Task 2 Process Essay
Purpose for the Original Collection of Graphics
The purpose of my original collection of graphics is to highlight students’ achievement and work, as well as remind them of upcoming events, in an visually stimulating and easily accessible digital format.
Target Audience
The target audience for the graphics collection I created are the students in my classroom and their parents/guardians. The target audience is appropriate for this graphics collection because the purpose of this website is to sample my classroom culture during a time when visitor access is restricted.
Process for Each Image
Original Digital Photograph
To find my original digital photograph I searched through files saved to my classroom Google Drive that includes images of my students and their accomplishments, scanned copies of student work, and recordings of my students presenting their work. Once I located the photograph I wanted to use, I downloaded it to my desktop and renamed it Book Club Original.
As I was required to resize the image, I went to the website https://www.iloveimg.com/ Here I clicked on the “Resize Image” option, “Select Images,” and chose the correct file from my downloads. In the “Resize Options,” I changed the width to 640 pixels and the height to 480 pixels, unclicked “Maintain Aspect Ratio,” then clicked “Resize Images.” When the file was ready, a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Club Resized before downloading it.
The next task was to crop the image in a purposeful way. I went back to the homepage of iloveimg.com, but this time chose the “Crop Image” option. I again chose “Select Images” to upload the original copy of the photograph. The next screen allowed me to crop the photograph using arrows at the corners of the image to determine what I wanted to keep. Happy with the new focus, I clicked “Crop Image.” Again a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Club Cropped before downloading it.
My last task for this file was to use another feature. I again used iloveimg.com for this purpose. Choosing the “Photo Editor” option this time, I once more chose “Select Images” to upload the original copy of the photograph. In the toolbar I clicked “Filter and Light,” then the “Grayscale” option. Content with the change, I clicked “Save” and a popup appeared that allowed me to change the name of the file to Book Club Adapted before downloading it.
Scanned Document
To find my next image I went back to my classroom Google Drive, this time choosing a scanned copy of student work. Once I located the file I wanted to use, I downloaded it to my desktop and renamed it Sample Student Work Scanned. Since the file was saved as a PDF and I later needed to crop it, I went to https://www.ilovepdf.com/ to convert it to an image. This was easily accomplished by the following: 1) click “PDF to JPG,” 2) click “Select PDF Files” and choose the correct file to upload, 3) click “Convert to PDF,” and 4) a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Sample Student Work Scanned Image before downloading it. Now that I had a JPEG file, I could follow the same steps as outlined for the Original Digital Photograph to resize the image.
Original Image - Graphics Painting Program
As I work on a MacBook and do not have access to Microsoft Paint, I used a search engine to find an online equivalent. Though there were many options, the one I found easiest to use was https://kleki.com/ On this site I used the “Brush” tool to create an original image of a book. After drawing the outline in black, I clicked around in the spectrum box to change the color of the brush and fill in the pages and cover. To download the image, I clicked “Save” and a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Paint before downloading it. Now having a JPEG file, I could follow the same steps as outlined for the Original Digital Photograph to resize the image.
Outside Image
To find a royalty-free photograph I could use as an outside image, I went to https://unsplash.com/ and searched “Middle School Student.” I landed on the image of a man carrying a backpack in the library, as I felt it could be used as a placeholder next to a reminder of upcoming library due dates (Redd, 2015). I then clicked “Download Free” and changed the name of the file to Library Outside before saving the image to my computer.
Weebly Galleries
To create the galleries on my Weebly site, I simply drag and dropped the “Gallery” option to my Weebly’s “Graphics” page. From here, I clicked on “Upload Images,” then “Upload images from your computer,” choosing all appropriate files. Once I was happy with the placement of the images, I clicked on the gallery as a whole and changed the caption options to “Thumbnail: Lightbox & Full Thumbnails” and “Display Caption on Hover.” Finally, I went through and changed the captions by clicking at the top of each image, then “Caption.” When a blank text box appeared, I typed in the name of the file, and then clicked “Done” to save my work, repeating this for each individual image on the page.
References
The purpose of my original collection of graphics is to highlight students’ achievement and work, as well as remind them of upcoming events, in an visually stimulating and easily accessible digital format.
Target Audience
The target audience for the graphics collection I created are the students in my classroom and their parents/guardians. The target audience is appropriate for this graphics collection because the purpose of this website is to sample my classroom culture during a time when visitor access is restricted.
Process for Each Image
Original Digital Photograph
To find my original digital photograph I searched through files saved to my classroom Google Drive that includes images of my students and their accomplishments, scanned copies of student work, and recordings of my students presenting their work. Once I located the photograph I wanted to use, I downloaded it to my desktop and renamed it Book Club Original.
As I was required to resize the image, I went to the website https://www.iloveimg.com/ Here I clicked on the “Resize Image” option, “Select Images,” and chose the correct file from my downloads. In the “Resize Options,” I changed the width to 640 pixels and the height to 480 pixels, unclicked “Maintain Aspect Ratio,” then clicked “Resize Images.” When the file was ready, a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Club Resized before downloading it.
The next task was to crop the image in a purposeful way. I went back to the homepage of iloveimg.com, but this time chose the “Crop Image” option. I again chose “Select Images” to upload the original copy of the photograph. The next screen allowed me to crop the photograph using arrows at the corners of the image to determine what I wanted to keep. Happy with the new focus, I clicked “Crop Image.” Again a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Club Cropped before downloading it.
My last task for this file was to use another feature. I again used iloveimg.com for this purpose. Choosing the “Photo Editor” option this time, I once more chose “Select Images” to upload the original copy of the photograph. In the toolbar I clicked “Filter and Light,” then the “Grayscale” option. Content with the change, I clicked “Save” and a popup appeared that allowed me to change the name of the file to Book Club Adapted before downloading it.
Scanned Document
To find my next image I went back to my classroom Google Drive, this time choosing a scanned copy of student work. Once I located the file I wanted to use, I downloaded it to my desktop and renamed it Sample Student Work Scanned. Since the file was saved as a PDF and I later needed to crop it, I went to https://www.ilovepdf.com/ to convert it to an image. This was easily accomplished by the following: 1) click “PDF to JPG,” 2) click “Select PDF Files” and choose the correct file to upload, 3) click “Convert to PDF,” and 4) a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Sample Student Work Scanned Image before downloading it. Now that I had a JPEG file, I could follow the same steps as outlined for the Original Digital Photograph to resize the image.
Original Image - Graphics Painting Program
As I work on a MacBook and do not have access to Microsoft Paint, I used a search engine to find an online equivalent. Though there were many options, the one I found easiest to use was https://kleki.com/ On this site I used the “Brush” tool to create an original image of a book. After drawing the outline in black, I clicked around in the spectrum box to change the color of the brush and fill in the pages and cover. To download the image, I clicked “Save” and a popup appeared, allowing me to change the name of the file to Book Paint before downloading it. Now having a JPEG file, I could follow the same steps as outlined for the Original Digital Photograph to resize the image.
Outside Image
To find a royalty-free photograph I could use as an outside image, I went to https://unsplash.com/ and searched “Middle School Student.” I landed on the image of a man carrying a backpack in the library, as I felt it could be used as a placeholder next to a reminder of upcoming library due dates (Redd, 2015). I then clicked “Download Free” and changed the name of the file to Library Outside before saving the image to my computer.
Weebly Galleries
To create the galleries on my Weebly site, I simply drag and dropped the “Gallery” option to my Weebly’s “Graphics” page. From here, I clicked on “Upload Images,” then “Upload images from your computer,” choosing all appropriate files. Once I was happy with the placement of the images, I clicked on the gallery as a whole and changed the caption options to “Thumbnail: Lightbox & Full Thumbnails” and “Display Caption on Hover.” Finally, I went through and changed the captions by clicking at the top of each image, then “Caption.” When a blank text box appeared, I typed in the name of the file, and then clicked “Done” to save my work, repeating this for each individual image on the page.
References
- Redd. (2015, March 27). [Man with Backpack in Library]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/9o8YdYGTT64