Segmenting Publics July 13, 2009

There are three types of information about target publics: demographics, psychographics, and sociographics. All three need to be be considered when you are deciding your target public. Demographics refer to facts such as age, gender, race, family size, status, income, education, geographics, and occupation. Psychographics are about personality and other psychological characteristics. Sociographics refer to the groups that public belongs to.

Target publics are the specific groups you want to reach with your key message. When you are designing a brochure or anything else for publics you need to make sure that what you express will reach them. You would design your message different for an older audience then a younger audience, or for a female or male. All of an organization’s publics are groups who are either affected by or have an effect on the organizaiton.

My client for my brochure is PRSSA, Public Relations Student Society of America. The public that would be most affected by this organization would be students interested in public relations. I would segment the population with ages around 18-23, because these are the ages of most college students. This brochure is for the Georgia Southern University PRSSA chapter. I would also segment to both males and females and all races. I would segment the students that attend GSU. Students that are involved in other organizations would be good to target, because you know that they can effect the organization.

My brochure will be designed to my target audience. My first target audience would have all the qualities stated above but be majoring or involved in public relations, because they will be more interested in the organization and have more effect. My secondary target would be the rest of the students at GSU, because they could still be interested as well or become interested. Targeting the right audience with my brochure will help its purpose.

www.prssa.org

www.gsuprssa.org

Typography

How do you select a font? Some things to consider are:  make sure that it is readable, it matches the targeted public,  and it needs to visually reinforce the key message. The font needs to be readable in different styles, sizes and column widths. The font also needs to be appropriate for your purpose. You need to consider who is going to be reading it and what exactly you are trying to say. Accorrding to Stragetic Publications Designing for Target Publics, larger fonts are better for older publics, lightweight fonts for women and heavyweight fonts for men. Also, formal fonts should be used to textbooks and specailized shoul be used for advertising or logos. Don’t just limit yourself to classic fonts, if your message can be reinforced by a specialized font then use it.

For business cards smaller fonts are used but need to still be readable. Around a 7-10 point font would be appropriate but the text needs to be more simple and classic, unless it is a logo. For brochures, around 9-14 point is good for body text. For headings the font needs to be 20% larger than the body text. The most important aspect of fonts is that it is legible. Fonts do appear different on screen than in print, so you need to make sure that the type you pick will turn out how you like when printed. Using different sized fonts for certain areas will allow text to stand out. Make sure that the larger text is something you want to be emphasized and draw the reader to.

In class we learned of a good free legal site to download fonts:

http://www.dafont.com/

This site also has step by step instructions on how to download a font for any computer:

http://www.dafont.com/faq.php

How to make a line or curve on InDesign

I was absent for this class assignment, so to make up for it I am writing a blog on how to make lines and curves on Adobe InDesign CS4. Here are some step by step instructions. First, open InDesign and click new document and ok. Or if you are doing a certain project change around the options to what you need. When you have a blank document click the line tool in the left side panel which looks like a straight line. At the top there is an option to change the size and  type of line. In the box at the top it will say 0 pt.  change that depending on how thick you want it. Underneath that box is one with a black thick staight line, that is where you change the type of line. Click the down arrow to the side of the box to see the different choices of lines and pick the one you want. After you have the thickness and type  take your curser and drag across, depnding on how short or long you want the line to be. Hold the curser down until you have the length you like. While it is outlined in the blue box, you can change the color which is found in the right side panel. Or you can click swatches and make your own color. If you want to curve your line, click the white arrow in the left side panel (second icon, underneath the black arrow). Click on the line with the white arrow and it will allow you to curve it anyway you like. That is how you make a line or curve on Adobe InDesign CS4!

The Importance of Alignment

According to Strategic Publications Designing for Target Publics, alignment refers to the layout of items along invisible but easily identified lines. There are four types of alignment: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and curved. Horizontal alignment places emphasized items of a layout straight from left to right, creating a visual line horizontally. Vertical alignment places emphasized items of a layout straight from top to bottom, creating a visual line vertically. Diagonal alignment places emphasized items of a layout from high on one side to low on the other side, creating a visual diagonal line. Curved alignment places emphasized items of a layout in a curved pattern often outlining curved art, which creates a visual curved line on the page.

Alignment is important to a good design because it makes items appear more unified. Readers’ eyes follow the invisible lines with their eyes, making a straight path through the page. Keeping photographs and other items aligned enables readers to view them together and increase unity. Alignment makes a design appear organized and is easier to understand. According to Robin Williams, who coined the term C.R.A.P. (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity), alignment makes the page look sharp. Without alignment, the page looks messy. Alignment keeps the readers’ eyes follow through the page in a sequence, that way the information displayed is comprehensible.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1898774/the_crap_design_principle_contrast.html?cat=15

http://virtualeducators.blogspot.com/2007/04/principle-of-alignment.html