Reading Response - 7
5:00 Appeal to Emotions: +
Our brochure does a good job at appealing to emotions especially with the pictures that are included in each section. The pictures of Santa serving a turkey,picture of the front door of the CFRC, and pictures from a past dinner event elicit emotions from the reader. The pictures show the readers that the CFRC is a warm, loving place to spend the holidays.
4:00 Be Professional: +
The brochure is professional by using the logo of the CFRC on the front page of the brochure. Our group utilized color and text fonts that are appealing to the audience and give the brochure a respectable, positive image.
3:40 Be Personal: +
The brochure connects with the audience through the text. At the end of the brochure, the readers are given other options if they do not have the time or money to contribute by writing letters of encouragement to those in need. The brochure gives the audience information about the dinner and provides answers to the questions that the reader may have while looking over the brochure.
3:00 Achieve Readability: +
The brochure is easy to read because of the use of text boxes with text inside. This look makes the brochure easier to read and keeps the reader’s attention. Each section of the brochure has a different style of font.
2:30 Speak the Language: +
The brochure uses simple text to make sure all the audiences reading the brochure understand the points of the brochure. The simple text that is spread out throughout the brochure makes it simple for the reader to follow along.
2.00 Lead With Benefits: +
The brochure mainly focuses on the information regarding the Christmas Day Dinner. One thing that can be improved on is adding more about what benefits this CFRC can bring to volunteers.
1:20 Have a Single Message: +
The brochure focuses on the one main message which is to get more volunteers. The brochure uses most of its space to explain the dinner to the potential volunteers. Besides all information provided, there is one clear message which is to become a volunteer for the CFRC.
0:50 Focus on a Single Product or Service: +
Along with having a single message, we focus on the Christmas Day Dinner and try to recruit more volunteers with their time and/or money to help support the CFRC.
0:20 Make an Action Call: +
We call on our readers to volunteer their time, make a donation, or if they cannot do either of those, we ask the volunteers to write letters of support. Contact information is provided if any other the readers need more information or have questions for the CFRC.
Add Your Score: + = 8 and - = 1, we have a strong brochure that has a lot of potential. There are only a few minor details that need to be changed before our final draft.
Comments
Reading Response
I agree with your assessment using the 5 minute technique. I think overall we earned pluses in most of these things as well. One thing I think that is important and you pointed this out as well, was that we need to add what benefit the people helping get. I think there is some slight work we can do to continue to improve but we’ve done a nice job since the last brochure. I think we did a good job of connect with our reader. We play to their emotions with our images and our words. I only think we may need to change the text layout and not have as many hyphened words.
Response
I had a similar 5 minute brochure design trash test in my response. The only two topics I had different were professionalism and focus on a product or service. After reading your explanations here, I feel I should maybe change one of my minuses to a plus. You are right, we did focus on the volunteer aspect as our main focus, but we gave so many options that a person may feel overwhelmed and not know where their service would best fit. Ultimately, I feel the abundance of options is a benefit rather than a fault, so I feel our group did actually do a good job with focusing on one message. You pointed this out very well. Another point you brought up that I agree with is that we should include more information about the actual benefits the volunteers will gain from their volunteer experience. We do touch in this already, but adding more will personalize it better and appeal to the emotions even stronger.
Reading Response Reply
My 5 minute trash design test was very similar to yours. The only difference was that I put a negative on lead with benefits. I feel like we say "Give back to your Community" but we don't actually give more reasons why this would benefit the person volunteering. I like our phrases like "Santa's Nice List" because they appeal to the reader's emotions. One of the changes I would like to make in the final draft of our brochure is to add the website because there is more information on the website about the Christmas Day Dinner as well as the volunteer opportunities. Our second draft of the brochure is a major improvement from our first draft and I think our final will be great because we all work well together and have great ideas.