Memo

To: Dr. Dan Jones

From: Kenneth Oms

Date: November 25, 2014

Re: Design Project

Introduction

For the purpose of this assignment, I am to provide a bit of context as to how my design project came to be, and whether or not I had any previous design experience. To start, I did not have any prior design experience before this assignment. I had done a few text assignments, but never something that required me to put together my own design, target an audience, and come up with my own business catering to that audience. It was a little troubling at first. This is because I didn’t know what to do, who to cater to, or whether or not I would be able to do illustrations for the document.

One of my first ideas for the project was to revolve it around an idea. My target audience had been the farmers of the St. Cloud area. A lot of realtors are buying out farming land, and I wanted to do a few posters against it and even a newsletter. It was a difficult project, and I found that I didn’t have the heart to accomplish the things that I wanted to do with it. Another idea of mine revolved doing posters and a newsletter for a company. I wanted to do a publishing company, or even a small literature magazine. My target audience would be writers, and my message was going to encourage them to submit their work. However, this plan also fell through because the companies I contacted didn’t contact me back.

My girlfriend and a few of our friends are really into Taxidermy, and even into collecting oddities. I decided to revolve my project around starting my own Taxidermy business. The initial idea occurred to me while I was out in the St. Cloud area on a friend’s farm. I noticed that there was a lot of hunters, who wanted to keep some of their legal game as trophies, but couldn’t find a way to do that. I noticed that in our society, a lot of people fancy the mounted deer head as a trophy. Taxidermy is also an interesting field because it is considered an art form, and it is an art form that has been dying. Not a lot of people really know what Taxidermy is, or what its purpose in our society is anymore. So I wanted to revolve my project around the art of Taxidermy, and not only hit a target audience, but also inform people about taxidermy through a newsletter.

In Document Design, Kimball says “Many human factors come into play in document design, but three particularly important ones can significantly affect our choice of medium: the medium’s interaction with light, its resolution, and its manner of transmission.” (Kimball 77). I decided to go with an online medium for my design project because of how efficient it is. With an online print medium (PDF’s of my print items), I can save a lot of money on printing costs; which I can then use to upgrade my newsletters and posters. When Kimball speaks of transmission, he is really referring to how far you document can spread. Because I chose to go

with an online print medium, my document has the chance to reach out to a lot more people. People from different cities, states, and even countries have a chance to see my work.

If I went with a basic print choice, I would physically have to hand out my posters, and mail my newsletter. That is something that takes a lot of time, and a lot of travelling. Because of my online print medium, I can send my newsletter out in a mass email; hitting every subscriber and supporter with a click of a button. Not only does it save me time with the newsletter, but it also saves me time when it comes to the handmade posters. The posters I made for my design project can be spread throughout the internet. Reaching as many people as possible, and informing them about my business. The good thing about an online medium is that it can be networked. It will reach a lot of people, and I think that that is a key when it comes to document design.

The purpose of my design is to get the art form of Taxidermy recognized again by society. The scope, or aim, is to reach people who are like-minded, and also enjoy the art form, and to help them come together and form a community. With a community, one can always count on supporters. When it comes to a small business, like the one I am using in my design project, they rely heavily on community. The goal is to get regular customers and to form a relationship with them. This way you can always count on your product being networked more.

The intended audience for this design project are: hunters, fisherman, museums, animal lovers, and even hobbyists. Because I am revolving this project around a fictional businesses, I had to research and confirm a target audience. Taxidermy is the art of cleaning, stuffing, and recreating animals. My posters are designed with these things in mind. I catered one of the posters towards the hunters because they are the most prominent. There are a lot of hunters in Florida, and a lot of them want to keep the game they hunt as trophies. I designed my poster to show antlers, and the head of the animal. Because of this, hunters will immediately know that my company can mount/create their trophies for them. My second poster is cater towards animal lovers. It shows the skull of a cat, and a skull of a dog. Above the images is the saying, “goodbye doesn’t have to be forever”. The purpose behind this is to let animal lovers know that we can stuff their old pets for them. There are a lot of people out there who form deep bonds with their pets, and they don’t want to say goodbye to them. Taxidermy is a way for them to keep their pet, and my poster tries to show that to them.

Thesis: My document uses the ethos, pathos, and logos of Visual Rhetoric; to effectively persuade people to become our customers.

The rest of this memo will discuss the media packet I have put together for my design project.

Body

I decided to put together a media kit for my business involving taxidermy. My media kit includes: 2 posters, a newsletter, business cards, and a unique logo. Media kits are usually used by businesses to promote their company through the press. It usually involves a combination of items that shows what their company focuses on, who is a member of the company, and what their product looks like. I really appreciate it when a company mails me about upcoming events, or specific stories about the company itself. I decided to use that aspect in my newsletter by making it my companies’ first newsletter ever. I also added photos of

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Taxidermy products I own, or are in the process of making. Because of this, I know that my newsletter alone will be enough to give people a feeling about the company and our product.

Software Used

The software I used for the newsletter and businesses cards was Microsoft Word. The program gives a user a lot of templates to choose from, and I chose the ones that I felt fit my idea the best. For the two posters, the images were hand drawn and then exported to sketchbook pro application. Sketchbook pro application is a software used on Kindell to help users draw, paint, and manipulate artwork using different types of media. The posters were painted using this application. The posters were then uploaded to Word where the text was added to them to make them look more like flyers. Showboat is a font that I downloaded for the posters.

I did not run into a lot of problems using any of the software listed above. I had an issue when it came to the font I downloaded for the company. Showboat does not convert certain symbols, so I had to work around using symbols. For the newsletter template in Microsoft Word, I had to work around images that come with each template. It was difficult to deal with because if you deleted certain images; it would make the entire format collapse. But besides those minor annoyances, I did not run into serious problems using any of the software listed.

Content & Organization

Because the posters, logo, and businesses card have very little text, I will be focusing on the newsletter for the next several points. When it came to content and organization, I decided to open with a simple introduction, followed by who we are as a company, what are craft is, what our morals are, what our goals are, what we need, and I ended it with a thank you. The content was very simplistic because the newsletter was designed to be our first newsletter ever. I also wanted the newsletter to explain a little bit about Taxidermy; in case users don’t really know what the craft is, but end up subscribed to our newsletter. In terms of organization, I think the newsletter has a slick look to it. The page isn’t too cluttered, and the colors are easy on the eyes. The newsletter reads a lot like an essay because of its intro, and it isn’t too preachy, or full of too much information. I think that it is organized so that a reader can easily skim through the letter.

Prose

The prose level I chose for the document is very simplistic. The newsletter is very formal in certain aspects. I speak from a third person point of view, and say the company name as I go through certain topics. So I remain a very far-away persona from the newsletter. This is only for the sections that involve the company and its policies. When it comes to the end of the newsletter, I take a more hands own approach. My prose changes, and the tone becomes more thankful. This is because the last few sections address the community that support the company, so my tone has to convince them that we are grateful.

Most of the paragraphs of the newsletter are very short. They are made to be quick reads for users. This is because users want to feel like what they read is important. They want to learn from what they are reading. By making the paragraphs short a user is more apt to learn something. The choice of words were considered very carefully. The document was not made to be interpreted as too formal. A newsletter should read as an open letter from the business

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owner to its customers. So the words chosen are supposed to be read as very casual. A casual approach works best with costumers.

Design Elements

I will next discuss the design elements I focused on when creating my document.

Visual Rhetoric

In document design, Kimball describes Visual Rhetoric as, “how people try to influence each other through human communication.” (Kimball 62) Kimball later goes on to say that much of the research on visual rhetoric used as persuasion comes from advertisement. While the newsletter uses text, my posters rely heavily on visuals. The posters serve as a form of advertisement for my company. Kimball goes on to define Aristotle’s ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos refers to what the user can assume about the speaker’s character based on what they can see. Pathos refers to the aspects of the document that make the user have an emotional response. Logos refers to the logical information conveyed by the document.

In order to put the information above into better context, and relate it to my project, I visited Stanford Universities’ website, and obtained their definition of Visual Rhetoric through their example. “A persuasive visual piece designed to make a certain argument about what Stanford means and what type of student attend it. The goal? To convince you that Stanford is the place you belong.” (Stanford University). In other words, an image that will give a user an argument that this company is the company for you. This is exactly what my newsletter and posters do.

Because of our user-centered design, our newsletter and posters let our users know who we are, and what we can do for them. When it comes to our hunting poster, our Ethos is that of a respectable mature company. This can be seen from the colors used, and the fonts used on the poster. The poster shows that the company is respectable and old fashioned. Which is something that the target audience, our users, want. When it comes to Taxidermy, your users want to be able to trust you. The posters give us an image of trust by establishing our Ethos as respectable. When they read the newsletter a user will agree that by, the short paragraphs, removed and hands-own prose, and the organization that our character is exactly what is presented.

The Pathos of the document can be found in both the newsletter and the posters. One of the posters is designed for animal lovers. It shows two skulls, one of a cat, and one of a dog. Both images are below an image of a light red heart. Above this image is a saying that says, “goodbye doesn’t have to be forever.” This poster is designed to evoke an emotional response in a user. That is what Pathos means. Animal lovers don’t ever want to say goodbye to their pets. They form a strong emotional bond with them. The skulls in our poster appear small and fragile; like the pets that they represent. The words hovering above the image will trigger an emotional response. A user will feel compelled to use the services of Taxidermy, so that they won’t have to say goodbye to their pets. Not only that, but they will want to use the services of the company who evoked that feeling in them.

Another example would be the second poster. It shows an animal with strong antlers, peaking its head from the bottom of the page, yet it appears to stand confident. This image will evoke the same emotion from hunters. They want the game they have hunted to stand strong

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and confident as trophies. The poster will evoke the kind of emotions that they want their trophies to show. Which will then make them want to do businesses with my company.

The newsletter is another example of Pathos at work in my document. Visual Rhetoric can also be used throughout text. The last two sections of the newsletter take a more hands-own-approach prose style. It is written with simple casual prose that makes the user feel happy. The text is supposed to evoke a feeling of gratefulness. Because it is written as a thank you to the supporters of the company in the most sincere way possible.

The Logos can be found in the newsletter as well. The newsletter makes sure to cover the kind of company that Skin And Bones is, what our policies are, how thankful we are to our supporters, and where we want to go as a company. Because our company caters to animal lovers; the newsletter makes sure to address that the company does not condone the murder of animals. It only condones legal hunting. This is a logical fact that will make our users feel relieved. Because the company does not condone murder, or preforms heinous acts in order to obtain the material needed. This logical fact will meet our users’ needs and expectations. The newsletter also addresses what Taxidermy is. Giving our first time users quick knowledge, and informing them what our product is. Another factual information the company’s newsletter gives users is the kind of animals that the company works with. The newsletter also informs users that the company works with animal bones as well.

I think that the posters and newsletter do a good job in showing off the document’s visual rhetoric. I know that the images used in the poster will effectively persuade their targeted audience. I also believe that the

Type

In Document Design, Kimball briefly mentions typography and it uses. “Paying attention to typography is an absolute must. Good typographic design doesn’t just make documents look good – it gives users important clues about the structure of the document, the purpose of design objects, and the ethos of the organization that created the document.” (Kimball 151)

The newsletter and posters both use typography to its advantage. According to Stuart Gardoll, “don’t use more than four font in one publication” (Gardoll). The newsletter only uses three different fonts; staying away from confusing a user by using too much. The newsletter also uses a good combination of bold, underlined, and italic modifiers when it comes to its text. Type also plays a heavy role when it comes to Visual Rhetoric. Depending on the type used a user can learn a companies’ ethos.

In, Your Guide for Desktop Publishing, Jacci Howard Bear says, “It is also wise to not make sudden typeface changes within a paragraph. Use the same typeface for body copy, using only bold or italics to add small amounts of emphasis, if necessary. If greater emphasis is required — create a pull-quote, set that copy in the margin, or create a sidebar using a different font to really set the information apart.” (Bear) In the newsletter users will find a pull quote about one of the companies’ major policies. I took Bear’s advice, and I think that it does the job. When a user scans the newsletter, they will see the pull quote and know that it is important information. Another thing users will notice about the newsletter is that it has consistent fonts. Taking Bear’s advice again, the document does not have any type changes within a paragraph.

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This causes the newsletter to have a reliable format; which again lends credibility to the document’s Ethos. Or rather, helps establish the companies’ ethos.

Because I went with a custom type, showboat, for the posters, I hoped that the design would let users know that we are an artistic company. I used Harrington for the title of the newsletter because it also gave the title a really artistic font. It made the letters look very fantastical and artistic, yet it also gave the title a sleek and professional look. This typography helps users see what kind of company we are right from the introduction. I used Ariel for all of the headings and Georgia for the body text.

Type also played an important role when it came to organizing the newsletter and posters. Because of titles, headers, and sub-headers, I was able to form a hierarchy within the document. It showed users how to distinguish parts of the document, and how they fit together to make a whole. This can be seen in the newsletter where it is broken down into title followed by body text. Because of this design users can easily follow the information, and distinguish said information based on the title above it. In this way they know that under the Welcome title is a greeting. Meanwhile under Who is Skin And Bones, they know that information about the company will follow. Proving again that the document has an easy to follow style, and that users can depend on it.

Conclusion

One of the hardest challenges while creating this document was: making a document that advertises a new company, and making it so that it can be used by users. I didn’t think that it was possible when I finished the newsletter and posters. I thought that all I had done was create a few advertisements and that was it. But as I researched visual rhetoric and type, I found that my document did offer a certain usability to users. I think this was one of the biggest challenges because if a document can’t be used – then it’s useless.

Another challenge was creating images that would cater to an audience. I didn’t want to use stocked images, so I sought out to create original pieces of work. In this way, I hoped that users could see that the company had them in mind when making these advertisements. Not only that it had them in mind, but it was also trying to be genuine to them. It was really hard because after the images were transferred onto a software for sketching, I didn’t know how to add the text. I searched the internet for a custom font that was good enough to offer users originality and dependability, but then I saw that the font wouldn’t show up unless other users had it downloaded. I remedied the situation by converting the images into PDF documents. Another challenge, which happened before exporting the images into a PDF, was getting the font to work. Whenever I would type sentences the font would turn out all messed up. I later found out that the font can only be used in all caps. This was quite a problem, but luckily I decided to only use the font for the title of the posters.

One thing that I would do differently for this project is the newsletter. I feel like the newsletter could be a lot longer and offer more information to users. Right now it feels way too short, but that’s because Skin And Bones is a fictional businesses. So there wasn’t a lot I could say about the company since it didn’t exist. Maybe one day it will. Another thing I would change is that I would add a brochure. I feel like a brochure is a better way to show users what your company can do. A brochure is also a better document to design. This is because people

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can use it for a lot of stuff. Brochures hold lots of information, and has a lot of visual rhetoric at work, so I feel like it would have been a better choice.

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Works Cited

Bear, Jacci H. "Plain Talk Principle - Document Design." Washington State Department of Ecology.

Washington State University, n.d. Web.

<http://www.ecy.wa.gov/quality/plaintalk/resources/doc_design.pdf>.

Gardoll, Stuart. "Plain Talk Principle - Document Design." Washington State Department of Ecology.

Washington State University, n.d. Web.

<http://www.ecy.wa.gov/quality/plaintalk/resources/doc_design.pdf>.

Jones, Dan. Technical Writing Style. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1998. Print.

Rude, Carolyn D., and Angela Eaton. Technical Editing. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

"What Is Visual Rhetoric." What Is Visual Rhetoric. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

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