Dreamweaver Website Project

Process

         This week in e9, we started with our finals project. We each made a website on Dreamweaver and watched along with videos. When I first started, I set one up with my name. I then began to change some of the words that were already there, such as my name, links, and my "introduction" paragraph. I added some of my projects from the past such as the bouncing ball project. Through the videos, we were able to learn a little bit about coding and HTML, but there wasn't much we did with it. Then, I started to add color to my website, using purples and yellows. I also got to change the fonts of all the text I had. With making the link colors, I had to go into the coding part of it and add those different colors for the link, such as hovering, accessed, and others. After, I took a screenshot of both of my pages.

What I Learned

   From this project, I learned a lot. I first learned what Dreamweaver was and how many people can use it to create all sorts of websites. Also, as I said in the process paragraph, I learned a little bit of coding for websites. To me, it's still a bit confusing, but helpful nonetheless. I learned how to set up links in websites and a lot more.

What I Would Do Differently

  If I could do this project again, I'd definitely change my colors. Also, I'd change the fonts and really just a lot of what I did. Overall, my website didn't turn out too bad. I think it was an interesting project to do and definitely educated me about website creating.

Ten Strengths Animation Video

Process

     For this project, we gathered our ten strengths from our blog and set them into an animation. We first started out with making all of our words. Then, we found a picture and made each of our words a color from that picture. We fixed the fonts and the sizing and then it came down to the video timeline. We had to have our words coming in or fading in, in any way using keyframes and tweens. I set a couple words with tweens and a couple with keyframes. Then, after watching it over and over again, I fixed each of the words and added a fade in/out from black. It was almost perfect until I saved the animation. I went through a couple struggles relating to the size and such, but I ended up going with my original saved video. As much as I tried to fix it, the video would end up with more problems. So, I just used this one.

What I learned

     From this project, I learned about how to use the video timeline, keyframes, and fading in the separate words. It was confusing to me at first, but I finally understand how to use them all.

What I Would Do Differently

     The project, overall, was interesting, but if I had to change anything, I would obviously fix the problems that showed up with the sizing of the video. Besides the black space around my animation, I think it turned out pretty nice. 

Arc Animation Project

The Process

     For this animation project, we took what we learned from the last bouncy ball animation and put our knowledge into this arc animation. I started out with making the two balls; one with a happy face and another with a mad/uncomfortable face. When we made copies of the balls for them to bounce in the shapes of arcs, we set up a guide to help us. Once I was done copying the balls and adjusting their size and shape to make it look more realistic, I added an ending to let the viewer know the animation was over. I had the ball get closer to the screen then disappear quickly using the transparency tool. We each also made a title layer and a black background for the beginning and end of the animation. Finally, I set the layers into a timeline and perfected the timing and more to finish my project.

What I Learned
     
     Since we used our knowledge from the past project, there wasn't many new concepts our class learned about. But, we did learn about arcs in animation and anticipation. When objects bounce in a direction, they create arcs when they do. For anticipation, it creates tension and or excitement since the viewer knows that something is about to happen.

How I Think I Did

     Overall, I think I did alright. It may not look the best, but I think it was nice to see what I could do from the other project. The only thing I would absolutely change if I had more time is the ending. It was supposed to be creative and all, but I think that I was just having a hard time coming up with something like that so I stuck to this. But this project was an interesting one and I enjoyed creating it. 

Handwriting & Name Logo Projects

     For e9, one of our projects was a name logo on Adobe Illustrator. Each of used the rectangle tool to create our first name. Since I created my nickname, Elly, using the rectangle tool was quite easy because there were no curves and such. It did take a bit time to make sure the rectangles were all mostly the same width and height. I added a sort of chalkboard effect/look onto my name and I think that's what I like best about the outcome. After that, I made several long rectangles for the background. The rectangles were in an ombre effect as I blended the colors and rectangles together. With this design, I think it turned out pretty cool.

     The other project our class did was a handwriting name project. First, we had to write our full name on the top. Then, under that, we wrote ten adjectives that described us. I chose the adjectives: creative, artistic, open-minded, loving, sympathetic, fun, educated, adventurous, determined, and straightforward. After that, each of us had to pick three fonts that described us and write our name in those fonts. The first one I wrote with my name was a flowy and bubbly font. This one was my favorite one. The next one was just my own cursive. My letters are quite clear rather than messy and I think that adds to my character. The last one I did was just a simple, tall, and straight font. Though it was really easy and simple, I think it fits me. 

Presentation Skills

     These couple of past days in e9, our class learned about presentation skills. We learned about what makes a good presentation and how we could achieve that. Each of us got handed a packet that had the different characteristics of what can help us do well during a presentation. Some of the main things were posture, eye contact, voice, facial expressions and professional appearance. For posture, it's best to not be pacing back and forth during your presentation or have your leg bouncing and such. It distracts the audience. With eye contact, if you're looking at your audience while talking, they'll know that you're trying to really get your point across. Your voice during your presentation is a big thing. Having a loud, lively voice makes your audience more interested in what you're talking about. Those characteristics and many others can make a great presentation.
     After learning about presentation skills, we watched three Ted presentations of Bill Gates, Bjorn Lomberg, and Jamie Oliver. We rated their performance based on their professional appearance, facial expression, eye-contact, and posture. With these three men, they all showed different characteristics as they presented and got their points across. After rating each person, our class would discuss why we rated them a specific number; one to five where one is the worst and five is the best. This discussion certainly helped each of us really understand how to present properly.
     Finally, the whole class each presented their sketchbook blog. We all first showed the class our design and then read our blog. For my presentation, I was really nervous. Though I practiced reading my blog many times, when I went up there, my voice was shaky and I kept repeating "um" and other nonsense. I wished I could have done better, of course. I really liked the sketchbook project and presenting my design confidently would have changed the whole experience for me.

Sidewalk Chalk Flag Experience

     Earlier this week, my E9 class made sidewalk chalk flags that represented each person in a group. In my group, I had two other people. We had to decide a color for each of us and a symbol. The colors would have to represent ourselves and so did the symbol. For planning out our design, I think we had a bit of trouble at first, but then we caught on.

           The other's symbols were a baseball and a water droplet. Mine was a lotus flower. I used to always draw flowers when I was really into drawing and that's why I chose to draw it. For my color, I chose orange, while the others chose blue and green. I chose orange because it stood for joy, creativity, and revolutionary ideas. I think for me, that truly represented me when I am at my best/happiest. We tried to do a fading effect on the colors, where our original color would do an ombre towards its next lighter color. I didn't get to that yellow shade but I still enjoyed the experience.

     As a team, I honestly think we did alright. Maybe not the best, but we did come up with ideas and considered everyones. We equally participated and I think that went well. Though, for a future team activity, I think I would like to have more communication. Not that we didn't have a lot, but I think more of it would better help the team's understanding of each other and how we would solve our objective.