EXAMPLE OF A PRODUCT REPORT

Bringing together my fold out brochure took a lot of trail and error and decision making in its design. Initially I chose the theme ‘Street Art’ because I personally felt it suited me better compared to the other given themes as it allowed me to play with colour. Colour was an element that I was most drawn towards because I feel that it’s more important to grab the audiences’ attention than to initially bombard them with a lot of information. However in regards to what the fold out brochure has to offer, the purpose of its creation is to draw people’s attention towards the difference between legitimate street art and the criminal acts of graffiti.

 Despite having to cater to community users already given, I tried not to just limit myself to them. For example, I chose Teachers as a community user because aside from aiming this brochure towards the general audience of just adult teachers, I could consider the facts that they are able to ascend this knowledge or information from the brochure to younger and less knowledgeable audiences.

In considering this, breaking down the given raw information became easier as a main priority of the brochure was to educate the user strongly about the difference between street art and graffiti. I basically decided to use the main headings from the raw content like “political and social concerns” and transformed that into headings with humour or elements of rhyme and pun. The language I chose to use did not stray too much from the raw content. I simplified some of the sentence structures and language to be able to match the intellect of my younger target audience. “The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components” (Zinsser 1998) so I aimed for the information to be simple and straightforward and to the point.

Again I didn’t want to just push blocks of textual information onto the readers, to I draw statistics from the raw content and collected accurate statistics from trusted sites to be put into my brochure stylistically. I set them out on my second last informative page (not including back cover) just to give the user a break from the previous pages of information. I also incorporated colour into my statistics just for the audience to take a break from the simple black and white of the pages.

I was felt a little creative with the format and size of my brochure as I found it challenging to work in the amount of information onto such a small space. However Lank says “confrontation and the struggling between different approaches and areas is conducive or even necessary for creativity”. Text and font wise, I limited myself to three types of font for the entire brochure to minimalize the possibility of my product looking messy and over done. The fonts I selected to make up my brochure Minion Pro for the title and statistics, Kozuka Gothic for the body paragraphs, Hand of Sean for headings and pull out quotes. I structured the information in block paragraphs because it would be a lot more easily read compared to playing with paragraphs shapes. I had to consider the flow of the eye and what would be the most convenient to follow. Because the size of my brochure is quite compact and small, I did allow myself to use a smaller font size (8 pt) for the block content. However, 8 pt was the smallest I would allow myself to go because if I did make the text any smaller, it would become difficult to read, especially if the information product is to be photo copied or resized over time. In doing so, the font size and size of my brochure also contributes to my decision on making the background a plain white with black font. I stuck towards contrasting shades and colours to enforce clarity and legibility.

The graphics I used for the product is suitably contemporary. Apart from the street art depicted on the back of the brochure; I used a simple man figure for the statistics just to add on to the simplicity in a way that it aesthetically stylised.

I chose not to put in the story from the raw content because I found that irrelevant to what I was trying to portray with my information product. In doing so, this began my thoughts on my layout and colour. Stylistically, I intended to create a smaller product in physical size – something the audience is just able to conveniently carry around and distribute. Due to the copious information I could use from the raw content, I decided to set the brochure on the length of an A2 sheet (2 landscape A4) and have it folded zigzag into a smaller size to satisfy convenience.

After the decision on the size, I began hatching ideas on what I wanted on the brochure. I initially wanted to break each of the squares (pages) folded to consecutive picture and information, but because it folded out into a long strip, I found that too messy and hectic to keep up.

I decided to make the entire outside of the brochure a picture depicting Street Art. I wanted to make this brochure something more than just a page of information. Not only did I think this would capture the audiences’ attention more, but it appeared to me to be more aesthetically pleasing with the power of vibrant colours. The purpose of a brochure will be defeated if it was full of informative content if nobody is going to care to read it. This enforces the fact that this evokes genuine curiosity from the audience if the product doesn’t give away too much. Also, the user can keep this information product and use the artwork image as a poster or and item for enlightenment. So in a way, it has a level of interactivity as the user is can now use this information product as the brochure at the same time as promoting the information portrays a promotion for street. 

Evidence of teamwork and interaction

In order to groom and style our selected information product, Tracey and I have worked collaboratively to produce the final edit. It was initially difficult when deciding on our postcard because I had a surfing kangaroo and Tracey brought in a deck of them to choose from. After a short consultation of the content each post card depicted, we managed to settle on one of them by channeling what we personally thought we could do with the card and what we could inform an audience about. Through direct communication in class, we managed to formulate our idea and contrive a unified concept on the issues of mental illness, hence, the formulation of an “SOS kit” for which we would be writing for.

We used a whole range of methods to communicate out of class that consisted of texting, social media and exchanges via the wiki comments. Due to our promptness in devising our concept during the short bursts of meetings in class, the written pieces itself was much more fluent for me to write as we had a starting point and base to stem from.

Although the initial message the postcard represented was about an art exhibit, but we managed to extract a very different idea from the image to focus on the issues on mental illness instead. We set out a brief criterion during our second meeting in class and shaped it through outside communication at home. Through further consultations about our concept we noticed an implication inlaid within it because we have chosen such a serious concept to build our information pieces on. We wanted to grasp the severity of suicide due to mental illness, but to not make a joke of it either by supplying humor to satisfy and engage our target audience (ages 14-25).  

What was fantastic bout this editing process was the openness shared between Tracey and I. We were both accepting to change as though we were writing for each other. However, this does not mean altering everything just because the other group member didn’t agree on what was written. We both had our reasoning’s and understood where each of us was writing from to fulfill the criteria. After reading each other’s information products, we came to a conclusion that our pieces do not have to fulfill every agreed criterion, but reaching the objective for the audience to gain information was the most important. As for the final decision for the edited group piece, we have decided to be stricter with the information pieces and placed them closely to our agreed criteria to inspect. 

With the criteria as a final guide, we managed to decide upon the instruction leaflet to be submitted as the final edited group piece because it fulfilled our product aims and objects more appropriately than the advertisement. By gauging our ideas though tedious back and forth communication we managed to produce our information piece ready for distribution.

The VOICE (no, NOT the show)

Voice: actives and passives

Task: Identify the following sentences as active or passive.

Rewrite them in the alternative voice.

In both versions, underline the theme of the sentence – i.e., what the sentence is about.

a). Mr Jones kept his shareholdings hidden.

ACTIVE

The shareholdings were kept hidden by Mr jones.

b). He was taken to Victoria Street station by the tram.

PASSIVE

The tram took him to Victoria Street station.

c). The huge iron ore deposit was discovered by Tom Price in 1962.

PASSIVE

Tom Price discovered the huge iron ore deposit in 1962.

d). Australian universities increasingly follow a corporate fiscal model.

ACTIVE

A corporate fiscal model is increasingly followed by Australian universities.

e). The approach taken by artists to the subject of history has changed over time.

PASSIVE

Artists have changed their approach to the subject of history over time.

The EVIL Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifiers

Task: Rewrite the following to correct the misplaced modifiers.

DANGLING MODIFIER: each bits are modifiers because they refer to something (refer to something or modifying something) not actually modifying what its supposed to refer to.

a). To improve his results, the experiment was done again.

In this case, results refer to the person , not to the results.

Need to refer to the student.

PRE MODIFIER (goes before what its qualifying)/ POST MODIFIER (qualifying afterwards)

The experiment was done again to improve his results.

To improve his results, he did the experiment again.

b). Having submitted the assignment late, a doctor’s certificate was needed.

Person who submitted the assignment late needs to be the subject.

The student needed a doctor’s certificate, having submitted their assignment late.

Three sets of purgative prolixity tittering on imaginations borderlines

1. Letter to my Other Half

On this initial attempt, I would just like to make clear to you that you’re not someone I would need in my life. My sincerest apologies if that sounds incredibly bleak and blunt, but by now you should thoroughly understand my cynical outlook on practically everything; otherwise I might have to begin questioning your intentions of being with me if you cant handle this slight defect in my mindset. However, prior to mentioning my level of need regarding you, I do wish to emphasize the disparity in the level of want.  I suppose it all comes down to what values each individual holds on to and in this particular case, I think that want possessed a much desirable meaning than need. Need in my most humble opinion depicts great dependence and I’m NOT dependent on you.  Nobody is dependent on anybody, unless you're disabled.

 2. Letter to Fellow Students suffering along this subject with me

Greetings team, I’m pretty sure we all know why where here, so shenanigans are expected. As you may or may not have paid attention (if not, I don’t blame you, I probably did the same when your name was called out by the person that was so forcefully paired with you), my name contains three syllables and begins with an “M”. Or just call me Moini. I see this isn’t very formal and mind you I rather it not be. If by any means you’re offended by my verbal content, I would like to make an initial apology and would like you to know that we will most likely not be friends in future of this course provided I see you in other classes. Otherwise, I am currently in my third year of tertiary education, majoring in MAP. An oldie, some would say, taking this course as an elective and I will be sure to remember you all when my name rolls out in the credits (except for you people who I have unfortunately offended by accident). As we interact, I am craving chocolate, so a special shout out when I participate in tropfest to the first person who can get me a kit kat bar.

 3. Letter to Future/Potential Employers

Dear Sir/madam.  

I am a third year university student currently studying a communications degree, majoring in Media Arts and Production. I have a very strong interest in pursuing a career in the realm of media, and most preferably in kids television. With mild experience in production, knowledge offered by the University of Technology Sydney, as well as outside activities, I have a diverse background with much flair to offer.

Most of my experiences and media production knowledge are obtained through university. During these semesters I have had the opportunity to attend workshops and classes which have initiated and deepened my knowledge on programs such as Final cut Pro, Protools, Audacity and Flash Catalyst. In addition, my knowledge on how to collect and create information media suited to specific audiences, whether it may be exerting my style or adjusting to theirs.

As a human being, I am an outgoing and energetic person who is open to criticism and open to challenges. I will be willing to adjust and change to suit management criteria however still maintain my unique opinions and style. I have a passion for being involved in children's shows, especially for building ideas and writing for them.

CRIME CASE

FOREWORD

Ahoy, lone traveller.

I would like to inform you that you have just stumbled upon one and first of the many potholes you may refer to as chips from your own imagination and creation. Whether you would like to tango your flakes of creative embers with sparks of mine is entirely up to you.This is where you may find that I have attempted to brain dump as many gigabytes of fleshy slop that may potentially transform into masterpieces of extravagance.

Let us begin....

You seem to have come across this site of crime that is currently under investigation. What crime? I hear you ask. A crime that is possibly potentially made up of dodgy grammar is all the evidence I can initially muster. However, there is a twist; the culprit doesn't appear to foreign. We are here today to take a closer look at the progress of a particular investigator and her work. Our aim is to decipher whether she is up for her furthering her career with the creativity and grammar police, or is she out? May the investigation commence.