#mdm555

[eddieoteroiii]

Reflection: Effective Copywriting

After the extensive research and development I did in Defining Client Needs where I had designed a toolbox for the city of Reykjavik, Iceland. Considering this, I had expected to carry this into the Effective Copywriting course. As it were, Effective Copywriting took me in another direction where I was to pick a nonprofit to develop testimonial ads for with a Headline and Body Copy. Although, this did throw me for a loop, I put my best effort forward.

I have always been keen at coming up with catchphrases and slogans, but here I was to develop full copy for the ads. The taglines didn’t even become part of the project until after we had designed the testimonial ads. Even the research paper wasn’t even assigned until week three of the course. I think I could’ve benefitted more from this course if the research paper was done in the beginning along with the taglines. I believe that would have been a stronger foundation in the development of the testimonial ads.

For my nonprofit, I chose the National Archives Foundation who is the America’s record keeper. They collect records from the three branches of government after they are no longer referenced. These records include important documents, photos, film and much more, that are made available to the public. This is done so that people can see the history of our nation and as a reference of policies to keep government officials in check. After developing several concepts based on testimonial ads based on what was discussed in George Felton’s book Advertising Concept and Copy (2013), it was determined that the strongest concept would be real people that use the National Archives for their personal gain.

Regardless, I did learn a lot during Effective Copywriting. First I need to work on developing skills in writing larger blocks of text. I know as a graphic designer, it is sometimes expected to be able to write copy for a design. Another area I need to work on is to research more heavily on who the potential audience could be for a brand. I have mostly worked with companies that have a boss that want things designed as they want it without considering their audience. Finding ways to convince them otherwise has been unsuccessful, so I haven’t been able to put this knowledge to practice. Finally, I need to work on my time management. During my undergraduate studies, I was working part time so I had the time to complete my assignments. This time, however, I am working a full-time job, which has been extremely demanding. I just need to find a way to balance my education and career.

Concept sketches of different testimonial ads: Celebrity (1), Wrong Person (2), Historic Figures (3), Plain Folks (4), Ironic Testimonial (5), Extreme User/Expert (6)

Narrowing down the concepts to three

Finalized the concept to provide a consistent voice

[moebby3110]

For these revised versions of the ad campaign designs, I choose to bring the imagery together to be more cohesive. The initial designs did not contain an overall theme for the campaign that could flow from one ad to the other. Being able to bring the font and imagery to a similar state, helped to draw the effect of a nightmare out in these ads. Not only did I change the base of the layout, but also made sure to take out some of the unnecessary pieces of the testimonial. Overall, the design layout of these final comps gave a cohesive branding feel that the first roughs did not contain.

[moebby3110]

These three were the original compositions that I designed to go along for the campaign. Each one begins is complimented with a tagline of "If you need help, get it!" because many women fail to realize that they need help, think that their relationships will get better, or look for help, but no one understands the woman's cry for help. 

[queenscholar-blog]

MDM555 Reflection

Reflection

My experience writing copy and creating concepts was a hard one. Grammar in writing has never been my strong suit and this class only reinforced this fact. To be honest, I am happy it's over though I know that I have more writing to do for the MFA program. I did not quite enjoy the copywriting but I did enjoy creating concepts in the name of a cause. George Felton said, “Every advertising situation has more points of view than you are currently considering” (Felton, 2013, pp. 191).

Professor Rogalle challenged us to create personas with all the specifics needed to fit the demographics of our chosen organization. The assignment gave me a new perspective and different viewpoints from which to tackle the Testimonial Ads. I wanted them to be simple but effective. At the end of this course, I have learned a few important things to take with me into the rest of the program.

Takeaways

1. The main takeaway is that I need to do better at my writing and formatting. In the future, I hope to do better at writing assignments.

2. The second takeaway would be that in the future I will take the personas assignment and apply it to my design methods. It has the ability to help me as a designer to create the most appropriate designs for a company.

3. My final takeaways would be that without proper copy, an ad can go from the most creative to extremely dull and uninviting. It is important to have inviting copy when designing advertisements.

[cywarner]

Effective Copywriting Reflection

I have always found writing a challenge and an opposite to my visual design nature. This course was good fun and a thought provoking experience. This course has made me go beyond expectation on writing and I learned much throughout it. Having worked in the field for quite a few years, I used and hired writers all the time. I have gained a revitalized appreciation for them and what they do.

 Some of my favorite takeaways were:

Creating a Persona. I have done many target audience profiles but have never given them a name and taken them through their daily routine. It was a great learning experience. I will use this for every project from now on.

Designing a Book. I have designed many book covers and articles in the past. I have never laid out an entire book myself. It was a big learning experience. Both from a technical and learning the application InDesign standpoint. It was a rewarding experience.

Creating Ads. I always enjoy doing ads for something I’m vested in. These projects gave me an excuse to dive into an organization I really enjoy. It was good fun and made me take a bigger look at the Audubon Society.

[cywarner]

MDM555

Effective Copywriting

[benjaminirwin]

Reflections on Effective Copywriting

This month, while completing the coursework for Effective Copywriting, I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback I got on my work. While I don’t regard it as perfect and will always find room for improvement, I got some great feedback from my peers as well as from Professor Rogalle. Here are a few takeaways from the course.

In the readings and assignments this month, it was exciting to learn about the relationship between tagline, subhead, body copy, and the call to action. While I’ve had exposure to each throughout my career as a designer, the theory as to how they work was enlightening. I found it very similar to designing visuals in that the copy should guide the reader’s eye along the page. Similarly, with weight and color, a page layout or a graphic can guide the viewer’s eye. I learned techniques for making the relationship between the text and visuals more natural so the piece is easier to understand. This is instrumental in supporting the overall message.

Creating personas was a terrific exercise for defining our non-profit’s branding message. To create my personas, I thought about some people I’ve met and think would appreciate what my non-profit does. From there, I defined some of the things that make them a desirable demographic and added in some extra details to give them their own unique character. This allowed me to be thorough when discussing my marketing techniques in the research paper.

While writing the research paper, I encompassed everything we learned into one project. To me, this is the best demonstration of how what we study applies to the real world. By discussing how I plan on integrating copy, graphics, and marketing tactics, we were forced to develop a clear vision of how our brand will be positioned in the marketplace. It was also beneficial to use research in developing the brand’s voice so it is differentiated from the competition. By studying competitors to my non-profit, I was able to get a sense of what techniques I could make work for my organization and what have already been tried unsuccessfully.

Overall, this was a more enjoyable course than what I had envisioned going in. I enjoy creative writing, but I hadn’t necessarily sat down and put some thought into the copy I provide for my design projects. This course has already had an impact on the way I approach designing when I know there will be copy involved. Going forward, I will take this new-found confidence I have in myself as a writer to enhance the visuals I come up with.