion of my topic as it is a relaxation and lung strengthening exercise.

As I mention in my audio story, my home town of Edmonds, Washington is on the Puget Sound, so I find the sound of water to be extremely soothing. When I need a break from people or stressful thoughts, I drive to the beach and take deep breathes while listening to the waves. Other times, I go for walks through a park to a little creek where the sound of water hitting rocks and birds chirping is deafening. This led me to the decision to put stream water as my intro, background, and outro noise. I felt that it added depth to my story and explanation of my breathing exercise, rather than it be just me talking.

Technical Detail

The hardest part for me was gathering clear, quality audio. For my voice recording, I had to go sit in my car late at night to avoid my roommates talking in the background. Collecting the water was the biggest struggle by far and took two days of testing different spots in Pullman. I first went to the stream that goes through Reaney Park, but it sounded like white noise coming through the TV and wasn’t what I was going for. When I was walking to work, I walked by a small waterfall sculpture where I was able to get a 20 second sample that sounded much clearer than the creek. I repeated the same track a few times so that it plays throughout my whole audio story. I also used the techniques we learned in the tutorials to fade the sound in and out on either end.

I found Audition very user friendly and easy to pick up in comparison to the last two units. I didn’t have technical issues with the software which made putting my video together much easier than collecting the actual recordings themselves. I found the razor tool useful to trim out my long pauses and other portions of my voice recording I didn’t need.

I chose to use my audio story to demonstrate a very simple breathing exercise. I am going to have the sound of water playing in the back because being at the beach relaxes me.

After receiving some feedback on my design and playing with the suggestions from my peers, I ultimately decided to keep my design the same as my draft. I am extremely pleased with the way it turned out and it hit all the marks I was looking for. I thought about adding a touch of purple or blue like my classmate suggested, but I didn’t think it fit with my design or my topic as well.

I liked the idea of having my initials as part of the design so it could be my own personal brand. I played around with different arrangements of the letters until I came across this one. I ended up having a harder time than expected making the letters. In my first attempts, I made a series of triangle shapes and wanted to delete the paths I no longer needed to create my desired shapes. However, that proved to be nearly impossible for me, so I moved on to plan number two: line segments. I used the line tool to trace the shapes of the triangles, then deleted the original triangle to create my M and V. Then, to connect the ends into a pointed shape, I anchored the end points using the pen tool, and joined their paths. The last step was deleting the unnecessary anchor points to reveal a single, clean point.

One of my inspirations for my design was Spirit Daughter, an account I mentioned in my topic introduction post. I saw that her logo consisted of triangles and I loved it and knew I wanted to incorporate them in my own design. Color and balance are two of The 12 Essential Rules to Follow When Designing a Logo and I feel I was able to make proper use of both of those elements in my design. The triangle is a strong, balanced shape that also represents unity. I feel that those are two elements consistent with my blog so it made perfect sense to incorporate in my logo, rather than something weighted differently on either side. I chose the orange and yellow gradient for the fill, partly because they are my favorite colors, and second, for their meaning. Orange and yellow are warm, happy, and energizing colors and I want my brand to have that effect on people. I hope you enjoy!