This is how I solved the driving question for the Medium is the Message project. To start, the driving question for the Medium is the Message project is “How does what we hear, read, see influence us? I will write the answer to this at the bottom of this blog post. Here are my ad drafts that my group and I made in this project.
Here is my ad drafts
Draft 1
And here are my group’s drafts
1st draft 1
Here is my review and process of creating the ad drafts
I think that if I were to do it again I would use a landscape format so it would look less like a flyer. I also think that I would put more negative space in my ad, because it looks too cluttered. I think that overall the ad is ok, but it does not fit the rustic theme that DCM has. I also think that the logo is a bit out of place, and also too pixelated. I think that we also should have taken more pictures, because we only had 3 options for the background and none of them fit with the ad. I also think that the ad with the contact info looks way to much like a flyer instead of a real advertisement. Another thing is that we did not really have any techniques or appeals that we were focusing on when we were making this, because we did not sort everything out until the last minute. I think that overall it worked out reasonably well, and the ad looks pretty good despite all the errors we made. I think that I could have put less things on my 4th draft, for example the hand grabbing the microphone was unnecessary and used up negative space.
For the first stage we chose our business, and my group chose Deep Cove Music. Then we googles for info on DCM to make our first draft of our advertisement. After we had gathered enough info, we made our own private first drafts for our ad. When we were done with our first draft we showed it to the rest of our group gave each other peer critique. Then we made a script for an interview with the business owner and then we went to the business and conducted the interview. After the interview, we made our second drafts using the info we got from the interview. When we were done with our second drafts we had group critique again, and then started on our third draft. After we finished our third drafts, we made 3 different drafts as a group, using all of our private drafts, and the info from google and the interview.
After that we emailed our 3 group drafts to the business and waited for feedback. Then we all critiqued each other’s work in the class, and made a final private draft using that information.
After we got feedback from the business, we made a final group draft using the info from the feedback we got from the business, our final private drafts, and our first group drafts.
Then we got feedback on our final drafts from a real advertiser.
These are the techniques and appeals that we used in our final draft for our ad.
We used the emotional security and physical well being appeal by saying that there are music lessons in person and virtually, to give people a sense of security that they do not have to go into the store and risk getting COVID. We used the water is wet advertising technique by saying that you can buy instruments from their music store. We also used the unfinished claims by saying that you can buy sell and trade without describing how.
Here are the milestones that I found helpful for finding the answer to the driving question.
Milestone 2: For this milestone we investigated different definitions of the word media, using the media triangle to analyze media, and eventually, looking at media literacy through the use of five key media literacy questions.
Milestone 5: for this milestone we read a book called The Gospel According to Larry, and created a photo journal to analyze some ads to help us learn how ads work.
Milestone 6: building your knowledge of media and messaging, and developing our understanding of the driving question, we applied our understanding of new skills in graphic design and we created our own advertisement at the request of a client. Our final product went through lots of designs as we work to reach a final version.
So now that you understand the steps I went through to answer the driving question, I am going to answer it. I think that the answer to the driving question is that it influences us in so much that it can completely change your perspective on something, and that it can change the personality of a person. I think that media is a very powerful tool that we do not fully understand.
Always remember to eat cheese and stay cheesy
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