The Importance of Fireworks (Week 3)

In week three of our digital media labs we further expanded our knowledge on Adobe Fireworks. Many people are accustomed to Fireworks or Photoshop however someone new to the program like myself found many useful tips in this week’s tutorial. To start off I have little knowledge on the program Fireworks, therefore the Digital Media labs are very helpful. In the weeks leading up to week three I learned some of the basics, creating a new document, resizing an image, opening an image, using the lasso tool to put certain objects on other images. At first I thought it was going to be difficult however I managed to follow the instructions and properly learn the basics of Fireworks. In week three, the tutorial was based on optimizing images, working with basic shapes, working with the magic wand tool and the pen tool. The tutorial was straight forward but there are endless options when using the basic tools. Mixed in the tutorial were the basic types of formats. The two most common types of formats are JPEG which stands for Joint Photographic Expert Group and GIF which stands for Graphic Interchange Format. Upon learning from Professor Henry, I realized the difference between the two. The JPEG format supports millions of colors and discards large images while GIF supports 256 colours which allow large pictures to keep their original form when resized. Week three was an interesting one with many different supplementary tips and further knowledge on using Fireworks. You never know I might turn into Fireworks professional but you are better off going to Vegas and betting your money on it.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3033/adfirbz2.png

CRAP Principles (Week 2)

This week we learned about CRAP, that is the CRAP principles of visual design established by Robin Williams, not the actor, the author.

Contrast
The first principle is the contrast principle, which refers to how items should differentiate from each other. The two elements present in a picture or object must be completely different from each other. My example shows contrast through the complementary colour wheel. In the photo the blue clouds contrast to the orange and yellowish sand. This effect is known as contrast. Blue and yellowish orange are on the opposite sides of the complementary colour wheel and as a result complement each other. Contrast can be found in almost every photo and picture.

http://ea-brc.netfirms.com/tutors/colour/bin/m3x_contrast.jpg



Repetition
The second principle is repetition. Repetition refers to using the same features throughout the design more than once. My photo clearly shows repetition throughout the building texture, design and layout. The buildings all have the exact same texture and size. Secondly all three buildings have the exact same doors found at the same location. The doors are also the exact same colour. Finally the blue sky along with the white clouds portrays repetition.
http://flyingdogstudios.net/images/repetition_earth_sky.jpg




Alignment
The third principle is the alignment principle which refers to how objects and text should be arranged in a way to attract readers. A correlation is established through the alignment of the picture since something neatly aligned attracts a reader rather than complicated and messy objects scattered all over the place. Alignment allows images to be neat, polished and to the point. An example of the alignment principle is the “Eskom” website. The website shows a neatly and polished website with information aligned in a way that allows quick and easy scanning. The information is aligned in a way that allows information to be viewed in a quick and easy manner. The title fonts are larger and all
text are unified as one.
http://www.thoughtcorp.co.za/content/eskom~1.jpg

Proximity
The fourth and final principle is the proximity principle which refers to a "group of related items jointed together"( Beckstead, Lori) . The whole purpose of the proximity principle is to keep everything organized. An example is a photo I found on the internet. The photo expresses the closeness between the trees and the desert ground. All the trees are closely unified together. The great quantity of trees and the proximity makes separate items appear as a interrelated group.

http://web.syr.edu/~bchoi06/powis-paul-the-proximity-of-fading-time-i-2304009.jpg

The Future is Digital (Week 1)

The summer has come to an end and the start of a new era is upon us. As a Radio and Television of Arts student, the course digital media is a required course. My first impression of “digital media” is electronic codes used to transmit information in order to produce an end result. In grade eleven, I took a computer engineering course and one of the unit’s studied was the binary numeral system. This system uses a 0’s and 1’s to produce an end result. 0’s and 1’s are codes that are interpreted by computers as information. All letters on a keyboard for example use 0’s and 1’s. An example of this is the letter A, which’s code is 01000001. This combination of 0’s and 1’s makes one letter; now imagine programming an entire alphabet. Also capitals and lower case have different codes even for the same letter. The binary numerical system is also called base-2 number system. These are my impressions and knowledge on digital media.

After listening to the lecture I was amazed at how much more there was to digital media and how many technological devices use the binary system. I was amazed to find out how cellphones, video games, television, internet, compact disc all use 0’s and 1’s to function. I thought that only computers use the binary system to interpret information however, I was wrong as almost all technological gadgets use 0’s and 1’s to function. Digital media is so important and in essence, the way of the future. It’s already been announced that televisions will switch from analog signal to digital in the near future. Not only is digital better picture quality but it also transfers information at a quicker speed without distorting the image. Digital is becoming an important part of a society that keeps on getting more technologically advanced. This is only one aspect of digital media. There is so much to digital media which essentially is representing data using numbers. Digital media represents data, sound and light using numbers. Digital media is a large field, in which I look forward to learning more about.

A student should be recommended to take digital media for many important reasons. One reason is digital media is becoming very popular in an already advanced society. People will have to learn about digital media, its different characteristics and how things function under the binary numeral system. Digital is an important medium in a society that is thriving for advancements in technology. Many RTA students like myself want to get into broadcasting or productions and its essential for us to understand and comprehend the concepts of digital media.

Mike Cirianni

http://askbobrankin.com/analog-to-digital-tv.jpg