Week 4: Effective Graphic Design

Design Basic Index: Word Portraits Exercise
Sometimes it can be difficult to choose the right font to present a message. The voice of both the font and the message need to complement one another for the message to be clear and without ambiguity.

White Space and Grid Structure

Burger King (BK) and McDonald's (McD) would both like to sell cheeseburgers and other assorted fast food items. Their respective websites have very different grid layouts.

McD follows a more traditional web page grid: navigation at left, large content area at right (in this case a static image of a cheeseburger), account information at top right, secondary promotions at bottom. There is a defined alley between the navigation and the rest of the content, setting it apart from the rest of the material. Social media and other contact information appear at the bottom of this relatively short web page.

BK has an automatic carousel of images highlight multiple products situated below a two tiered informational links.  Below the carousel is a large number of secondary promotions. A very detailed navigation and social media connections appear at the very bottom of this long page.

McD is promoting their best product, while BK is showing they are more than just burgers. While the amount of content on the McD site is less than that of BK, the background texture and harsh color choices make the page feel full and almost too busy. The muted colors and solid textures make BK appear open, clean, light, and modern.

Week 3: Rules of Design

Part A

I selected an infographic that was published as a teaching tool about infographics. I chose this design because I don’t like it -- I find it jarring and unprofessional in appearance. My goal with this analysis is to determine if my personal taste is backed up by the design rules from this week’s readings.

Positives:

• Fonts: There are only 2 fonts used in this piece. One is use for title and headers, the other for the content. That said, the casual and "loose" title font contradicts unpleasantly with the standard and almost boxy content font. 
• Tacky Type Emphasis: The author did not make the fonts worse by applying additional emphasis or having too many shifts in sizing. The standard fonts are used throughout, emphasis is used sparingly.
• Proximity: Content is grouped in way that is logical and useful.
• Background: The background is a gradient orange and is not busy.

Negatives:

• Naked photos: The images end abruptly, making it feel as though they were a late add-on.
• Bad bullets: The Bullet and text are too close, leaving no breathing room.
• 4 Corners and Clutter: Clip art appears everywhere. Instead of illustrating the topic, it detracts the eye from the message.
• Trapped negative spacing: The social media list is made to feel bulky by placing the icon in columns after the name. Instead, the author could have used the icons as bullets, allowing a smoother flow. 
• Margins: The spacing around the graphics and text are inconsistent without purpose. In addition, the spacing between lines is often inconsistent, creating larger than expected negative space.
• General discord: Instead of bringing the entire design together in harmony, the repetition of stars creates discord. The placement appears haphazard, causing the text to appear as secondary material.

Part B
I enjoyed the Harmony activity, but found the Decisive Presentation challenging. No matter how many times I rearranged the images and text I was never happy (still not thrilled with the final result).

Week 2: Community Groups

I have been monitoring, and occasionally contributing to, the below communities since our district adopted Google Apps for Education three years ago. For the purpose of the Multimedia Montage Project I will increase my participation to better understand the tools, gather media, and gain feedback to improve the final product.

The Google Apps for Education Google+ community has been an invaluable resource for keeping up with the constantly changing world of Google Apps for Education. The discussions range from update alerts to usage tips to pedagogy. The community is active and diverse, with a nice mix of eager learners and willing teachers. Google Apps is a broad topic, so the community divides discussions into subtopics for easier browsing and discussion. Many times I have found excellent videos, animated gifts, and infographics that demonstrate product uses or highlight best practices. There are occasional off-topic or spam-like posts, but for the most part this community stays on topic and focuses on using the tools to benefit productivity and student learning.

The Chromebook EDU Google+ community is a community comprised of school-based Chromebook users, administrators, trainers, and product vendors. Like the Google Apps community, discussions are divided into subcategories. While there is some duplication with the Google Apps for Education community, there is a substantial amount of original content and discussion that is specific to Chromebooks. In particular, I have found good information and support in setting up domain or organizational level rules to provide safe yet productive digital learning environments for our students when using Chromebooks. I have also found links to interesting blog posts, which led me to follow the blogs of other Google Apps administrators.

Finally, I will monitor #gafe on Twitter. Like the Google+ communities, this hashtag is used by teachers, trainers, developers, and Google Apps for Education fans. While there is some cross-posting between services, there are voices and ideas not necessarily found in the Google+ communities. There is not nearly as much activity as the Google+ communities, however using this hashtag will help my queries go beyond my small group of Twitter followers.

Week 1: Madge the Sage

The Madge commercials caught my attention as a child. Washing dishes was an evening chore, one that included all of the women in the family. Even at the age of 5 I knew about dishpan hands. Thankfully, Madge had a simple solution:

This commercial is for dishwashing soap, part of a larger print and television campaign that ran from 1966 until 1992. The advertisement tells us that Palmolive does more than just wash dishes clean, it also softens the dishwasher’s hands.

We meet two women: a manicurist and her client. The client, by the very nature of seeing a manicurist, demonstrates at least mild vanity as well as the means to tend to her appearance. The manicurist notices the damage to her client’s skin and suggests using a dish soap that is more gentle on the hands. The client is surprised to learn that the manicurist is using that same dish soap as a tool during the manicure.

The banter between the women show a familiarity that permits frank discussion and the sharing of real solutions. These women trust one another. The audience is not looking from a distance, the camera angle brings us in close -- we are confidants. Later, we are within earshot on a busy street as the client shares her positive experience with the product.  A friendly male voiceover tells us that Madge is being truthful about the product while sharing the dishwashing benefits. The manicurist focuses on the beauty aspect, while the male voiceover extols the cleaning ability of the product.

This commercial tells the “average” woman that they and the homes they maintain can be presentable to others with very little sacrifice.  Also implied is the idea that just because you wash dishes doesn’t mean you have to look like you wash dishes.  A further implication is that women’s hands should not look rough -- they should have a softer appearance.

The commercial, through casting, indicates that the “average” woman is white and middle-class. These women do not have someone else to wash their dishes, and likely do not wash other people’s dishes. While those “other” women might benefit from use of this product, they are not the people represented. Men who wash dishes are also not represented, perhaps because soft hands is not considered a priority for them.

These American middle-class women are spending a great deal of time maintaining their homes, families, and selves. This product allows them to make a small change with big improvement. The video format allows to see and hear women, the friendship, and the self deprecating attitudes. We are invited to listen in on the sage advice shared by the friendly manicure professional.