Adobe Photoshop I: A Student Review

UNLV Continuing Education likes to share student reviews of its classes. This student discusses “the great experience of taking a class in Photoshop.”

“As a working student with a full-time schedule, it is challenging to continue with my own development and sharpening of my skills. The short schedule and weekly class meetings made it easy to fit into my busy work and personal schedule. Our instructor, Krystal Hosmer, offered the class years of real world experience in graphic design and specifically with this software. She is incredibly talented, creative and patient, and explains in detail the practical applications with this software.

My favorite part of the class was practicing in class and actually creating new projects immediately. The hands-on experience was much more helpful than trying to figure out the system on my own at home. Krystal kept the atmosphere light and FUN! She also taught us basic concepts in graphic design and how to apply what we learned for our individual needs and in why we wanted to learn this software. For me I wanted to learn how to use the software to help me on my job as a training manager as I use photos in my presentation and instructional design daily at work. Class size was small, which made the teacher-student ratio great where everyone could be involved in the discussions and she encouraged us to ask questions and experiment.

I look forward to taking another class in the future. I highly recommend this class to anyone who wants to further develop their knowledge of Photoshop, or someone like me who was a complete beginner and wanted to develop a new skill.”

Thanks for sharing! The next Adobe Photoshop CS6-Level I class starts June 11.

Public Relations: Then & Now

I graduated from the Public Relations Skills certificate program in 2006. In eight years the basic fundamentals haven’t changed. You still need to know different writing styles -- from writing a news release to a flyer. Relationships and communication with the media remain critical and beneficial. The same basic principles still apply in ethics and crisis communications. However, the Internet and social media have changed how you do your work.

In the past when I distributed a news release it had to be faxed multiple times to different contacts. Now everything is emailed in one shot. Email and text messages are daily occurrences and part of the way of life at work. Plus, I don’t know how I ever worked with only one monitor!

Social media hardly merited a mention when I was in school; MySpace, Skype, YouTube, and Twitter were not mainstream mechanisms for getting your message out. Social media touches everything I do now, from event planning and eFlyers to writing/publishing a document. I also have accounts with all the major social media channels. At home I video chat at least twice a week, if not more.

In today’s public relations world, I find that most promotional materials, such as brochures, flyers, posters etc., are made with Adobe products. I have started taking InDesign and Photoshop classes as well. These classes are engaging public relations tools, enabling communicators to get their message across with a creative blend of content and design.

As I have followed the PR path, it’s been rewarding to see the field’s evolution and be involved with its integration with marketing and social media. If you’re interested in public relations, you may find it not only enhances your skills but also provides new creative energy.