The Creative Media Team report summarizes their activities from the spring 2015 semester. They saw over 35,000 views on their website since its launch in August 2014. Their student helpdesk expanded to include students from other USC schools. They hosted various workshops and events on topics like Adobe software, career development, and digital detox. They also piloted certification courses and a converged journalism course. Plans for next semester include partnering with a PR firm, expanding certification courses, and a larger rollout of Bluehost website building.

1. spring
2015
report
By:
Courtney Miller,
Erika Hang,
& Martin Stack
Creative Media Team

2. 2Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Our Digital Presence
Our digital presence has grown through
the roof, clocking in at over 35,000 views
on our site (as of 6/1/15) since it launched
in August 2014! Our data has also shown
us that students are accessing our site
remotely and around the clock. Based
on this feedback, we are putting more
emphasis on creating online tutorials,
and will be launching a 2.o version of our
site in July 2015 (pictured to the left) that
features live chat, robust commenting
and the ability for each user to better
customize their own experience.
Our
Website
Our
Social Media
Views: 35,000+
Followers: 300+
Tutorials: 100+
Version 2.0, Design by: Martin Stack

3. 3Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Student Helpdesk
Students
by
Major
Visitor
Type
This semester, we expanded our trucker-hat
wearing team to include students from the
Roski School of Art and Design and the School
of Architecture. Not only are they experts in
the Adobe software, but they have further
inspired our Annenberg students to approach
creativity in new and innovative ways.
The following visualizations show the types of
visitors we received at the helpdesk. Though
our traffic has grown, the demographics have
remained rather consistent since our launch in
August 2014.
Our Team

4. 4Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Screencasts
With over
answered, our site has become more than just a supplement to ANN
301, it’s our epicenter for all things Annenberg Digital Lounge. For
the student working on a project at 3:00 am, to the student studying
abroad, we aim to give them the creative advice they need, whenever
and wherever they need it.
We asked for student feedback throughout the year, and through
surveys and mad-libs, we got it! Though our analytics told us a similar
story, their repeated requests for more screencasts and tutorials made
it crystal clear that we have been moving in the right direction.
As we head towards the Fall 2015 semester, we will continue to grow
our library of screencasts, which can be found on our site, Vimeo, and
our newly launched YouTube channel. In addition to producing our own
tutorials, we will also continue to curate a library of digital resources.
35,000 views + 75 comments
Over 100 Screencasts:
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Mobile Apps
WordPress
Arts & Crafts for Creative Inspiration
Event Recaps

5. 5Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Certification Courses
The Instructors
Results
Chana Messer Rick Miller
Feedback
How would you rate your overall experience of the course?
Instructor Feedback
Of the 60 students who
registered for the course,
40 students took the
Visual Communication
Using Adobe Photoshop
ACA Exam.
Spring 2015 marked our official launch as an authorized Adobe
testing center! We started with 2 Photoshop Certification
Courses, taught by Adobe Evangelists Chana Messer and Rick
Miller. The sessions took place Wednesdays, 5pm - 7pm, and
Fridays, 1pm - 3pm for 10 weeks. 60 students registered for
the course.
With a 77.5% passing rate on the exam, I think it’s fair to
say that the course was a huge success! We received lots
of positive feedback on the class and the instructors!
“Overall [Rick is] a very great professor; really open to
questions and easy to work with and wants his students
to pass and succeed in Photoshop.” -JOUR GRAD
“Chana kept things lively and effectively communicated
the necessary information for students to pass the test.
I actually felt like Chana over prepared me -- I was
daunted by the test initially.” - COMM UNDERGRAD
3%
45%
27%
24%
Poor
Fair
Good
Very Good
Excellent
77.5%
Pass Rate

6. 6Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Events
MONDAY 4/6
ANNENBERG DIGITAL LOUNGE PRESENTS
TUESDAY 4/7
WEDNESDAY 4/8
THURSDAY 4/9
FRIDAY 4/10
HEADSHOT STUDIO &
PHOTO EDITING
11:00 AM - 8:00 PM
PERSONAL BRANDING
WITH YUMI WILSON OF
5:00 PM
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ANNENBERG
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
CREATE YOUR BRAND
& LOGO
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
RESUME & COVER
LETTER BOOTCAMP
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
LEARN DIGITAL TOOLS
AND PRESENTATION
SKILLS 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
START YOUR WORDPRESS
PORTFOLIO SITE
WITH THE ADOBE
CREATIVE CLOUD
FOR MORE DETAILED INFO:
ANNENBERGDL.ORG
code
&
thursday, april 16th
2-3pm
at ANN 301D
Hosted by
Peggy Bustamante
& Amara Aguilar
faculty only event
no prior experience necessary!
for more info:
annenbergdl.org
COFFEE & CODE
ANNENBERG DIGITAL LOUNGE PRESENTS
As with any start-up, we wanted to put some
continued focus on promoting our services and
building relationships. We worked with Adobe for
another set of Adobe Days, brought in the Digital
Faculty for an afternoon of “Coffee and Code,”
and partnered with our colleagues from Career
Development on a career bootcamp, which included
an event with LinkedIn and a week of programming
geared towards students shaping their digital
identities and landing a job.
Moving forward, we will continue to foster
relationships and host even more events!
More Events & Partnerships
Career Bootcamp:
LinkedIn Headshots
Coffee and Code with Peggy BustamanteBlue Carpet Event

7. 7Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
ASCJ 200
Another successful pilot, the
Creative Media Team worked with
Professors Judy Muller and Alison
Trope on helping to shape the project
curriculum for this converged course,
which came under the synergistic
banner of “ASCJ” and included
students from Journalism and
Communication.
Taught in the Digital Lounge on Friday
afternoons, the lab section covered
tutorials in Adobe Photoshop, After
Effects, Premiere Pro and Clip.
Students worked on projects aimed
at using digital tools for critical
thinking. These projects were
alongside traditional papers and
readings, and were further supported
outside of class by the helpdesk staff.
Once completed, they were posted
to their WordPress sites. Though
the course accomplished its goals,
scalability is a concern for the future.
Navigating Media and News in the Digital Age

8. 8Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Adobe DPS Pilot
Publishing an app is no easy feat, which makes it even more impressive that this
small but mighty class managed to produce over 8 in just one semester! In addition
to providing software support, the Digital Lounge also served as their first client, and
arranged for the class to be visited by Team Adobe, where the students could pitch
their apps to executives including the Senior Manager for DPS Product Marketing.
JOUR 499: Interactive Media Design for Publishing
Led by Professor Amara Aguilar
Powered by:
Communication Undergrad
Communication Grad
Public Relations
Majors represented:
Journalism Undergrad
Journalism Grad
Specialized Journalism

9. 9Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Adobe DPS Pilot
Jessica Oliveira, an MS Journalism graduate with no prior design or mobile development experience,
produced this interactive magazine that covers a variety of themes in which masculinity is present. The
application includes one-on-one interviews, videos, and data highlighting the gender gaps present in
America. The app was published to the iTunes store on June 5, 2015!
Example Project: Modern Masculinity

10. 10Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Digital Detox Series
Running with the Dean’s vision of “blue
sky thinking,” we took his proclamation to
create “an environment where innovation
and creativity are encouraged to take seed
and blossom -- and where spaces cause
unconventional ideas to unite” to heart.
Some of the best digital projects begin with
tape and glue. And with our Digital Detox
series being some of the most popular
events we offer, Annenberg students seem
to agree.
Arts & Crafts Days
ARTS
& CRAFTS
ZONE AT
THE DL
ARTS
& CRAFTS
ZONE AT
THE DL
MAY 4-5, 12PM-4PM
Take a study break and join us at the
digital lounge! We will have FREE:
book binding
button making
sticker machine
...and more!!
Our Mindfulness + Creativity Lab,
co-sponsored by the Mindful USC
initiative, filled-up in under 10 minutes.
Twenty attendees learned how to use
mindful thinking to overcome creative
roadblocks over a 7-week course. Our
event was so popular, it was featured in
a Canadian documentary, and we were
also approached by Apple to feature our
content on iTunesU. Our first collection
will be published in summer 2015.
iTunes U: Mindfulness + Creativity Lab

11. 11Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Promo for Orientation
From tabling in the lobby to having Mr. Photoshop run around, we managed to help the Adobe Download
numbers get up to 69.7%. However, we think one of the best strategies for getting these numbers up is to have
them download it from the get go. Thus, we now have this promotional video and handouts distributed to all
incoming Annenberg students. Next year, we hope to work it out with IT so that incoming students can receive
their accounts and download the Creative Cloud at these orientations.

12. 12Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Partnerships
Current Partnerships:
Future Partnerships:

13. 13Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Plans for Fall 2015
Trisight
Larger Bluehost Rollout
What better way to work on our Public Relations strategy than to work with
an Annenberg-student-run Public Relations firm! We asked our newly-formed
social media team to come up with some new ideas, and boy did they deliver!
The organization, currently run by Mitchell Paul and Laura Davenport, grad
students in Strategic Public Relations, brings together students from across
the university to create strategic communication services and integrated
campaigns for small business clients. After pitching, TriSight has agreed to
take on the Annenberg Digital Lounge as a client for next year.
Though the acceptance rate during our Spring 2015 rollout was not as high as
we were hoping for (56%), we gained some invaluable insights for improving
deployment, and of the sites that were created, many were successful and
used by Bluehost for a student showcase site. We also know that marketing
will play a big role, which we now have TriSight to help us with.
Because there is no better way for students to showcase the work they build
than on a WordPress portfolio site, we think it is an essential component of
the Student Tech fee, thus the Creative Media Team is planning a school-wide
rollout for next year. To take it up a notch, the team is also working with USC
ITS and the Bluehost development team on Shibboleth integration! If this
works, this initiative could also solve many other current problems.

14. 14Creative Media Team, Spring 2015
Plans for Fall 2015
More Certification Courses
Expanded Student Team for projects
We initially weren’t sure how successful the certification courses would go
given the 10-week commitment, but with a 77.5% exam pass rate, we now
feel secure that more certification courses is the way to go. We are now
an official examination center through Certiport and plan to expand our
offerings. Other exams we are looking at include Premiere Pro, Illustrator
and InDesign. Since we did have students sign-up who didn’t complete the
course and/or take the exam, and tons of students who were wait-listed,
we plan to work with the administration on a potential fee bill charge for
students who sign up for a course and don’t complete it.
We would love to think that it’s because we are so friendly and popular, but
the truth is that our project load is starting to outweigh our bandwidth, likely
due to the types of creative services we offer. To solve this problem in a
budget-friendly way, we are planning to add another team of students to the
Creative Media Team that is project-driven, versus tied to the helpdesk. We
will also need to design more trucker hats that sport our new look and feel,
to be revealed with our new website that will launch in July 2015!

15. Creative Media Team
Fall 2014 Report
By: Erika Hang, Martin Stack and Courtney Miller
Photos via Instagram, @AnnenbergDL

16. 2Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Software/Programs We Support
Adobe Programs Other Software
Photoshop CC
Illustrator CC
InDesign CC
Audition CC
Premiere Pro CC
Lightroom 5
Image editing and compositing.
Vector graphics and illustration.
Page design, layout, and publishing.
Audio editing.
Video production and editing.
Photo editing and management.

17. 3Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Student Helpdesk
Decked with Digital Lounge trucker hats and swanky name badges, our
12 Media Support Specialists helped students with projects, answered
questions, and troubleshooted Adobe CC installation issues.
Over the course of the Fall semester, our staff filled out
support tickets. The following graphs show
who visited the helpdesk.
Breakdown of
Students by
MajorType of
Visitors
Percentage of Printer Questions vs.
Software/Program Questions

18. 4Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Adobe Partnership
Adobe
MAX
The team
attended Adobe
MAX to get ideas and
learn hands-on from experts.
Creative Cloud Download Numbers
Nearly tripled!
1352
509AUGUST
DECEMBER
With the launch of the Digital Lounge and
the marketing efforts of the Creative Media
Team, Creative Cloud download numbers
showed a significant increase. We hope to
continue this trend into next semester.
students
students
Adobe Days
Over three full days, we offered 18
sessions that focused on the Adobe
Creative Cloud. Led by our Adobe
expert, Donna Caldwell, we had over
180 in attendance (see numbers for
each workshop to the right), We also
invited our friends from Annenberg
Radio News to host a few sessions
and partake in the fun.

19. 5Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Our Workshops: DIY Series
Our “DIY Series” took real-world examples
and broke them down into simple steps.
Students came with their devices and
walked away with a cool project to
showcase. Fall 14 Workshops included:
• DIY: Digital Identity - Students
learned how to shoot with a DSLR,
how to light a photo, and how to
use Lightroom to edit their photos.
In addition, they walked away with
professional and fun headshots that
they shot of each other.
• DIY: Photo Blogging - Students
captured product shots and learned
how to create high-quality images
for a photo blog. Students dabbled in
Lightroom, Illustrator, and WordPress.
• DIY: Rich Media Construct - This
workshop showed students how to
make a cinemagraph using the video
timeline function of Photoshop.
• DIY: YouTube Production - Students
learned how to capture video, bring
it into Premiere Pro, and encode it for
YouTube in Media Encoder.
Here are some examples of
student work created in the
DIY Series:

20. 6Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Other Workshops
In addition to the DIY Series & Adobe Days,
we hosted a range of other workshops
throughout the Fall semester, even bringing
in some guest speakers:
• Digital Toolkit
• Data Collection & Visualization
• Intro to WordPress.com
• WordPress: Advanced Theme
Customization
• Apple Campus Rep Sessions with Kevin
Chuang
• Adobe Photoshop 101
• Adobe After Effects: Creating a Lower
Third
• Adobe Illustrator: Creating Infographics
• Twitter 101 with Robert Hernandez
• Tapping into the Tablet Experience with
Amara Aguilar
• 5 Must-Have Mobile Apps with Amara
Aguilar
• Data Visualization: Communicating Maps
with Andy Rutkowski & Chimene Tucker
• Intersections Reporting Workshop with
Annenberg Radio News
• Blackboard with Carl Kuzmich
Signage by: Erika Hang & Martin Stack
Digital Signage

21. 7Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Student Engagement
Vimeo
Student Feedback
We recorded almost all of our workshops and
uploaded them to our Vimeo channel (www.vimeo.
com/AnnenbergDL) as well as our main website
(www.AnnenbergDL.org).
This served as a resource for students who could
not attend a particular workshop and/or wanted to
revisit a workshop they attended.
“‘DIY:DigitalIdentity’isanamazingworkshop!!Ilearned
so much on how to use Lightroom and I also got to take
a great shot of myself. The skills I have obtained through
the Digital Lounge are sure to help me in the future! I love
Annenberg! Thanks Marty, you’re awesome!”
“Greatworkshop!Erikaidentifieswhatlevelofskill
each person has and helps everyone accordingly!”
“I believe most students are still getting used
to the Digital Lounge space. But it’s an awesome
idea, great infrastructure and amazing people!”
“I attended the Data Collection and Visualization
workshop led by Courtney and I don’t regret it! It was
my first time attending a Digital workshop at the new
Annenberg building and I learned so much!”
-Grad Student, Comm Management
-Grad Student, Comm Management
-Undergrad, Communication Major
-Undergrad, Journalism Major

22. 8Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Our Digital Presence
We created a mobile-friendly WordPress site
from the ground-up that houses all of our
tutorials, schedules, and general information
about the Annenberg Digital Lounge.
Visit us at http://www.annenbergdl.org
Website & Design by: Martin Stack

23. 9Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Our Social Media
We leveraged social media - Facebook, Instagram, and
Twitter - as a means of connecting with the Annenberg
community. In addition, social media served as an outlet
to promote our events and workshops -- we were even
featured by Adobe during Adobe MAX.

24. 10Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Adobe Marketing Promos: Photoshop Man
We don’t just teach digital skills, we also
practice what we preach! Leveraging the
bevy of talent on our team, we asked each
of our 12 student workers to pitch ideas
for a promo video. Narrowing it down to
two, they worked in teams to storyboard,
shoot and edit these marketing teasers,
beginning with Photoshop Man.

25. 11Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Adobe Marketing Promos: Creative Cloudy
Our second character, “Cloudy,” may seem
a little funky, but in the end saves the day by
troubleshooting the Creative Cloud. This piece
further showcases the animation and special
effects skills of our highly talented team!
Tagline: Adobe Creative Cloud, it’s not that
scary after all!

26. 12Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Photoshop Certification
We are launching our ACA Certification by offering a 10-
week Photoshop course, taught by Adobe Evangelist, Chana
Messner. The course will take place on Wednesdays 5-7pm,
starting. Feb 11, and will prepare students for the “Visual
Communication Using Photoshop” exam. In the future, we
hope to expand our Adobe certification to include ACA
courses in Premiere Pro, InDesign and Illustrator.
Spring 15: Adobe Certification + DPS Pilot
Pilot: Digital Publishing Suite
We are working with Digital Journalism Professor Amara
Aguilar to pilot the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite in her
interactive media course. This pilot will allow her 15 students
to build interactive apps in Adobe InDesign and publish to the
iTunes store. Based on the projected success of this project,
we hope to consider expanding the Digital Publishing Suite to
the rest of Annenberg for easy mobile app creation.

27. 13Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Spring 15: Bluehost Student Portfolio Pilot
In Spring 2015, we will be providing 200 students
with WordPress portfolio sites hosted on Bluehost.
This pilot will include students from Journalism, Public
Relations, and also the combined ASCJ 200 course.
Support
To support these sites, we’ll be hosting workshops on
how to change your theme, how to add content and
how to “pimp out” your portfolio site. We’ll also be
posting screencasts on our website.
In addition, our resident WordPress expert, Nick
Halsey, will be hosting weekly helpdesk hours for
students to drop-in for WordPress support.
In order to help students better customize their
websites, we’ve vetted a list of theme authors to
recommend, and have even convinced a few of them
to offer our students a discount.

28. 14Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Spring 15: ASCJ 200 + McWeb Rollout
Under the newly-launched ASCJ brand, which aims
to promote curricular synergy across the Annenberg
spectrum, Professors Judy Muller and Alison Trope have
designed the first-ever hybrid course that aims to have
Communication and Journalism students working with
digital tools, side by side.
Courtney Miller has been working very closely with this
power duo to help infuse digital projects into the syllabus,
and the Digital Lounge is excited to be hosting the lab
sections every Friday from 11:00 am - 11:50 am. This will
give the Creative Media Team a lucrative entry point into
the minds of our students, and will also allow us to provide
hands-on support. Furthermore, having this birds eye view
will help us to determine how to best scale our support
should this course become an elective in the future.
ASCJ 200: Navigating Media and News in the Digital Age
McWeb: Media Asset Management System
The Creative Media Team will be helping to support the rollout of our Media Asset Management
System, designed by Primestream/Fork. In addition to creating online tutorials that can be
found on AnnenbergDL.org, we will also be hosting in-person workshops on Xchange and
fielding questions at our helpdesk.

29. 15Creative Media Team, Fall 2014
Spring 15: Digital Detox Series
While our mission still remains to teach students digital skills, we are also aiming to promote balance
and further encourage creativity through non-digital means, taking some inspiration from our friends
at Google who employ a Chief Happiness Officer to help foster positive growth. This alternative
series will include a Mindfulness Creativity Lab taught by USC Marshall Professor Allen Weiss and co-
sponsored by the Provost’s Mindful USC initiative, arts and crafts sessions led by USC Roski student
group AIGA, and we are also looking to partner with USC Thornton and KXSC for some live tunes.
The Digital Detox brand identity reflects the
“hands-on” style of the series. The logo and
logo type are both constructed out of cut and
ripped construction paper to represent the
tangibility of the participants experience.
CMYK 0, 97, 81, 0
Hex FF0830
CMYK 77, 49, 0, 0
Hex 3B82FF
cmyk 0, 50, 100, 0
hex FF8000
cmyk 0, 0, 100, 0
hex FFFF00
Cross Collaboration: