Survived Bootcamp.

This post marks the end of InDesign and Photoshop bootcamp.  It’s clear that I have much to learn, but I also feel like I have already learned so much!  I went from probably 0% to maybe 10% in my knowledge of these programs.

The class was asked to “play around” on programs like InDesign and Photoshop.  This may sound like fun because it gives the impression that you can create whatever you want.  There was only one problem…we had no idea how to do anything.  Watching the teacher demonstrate the tools on a separate screen was one thing, but doing it on your own computer was…complicated.

We were asked to choose a high resolution photo and cut out parts of it using Photoshop.  I was great with the cutting tools, however I was not sure how to make it stop.  So I ended up cutting half of my picture…  This made me feel very frustrated.  I felt pretty helpless too since there were so many options on the screen and I had no idea what to choose to make it stop.

On a deeper level,  I think I got very frustrated because I’m used to having things work instantaneously, especially when it comes to technology.  My peers and I have phones practically attached to our hands that can connect us to a million different things.  My first instinct when I got frustrated was to pull out my phone and google “how do you stop the cut tool on Photoshop”.  Hopefully by the end of the semester I’ll know how to use Photoshop and InDesign more effectively, so my first reaction won’t be to use my cell phone to work a computer program.