Reflection – Direct Mailer

As we wrap up our work on the two direct mailers we designed and created we were asked to reflect upon the process. We were initially asked to come up with design ideas for postcards as if we were working for the University of Oklahoma. At first I thought this may be a little boring just because we are so familiar with seeing OU designs. I immediately tried to connect myself with the admissions phase of a deciding high school senior. Since both my parents attended OU I thought I would frame my messages around tradition and aim them toward potential students who also have a parent that in an OU alumni. This made the process a little easier because I understood the audience to which I was targeting.

When I started designing my postcards I got nervous that my direct mailer would look too similar to the other students in my class because we were working with a relatively small amount of shared stock images. I tried to just go with what I was feeling and play around with Photoshop before I set any images, effects or text in stone. This was a good idea I think because it allowed me to visualize what combinations would look best and which looked good individually but didn’t necessarily portray what I wanted.

I found this project a lot less frustrating. I think that is because I have had some previous experience with Photoshop so it was a little easier to navigate the tools and create a unique design. Even though it was a pretty smooth process in regard to working in Photoshop, I do feel like my skills got better and I do feel more confident with my ability to make something visually pleasing on this software.

I think the main difference between Photoshop and InDesign is the use of layers. In Photoshop you can easily bring things forward or to the back however, it is frustrating sometimes when you mean to move one image but accidentally move another because you have the wrong layer selected. InDesign, to me, seems like more of a collage where you can pick up and move anything anywhere without the extra step of selecting the given layer. I think I like Photoshop a little better than InDesign because it is capable of editing images as well as creating a product.

In this project I don’t think I would do anything differently. I think I balanced time really well during this project, which trust me is a very rare thing for me. I allowed myself a creative time period to play around and see what I liked and what I didn’t and then took that and created what I was asked to design.

Below are my two finished direct mailers. The top postcard is directed toward students with a parent who is an OU alumni and the bottom postcard is directed at the parents that attended OU who have a child who is a potential OU student.