Summary:
The Instructions Project asks each student to produce three clear, concise instruction documents in three different formats for three distinct audiences.
- A six-page guide booklet (three double-sided pages) for UNCW freshmen to be distributed during orientation: This booklet should contain information you wish you knew as an incoming freshman that wasn't documented in official materials. Of course it cannot cover everything, so each student must choose how to limit and focus his or her document. Because it will be distributed by the university, its contents should not contradict university policies nor violate copyright. The booklet will be standard 8.5" X 11" double-sided pages in grayscale.
- A poster explaining water aerobics for senior citizens to be hung at a community pool: This poster should communicate basics of water aerobics for an audience of senior citizens. Students likely will have to do independent research on this subject. The poster will be mounted at a community swimming pool. It will be a single-sided tabloid (11" X 17") sheet, and may be full color or grayscale.
- A package insert for a deck of standard playing cards describing how to play a card game: Students will select one of the many games possible with standard playing cards. Each student will then create an instruction sheet for the game that would fit in the deck's packaging. The insert should be poker-card sized (2.5" X 3.5") or fold into a rectangle of the same dimensions. The insert may be full color or grayscale.
Professional writers are often tasked with producing such instructional documents, and despite common assumptions, helpful, audience-focused instructions are quite challenging to produce. A main goal for this project is for students to explore how different audiences, contexts, and purposes manifest in instruction sets that vary in form and function.
Each of the three documents must contain some multimedia elements that are not written text, such as images, figures, tables, lists, diagrams, etc. All documents will be submitted electronically in .pdf format.
Deliverables:
- Guide Booklet Design Plan (5% of project grade)
- Guide Booklet Draft and Usability Test (Engagement Assignment grade)
- Guide Booklet (20% of project grade)
- Guide Booklet Materials Analysis (5% of project grade)
- Poster Design Plan (5% of project grade)
- Poster Draft and Usability Test (Engagement Assignment grade)
- Poster (20% of project grade)
- Poster Materials Analysis (5% of project grade)
- Package Insert Design Plan (5% of project grade)
- Package Insert Draft and Usability Test (Engagement Assignment grade)
- Package Insert (20% of project grade)
- Package Insert Materials Analysis (5% of project grade)
- Postmortem (10% of project grade)
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