Final Reflection: Summary of Learning

This is it. The last reflection post for PR Pubs. It has been a very rewarding experience that has made me more confident to move on to my career in public relations.

Before this class I didn’t even know how to resize a picture on Photoshop and I had no idea what to even do with InDesign. I honestly did not think I would learn as much as I did. Even while I was learning it, I did not realize my progress until I saw the final product.

The most difficult part of this class was that it gave us so much freedom to produce our work with our chosen audiences, to create content for real companies and topics so as to produce a portfolio we would feel confident about showcasing. Of course this made the experience even more rewarding.

Here a few tips I would like to tell people getting ready to take this class:

1. Make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to mess up and start over. Change your mind as many times as you have to. You’ll only learn if you’re not afraid to try everything and to look at a design from every angle. It’s okay if the right idea takes ten tries.
2. Don’t settle for good, don’t strive for perfect. I can’t remember which lesson mentioned this but at some point I remember hearing that you only know you’re improving if you realize how good your work actually is. Maybe you don’t know how to do better but at least you know that you can, that you’re not putting forth your best work. At the same time, this is still a beginner course, it’s okay if your work is not as professional as you would like it to be. Try your best and practice will eventually result in improvement.
3. Make time. I learned this the hard way and I would change it if I could. Make time to work on your designs outside of class time, make time to post on the blog, make time for the quizzes. Just make time. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

For the summary of learning I decided to create a trailer with iMovie. I thought about making a sort of “How to Survive PR Pubs” Guide for this project, maybe as a poster or infographic. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted to put some humor into my struggle with PR Pubs. I had not made a video in a very long time and this felt like the right way to remember this class- with something I can laugh at once I move on to other courses. Besides, maybe I’m not the best person to give how to tips for the class.

So, here is my summary of learning:

I chose the scary movie theme because I am a fan or the horror genre, what other class would allow me to do something like this? PR Pubs was all about designing to connect with people. This is my way of showing a little bit of who I am, including my weird sense of humor, and what I love to do with my free time. As a final project, I loved that the summary of learning really went all out to let us be creative.

Also, people should know that PR Pubs is no joke…