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What is Ladies Learning Code?

We're a not-for-profit startup in Toronto who provide women (and men*) the opportunity to learn basic, beginner-friendly computer programming and other technical skills through hands-on workshops. We're all about showing people that learning to hack (or in this case, work with the Adobe Creative Suite) can be fun!

*Men are welcome to attend workshops (and they do!), but we request that you bring with you an additional female learner where possible.

Special thanks to the School of Design at George Brown College for providing the venue. We'd also like to thank our sponsor, GelaSkins, who will have a cool surprise for all attendees!

Why Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign?

No matter what stage you’re at when it comes to developing your technical skills, you’ve probably realized that Microsoft Paint just isn’t going to cut it forever. Whether you need to crop or resize a photo, want to create a logo for your blog, or have a more significant design project in mind, at some point, you’re going to need an introduction to the Adobe Creative Suite. So, on February 25th, 2012 Ladies Learning Code is happy to introduce our first design-related workshop, an Introduction to Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign.

At this full-day workshop, you’ll learn to use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (plus as much design theory as we can reasonably fit in) from four ultra-talented members of Toronto’s incredible design community: Ayla Newhouse, Ryan Bannon, Charlotte Tang & Angelica Ramos (click for their bios). 

About Your Project

As you know by now, all Ladies Learning Code workshops revolve around a project, and this workshop is no different. At the end of the day, you will have created your very own personal brand package & mood board. Your end product will include: your own personal logo, business card design, edited profile photos for Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn, a Twitter or website background, and a unique Facebook cover photo.  Plus, based on images that you’ll select and bring with you to the workshop (that you’ll source from sites like Piccsy & Pinterest, or Google Images), you’ll choose colours and fonts that represent your personal brand, with help from designers who really understand what makes for good choices, and can explain the “why” behind them.

A Note About Our Venue: The School of Design at George Brown College

Thanks to The School of Design at George Brown College for providing the perfect venue for our first design-related Ladies Learning Code workshop! George Brown’s School of Design is a truly inspiring place for learning. We’ll be using four computer labs, and because of the setup, participants will have the opportunity to learn from each of the four designers over the course of the day (each lead instructor will take you through a 75-minute lesson, and then rotate). It means that this workshop will be our largest yet (with 120+ participants), but also our most intimate, since you’ll be learning with a group of only about 30 people. Of course, we’ll continue to strive for our 4:1 participant-to-instructor ratio, so if you know any designers who might be interested in volunteering as a mentor for this workshop, please have them join our ‘tech help’ mailing list. We’re looking for lots of help from Toronto’s design community for this one!

(Note that computers are provided – no need to bring or borrow a laptop for this workshop.)

Is this workshop for you?

This workshop has been designed for absolute beginners. If you know absolutely nothing about Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign, you’ve come to the right place!

Requirements:

• You must bring a USB key with you to the workshop.
• There are no other technical requirements for this workshop. Computers are provided.
• Please also bring a travel mug. We're trying to make these workshops more eco-friendly!

*Are you quaified to help teach this workshop? Great - our workshops absolutely wouldn't be possible without the incredible developers (and now, designers!) who help us out! Please join our 'tech help' email list here.

What's Included?

• 4:1 (or better!) student-to-instructor ratio
• A fun and inclusive learning envionment
• A great venue (The School of Design at George Brown College)
• Breakfast, catered lunch and snacks
• An awesome surprise from our sponsor, GelaSkins

Questions?

Email us at info [at] ladieslearningcode.com. You can also find us here:

Twitter: @llcodedotcom (don't forget to use the hashtag: #ladieslearningcode)
Facebook: facebook.com/ladieslearningcode
Mailing List & Developer/Designer Mailing List: http://ladieslearningcode.com

What participants say about our workshops:

"Honestly, the set up of one instructor - four students is brilliant."

"I'm super impressed with the organizers and participants, and I think it's a really valuable initiative."

"[The best part of the workshop was] the positivity, helpfulness and eagerness to learn/teach of every person in the room."

"After years of teaching myself how to code, I wasn't sure how I'd find the collaborative experience of an LLC workshop - but it completely exceeded my expectations. The lead instructor was clear and thorough, and the volunteer instructors were always ready to throw new challenges at us the moment they saw we'd completed the current task. Solving a coding problem has always been exciting for me, but having a group of people equally excited about it was amazing!"

"[My favourite part was] the casual nature of things, and the fact that all the instructors walked around and helped out learners everywhere around the room - so I got to meet and talk to a bunch of people who were experienced and gain some perspectives. The food was great too. ;)"