CST 201-02, Media Tools

Luana Okino Sawada

Professor Susan Brown
December 9, 2015

Course Reflection
This course, CST201 - Media Tools is a design class where you can learn how to use
different types of software to edit and create digital image, animation, audio and video.
This class teaches multiple concepts about design and specifically how to use Photoshop,
Edge Animate, Illustrator, Camtasia, Audacity and other software. In the assignments it
is necessary to use your knowledge about the design concepts and apply your ability to
create and edit multimedia. I choose this course so I could learn how to use all those
different software with the purpose of improving my creativity skills in producing really
good images, animations and videos.

From this course I learn a little bit about designing posters and videos. The most important
concepts that I learned were the P.A.R.C. (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and
Contrast), the guides (Golden rule, rule of thirds and phi), the visual hierarchy and
typography. The P.A.R.C. is used to provide a better cue to the viewer a balanced design.
The guides is used to steer the focus to an element on the image. The visual hierarchy has
the purpose to drag the view to different elements in a certain order. Besides typography
is used to make the text readable and efficient.

These theories have helped me understand and have good arguments to criticize design
work. Consequently I have improved my knowledge in the design area and my
photographic skills. So after taking this course I am able to create animations and better
images, audios, and videos.

There were two assignments that were more exciting and engaging than the rest for me;
the first one - was the Ex01: Wish I were there because the professor gave us feedback
so we could improve the postcard, which helped me understand it and improve. The other
one was the Movie Project because it was challenging to make a poster for a movie,

especially when it had been imagined by another person. On the other hand, one
assignment that didnt enjoy as much was the Storyboards because there were an
excessive amount of sketches to do.

As a conclusion, I would like to say that I have enjoyed the experience of this course. I
have really learned a lot of new things and improve and gained multiples skills.