When we began this assignment, I couldn’t imagine making a mail handout on Photoshop. Honestly, I thought that Photoshop was used to edit and enhance photos used for social media or art. In making my handouts for my target personas, I learned all the amenities and possibilities Photoshop gave me for creating more than just a picture.
With my first handout, I used my first target stakeholder which was a high school junior/senior from one of the coasts and has an interest in media and sports. I added photos of sporting events rather than teams to help them envision themselves in that environment rather than a player since that’d be their reality once they got to OU.
For my second handout, I targeted my second stakeholder which was a parent from the west coast that went to UT Austin and wants their child to attend school in the same region. This parent also works in media and sports and their child has an interest in working in the same field. With this design, I wanted to focus on the end goal for a parent: graduating college with a degree. I wanted to create ease and loosen the worries many parents have of their children going to college and not finishing.
The importance of stakeholders showed itself early in this project with the brainstorming process and putting myself in the mindset of my stakeholders and imagining what I’d like to see in that stage of my life. My first stakeholder was inspired by myself and my high school friend group whenever we would compare the mail we received from colleges in high school. From there, I based my second stakeholder off of my parents and how they were after I showed them the college mail I’d receive.
My advice for working in Photoshop is to be flexible and open to doing things a different way. Sometimes things don’t work the way we want them to in Photoshop, which is ok. It can show a new and easier way to do something and create a design better than you originally imagined. Additionally, being open to learning a new way a photo can be edited and manipulated is helpful to design aspects. It can take a simple photo to an entirely new level that captures your audience and is more likely for them to want to read and engage with your organization.
