Project 5: Catalog, Newsletter, Website Design, or Other Complex Document

Overview

For Project 5 (as for Projects 2, 3, and 4) you'll plan, design, research, and produce a multi-page document, such as a catalog, newsletter, print-on-demand book (for Blurb or Lulu, for example), or website. As for Projects 2-4, the steps will include completing a Wireframe and Project Management Brief, adding weekly notes to your Project Log, collecting assets at your Drop.io site, and submitting printed and electronic copies of your project when it is completed. Your choices are only limited by the samples in the course texts or in class, which cover a vast range of possibilities. You should complete a Project Management Brief (including a wireframe of the key page(s) of your document), add weekly notes to your Project Log, collect assets at your Drop.io site, and submit printed and electronic copies of your project when it is completed. Examples of acceptable projects include but are not limited to the following: catalog, newsletter, ezine, brochure, ebook, printed book, photo/art book, magazine, multi-page website, digital portfolio (with designed interface), template for Wordpress or Drupal, and more. (Individual or collaborative*: 30% of course grade.)

* Collaborative Option: Students have the option of making this project collaborative. One client-based project already in the works involves working with Discovery Park to produce a detailed Project Management Brief for marketing materials.In this case, the final document will be the Brief itself, but in this case the wireframes will be multi-staged and complete. Throughout the process, students will communicate with the clients and research Discovery Park. We need three or four students for this group, so volunteer if you're interested. Other collaborative projects are possible and should involve working with real clients on a complex design project. If students complete a collaborative project, they will be asked to fill-out a Collaborative Project Evaluation Form individually, at the time the project is completed. Dr. B. will provide additional assistance in planning the collaborative projects.

Step 1

Complete the Project Management Questionnaire for this project. Be as thorough as possible.You should post your completed document (minus address/information) to your Project Log no later than Thursday, April 2.

Step 2

Project Management Brief. Use the template you created in Project 1 to start a new Project Management Brief focused on this specific project. Your finished Brief should include (at minimum) these components:

1. Project Brief page.
2. Personas. Include at least three personas, each of which should represent a different type of user or reader. Be sure to include information that answers these questions: 1) Who are we designing for? 2) What are their goals? 3) What are their tasks? 4) Use cases and scenarios
3. Design Concept page. Summarize on this page these elements of the rhetorical situation: ethos (how the author/writer/client wants to be perceived); how users will actually use the document/site; general goals of the design (what it should convey, how it should look, what should be highlighted). It would be helpful to create a cluster that shows how users (or readers) relate to the document.
4. Wireframe(s). These should include one or more blank wireframes that show key features of the layout. Use D.I.Y. or Page Design (or even InDesign templates) for help with parameters.
5. Color Palette/Typography/Paper page. Include here a precise listing of the colors. typography, and media to be used for the finished. Name colors by color code. Use font names, styles, and sizes. For printed media, identify the color, finish, and weight of the paper to be used. For digital documents, include any relevant details (URL, interface, plug-in, etc.)

Read and review the sample wireframe and project management brief for The Thomson Handbook so that you can see what a complete wireframe/brief should look like (see the calendar for Week 4 or our class drop.io assets for the PDF file). You should complete Step 2 Thursday, April 16, and be ready for in-class peer review.

Step 3

Asset Collection. Upload all assets to your drop.io site. Be sure to collect or create more assets than you are likely to need. See the Resources page for some asset sites. If you create drafts, upload the working version to your drop.io site so that it can be reviewed by others as needed. This is an ongoing component of this project.

Step 4

Design the document(s) for this project using InDesign or other publishing software, then produce high quality PDF versions (if a printable document) or publish it to the Web (if a digital document). If you are producing a printed document, you should (at least) print a prototype of the document, showing crop marks. Ideally, you would produce the finished document (if it's not too expensive to do so). Your design documents should be ready for in-class peer review on Thursday, April 23.

Deliverables

Collect all files (Steps 1, 2, and 4) and post them to your blog. Use this tag: Project 5. You should also print one copy of the final document to turn in, if yours is a printable project. The due date is Thursday, April 30, on the last day of class.. You should include a short cover letter ("Submission Notes") that explain any special circumstances and/or request feedback on a particular aspect of your work.

Grading and Criteria

This project counts as 10 percent of your course grade. Your deliverables should have all of the components mentioned in each step and be carefully edited and of high quality. All major assignments will be graded on the standard plus-minus letter-grade scale: A=100-94, A-=93-90, B+==89-87, B=86-84, B-=83-80, C+=79-77, C=76-74, C-=73-70, D+=69-67, D=66-64, D-=63-60, F=59 or below.

Questions

Don't be afraid to ask them in class or by email . . .