RE: End of Quarter 1

Responding to post:  End of Quarter J2

1.  Contribution; nothing.  During this project, I volunteered to work as the graphic designer in two groups.  Only one group ever asked for something.  Fist, I cut own and manipulated an image for a Blood Drive story.  It was than decided that the story, images, layouts, etc. would not be used by the group.  Second I did a banner for the Spain story.  Another story was made and the last I heard, the article may be scrapped as well.

2.  It was cropping and changing designs to make things flow.  The project involved very little challenge and/r work.

3.  It didn’t.   Had I been given assignments, I think I may have been able to help.

4.  I noticed, that most others didn’t work.  The writers worked.  However they also doubled doing other people’s jobs who were slacking off.  (Talking, messing around, etc.)

5.  To improve my performance I would; have made my own work and taken a different job for the groups.  It most likely would have been more productive on mine and my groups part if I had worked as a photographers.  Especially since some people couldn’t attend events or a photographer went missing.

Going to try and form my own group next time.

23.Mar.09 Assignments Comments (0)

7 in 30 Minutes

Rather than wasting time finding what I wanted to design around I did the mapping first in InDesign.  It took about 10 minutes.  I let it sit and didn’t touch it for the next few days; so that I’d still have 20 minutes left.  The image was made out of the 7 in 30 challenge to teach how to use brushes in Adobe Illustrator. (It’s a fish)

During this process I learned it’s better to map first.  Doing this saves time.  (Especially when you’ve no image or story to fit)    This is the area I did well in.  I was able to utilize time and skills this way.  The area in improvement is not using so many programs.  This was made through a combination of MS Paint, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.  Full knowing that I could have done the project entirely in Photoshop, imaged mapped and than exported.

 

In the future, I’d like to find the story and the images first.  In less than five minutes would be preferred.  I’m sure there’s a better way to search than just Google and news sights.

 

What can be applied in the future is the speed I created the design.

17.Mar.09 Assignments, Portfolio Comments (0)

Reading Log #2

To be honest. I love Reporters Without Borders and Doctors Without Borders.  I critique them; but with love.

2008 Annual Report from Reporter Without Borders  (Reporters sans frontières):  The plight of journalists in 98 countries reviewed. Click to read the PDF.  Make sure you put aside some time.  There’s 171 pages.  If you don’t want to learn about the individual countries, you can read pages 5 – 8.

Journalists have a tough time earning a living.Their defenders seem less effective than ever. It may seem odd for Reporters Without Borders to say that, but without wringing our hands (we’ve long known our strengths and weaknesses) we have to recognize that journalists are not adequately and sufficiently defended around the world.

I agree with this.  Since the internet hit and ‘blogging’ or ‘journaling,’ diary writing or whatever else you wish to call it became mainstream; Journalist have been shunned.  (Note the Capital on J. Yes, they are now their own endangered species.)

The issue to be brought to light is how their report is written.  They are one sided and concentrated specifically on the government.

Page 5, paragraph 6.

The spinelessness of some Western countries and big international institutions is damaging freedom of expression.They are all quick to condemn developing countries that have little strategic value, but things  are different when it comes to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Hu Jintao. Western heads of state put away their lawyer’s robes and become salesmen.Trade with China and Russia is so important that human rights are rarely on the agenda. Or else they are talked about informally in very general terms. The real or false indignation of the Chinese and Russian leaders has been enough to scare even those who make the strongest protests. Who still dares to talk about the Dalai Lama or praise Taiwanese democracy to President Hu’s face? German chancellor Angela Merkel. Just her. Who can withstand the icy look of President Putin in a discussion of rights in Chechnya or about the score of journalists murdered since he came to power? The leaders of democratic countries also don’t want

Page 6, second to last paragraph.

The lack of determination by democratic countries in defending the values they supposedly stand for is alarming. The abandonment or dishonesty of those who claim to protect our freedom is even more worrying. In 2007, journalists were more than ever targets of violence (86 killed) and repression (at least two arrested each day).

Yes, it is the government of countries who determine laws.  And yes, it is their job to uphold regulations.  However, the government is just that.  It is enforcement and regulations.  It is the responsibility of the people within countries to amend and force laws to change.  To call the law out and hold those in regulation accountable.

Compare 2006, 2007 and the 2008 reports.  There are discrepancies which need be addressed.  As was showcased in  “The deceit of Reporters Without Borders/La supercherie Reporters sans frontières written by Salim Lamrani.

What has happened in Bolivia to cause this nation to fall from 16th in 2006 to 68 a year later? Where journalist killed? Where private media sources closed? Nothing of the sort. But President Evo Morales, who has launched spectacular economic and social reforms, is now in Washington’s sites. RSF, faithful to its principals, follows the lead of its sponsors and vilifies all the progressive and popular governments of Latin America.

I am in agreement with the idea of nations dropping on this list illogical, I cannot fully agree with Slim Lamrani on RWP’s/RSF’s agenda aligned with the USA.

PS- International Online Free Expression Day (IOFED) was on March 12.  I hope you used it to the best of your ability.

16.Mar.09 Assignments, Reading Log Comments (4)

Blog 7: #9 How Flickr Did it Right

I’m jumping the bandwagon on praising Flickr, for those who don’t know; Get off DeviantART and Model Mayhem and log onto Yahoo.

You’ll understand.

What is Flickr?  Here’s the Yahoo’s account.  You can check out the full definition here.

Flickr – almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world – has two main goals:

1. We want to help people make their content available to the people who matter to them.

2. We want to enable new ways of organizing photos and video.

Flickr continues to evolve in myriad ways, all of which are designed to make it easier and better. Check out the Flickr Blog to stay apprised of the latest developments. The fact that you’ve read to the end of this entire document and are hanging out at the bottom of this page with nothing but this silly text to keep you company is proof of a deep and abiding interest on your part.

 
Flickr was created in February 2004, by the Canadian group *Ludicorp. (You know, that company that created Game Neverending (GNE))  Yahoo bought Flickr in 2005.  Originally, Flickr has FlickrLive, a live chat to exchange photos.  Flickr came out of beta; in 2006 it became what it is now.  Featuring such things as tags, user groups, filters were added along with censorship options (to making things work friendly,) and the geo-tag.

People should recognize; Flickr is not DeviantART.   The creator retains their rights.  They are not lost to the sponsors and owners of DeviantART.  Nor will Flickr use your work for public advertisements and sales.   (Check the Terms of Use)  You know the rights of Yahoo.  It’s the rights you use for e-mailing, instant messaging, etc.  You’re held accountable.  Flickr is, it’s self, user generated, moderated.

 
To quote MJ, who quoted Petteri;

Flickr is bottom-up: unmoderated, horizontal, unhierarchical, networked, and open to just about any kind of use.

Question has been asked on how it works, and its voodoo magic.  Log onto Yahoo and click around.  See the Ads?  Log onto Flickr.  There’s something missing.  Free services, free of ads, no donate buttons.  They even send you somewhere to get your prints.  Somewhere. Else.  It’s still magically worth 4 Billion.

To quote MJ;

Things I like about Flickr?

It’s not just the sharing, it’s the who. Flickr is, perhaps more than any dedicated social sites like FaceBook or Orkut, a social network for people to hook up and talk about real things – pictures they have taken. There’s no pressure to be a fabulous photographer – for many it’s just a place to share images – each worth a thousand words – for others to see. The only real estimation of worth is the “favourites” system. Who cares about the appreciation of jaded photographers when you can be the favourite of real people.

 

This bandwagon response is #9 of Chris Brogan’s  post: 100 Blog Topics I Hope You Write.

06.Mar.09 Assignments Comments (2)

30 MinDesign: 002

This is the second 846 by 846 px design challenge.  It isolated a portion of the text, adding emphasis.  Your eye is directed horizontally.  As you read across. The images draw you down, from image two, text box, and to the logo.  The layout would be specified to a one page story.  Or the ending to a multiple fold out. 

I like that I was able to do this in less than thirty minutes.  I was able to think of a topic and plan.  Although I didn’t know which images to use, the red and black is a simple combination and fits with the images.  It’s a pleasing composition.

The thing I dislike most is the drop cap.  It adds more interest to the title.  However, it really wasn’t needed and may have been better suited to the story text.  I also would have dashed the line along the bottom.

04.Mar.09 Portfolio Comments (0)