A 7-page (maximum, not including visual examples), double-spaced analysis of an educational package
of your choice.
- Although you choose the educational package to evaluate, it must be
one of the following: textbook, educational website, a package of materials for a learning activity
(review the complete package).
- The analysis should address the following:
- Description of the communication product (not to exceed 1 page),
including audience, purpose, length of the work,
topics of key sections, general overview of the content
- Identify the visual components used (including, but not limited to:
cover design, page or screen design, appropriateness of layout
(such as positioning for easy reading),
use of photos and line drawings, use of graphical devices
like those mentioned in class, typography)
- Appropriateness of these design choices to the intended audience and purpose
- Your overall assessment of the effectiveness of the piece, from a visual perspective
Do not
focus on verbal elements (such as the quality of writing).
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To develop your ability to identify:
- Elements of visual rhetoric at work
- Intended visual messages
- To develop your instincts in appropriately using the media.
- To practically apply the theories and concepts presented in the first part of the
course
- To view the visual components of a communication product from the reader's
perspective
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To see a successful sample, click here.
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Following is a suggested procedure:
- Choose an educational package to review (textbook, website, instructional activity).
- Take a look at the educational package.
- Write your first impressions.
- Wait a few days.
- Review the material again.
- Review your impressions and expand upon them.
- Draft your report.
Hints: Address these issues:
- Key design elements used
- Mood of the piece
- Audiences targeted
- Positive messages communicated
- Potential negative messages communicated
- The messages communicated in each of the media
- Consistencies and inconsistencies in the message
Be
honest in your assessments; if you like something, say so and be polite--but
not bashful--about things that could be improved. But also
provide balance. If you prefer one version to the other, describe some of the
virtues of the other version
- Review your report. Make sure that the report includes:
- Description of the communication product (not to exceed 1 page),
including audience, purpose, length of the work,
topics of key sections, general overview of the content
- Identify the visual components used (including, but not limited to:
cover design, page or screen design, appropriateness of layout
(such as positioning for easy reading),
use of photos and line drawings, use of graphical devices
like those mentioned in class, typography)
- Appropriateness of these design choices to the intended audience and purpose
- Your overall assessment of the effectiveness of the piece, from a visual perspective
- Revise your analysis.
- Submit your analysis.
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Due December 12.
Counts as 25 percent of your grade.
Grading criteria:
- Concepts presented: 60 percent. I am most interested in the depth of the analysis,
bringing out issues that might not be apparent on the surface.
- Formatting: 10 percent. From a design viewpoint, how well easily does the paper read?
Did you identify yourself at the beginning of the paper? Do you use page numbers? Did you
use sub-headings, lists, charts, and illustrations to make text easy to scan and to make
ideas clear at a glance?
- Quality of writing: 30 percent. How smoothly does the article read? How publishable is
the piece as written? How well did you follow the advice in Style-o-Rama and Design-o-Rama?
Reports that exceed 7 pages (not including visual examples) will lose one grade step for each additional page. Reports
that are single spaced will lose 14 grade steps.
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