Bootcamp Reflection

This past week in my PR Publications class, we were asked to watch a series of video tutorials on lynda.com that explained different tools and techniques in both Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. Going into this assignment, I thought it would be simple and easy, but I definitely got a rude awakening when I saw that the videos totaled over two hours of viewing time. After I scheduled in time over the course of a few days, I realized that it could and should be done. After all, I knew I would come out with way more knowledge about these products than I previously had.

As I began the first few videos, I discovered that this was definitely going to take longer than I thought. I would watch the instructor demo what we should do, and then I would have to pause the video, go into my own document, complete the steps, go back to the video, and repeat until I had finished the design. About halfway through each program’s tutorials, I began to get the hang of things. Editing photos, creating text boxes, and inserting images soon became natural. I was happy with what I was accomplishing, and how I was learning so much so fast.

After watching all of the videos and completing all of the exercises, I was shocked at how much I was able to do. When I have watched tutorial videos in the past, no matter the subject, I never really grasped the concept of what I was supposed to do. So when I went to just mess around with both Photoshop and InDesign on my own, I was surprised by how much I remembered from the videos. Seeing how much I was able to learn in such a short amount of time has encouraged me to continue watching tutorials so that I can become even more advanced with the programs. I also plan on using lynda.com to learn about other Adobe apps so that I can get the most of each app.