One of the objectives for this week was to create some sort of poster or graphic to go along with the radio we’re working on. I created this poster using a background that represents some of the colors and patterns that the 80s are known for. I also added in some colored text to add to the design.
One of the assignments I chose this week was the Make it 800% Slower assignment. For this assignment I took a popular 80s song, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, and slowed it down to turn it into something else. I didn’t slow the song down all the way to 800% because I felt that if any audio was slowed down by that much it would all sound the same. I slowed the song down by a lot though and I got something that could maybe be used for a project on horror or just some eerie background noise.
For one of my audio assignments this week, I created an 80s themed commercial for a new boombox that is trying to compete with the Sony Walkman. I used an 80s electronic loop for the background and recorded some audio for the narration.
The audio I used was made by Jeremy Marsan. He asks that people that use his work link back to his website https://jeremymarsan.com/
This week had a lot of great tasks to complete over one of my favorite topics. With design being all around us I think it’s an important topic to learn about.
Here’s my work:
My DesignBlitz Post:
DesignBlitz
My Design Readings Reflection:
Design Readings Reflection
ds106 Assignment Bank Assignments:
A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing:
A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing
PSA Billboard:
PSA Billboard
Twitter:
@gannon1980s
One of my tasks for this week was to do a DesignBlitz. I had to find 6 good examples of design elements and 2 bad ones.
Here’s the good ones:
I thought this poster I recently created has a good use of line.
This is a part of the typeface project I’ve been working on for one of my other classes. I think it’s a good example of typography design.
I thought Gatorades design was a great use of color. They leave the lightning bolt clear so the color can be filled in by the color of the drink.
I thought one of the campus shirts used space well in the design by having art going around the roots of the tree.
Greeting cards like this often use texture to enhance the design of the card. This one uses glitter and beads.
These road signs make good use of shape to help drivers understand the roads they drive on.
Here are the bad examples:
I think the Nintendo Switch dock design is very lacking in color and could be better executed.
This sign advertising a sale just used nothing but plain text on yellow paper with no use of typography that would attract a consumers eye.
For this assignment I was tasked with combining two rival companies logos. I’m a fan of Microsoft and I’m against almost anything Apple makes so I thought it’d be a good idea to mash the two logos together. It makes Apples logo look a little better.
For this assignment I was tasked with creating a billboard addressing something that aggravates me about people, society or the world. I thought this would be a great excuse to let people know that just throwing trash out the window of your car isn’t cool and they should wait to find a trash can.
Design is a topic that I like very much. The great thing about design is that there are so many ways to use it. Everyone has their own way of designing and their own ideas to bring to life. Understanding the elements of design is also important if you’re trying to get better at designing. Along with an understanding of design elements, practicing and just messing around with design is always helpful to your skills. According to the 10,000 rule, it takes around 10,000 hours of working on something to become proficient at it. While I don’t think there is a magic number for becoming good at something, I do believe that practice makes perfect and that with enough repetition and experience anyone can create great designs.
This week’s assignments were all about audio. I had to do some quick learning this week which made it a challenging one. Overall, I learned quite a bit.
First I listened to ds106 Radio and This American Life Podcast. My reflection blog post is here:
ds106 Radio & This American Life Podcast Reflection
Next I began working through some audio assignment in the ds106 Assignment Bank. Those assignments are here:
ds106 Audio Assignments
Lastly, I responded to some Daily Creates on Twitter. My handle is @gannon1980s
This week I was tasked with completing 9 or more stars worth of assignments in the Audio section of the ds106 Assignment bank. Here is my work:
Sound Effects Story (4 stars)
Make Your Own Ringtone (3 stars)
Imitate Some Weather (2.5 stars)
Gannon's Digital Literacy Blog