Reactions to this course

I really enjoyed this course. I have always been interested and used photoshop and illustrator. Making the CD cover was a fun experience for me. I'm glad a learned the basics of Flash and web design. These skills will for sure be helpful in whatever I choose to do.

I think the lectures were superb. I think one of the best ways to improve your skills in design is to analyze amazing work that is already out there. In lecture we talked about digital media, but we were also exposed to some great work by great artists. This exposure definitely influenced my work in the lab. The youtube examples of digital media also expanded my mind as to what is possible in digital media. I think the labs were also effective. We learned step-by-step techniques in tutorial. This made it easy to get through with little complication. Our professors were very helpful with any problems we encountered.

Although the labs were done well for the most part, I don't think it is necessary for the 45 minute talk in the beginning. For instance, in lab, we would sit at the front and watch and listen to exactly what we were going to do in the tutorial. I don't feel like this is necessary - I think it is more informative to just get to the tutorials right away. This way we can have more time to play around with the applications. Ultimately I find that tutorials and playing around with the programs is the best way to learn, so if more time was dedicated to that I feel I could have mastered and understood the programs more thoroughly.

After seeing some of the innovative work in lecture and in the labs I have a much deeper appreciation for digital media. I'm now very interested in the After Effects program. Some of the work done in the program is really interesting to me and now I want to learn how to use it. Working on the projects throughout the semester has definitely given me more confidence in the ability to create. Using the knowledge I learned in this course I feel like a can make posters, CD covers, flash animations and websites a lot easier.

The most important thing I take away from this course is the knowledge of the possibilities available in digital media. Social networking, user contribution, all things new and exciting things have expanded the creative landscape in which we work. With applications that make it so easy to create and share I feel like there is a lot of opportunity in the digital world to do something unique and innovative. I think this an important perspective to have since the world is becoming shaped evermore by the digital world. With knowledge on how, why and what the web and world is changing into I feel like I am equipped to be an active and effective participant within the environment.