nowhere placemark geolocation cc-by lemasney
Category: teaching experience
These are examples of my teaching experience. I find it one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.
In June and July of 2011, I presented a series of six workshops on the open source photomanipulation application called the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) at Princeton Public Library. In the series, inspired by one of the attendees, I decided to focus on emotion and color in design. Below are the presentation framework, the source and project files, fonts, brushes, etc.
Project files are available at in the folders palettes, fonts, textures and brushes.
In this YouTube video below, you can watch me use the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) in order to bring a texture and a photo together with very little effort using layer modes in GIMP. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the finished effect, a picture of my father interspersed with a subtle flowery texture.
Let’s do something great together! Interested in doing something like this with your company? You can reach me at 609 553 9498, john@lemasney.com, or as lemasney on various social networks.
I would love the opportunity to help you, wherever you are, whenever you are ready. I always enjoy talking with groups and individuals on topics like technology, training, open source, and design. If there is some way that I can help you with these and related topics, please contact lemasney at lemasney@gmail.com, 609 553 9498 or Let’s do something great together! This content is released under a creative commons attribution license, some rights reserved. cc-by lemasney
Event: LILRC presents Graphic Design Best Practices
Date: April, 2011
Venue: Farmingdale State College
Details: LILRC site
Abstract: In this workshop on the basics of visual design best practices, we’ll examine examples and counterexamples of great design, the basics of layout, simplified color theory, rules for fonts and legibility, images and photographs, designing stamps vs pages vs slideshows vs billboards, copyright and creative commons, and free and open source design tools (photo manipulation, illustration, layout, catalogs, and quick editors).
Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/121kHFLhNGrP85vKdR5ti1tRFVzMbwRmboBRuzRLFg7A/edit?usp=sharing
Commentary and notes:
I am now co-teaching a graduate level course in the Communication track of the MA in Organizational Leadership program at Rider University. The course, COMM 563, is Digital Media Communication. In the class we focus on the issues, concepts, and problems of organizational communication using digital media. The course uses WordPress as a learning and posting platform, and participants learn how to develop effective publishing skills, integrating various digital media, and developing an audience for their brand.
Today’s sketch is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest thinkers, writers and orators of our recent history, on his nationally recognized day of service. Using a famous AP photo, I used GIMP’s threshold tool to essentially break the photo into two colors: a highlight in white, and a shadow in black. Then, using the select by color tool I selected the black shadow and began to paint into a new transparent layer with a variety of brushes in a blue palette. I put a new transparent layer behind the blue painted layer, removed the selection, and painted from a gold palette, which showed through the remaining open spaces in the blue layer.
An excerpt from his brave and poignant “Letter from a Birmingham Jail. “
“Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.” – Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] from
tags: mlk, martin luther king jr., service, reminder, of service, sharing, lemasney, GIMP, GNU, GPL, open source, 365, postaday2011, peace