Project 2: Packaging and Promotion

For Project 2, we will work with a very familiar subject: commerce. More specifically, we will be dealing with pragmatic issues of product packaging and promotion. Like all acts of communication, particularly those that are explicitly persuasive, advertising is thoroughly rhetorical.

Each student will select five songs from our class song pool. These five songs will be used to create a compilation CD. Each student will produce an appropriate complete package for the CD (covers, jewel case liner, disk with label, etc.) and one promotional material that targets a specific, appropriate audience. Both the CD package and the promotional material should look as professional as possible; the goal is to make them indistinguishable from existing commercial work. Promotional materials include, but are not limited to, the following:

• animated .gif banner
• Flash banner
• radio spot
• video spot
• newspaper advertisement
• magazine advertisement
• flyer
• poster
• other

CD packages and promotional materials should be complete and of a professional, marketable caliber. Each CD package and promotional item should be accompanied by a thorough design plan. Neither the CD package nor any promotional materials may contain any copyrighted material.

To produce their packages and promotional materials, students will read practical texts over package and promotional material design. Students will also analyze existing professional examples and their own work.

Project Deliverables:

• CD package (with design plan)
• promotional item (with design plan)
• postmortem

Due Dates:

• CD package design plan draft due 2/15
• CD package draft 1 due 2/20
• Promotional material design plan draft due 2/25
• Promotional material draft 1 due 2/29
• CD package revised draft with revised design plan due 3/5
• Promotional material revised draft with revised design plan due 3/7
• Project 2 final draft (CD package and design plan, promotional material and design plan, postmortem) due 3/24

Grading:
Breakdown

• CD package design plan = 5%
• promotional material design plan = 5%
• CD package = 40%
• promotional material = 40%
• postmortem = 10%

Rubrics
Excellent design plans will:

• account for all the design plan elements outlined in Compose, Design, Advocate
• proceed through a structure based on the sequence of design plan elements in Compose, Design, Advocate
• provide a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts
• speak in third person about how the text (CD package or promotional material) functions, not in first person about the designer's process of creation
• speak in present tense about how the text (CD package or promotional material) works, not in the future tense about what it will or might do
• demonstrate thoroughly what rhetorical purpose the text (CD package or promotional material) intends, who is targeted, and how the message is to be delivered
• demonstrate coherence between the design plans and the resulting CD packages and promotional materials
• be in a finished, polished format appropriate for an academic/professional reader, including appropriate grammar and mechanics

Excellent CD packages and promotional materials will:

• accomplish a legitimate, specific rhetorical purpose not already accomplished by existing texts
• target a legitimate, specific audience (other than just the designer)
• suit context appropriately
• share visual and textual themes between each other, so that the CD package and promotional material are connected together
• commit no intellectual property theft, including using copyrighted materials without explicit permission to do so
• exhibit grammar and visuals appropriate to the texts' audience, context, and purpose
• be in a professional, polished state befitting a commercial product

Excellent postmortems will:

• account thoroughly for all the sections of the postmortem form
• focus on the designer's process of creating the data map
• provide valuable insight into project successes, difficulties, and what lessons have been learned going forward
• provide documentation that would be necessary in a professional setting
• be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics, such that the postmortem could be given as-is to a professional superior

Applicable Resources:

• Photoshop CD templates
• MS Word CD templates
• Illustrator CD templates
• Freehand CD templates
• Design Plan Tips
• Drafts from previous students
• Song List
• Project 2 postmortem

Applicable Links:

• Copyright Navigator
• Amazon (for CD package analysis)
• Creative Commons search
• Copyright Free and Public Domain Media Sources
• Purdue Library search for Corel royalty-free images (you must be logged in to the library page if off campus)