Direct Mailer Reflection

This week I have reached the completion of the direct mailer assignment.  This task required the creation of two direct mailers for the University of Oklahoma Recruitment Services Department that targeted prospective students.  In order to narrow my focus for the design assignment, I developed an outline of two crucial stakeholders.  The definition of the first and second stakeholder, respectively, are as follows:

Stakeholder #1:

• Urban Oklahoma High School Senior Interested in Design
• Qualifying ACT/SAT scores
• Ages 17-18

Stakeholder #2:

• Urban Oklahoma high school student
• Qualifying ACT/SAT scores
• Creatively minded, but not necessarily interested only in design specific courses of study
• ages 17-18

I chose to define my first stakeholder as a student interested in a design discipline because I felt that design and creative fields are underrepresented courses of study at the University of Oklahoma.  Furthermore, I felt I could more adequately design a direct mailer targeted at students interested in creative fields because I could empathize with the stakeholder.

Following my design research phase, which included a Pinterest board compilation of university mailers, I was inspired to create an impactful piece that utilized sharp contrast in order to create visual interest for the receiver of the message.  Therefore, I utilized a grid of bland spaces laid over different images in order to give stark contrast as well as perpetuate the visual metaphor of blank spaces that can be filled by prospective students at the University of Oklahoma.

Upon reviewing the rather similar definition of attributes for my second stakeholder, I was excited by the opportunity to create a series of direct mailers aimed at prospective students. Since the second direct mailer targeted a friend of stakeholder #1 who is creatively minded, but not necessarily interested in a design discipline, I utilized imagery of students in a more relaxed, yet creative environment and carried through the same visual motif of blank spaces.  Likewise, I created a third mailer that mimicked the design style of the first two mailers in order to round out the series that showcased members of the OU pride in order to target stakeholders interested in the performing arts (see below for a complete view of the series).

Following the completion of this assignment, I feel more confident in my ability to design within Photoshop. Although InDesign allows for greater precision of layout design, specifically text, Photoshop has become my preferred medium of choice.  However, I am eager to continue use of both applications in future assignments and better my expression of communicative design.

Below is a video pitch detailing the creative process behind my University of Oklahoma direct mailer series.  Enjoy!

Until next time,

S