Fun Things to do in the Lab on a Friday Afternoon

9-22-00 - It's raining and icky outside, and the last thing you want to do is spend several hours working on your project in the labs. So, what'll you do? You have to get stuff done, right? Well, yes, you do, but no one ever said that you had to work continuously on projects until your eyes feel ready to pop out. We all need a little break and a chance to learn something new.

I've come up with several fun, semi-educational, things to do in the labs:

1. Digitize video of your favorite old sci-fi movie. Create your own dialog by using the Mac microphones and the 8600s. Put the two together in Adobe Premiere, add special effects, and export the finished movie to a new tape. You can even add yourself to the crowd scene where the screaming chick freezes as the foot of the giant, radioactive grasshopper/tarantula/rabbit is ready to squish her just before the "handsome hero guy" knocks her out of the way. Way too much fun!

2. Create your own postcards to send to your family and friends! Scan pictures of yourself and friends, and create a collage using filter effects and blending modes in Photoshop. Add text (dialog) and other elements in Illustrator and print color copies in the copy center. (Okay, this is kind of weak, but your imagination is the limit, and, if you are anything like me, you have some good blackmail photos of your friends just waiting for this opportunity…).

3. Expand your current knowledge of your favorite application! Get on the Web and look for tutorials. Try out new techniques without the pressure of a deadline cramping your style. Go overboard with filters, calculations, and blending! Try to see exactly how many people have written tutorials on how to create a drop shadows or create buttons in Photoshop (the answer is: waaayyyy too many). Keep notes of everything you try and save the results. You may end up using that technique in a killer project.

4. If you've got a web site, do a redesign (I resorted to this earlier this week!). You don't have to upload it, but get the creative wheels in gear and you'll be amazed what comes out. This is a good way to get familiar with Dreamweaver, Photoshop and ImageReady. Stretch your creative muscles! Try something new!

5. Try to find the ugliest sites on the Web. You need to do this with a friend to truly appreciate the experience. This will provide hours of entertainment as you dissect and critique someone's use of that lame-o animated gif from 1995, or that unreadable, non-grammatically correct text on a loud background. And while you are soaking in this look at Web culture, you can feel proud to know that you will never use that photo of your cat as your background image. Start at Web Pages that Suck for some good fodder.

6. Broaden your artistic horizons! The Louvre is online. Repeat after me, "The Louvre" is onLINE! I could spend hours looking at images from their current exhibitions and all of the precious, wonderful works of art that are housed in the Louvre. They've got a good web site, great images, and an online store (the ultimate shopping spree!). Many other major art museums have sites, too.

7. Learn about new artists and artists of historical significance! Kodak has an area devoted to photographers who have pushed the boundaries or made important contributions to photography. Check out "The Endurance", the story of Ernest Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica and Frank Hurley, the photographer who captured the journey in stills and motion picture. Amazing images, and an equally amazing story of bravery.

I could spend hours listing dozens more fun things to do in the labs, but then, that would leave me without the time to actually do them! So, get to work and have some fun!

-J

Jennifer Nieland is the lab coordinator for the College of the Design student computer labs. She deliberately did NOT list any games in this list although she really, really wanted to.