The End of an Era

     I can't believe it's here already. It feels like just last week I was wandering around campus, taking pictures of everything I walked past, thinking "could this be art?" I'm not sure that all of it really was, but I was trying really hard. I was excited to learn about visual literacy, because I had no idea what that even was, let alone how to use it. 

    Since then, I definitely still have a lot to learn about the elements of art and how to use them well and what looks good and how things could look better. But, I've certainly come a long way in this area and understand way more then I did coming in.

    I've been able to learn skills like photo editing, illustrating with vector graphics, and audio production. I think the vector poster might have been the most time consuming assignment for me. I was excited to work with Adobe Illustrate for the first time, and wanted to take my time getting used to it. This involved watching a 3 hour long tutorial video to learn the basics and practice with someone directly teaching me. When learning new things, I tend to get over-ambitious and think I can just figure it out on my own. While I usually figure some things out, it often leads to way more frustration than necessary and a lot lower quality of work. 

    So, I challenged myself a lot this year to take my time. Sometimes I did better than others, but I think I definitely improved in this way. I value the learning process a lot more than I did before, because if you learn things right, though it may take longer at first, you'll have a stronger foundation to grow off of down the line. This lesson is applicable in any skill I try to learn in my life. 

    I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with my Media Communication degree yet, but one thing I'm excited for it all of the opportunities to learn new skills. I could take this degree in a photography route, videography, TV production, PR, graphic design marketing, radio, and many other ways. And, if I get tired of one thing, I can switch it up. 

    The more skills I learn, programs I work with, and experience I have, the more things I can be qualified for, and more importantly, the more I figure out what I really like to do. I am so grateful that this class has given me the opportunity to dip my toes into many different areas of media. I now want to practice and learn more about graphics, get better at creating cohesive narrative videos, and learn how to better edit photos and make them more effective. 

    I have so much more to learn, but I am so excited with where my knowledge and skills can take me after being introduced to them in this class.