27 July – Reflection

In the past two weeks, we have been working on our second design project. For our project, we were asked to create two direct mailers for OU Recruitment Services. Before we could start designing, we needed to identify, understand, and define our stakeholders.

My first stakeholder was prospective transfer students. After identifying my first stake holder, I completed a segmentation stakeholder matrix to help me better understand and define my stakeholder. By using the matrix, I discovered that my first stakeholders are in their first stage of life development, millennials, experiencers, and  lower middle class to lower upper class. This helped me understand my stakeholders because by their characteristics, I found out they are action oriented, are adjusting to independent life, independent, savvy, and strong-willed (to name a few).

After identifying, understanding, and defining my stakeholder, I then looked for inspiration for my direct mailer. I wanted to use bold/bright colors because my stakeholder is action oriented. I also wanted a call of action method of communication because my stakeholder is strong willed. I am very please with my first direct mailer because it is a product of research. I also used Photoshop to create a clean, bold, and exciting design. I hope you like it!

I was very excited to start this assignment. Direct mailers are a graphic and fun tactic used to advertise. I was however, nervous to begin working with Photoshop. The design process was much more challenging for me in Photoshop. I am very impressed by the program but I think I had already became comfortable with In Design. Which, makes me proud of the end product of my direct mailer. It took me a lot of time to figure out how to use the tools in Photoshop. I think my direct mailer conveys everything I wanted it to, so all-in-all I am pleased. I think my reaction to this project was a little more apprehensive because it was a lot more work than our first design project and it was in a new program.

After I completed my first direct mailer, I started working harder to mold my second direct mailer into sometime more sophisticated. I am happy with my first direct mailer but I wanted to get a little more creative with my second one.

For my second direct mailer, I chose parents as my second stakeholder. I chose parents as my stakeholder because parents have direct influence over my first stakeholder. My message to my second holder is “to give your child the OU college experience.” Since my first stakeholder was prospective transfer students, most of the students missed out of the whole “freshman year experience” because they went to junior colleges or other colleges that are different than the great OU. Therefore, I wanted to brag on OU a little bit more with this direct mailer. I emphasizes some of the qualities of the university that make it unique. I also used a picture with students on the cover. For my direct mailer to be success, I would want it to make parents feel proud if their student attended the university. Here is my second direct mailer!

After designing my second direct mailer, I feel more confident in my abilities in Photoshop. I played around with opacity and text in my design. I hope to develop my skills more as I continue to use Photoshop.

Overall, I learned a lot in this lesson. I learned the importance of identifying, understanding, and defining my stakeholders before I start my design process. I also became more comfortable in using the tools in Photoshop. If I could start this project again, I would not change a thing because I took a lot out of the design project as a whole.

Until next time!

(Sorry Croom for stealing this, it is just too awesome.)