EDLD+5366+Digital+Graphics

“Planning is an essential part of building a newsletter.” (Lamb, 2005). For two years I created newsletters for a professional organization, Delta Kappa Gamma, and for my middle school campus where I was the technology coach. I never once really planned prior to creating the newsletters. Reflecting back, I think I just wanted the job completed and the design elements were not of upmost importance to me or the organization. The newsletters had good design principles, but not near what they could have been. In my studies of Digital Graphics I now have a good understanding of the principles called “CRAP” (contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity). With these principles I can now critically evaluate my work and was able to better assess my newsletter assignment and make adjustments when it did not meet the criteria of CRAP principles to make it visually appealing. Yarwood confirms that “Visual organization helps a lot. Chiefly, alignment, contrast, and proximity help readers associate and track visual information.” (Yarwood, 2009). As a below average reader, I find myself evaluating my documents and the work of others on readability. I want to make sure that the reader does not get lost and mis important information. Previous to this course I had done some research with design principles when creating presentations, but have learned so much from this course. I had learned that serif font was more readable than sans serif. I used the serif font in my newsletter in the articles and selected other fonts for headlines and captions. Yarwood conquers, “For some reason not yet clear to researchers, serif text seems to be easier to read because the shapes of words make from serif letters are more recognizable by the trained visual cortex.” (Yarwood, 2009). I am still unclear on what affect these fonts have in an online environment. As I completed the newsletter assignment I made many evaluations during the process. Lamb’s //Newsletter Evaluation Criteria// was indeed an asset in the evaluation process. Lamb reminds us that “Newsletters are a great way to build positive relationships …” (Lamb, 2009). I wanted to make sure that my newsletter was visually appealing and created great dynamics and drawing in the audience. After some lengthy planning, I started with the articles for the first page and worked with spacing. Continuing this process worked well as I added additional articles. I was worried about having too much white space on the last page, but after reading Yarwood’s thoughts on white space, I made only a few adjustments to the page. I was not able to interact with my class colleagues on this project. I am uncomfortable with conversing with them on the discussion board. I feel the discussion board is such a professional place just for response to our topic and there is no place to interact and collaborate with one another on assignments. I did appreciate the time when we posted our assignment and received feedback. Anytime one can get feedback from others or collaborate with others on a project, the result will be an improved product. Sometimes I wish that we were collaborating and creating a single product which would mimic a real-world environment. I feel my learning on digital graphics has just begun. I have discovered that during my trainings, I do not always give the best visual representation for my audience. I can easily apply principles learned into my daily work which impacts teachers across my district. I am hopeful to develop more relationships with my class colleagues and work colleagues to improve collaboration. I am a true believer that we learn from each other. I am intrigued to investigate more design elements as I continue to work in the online environment. Most of my future work and trainings will be in an online environment and I need to make sure that I give the audience the appropriate tools they need and that the content is visually appealing and inviting

Resources Lamb, A. (2005). Planning newsletters. Retrieved December 8, 2010 from [] Yearwood, Dr. J.(2009). Basic design principles. Lamar University.