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Visual Unit Studio 2

Work to have done:

Plan for the day:

  1. Guiding thoughts for Studio (5-15 min)
  2. Set intentions
  3. Pomodoros in breakout rooms
  4. Exit note
Today is all about working on your individual projects! Layer images, apply effects, watch relevant tutorials. I know your lives are busy; take advantage of this dedicated time free from other distractions and obligations to move your piece forward.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that you’re working in a shared space, in a studio. If you have questions, or you want feedback on something, you have your classmates and your instructor on-hand.

I’ll encourage pomodoro timers again, so you have regular check-ins with each other, since I can’t be in every room.

Guiding thoughts for Studio (5-15 min)

Some seeds of revision possibilities I want to plant, based on seeing Tuesday’s drafts:

Help your text pop. If you have text on your image, it can be tricky to get it to stand out against the background. Luckily, in a digital medium, we can collaborate with the machine to get some automated help. Play around with drop-shadow, or even the Xach effect – a quick-hit combination of highlight and drop-shadow – as explained in this tutorial. NB: this works by adding two new layers (a shadow, and a highlight), one of which is masked; you can change the order of layers to affect only the ones you want.
Consider how alignment signals association.

Psychologists studying perception have identified many principles of grouping, by which disparate objects are interpreted – more or less automatically – as being part of the same object. We've seen some of these at work already in thinking about proximity and color, but it's worth thinking about how to use these principles to signal the same level of hierarchy, rather than for dominating attention.

For example, when objects' edges align, most viewers will treat them as related; when they share a color, we'll do the same; even when a line is discontinuous, but it matches a simple shape we recognize, we'll automatically try to fill in the missing pieces and see it as a single whole.

See www.gridd.nl/en/2016/05/apply-gestalt-principles-ux-design for some good examples from user experience (UX) design.

Consider naming and/or grouping your layers. GIMP doesn't let you select multiple layers at a time, but there is a workaround: as in PowerPoint, you can group objects (layers) together, and then move (or modify) the group as a unit. See docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-layer-groups.html. Note the opportunity to then further organize your workspace with good naming practices!
Don't forget your README – and consider adding a title there. A title can provide a context, a clue, a genre, a commentary; it can add an extra layer to viewer expectations. What will you call your collage? Not sure where a title would go? Think of placards in museums: alongside the image is pretty common. You can put the title in your README. Sometimes the title is obvious from the image itself; sometimes it's not. Likewise, ad campaigns often have titles, even if they're not referred to in the ads themselves.
Consider adding a link to your image

Many of you are trying to get viewers to take an action; if you haven't yet, consider giving them a place to go to get involved, or to get more information. Make this link large enough to be easily readable, even though it probably won't fall at the top level of your visual hierarchy (because it makes more sense as the last thing, rather than the first thing, they see).

Even if you don't have such a call to action in your visual argument, you might want to add an unobtrusive link to your credits file on GitHub – e.g. in a small font-size along the border. This would serve as a compromise between filling a sidebar or footer with all the required attributions for your Creative Commons images (though that may be fine, too) and simply not making those names available – which would be a violation of the CC-BY and related licenses.

A link shortener like bit.ly or ow.ly may help to keep this kind of link subtle enough not to detract from your design.

Consider whether you have enough screenshots.

Think about what moments are worth remembering as you go: where did you level up, or realize something, or get stuck? Take a screenshot in the moment, so you can refer back to it in your reflection.

This is particularly important if you're not using GIMP: I'd like to know what about the workflow of the program you're using is especially compelling. Screenshots of work-in-progress (or even short gifs, which you can record using the strangely named LICEcap) will be really helpful to me in understanding how your project moves through the software at key junctures. It could also help your peers, and possibly your own future-self, too.

Okay, now go to!

As usual, please set a daily goal in the shared notes doc, both for accountability and so I can look for ways to help.

Then consult the clock and your partners: leaving 5 minutes to return to the main room at the end of the class, do you have time for two 20-minute cycles and one 5-minute check-in? Three 15-minute cycles and two check-ins?

Make sure you agree, then start your timers. Each time the bell rings, ask each other:

  • What do you feel good about?
  • What challenges came up?
  • What questions do you have?

You can find me in the main room, or call me in to your breakout room if you have a question in common: just use the “Ask for Help” button ask for help button, which shows a question mark in a circle in your meeting menu.

Don't forget to save periodically as you go:
  • as a project file
  • as a git commit, saying what you've just achieved
  • as a screenshot

EXT: Feel like your project is finished, and not sure what to do?

  1. Make sure everything’s pushed properly to GitHub
  2. Make some lists: things I have learned about GIMP; questions I have about GIMP; things I have learned about gestalt principles of perception; questions I have about gestalt principles of perception.
  3. Work with the Internet, or peers, or me to answer the questions from step 2.
  4. Write a draft of your reflection; remember that you still have time to revise, though.

To get credit for asynchronous participation, add your working goals to the google doc when you start your session, set your timer, and when the bell rings, add a brief reply to your initial note with a status update. (This can be very brief.) Run through this cycle at least twice.

NB: To make it easier for me to find your additions to the doc, please use either Comments or Suggestion Mode.

Quick report back (with 5 min left)

Just as a way for me to check in, I’d like to hear more about what happened today: did you find images? Level up on a particular GIMP skill? Which ones? Decide something about your project (what was it)? Raise a question in a new way that you’d like some help with?

Take five minutes to reply to your own notes in the doc. If everyone finishes early, we can hear from a few volunteers out loud.

Homework for next time

  • If you haven’t yet done so, please download and install the Atom text editor; we’ll be using it for our upcoming web design unit.
  • Aiming for 11:59pm on Sunday, complete – at least for now – your visual argument / rhetorical collage. Your repository (on GitHub or in a shared Box folder) should include:
    • Your most up-to-date layered project file (.xcf for GIMP, .psd for Photoshop)
    • A series, now, of screenshots showing your GIMP project in progress
    • An exported flat image (.png or .jpeg), for speedy previewing or as a backup should something go wrong with the project file
    • An updated ASSETS.md (or CREDITS.md) file reflecting what you actually used, including documentation of any outside sources and your permission to use them (e.g. explicit licenses like CC, or rationales for claiming fair use)
    • An updated README.md file introducing your collage to a new audience. Give your piece a title! Make it something to live beyond this assignment, if you can. :¬)
  • By Tuesday’s class, write a prose reflection that incorporates images from your feedback and screenshots of your GIMP project. As explained in the prompt for the assignment, this should include:
    • At least 500 words
    • Your own assessment of how you met the baseline criteria and goals for the unit, as well as any aspirational goals as appropriate
    • At least one screenshot or blockquote of feedback you used (and please say how)
    • At least one or two screenshots of your work in progress (ideally, related to the discussion in the previous two bullets)
  • Post your reflection to the course site’s Issue queue, to make it easier to embed images.
    • If you want to then copy the source code into a file in your repo called reflections.md, I won’t stop you!
    • If you feel strongly that you’d rather keep your reflection private, you can email it to me instead. But my default assumption is that we learn from each other as much as from ourselves, so I hope you can find a way to write publicly about your experience with this project.