English 420Y - Business Writing Online

After reviewing the 5 Minute Brochure Design Trash Test, I thought it was very helpful in revising our group's brochure. Our brochure does appeal to emotions. We have a great color scheme and uniformity that really elaborates on the holiday season. However after reading about the professionalism of brochures, we may be able to make ours a little better. The article said that clip art images and sketched images make them look less professional. Normally I would agree, but I think ours fits the bill in this situation.

5:00 Appeal to Emotions: I think our brochures do appeal to emotions because of the humane society feel. Also some of the pictures are very cute with the puppies and kittens, which also appeals to the emotions. +

4:00 Be Professional: I think our brochure is very professional. The graphics are used very well as well as the writing is also professional.+

3:40 Be Personal: Both of the brochures are very personal. I think this part of the test is easy because we are working with the humane society.+

I am fairly happy with my group’s brochure although after doing the 5 minute brochure trash test I do see some more changes that need to be made to our brochure before the final draft is due next week. The 5 minute trash test really opened my eyes to a few aspects of brochures that I never really thought of before that we need to include. Through out the drafts we have made many revisions and it is getting closer to completion after these few more changes I don’t think it will go in the trash can.

Appeal To Emotions +

I think that we are off to a great start on our brochures. After doing the 5 Minute Brochure Design Trash Test, here are our results:

Appeal to Emotions: +

Our general information brochures appeals to people’s emotions through philanthropic efforts. People see the information and how to volunteer and help. The brochure seeks people to help save the lives of pets.

Be Professional: +

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: +

I thought this activity was pretty interesting because it hit the main points on making an effective brochure and it was pretty easy to use. It helps show what areas need to be worked on and if you are totally in the wrong ballpark. I think this could actually help my group when we are making our final draft to make sure that we have achieved these points and have an effective brochure.

"Appeal to Emotion" (+)

5:00 Appeal to Emotions: +

I think that the people who read our brochures will be able to connect with them. The images that we used play a large role in creating this appeal to the emotions of our readers. The text is focused on the reader and allows them to understand each section of the brochure well.

4:00 Be Professional: +

5:00 Appeal to Emotions: +

I believe that our brochure will appeal to the emotions of our target audience. By incorporating the pictures of the underprivileged children that our event helps, the reader can see first hand how his or her volunteer involvement can make a difference. Also, the text explains the event, further drawing the audience into the good feeling they would have about themselves if they were to volunteer.

4:00 Be Professional: +

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.

In chapter 24, Using visuals to inform and persuade, visuals play two roles. The first role is to present information and arguments. The second role visuals play is to include design elements that convey relationships between images and surrounding text. Meaning visuals speak louder than words, but especially help illustrate to the surrounding text. Images as arguments are visuals that can stand alone from text. I found that there were several different forms of visuals including but not limited to photographs, illustrations, charts and graphs, and design and layout elements.