Reading Response Week 7
I think that our brochure has effectively been able to pull on the heartstrings of the readers, creating the right amount of emotional appeal. Within our brochure we try to appeal the people’s better nature by trying to get them to volunteer and show them examples of why they should contribute and what they will get out of such an experience. Part of this was achieved through the use of photographs, which are depictions of the event and past volunteers. These pictures also help to make the brochure have a personal feel by using people from those who actually live in the community and have shared this experience in the past. The design has a very professional feel, when creating a design for the brochure we tried to look at real life examples and pull our inspiration from those documents. Overall, we were able to create a design that was not only professional, but that was also appealing and readable. We tried to not use too much text; we didn’t want to overwhelm our readers with words. Instead, we tried to paint an experience for them using a combination of text and pictures. Breaking it down so that it was easy to understand and follow, using bullet points, different font colors, and boxes to break it up into sections. To further make the document easier to read, we tried to use the vernacular of our audience. We were trying to reach the common people within the community so we made sure that we didn’t “websterize” our brochure by using words we found in the dictionary to make us sound smarter, instead we used common words and phrases. To sustain and create interest among the readers we started the brochure out with a piece about the organization and why volunteering is important. Which transitions well to the overall message of volunteering that we carry out through the brochure. However, we do not try to sell the reader on just volunteering, we show them the many opportunities that there are to volunteer and help out. And, if they are unable to volunteer they can still contribute by submitting a donation. Ending with a form for them to submit indicating how they would like to contribute to the event, which ultimately serves as our call to action. I think that we have passed the test with our brochure and that it is an extremely effective document.
Comments
Group reply
I agree with most of your points that you make. I feel that overall our brochure has a good appearance and also good context. We try to get the reader's attention and I felt that on most parts of the test we did pretty well. I gave our brochure a minus on the single message and focus parts, but I really don't feel that we need to change much on that part. We are supposed to be addressing the dinner and also what CFRC has to offer. We can just look over and make sure that none of our information is too overwhelming for our audience. I also gave a minus on the professional aspect but that was just because of the clip art photo. We may be able to find something a little better, especially at the very beginning but I don't think that this is a major concern.
Group Reply
I had a similar evaluation of our brochure as you did. I think that we created a very eye appealing and professional document that appeals to the emotions of our audience. I also like how we used graphics to create a visual image of what we were discussing. For example, we mention that the CFRC needs volunteers for clean up so we used a photograph taken at last year’s event of someone cleaning up. I agree that the photos we used helped create a personal message even though they were not professional photographs. The only aspect of our brochure that concerns me is the amount of text and how overwhelming all the different opportunities there are to volunteer. To be honest, it overwhelmed and confused me. I am eager to see what the organization’s feedback says about our quad fold layout.
Group Reply
I also agree that the layout and design of our brochure is very professional. This aspect of it is actually may favorite part of the document. Our use of pictures helps the reader connect with the event, and illustrates how and why a person should help. I have to agree with Rachel though; I think the brochure is overwhelmed with text. When I looked at the final product, the flow was a little confusing. For example, I don't think we need a section titled, "Why Volunteer". The document as a whole is describing why it is important to volunteer. I agree with almost everything else. I look forward to the meeting and discussing how we will revise our final draft.