Reading Response - 5
http://www.aqmd.gov/forstudents/images/Dirty_Air_cover.gif
The brochure that I found focuses on cleaning the air that we breathe. The brochure is put out by the AQMD which is an air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles. AQMD is responsible for controlling emissions primarily from stationary sources of air pollution. The brochure put out by the company uses alignment, contrast, and the attributes of type to hold the reader’s attention. The alignment used in this brochure helped distinguish the patterns of the clouds used in this design format. The alignment draws attention to the clouds that are polluted versus the clouds that are not polluted. The contrast in color takes an emotional appeal on the reader because of the difference in polluted colored and non polluted skies. The use of lines in the brochures helps the reader’s eyes focus on the parts of the brochure that are especially important. In the case of this specific brochure, the readers’ eyes are focused on the word in the center of the brochure that says “dirty,” and also on the colors surrounding the word. The last element of the brochure is the attribute of type. This brochures font focused on the word “air” and “dirty.” These words trigger an emotional reaction from the reader, along with the change of color between polluted and non polluted skies. This document will influence my own design on the service learning project by making me focus on the elements that trigger an emotional response from the reader. The use of alignment and contrast help focus the readers’ eye to specific area of the brochure. The alignment of type, specifically the size of the font, makes specific words stand out that need more attention than other words in the brochure. Not only will the larger font make the word get more attention, but it will get the attention of a reader that is reading it from a distance and cause them to gravitate to the brochure to read more about it.
Comments
Response
This was a very unique flyer. It does not contain much text, but with the strong imagery, it does not really even need to. The contrast in the colors of the clouds in the polluted vs. non-polluted clouds really can tap into the emotional side of the reader like you said. This imagery in this was similar to the example from the book with the reflection in the "Riverlife Pittsburgh" graphic. The clouds are almost reflected upon each other, but the one side shows an unhealthy atmosphere. For this particular message, the image does a good job depicted that there is a problem with the content of the air. I feel for our project we need to take a similar approach. We need to put emphasis on the parts that need to be stressed more. To do this we must properly use alignment, color layout, font size, and style. Of course we will need to include much more context writing for our project as well because the Community and Family Resource Center is not as self-explanatory as the health effects of pollution. You definitely brought up some useful ideas for our project in your response.
Reply
This is a very strong one page flyer for someone. I feel as though I would defiantly be interested in discovering what else was written inside. The design is also very cool. The first thing you notice is the word AIR and then you see dirty right in the middle. This is very easy to read and easy to catch attention from a distance. I think it would be a good idea to try to use some of the attention grabbing techniques used in this page. Such as the colors, simplicity, and it makes me want to discover more. I think the important concept from this is showing how effective something can be without lots of text.
Reading Response Comment
David I agree that the brochure gives a lot of information in a short amount of space. I believe this is a very well organized brochure because then the reader gets a lot of information in a little amount of space. I also agree that the words used were very well used. The main words were big and able to catch the eye. I liked the layout it gave a very professional look. This brochure is a great example of how you can utilize your words in a small amount of space.
Reading Response Comment
This one page brochure accomplishes more than some three or more page brochures. It captures the reader's attention immediately with the word "Dirty" in the middle of pretty blue clouds. Although there isn't much use of text like the effects of air pollution, the pictures convey the effects by comparing clean and dirty air. The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true in this case. I really like the brochure's contrast with the large point size of the font for "Air" and the small font size for the rest of the text. The emotional response of the brochure readers will be very clear because most would associate "dirty" and "air" with negative feelings and think of ways to prevent "dirty air". No one wants to breathe polluted air and this brochure achieves its goal with little text. Other brochures for air pollution would probably list causes and ways to prevent air pollution, but the pictures and the use of contrast has a larger impact on the audience than text would have. I would prefer to look at more pictures than text because text can be overwhelming at times. I hope we can achieve this same effect in our brochures.
Reply
This is a very interesting brochure; it really captures the reader’s attention. It has a lot of great colors and fonts. The colors that are used are all natural tones that go along with the environment and nature. That is really a neat feature to this brochure. I really like how you talk about the emotional response that triggers the audience. That is really important and topics such as pollution do have an emotional appeal to specific audiences. The background that is used really distinguishes this brochure and goes along with this topic really well. Overall, I really like this brochure and would like to use some of these design features in my group’s brochure.
Reading Response Week 5
If I had not read your description about the brochure you posted, I do not think I would have understood what the brochure was trying to accomplish. When I look at the link on my computer the dirty clouds are blue and then its pink around it. I do not understand the color choice and how the take an emotional appeal. Although air pollution is my minor I do understand how air pollution can appeal to an audiences emotion, especially somewhere like Orange County California where air pollution is such a large problem. I did like how you mentioned using emotion words and trying to get an emotion out of the audience. That is a really good idea!