Reflection

Hey there!

This week in my Public Relation’s Publications course I was able to design in Canva (don’t freak out! I haven’t given up on InDesign or Photoshop!) In fact, our professor said, “While understanding these products and the language that comes with it is great [InDesign and Photoshop], we are simultaneously living in a world where photo manipulation is mainstream through applications such as Instagram which have streamlined the editing process.” He couldn’t be more correct and this week I was excited to take on Canva since I have had some experience with it in the past!

I found Canva to be very useful because it is quick and easy to navigate, while offering some sweet designs to make photo editing look like InDesign without actually, well, InDesign. The downfall of applications such as Canva is that you typically have to pay for certain templates :/ There are many free options, however, you can wrack up some serious charges if you go editing crazy and don’t pay attention to which tools you are using. A public relations practitioner could easily leverage tools like Canva for photo emergencies. Say there is a message that needs to get to the media ASAP and a practitioner simply doesn’t have the time or even access to InDesign or Photoshop, what are they gonna do? CANVA! It’s so simply you could even pull it up on your phone and edit on the road.

Anyways, enough about Canva! This week I chose to use OU Mary’s Meals as my organization. I know what you’re thinking… she already did Mary’s Meals?! Well, technically, I didn’t do OU Mary’s Meals. You see, Mary’s Meals is a GLOBAL organization with a chapter here at OU. The organization is currently attempting to expand its numbers and for the first time ever it is requiring students to apply to become a member of the organization. Typically, you would just show up to a general meeting if you were interested. Now that the organization has been on campus for a few years, it’s time to actually accept students who are dedicated to helping the organization and aren’t just sitting through a meeting to call themselves “involved”.

My campaign idea for the organization is a steam of compelling images to urge students to apply to the organization.

 1. Facebook Cover 

Facebook is overwhelming enough and people already have so much to read, listen to, look at and watch so I wanted to keep this simple and clean. Bam. Bam. Bam. Info. That’s exactly what I had in mind for this!

2. Twitter Cover

I wanted to keep the editing over the images the same on Facebook and Twitter, so the theme would flow smoothly.

3. Facebook Post

This Facebook post would be accompanied by an actual text post that explains where to find the application to OU Mary’s Meals. I thought this was a neat way to get people’s attention and put in perspective how SIMPLE it is to find a solution to world hunger! This also provides facts to viewers, so they sort of have an idea what they’re getting themselves into and how they will be able to fundraise for the kitchen that OU Mary’s Meals is planning to build.

 

4. Instagram Post 

Usually on Instagram if someone has a really long post, I don’t take the time to read through the entire thing: AKA why this image has information on the organization! The viewers draw their attention to images on Instagram, and this image not only ties back into the Facebook Cover with the same picture that is located on the left in the Facebook Cover, it also uses the same font at the top and has the compelling reasons why a student should consider joining  OU Mary’s Meals. Also, the application location is included in this image since the application is not found on the Instagram site.