REFLECTION

1. What were you asked to do? For this assignment we were asked to read a couple chapters in our textbook in order to understand the process of connecting emotion and design. For our project, we had to come up with a stakeholder that we wanted to target with our direct mailer. In order to understand the stakeholder on a deeper level, we completed a segmenting stakeholder matrix for both our primary and secondary stakeholder. We made three main edits to our rough draft. By the end of the three weeks, we had developed a direct mailer of our own! It was a very fun and creative process!

2. How did you respond to what you were asked to do? At first I was little overwhelmed by all of the different steps it took to understand our chosen stakeholder. Once I got the hang of the segmenting matrix, I found myself enjoying the process! Since we have not done a lot of work in Photoshop yet, I was a little rusty when trying to figure out how to work the program. After watching the tutorial videos, I was able to complete my direct mailer and its rough drafts!

3. How did react to what you actually did? My first rough draft was very rough… no pun attended. After I got the hang of Photoshop, I reworked my direct mailer and was very pleased with my final outcome! I was surprised to learn how easy Photoshop could be if you took the time in order to understand it. Overall, I was very ecstatic about my final draft because I had never made a direct mailer nor used Photoshop before this class.

4. Now go one level deeper: Why do you think your reaction was what it was? I think I was very excited about my final draft because I had never used Photoshop before. After hours of trying to figure out how it worked, I was almost ready to give up. I kept going and finally was able to create the message that I wanted to! I think that I am pumped up about my direct mailer because it matches directly with my ideal stakeholder.

Supplemental questions:

• Do you or do you not feel yourself becoming more confident with the tools you are being asked to use? At first I did not feel confident with using Photoshop. After watching the tutorial videos and using Google, I taught myself how to use the program and felt much more confident about the assignment.

• What are some differences you found between Photoshop and InDesign? Do you feel like you prefer either one? I noticed that Photoshop and InDesign are very similar in the tools they provide. I personally think Photoshop could be set up for easier use. I found myself liking the simplicity of InDesign better.

• Is there anything you would do differently if you were to start over? I would have like to have started with the more “girly route” that I ended up with. I started with a more OU approach and then changed my direct mailer to be more attention grabbing to my stakeholder. I think that if I had started with this approach then I maybe would have had more time in order to enhance my final product/think of new ideas.