The original plan for the
summer was to have an internship and take one class. Of course, the best laid plans never work out,
so I am taking two classes instead. Both
classes are very different from the ones that I have taken during my time in this
program so far. While the classes up to
this point have mostly been focused on writing, the elective classes I am
taking this summer are more focused on learning digital communications skills.
I am taking a Visual Strategies in Public Relations class where we learn about different design principles and techniques and then apply them to the projects that we have worked on throughout the class. Each project is related to a fictional organization that we came up with at the beginning of the class. My business is an independent children’s bookstore in Washington DC. Our first project was to create a logo for our company.
I am taking a Visual Strategies in Public Relations class where we learn about different design principles and techniques and then apply them to the projects that we have worked on throughout the class. Each project is related to a fictional organization that we came up with at the beginning of the class. My business is an independent children’s bookstore in Washington DC. Our first project was to create a logo for our company.
We also designed a booklet
and are now creating a web story related to our company. Throughout the class, we have used several Adobe
Creative Suite programs for our projects.
Prior to the class, I had used InDesign, but had not used Illustrator or
Photoshop before. These are programs
that I had always wanted to learn, so it has been fun to experiment with them
and build some skills that will only help me as I start out on this new career
path.
This class has also challenged me to be more creative. I never had any experience doing visual design and was a little intimidated when the class first started. After only a month in this class, I have become a lot more comfortable using these programs and have enjoyed flexing my creative muscles in doing some design.
I am also taking a Web Development class. This is a completely new skill for me and learning to code is basically like learning a whole new language. Luckily, we have a good book that breaks down each step and there are also some good online resources as well. This class is online, so we have used a few different coding tutorial websites to learn the basics and then have several assignments to complete each week. For our final project, I am creating a website about my favorite places that I have traveled to in the US. While I don’t see myself ever working in a job where I am just creating websites, I am glad that I took this class to at least learn the basics of how to code websites.
Taking two classes in one summer session has been pretty intense. It is basically doing a semester’s worth of classwork in just six weeks and then multiplying that by two classes. It’s been A LOT of work, but it will be nice to be done at the end of next week and then have a break from classes until the fall semester.
This class has also challenged me to be more creative. I never had any experience doing visual design and was a little intimidated when the class first started. After only a month in this class, I have become a lot more comfortable using these programs and have enjoyed flexing my creative muscles in doing some design.
I am also taking a Web Development class. This is a completely new skill for me and learning to code is basically like learning a whole new language. Luckily, we have a good book that breaks down each step and there are also some good online resources as well. This class is online, so we have used a few different coding tutorial websites to learn the basics and then have several assignments to complete each week. For our final project, I am creating a website about my favorite places that I have traveled to in the US. While I don’t see myself ever working in a job where I am just creating websites, I am glad that I took this class to at least learn the basics of how to code websites.
Taking two classes in one summer session has been pretty intense. It is basically doing a semester’s worth of classwork in just six weeks and then multiplying that by two classes. It’s been A LOT of work, but it will be nice to be done at the end of next week and then have a break from classes until the fall semester.
