Tag: publicrelations

What is PR Design?

On December 2, 2023

What is it we perceive as visually pleasing? How do those elements form to create a message that creates an action? It’s really open to interpretation.

Closeup image of woman eye with creative makeup painted different colors
Dragon_Fly

While design and art are subjective, incorporating a semblance of structure and continuity is essential to recognize. Basic design elements will help a design flow and make translating a message more accessible. That’s ultimately the solution—a visually appealing image with a strong message encouraging action.

Design Elements

Design is everywhere. From the design of the bricks of a building to the look of a mailer, you might have received in the mail today. The design attracts or entices you to read it. They are the proverbial building blocks of a well-thought-out design. Generations of designers have established standards of design. Guidelines that help guide the messenger to receive the message appropriately. The designer’s job is to harness specific elements for a comfortable and manageable design to streamline the process. Once a designer knows color, typography, symbols, use of space, form-function-message, balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance and unity, the results can be formidable. These elements intertwine with the message to create the campaign.

Collection of designer oil paintings. Decoration for the interior. Modern abstract art on canvas. Painting set. Red poppy.
By Erenai

Stakeholders & Personas

As a PR design professional, marrying your stakeholders and personas to create your campaign is your bread and butter. When you create your design, consider what makes them tick, their interests, likes and dislikes. Ultimately, you are creating for an audience, and the design is as important as the message. Capturing attention will help alleviate your hard work ending up in the trash can with all the others.

Keeping in tradition with PR as a whole, compared with advertising, where there is an exchange of money, PR is a part of earned media. Design is no different. It operates in a free environment to capture an emotion and affect influence. According to Professor Sherry Kast, PR Design and Writing at The University of Oklahoma, “PR Publications provide a free, controlled media designed for publics who share characteristics and interests.”

PR Publications provide a free, controlled media designed for publics who share characteristics and interests
Professor Sherry Kast PR Design & Writing
The University of Oklahoma

Mediums, platforms and consistency

Mediums

There are a multitude of mediums for PR design, such as folded brochures, mailers, e-newsletters, social media campaigns, branded materials, and so on. You’ll want to choose a medium or a combination for your campaign. One isn’t better than the other, but it’s important to choose yours according to the stakeholders and where they are finding their information. The formula for a successful campaign relies on many factors. Planning, acknowledging, and recording those factors is wise and prudent.

Platforms

The importance of the platforms on which these deliverables spawn cannot be understated. The Adobe Suite and Canva are potent platforms for designers. I found that there are many ways to accomplish tasks on these platforms. It’s a preference when performing the processes of the functions.

Consistency

Staying consistent with a brand throughout the design process creates a lasting impact. It is in reasonable design taste to always stay consistent with the brand and is worth protecting it at all costs.

Conclusion

Pr design takes the ideas and basics of public relations and combines them with graphic design. It takes a more scientific approach than a free-form artist, though. I could describe it as tactful artistry. When done well, it prompts the receiver to react or spend money. I think there is no surprise that money is the general basis of why we are creating designs worthy of a campaign. Most designs are persuasive ways to encourage spending dollars. However, it’s important to remember that consistent public relations design encourages earned media and influence.

A Big, Genius Newsletter from Apple..Kind of

By Tony Tsoodle

On October 31, 2023

In PR Design

I have the occasional newsletter in my inbox. Some I read and others not. The subject matter is essential, and design is just as important. I now have a newfound respect for those who created them after attempting two of them myself, and they are not easy doings. Everything has a place, and paying mind to these will help you make the perfect newsletter for your organization or business. The elements complement the stories, namely the photos. I can write about the new Apple Watch, but when I write about the Apple Watch, I can see an image of Snoopy on the watch in the article. It’s like harmony to music. The relationship is complete. The pictures bring life to the stories and give some context. I would much rather see the new features on the new iMac in a picture than read about it and no picture. Newsletters bring these elements together so the reader feels connected to the story.

My first attempt

This is an example of a newsletter I created in Media Writing and Storytelling for my current employer, Cumulus Media. I designed it in Adobe Express. If I had known what I know now, I would have started this creation in Indesign. Its not pretty. I would change so much.

What was different here from the next example, is the writing is mine. Having willing co-workers ready to lend a hand helped. If I knew what I didn’t when I made this, it would appear better. I now understand the idea of Indesign and the ‘containers in which you can place pictures and text. It’s a convenient feature. Here’s an Adobe tutorial about its functions. Pretty powerful and easy tool to use.

The Tedium will get you

Although challenging, they are fun to design and create. The biggest challenge I found while making this faux newsletter for Apple was the amount of space and work area you have to work with. When there is so much information, it is a challenge to figure out what stories to include, where to place them, what is essential and what can fall to the cutting room floor. The space and fitting everything in is the difficulty. Planning and sketching out your design helped give me an idea of where things might have a place.
Creating these newsletters demanded attention to detail and constant nudging. Keeping the errors off the page proved difficult also, but the ability of InDesign to realize there are errors is miraculous.
The elements required presented a challenge. Fitting all the elements necessary needed great attention, and I’m not sure I got them all in.
Here is the Genius Newsletter from Apple, kind of.

The Genius Newsletter

(*entirely fictional, except for the stories)

I think the spacing should be managed a little better, but overall the design works.

I found spacing and area posed a good challenge, I’m close but it still could be adjusted on page 2.

Including all the text and information of the story was difficult with this page, the story was so detailed and well written that I didn’t want to lose any of the story or pictures. The final version shows I had to move some things on page 3.

Maintaining Apple’s clean look challenged my use of negative space. The Apple brand thrives from the use of negative space but with lengthy stories and so much information to pass along to the reader, space is the issue on page 4.

The Apple Newsroom is packed full of news from the company. This is something I learned with this project. I realized that most large companies have a newsroom, where stories are propagated and distributed. Apple even allows you to download the original picture file. I still am amazed at that. With no photo credits or cut lines included though.

Knowing your personas and some design elements, you can try creating your new letters. It seems like a mammoth task, but with some planning, like sketching, you can do this. And you’ll end up with a design you’re proud of.

Delicately Designed For Your Viewing Comfort

By Tony Tsoodle

On August 28, 2023

In PR Design

Design elements are present even in places you would hardly look to find them. Just walking back to the parking garage after classes and going about my daily life, I found a few examples of the elements that are some the following design characteristics.

Color
Typography
Metaphors/symbols
Minimalism & use of space
Form/function/message
Balance
Rhythm
Proportion
Dominance
Unity

The design blitz is on! Every day these design elements are present in our life’s. Having the notion and ability to incorporate the elements are where the true art and concepts of design collaborate. From the most intended to a surprising coincidence the aforementioned characteristics of design are what we find visually appealing.

Color

Without the green foliage, the northeast rear brick wall of the Bizzell Library would be just a dull brick wall, a corner that would melt into the other red brick building (Evans Hall) behind it. While it may be Mother Nature offering her design, someone had to decide to let it display her beauty. The deliberate nature of allowing the beauty of the greenery informs us that an element of design is at work.

Proportion

I found that the mums on the South Oval are well on their way to the usual spectacular explosion of Crimson and Cream seen at its height around homecoming. Above, the image demonstrates a level of proportion and draws your attention to the dominant image in the lower left corner. The single plant is the reason for the shot but with the abundance of plants, in rows, its understandable to incorporate them into the shot.

*The mural is visible on the north side of Koda CrossFit at 1210 McGee Drive*.

Rhythym

An example of color, symmetry and rhythm is Rick Sinnett’s “Butterfly Mandala” in Norman. The balance and colors are eye-popping. Those characteristics give the piece a powerful element of visual structure.

The colors are deep and bright, drawing attention to the drab cinder wall.

The symmetry develops from the Mandala’s center into the butterflies comprising the outer circle. Sinnett says the design represents life’s beauty (Uncovering Oklahoma, www.uncoveringoklahoma.com). Rhythm flows from the center with corresponding geometric shapes that repeat. Although, the repetition is the focal point. The piece relies strongly on its repetitive patterns, creating balance and a feeling of undulation.

Balance & Unity

I recently walked downtown Tulsa and saw a group gathering on a corner. Five to six people with cameras were taking a picture of the above. Naturally, I followed suit and took out my camera. They were looking at two buildings between two buildings. Really. It is a remarkable image. Upon a Google search of the area and its art deco roots, the Mid-Continent building with the patinaed roof is to the right. The building to the left, with the spire is the Philtower Building. The balance of the split between the two buildings (or one, depending on your view) so you can view two beautiful vintage-styled buildings is spectacular. The two buildings on the far right and far left act to support the design image of the photo completely.

Got Minimalism?

The minimalist approach is used in many aspects of design. From logos to complete campaigns. Got Milk? That campaign relied on reminding viewers of the color of milk, white. The simple tag line and concept fed many copycats. Got books?, Got booze?, etc..

Pringle’s pizza flavored potato crisps may be ‘Bursting with Flavor’, however, it is the logo that adopts a minimalist design. The circle with two eyes and a mustache is a just a white circle without the eyes and mustache. Without the words ‘Pringles’ the company utilizes black and white with the noticeable feature the mustache. The circular logo takes advantage of the unique packaging the chips comes in. It works because of the simplicity.

Typography

I saw this logo at the bottom of this old Coke machine at a restaurant I was eating at. I thought to myself, how simple of a name. If you own a vending company, why not Vendo? The typeface conveys fun and vintage. The Ascender on the ‘V’ and the kerning between it and the rest of the name is noticeable. The cursive connection of the letters is aesthetically appealling and reminiscent of the logos of that period. At one time, when this was brand new, this logo stood out on that red paint.

Conclusion

Design elements are arrows in the artists quiver. These are the concepts that are beholden to those in the profession. Not only help guide the designer but they are elements that appeal to human senses guiding the viewers to the intended message.

Sources

Spielman, D. (2017, March 6). Rick Sinnett “Butterfly Mandala.” Uncovering Oklahoma. https://www.uncoveringoklahoma.com/2017/03/rick-sinnett-butterfly-mandala/

The Rug’s Typography

By Tony Tsoodle

On August 25, 2023

In PR Design

Utilizing the subject and the space allowed while incorporating it visually through the text describes typography. Artists tap into emotion through a myriad of techniques using text and typefaces. Evoking an emotion or action using a different typeface or font is also a typography characteristic. Perhaps the company has a logo sans text but has a company name that the artist must include?

I always admired this brilliant use of the logo as the ‘O’ in vapor.

A former employer used such a technique. The artist’s name is Michael. He created this genius use of a logo within the name of a former employer. This slight adjustment added visual value to the brand at no cost to the company.

Being able to visualize the subject with title or heading together demonstrates the artists grasp of typography. An image could be written in a foreign language making only readable to those that spoke the language, however, if an image is presented with the text anyone can discern what the message is trying to convey.

Definitely not an image promoting the Loch Ness Monster.

Alternatively, perhaps we can observe an example of typography with the text itself. The typeface selection can immediately create a sense of familiarity with the viewer. In this example, the idea of the military comes to mind just from the typeface.

Knowing the little nuances of typeface will help deliver a message via typography. Using typewar can really test your knowledge of the nuances. I had a pretty good streak going!

typewar

Typography as stated in the Linkedin video series, we scan for a familiar image. We immediately know what is being conveyed when typography is manipulated.

Kerning is important to the brand. If out of place it throws off the whole design. I finally got he hang of it.

Give Kern Type a try and see how well you do.

Kern Type

Professional Portrait

By Tony Tsoodle

On August 22, 2023

In PR Design

Who am I?

My name is Tony. I am a husband and father of two children. As mentioned in my blog post from October of last year. Our children are growing fast, and we are working hard to teach them all the things they are going to need for their future.

I am a PR/senior at The University of Oklahoma with only a couple of semesters left. I work full time at WWLS and ALICE FM. Recently, WWLS celebrated it’s twenty-fifth anniversary at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. I work with a former professional baseball player and some accomplished journalists.

Pictured are some of the guys I work with weekdays from 4p-7p on The Sports Animal (Al Eschbach, Jim Traber, Me, Berry Tramel and Dean Blevins).

I’ve been with the company for about 20 of those 25.

What are my PR qualifications?

I have broadcasted in the Oklahoma City radio market for twenty-three years. My PR qualifications are scant however, around 2016 I started a boutique agency with a former co-worker. We named it Red Plains Media. The agency created audio and video content while managing the advertising buys for radio and TV. We were radio guys that were trying to find a fit and make money doing it. We had no formal training. We just had the gear and great ambition to go create great content. One of our first, successful clients was a CBD manufacturer that needed a partner to manage the flow of information and content. We created brochures and video sales collateral for their sales team. Once again, we had no idea what we were doing but we jumped in and tried. Luckily, they enjoyed our work for a few years.

This was an ad I shot and created for one of the many products the client manufactured.

What do I enjoy about PR?

I have always admired the PR professional and their ability to create or manage the spin of situations. I have found that the untrained have developed an idea of what the PR professional really does and usually their assumptions are off a bit. I want to study Public Relations because of the ability to craft and maintain an image for a client while simultaneously generating revenue. It sounds like a canned response but when the client is successful, in turn, so are you.

Why am I studying PR and what motivates me regarding PR?

Ultimately the bottom line is at stake for everyone in a capitalistic environment. Revenue and the ability to nudge the direction of the company sales are what motivate my desire to know more about Public Relations. The PR professional isn’t exactly a salesperson but a voice of image, message and design.

What on-campus activities or community organizations do I volunteer with?

The schedule I keep professionally and at home inhibits my ability to participate in on campus activities. I would genuinely enjoy participating, however, most of the meetings happen during my work hours. I am not a regular or active member in the community outside of talking on the radio for hours on the radio each weekday. If I had the option, I would participate in more extracurricular activities here at the university.