Hey everyone, by taking this Emerging Communication Technology course I have gained many skills in the newest and most relevant programs on the market today. I feel more equipped to go into the professional world and be able to make positive contributions at any company that I work with. I have learned and become proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Audacity, Wix, Weebly and Dream weaver. In blog post three I mentioned an Emerging Technology program called Foursquare. Since the initial researching of that program I haven't used it too much. Although if I ever go to a new city or area I am not familiar with I will definitely be using Foursquare.
Blogging
Creating and maintaining a blog has been a very interesting experience. In order to effectively maintain a blog it takes a substantial amount of work with very frequent post. You have to figure out how to keep your audience engaged and make them want to come back and read what you have to say. You have to really know the audience that you are going after and make sure to adapt your messages appropriately.
Highlights
I really enjoyed learning how to use audacity to create and edit Podcast. It was fun to mess around with the vocal pitch and tone in order to make the voice sound exactly how you want it. It was also very eye opening to see just how much you could change what someone sounds like in the Audacity program. Another thing that I really enjoyed was learning how to use Photoshop and InDesign. Knowing the basics of these programs is a very valuable skill that many employers are seeking.
Hello everyone, this week we are going to be looking at the top ten rules for website design. I am currently in the process of creating my own website in my Communication Technologies class. I hope this post helps others who are in the process of designing a website. I have compiled a list using multiple sources.
Consistency is key.
Simple is beautiful.
Navigation should be intuitive, a good website should be easy to navigate.
A good website should be easy to navigate.
Include a Contact Us page.
Page titles should be simple, descriptive and unique.
Design for the reader.
Homepage should illustrate top priorities and variety.
Hello my good and faithful weekly readers. This week on the Comm 350 Blog Spot I am going to be talking about something commonly known as C.R.A.P. in the design world. C.R.A.P. stands for contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. By correctly using these four elements your design can go from good to great or from terrible to fantastic. Knowing these four elements is going to create help me as I work on multiple assignments in class. There are a few group assignments that have multiple people working on individual parts with these elements in mind we will be able to combined all of our individual parts and make them look as if one person created the entire assignment.
Contrast
Makes different things different
Brings out dominate elements
Mutes lesser elements
Creates dynamism
The following picture shows examples of good and bad contrast
Repetition
Repeat design throughout the interface
Consistency
Creates Unity
Brings organization, structure and unity.
Alignment
Creates a visual flow
Visually connects elements
Proximity
Groups related elements
Separates unrelated elements
Watch the following videos for more information about C.R.A.P.
Hello everyone, this week I am going to be starting out by showing you a very useful emerging social media site. The Foursquare app helps you discover new places, with recommendations from the local community. Foursquare has five different sections of things that you can search for on there app. These five things are food, coffee, nightlife, fun and shopping. One of Foursquare's mottos is "Find the best places to eat, drink, shop, or visit in any city in the world. Access over 75 million short tips from local experts." Once you enter your location into the app or site and click the category you are searching for hundreds of things pop up in the order of highest rating to lowest rating.
The following video shows some key features of Foursquare as well as why how it is beneficial to businesses.
The following video is a presentation done by Evan Cohen who was the Chief Operating Officer of Foursquare at the time.
If you would like to use Foursquare Click here to go directly to there site.
InDesign
This week in class we learned a lot about a program called InDesign, this program can be a very useful tool if you learn how to use it and what its capable of. On the InDesign website their motto is "The industry-leading page design and layout toolset lets you work across desktop and mobile devices to create, preflight and publish everything from printed books and brochures to digital magazines, iPad apps, eBooks and interactive online documents."
The following video shows the new features of the 2015 version of InDesign.
Following video shows ten things that beginners want to know when first using InDesign.
If you would like to learn more about Adobe InDesign or would like to download a free trial click here to go directly to their website.
This week in my Communication Technology class we learned how to build websites. We created two different websites using both Wix and Weebly formats. These are just two of the many website building options that are available on the internet. We will be taking an in depth look at each of these website builders.
The first website builder we are going to be exploring is Wix. I personal thought that Wix has useful and sleek design layouts and is not very difficult to use. Most people can figure out how to do almost everything on Wix with a little trouble shooting and for those who can't there are plenty of online resources to help you figure it out.
The following video shows some useful information about Wix website builder and how to use it.
The image below is the pricing for a Wix Website
To give Wix a try or to find out more information, click on the link below to go directly to their website. http://www.wix.com/
Weebly is the second website builder that we were taught in class. Weebly is capable of making very profestional websites and I was very satisfied with the overall product.
For a beginers guide about how to use Weebly watch the video below:
The following image shows the prices for Weebly Websites
For more information about Weebly or to make a website using the program click on the link below to go directly to their website:
There are multiple other platforms that are available to be used when creating a website. For more options check out, webstarts.com,
wordpress.com, webs.com, and moonfruit.com.
Podcast & Audacity
In addition to learning about how to create a website, we have also learned a great deal about creating Podcast through Audacity. Audacity is a great program if you are working with any kind of noises. It is very user friendly and not hard understand how to do the basic functions of the program. One of the coolest things about Audacity is that it is free. The following video shows you how to download the program and gives a brief tutorial about how to use it.
For a more comprehensive tutorial guide to audacity watch the following video
When looking for mp3 files to put in the Audacity program there are some useful tools available to find free sounds. Freemusicbeds.com is a site that offers free songs that can be downloaded into Audacity. Click the link below to check it out. http://www.freemusicbeds.com
pacdv.com offers a lot of different sounds that are in downloadable mp3 format. Click the link below to check it out.
Overall, this has been a very beneficial week of class. I have learned multiple programs that I am sure will benefit me in the future. Thank you all for visiting my blog, see you next week.
Hello everyone, my name is Tyler Voight. I am currently a senior at Western Washington University and will be graduating this June. I am a Communication Studies Major with a minor emphasis in Leadership Studies. I am currently in a Communication Technologies class and have been assigned to create a weekly blog. Week three of Winter quarter just came to an end and I have already learned a great deal about some very useful programs. This week I am going to be telling you all about what I have learned about Blogging, Personal Branding, and Photoshop. I hope you all enjoy this blog and feel free to leave me comments below.
Blogging:
Blogging is a very useful skill that I have recently learned about. Blogging is a great way to increase your online presence and also gives you a platform to share your ideas, interests and passions with the world wide web.
Personal Branding is what differentiates you from others. By developing a personal brand you are essentially controlling the way that people perceive you. The process of creating your own personal brand involves, having a vision, identifying your audience, developing content and finally sharing that content with the world. Some of the content required to create a personal brand is a logo, motto, visual materials, written materials and audio materials.
Here is a great TED Talk about creating a personal brand:
Photoshop is one of the most useful tools I have ever learned when it comes to creating, polishing, finishing and enhancing photographs. If you are involved with any kind of photography I would highly recommend getting acquainted with Photoshop. There are so many possibilities of different things you can accomplish with Photoshop. It you have never used Photoshop there is a link to a free trial below.
To see some of the amazing things that can be done in Photoshop , check out this video:
For more information about Adobe Photoshop, a free trail, or to purchase the program, please click on the link below. http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop
For more information about Weebly or to make a website using the program click on the link below to go directly to their website: