Channing Maddox

Course Blog

After plans!

After I finish this course, I plan to continue to use this blog in order to continue to see my growth over my time here at OU. I have one more year left and I have loved being able to go back to my old blog from freshman year to see how much I have grown in just two years.

I think this blog was a great way for me to speak my mind clearly about my own work and critique myself throughout the course. I do not feel that I will as active as I have been on this blog, but I will definitely come back every now and then for updates or to upload projects I have worked on and am proud of.

This blog helped me throughout the semester and I am glad I was able to stay so active on here, even when life got a little crazy. It was a great learning tool and I highly suggest people being active and actually putting in the work to make your blogs worth reading. It is all a part of the learning process.

Summary of Learning

Throughout this last semester, it has been go, go, go! It has been stressful and at times, extremely overwhelming, but I have learned so much.

At the beginning of this journey, I felt a little more timid when it came to writing blog posts even though I had done it before. I wanted it to look perfect and was not really letting my personality shine through. I fixed that very early on though. My thought process is that it is my own blog, not my companies blog, so I should let my personality shine through.

One project that I am most proud of and take the most pride in is my social media posts that I did for the Oklahoma City Zoo. I had so much fun creating them and I used more of my own ideas when creating them rather than just constantly looking for inspiration. I know that they still need work, but I am proud of myself for using my own idea and for spending so much time creating them.

Facebook Cover Photo
Event Graphic

These are just some of my Canva pieces from the Canva section of my class. I grew so much this semester as I was given the tools to go our of my comfort zone and create things that I have never been able to create before. I am so proud of myself for not only being able to do all these different things, but also learn them basically on my own. I surprised myself with how much I was able to accomplish this semester, especially in this class.

Canva | I could Use it All Day Everyday!

I have chosen to create and infographic on Canva, and here’s why…

I am absolutely in love with Canva.

I could use Canva all day, everyday for every single thing I need. I am sure a large portion of these feelings are because I am most familiar with Canva and I have been using it since I was a freshman in high school. Canva comes easiest to me so when I am given a choice to use it, it will always be my go to!

The different types of tools I will need is to research information about what my info-graphic will have on it. I need up to date and accurate information to make sure I am giving my audience the most recent and reliable information they need. This is important because you want to always stay reliable for your consumers in order for trust to be maintained.

Canva is great at giving you inspiration and allowing you to be able to add so many different things to make your project fully your own. Here is just of the templates and inspiration of infographics on Canva.

Canva Infographics

If you are given a choice, do what you do best If InDesign is your best designing application, then use that. If you are given the option to choose what you get to use to design, then choose your favorite! It is a great way to show off all the things that you are great at!

Designing Newsletters!

Personally, I think newsletters are so much fun to make. The designing to the detail of the words. These types of informative material can reflect extremely well on a company and allow for creativity to run a little free. Newsletters come with all different kind of designs and whether you feel that a more minimalistic or more expressive approach fits your business, it can all be done through a newsletter.

Photos compliment newsletters extremely well and they allow for consumers to become more interested in the stories that you have available if they have pictures that coincide with the stories. Writing for the correct audience is how you want to also make sure you are creating the right design for your company and how you want the company to be perceived.

When you begin with your layout, you want to begin to sketch out exactly how you would like for your newsletter to look. Read my Newsletters! blog where I talk about sketching layouts! Finding the perfect layout for all of your information is the first step to creating the perfect newsletter for your company!

Here I have attached two very different newsletters and both are great! Researching the different types of newsletters layouts there are is important for your own company because it allows for your consumers to have another way of obtaining information as well as feeling important in the company by receiving one.

A more minimal type of newsletter!

An expressive and artistic newsletter!

Newsletters!

Newsletters are a great way to keep your loyal consumers up to date with larger companies and organizations. A good newsletter consists of different topics that involve what your company has been doing, including any changes happening within the company and transparency throughout the company.

It is important to create a sketch for your newsletter prior to starting designing in InDesign because it gives you a rough estimate of how you want your newsletter to look. You can quickly create multiple sketches until you find the one that fits the information needed and one that flows properly with the information. It is much easier to create multiple sketches on paper rather than on application on the computer.

Grids help everything flow through the newsletter. You do not want one story bleeding into another so I suggest creating grids around the stories, and maybe have colors in the background that help differentiate which article is which.

You want to keep your newsletter information, but also not too bulky with information. You can add links to your newsletter that would allow consumers to learn more about a certain topic. You want to just be able to provide the most important information and then you can link to more information on the bottom of your section.

Allowing consumers to subscribe to a newsletter helps them feel more involved in you company and allows them to stay up to date with the latest things happening throughout the company! I highly suggest creating one that goes with a email list that you could give to customer to stay up to date with your company!

Here is my sketch for a newsletter. It is very basic and I like being able to throw out different ideas on my sketch!

Social Media… Do we love it or hate it?

Maintaining a social media presence can be daunting, but it is also a way to get creative and interact with consumers. We always want to try and maintain and positive and uplifting relationship with consumers and by posting regularly on social media, it can help consumers know what your company is up to.

When creating a campaign, you want to first start with the big picture. What are you wanting your audience to gather from your campaign? Once you have the big picture set out, you can start on the smaller details and a timeline for you campaign. This allows you to feel better organized and to make sure everything is getting done on time. In addition to a timeline, set out dates to post on social media to keep your audience informed of the new campaign and what can be coming to your company.

You want to keep your campaign engaging and interesting to look at. When posting, maybe ask some questions as to what new things your audience would like to see. This helps them feel that they have a voice and are being considered in your companies campaign and decisions. It might give you some helpful ideas of what you need to bring to the table.

Personally, I love social media. I think it is a wonderful tool that we can use to engage consumers and make them feel included in the company. It is a great way to communicate with larger audiences and to gain more interests from people who may not know too much about you or your company just yet.

Canva is an AMAZING tool when creating different graphics for social media. It is very easy to use, and free! It is not too difficult to get the hang of, but I suggest watching the tutorials when you first download just to get a good grasp of what all you can do in Canva. Once you get familiar, messing around on the app is a lot more fun than you think!

Reflection on Photoshop

As I have spent the past few days working on photoshops and designing different handouts for OU recruitment services, I have found that photoshop can be very frustrating. It is a very detailed application and it can be very difficult to get the hang of how everything works. It is very important to take the time to learn how to use photoshop and to not skip the instructions in the beginning of downloading.

There are so many different YouTube videos for all different types of learners that allows you to move at your own pace, or allow you to work with them as they go along. Taking the time to learn all the tips and tricks will make designing so much easier. Take the time to find the video that you can follow along with and are enjoying watching.

There will be mental breakdowns. That is okay. Breathe and, like I always say, take a step away. You need to have time to allow your feelings to regulate and calm down. Then come back, you will always be more prepared then, and maybe even come back with some new ideas.

ROUGH rough rough

Starting new projects can be tough. It is hard to figure exactly what you want your design to look like, and it is hard to put all of your ideas onto your design if you do not know exactly how to work the application. Photoshop is an extremely great editing tool when it comes to making designs. Photoshop can be pretty difficult to work with if you do not know what you are doing. Here is a great YouTube video that shows you the basic steps of how to use Photoshop.

Photoshop can be very overwhelming and can be discouraging if you do not know how to use the application. I highly suggest taking time to watch some YouTube videos and reading up on what all you can do on the program. Breathe. That is one of my biggest tips, to just breathe. If you feel like you cannot accomplish your project, then click save and come back later. Learning how to use it is more important than jumpstarting to a project. Here is my very rough draft of a handout I am making for the University of Oklahoma! Everything starts out rough. It is all apart of the process!

Stakeholders.

18-22 years old, newly accepted students, first generation college student, wants to be active on campus, plans on attending events on campus, slightly above average household income.

Handouts are important when new people are constantly filtering into your community. When it comes to at a university, if you are a part of an organization, you want people to join that organization. Handouts help people know and understand what you and your organization are. It gives them information and allows them to learn something about the organization to see if it interests them. Handouts are also a great way to make a first impression and get people to remember you and your organization. During the first week at OU, many organization will set out booths along the south oval to invite new students to learn more about their organizations and possibly join. Handouts can be a variety of things like paper handouts, stickers, t-shirts, prizes, and even food.

It is important to figure out your target stakeholder because you want to give your handouts to the right people. You spent your time and resources to offer these handouts, so just handing them to people that do not care to join your organization may just be wasting your time and money.

Why is Collateral Material Important?

So what’s the big idea? Why would these small types of things be so important for a company? To put it simply, it is ALL about the details. Nowadays, it is hard to connect with customers on a personal level. Since everything is online nowadays, it is much easier for people to just click a few tabs and be done. By defining these small details, it allows for you and your company’s personality to shine through your material.

I made this business card for the Oklahoma City Zoo. I wanted to incorporate real photos of the animals at the zoo to allow customers to have a personal connection with the zoo’s mission. You want to be able to provide that for your company and its consumers. Now it is easier for people to find a connection with a living animal, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do the same for your own company.

Let your personality shine through your creativity and design. It is amazing how much more interest people show in things that they deem pretty rather than something plain and simple. When making letter heads and envelopes, you want to still be a personal as possible. Write professionally, but also kindly to your customers. It allows them to understand who YOU are as a person and not just as a strict business.

Collateral material is vital to your success in a company. You want consumer to be excited to work with you and remember you. One of the best and easiest ways to do that is by being creative with your work.

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