5.2 process blog
When I think about how I use technology in my design process, my first thought is always Adobe. The dock on my laptop has Lightroom, InDesign, Photoshop, Premier and Illustrator pinned to it. I always reach for them when I start to make my plans a reality. That being said, there are always challenges. Adobe crashes a lot. It drives me insane. Also, why the actual hell does it cost so much and is impossible to pirate anymore (I have never done that I have simply heard of it happening).
In the safety of Adobe I started this module with a one-day brief called public space public voice. Its focus was on raising awareness of neurodiversity.
We then went to look at media consumption. What images and where we see them but also music and other forms of art.
Over the course of this module, we delved into various forms of animation. I enjoyed some aspects of it more than others…
We looked at online design tools that allowed for different assets to be generated such as text and image.
Learning to make actions in photoshop and shortcuts on my mac has helped to streamline my process. I have made a photoshop action that will easily set up noise textures and paper cut out effects to my work so that I can still achieve my preferred scrapbook/grungey style that I love working with but without having to spend time and money printing. This will be useful for short deadlines where I might not be able to put the time in for hand crafted pieces. I use paragraph and character styles in InDesign to also streamline my work and am looking to find more forms of automation so that I can spend more time designing text and publications than just typing/copying words or information to a page.
I personally struggle to accept the use of generative ai in my work. I hear the horror stories of the environmental impact things such as image generators have as well as the rise in very realistic ai that can affect vulnerable people. I know adobe has some ai tools integrated that I do use like the denoise or automatic mask tools in lightroom. I know that my work has become more efficient from using them. I think my major qualms with ai come from using it to create and put together assets as a quick move when there are so many other means of doing that which also allow me to express my creativity.
I know that I will always make an effort to avoid tools that limit my creative control. I want my work to be Jude’s work not something like Jude’s work. I know I am stubborn with my values, but I don’t see myself giving them up just so my vectors are made faster – the pen tool in illustrator and I will be pals for many years to come.
I think I want to always reevaluate how technology aids my work, how I can work with it rather than against it. Experimenting with new and different technologies has shown me that I am not limited to simple posters and pictures. I can use the techniques I have from photography but combine them with greater understanding of automation to make batch editing quicker and make my images much higher in quality. I have gained a lot more confidence in motion graphics despite my beef with AfterEffects. I know what tools are available there so I can practice using them more and eventually enjoy what I am doing.
This reflective process has influenced my self-confidence and made me aware of which technologies I want to learn more about.
