Document Design
The Value of Visual Elements
Visual design enhances technical writing. Appropriate, effective document design can range from simple headings in an APA-formatted journal article to multimodal elements in a social media post or other promotional materials.
Created for: Document Design
Book Jacket
A book jacket from an imagined memoir created to practice and apply design principles and skills.
This project demonstrates my ability to assess the rhetorical situation (what information does a book jacket need?) and use design principles (e.g., contrast, proximity, alignment, and repetition) to create a pleasing, effective artifact.
To create it, I identified the required book jacket components and made design choices such as selecting the jacket’s size, developing graphics, and choosing colors. I used an iterative process to refine my design. As one of my first graduate school projects, it was a great introduction to the program that solidified my interest in visual communication.
Skills
Tools
- Gestalt design skills
- Accessibility
- Rhetorical analysis
- Canva
- Adobe Color
Created for: Document Design
Booklet
A combination case study/design exercise in booklet format.
This case study examines my revision of a local restaurant’s menu. The case study provides the content, while the booklet’s design adheres to visual design principles to illustrate my document design skills. I used Adobe Illustrator and InDesign to create the booklet’s visual elements and layout. I used research and analysis to guide and support the menu revisions I made.
Developing a case study challenged me to apply my learning to an actual case. Packaging this as a booklet challenged me to create an effective, rhetorically appropriate artifact that stretched my document design skills.
Skills
Tools
- Document design
- Layout
- Desktop publishing
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Color
Created for: Writing for Business & Government
Promotional Materials
A collection of promotional materials advertising a scholarship opportunity for a local civic organization.
These promotional materials include a digital or printable flyer to distribute to local high schools, as well as social media posts that my local civic unit can use to promote the scholarships. Since this local organization is part of a national organization, I adhered to the prescribed style guide.
I gathered information about the event from the local unit and accessed the national unit’s style guide. I utilized visual design principles and audience analysis to create effective promotional materials. Creating these materials gave me a chance to work with an organization’s requirements while bringing my unique touch to the project.
Skills
Tools
- Document design
- Audience analysis
- Research
- Formatting to meet specific requirements
- Canva
- Adobe Color