Reading Response, Week 6
After reading chapters twenty-four and thirty-seven in the Thompson Handbook, it became clear that the principles of variety, conciseness, audience, and design are going to be the elements of our group's brochure that really sell our brochure to the client. In general, I think my group did a sufficient using these principles in our first draft, but we definitely have some things we can improve upon.
The first thing that sticks out in my mind is the variety and conciseness of the words and sentencing in our brochure. Chapter thirty-seven's examples of paragraphs that have a mixture of both complex and simple sentences made me see how much better ideas can sound than if all of the wording is either simple or complex. Overall I think our brochure may be a little bit too wordy, and I feel that we might benefit from making it more concise.
Next, I think that our group needs to consider our audience a little bit better and think of a way to really make the readers want to volunteer. We included just one picture in our brochure because we were afraid that the brochure might get too cluttered, but after reading the chapters, I might reconsider that thought. The book stated that pictures can explain things without using words because they play directly into the viewers emotions. Somehow, I would like our group to add an emotion-triggering element to our brochure so that our readers will immediately feel a connection to the event.
Last, I believe our group followed the principle of good design. Our brochure is not too busy and has a layout that makes sense. I think we should possible add a background color for contrast, but other than that I believe our group excelled in this area of brochure making. I look forward to seeing how our final product turns out!
Comments
response
I agree that some of the sections in our brochure could be too busy for the reader, but it is necessary to describe specific duties of volunteer work. After we get some feedback, we should have no problem making the necessary changes. For our first and rough draft, I think we have done great job putting the project together. Maybe we can come up with ideas to shorten the middle section while we wait for the feedback from Jeremy. One thing we should try and focus on is finding the best way to incorporate the mail in form and letter. I think what we have now is ok, but can probably be designed a little bit better. Great job so far!
I am very happy with the way
I am very happy with the way our first draft of the brochure turned out. By following the principles of design, our group constructed a great brochure that utilizes variety, audience and design. I agree that the one principle that needs more attention is conciseness. For instance, I think the volunteer opportunity section may be a little wordy and by using the principle of conciseness, our points will be more direct and more pleasing to the reader. With the addition of pictures for our second draft, I think more people will be enticed to volunteer and the brochure will look more pleasing. I think that your suggestion concerning an additional colored background to draw attention to the brochure, might be a good idea. My only concern would be that too much color will take away from all of its professional and visuals.
comment
I also think that our brochure is a little bit too wordy, even though we did a good job on the first draft. Our starting point has to be to shorten sentences as well as to take out as much unnecessary information we might have. We need to add more visuals to the brochure so we can be able to take away as much text as we can. I agree with all the comments you wrote about our brochure, you bring important points to keep in mind for our next draft. I also agree that we should try adding a background to the brochure to create contrast as well as a much more attractive document for the audience. I also look forward for our next drafts since we have realized most of our assignment's weaknesses meaning that now we know exactly on what we must improve on.