Summary, August 19
Hello to all. It was good to meet so many new students and to see old friends returning. We will be exploring design, layout and mock up for at least the next two classes. Today, after introductions, we discussed the grid—the “spine” or “underlying infrastructure” of a well designed piece. As I explained, you really cannot USE InDesign until you have a plan (mock up) to work from and content (text, images, etc.) Once your mock up us ready, you will all begin to delve deeply into InDesign.
Download the SYLLABUS 64SyllF10 and TODAY’S HOMEWORK 64_F10_Homework1. Between them you should be able to understand the coursework you will be doing and the specifics of the first assignment. For next week’s Design Journal we will have in depth discussion of your course textbook, Making and Breaking the Grid. Every week you MUST bring something appropriate to share.
If you left class early you may have missed the discussion about lynda.com videos vs. using a book for reinforcing your lessons. There are VERY FEW if any good InDesign CS5 books on the market yet. The one I recommend, InDesign CS5 Revealed by Chris Botello may not be out yet. If it is and you want to learn from a book, it is excellent. The others are OK but not great.
I highly recommend you watch lynda.com videos. Everyone will receive an invite to lynda.com with a set of 5 series of videos to watch over the semester. If you opt to do this, click on the link that lynda.com sends to you. You will be charged $10/month, pro-rated to the day over the amount of days and months from tomorrow through the end of the semester (the bill will be in the range of approx. $40.) You will have access to all 5 sets of videos and the files to work from. If you are taking other classes that also require lynda.com videos it is sometimes cheaper to purchase a monthly subscription which gives you access to EVERY video on the site and their files. You can start and stop that subscription at will. Some people sign up for an entire year of lynda.com videos. To subscribe monthly or annually to and help VCOM earn a few dollars, click on the link on this page so they will know you are from Las Positas VCOM.
You can choose to watch free videos on the adobe website or any other website of your choosing. They will not be as organized, detailed or as rich, and will not include the typography information that is on lynda.com, but they are OK to use if you feel you must.
The bottom line: You will have to do something to supplement the class work…..This is a huge application that takes time to learn.
Tomorrow I will be adding more RESOURCES and information to this class site. Please use this site FREQUENTLY as a resource.

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