GeorgiaVIEW and Pubs (4 of extra 4)

The best thing about this Publications class was the orgainization of the course content through GeorgiaView. The problem with some courses I’ve taken over the years is that the teachers will not utilize GaView to present information about due dates, the syllabus, assignments, assessments, grades, etc. This has always bothered me because I think it is a great way for teachers and students to keep up with everything that’s due. That was my favorite thing about Pubs is that if I ever missed a day of class or forgot to jot something down in my planner, I could just check Ga View to get me back on the right track. Another thing I like about this setup is being able to submit material using this format. It was great when this option was available because, instead of physically showing up to class, I could just submit my assignments through GaView and then receive my grades in a few days. Most importantly, if anything was ever unclear about an assignment on the website, there was a way for me to contact the professor with any questions or concerns.
I also like that all of the RATS were available online without a time limit. This allowed me the opportunity to sit down and really take time to review the material and find the right answers to all the questions, which ultimately helped me learn more about the course itself. Most importantly, these quizes were taken directly from the textbook, but the questions were phrased very particularly in order to make students really examine each one.

Blogging (3 of extra 4)

This is the first blog I’ve ever had. I always liked the idea of blogging, but have never had the motivation to actually create one until this Publications class. It has turned out to be a good way to express thoughts and ideas with the opportunity to receive feedback from others through the web. At first, the main problem I had with blogging is that I already have Facebook to take up an unnecessary amount of my time. The problem with online social sites is that they become very addicting. Everyone likes to be able to gauge how popular they are by a given number “friends” or “followers” or “views”. The main problem with this, though, is that the the original intention of the sites has been lost through peoples’ quest for superficial standings. Also, the more comfortable people become with these sites, the less privacy they find. I remember when I first got a Facebook account, only college students were allowed on…now my mother, grandmother, aunt, and all of their friends have a facebook account. The funny thing is, I’m making a big fuss about privacy and I’m about to post all of this for the world to see. Oh well, it’s almost impossible to have complete privacy if you plan on posting anything on the web. I guess the main point that I’m trying to convey is that I like blogging and Facebook, but I try to keep it on the lowest personal level possible because there are a lot of strange people out there that don’t need to know all my business.

InDesign and Brochure (2 of extra 4)

Working on the brochure for the American Cancer Society was great because it really forced me to learn how to use InDesign. I learned a little on the way pertaining to the ins and outs of this program, but I found that the best way to effectively navigate InDesign is to sit down with it and click on stuff until you figure out what you’re doing. I suppose my initial problem with InDesign was that it’s an Adobe product, whereas I have become accustomed to working mostly with Microsoft programs. But after awhile, I began to figure out how it worked, and how to get quicker, easier results. The best shortcut I found was being able to press a combination of buttons as an alternative to arriving at a command via several clicks of the mouse.
Another difficult aspect of the project was figuring out what set of information or graphic should go on which panel of the brochure. Also, although I labeled each panel to keep up with where it would be once the brochure was printed, I still had trouble organizing the information and changed the order of the panels several times before it finally looked and felt right.
The most rewarding part of the project was seeing the final product come together, knowing that I tweeked and re-tweeked every little aspect of the brochure to make it look exactly like I wanted. It provided a sense of accomplishment when I was able to look at the brochure and think, “wow, the American Cancer Society may actually be able to produce and distribute this brochure for the benefit of their cause.”

The Language of the Image

The language of the image course was a pretty interesting way to learn more about photojournalism. The tutorial walked me through several different examples of photojournalism with audio and visual tools to better explain the ideas. The first heading I clicked on was Photo Typed. There it explained the difference between informational, passive and active photos and gave examples of each. According to the course, “An informational photograph is little more than a visual record of a person, place, or event. It offers nothing more than identification value and has no redeeming story-telling values.” The passive photographs serve as more of a posed or decided style where the subjects plan to be photographed and therefore prepare the way they see fit. Active photographs are taken in real time and are exactly what the name implies, active. These photos are not planned and therefore produce a much more realisic feel.
The heading I checked out next was the Single elements. I found this to be pretty interesting because of how the strategic arrangement of the participants in the photos added to the value of the photo itself. I enjoyed scrolling through all these photos because I got to see different photographers styles and ideas.
What surprised me most about this tutorial was how diverse and complex these styles of photography can be. Also, it was strange to see which photos were in certain categories. While looking at one photo in the single elements section, I thought it would be moree appropriately placed in the multiple elements category.
After completing the tutorial, I was most interested in learning more about the single elements section. I would like to see more photos that meet those specificaions.

People Falling (1 of extra 4)

Typography

There are several things designers consider before deciding the appropriate text to go in either a letterhead or business card. Most importantly is the appropriateness of the font in relation to the organization it is being designed for. Strategic Publications claims “Conservative fonts are often best because so many business people are conservative, but as young practitioners from Generation X advance and Generation Y enter business, less conservative fonts may become more popular for letterheads.” Fonts can also be varied by content. The fonts for a business card can range anywhere from 8 to 15 points, depending on what is being emphasized. Brochures are the same way. The body should be consistent throughout the brochure with 12 point font, while headings can be enlarged to stand out more. The style and design of these publications are up to the designer.
A great website for downloading free legal, free fonts is called webpagepublicity.com and has over 6500 fonts available. This site is easy to navigate and includes this simple step by step instructional to help install the desired fonts:
After downloading any of these free TTF fonts to your computer you must install them in the “Font” file folder of your Windows file folder found under the C: drive in your Windows Explorer program. Your Windows file folder, found under the C: drive of your Windows Explorer program, is often listed as “WINDOWS” or “WINNT.” Under your WINDOWS or WINNT file folder you will see a folder listed as “Fonts.” Simply drag and drop any of the fonts you download to your computer into your “Fonts” file folder. You will then be able to use any of these free fonts within any program on your computer.

American Cancer Society Brochure

For my Publications class, I chose to create a brochure to benefit the American Cancer society. The aspect I must consider the most is how the design will reflect the publics I choose to target. While interning with the American Cancer Society over the summer, I learned a great deal about the participation habits of the various publics they deal with. The biggest concern I noticed for the ACS is the lack of college student participation in the Relay For Life. Relay For Life is the biggest fund-raising event they sponsor. Since Georgia Southern students make up almost half the population in Statesboro, their participation would greatly improve the Relay and the overall donations given to ACS. My approach, then, would be to design a brochure that appeals mainly to college students, which would be considered Generation Y (those born between the years of 1977 and 1994). According to Morton, “they are mistrustful of mass media and can best be reached through word-of-mouth promotion, celebrity testimonial, loud and quick visuals. They like advertisements that reflect their lifestyles and core values in humorous and emotional ways,” (p. 39). For my brochure, I will attempt to meet most, if not all of these criteria. Although Cancer is not funny at all, there are ways to make light of a bad situation through optimistc messages that promote the year’s upcoming Relay. The word-of-mouth part would obviously come from an effective brochure. The celebrity testimonials might be a little more difficult to swing at the level I’m working at, but hey the semester is not over yet so we’ll see

Crap

CRAP stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Design. Although Contrast is only listed first in the acronym just so it can comically spell CRAP, I find it to be the most important. It seems to me that in order to catch one’s attention most effectively, some elements should be more dominant than others. The “Before and After” exercise we did in class is a perfect example. Even though I haven’t worked with a whole lot of publications in my life, it was clear in example A that the picture of the rat who needed a lab coat looked more appropriate when in contrast with the text, rather than a blended approach. The rat more effectively grabs the attention of the viewer when it is abnormally larger than the text. Also, the contrast of the two types of text shows the importance of the headline, and then the smaller details of the body of the flier. As Morton discusses in Strategic Publications: Designing for Target Publics, Generation Y can be effectively reached by “loud and quick visuals,”(p.39). Since this is the youngest generation, it’s obvious that these types of visually contrasting advertisements will continue to grow.
Also, while flipping through the textbook, I realized that there are only a couple of fonts and colors used throughout. The glossary is the most noticable. It uses a contrast between pink and blue by alternating the colors for each word and definition. This approach actually made it easier to read while looking for vocabulary words in the back of the book.