This IT567-Desktop Publishing course helped me tremendously with my InDesign technology skills. I have used InDesign for some time now, but had only just haphazardly learned how some of the features worked. This course has provided the direction and impetus I needed to strengthen the InDesign skills I already had, add some new skills to my small skillset, and demonstrate to me where some of my design weaknesses lie. I started my college education more than 30 years ago in secretarial studies, changed later to office administration, then to business administration, and finally to business education. I have always been very linear in my thought processes and gravitated toward the business and computer technology fields for their more structured and defined processes. Today’s businesses and their technologies require a creative mind with the ability to combine structure and definition with attractive and artistic layouts for both print and electronic delivery. I have learned that my technology skills are my greatest strengths, alongside my knowledge of various written communication structures such as letters and reports. I can add graphics to a document in an appropriate fashion, including the use of text wrap and offsets; however, my ability to create an artistic design from a blank slate is—without a doubt—my weakness, my Waterloo, my Achilles heel. I can manipulate the software to produce whatever is needed—as long as I have clear directions on what is needed. I can evaluate and edit existing materials to correct design flaws such as misalignment, inconsistencies, proximity errors, contrast flaws, etc. But to decide what is the perfect color scheme, what shapes, what images, and other design choices is for me fraught with stress and tension. I worry very much about my ability to adequately prepare my students for design challenges when I fear my own design skills are mediocre, at best.
Time will—I hope—along with continual practice and reevaluation strengthen my skills at least to the efficient, if not proficient level. I can and will continue to teach my students how to use page-layout software products such as Adobe’s InDesign and Microsoft’s Publisher, because I understand the technology. I can add to my technological skills the information I have gleaned from The Non-Designer’s Design Book with regard to the four design principles: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. I can pass this information on to my students and let them add their own individual sparks of creativity to the skills I teach them.
The Mississippi Department of Education has just recently completely revamped the Business and Technology Framework, including the course framework for Graphic Design 1 and Graphic Design 2. I am sure the practice and new knowledge I have gained in this course will help me more effectively teach these courses as well as others that include design components, such as the Web Design course. I do want to do more research and study in how to create and edit graphic shapes and layers from within InDesign. Some of the things I am already sharing with my students are the shortcuts, such as double-clicking on the “hand” icon to “fit in window”, and the “zoom marquee” to zoom in on a selected part of the screen very quickly (that one is one of my very favorite). Things I need more practice in include the scissors, knife, and path tools as well as the various brushes. Again, I think these tools lend themselves better to a more creative mind than mine, but I need to at least become technically proficient in how each of them work.
All in all, I have enjoyed this class, and have learned as much—I believe—from hearing the viewpoints and feedback of my classmates as from the textbooks. I believe I will be able to utilize what I have learned in classes I teach, in classes I will take, and even in my personal life as I develop page layouts for items such as resumes.
Time will—I hope—along with continual practice and reevaluation strengthen my skills at least to the efficient, if not proficient level. I can and will continue to teach my students how to use page-layout software products such as Adobe’s InDesign and Microsoft’s Publisher, because I understand the technology. I can add to my technological skills the information I have gleaned from The Non-Designer’s Design Book with regard to the four design principles: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. I can pass this information on to my students and let them add their own individual sparks of creativity to the skills I teach them.
The Mississippi Department of Education has just recently completely revamped the Business and Technology Framework, including the course framework for Graphic Design 1 and Graphic Design 2. I am sure the practice and new knowledge I have gained in this course will help me more effectively teach these courses as well as others that include design components, such as the Web Design course. I do want to do more research and study in how to create and edit graphic shapes and layers from within InDesign. Some of the things I am already sharing with my students are the shortcuts, such as double-clicking on the “hand” icon to “fit in window”, and the “zoom marquee” to zoom in on a selected part of the screen very quickly (that one is one of my very favorite). Things I need more practice in include the scissors, knife, and path tools as well as the various brushes. Again, I think these tools lend themselves better to a more creative mind than mine, but I need to at least become technically proficient in how each of them work.
All in all, I have enjoyed this class, and have learned as much—I believe—from hearing the viewpoints and feedback of my classmates as from the textbooks. I believe I will be able to utilize what I have learned in classes I teach, in classes I will take, and even in my personal life as I develop page layouts for items such as resumes.