Desktop+publishing+reflections

The Crap exposed: Contrast: Boxes on a layout provides opportunities to create great contrast by giving different color and importance to the article in a newsletter. Repetition: A consistency on the name and banner throughout the pages of a newsletter is important for readership. Alignment: The use of alignment concept in our newsletter will guide use in organizing articles on the page including vertically or horizontally. Proximity: Refers to the pictures or illustrations designer should relate to the article or to the general style of the publication. It was such an eye opening to learn so much not only designing but communication history. It helped to have a set of strategies to use when completing any of my publications as a leader because “ No longer is it enough to write well or to express thoughts well. Now, writing must be il­lustrated” (Yearwood, 2009) Learning about the basic design concepts such as the C.R.A.P., branding, Logo, and the culminating product such as newsletter where we had to apply the principles. ** The logo as a branding technique. ** The logo is a branding technique that should be used more in any publication. I agree with you that is is a valuable design element. I find it extremely difficult to create a good logo without the consensus of the people involved in the newsletter. We can also pick up on the colors of the logo to create a repetition of colors throughout the newsletter and it should look great! ** Elements of basic design  ** A professional designer should look into the rule of thirds symmetry and golden mean (ratio) on the logo and general page layout besides the basic principles of design known as C.R.A.P.. Additionally, designer should include the most important stories on the front page and using lines between articles. More over, using a picture as a dominant graphic (not only a banner) and page numbering is a basic component of a good design. It is very important also to add contact information, credit for pictures and permissions of images and do not ever use a two even column layout. Stories should be kept to a maximum of 400 words in one page. ** The Audience  ** It is imperative that a designer/writer create an appealing design to the potential reader. Knowing the audience will narrow the vast possibilities and choices for designing. Writer should know the audience and the relevant topics to it. There are other important components as well such as content for the audience and it is the substance of the newsletter, the rest is the way we present the information to compete with other available information sources. ** Developing a rubric  ** Time is a crucial factor in developing a rubric. The expertise in the use of a word processing software as a designing tool to create a newsletter is important and should play an important criteria. Designers should primarily be familiar with different features that the program has. Minimum requirements should be mastered such as columns use, picture insertion, fonts and drawing tools to be able to create a professional page layout. ** Errors to avoid  **  1. Choosing underlining and bolding in every title would be one error to avoid. So using the many choices of fonts would be one way to avoid it.  2. In addition, there should be a difference between every title depending on the article.  3. Creating a standard title format for every story will produce a boring style.  4. Using the same font throughout the page would confuse the reader about when and were a story start and finishes.  5. Too many random images and statements confuse the reader.  6. The absence of cut lines (captions) and permissions for picture use is a amateurish practice. This could cause a conflict if there is not the proper permission from the author, specially, when it is used for a public distribution. ** Second Life as a Learning Tool  ** My first impressions and experiences on virtual reality were an eye opening in many senses: Interface, game rules, interaction with others and possibilities. At first, I accessed the Help Island and found out there are several experts wandering around trying to help nobs like me. I gat hooked to one of them and talked for a good hour or two. I learned many things about the good and the bad things that can happened in these worlds (the grid). I was truly disappointed by some of the social behavior of some of the players. I must admit that I felt vulnerable. Thinking from teen student perspective, bullying and wrong practices may be exposed. My senses and imagination ran wild as far as the possibilities of meeting people and at the same time people you do not know their values honesty. During the journey I had to use all my social skills as I would normally use in a real setting. Therefore, I did not think was secure environment at least in the Help Island. After reading comments from other colleagues, I started to realize that I was not alone in this thinking and that majority sensed that SL is not a secure environment for children to be. Since it is too open, there had to be some type of parental control. I needed to think more from a broader perspective. I started to change my mind after reading the lectures and finding very successful experiences by other schools. They were having study groups, PLC meetings (professional learning communities and even post lectures to read from at those places! Amazing.   Second life is like any other tool. As Yearwood (2009) says, the  generation that is following us into the educational system is very familiar with these technologies and quite easy in their minds with communication tools such as texting and online collaboration.  A hammer, a saw, a game or a virtual site nowadays are used wrongly or effective depending on who uses it.     These skills should be looked no so much in the use of every designing tool but in the wise choice of them. If designer uses lines, the color choice and the thickness should reflect a thoughtful approach related to the Newsletter style.   I’ve told you what I think of branding opportunities at schools. Now I would like to hear what you think about the whole concept of branding yourself and your classroom. For example, what could you do or do differently? How do you think branding could serve a pedagogical purpose? Since I first started teaching back in 2001, there has been an interest in the use of computers to help me teach more effectively. So I have been branded as the technology savvy since then. Needless to say the this is why now I became technologist and serve a community of teachers as well as campus administration software implementation. The whole concept of one being a business organization has been set in mind since I started teaching. We as professionals should conduct ourselves as a business. Sell your product (service), constantly satisfy the customer and create a good reputation to expand the business. Just like in lecture 2, other’s perception becomes ones reputation if shown constantly. Since branding is repetition, I consider reputation as branding. The consistency of one’s attitude and repetitive successes (or failures) becomes our reputation. In regards to positioning, I like to think I am the first person that comes to mind in case of something is needed in my school according to my skills and abilities. Then one becomes irreplaceable. As a teacher, one can consistently advocate certain educational values. As per the lecture, these values ought to link to psychological and emotional experiences. In other words, I can be remembered as the teacher who always smiles and had a positive attitude toward student’s challenges and be willing to do what it takes to carry on the necessary experiences to make the learning happen.
 * Prompt 1: **

What is your personal mission statement as a teacher? What kinds of ideas should you attempt to incorporate in a personal mission statement? How can you get from your own mission statement to a logo? My personal Mission statement as a teacher is: “Learning takes effort but take you places” The components of this mission statement include: attitude toward the challenges, knowing your own self and living positively. Using abstract components such as letters, lines and shades would make logo communicate more to the unconscious level. I want it to create and images when someone looks at it. I would integrate a something that relates wisdom and persistence concepts. The best thing that now comes to mind is the image of a mountain. That mountain would be like an “A” shape and since my last name is Alba it would be a way to show the connection. The effort is represented by the mountain, the top means the success and the whole picture will conform an A. There could be elements such as paths and a village down at the bottom. The village means the people that need to get to the top but need guidance and the path would mean the way to follow to achieve your goals. The next concept would include the design concepts such as color, alignment shapes and forms in such a way that I could use the concepts of C.R.A.P. in a creative way.
 * Prompt 2: **

Is our cultural concept of beauty really just an averaging of all the different ways a thing or person can look? What do you think? If beauty is related to proportion, then how are the proportions decided?
 * Prompt 3: **

Wow! What a fantastic topic. I have always wondered on how not-so-perfect faces became so popular: Barbra Streisand, Cindy Crawford, Gerard Depardiu and Silvester Stallone. Is it probably because its imperfection or just a reflection of the average beauty we relate with? The fact is that people like to see these faces. In a way, these faces cause emotions to the public in general. There is a tendency to think that the skinny model body is a beauty trademark but that conception is changing. Culture has taught us that beauty perception depends on many different factors: cultural, promotional (yes, publicity can convince us that something is pretty) and temporal (beauty concept may change over time). Media plays a great deal in the beauty perception. It can shovel down you throat almost any kind of image if repeated enough with sufficient public relations and publicity. Take almost any Celebrity artist for example, despite his/her talent very (respectable) sometimes they are not the most pretty dudes in the block. However, repetition and publicity shapes our conceptions. Back in Renaissance paintings chubby women were appreciated as beautiful. For me it is hard to come up with a Golden Ratio evaluation of this faces but I can sure know that theses particular faces do not meet symmetry and this is where the beauty comes from. If beauty is decided by proportion then these people would not fit into the most beautiful people.