Reflection 4

My Newly Created Banner

Above is my newly created banner. Before I had something similar (see below).

I created the one above using Microsoft Designer. This tool allows you to describe what you want your picture to look like. It then takes AI technology and scavenges through the web using DALL-E2 technology to create your image. My search read: “Create a board game banner with meeples on it”. I wanted to see if it could create a much better version of the previous banner that I had (which is the same description I wrote in Microsoft Designer). To be honest, I am not a huge fan of what Microsoft Designer created for me. I tried regenerating the image about 6 times, and the best image was the image at the top of this blog post (not a fan).

Future Applications

Microsoft Designer can be used for:

1. Designing presentation
2. Infographics
3. Newsletters and reports
4. Creating website banners (like this one)

Using Microsoft Designer in the Classroom

There are a myriad of reasons why you would use Microsoft Designer in a classroom. One particular example would be, in your Technology class, to create a banner for a website, or even a physical poster. In a Social Studies class you can make infographics to show an illustrative summary of a particular subject matter such as a specific period in World War 2, or summarizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an English class you can use the Newsletter and reports format to create a more rich experience when writing a book report. The nice thing about this tool is that it breaks down the barrier of students thinking they might not be good at art. They might have great ideas of what their art should look like, but when it comes to putting it to pen and paper, their physical design may steer them away from any kind of design related subject. Thankfully, Microsoft Designer allows for students to be involved in the designer field, by simply giving their ideas to an AI generator, and allow them to create whatever they choose.

Photoshop/Illustrator

Photoshop and illustrator have always been used for more advanced graphic design. Microsoft Designer simply does the work for you through AI, and you can make minor adjustments. Although there are tools within Photoshop and illustrator that autofill or auto enhance your picture, there are far more customizable tools that allow for more detailed work. One big setback for photoshop and illustrator is that it is not free, whereas Microsoft designer is free. This can be an issue when it comes to accessibility for students who are interested in graphic design. Although most schools have Photoshop/Illustrator in their computer labs, but for the student to take it away from the school premise, they would have to buy it, which is a really high price.