Reading Response Week 6 - Jimmy Gaffney
Submitted by jgaffney on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 23:20.
Considering the principles of design given in chapter 25, what works about the design of the flyer you found? Reference specific principles from Chapter 25 to analyze the design of your flyer. Explain how this document will influence your own design on the service learning project.
Here is the link to the flyer I found. http://www.2600.com/news/0130-flyer/flyer.gif
This flyer is a little wordy, but it does follow principles in chapter 25 of our text. For example, the alignment is good which makes it easier to read and follow. The sections are clearly separated so you can jump from topic to topic. There is only one picture on the flyer, but it does fit the proximity requirement. The sarcastic comment next to the image clearly belongs with it. The only repetition is that they constantly remind you that this poster is about the MPAA. They frequently included MPAA in all caps to reinforce the subject of this flyer. The text is completely justified and is not awkward in any way. They used specific text sizes to grab attention as well. The flyer also includes extensive contact info to help make sure the reader takes action. That is about all of the principles this flyer has. It is in black and white so one might consider that contrast, but I do not think the designer focused too much on contrast when they were creating the flyer.
I think this flyer is effective to an extent. As I mentioned it is a little wordy, but I think it fits for the purpose of this flyer. Anyone who has payed attention to the RIAA or the MPAA issues with downloading music and movies (especially at Purdue since we are under close watch apparently) should be drawn in by the larger header of this flyer. I know I was drawn in. I like the effect the image has on the poster. It is only a minor sarcastic joke to help back their beliefs, but I thought it was clever to use a Disney icon to protest the MPAA.
Our own design will be in a different context. This is a protest and ours will be about an upcoming event, so I will probably not take too much from this poster. I will probably use big fonts to grab attention and I think alignment is important, but that is about all I could see myself taking from this flyer to put in our group's design. This flyer is also a little bland and depressing, probably due to the simple black and white text, so I think our group should make ours more colorful in order to emphasize the positive aspect of the event we are advertising for.
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Kevin's Comments about Online Group Project
Jim - I totally agree with you that this flyer is to wordy and there is not enough contrast. It also looks like the font is difficult to read. I would like to see our flyer and poster sharp with very good contrast and easy to read words. We have a challenge with the three logos - Soup and Bread, Crisis Center and United Way. As I reveiwed the flyer received from the Crisis Center, I am thinking maybe some of the information they have also put on the flyer can be left off, for example who the entertainers are. I think that since the poster is larger maybe we could include that information on the poster. What do you think?
Flyer Response
This flyer has so many words on it and the link I opened was pretty blurry so I couldn't really read them all. I don't like how there is absolutely no color. Our event is a very positive and upbeat event so I think our poster needs some color, which you mentioned. I also like the image. Sarcasm always grabs interest. I actually don't download a whole lot of music but hear about illegal downloading all the time. I wasn't aware of the acronym MPAA, so this header didn't grab my attention at all. Because I couldn't actually make out the poster I would have had no idea what it was referring to had you not explained it in your response. I do like that the text is justified, that looks so much more professional and precise. I like your ideas for our poster and what you are taking/ not taking from this flyer.
COMMENT
I think you definitely showed how this flyer does follow the rules in the book, I do agree that it is a little word the image and the title definitely got me to read more, I didn't read all of it because it just got to long, but it did get me to start reading which I didn't think I would do at first glance. But i think you made some good points, and it would be a better idea to put more color and add bigger titles etc. when creating your flyer.
Response to JGaffney
Hi,
As I glanced over your poster, I am not sure if this is the best example to use or not. First, I agree that this is a little boring simply because they only use the colors black and white. Although Jane requested that the poster and flyer be submitted in black and white with an option for color, I am not sure if she would chose a design similar to this. Secondly, I do think there are too many words on this poster and that the picture does not necessarily enhance the meaning. I mean, I don’t really understand what the poster is talking about in the first 30 seconds of looking at it. Finally, although they do write “MPAA” around often (repetition), it serves no point as some do not know what this is.
-Elizabeth
response to Jimmy
Jim, I really agree with you that although this flyer is a little too wordy, it still fall under the principles in chapter 25 of our text book. They still use a good layout to spread out their information, but I think the flyer just look a little boring due to the lack of color. There is a picture on the flyer; however I do not think that it is a good idea to use a copyrighted character without including the copyrighted logo. This is just to prevent further problems with the law. Although they use several text sizes to grab attention, I do not like the topography of this flyer as they are using at least 4 different fonts when I do not think that it is necessary to do so. Just like you said, the flyer has a strong subject, but it is definitely lacking some design skills. Say if someone gave this flyer to me, I wouldn’t probably read it pass the ‘stop the MPAA’ sentence due to the uninteresting design of the flyer and the long paragraphs it has. As you said, anyone who paid attention to the RIAA or the MPAA would be interested in reading this flyer, but for those who doesn’t event know what the MPAA is, it could be quite challenging to get them to really read this flyer.