Persuasive Visual Communication

Module 7 – Assignment: Persuasive Visual Communication

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Recall from previously reading Chapter 5 in Business and Professional Writing: A Basic Guide, that a reader-friendly document is one that effectively blends text and visuals. You’ve already applied basic design principles to a slideshow presentation. Now, you will apply these same principles to a persuasive marketing campaign using effective visual communication.

Instructions

For the past year, you’ve been working to launch your start-up company. Now is the time for you to share your new business with prospective clients and customers using a persuasive marketing campaign.

Your start-up company can be anything you want it to be! Your company should offer a product, process, or service. For example, you might decide to create an app for a new game, an online athletic shoe store, or a language tutoring service for adults.

Your goal is to create a persuasive visual communication campaign using one “old school” medium (flyer, brochure, poster, newspaper advertisement, etc.) and one “new school” medium (social media post, social media cover/header, blog or website graphic, etc.). Use the same branding strategy to share one in two different ways.

Your persuasive marketing campaign should include the following:

1. Company name and logo
2. Name and brief description of product, process, or service
3. Why your audience should want to learn more (what’s in it for them)
4. Where your audience can go to learn more (website, email, phone number, etc.)
Be sure to consider the design elements such as text (including font size and type), visuals (including images, charts, graphs, etc.), color, and white space or empty space.

Important Reminder: Don’t forget to consider the audience and the medium. Your “old school” medium can contain more text because it is designed to be held and read by the audience. Your “new school” medium should contain less text because the audience will be quickly scrolling by it either on their computer, tablet, or mobile devices.

Canva

While you may use the medium you feel most comfortable with such as Microsoft Word® or Apple Pages®, Keynote® or PowerPoint®, it is recommended that students create a free Canva account for this assignment. Canva (Links to an external site.) (https://www.canva.com/) is an online graphic design platform with pre-made templates for a variety of mediums. Please note that while premium features do exist, students should only select from the free options within Canva.

For a short, simple guide to using Canva, please watch the video below:

A Simple Video Guide to Canva (3:57)

No matter which medium you choose to create your “old school” and “new school” visuals, maintain the integrity of all design elements by exporting your documents as PDF files.

Here is the criteria to follow:

Criteria

1) Message Purpose

Two visual communication mediums (one “old school” and one “new school”) are submitted focusing on the same message: a start-up company’s product, process, or service.

2) Message Content

Both the “old school” and the “new school” mediums contain company name/logo; name and brief description of product, process, or service; why audience should want to learn more (what’s in it for them); and where audience can go to learn more (website, email, phone number, etc.). “Old school” medium should contain more text within message content than “new school” medium.

3) Message Design

Both visual communication mediums apply basic design principles such as text (including font size and type); visuals (including images, charts, graphs, etc.); color; and white space or empty space. “Old school” medium should contain more text within message content than “new school” medium.

4) Grammar

Both messages contain proper sentence structure and are free from grammar, punctuation, spelling and word omission issues.

5) Writing Style

Both messages demonstrate effective use of language with precise word choice and a writing style appropriate for each communication medium.