Reading Response Week Five: The Flyer

The flyer I am analyzing can be found at: http://www.1800mustang.com/images/nationalmustangshow_ad.jpg

This design works well for several reasons as discussed in Chapter 25 of "The Thomson Handbook". First, the information has good proximity that gives a meaningful relationship. The most important information (the title) is placed where it catches the readers attention first. Then, the details follow in order of importance. They also follow in a way that draws the reader's eye conveniently downward. Second, the alignment adds to the meaningful relationship of the proximity. Most of the important details are aligned along the left while the Mustang graphics are aligned along the left. Small details about "Wild Horse Park" are nicely centered at the bottom. Third, the design elements are repeated throughout the flyer. The same typeface is used for most of the words, while it is accented with other styles as seen on the words "Oklahoma" and "Mustang National". Finally, there is nice contrast between the words that allow important things to stand out to the reader. All these reasons combine to make the flyer effective.

This flyer has influenced my work for our group's flyer in the same ways as discussed in Chapter 25 of "The Thomson Handbook". We fully intend to design our flyer with good proximity. Proximity is important because it creates a meaningful relationship between the words. In order for the reader to take away the important information from our flyer, we will have to place the words in a way that creates interest and makes sense. Next, we plan to use alignment to make sure the reader is not bombarded with words that are out of place. By properly aligning the words on our flyer we will be able to continue to add to the proper proximity of the words. Then, we plan to use a common theme in our flyer. This would include repeating design elements to create consistency. The reader will be overwhelmed if we don't use consistency, so we plan to use it while differentiating the right things to keep the reader's interest. Finally, this differentiation between some words will add to the contrast. Contrast will help the reader take away the most important information while still noticing the details.

Overall, "The Thomson Handbook" makes great points about what should and should not be used in our flyer design. I have learned that there are many important things to keep in mind when designing a flyer. Proximity, alignment, repitition, and contrast are key concepts that will determine what readers take away from the flyer. Other inherent things include the attributes of type. These can be the fonts, typefaces, point size, line length, leading length, margins and alleys, justification, color and more. Our group plans to use all of these key concepts and inherent attributes to design a flyer that will be effective for the Lafayette Crisis Center.