Front and Back Matter

Front Matter

Transmittal Letter

Color Correction Recommendation Report

Memo

To: Professor Janie Santoy

From: Christine Knight

Date: April 19, 2009

Subject: Recommendation Report on Color Correction Tutorial

Enclosed is a recommendation report on the Color Correction Tutorial. This report contains a review and recommendation of the review.

This report is analyzed into three categories: (1) Memorability, (2) Learnability, and (3) Satisfaction. The report also examines the methodology or the test plan, my findings, the conclusion and my recommendation.

It is my hope that this report will provide the information needed to improve the tutorial. Also, I hope to be able to recommend this report to anyone who is looking for a Color Correction tutorial.

Cover

Color Correction Tutorial

Recommendation Report

Christine Knight

19 April 2009

Title Page

Color Correction

Recommendation Report

Prepared by Christine Knight

Student of TSTC Harlingen

19 April 2009

Prepared for

Professor Janie Santoy

Abstract

This report examines the Color Correction Tutorial for Photoshop. The report will discuss the usability test which I conducted on the tutorial. The purpose of this recommendation report are the recommendations for changes that need to improve based of the results of my usability test. This report is analyzed into three categories: (1) Memorability, (2) Learnability, and (3) Satisfaction. This report will provide examples for each of the three categories. The report also examines the methodology or the test plan, my findings, the conclusion and my recommendation.

Executive Summary

This report examines the Color Correction for Photoshop tutorial. The tutorial teaches the user how to color correct their images so that they can make their images more vibrant and to help the user make their images stand out. The purpose of this report is to provide a recommendation so that the creator of the tutorial will know what changes he needs to make to improve the tutorial.

The purpose of the tutorial is to make your images more vibrant and contrasting.

Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………

Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………..

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………

MEELS…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Methodology………………………………………………………..................................................

The Findings………………………………………………………………………………………

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………...

Recommendation…………………………………………………………………………………

Work Cited……………………………………………………………………………………….

List of Illustrations

Back Matter

Works Cited

Kaufman, J. (2006). "Practical Usability Testing." Digital Web Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.digital-web.com/articles/practical_usability_testing/ on April 08, 2009.

Mauerer, R. (2002). "Usability Testing." University of Colorado System. Retrieved from https://www.cu.edu/irm/stds/usability/index.html on April 08, 2009.

Spool, J. (2005). "Seven Common Usability Testing Mistakes." User Interface Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.uie.com/articles/usability_testing_mistakes/ on April 08, 2009.

Intro and Body Sections

Introduction

In this recommendation report I will present the findings from the usability test that I conducted on the color correction for Photoshop tutorial.

Here is an overview of my report:

· Summary

· Introduction

· Methodology

· Findings

· Conclusion

· Recommendations

This tutorial was created to help the student know how to color correct their images. The tutorial is supposed to help the student improve the color and vibrancy of their images.

The purpose of the usability test that I conducted was to see if a student could follow the set of instructions. This recommendation report will consist of MEELS that were chosen, the method for conducting the usability test, my findings, the conclusion, and my final recommendation.

MEELS

The MEELS that I chose were Memorability, Learnability, and Satisfaction. Memorability refers to the student’s ability to remember how to do the tutorial. I tested this measure by giving the student the same task twice but the second time the student had to do the tutorial I did not give him the instructions. Learnability is a measure that refers to the student’s ability to learn aspects of the tutorial. Satisfaction refers to how the students feel about this tutorial. I rated this satisfaction by asking the students a questionnaire to see how they felt about the tutorial.

Methodology

This portion of my report will focus on the students that took the usability test, the tasks that the students completed, how the test was conducted, and the data that we obtained.

The Participants

Tasks

Findings

Conclusion

Recommendation

Analysis of Research

1. What did you find that your client can use to improve the tutorial?
1. The improvements that I found that can improve the tutorial are that he could have explained a little more for people who may not know about all of the tools in Photoshop. He also could improve how he explains to do the ‘S’ curve because the people I tested didn’t know how to do it the way he explained it.

2. What categories does your information fit into? What were the types of issues, etc. which were revealed via your research?
1. The categories that my information will fit into will be written and visual. The types of issues that were revealed via my research were that one of the people testing the tutorial got stuck in several places especially that ‘S’ curve option but other than that the tutorial was clear and short and easy to follow if you knew about Photoshop but the people I was testing the tutorial didn’t know that much about Photoshop so I think the guy should have been a bit more detailed on the steps.

References for Recommendation Report

Kaufman, J. (2006). "Practical Usability Testing." Digital Web Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.digital-web.com/articles/practical_usability_testing/ on April 08, 2009.

Mauerer, R. (2002). "Usability Testing." University of Colorado System. Retrieved from https://www.cu.edu/irm/stds/usability/index.html on April 08, 2009.

Spool, J. (2005). "Seven Common Usability Testing Mistakes." User Interface Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.uie.com/articles/usability_testing_mistakes/ on April 08, 2009.

Main Section of Recommendation Report

A recommendation report is a report that recommends something. It can be a selection of choices that will either recommend both choices, one choice, or neither. The recommendation report is the opinion on something that is being tested and used. The recommendation report helps the person who created the tutorial or whatever it is. It helps the person because it lets them know where their mistakes are and what they can fix to make it better.

Main Sections of Recommendation Report

1. Introduction

2. Technical background

3. Background on the situation

4. Requirements and criteria

5. Conclusions

6. Recommendation

Notes

Note for the 1st person taking the test

• He got stuck on the "S" curve when you have to make it.
• The curve adjustment was different from the one that was shown on the screen it confused him.
• Took him alway to find the picture to use for trying out.
• Didn't know Photoshop that well so it took him awhile when he was getting familiar with it.
• He had to watch the tutorial again after watching it the first time because he forgot what he was supposed to do.
  
  

Notes for the 2nd person

• She kept asking me questions about where the Image option was so that she could get to brightness/contrast and curves
• She also got a little confused when the curves box opened up and it didn't look the same as the one in the picture. She kept thinking she opened up the wrong one.
• She also got stuck doing the "S" curve as well.
• Couldn't make the "S" the way Andy made it but she found another way to make the picture look nice.
• She didn't know whether or not her picture needed more brightness or contrast so she was stuck there for awhile trying to figure it.

Tutorial Link

http://www.slideshare.net/cknight23/how-to-create-a-custom-brush-in-adobe

Reflection–Rhetorical Choices Paper Prompts

• Who is your audience?
• My audience are students who are barely going to get a degree in Graphic design and who would like to know how to make brushes.
  
• What visuals did you choose to include Why? If you included a visual, why did you choose to include this particular visual?
• I included pictures of just about every step for my tutorial. I choose to include these pictures because I think it would make it easier to follow the instructions if you have visuals to go with them.
  
• What are the important or essential design elements of your set of instructions?
• I used PowerPoint to present my instructions, I used PowerPoint because i feel that with it I can make my instructions easier to follow.
  
• In which medium do you anticipate these instructions would be used?
• I anticipate these instructions would be used by students who are barely getting into the field of Graphic Design.
  
• How would you change the presentation of your instructions if you had to physically present them to a user?
• I would probably add some effects and animations for the students and teacher.
  

Introduction, Requirements, and Conclusion

Introduction

“Grrr…,” you exclaim, “There aren’t any brushes that I would like to use in Photoshop. I wish I knew how to make my own brushes.” You can make your own brushes; it’s not that hard it’s actually quite simple. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to make your own custom brush, so that you can use as a background or just a picture. You will need to know the basics of Adobe Photoshop, some shortcuts and the general layout of the tools on Photoshop.

Requirements

1. Adobe Photoshop CS2 or Higher
2. Computer
3. An image from the internet or your computer
4. Mouse

Conclusion

Now that you have your finished brush, you can use it as a background by changing the brush presets, as I should you before. Using the brush as background adds a little more to your advertisement, or picture. Making your own brush will give you an edge over someone who doesn’t know, because those people who don’t know will be stuck using the defaults that Adobe Photoshop has. While you will be able to use the ones that you have made and created.

Main Steps on How to Make Custome Brushes in Photoshop

How to Make Custom Brushes in Photoshop

1. Get an image of anything that you’d like, make sure it will be easy to cut the subject away from the background.

2. Save it to your desktop.

3. Open up Photoshop.

4. Open the image in Photoshop.

5. Choose the wand from and select your subject.

6. Cut subject from background.

7. Desaturate layer.

8. Fix picture using brightness and contrast.

9. Go to channels and ctrl click the white square for RGB.

10. Shift+Ctrl+I to select inverse.

11. Save selection

12. Make a new layer and fill with black

13. Go to edit>Define Brush Preset>ok.

14. Next choose the brush from the list and try it out on a new layer.

15. Then save the Brushes.

Audience Analysis

Describe your intended audience---who are these readers?

My intended audiences are new teachers who want to know how to do text effects and anyone who want to know what a wiki is and how to use it.

Describe your intended audience in terms of the organization they work for and their position or title.

The teachers are working for a school district. The other audience are people who work at different jobs and for different companies.

Describe your intended audience in terms of their occupation, profession, or field.
My intended audience occupations are that they are either working as a middle school or high school teacher and common people who work anywhere, they can be doctors, sales people, or stay at home moms.

Describe your intended audience in terms of their needs for or interest in the information you plan to include in this writing project.

My audience’s needs and interest for the information I plan to give them is that they want to know how to use text effects for their power points or word documents. The other audience wants to know how to use a wiki so that they can share stuff with other people and other people can edit it.

Describe how your intended audience will use the information you include in this writing project.

My teacher will use the text effects for their students because they will use them for power points or documents to get the students attention and also they will need it to teach their students. And my other audience will use the wikis for planning things whether it’s going camping, planning a fundraiser, making a book club list, or they could use it to put information and they’ll let other people get in there and correct it.

Describe the technical background of your intended audience--what do they know and not know about your topic? what are their technical limitations in relation to this writing project?

The technical background of my intended audience is that they know a little bit about text effects and wiki but they have never used it because they don’t know how.

Bottom of Form

White Paper Format

The white paper example that I will choose to use for my white paper is Technology White Paper–essay like. I have chosen this one because I find it quite simple and exactly what I would need to use for my white paper on Myschoolog. This example will allow me to convey my message thoroughly and correctly. I will use some images from myschoolog that will help me get my message across clearly.

Images I choose for white paper

I chose this image because I wanted to show the students how easy it is to keep your notes online. You are able to save them and chose what course they are for as well. I will use this image in my document by showing the students how organized Myschoolog is with your notes.







I chose this image because as you can see you can add your classes and drop them into the days that you have to attend those classes. As you drop it in it asks your from what time to what time is the class and what room. I will use this image in my white paper by showing the students how organized they can become and how easy it is to organize between your free time and class time.

Questionaire

1. Are you constantly losing your notes? If so, how often do you lose your notes?

2. Do you sometimes have trouble recalling due dates, test dates, and assignments?

3. Would it be easier if the student could access their notes, to do’s, files or schedule through your cell phone?

4. Would you like to have you to do list and schedule linked to an alarm system that will send a sms message to your email or phone?

5. Would you like to organize your school life online?

6. Do you have trouble keeping your schedule organized?

7. Would you say that most students have trouble keeping their notes in one place?

8. Do you have trouble with staying organized?

9. If there was a tool that was accessible to you that could help you organize your school work and schedule would you use it?

10. Do you think that other students have the same problem of being unorganized?

Purpose, Audience, and Genre

What style is appropriate for addressing Professor Santoy as opposed to a style for students?

The style that is appropriate for addressing Professor Santoy is to be formal with her. The way you address is the same way you would address your boss versus when you address a student you are more casual with them.

What are the style or form differences of a blog versus a micro-blog like Twitter?

The differences of a blog and a micro-blog like twitter are that a blog is a lot more formal and longer and a micro-blog is casual, fun and very short. Micro-blog only allows for a couple of sentences usually used to answer what you are doing at the moment.

What do you think of a genre such as memos? Are they easy or hard to write?

I think that genres such as memos are straight and to the point. I have never written one before so I would say that it would be hard to write. Maybe as I learn and write more memos it would be a lot easier.

Project #2: Introduce Proposal/Research/White Paper

1. My intended audience for this proposal is Ms. Santoy and the students at TSTC. Ms. Santoy is my target audience because I need approval for my white paper proposal. And the students are my second target audience because they will benefit from the tech tool I have chosen. Ms. Santoy works as a Professor at TSTC Harlingen in the English Department. The other intended audience are students that attend school and swamped with a work load and wish to have everything organized and available online so that they can access it from home, school or their mobile phone. My intended audience will use the information I include in this writing project by using it to organize their school life. The technical background for intended audience is they are probably well-rounded on how to use the internet.

2. The goal and purpose of the white paper is to describe how the tech tool will be beneficial and help the students. My audience for the white paper is Ms. Santoy and the students at TSTC. What I have to do before I write the white paper is to find out as much information about the tech tool as I can and to experience the tech tool for myself to see if it’s easy to use and actually beneficial. Then I would have to get permission from Ms. Santoy to see if I can go ahead with my proposal. The goal of the proposal is to gain permission to write about a certain tech tool. The audience for the proposal is Ms. Santoy because I will need permission from her to write a white paper about my tech tool. Before I can write the proposal I will have to research a lot about my tech tool so that I can know as much about it as I can.

Purpose, Audience, Genre Task 3 Part 2

I am following SSPets. I am following SSPets because they want to save shelter pets. I chose her because that is exactly what I want to do. I want to save the animals that are in so called shelters that are supposed to help them. I also decided to follow her because like me she wants to eliminate euthanasia as a method to control the population of homeless animals. I want to provide no-kill alternatives. The purpose of this blog is to raise money for several dogs. Some come from families who can’t take care of them anymore, while others are from shelters who are about to be euthanized and the SSP wants to save them. The intended audience are the followers of SSP and animal lovers. The strategies the writer uses is to make us hope that these dogs will be saved. She keeps us returning and checking in to see if the donation has gone up and checking in on the animals.

Purpose, Audience, Genre Task 3 Part 1

I found this blog http://franxbudi.blogspot.com/ using www.blogcatalog.com. I found this blog interesting because it is for dog lovers everywhere. I liked this blog because it gives you advice on what to do with your dog, like how to make him a part of the family. It gives a lot of helpful advice to first time dog owners and also to people who have already owned many dogs. The tips he gives you on how to train your dog are very useful and he explains them very well.

Purpose, Audience, Genre Task #2

I chose the blog Applematters.com from the blog 100 best blogs. This blog is directed to anyone who likes Apple. Apple Matters central focus is just commenting on different topics like the impact of apple on our lives, reports of important people in Apple’s history. The theme they used was a simply layout, it’s well designed and you can find everything quite easily. I find this blog useful and interesting because I am an Apple fan and own several Apple products and I always like to hear new stuff about Apple and what is going on with them. I don’t think that there is any other information that they could put out, it’s really varied and has a little bit of everything. The other design the author could have used was maybe to make the home page look less cluttered. The many authors of this blog are funny, take their job seriously and are avid Apple fans.

Personal Introduction

My name is Christine Knight and I am 21 years old. I graduated from La Joya Senior High School in 2006 and I am currently attending school at TSTC Harlingen. My educational plans for the next several years is to hopefully graduate within the next year and a half and I say hopefully because I’ve had many obstacles to overcome and it’s taken me a while to graduate. My long term career plans is to become a graphic designer and hopefully open my own little business. I also would like to open a book shop and maybe an animal shelter with a veterinarian office inside because there is no animal shelter or veterinarian close by where I live. This past Thursday my cocker spaniel Bella got poisoned and it was at night and all the veterinarians where closed and the only one I found that could come if it was an emergency would charge me $180 and I had to pay up front and then she would charge for a lot of other stuff. I told her that I didn’t have the money and if there was a way that I could pay in payments and she said very coldly that that wasn’t an option. The next day I was able to take her to a veterinarian and when I got there I learned that she had been having seizures all night and I thought she was just shaking. I was wrong. I had to put a deposit of $150 and hospitalize her. Thankfully the next day she made a fully recovery and she was back to her lovely, annoying self. I think that communication, both written and oral is very important to my profession because I have to speak with my customer or employee to see what they would like for their logo or advertisement. I am working in Barnes and Noble right now and communication is extremely important because I have to communicate with the customers to see what book they are looking for or what kind of book they want. Written communication is important because I always have to leave notes to other coworkers to tell them what’s been done and what needs to be done today or tomorrow, and what happened throughout the day. I expect this course to help me achieve in communicating a bit more written and orally. I would like to write better than I do.