For this project I decided to create a little collage of some of my closest friends I’ve made while being here at Washington State University and in my sorority Alpha Gamma Delta. I compiled photos from all my best memories so far with these girls and hopefully it will be something I can look back and smile at in a few years. This project relates to my overall blog topic in that it surrounds my sorority and showing the real experiences I had to try to counteract the negative stereotypes about sororities and Greek life in colleges around the country. The principals that inspired me were the aspect of collage and combining photos, colors and words for a grand presentation that not only captures the pics themselves but also the essence of these photos. I feel that in mine you can feel the happiness coming from each memory in each photo.
The elements that I used in this collage were photos of my friends and a photo of myself from the first CFS (coug football Saturday) game day. Along with that I used a photo of just some sparkles that I made on an app called glitty and layered it into the background to give more of a pop to the image as a whole. I think having a bunch of photos plain is less interesting and adding some sparkle really pulled it all together. I used the magic wand tool to outline the hands faces and bodies of me and my friends and let the sparkle fill the background. I also used the text tool to add words that say “Rush AGD” to remind viewers that this is a promotional collage that represents all the fun and good that comes along with being in a sorority. I selected red to be the color of the words because AGD is bright and bold just like the color red. I used the frame tool to get all of my photos to be where I wanted them and get the right lay out. These are all photos that I have taken and had in my camera roll on my phone which made it easier because I don’t need permission to use them. I didn’t really have any problems with adobe photoshop while making this, but I did have to go back and watch some tutorials to remind myself the functions of certain tools.
Sarah's Blog 
You have a lot of good elements in the photos that you chose, but I think that the way they are put together could be improved to better fit with your bog theme. I would maybe consider making the entire background of the photo the glitter that is used in the bottom half, and then on top of that placing the other images, similar to the bulletin board tutorial that everyone completed for the class. I think that the way it is laid out it seems a bit rushed and disjointed. There is also a place along the top of the glitter that is a weird curved crop and then it seems like after that the glitter was not long enough to totally cover the gap before the top four photos. I think that just making the full background the silver glitter would help to eliminate those issues. I would also possibly consider changing the “rush AGD” to something else that could promote the house, because as is it just seems like a bit of an after-thought. I think that the direction you are started in is good though and that it just needs a bit of reworking.
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I like your blog post; I think it is cool you chose a promotional type project because that is something you could always use in the future to use for your sorority. I like the images you used because it shows having fun with your sisters and could make people want to join and have this same type of fun. I think when it comes to your main image with the glitter surrounding it, you could try and fade the edges more together so it looks smoother, other than that it is great!
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Initially viewing your graphic design for your blog, I picked up on the energy and spirit the collection of images you used in your design gave off. It is a very fun and spirited work that goes well with the greek life theme of your blog. I also like how the color red is present in each of the different photos as well as the color of the font which helps tie the whole design together. One critique I have is to use the magnetic lasso instead of the magic wand tool. The magnetic lasso will help get a more accurate and closer crop to the image of you and your friends so that once you apply the glitter background it will have a cleaner edge. Another critique that I have is to possibly bring down the the top banner of images just a little so it enlarges the photos up top a bit so they look better proportioned to the main image on the bottom.
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You have got a good thing going here for sure! The photos you have chosen are cute and fun! I like the vibe you are going for and the fun and friendship that is seen really shines through. I think that the pictures that you have chosen tell the story you want them to tell but I think that there is some work that could be done. I think that the “Rush AGD” could be centered and a bigger focal point for the poster, since it is something that should be highlighted and is the main focus of this poster. Additionally, some of the cropping could be a little more fine tuned. But other than that it looks great and I am excited to see the final product.
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