Direct Mailer Draft Reflection

After finishing both drafts of my direct mailer, I find myself very confused.  There’s something missing in both of my drafts and I can’t figure out how to make it look more like how it’s supposed to.  This is one of the more frustrating assignments in this class.

Below is my first direct mailer draft that would be sent to National Merit Scholars.  This would promote studying abroad to National Merits who are not keen on the idea of going to school in Oklahoma.  This direct mailer could help show them that this college is the first step that could lead them to cities all over the world.  I feel like design-wise I have to learn how to blend textures more.  I feel like you can totally tell this is graph paper.   Also, I may need to stop having the photos take up all of the room!! However, they are beautiful photos and I don’t really know how to make the background look normal yet.

This is my second draft.  I was trying to make it look like a book but that didn’t really work out.  Like I said earlier, I need to learn how to blend the textures better and I feel like that would make a world of difference for me.  This is supposed to show to parent’s how there is a prestigious academic history as well as an active community at the University of Oklahoma.

My second direct mailer has influenced changes in the first in ways like wanting the mailer to the students to look more fun and adventurous, while the mailer to the parents should look more prestigious and productive.

My first design has changed because I took out some study abroad pictures.  I wanted to have four or five different ones on the back page, but then I thought that these pictures were so breath taking I should let them speak for themselves!

In Photoshop it’s hard to keep track of your layers!  So when too many get stacked on top I feel like I can’t access certain images but then I realize the layer I want is near the bottom.  In InDesign it’s easier to maneuver images around and constantly change their sizes to fit your evolving idea.  However, in Photoshop the images are a little more difficult to keep changing the size.  Dealing with text is also much easier with InDesign.