Direct Mailer Project Reflection

This project has been to design two direct mailers for someone connected to OU. I chose to make my first direct mailer to target an international student who has been accepted to OU study abroad program, but has not yet committed. The second mailer was for the parents of that potential student, both based in Hong Kong. We had to use Photoshop to create the direct mailers.

I was worried about using Photoshop because it’s so different front InDesign and it’s a little harder for me to figure out how to get around in it. I also had to spend some time looking at direct mailers to understand what exactly I was being asked to create. It’s such a bigger project than just stamping a photo on the front and putting an address line on the back.

At the end of the project, I was pretty happy with my work. I felt that I put a lot of time and effort into the mailers and really became invested in who I was creating them for and how to best approach and create for my audience. I also knew that I had to keep going back and looking over them again and that really helped to focus on what message I wanted to get across and why. Targeting an audience outside of the country without the same interests was somewhat challenging, but I was happy with the outcome of the project. I think this was because I had put time into it, but also did something a little different than just a freshman entering OU or something fairly common like that.

After this project, I definitely feel myself becoming more confident in the tools I’ve been asked to use. Both InDesign and Photoshop seem a little more familiar. I definitely still think that I will ever reach a level of full competence with them, but I’m exciting to continue doing projects and taking my abilities a step further each time. At least now I know that if a client asked me to use them I would be able to at least put out a basic yet still successful campaign.

InDesign allows for a more structured approach to a project. It is better for creating a template and working within that template. Photoshop allows for more flexibility in the project. It really is a more visual process rather than figuring out the spaces and distances within the lines like with InDesign. I don’t know if I prefer one or the other, but I do have a grasp on which one I would prefer for different tasks. InDesign will be useful for newsletters and pamphlets while Photoshop will really allow me to get more creative for social media designs, digital designs, postcards, posters, etc.

At this point, I’m pretty happy with the work I’ve done. I’d really like to take a course over the two applications thought as well. I think that would really allow to develop my skills further. However, if I were to start over I think I would spend a little more time thinking up the design ahead of time before just jumping right in.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I’m excited for the next one!