Although this model begins with experts, the model illustrates the importance of the audience, as highlighted by the red outline. It also illustrates the importance of the process of iteration.

The Most Important Thing I Learned...

I’ve always viewed design as a method for presenting information in an eye-catching way, but I never gave much thought about how an end user may use that information. Therefore, the most important aspect of document design I learned this semester is visual rhetoric, especially with respect to user-centered design and usability.

I tried to remain true throughout the semester to Jakob Nielsen’s five variables of usability: learnability, efficiency, memorability, error avoidance, and subjective satisfaction. Some projects lent themselves better to a combination of the five variables, which allowed me to develop a better understanding of the various applications of document design.

My first redesign project was a business card for a construction company that focused on proximity and alignment. Then, I redesigned the cover for a business proposal that highlighted the use of contrast.  My third design was a marketing brochure that also highlighted contrast in color and alignment. My fourth redesign (and my favorite) was a business website that really concentrated on culture and perception. My last design, a graduation announcement, relied mostly on perception.

Even though my five designs focused individually on various other design elements, they all incorporated the concept of visual rhetoric. It was always important to keep the end user in mind when planning and executing my documents, especially the website redesign, because the sole purpose of creating a document in the first place is to relay important information to an audience and allow the audience to use that information in a productive way. As each design project came and went, I was able to more realistically evaluate my readers’ needs and develop a more comprehensive idea of how to present my information.

I appreciate the knowledge I gained about visual rhetoric because I can see the theory’s application in my career aspirations. My goal is to become a freelance editor, revising documents across a broad spectrum of industries. Having a solid background in the concept of visual rhetoric will enable me to analyze a document and to apply Aristotle’s Rhetoric Theory (ethos, logos, and pathos) to any document I edit. As I have learned throughout my studies, editing is not only about grammar, punctuation, and spelling; it is also about design and usability. A document may be free of grammatical errors, but that doesn’t really matter if someone can’t use the document for its intended purpose. Knowing how important visual rhetoric is in planning and editing a document, I can help a client develop an effective proposal, brochure, article, or even a book because I have the knowledge to do so now.

I think everyone has some sense of what visual rhetoric is. However, I think most people design a document based on their own assessments, needs, and wants. I did that before this class. Now, I know that my audience—the end user—is the most important aspect when planning a document, and my goal should always be to present the most learnable, efficient, memorable, error-free, and satisfactory document possible for a successful experience—for both my client and myself.

5th Re/Design: High School Graduation Announcement

Introduction

My fifth and final redesign started off as something completely different than what it ended up being. My plan was to redesign an employee evaluation form and focus on alignment and usability. When I finished the forms, I realized that I had improved the alignment and usability—but the redesign was boring, and I couldn’t imagine spending at least five hundred words talking about it.

At the same time, I was designing a high school graduation announcement for the daughter of a coworker. I had no intention of submitting the announcement as a class project until I decided I didn’t want to submit the redesigned evaluation forms, and the announcement turned out pretty good after all.

Apparently, graduation announcements have changed a lot since I graduated from high school. Gone are the days of foil colors and fancy fonts. Today, kids want fun and personal announcements—announcements that show off their personalities. So, that was my task in designing this graduation announcement. Jennifer only had two requests: that I use the picture she provided and incorporated some scroll designs somewhere.

Design Principles

Contrast

Jennifer had a classmate take a variety of pictures. Of all the ones she had to choose from, Jennifer liked the black and white photo taken in front of an abandoned building here in Lubbock. I liked this photo because it provided ample room for text. Naturally the black and white photo would provide definite contrast for whatever font colors I chose to use and any additional colors I wanted to add. I didn’t want to use too many colors, so I used black and her favorite color: pink. I used the pink in her name and also in the scroll designs on each side to tie the whole announcement together. I contrasted the pink font with a black font for the graduation details.

The font was contrasted too by the types of fonts I chose. I went with Scriptina for Jennifer’s name and Miles for the graduation details. Jennifer loves Bradley Hand and asked if I could incorporate that font into the design, but I thought Bradley Hand took away from the overall effect of the design. I chose Miles because it was tall and precise, whereas Scriptina was long and flowing. Together, I thought these two fonts contrasted yet complimented each other very well. After Jennifer saw the design, she was glad I decided against Bradley Hand.

The last way I contrasted the text was by making one line of the details smaller than the rest of the text. I thought “…invites you to her graduation from…” was less important than her name and the rest of the details. It provided just the right amount of contrast between her name and everything else.

Repetition

Because the entire design is simple and really only consists of seven single elements, repetition was a little limited in this design. However, my major area of repetition was color. The pink and black fonts were also used for the colors of the scroll designs on the sides.

Alignment

I know, I know, I know—center-aligning text is a mistake often made by inexperienced designers. However, I chose to break the rules here and go ahead with a center alignment because it just looked better than a left alignment.  Jennifer’s pose lent itself well to the text being centered because both the photograph and text worked together for a balanced appearance.

Proximity

I actually designed this announcement with a 3/4 “ bleed all the way around. (What you’re seeing would be a finished product). So, proximity to edges was an important thing to consider. I didn’t want to throw her picture or the scroll designs too close to the original design because they would be cut off after printing. Grid lines were a useful tool for making sure I didn’t put anything too close to the edge.

I kept all the text on the left side of the announcement. Even though the text of Jennifer’s name is different from the text of the graduation details, the design still allows viewers to know that it all belongs together.

Perception

This will be printed as a 4”x8” announcement in a matte finish. The cost associated with this is already a little high for Jennifer and her family, so it will only be printed on one side. Therefore, all the information and impact had to happen all at the same time.

The announcement obviously presents Jennifer during her senior year, ready to graduate and enter the awaiting world. So, the focus is all on Jennifer. I wanted people to see her but to also get the information they needed. (Had I had the opportunity and the family had the money, I might have considered adding a map of the Eagle Athletic Center to the back of the announcement for those unfamiliar with the location.)

I was also fortunate to get a good, mature picture of Jennifer to use. I’ve known Jennifer for five years, and she has grown into a beautiful young woman. I thought this picture was an excellent way for Jennifer to show everyone how much she’s matured over the years.

Culture

As I mentioned before, graduation announcements have changed a lot over the years. Most traditional announcements consist of the metallic school colors and some sort of graphic pertaining to the school or mascot. But when Jennifer’s mom showed me some of the announcements she received last year, only one of them was traditional. The new norm is to go all out on a very personalized announcement, especially for students graduating from private high schools like Lubbock Christian.

Rhetoric

Well, the purpose of a graduation announcement is to let invitees know when and where a ceremony will take place for a particular person, and I accomplished that task with the text.

Conclusion

I think I’m most proud of this design because it’s actually being used. Jennifer and her mom were very pleased with the way it turned out, and I was happy that I could produce a piece they liked and that I could also use for my portfolio. I was able to implement Jennifer’s requests and also incorporate the basic design elements learned in class, which produced a lovely high school graduation announcement.

Redesign 4: Alexandra & Company Website

Background
I redesigned the website for Alexandra and Company (http://www.alexandraandco.com/), a company that manufactures and sells college sorority items. The primary reason I wanted to redesign this site was because the original looks more like it sells products to young girls rather than to college-age woman. It needed a redesign for an older audience.

So, my task was to lighten the colors without being partial to any particular sorority, bring the products front-and-center (since that’s the whole point of the website anyway), and present products and information in logical ways.


Design Principles
Contrast

The existing website had some issues with contrast­­ regarding colors and text. First, the dark brown background didn’t seem to suit the website at all. Plus, the two shades of brown (lighter brown on top with the logo versus the darker brown beneath the banner) were too similar. I wondered why they chose to do that since the blue striped divider separated the two sections well enough.

Additionally, the existing site had way too many fonts in way too many colors. Most of the colors had trouble standing out from the dark background, too. Because the company’s products are available in a variety of colors, I think they tried to bring that through into the design of the site itself. By doing so, however, all the different colors make the site seem disorganized––even though most of the designs are carried over from page to page.

To address these issues, I scaled down the color scheme for the redesigned site. My banner is gray with black and white text with a shopping cart and telephone contact information in the right-hand corner. It was important to me to use colors that would not show favoritism toward any particular sorority since sororities are territorial that way. I didn’t want to shun potential business with bad color choices. Plus, by using those three colors in my banner and by leaving the main body area white, I was able to draw attention to the colors in the products themselves instead of distracting from them. The white provided a clean slate upon which the products could stand out.

A good example of contrast, too, is the larger picture on the home page of the featured item and the smaller pictures below of the new arrivals. I wanted people to know that the featured item was being highlighted, but the new items were also important enough to be featured on the home page.

Repetition

Although the original site had repetition in most of its design, I wanted more. So, again, I used the same colors on all the pages to enhance the unity of the site. I also used the same two fonts on all pages: Corbel for the majority of the text and Edwardian Script for the word “company” in the banner. The section headings are larger and bolded, and the product categories and text are smaller and unbolded. Yes, the font sizes and characteristics are similar, so that’s why I’m considering this design choice as repetition instead of contrast.

It was also important to me to keep most of the product pictures the same size to maintain continuity and order.

Alignment

As always, alignment is the most important design element to me. I think alignment is what makes or breaks a professional design. The original website has a couple of alignment issues I think could be improved. First, the site utilizes various alignments that could be streamlined. Then, the main menu for the site is located in the top right-hand corner of some of the pages. I thought this was a bad choice because, as we’ve discussed, American culture is accustomed to reading or viewing things from left to right. The menu seems out of place in its current location.

To address these issues, I went with mostly a left-aligned website. The title in the banner is located in the upper left-hand corner, but the words are aligned together on the right side. This offered a little contrast to the rest of the site. Next, I arranged the site’s main menu across the top of the site underneath the banner. No matter what page a user is on, she can navigate through the site easily using the main menu. I guess you could say that I went with a center-alignment on the main menu, but it was the best place for the menu in order to make it accessible all the time.

The left-hand side of each page also includes an upcoming events section. Because this company manufactures products and sells to distributors, representatives attend various shows throughout the year. This area is a good place to advertise these events to make sure people catch the company when at shows.

Proximity

To me, proximity and alignment go hand-in-hand. Obviously, the name of the company (and site) is important for people to know who they are doing business with. Something I noticed about the existing site was that it really didn’t say what the company did. What do they do? Who do they sell to? You really didn’t know the answers to these questions unless you specifically went to the website. However, if you just stumbled across it, you might be uncertain that the company offered what you needed. I wanted to make sure people knew they were on the right site from the beginning, so that’s why I incorporated a slogan into the banner. The slogan lends well to the company name and serves to brand what the company does.

I boxed the main menu into a black, decorative divider to offset it from the rest of the site. The links for the pages on the main menu were equally spaced to individualize them. I did the same thing with the bottom banner with the basic company contact information: address, phone number, and link for terms and conditions.

Likewise, the submenu and upcoming events sections are set off to the left side to show that they are completely different from the products being offered. I used vertical and horizontal eyelines to separate all the sections as well as actual divider lines between sections. However, I kept the descriptive text for each product top-aligned and close to its corresponding picture to show a connection between the text and the picture. In this sense, the images serve as information graphics in that they provide a visual representation of products available. (These products are typically personalized with a sorority’s letters, so they could also be considered promotional. For the purposes of this website redesign, the images are more informational than promotional.)



Perception



As I mentioned in opening this blog posting, the existing site seemed like it catered to young girls rather than college-age women. My intention for the redesign was to grow-up the site so that it fit the demographic that the company sells to. The site I designed became sophisticated yet remained subtle so that the products sell themselves.



Culture



The intent of the site is to sell promotional items to college sororities. College women comprise the culture of the company and the site, so it’s important that the site represents them well. The existing site fell short on that with its mismatched colors and juvenile appearance.



Rhetoric



Again, the purpose of the site is to sell products. It’s like a store where you select your items and put them in your shopping cart. Therefore, since the site is asking for money, professionalism is expected on the part of the user, which would appeal to the user’s ethos. The user expects and deserves to feel safe when making financial transactions, so including a privacy and security policy on the site (which both the existing and redesigned do) helps lend to the site’s credibility.

The existing site sometimes didn’t make sense in its product order. For example, on the retail web store page, the product categories on the left-hand side are listed in alphabetical order, which puts miscellaneous items in the middle of the list. In my mind, the word “miscellaneous” means everything left over. It didn’t make sense to me to put this category in the middle of a list, so I reordered the categories on my redesign, hoping to appeal to users’ logos with a more practical product order.

Obviously, properly displaying the products could appeal to viewers’ pathos and make them want to buy the products. By decreasing the number of colors used to design the entire site, I allowed the viewers to focus on the products themselves. Potential buyers may find the better layout and overall cohesion more appealing.


Conclusion
Obviously, I didn’t design every page of the site. The idea is that the top and bottom banners would remain the same throughout the site, and the rest of the information would change only slightly. Therefore, there really wasn’t a need to redesign the entire site just to reiterate the same points.

I think this is a good stepping stone design for the site in that it matures the company’s image for its intended audience. However, I could see the company’s web designer and developer creating a site that is even more robust with features but that still maintains a unified identity and good design principles.

Love isn't Always Love: A Visual Composition for ENGL 3360

The premise of my visual composition is that while love is an ideology of kindness and respect for some, it is a reality of hatred and abuse for others.

I’ve made my argument by utilizing compelling images of abused women, children, men, elderly, and animals. It was important to me to include these different demographics because they are all victims of abuse, although our culture focuses on women and children. I used a variety of images, most of which reflected exactly the point I wanted to make. However, I chose not to use some of the most gripping images I found during my research because they were too graphic for the argument I was making. Honestly, they made me a little uncomfortable, which means they probably would have been the most powerful in making my argument, but they seemed overkill in achieving the effect I wanted with this piece.

My argument depends primarily on pathos, although it uses logos and ethos as well. The images of abused individuals and animals clearly affect normal viewers and create feelings of sadness. The entire composition, however, does not move a viewer to action. Action was not the intent of this piece; the sole intent was to stir emotion, which the images do very well. Additionally, the piece appeals to the logos of viewers, and this is done by incorporating the text “Love isn’t always love” into the middle of the images. The text triggers viewers to question their idea of love and how they express it as well as how they receive it. Likewise, the composition appeals to the ethos of viewers because the issue of abuse is one of right and wrong—at least in American culture and many others throughout the world. Although the composition itself does not urge viewers to act upon its argument, they may eventually want to get involved in an organization that acts on behalf of abused individuals or animals.

My intention for this project was simple: I wanted to call attention to what different people consider love. As mentioned earlier, most of us consider love as a nice show of affection. Love should exist between parents and children, husbands and wives, partners, animals and owners, and so forth. However, this is not the case for some. I wanted to bring the issue to light by offering a contradiction between the word love and the images included in the composition. I accomplished this by grayscaling all the images and then coloring the larger LOVE red. Gray induces sadness or gloom, and red—in this context—represents blood shed by individuals and animals in abusive situations.

I didn’t really have any inspiration for this project. I suppose I just wanted to make an impact in a way that would cause viewers to think about an important issue beyond just the superficial idea that abuse is wrong. It is hard to ignore bruised children and malnourished animals.

The biggest challenge I faced during the creation of this project was finding the right images. I wanted very compelling images, but some images I found were even difficult for me to take in. I found some that were very accurate portrayals of abuse, but I could not bear to use them because they were so graphic. On the other hand, the greatest success I encountered was that the project turned out much like I hoped. I think this is because I have some experience using Photoshop, so that helped out a lot. I don’t think I could have done the same thing in a different program with as much success.

I see that what I have created fits into the course readings, discussions, and overall themes because this composition speaks volume with very little supporting text. I probably could have just used the images without any text, and the images themselves would have been compelling. However, I wanted to give the project a defining voice and message, so I had a little control over that. What I created was a different kind of composition, and it was more effective than had I written a five-page essay over the same topic.

The majority of my composition was created with photographs taken by other individuals. The only part of the composition that was created by me was the text, although I did have control over where each picture would be placed. So, in essence, this project is not unique on a small scale, but the overall composition is unique.

I think the effectiveness of my essay is about 4. The message is good, but it’s not original, although I like the contradiction. This isn’t just a straight-up anti-abuse campaign. Most people aren’t abusive or abused, but everyone is an audience to this. This doesn’t say, “You shouldn’t abuse,” and it doesn’t say, “Please help those who are abused because they may not be able to help themselves.” It basically just compels viewers to observe something they may not otherwise observe. I think the incorporation of images of men, elderly, and animals is pretty effective. Most of the time, you just hear about women and children being abused, but abuse happens to all creatures. And, actually, I found the pictures of the animals most difficult to take in. I think that’s because they tend to be most abused since animal rights are less prioritized than human rights.

The overall idea of this composition relies on the concept of love and how different people define that concept. It’s different for everyone, and it’s not always what we assume it to be. Many times, we are forced to believe that cruelty equals love because that’s what we experience. But, as this essay reveals, love isn’t always love.

The Culture of Graphics

Graphics serve as a form of communication within and between cultures. Graphics can help represent an idea, provide clarification, or give direction for viewers. That’s the interesting thing about graphics: they can stand alone or work together with text to convey a direct message, and it’s up to the viewing culture to decide how to interpret the meanings behind the graphics.

Graphics are a growing communication media in the United States. Because we are a nation of convenience, we revel in the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words. We’d rather see one image instead of reading one hundred words to gather the same information that the single image provided. Icons and symbols are becoming part of our everyday lives because these representations make our lives that much more simple and convenient. We press buttons with certain pictures on them and we act in certain ways because of other pictures and what they mean. In theory, then, we are a nation controlled by pictures. It’s pretty crazy to think we are so easily manipulated by circles, triangles, and squares—and these are mere representations and not direct commands themselves.

We also design things with particular cultures in mind. Websites are designed with certain age groups or demographics as targeted customers, and companies spend millions of dollars to portray hip, trendy idealism to young people. Others spend the same amount to cater to responsible, professional adults. Children, musicians, teachers, and scientists—these are all groups of varying cultures that demand different approaches, and no one likes to cater better than the United States.

My current redesign project utilizes both information and promotion graphics to appeal to a certain culture. Text provides information on products individuals can buy, but accompanying information graphics display the actual product to bring the product to life. No longer does a buyer have to rely solely on text for a description of a product; now she has the ability to actually see the product before she buys it. In this manner, these images serve as both information and promotion graphics.

My entire redesign project—including the product images—should have a culture appeal since the design is tailored to college sororities. Sororities have a culture all their own, so redesigning a website for a company that sells to sororities must hit all the right keys. First, it should appeal to college women. Next, it should provide many pictures for women who want to see what they can buy. Then, it should be easy to access and even easier to use. Lastly, it should make those college sorority women want to come back and make future purchases. So, there are many things to consider with the culture of sororities, but information and promotion graphics make this type of redesign a breeze.

All in all, graphics play a vital role in providing information to viewers, whether they are in the same or different cultures. Images help define information into what is credible and what is simply neat. The use of the images is really what makes the difference.

English Department Flyer Redesign

For the English department flyer redesign, I focused on staying true to Tech's identity guidelines by using the proper color schemes and fonts. This way, viewers could easily identify the flyer with Tech even before reading it.

I have to be the first to admit that designing takes me longer than it probably does for most people. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so every placement of text or imagery has to be just right before I can move on to the next part of a design. So, attempting to put even a simple flyer together during one class period was a little stressful; I didn’t even finish. However, I think the design idea is evident.

The biggest design element in my flyer is the curved line down the left-side of the page. This mimics the curved line that one might see when logging onto the Raiderlink site. Next, I designed the text to following the curved line of the design block. This exemplifies the fact that eyelines don’t necessarily have to be completely vertical or completely horizontal to be effective—everything just needs to be equally distant to be effective.

I also used the double-T logo in the left-hand corner that overlaps the curved design as well as the white space. This was the only true Tech designation I wanted to use; I figured anything more would be too heavy and interfere with the real message of the flyer.

As for the rhetoric of the flyer, I wanted the flyer to speak on a professional level since many of the jobs listed were professional. And, since Tech is a professional organization, the two seemed to go hand-in-hand. Student could envision themselves landing a good and professional job by choosing a career path that could potentially start in the English department.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted people to instantly associate the flyer with Texas Tech, so the perception is just that: red, black, white, and gray equals Texas Tech. And, that goes back to professionalism, as well. Because Tech is professional, the English department and careers that can result from studying in English must be professional.

With culture, the colors associated with the flyer make one really feel like they would be part of the university if they study in the English department. Everyone wants to be part of a group, especially in such a large organization like a college, so being part of a larger organization would appeal to the culture of the student body.

Overall, I liked my design, but I liked a lot of the other designs that were created during class. To see what other students created in such a short amount of time was amazing. It was also interesting to see how the entire class worked on the same project, seeing as how we’re always working on something different. This project offered a unique perspective on how everyone sees design individually. It should be interesting to see what the flyer ends up looking like.