Assignment 2

Mailer Assignment

By wesmoody in Uncategorized March 11, 2014

For this assignment we needed to design a direct mail piece that OU recruitment services would send to a specific group.

The first one I did was a mailer designed to be sent to students who are considering graduate school. This would include people who are in an entry level job and people who are recent graduates. They would be mostly white and aged 21-24. This would include both men and women.

I started by doing some research on OU’s Grad College. They use the arch in the picture as part of their logo, so when I found that picture in the assets folder I based my whole design on that. I turned the card to portrait so that the picture would fit better and I utilized the fade in the sky color to further draw the eye “higher” and to create depth. I put a slight fade on the words at the top to match.

The header comes from a quote from the front page of the grad college website. I also included that quote on the back. I thought the tag line paired perfectly with the picture. I made sure to include the grad college logo under that and then of course I put the ou logo in the upper right. All about the brand with OU.

I created a pop out box to put text in. I used the color of the sky so that the box wouldn’t look too out of place. The text in the box is designed to make the public think about returning to school. The big picture idea is to drive traffic to the site. This is a big decision and this generation doesn’t make that decision based on a piece of mail but hopefully we could get them to go to the site, which has comprehensive info on grad school.

The back included the quote that I based the whole thing on and then the URL again to drive traffic to the site. I separated the mail portion by using the blue color from the front box. That let me leverage part of the back to help get the message across.

The second one I did was aimed at National Merit Scholars. OU is very focused on NMS. They even talk about them during football games. That says a lot.

I wanted the front to have a similar effect to my first project. I chose this picture because I thought that is was an iconic image of OU and its brand and it achieved that feeling of depth and going higher from bottom to top.

The text is the stat that OU puts out every chance it gets about NMS and being ranked #1. It is obvious that OU loves that stat and wants everyone to know about it. I then put “find out why” I wanted to link that stat with a reason for future students to care about it. I also put the URL for the same reason as the first mailer. I wanted them to go to the site so that they could get all the info that you can’t fit on a mailer.

On the back I used the same technique as the first mailer. Then I used the most important benefits that might convince a NMS to choose OU over other schools. These were the key points on OU’s NMS site so I used them on the mailer.

I struggled with the text on the front. I used the OU font for the URL and the tag line so that they would stand out. I used a simple sariff font for the stat because that seemed to be what OU uses on its sites. But then on the back I wanted an easy to read sans sariff that matched the clean look of the icons. I know that means I have 3 different fonts but I think they look good. The front font is the weakest but I tried a ton and never could find one that looked decent.

Originally posted at Wes Moody PR Publications

Assignment Two: Direct Mailers

By Megan Young in Assignment 2, Assignments, JMC 3433 March 11, 2014

I truly can’t believe how fast this semester is flying by. My second project for PR Pubs is now complete! For this assignment, we had to create two direct mailers for specific stakeholders going to OU. I chose to make one for incoming high school juniors and the other for students to learn about OU’s academics, so I specifically targeted National Merit Scholars.

When deciding what to do for both of these mailers, I sketched an outline of what I thought would look best and what I envisioned for these postcards. I first created the incoming high school junior direct mailer. On the front of the postcard, I used a picture of current OU students on campus to show the atmosphere of OU to the stakeholder. After looking through the prospective student pages on OU’s website, I found a sentence that said “The Only Thing Missing is You.” I really liked this, and decided to use it as my slogan. I used a Rockwell Bold Font to create an appealing, forward appearance and added the OU logo to the word “YOU.”
I made sure to put this in the upper left corner because it would blend and align with the rest of the picture and not block anything in the photo. I also kept the traditional OU crimson as the color of the font.

On the back of the postcard, I kept the right side of the card very simple by providing a spot for the postage, the address, and the return address. I aligned the postage and return address to be directly across from one another and positioned the address of the student in the middle of the card. I outlined these in a crimson red box to show they were divided and to keep it organized. On the left side of the postcard, I first created a crimson background to give contrast to the right side, which I left white. Then, I used a textured background to overlap the crimson and create a nostalgic feeling. I provided information about the upcoming OU Junior Day and personalized it to the student by saying “we want YOU and your family to visit us.” I explained what Junior Day was, and provided the link for students to go register online. All of the font on this side is in Arial regular because it looks like the official font of OU and is not as loud as Rockwell. I also made it black to offset the crimson background. Lastly, in the bottom left corner, I added a photo of a student who currently attends OU. I turned her towards the inside of the card to encompass her into the full picture, and added an informational box about her to show who she is. Below is this direct mailer:

For the second direct mailer, I focused on telling the National Merit Scholars about the OU program. On the front of the postcard, I used a picture of the beautiful Bizzell library. When I was a prospective student, I could not get over how gorgeous the library was, and loved to take pictures of it. It’s definitely one of my favorite buildings on campus, so I wanted to share it with these stakeholders. On the top of the photo, I changed the opacity to make it look a little faded and white so I could add the slogan and create contrast on the photo. I used the same slogan of “The Only Thing Missing is YOU” to create repetition between the two postcards. On the back of the postcard, I added information about the National Merit Scholar program here at OU. I kept the repetition of using the same design and style of the other postcard to show that the two direct mailers are related to each other. I think it’s important for them to look similar to each other so stakeholders know that they are coming from the same university. I changed the photo of the student to show variety at the college and how he is a National Merit Scholar. Additionally, I used another call to action of always providing the website and getting students to apply to our program. Below is the second direct mailer:

Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment because I liked creating something that relates to OU and making a direct mailer that would have been appealing to me, since I was a prospective student once upon a time. I think I improved on my use of space and making sure that the space is utilized for something important. Additionally, I think I have improved on my skills of using InDesign, which has definitely helped me. I know I still have more to learn, but I feel more confident in using it now. This assignment was different from the first assignment because we were focusing on different things. The letterhead and business card in assignment one would be utilized all the time for our personal use. Also, these documents would help stimulate recognition of our career and our organization. However, the direct mailer is being aimed at a specific group of people, and will help them learn more about OU. In both situations, the organization benefits from these documents, but they help the group in different ways. I thought the segmentation matrix was also a little difficult to understand, but it helped a little in learning which groups I should and should not target. In conclusion, this assignment was interesting to me, and I look forward to what we create next.

Originally posted at Megan Young - Gaylord Student

Assignment 2- Direct Mailer

By Claire White in Assignment 2, Direct Mailers, JMC 3433 March 11, 2014

For this assignment, I geared my direct mailers to two different target audiences: Texas students who just graduated and have made advances to attend the University of Oklahoma and students that are considered National Merit Scholars.

For the direct mailer that I would plan to send to the Texas students, I made sure to talk about how this is their experience, that they would leave their footprint on this university. Sometimes schools forget that it is about that individual persons experience, that is why I put Begin YOUR Sooner Experience. I put the University of Oklahoma’s logo as the OU in your because I want them to start seeing that OU is in their experience. I made sure to use the photo at a football game because that is also what people think of when they think of the University of Oklahoma. It is an experience to attend one of the games, and an important experience at that.

I also used the same textures on both sides and used the university logo to add repetition.

For my direct mailer aimed at National Merit Scholars, I chose the picture of the seats to show that each seat is different. I used what seat will you take to emphasize that there are many things you can do at the University of Oklahoma, not all chair is the same because neither is every student. I made sure to emphasize the OU in you because that is what I want them to think about. When they look at the word you, I want them to immediately think of the University of Oklahoma. I made sure that the OU logo was faded behind the students address so that you can immediately know who it is coming from and it repeats the logo from the opposite side.

I learned a lot from the last assignment, that empty space is not wasted space, to make sure that your textures match, or at least don’t look like garbage, and to not be text heavy. I made sure to keep the texts the same so that way it all looks uniform. I also chose a text that I thought matched well with the University of Oklahoma text.

Originally posted at Claire White

Direct Mailers

By hick6171 in Uncategorized March 11, 2014

This was a very interesting and helpful project when it comes to distinguishing publics and targeting the material toward each specific one.

I thought the front of the mailer should be simple and simply show a large high quality image of the university. Each has the logo on the from so that the recipient is sure of where the mail is coming from. I tried to show contrast where I could by applying gradients where possible and highlighting information by placing it inside a box outlined with a border. For the mailer that was directed toward children of alumni I wanted to come up with a clever phrase that would show that yes they are going to the same school as their parents but they are making their own path. I came up with “Continue the tradition, but make your own memories”

I liked the idea of student profiles so I used this on both and think it gives the prospective student a student face to put on the university. Finding backgrounds that worked and fit well was challenging but I ended on just a simple background for the alumni one with a notebook one as well to create some contrast. I like the background for the Gaylord College one being an old newspaper. I made sure to create as much repetition as possible by putting the OU logo in as many places as possible and using fonts consistently throughout both.

Overall it was a very good learning experience and I believe I have improved from the first project by being able to create repetition but also have the right amount of contrast in certain places. Stakeholder Matrix

Originally posted at Spenser Hicks's Blog

Assignment 2 – Direct Mailers

By Tori Beechum in Assignment 2, Direct Mailers, JMC 3433, JMC3433, Public Relations, Publications March 11, 2014

Over the last few weeks in my publications class we created direct mailers. This project was actually pretty fun, but I tell you I had no idea where I was going to start. The first thing was to identify the target audiences. For our project we had to use our school, The University of Oklahoma, and create something for an audience that could potentially be associated with OU.

I knew for sure that students would be the first target, but that is very broad so I limited the range to high school juniors. I chose to write about the educational options available at OU to help those in high school get acquainted with what the university has to offer and what they should look for when they apply next year as a senior. Here’s a look at the first direct mailer.

I wanted to stick with something that OU is known for doing design wise. The top of numerous mailers have the white ribbon bleeding off the page with The University of Oklahoma on it and they also use white horizontal lines to show what the focus is on. The only other thing I wanted to do with this mailer was stick to the colors and add a few drop shadows to the OU logos to make them stand out a bit.

For the second mailer, I chose to target parents who may have trouble supporting their child financially. I chose to write about the grants, scholarships, and Oklahoma’s Promise Commitment as available options parents can look into. Here’s a look at the second mailer.

On the design side, I wanted to make the mailer immediately target parents. I chose a photo that just capture the university and for the back I chose grid paper because I usually associate grids with math. So I figured since I was writing about financial options grids would fit well. Other than that I continued with the OU color scheme and tried to keep it simple.

I had a lot of fun doing this project. One last thing, I will say it is best to look for inspiration when designing a direct mailer. I used this mailer I found on Pinterest for inspiration.

I also used direct mailers that we’ve had in the past at OU. But yes, use tons of inspiration and figure out your audiences and narrow them as much as possible. Hope you all enjoyed this post and the mailers I created.

-Tori

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

Direct Mailer

By Grace Vojvoda in Assignments, JMC 3433 March 11, 2014

This project was easy to me when using indesign. I feel like I am understanding how to use the software to make my designs better. To start this project by looking at Pinterest for examples on direct mailers. I found really useful examples on Pinterest. I modeled my direct mailers after one of the templates I found. It was hard trying to figure out what information to include and what not to include. I didn’t want to overload the direct mailer with too much information, I wanted to keep them more simple. I remember from my time in high school, when I was getting mailers from perspective colleges. I liked the ones that were simple and didn’t have so much information on them. I liked those styles best because if I wanted more information on the college I would visit their website.

Direct Mailer #1- Directed at perspective students in the greater Oklahoma City Area

This mailer is aimed towards high school students who are heading into the summer and are making summer plans. I would probable send this out in the end of April to the beginning of May. I chose this layout because it is a fun way to get their attention. I tried to pick activities that most high schoolers would be planning for in the summer. The target audience is the greater Oklahoma City Area because those are the high school students who are close to the school and will most likely be able to come visit the school during the summer. It is harder for those students out of state to plan a tour and that is why i chose to target those high school students who are closer to OU.

Direct Mailer #2- Directed at those perspective students parents’

The second mailer I designed is for parents. I chose this picture of the statue on the south oval because it shows off how beautiful the OU campus really is. I kept the front of the this mailer simple because most people don’t really take the time to read through mail unless it is important. The main point I was trying to make with this mailer is the name University of Oklahoma because that will make an imprint in busy parents minds for them to look up later. Possibly while standing in line or waiting for their kids, they may look up the school on their phones. I put important websites on the front for quick references for parents.

This project was easier for me to start designing but it was still difficult. Design for others is still difficult for me because I have to keep my style out of it and design for what the client needs/wants. I hope by the end of the semester I am able to design things easier.

Originally posted at Grace Vojvoda

Assignment 2- Mailers

By Mary Morton in Assignment 2, Assignments, JMC 3433, Mailers March 11, 2014

This second assignment that was assigned in my PR Publications class was to make two postcards that would be sent to stakeholders. For this assignment I had to really hone in on exactly which stakeholders would receive this mailer and how the message would directly target them.

For my first mailer I decided to make a postcard for the University of Oklahoma’s Panhellenic Association Formal Recruitment that happens every fall semester. This organization oversees and monitors the 11 different sororities that are here on OU’s campus. This mailer is made specifically for women who are 17-23 that have been accepted to the university. This demographic is looking for how they can get involved when they arrive and Greek life is a great way to do that. I kept the design very colorful and fun so that is caught the eye of a woman who was in this age range. I filled the front with pictures and made the design look like a collage, almost as if it was a bulletin board that they could have in their room. I wanted these women to see these pictures and feel like they could be in them or these could be pictures that they could put up on their wall someday. With all the color on the front I kept the back very simple but repeated the use of the bright pink and orange to tie it to the design on the front. I separated the information into the who, what, when, and where about Formal Recruitment. I felt that this would be the best way to answer their questions and then refer them to the Panhellenic’s webpage to learn more, or register to take part in Formal Recruitment.

The second mailer I made was specifically for parents, around ages 38-50, whose daughter have registered for Formal Recruitment. Most parents are pretty clueless when it comes to being apart of a sorority or fraternity so I wanted to make a mailer that gave them a few positive statistics about it and then refer them to the Panhellenic’s webpage to learn more about what their daughter might be apart of. I made this a lot cleaner because I wanted it to look more official. I went with a crimson and white color scheme to match other mailers that parents may have received so they would feel comfortable about it being from the university. I didn’t want it to seem too busy, but I still wanted to keep the idea of having a lot of pictures that they could see their daughter possibly taking part of in the near future. The back is very simple and more a teaser with some information to get parents to start looking into the Greek system and what it is all about.

This assignment was quite a challenge for me. At first I had no clear idea how I wanted either of these mailers to look, which was the opposite in the last assignment I did. I knew that my stakeholders were very clear and wanted the same information, but different designs appealed to each demographic. I learned a lot about using the drop shadow and rotate abilities on inDesign with this assignment, which I really enjoyed. After I played around with both designs and put pictures in different places I finally ended up with two front designs that I was happy with. The back side of each mailer was really easy since I wanted to keep it simple but stay with a similar color scheme. All in all I’m very happy with the way both turned out.

Originally posted at Mary Morton- PR Publications Course

Assignment Two – Direct Mailer

By Brooke Strother in Designing for Emotion March 11, 2014

Direct Mailer One: Potential Petroleum and Geological Engineering students

Direct Mailer edited2

Direct Mailer Two: Potential Legacies

Matrix

For this assignment, students were asked to create two direct mailers aimed at different stakeholders. I decided to appeal to the high school legacies (children or siblings of past/present students) and incoming students who had taken the Petroleum and Geological Engineering tour here on campus.

The first one I made was for incoming students who plan to be engineers. I found out that the college has a specific tour on campus for incoming freshman where the Mewbourne school explains the program and tours the building. Because this was such a defined target, I had a hard time finding pictures that would work well with the mailer. I ended up going to the college and taking a couple pictures myself. I then picked one and made it the background for the front of the mailer. I also recreated the logo found on the website and added contrast by creating white boxes for text. I conducted research on the college’s website and found a million things that I would’ve liked to mention, but because space was limited, I stuck with the simple “ranked among the top five degrees in the country.” For the back, I used one of the textures given to add more of an engineering feel and left space for an address and stamp. I also put a return address and found an animation of a rig that I made red to match our colors. The main purpose of this mailer is to thank students for taking the tour and to remind them of what the college has to offer. While potential students are trying to choose their school or major, I think it’s important to always be on their mind.

The second mailer I made was for children or siblings of past or present students. I wanted to play along with the idea of Tradition so I mentioned it on the front and back of the card. OU has a large amount of traditions and by becoming a Sooner, the family member would not only be apart of campus traditions, but also extend family traditions. I also wanted to keep it as simple as possible so I kept the phrases short. (Again, I found so many wonderful graphs and phrases, but knew I wouldn’t have the space or time.) Basically, I wanted to call these possible students to action by scheduling a tour of the campus. The back of the card took the most time, but also ended up being the side I was most proud of. Initially, I wanted to do the same kind of design as the mailer before, but for some reason, was having trouble with the textures. I played around a little and ended up making the background of the back an image at a football game tinted it red to still be able to write stuff on it. I’m actually very proud with the end result. I then recreated the logo found on the Future Sooners page and placed three different requests. (Look at us, visit us, become one of us.) I also tried to add on to the color scheme by placing dashes in the top and bottom. For the front, I tried to keep the red color going by choosing a background image that had red in it. However, first I had to doctor the image by smudging out the light post that stuck out in the middle of the blank space. I then added the OU logo and the emblem I found on the school website that Oklahoma is one of the top university in the nation according to U.S. News.

Originally posted at Brought to you by Brooke

By Taylor Jurica in assignment2, Assignments, JMC 3433 March 10, 2014

Mailer for the University of Oklahoma directed towards parents sending their students to OU.

Mailer for the University of Oklahoma directed towards high school seniors highly considering OU.

For the mailer directed towards parents, I wanted to keep it simple. The front contains a beautiful picture of the OU library. At the top, I wanted the words to look like they were almost a part of the clouds. I also wanted the OU logo at the bottom to fit into the overall design without taking away from the picture. On the back, I have a personal note towards the parents who are sending their kids off to OU. I know when my parents were sending me off, they constantly wanted to be reassured that I would be safe. I included a website on the back side where parents can visit and gain all the information they need. Again, I didn’t want to make the design too complex so that parents would not be overwhelmed. I used white space on the back of the mailer to give it an organized look.

For the mailer directed towards high school seniors, I added a little more design concepts along with more color. I want these high school seniors to be excited about attending OU. I gave a step by step process on the front of the mailer about applying to OU. I also included steps on what to do after you’ve been accepted because this mailer is directed towards the students who have OU very high on their college list. I wanted to make the Twitter and Facebook logos very large because this age group uses these two social media sites often.

This assignment was different than the first for many reasons. We had to narrow down our audiences and make them more specific. We didn’t have as much space as we had for assignment one to fill with a lot of text. We had to give a large amount of information in a small mailer while also trying not to making anything too complex. I feel as though I made great strides in improving my Indeisgn skills. I moved a lot quicker because I knew how to incorporate text, color and pictures. I also learned how to crop on Photoshop which made designing the mailers a lot easier as well.

Originally posted at Taylor Jurica- Gaylord Journalism Student