(section 091)
September 22nd: Midterm and After Party

Tonight, Tonight

Tonight, Tonight...what to do tonight. After I go over a few things, I'll pass out your midterm shortly. Take the midterm, and then turn it in to me. I'll hand back Document #1 when you return your midterm. Then, do the Picture Frame assignment and UNC Charlotte Logo assignment (two things). After that, do any web page work you have, and you're free to go...but you could always start working on Document #2.

• Document #2
• Picture Frame Activity (use Indesign and Photoshop)
• UNC Charlotte Logo (use Photoshop)
• Midterm
• Document #1 Concerns
• Webpages...of course!

Midterm

Alright! Are you ready for the midterm? Good. I'll pass it out, but there's a visual you'll need for the last question. I can put this brochure on the overhead, but I think it's easier to see if you open it up on your computer. The brochure takes a bit to open up. The Wells Fargo Image is here as well. But don't wander around online...got it? If not, check out the University's Academic Integrity page.

Post Midterm Fun

When you are finished with the midterm, please bring it up to me. Feel free to take your break, but please, please, please be respectful of your fellow classmates and keep the noise level down. Some of you know your voices carry.

I want you to create an InDesign document on your own with help from this tutorial. You'll be creating a "Picture Frame" that you will link to from your homepage.

Also, you need to create a logo using Photoshop. This logo is MUCH easier than the one you attempted a few weeks ago. I have part of the tutorial up but will put up the rest of the tutorial later.

Document #1 Issues

These were pretty good designs for the most part. Remember, I'm not going to overemphasize the product, but I do expect carefully planned documents. I grade across the semester, so you might want to revisit the syllabus's definition of A, B, C, D, and F grades.

More importantly, however, I would like for you to understand why you're making the choices you make. You really need to use your memos to explain how your choices communicate your documents' messages. Many of you did a good job explaning cultural perception and your document, but all of you need to focus on cultural and, of course, rhetorical aspects of your designs. Risk being too obvious, and use terms like ethos, pathos, and logos if they apply.

Many of you are just doing surface observations of your work and a few of you are using vague terms like "professional" or "powerful" without explicitly bringing out any cultural explanations. For your next memos, I've adjusted where information goes in order to have you do more showing than telling. In addition to a "Context/Situation" section, I will be asking you to include your explantions in a section called "Design Choices." Please be specific in your future documents (and revisions) about why you feel a certain feature works the way you think. Give my some proof, or just make an argument. I'm likely to hold the same "self-evident" truths you have and operate under the same nebulous "common sense" assumptions for many design choices, but I want more explanantion. Remember, the analysis you do on your documents is the most important component of this class; learning to make things pretty is secondary to critical thinking.

On a different note, please remember to be consistent with your business card and letterhead designs. Look for the following:

• Capitalization
• Colors: green or #009900 (See the difference?)
• Font style (aka. typeface)
• Order of elements
• Punctuation

Also, it's ok to use Times New Roman and Arial typefaces, but, you really need to explain why. Williams has a negative view of those typefaces, so, if you use them and don't explain why they enhance your message, it's a sign you aren't reading. The same goes for Calibri and Verdana (which is the main text on my website). In fact, Verdana is really only for webpages and not printed out documents. We'll get to that later this semester. Additionally, if you center all your text, I'll want to know why for the same reason above. It's good to breaking rules and conventions, but you need to be conscious of why; otherwise, it's a distracting mistake.

Webpages

Please make sure they're up to date before you leave. Also, make sure your link works on the classmates webpages page. If it doesn't, send me your actual link.

Class Next Week (09/29)

Next week we'll have another workshop, so make sure you have something to bring in to work on. We will go over Chapter 4 in both books next week, so have that reading done.

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