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Last time I talked about this topic I told you about how my Intro to Computers class helped me learn to pay close attention to details in my designs. This time I thought back to my English class and how my media writing class has been focusing on correct spelling and grammar and making things sound professional. I worked on these skills in my English class when we created our resumes and draft cover letters what helped me then was running a spelling and grammar check on my document to make sure the words were correct and now that I’m in media writing I am now also using Grammarly as another way to check my writing and grammar for my assignments and it has been going pretty great I feel like it has helped my writing improve.

Keyboard shortcuts are little commands you can type into the computer in place of searching using the cursor of the mouse to make using your computer easier. I would have to agree that using computer shortcuts does make things easier for example I keep a lot of files on my desktop and it can get hard to find things so a shortcut I can use is by pressing the spacebar on a MacBook it opens up the spotlight search app which can be used to help me find the file I need by searching its name. Then all the commands help with editing like cutting, copying, and pasting and those are only a few basic tools. One important tip is that on a Macbook you use the command key whereas in Windows you use the control key which is always a good thing to know depending on what type of computer you use. Lastly, it is always important to practice using the shortcuts it will become easier to remember the keys needed and it will become more natural to use the shortcuts the more they are used.

I know that It seems like it would make more sense to some that it’s just easier to jump into whatever software that person is using and get to work designing but trust me it goes a lot easier if you stop and sketch out you ideas for the design create a plan. It also helps to have sketches as notes or something to reference if you ever run into problems with the design and it also helps to have a rough draft to show to clients because i have been told so many times that if you show a client a design that was made with a computer the rough draft is sometimes mistaken as the final product for the design even though it has not been made yet. So you can see these are important reasons on why you should always try to rough sketch you designs so you can try out ideas and notes to look back on.

Cropping is a useful to when it comes to editing photos and resizing them to fit into what design you need but when cropping there are certain things that you can not cut off when editing. You cant cut off heads hands or feet now this applies differently depending on the size of the photo for example if the photo is just a head the make sure that you don’t accidentally cut off the top of the head or side of the face as it will really affect the photo and not make it very usable. Then for mid body photos you can not crop out the hands or knees of the person in the photo. Then for full body shots once again you dont want to crop off the tops of a head or the feet as that can really affect how the photo looks and make it harder to use in the design. I hope these rules are easy to understand and also help when editing photos.

These past few weeks I have been learning about how you chan make a story or ad stick in your head and what I mean is making what ever you read or see rememberable. What helps make something stick is the details to the story and also the emotions and feelings that the story creates. For example someone started a rumor on halloween of the candy kids were getting being tampered with of course none of it was true and no one died from there candy but parents and doctor were so concerned that they were going through kids candy making sure it was safe and know years later parents tell there kids not to accept candy that is not wrapped as a safety measure. Now what made this story stick was that it started a rumor and created fear and concern for parents which is what helped it stick cause think about it if you feel a strong emotion you more likely to remember the events that happened that night because of the emotions and details.

Its true that A.I is capable of a lot of great things and is suppose to make things easier to save time however in the case of designing thing for ads campaigns yes A.I can help generate logos and customize them to what a client might need there is still going to be a need for a human when it comes to designing.

I feel that even thought A.I Is helpful it does still have limits on what it can do and thats were having a person involved comes in because A computer can never have all the creative talents or skills that a person has because when you think about it when you have a computer make something for you it gives you a templet and then you have to customize it to your liking.

How ever that still does not mean that using A.I is a bad thing it can still help make thing easier but its also good that when it comes to having a profession in media there are needs for both using A.I and people in the media industry.

When it comes to using color in designs you should always fallow a few simple rules or tips.

First when designing for some product you want to make sure that the colors match the colors of the product or logo because otherwise if you use colors that don’t match your product the ad could end up being hard to recognize.

Now you also want to know that you want to limit the amount of colors you use to two or three at most that way the designs are kept simple and it also help because you have to pay for every color used on an add so theres another reason to use only a few colors on an ad.

Finally make sure the colors you use match or go with the message that you are trying to communicate. For example when you look at an ad for a Coke you mostly see the red and white color which catches your eye and then you read the message which is to buy there product and the color that was used help draw attention to the ad and its message.

These rules may be simple but they do help out a great deal when it comes to creating an ad and they have helped me when creating my designs and will help me in the future.

Now I know what your thinking that your other classes have almost nothing to do with media so theres not much that can help right. Well thats not always true for example one of the things that is always talked about in the field of media is that you have to pay close attention to detail and for me in my intro to computers class for the assignments we had to make sure that the text was the right font, size, color that we had the right shapes the right photos and plenty of other small details that took time to make sure the project was right. So next time you think that something in one of your other classes cant help you with your media project think again because it might just help you get the skill that you need.

3-d printers have grown more in use with every year they have been used for a great deal of many thing in several industries and today we will be focusing on a 3-d printers effect in media. 3-d printers have been used in an arrange of both small and big budget movies they are mostly used to design either small props or parts for a charters costume. Fun fact the armor of a storm trooper in Star Wars is 3-d printed. This help proves just how helpful a printer can be instead of making every thing by hand they design the prop they need on a computer and then print as many as you need which is cost effective and can help save time compared to doing it by hand. Another benefit is that the printers rely on digital files which also makes printing so much easier. I believe that as 3-d printers get more advanced the things that can get made will only get better

1. Find out where a PDF originated from

You can find out where a PDF originated from.

A PDF always comes from some other program. No one just creates a PDF and starts typing in it and adding images. It comes from somewhere else like InDesign, Word, Excel, etc.

You can figure out which program the PDF was exported from by going to File > Properties and then Description. It will show you the application and the version, if it was created on a Mac or PC, the date it was created and modified, and much more.

I’ve found this helpful in a few situations such as when the client said they weren’t sure what application the file was created in and I needed the original file. That can help them find the document on their end—meaning if it was in Word, they created it, but if it came from InDesign, they’ll need to ask their designer for the file.

2. Find out the page size of a PDF

You can find out the page size. If you hover your cursor in the lower lefthand corner of the document window, you will see the page size.

I tell clients about this feature so they can check the size of the pieces they are proofing. This is particularly helpful when they have something like a direct mail package to proof.

It’s also helpful if a client sends you a PDF from another business that they like, for example, and they want to do something in that same size.

3. Find out the fonts in a PDF

If you need to find out the typefaces that were used in the document, go to File > Properties > Fonts. This will show a list of fonts used.

This only applies to live text, though, not any text that may appear in an image or that may have been converted to outlines.

I like to use this to find out which fonts we may need to use for a client’s project if we’re using their existing branding, so that the fonts are consistent.

I also like this feature to double check for any extraneous fonts that may be used somewhere in a document that we want to get rid of. It won’t show you where they’re used in the document, but you can go back to InDesign to find that out.

4. Edit a PDF in Acrobat

Not only can you edit a PDF directly within Acrobat by going to Tools > Edit PDF, but you can open a PDF in Illustrator and edit any text or vector elements easily.

The text is easy to edit as long as you have the font and it’s active and if the text wasn’t converted to outlines first. You can check to see if it was converted to outlines by going into the PDF and selecting the text. If you can select it, it wasn’t converted, and it’s live text in the PDF.

5. Export to Word from PDF in Acrobat

This might be one of my favorite tips, and I think you might agree after you try it out for yourself.

You know that feeling when a client asks for something to be done in Word? You just groan, right? It’s awful. Word is just not a page layout program. It’s clunky.

Well, did you know you could actually design something in InDesign, export to PDF and then export that to a Word document?

Yep! When I’ve done this, it worked amazing!

The front cover was in a precise position on the first page. The text was all live text, so it was editable.

The paragraph styles I had originally used in InDesign—for example, Heading 1, Heading 2 and Body Text, were all included in the Styles palette in Word.

The master page items used for the running headers and footers showed up as a header and footer in the Word document.

So next time your client needs a Word document, consider this rather than spending additional time and frustration trying to accomplish the same thing in Word.

Everything was in the correct placement on each page.

You can also export to a slew of other formats, including HTML.

6. Scan and OCR a PDF

You can also convert images of text to live, editable text. This is under Tools > Scan and OCR.

I had a client send a financial document from their accountant for use in their annual report. I needed a text version. They said they wouldn’t provide that, so I ran OCR on it in Acrobat.

Of course, after I did that and spent time checking it, they decided to comply and send a text version.

Anyway, I find the OCR feature to be pretty accurate. But it will depend on the quality of the text. If any text is blurry or in a script typeface, it may not be as accurate. You should proofread it, though, when you’re done.

7. Acrobat’s Compare Files feature

And that brings me to the Compare Files feature.

You can compare files in Acrobat. I like to use this feature to compare the original PDF with one I just ran OCR on.

I’ve also used it to compare a previous design proof with the most recent one to make sure nothing changed other than the edits I made. I’ve also used it to compare a PDF I made from a client’s Word document with a design proof I’m about to send to make sure no content was left out.

I suggested one designer in my Design Domination Facebook group use this feature to find the edits her client had made by directly editing the PDF. They didn’t mark the edits. They just edited the PDF, so she couldn’t tell what the heck had changed.

You can use this feature to look for differences in text only or also look for styling discrepancies.

8. Add bookmarks to a PDF

You can add bookmarks to make it easy for the reader to navigate the document. It’s like a built-in table of contents. You can then set them to always show when the file is opened. Go to File > Properties > Initial View > Bookmarks Panel and Page.

You can also add them manually in the PDF or you can use what’s called a “Preflight fixup” to do so.

9. Acrobat preflight fixups

Speaking of Preflight fixups, there are a ton of these available in Acrobat. They are found by going to Edit > Preflight.

So like I said, there is one to add bookmarks. Once you go into the Preflight feature, select Acrobat DC 2015 Profiles, select the wrench icon and type in “bookmarks.” Then you will see “Create bookmarks from headings.”

There’s one for converting spot colors to CMYK.

There are also several accessibility fixups as well, such as to fix the “Alternative description missing for an annotation” and “PDF/UA identifier missing” errors.

These and many other issues are easily resolved by running a fixup.

I recommend checking out the options you have because you’ll save so much time if there is a fixup available for what you’re trying to do.

10. Get edits in a PDF

You can use Acrobat to easily get edits in a PDF. Clients can add sticky notes, cross out or highlight text, for example.

Getting edits in a PDF is also helpful when more than one person needs to review the document. Instead of sending it to just your main contact, you can send it to multiple people. They’d otherwise need to add their notes, save it, send it off to the next person, and they can’t all see the edits at once, which can make it harder for them to discuss.