recruitment notepad

I began brainstorming for this design through a word matrix, focusing on my target audience, which is high school students.


After some very rough sketches, I refined my ideas into thumbnails.


When I had chosen the thumbnail I felt was the best option, I made a rough. This rough helped me to easily lay out my design in inDesign.


Just before going to print, here is my finished PDF.
At this point, I took my PDF to a print shop to receive my price quote. Each notepad was quoted at fifty cents, a very economical price.


Finished product


Finished product

Synopsis
The target audience for this piece was high school students. In the "Trends" category of my word matrix, I wrote "dorks/nerds." This was especially inspired by popular actors such as Michael Cera. Following this trend, popular accessories in stores like Claire's and Target include clear, black horn-rimmed glasses. I decided to use this trend in my recruitment notepad as well.

The purpose of this notepad is to lead high school students to think that the Graphics and Imaging Technologies Department at Pittsburg State University is trendy, which might make them want more information about the program. The notepad leads them to the Pittsburg State University web site, where they can find the information they're looking for.

Design elements used in this piece include visual hierarchy, continuation, white space, and balance. The eye is first drawn to the glasses and bulb graphic, providing visual hierarchy. The light bulb points up to the header text, which provides continuation. There is white space in the design in the area where the notepad will be written on. The balance in the design is achieved by placing the two largest objects diagonal from each other and smaller text also at a diagonal.

The glasses and light bulb graphic is mine. It was first drawn, then scanned in as a bitmap image that has been further edited in Photoshop for clarity.