Communicate clearly, concisely, and correctly in the written, spoken and visual form that fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience
Communicating Through Presentation
In my Brand Identity Design 2 course, I re-designed the logo for the Canadian Disaster Response Organization and created a client presentation to showcase and rationalize my work to the hypothetical client. I demonstrated written communication by including bullet points of the key information presented. I used visual communication to reflect the brand values and key message of the CDRO in simple logo concepts. I also used spoken communication to explain everything I was presenting in a clear and concise 10-minute presentation. I successfully fulfilled the purpose of the project using my presentation and communication skills. I described the research I conducted and explained what needed to be changed about the original logo and how my two logo concepts fulfilled those needs for the client.
Written Communication
For almost every project I’ve done, I’ve written a rationale to explain my design choices and why I made them. These documents demonstrate my written communication skills by clearly explaining to the audience, the purpose of the project and how my design choices met these requirements. An example of a rationale I wrote was apart of my Graphic Design 4 course where I designed a poster for the St. Lawrence College Second Year Graphic Design Exhibition. In the concise document, I rationalized my choices made for type hierarchy, my chosen imagery, how I used a grid system, and my use of white space. Each of these sections clearly explain the design choices I made, why I made them, and how they fulfilled the purpose of the project. This rationale exemplifies my ability to communicate ideas effectively through written communication.
Respond to written, spoken, or visual messages in a manner that ensures effective communication
Responding to Project Objectives
I demonstrated my written communication skills to respond to the requirements and goals of a project through writing client facing strategic briefs. The purpose of the strategic brief is to be used as a guide for the design process, so it is clear to both the designer and the client what the goals of the project are. It includes research about the background of the project or company, the project objectives, the product or service description, the target audience, the competition, the production and creative considerations, schedule and deliverables, and the key message of the project. I have written many strategic briefs which all effectively demonstrate my written communication skills. One example is a strategic brief I wrote for an independent project for my Interaction Design 4 course. I chose to design a book finding, eBook and Audiobook app where I wrote a strategic brief that compiles all the research I had done and communicates the objectives of the project.
Responding to Feedback
Critiques are an important part of the process for completing all my creative projects. During class time my classmates and I meet up in groups to discuss our work and how it could be improved to meet the objectives of the project. During these critiques I provide them with some context of my project, explain what I believe I need improvement on, and show my work to them so they can give me feedback. When others are showing their work, I provide my own feedback on their work, and we help each other improve our work by verbally communicating our ideas to each other. Once the critique is over, I respond to the feedback by incorporating the changes and suggestions they gave me into my work. An example of one of these critiques was for an Environmental Campaign project completed for my Graphic Design 3 course. I designed a print and digital piece to communicate the message of a chosen environmental campaign and participated in multiple critiques throughout the process of designing both pieces. This is a feedback sheet completed as a result of a critique on an iteration of my poster for this project. The sheet explains what was suggested during the critique and the final designs include these suggestions. Critiques demonstrate my verbal communication skills to be able to effectively communicate my ideas to other people and respond to suggestions given to me.