The overall goal of these assignments is for students to create a package of "publishing" products using various kinds of technology at different stages of the assignment.

The assignment will work especially well with courses and learning communities in the Community Action, Nonprofit Management, Arts And Culture, Multimedia and Internet, Advertising, Business and Criminology concentrations. However, the assignment can be easily adapted for learning communities in other concentrations and disciplines.

The assignment is a collaborative process that combines individual and group work, on-site and online work, a range of levels of technological expertise, and several Microsoft Software packages. The exercise includes two scenarios, and faculty members will find that both are easy to adapt to specific disciplines.

In some learning communities, faculty may wish to use break up the scenarios into several steps in order to build the technological expertise of students.

Scenario 1: Development of Draft Brochures

Introduction
This scenario requires that students pretend that they are working as off-campus interns under the supervision of the faculty members who are teaching the class. Faculty members assign students to serve as interns to a variety of organizations. Each student is asked to prepare a draft of a brochure to help spread the word about a particular topic or group. Faculty members will provide information about the kinds of organizations that are relevant to the particular learning communities.

Examples

• A learning community in the Arts and Culture concentration may use nonprofit arts organizations such as Arlington Arts Center, the Smithsonian, Wolf Trap, or the students could create an organization
• A learning community in a science concentration may consider developing a Red Cross brochure on how different blood products are used
• A learning community in a business concentration may create a brochure marketing a new voice mail system, a new service through the county recreation department, or a new recycling plan for a non-profit organization

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of Word to create informational or marketing brochures.
  
• Demonstrate knowledge of design elements such as color, graphics, placement of text on the pages.
  
• Demonstrate ability to write for a specific audience for a particular purpose.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use the comments feature in Word to obtain feedback from peers and faculty member via email file exchanges.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use electronic technology for file-sharing and peer review.

Part I
Each student will create a written draft in a plain Word document. The goal is to make sure that the content is accurate, readable, and substantive as well as directed to the correct audience, before it is formatted for a brochure.

Part II
The students will email the file to three students and the faculty member for feedback. The group will respond using the comments feature in Word. Each student will then make the necessary revisions to the document and begin the formatting process in Word.

Part III
Students will format the brochure using either a template in Word or by setting a Word document up for columns in a landscaped page format. Students are expected to use graphic elements such as pull-out quotations, clip art, text boxes, drop caps, etc. to create a brochure with visual appeal. Students may find that they need to do additional editing when they see the content in columns.

Part IV
After the brochure is formatted, students will email it to members of their peer groups and to the faculty member for a second round of comments using the comment feature in Word.

Part V
Students will revise the brochure, produce a master copy, and write a cover letter to accompany its delivery to their internship supervisors.

Scenario #2: Development of Co-ordinated Promotional Package

This project requires student work groups of no more than four students who pretend to be part of a single organization but who work in different parts of the country. No face-to-face group meetings are possible because of severe budget cuts for company travel.

The team has been asked to come up with two concepts for a promotional package for a product or service. The group can decide the kind of company for whom they are creating promotional or educational materials. Each student will take on the principal responsibility for writing and designing one product for each concept in the package.

The products can include development of an educational or promotional brochure for a specific product or service, a quick reference guide for using the product or service, and a one-page direct mail piece, and a PowerPoint presentation for showing thumbnails of the products and providing intellectual rationale for each concept.

For this exercise, students will use listserve, Town Hall, email, Microscoft Word, comments feature in Word, PhotoShop, and web authoring softwares.

Examples

• A learning community in the Arts and Culture concentration might create a package to market a traveling art exhibition by an imaginary artist (or a dead artist whose images online are public domain).
• A learning community in a Business concentration might create a marketing package for a product such as a tiny cell phone, a fast new computer, a PDA with new upgrade, etc.
• A learning community in one of the non-profit or science concentrations might create an information package for fundraising for a specific event or problem. For example, cleaning up Four Mile Run, a rape survivor's guide, battered women's or homeless shelter, etc.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of Word to create informational or marketing brochures.
  
• Demonstrate knowledge of design elements such as color, graphics, placement of text on the pages.
  
• Demonstrate ability to write for a specific audience for a particular purpose.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use the comments feature in Word to obtain feedback from peers and faculty member via email file exchanges.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use electronic technology for file-sharing and team review.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use PowerPoint for presentation of promotional/educational concepts.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use listserves, Town Hall, bulletin boards and other technology media to communicate with team.
  
• Demonstrate ability to import/export graphic images.
  
• Demonstrate ability to use web development software.

After the students have completed the assignment via computer technology, they will make a team presentation to the class of the two packages. They will produce "comps" for the print pieces and have electronic hook-up for the web pages.

The most important point to remember about developing a brochure is that all brochures, even those for designed for non-commercial purposes, are sales tools. You are selling your ideas, your organization, or your product, and you are motivating the readers to take some kind of action.

Whether you are creating a low-budget informational brochure for a non-profit agency, a mid-range brochure for a political candidate, or a slick four-color brochure for a corporation, the basic goals and strategies are the same. You want a visually appealing cover that is light on text, a paragraph that provides a brief overview of the organization, a few short paragraphs that boil your central ideas down into a few key messages, and you want to end with a call to action. That simple formula works whether you are developing a small, tri-fold brochure or a large, multi-page booklet.

Text

• Fonts
  Never use more than two different typefaces. A rule of thumb is to use one type of font for the headlines, a second for the body of the text. Don't try to be too cute with your fonts; that can distract from your message.
• Headlines and Sub-Headlines
  Use major headlines judiciously; no more than one per page, fewer if possible. Sub-headings may be used to break up long columns of continuous copy or when the key message changes. Sub-headings are smaller point size than major headings.
• Bullets
  Break long lists into bulleted items to enhance the look and readability of the brochure.
• Sentences
  Keep them short! You typically work with a narrow column of copy, and a single sentence can look like a paragraph. To give your sentences pizzazz, write in the active voice, choose action verbs rather than descriptive adjectives, and be specific.
  • Example of Strong Sentence
    "The Washington Women's Shelter nurtures women and children during their stay, providing story hour, art projects…"
  • Example of Weak Sentence
    "A warm and nurturing environment is provided by the women's shelter for women and children..."
• Paragraphs
  Keep them short and to the point! Remember that some people may greedily gobble every word of your text, but most will read it quickly to catch the highlights. Make sure the reader can figure out exactly what the key messages are.
• Call to Action
  Be specific about what you want the reader to do after reading the brochure. Even if the brochure is an informational brochure, you probably are providing the information in order to move the person to some sort of awareness or action. Be sure to include all phone, web, e-mail and address information at the end of the brochure. You may also want to create a self-mailer brochure if you are collecting information or requesting that the reader order something for you

Visuals

• Photographs
  Select clear photographs that generate an emotional response or that provide information about the organization. Use "straight-on headshots" or "bulls-eye shots" with people in the distance sparingly. Look for medium close-up action shots, such as people playing games or working at a desk.
  
• Balance
  You want a nice balance in the brochure between the text and the visual elements. For example, you would not want to place three photographs across the top of the inside three panels of a brochure and place text across the bottom panels. Even though the brochure will be read one panel at a time, some of your readers will "take in" the brochure visually before ever reading the text. You may want to place a photograph on panel 1 at the top, a graphic element in the center of panel 2 and straight text on panel 3.
  
• Graphics
  Select appropriate graphics for your topic and don't clutter the brochure. A couple of well-chosen graphics add oomph to the brochure; too many distract from it.
  
• Call Outs
  Sometime you can use quotations from the text as graphic elements. Use the same font, but increase the point size and place the quotation in a text box. The technique creates visual appeal and calls attention to important information.
  
• Boldface, Italics and Underlining
  The rule of thumb is to boldface your headings and sub-headings. If you overuse bolding, your content loses some of its impact. Never use underlining in a print brochure, and never use all capital letters in your headings unless you use "small caps." If you think you must emphasize a word or phrase that you typically would underline, simply italicize!