tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64986090854843536422024-03-13T16:49:52.146-07:00Wyatt StanfordWyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-53409424759737629262017-05-08T11:23:00.004-07:002017-05-08T11:23:40.948-07:00To be continued...<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-in-yellow-and-black-backpack-walking-on-green-grass-field-under-cloudy-blue-sky-during-daytime-211047/" target="_blank">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the finals week blitz for all of us at OU. We are all stressing our lives away this week as we prepare to say goodbye with a bang. Fortunately, this week is not so stressful for me. At least not in PR Pubs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our only assignment this week was our <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-summary-of-pr-pubs-learning.html" target="_blank">Summary of a Learning project</a>. I decided to do a brochure about the creative process since, in my opinion, is where I grew the most. As I detailed in my Summary of Learning post from last week, the technical things we learned were very important, but what purpose do they serve if we cannot successfully navigate the creative journey? That was the focus of my piece. I made a sort of "treasure map" that takes you from the nebulous first stage of creating something to the final stage where you feel satisfied with your creation. I meant it to fit any sort of creative endeavor. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqMqc8lt98tZ7Z-J-IAKNEoIDx7flo8hfFNUr9Avvf1TjcQTlE_a_67S2vDJjZFUxkS_fzTSg16XKUbHixAexKqRJ9G17ElFWdLrTnX3JDVlQ5cNHkX8rPB_CYwb0imAwRLUvjHLj22g/s1600/Summary+of+Learning+-+PR+Pubs+-+Wyatt+Stanford+72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqMqc8lt98tZ7Z-J-IAKNEoIDx7flo8hfFNUr9Avvf1TjcQTlE_a_67S2vDJjZFUxkS_fzTSg16XKUbHixAexKqRJ9G17ElFWdLrTnX3JDVlQ5cNHkX8rPB_CYwb0imAwRLUvjHLj22g/s320/Summary+of+Learning+-+PR+Pubs+-+Wyatt+Stanford+72.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am very satisfied with my growth as a creator. I feel that I re-oriented myself in my thinking about being creative. Before, I thought of it in terms of my end product. Now, I see it in terms of the journey. I've learned to be more open to epiphanies, outside criticism and my own eye, which can now easily determine if something is my best work. I feel that this experience is irreplaceable and will serve as a vital asset in my professional future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Journaling about my experience in PR Pubs helped me to keep track of my growth. I got to see the transition I made in my thinking as well as the improvement of my technical skills across all platforms with which we worked, from InDesign to PremierePro. It also allowed me to remember how I created certain pieces so I wouldn't have to recreate the wheel if ever wanted to design something similar or use the same techniques in developing a new piece. Journaling gave me an opportunity to express myself through writing, which is also very therapeutic. Granted this blog is nowhere near a tell-all diary for me, but stepping back and looking at my processes took my mind off other stressful things happening around me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is my plan to continue the upkeep of my blog or possible migrate to a different platform. I'm glad I have an online presence apart from my <a href="http://wyattstanford.weebly.com/" target="_blank">personal website</a> to showcase my work. I cannot wait to update my site with my new work from this course. I might not blog as much as I did for PR Pubs, but I will keep writing. It will strengthen my portfolio and show potential employers that I am capable of maintaining an online presence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The format of this course was innovative. It helped to keep stress off me and limit my outside-of-class work on pieces. The grading policy was probably the fairest of any course I have taken thus far in my college career because my instructor knows that creativity is subjective. It would be unfair to assign a letter grade to work we put much into. Knowing that as long as I gave it my best and submitted work on time reduced stress. It also allowed me greater time bravely to explore the creative journey. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This particular PR Pubs course will be an asset in my future public relations career. The techniques and processes I learned will set me apart from competitors in the job market and give me the chance to bring innovation to any future employer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My story is just beginning. For now, it's to be continued...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Happy summer, everyone. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/light-nature-sky-sunset-33044/" target="_blank">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-51908817687370332742017-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:002017-05-05T09:09:09.379-07:00The Summary of PR Pubs Learning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWjRGeE5UGuYeAzF2HkAQ6hly-fC72gkWcSBeTxUdF89lHeU1BT3vWQrxdc2Oc6atG7rRhMz7rofSRLw-m4YOPrlECiIZg_-9XEoesFXx7VmoJrv_UZ6RHNrJCLsXXPF_1osahdvJNEw/s1600/pexels-photo-30546.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWjRGeE5UGuYeAzF2HkAQ6hly-fC72gkWcSBeTxUdF89lHeU1BT3vWQrxdc2Oc6atG7rRhMz7rofSRLw-m4YOPrlECiIZg_-9XEoesFXx7VmoJrv_UZ6RHNrJCLsXXPF_1osahdvJNEw/s640/pexels-photo-30546.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/grass-road-sky-green-30546/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We're almost at the end of the road in my PR Pubs class. This course has taught me so much, from the technical parts of using the Adobe Creative Cloud, to filtering my creative energy to design solid, aesthetically pleasing pieces that strategically communicate a message to an audience. The technical aspect has broadened my skills across all platforms, which is great. What is even better is that this course has taught me to develop my eye for design and meander my way through the creative process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before this course, I had taken a graphic design class when I was working on my associate degree at Eastern Oklahoma State College. I was fairly proud of some of my pieces from that class, but I still knew that I could do better. I wasn't quite where I wanted to be in the quality of my designs. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ResTHKVxf4" target="_blank">video </a>from "This American Life" that we watched the first week of class before ever starting an assignment put these feelings of mine into words. I was looking forward to getting my designs closer to what I recognized as high quality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another thing I struggled with was the creative process. I knew what the creative process was, but I thought of it all in terms of an end-product. It's not about the destination, but the journey. Though that saying is trite, it is nonetheless true. During that first week, we also watched the commentary from "Inside Out," where the filmmakers discuss the long, arduous process of creating the movie. After trying many ideas and having a few epiphanies, the director and crew were finally able to come up with a film that satisfied them as well as told the story they so wanted to tell. Watching this process made me think of my own creative process. I needed to be more open to playing around with my designs instead of focusing on a path that will get the job done. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As for the more technical stuff, we learned the keys to design the next week of class. I am referring to the design principles: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. I had struggled with these principles in my past graphic design class. Something I perceived as good contrast wasn't good contrast to experienced designers. Something I felt had good repetition but didn't, etc. Seeing these designs in practice realigned my design eye to think about the principles. I knew I could start applying them in my projects. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnQz9NTrC_DpTqPmmMtXhqbyehpzBq9jtV_xugAJ0ZgRFUa2g_PcTenbgjFija50MlLibOLRPYNYd39VKKxua3im74JranR2a87a0HgbvPPVJ3c4UsMjvdERg73nkXWFCZ7WcSRWcybE/s1600/Business+Card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnQz9NTrC_DpTqPmmMtXhqbyehpzBq9jtV_xugAJ0ZgRFUa2g_PcTenbgjFija50MlLibOLRPYNYd39VKKxua3im74JranR2a87a0HgbvPPVJ3c4UsMjvdERg73nkXWFCZ7WcSRWcybE/s320/Business+Card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Air France Business Card (Front)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Speaking of projects, we jumped right into our first one the fourth week of class. It was the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/photo-from-feelgrafix.html" target="_blank">business card</a> we were to design for a brand of our choosing. I chose Air France. This project taught me about the concept creation part of the creative process. As I remember, we were to filter through ideas on Pinterest to get an idea of what our design should look like. At first, I didn't like using Pinterest, and then, when I got into it, I really loved Pinterest. I started like 20 boards since the business card, most of them about graphic design and branding. After getting through that concept phase and shifting my ideas a little, I produced a business card that reflected Air France's brand. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQErXI4luF73j0j4G7VfOFb7qYOI2r46-apuBB4yJZjfhwkq9c3eksUg1KnbOd0h7soTtxLi4vXIdWg2ab8fRMKHawRnuU28ksm8I-_iaAu4obVS2Inow7LpeRG_JjkDhwCRkH5qCcxvs/s1600/Letterhead+Print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQErXI4luF73j0j4G7VfOFb7qYOI2r46-apuBB4yJZjfhwkq9c3eksUg1KnbOd0h7soTtxLi4vXIdWg2ab8fRMKHawRnuU28ksm8I-_iaAu4obVS2Inow7LpeRG_JjkDhwCRkH5qCcxvs/s320/Letterhead+Print.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Air France Letterhead</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a similar vein, we expanded on the business card idea with the next design project of a <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/interview-with-wyatt-stanford.html" target="_blank">letterhead </a>for the same brand. This project progressed easier since we had already done the brand research for our designs. The letterhead just had to be on brand with our business card. This was the point where I felt that my design skills were advancing in the right direction. My concept skills had become stronger, and I worked through the design process thinking about it as a journey instead of an end-product. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our third project was by far the hardest for me to complete. It made me realize that maybe agency life is not for me. This project, the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/finishing-direct-mailer.html" target="_blank">direct mailer for the OU Residential Colleges</a>, required a lot of me. I had strong feelings about the Residential Colleges that I needed to get over in order to focus on communicating their message. To help the process, I made marketing personas whom I would be targeting. The design process this time was taxing, to say the least. After getting through <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV2EJWN9De6ZzWwuMpB1ET3a8gzcl0V-Tmmb4T__c08wgBLRWBYtRRMYKH0I4PHuI7XyG98SbQISTBJH-nPTmxyS43KQJRUqz6DHAexmiPoYTZidUOhqs_kPwYOVuOvjjeKRVDi7HMzA/s1600/Direct+Mailer+1+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV2EJWN9De6ZzWwuMpB1ET3a8gzcl0V-Tmmb4T__c08wgBLRWBYtRRMYKH0I4PHuI7XyG98SbQISTBJH-nPTmxyS43KQJRUqz6DHAexmiPoYTZidUOhqs_kPwYOVuOvjjeKRVDi7HMzA/s320/Direct+Mailer+1+Front.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dunham Hall Direct Mailer (Front)</td></tr>
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my own feelings, I feel that I produced a design that accomplished the task of communicating to my target audiences. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That assignment was tough. Luckily, the next one was so much fun. At the same time, I feel that I grew once again in my design skills. For this assignment, we made <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/canva-dynamic-tool-for-social-media-and.html" target="_blank">social media pieces</a> for a brand on <a class="" href="http://canva.com/" target="_blank">Canva</a>. I had been advising an artist and family friend on his public relations efforts. I decided I wanted to do my pieces for him to use on his social media pages. I was fortunate that one of his paintings was in a show in the Fred Jones Art Center. I went over there one day and photographed his work to possibly use in my designs. In the end, I incorporated the painting into two designs. I made a social media profile picture, an event post and a Facebook cover image. He was very pleased. In addition, several of his art colleagues commented on his posts, asking who designed them. He was not shy in saying that I was responsible. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jason Wilson Social Media Profile Picture</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Our last assignment before this "Summary of Learning" project was a </span><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/off-cutting-room-floor.html" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">video</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">, inspired by the </span><a href="http://storycorps.org/" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">StoryCorps</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> project. Everyone in the course was paired up, and we videoed interviews with each other. From that interview, we had to build a coherent story. This project was difficult for me for two reasons. I hated working in Adobe PremirerPro. In my experience, PremierePro is the least user-friendly of the Adobe Creative Cloud, save maybe for After Effects. Next, I wasn't at all confident in my storytelling abilities. What I had failed to realize is that I had been doing it all along. I played through my interview with Sierra Abbot multiple times and condensed that nine-minute-long interview into a two-minute long story. Anytime I didn't know how to use Premiere, I asked my instructor. I looked up videos. I played around with the program until it did what I wanted it to. It was a lesson in being resourceful. I am very satisfied with the resulting story. This project paved the way for the </span><a href="https://youtu.be/utkznK34p-8" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">video</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> I did for my Choctaws of OU banquet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our final project, the Summary of Learning piece, is on my mind. I want to do a piece that details what I have learned about the creative journey. The form will be a brochure. As for its contents, I'm still concepting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am very proud of the progress I made this semester. Out of all my pieces, I take the most pride in the Canva social media items. The project I feel I could probably improve would be the direct mailer. Now that I am over my feelings about the project, I can rework it to make it look a little less generic and more branded. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a public relations professional, I have grown in my creative abilities in this class. My enhanced understanding of the creative process will transfer to other domains of the field, such as writing, advocating, event planning, etc. I will always look at my audience and the people to whom I wish to reach. All my efforts will be geared toward telling a story with the two-way, mutually beneficial communication between my organization and target publics at the head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This course was so much fun. I'm sad that it's almost over because it gave me an outlet for my creative energy. It also inspired me to utilized my sharpened skills in real life situations. This year has been fun. Really fun. </span><br />
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-57110767806897932602017-05-03T14:46:00.002-07:002017-05-03T14:51:14.976-07:00Summary of Learning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here we are. The final Summary of Learning for Public Relations Writing. This semester has flown by, and I can't believe summer is just a week away for me... I have grown as a writer, a student and future public relations professional throughout this course. I am very excited about the writing skills I have learned and have even relied on them several times in my real world experience. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Starting PR Writing, I was somewhat confident in my skills as a writer and storyteller. I needed continued practice to refine my talents. I could write something and recognized that it needed more. A lot more. At this point, I knew a public relations professional would be expected to write items such as news releases, media pitches and position papers. I didn't even think of the other important tools a public relations professional would need in a future career, like fact sheets, radio PSAs and cutlines to name a few. I was ready to learn about the different forms of public relations writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first couple of weeks of the course served as a good foundation for the writing assignments that would follow. During this time, we reviewed AP Style and important grammar and punctuation guidelines. Having had Writing for Mass Media the semester before, many of these rules and principles were still fresh in my brain. However, many of them had faded away. I wouldn't have been able to create quality work without this comprehensive refresher. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next, <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/writing-effectively-unit-21.html">we looked at the problems of brevity and clarity</a>. When they come together, they give conciseness to a piece a writing, meaning readers can glean information quickly and succinctly. It's always a good idea to cut 10 percent from a first draft to help in this domain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After looking at the technical aspects of writing, we looked at the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-22.html">ABCs of journalism and news values</a>. As public relations professionals, it is imperative that we be able to determine what is newsworthy about an event and utilize that element to create a dynamic, engaging story that journalist and other audiences will want to read. We also examined the parts of the most expected tool in our public relations toolbox, the news release. Once this unit was over, we were able to plunge directly into our first writing assignments, the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-31.html">writing of news releases</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Writing news releases is no easy feat. We were given information to write two news releases that unit. To do this effectively, I read over the information to glean the most important points in order to answer the 5 Ws and H in a way where the reader could get the information in order of importance while still leaving a bit of information at the end to keep the reader engaged. The first release was difficult since it was a general release about the Tipton Children's Home, and choosing a news element was difficult to come by. The second release was much easier since it was about an event the home was hosting. There, I was able to stress the elements of proximity and currency relatively easily. These first two releases taught me how to extract important points to create an engaging piece that answers any questions a reader might have. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next pieces we focused on were <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-32.html">media pitches and media advisories</a>, where we try to grab the attention of journalists, in either pitching a story to them or advising them on an upcoming event. Both are relatively short, but it is nonetheless necessary to find the crucial, must-know info to give to journalists who might write about an event your organization is hosting. I utilized a media pitch this semester when I served as director of communications for my Choctaws of OU group. I wrote a Facebook message to the OU Daily about our Choctaw Day that was coming up, keeping in mind all of the parts of a media pitch. Within the next few days, I received an email about scheduling an interview. I was proud that I successfully employed my public relations writing abilities to get <a href="http://www.oudaily.com/news/choctaw-nation-college-to-host-choctaw-day-on-ou-s/article_c2a0b9b4-23bd-11e7-8486-5be946daa791.html">coverage for Choctaw Day</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After pitches and advisories came <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/reflection-unit-33.html">fact sheets and backgrounders</a>. These two pieces were difficult, to say the least, because of the information they must provide. Fact sheets just give bulleted facts; whereas, backgrounders are comprehensive pieces that give history, facts, and current aims of an organization. Once again, we must decern which pieces of information are pertinent to include. These two pieces will serve us often, especially when compiling media kits. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next, we moved into position. <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/reflection-unit-34.html">Position papers</a>, that is. As if writing a comprehensive piece wasn't hard enough, we had to actually argue a point in a position paper. We had to state the issue, summarize counter arguments to debunk, and then move into three points to argue. This assignment helped me in my French course, surprisingly enough. For that assignment, we had to write an argumentative composition that detailed whether or not we believe American democracy to be crumbling because of wealth inequality prevalent throughout the country. Because of my experience in writing argumentative pieces, I was able to effectively detail my argument and state strong evidence in support of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In going even more in depth, the assignment after the position paper was a <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/reflection-unit-35.html">feature story</a>. I chose to write mine about a figure on campus, my Choctaw College and Career Resources adviser, Hannah Blackwell. I chose her because she is leading Choctaw students in their experiences as college students, while still a student herself working on her Ph.D. in education. I interviewed her and the people with whom she works daily, the students. I feel that I was able to tell her story in a compelling way, using a good scene lead and transitions throughout the piece. I showed the feature to Hannah, and she was impressed with it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Picking back up again with opinion pieces that shed light on a particular argument, we wrote <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/reflection-unit-36.html">op-eds and letters to the editor</a>. Ironically, these two pieces were due the same week as my argumentative French composition. I argued a lot that week, suffice it to say. For these two assignments, I made sure to choose topics about which I am very passionate. My letter to the editor was in response to an article that appeared in the Tulsa World. Someone wrote a column about why athletes should be paid in addition to receiving scholarship money. I wrote about this would even be more unfair than the current system. In my opinion, athletes receive so much as it is and lesser-advantaged students don't receive enough. It's not a popular opinion, but I digress. My op-ed was focused on teacher pay and why it is imperative that Oklahoma raises teacher pay soon. This was easy to write because I see the struggles of a new, underpaid teacher: my sister. I feel that I was able to argue my points in a powerful way because of this. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last two units of public relations writing focused on audio and visual pieces. Unit 4.1 dealt with <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/reflection-unit-41.html">broadcast scripts</a>. For that assignment, we had to write a PSA about the upcoming PRSSA Panel on Inclusion. Writing for broadcast is quite a different animal than writing for reading. In broadcast writing, you have to keep in mind that you are writing for someone to read. Thus, the piece must be conversational and easy to read. My 27-second-long PSA focused on the importance of diversity in the media before introducing the event. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last assignment was the most fun in my opinion ( maybe because I'm a photographer), and that was <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/reflection-unit-42.html">writing cutlines for photos</a>. We were to take pictures at an event, pick nine photos and write cultines for them. Since Choctaw Day was close, I decided to do my cutline project over it. I captured some really interesting scenes and activities that day. I am very proud of the work I did. I made a picture slideshow <a href="https://youtu.be/utkznK34p-8">video</a> showcasing those pictures and more for the Choctaws of OU end-of-year banquet. My Choctaws of OU Adviser printed one of the pictures as a gift to Choctaw instructor Freddie Lewis for his help throughout the year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of all the projects I discussed in this post, I wish I could redo the news releases. Since these were the first assignments, I would have given them more time. Knowing what I know now, I could have made them so much better. This is evidence of my growth since beginning this class. I had to learn to become resourceful as writing while keeping in mind I am writing for an audience. I had to discipline myself to go the extra mile to ensure that I was producing my best work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Overall, Public Relations Writing taught me to refine my writing and adapt it to different purposes. In addition, I learned to always to be my worst critic, to complete assignments on time and to have confidence in my abilities. Though I still feel like my writing can have more, I recognized that one does not simply become a writing pro overnight. It takes years of practice and dedication to get to that point in writing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I look forward to advancing further in my writing career after taking these first important steps. With all that I have learned, I know I will be an asset to my future employer. Because of the diverse writing activities in this class, I will adapt my writing to suit whichever occasion and whatever purpose. I am ready for my future. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-27063243739760628762017-04-27T18:45:00.002-07:002017-04-27T18:45:39.892-07:00Reflection, Unit 4.2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This unit of PR writing was so much fun. We did a photo story and wrote cutlines for each picture we used. <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/reflection-unit-41.html">The last unit was about sound with the radio PSA</a>. This was all about the visuals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our assignment was to piece together a photo story on a PowerPoint slideshow and write cutlines for each photo. The story had to revolve around a campus event. I chose Choctaw Day as my event to use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the first year for Choctaw Day. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and OU Office of University Community sponsored the event, which took place on the South Oval, April 19. The purpose was to connect the OU community with Choctaw culture through cultural activities, such as stickball and social dancing. Since I am one of the few public relations majors in our campus group, Choctaws of OU, I handled the public relations efforts on campus by making flyers, pitching the story to the OU Daily and taking over OU's Snapchat for the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The day was a huge success. We received lots of positive feedback, especially on the Snapchat takeover. I took around 600 photos to use in a recap video that I will be putting together for the Choctaws of OU end-of-year banquet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first step in completing this assignment was to choose the photos that told the story well. I chose nine, the number needed for completing this assignment. I then put them in the proper sequence and began writing my cutlines, starting with the first sentence in the present tense that describes the action in the photo, followed by subsequent sentences that give context or broaden the story. Since I took so many interesting photos, this was not difficult at all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I finished the assignment by formatting the slideshow properly and fixing a few issues in the cutlines themselves. I was very pleased with the final product. This skill will be immensely helpful in my future career since PR people are often the ones holding the camera at events. Knowing how to tell a story using photos and cutlines will be crucial. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing cutlines has always been something that I feel I'm good at. This assignment gave me the opportunity to continue practicing this valuable skill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't believe the semester is almost over. Only next week and finals week to go...</span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-42229538761737454142017-04-27T11:08:00.001-07:002017-04-27T11:08:12.782-07:00Off the Cutting Room Floor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwgXyCjAZXp4PEjqS-r-onLHT4qlFxJ97MsklrkFX0cH5pwx09Ytrmx4_5n0efywigPPyxld01RLV58nUWh-RqeGzZZOQZTCNqO5ooZNn9VtT74_izhKunckjW0uZUh8zVrca8TocRrE/s1600/pexels-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwgXyCjAZXp4PEjqS-r-onLHT4qlFxJ97MsklrkFX0cH5pwx09Ytrmx4_5n0efywigPPyxld01RLV58nUWh-RqeGzZZOQZTCNqO5ooZNn9VtT74_izhKunckjW0uZUh8zVrca8TocRrE/s640/pexels-photo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://static.pexels.com/photos/34407/pexels-photo.jpg">Pexels</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end is finally here. The end of the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/on-cutting-room-floor.html">PR pubs video project</a>. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been a long road, but arriving at this point was definitely worth it. I am very pleased with my final video. The skills I learned throughout this project will be immensely useful in the future, especially for a noob like me when it comes to video. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I worked on the video a little Monday afternoon. Even though this week has been intense for me, having a ten-page paper over World War II, a French composition, a PR Writing assignment, a social media marketing campaign and my Choctaw banquet all on my plate, I managed to find plenty of time to refine my video. On Monday, I made sure that all of the media I wanted to include in my video was on my timeline in Adobe Premiere. I tweaked it some, still needing to fix a few issues and make sure my content was succinct. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday, in class, we took a short break from the PR pubs grind to hear the story of Kasey Kinney, a Gaylord grad who has been in the workforce for a while now. Her degree was in public relations. She is now currently working in real estate, where she has had ample opportunity to apply her public relations skills. Her story was very touching, and I am very pleased that she shared it with us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Wednesday, I found more time to refine my video. I made a few adjustments to help the flow. After completing all these changes, I rushed off to put the finishing touches on my World War II research paper. The topic I had chosen, was looking at print advertisements from Time, Life, and The New Yorker, from 1941, to examine how brands crafted defense-related messages to create brand awareness, generate brand loyalty, and stimulate purchasing. I hope it is well-received. The paper was due at 9 a.m., a few hours before PR pubs on, on Thursday. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I put the finishing touches on my video on Thursday during class. I exported it and added it to YouTube. I am very happy with the final product. It's not by any means perfect, but it did teach me how to piece together a good story. The thing I am proudest of is how the story is strung together. </span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YYw4FXv-9Rg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YYw4FXv-9Rg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These skills will come in handy this week as I will be creating a video over Choctaw Day for the Choctaws of OU banquet. I will squeeze that in sometime around the French composition that is due on Friday... I am so ready for summer. </span></div>
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-17818867659403080802017-04-21T09:21:00.007-07:002017-04-21T09:21:52.810-07:00On the Cutting Room Floor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrKEIfT7xyIS5R_9yzIepYfzeJM-TBSfsY92VwfZVySP7C5gyuwLcC6f4iMz1CzwEdDHZLXNxUS9PplQo9vJdnGtIxeX_-A9I9lCMgHpc8Jx98zRUTZX79f5ZvOaHW4jiFjh7tJnL6ws/s1600/pexels-photo-271560.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrKEIfT7xyIS5R_9yzIepYfzeJM-TBSfsY92VwfZVySP7C5gyuwLcC6f4iMz1CzwEdDHZLXNxUS9PplQo9vJdnGtIxeX_-A9I9lCMgHpc8Jx98zRUTZX79f5ZvOaHW4jiFjh7tJnL6ws/s640/pexels-photo-271560.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blur-business-busy-271560/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/lights-camera-action.html">With our StoryCorps interviews filmed</a>, we began the process of putting together and editing our interviews into coherent videos for our latest PR pubs project. Onto the cutting room floor for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday, I watched my entire interview with Sierra Abbott again, thinking of a possible theme that would shorten the nearly 11-minute-long interview into a two-and-a-half-minute video. Since I asked many questions about her life at OU, I decided on that theme and made a list of all the segments from the interview that centered on that theme.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The result was a group of sections that focused on why she chose OU, how she established herself at OU, what she likes about OU, her proudest Sooner moment, etc. After choosing the sections, I brought the interview over into my Premiere timeline and began cutting clips. This took nearly the entire day on Tuesday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my clips selected, I had some free time Thursday before class to edit some more. I changed the order of the clips and cleaned some of them up. My video was now down to three minutes. I had to make some serious decisions on where to cut. My focus was Sierra's experience at OU. Keeping this in mind, I cut a section where she talked about her plans after college. This saved me about 30 seconds worth of video. After a few more tweaks and cleaning, my video was about two-minutes-and-twenty-seconds long. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I brought in some B-roll I took around campus and around Gaylord Hall. I feel that I didn't have enough B-roll. In addition, the B-roll I had was very impersonal. I asked Sierra if she could get me some pictures of her doing things with her sorority and at Soonerthon since she was heavily involved with that initiative this year. She gave me several pictures that I will be able to easily incorporate into my video. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the background music track, I searched through the music provided by our instructor to find something that would create a good tone to the interview. One track was a soft guitar. It would create a laid back atmosphere for the video that was neither too serious or unprofessional. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My <a href="https://storycorps.org/">StoryCorps</a> video project is near completion. With a little more editing and modifying, I think the video will be good quality and probably better than anything else I have created thus far in my creative career. I am hoping to have it completely finished by the end of next week which should be easy to do. I just have to finish a 10-page paper, a French composition, a PR writing assignment, the first half of a book and content for a social media marketing campaign. Just the usual work for an up-and-coming PR pro. </span><br />
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<br />Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-58240692292137843562017-04-13T20:12:00.000-07:002017-04-13T20:12:50.558-07:00Lights. Camera. Action. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKFMotB03FwDMJEv_5mpJrNTergupSY2-FRYW8vyLUqzJel73r9_b91XBciG5JndQefl3LkPPO_DqAmvVEIdhsvgc4FnAUJ9Tgw6tbHaCQ2ddXTsFVTSe_1lMjKWvNnZDQKYnW9U5iF4/s1600/camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Camera" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKFMotB03FwDMJEv_5mpJrNTergupSY2-FRYW8vyLUqzJel73r9_b91XBciG5JndQefl3LkPPO_DqAmvVEIdhsvgc4FnAUJ9Tgw6tbHaCQ2ddXTsFVTSe_1lMjKWvNnZDQKYnW9U5iF4/s640/camera.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://static.pexels.com/photos/29737/pexels-photo-29737.jpg">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/04/premiere-part-ii.html">Now that we have had a good walkthrough with Adobe Premiere</a>, this week in PR pubs was our opportunity to be directors and start the process of creating our video interviews. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday, we made a quick class field trip to the Gaylord Cage. To all non-Gaylord students, this might sound a little frightening, like a dungeon or something. It's just the place where we can rent audio and video equipment for production. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we arrived, we got a crash course in how to use our tool of choice, the Nikon D7100. This was not foreign territory for me at all, since I use my D3300 almost daily. The D7100 does have more fancy bells and whistles, but the experience varies very little with my camera. In addition to the camera, we also got shotgun mics to record our interviews. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I checked out the equipment for me and my partner in this assignment. I also checked out a tripod, since we would need to have a good stable surface to steady our camera. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Armed with memory cards courtesy of our instructor (Thanks, Adam), on Thursday, we started filming. I wanted my interview to come off as conversational as possible, so I chose just a few questions from the <a href="http://storycorps.org/">StoryCorps </a>list. My partner Sierra Abbott and I decided to use one of the seating areas on the third floor of Gaylord as our setting. After setting up the camera and framing the shot, I interviewed her first. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My plan of being conversational was sort of a fail. The reason being that I shifted my focus of the interview. I asked many questions, and Sierra answered them so well and was very patient with me. She deserves an A for being so helpful. After getting her interview, I ran back to the computer lab and transferred the video onto a computer to free some space for my interview and B-roll.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went back and did my interview. Sierra asked some good questions and was very conversational. After filming the entire interview, I realized that I forgot to turn the mic back on. So, we reshot the entire interview. With only about 15 minutes left of class, we began shooting a little bit of B-roll around Gaylord. After that, we went back to the lab and transferred our video once again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After class, we shot a little more B-roll. On Monday, I will probably get some more B-roll to be ready for class on Tuesday, where we get to take this project closer to its final form. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a Veep GIF. It comes back April 16 at 10:30. GIF from <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/search/veep">Tumblr</a>.</span></td></tr>
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-31329497913426995352017-04-13T18:29:00.000-07:002017-04-13T18:29:31.391-07:00Reflection, Unit 4.1<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxcUWWgt0vkfIjBs_DIAKDGVVLv3YAPvzDC6kbg8Ts5L0UCiEfxFby1i4S2XCtBCeK4qQlV-sNFPMsQvGy31d7MV-9aX0T8AulsONIzDv-9Y-JDR9A864QlIhPqae6A8VSqZk-l60UKak/s1600/pexels-photo-270288.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Microphones for Broadcast" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxcUWWgt0vkfIjBs_DIAKDGVVLv3YAPvzDC6kbg8Ts5L0UCiEfxFby1i4S2XCtBCeK4qQlV-sNFPMsQvGy31d7MV-9aX0T8AulsONIzDv-9Y-JDR9A864QlIhPqae6A8VSqZk-l60UKak/s640/pexels-photo-270288.jpeg" title="Microphone" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/aluminum-audio-battery-broadcast-270288/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shifting the focus off writing for reading, like with the Op-Ed and letter to the editor from last unit, this unit in public relations writing was about shifting to writing for the ear in a broadcast. We examined writing public service announcements for both radio and television, with the final project being a PSA script for radio. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I haven't worked much with writing for broadcast. During my freshman and sophomore years at Eastern Oklahoma State College, I had the opportunity to take a video production class where we could learn about writing for visual broadcast. Unfortunately, my schedule never allowed me to take this class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since then, the only experience I've had with writing for broadcast was writing two scripts in Writing for Mass Media, JMC-2033. One script was for radio and the other was a VOSOT for television. At the time, I didn't think I would utilize broadcast writing in my future career.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When we think of public relations professionals, we automatically associate them with producing written content, like news releases, position papers, etc., video, social media posts, and other things. We rarely think of public relations professionals writing scripts for PSAs to be used in radio or television. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't feel that I am bad at writing scripts. I feel like the scripts I produce are plain and uninteresting. After seeing the power of PSAs in this unit, I realized the importance of learning this specific type of writing. PSAs are great ways of reaching our publics via television and radio. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a thousand ways to skin a cat, as we say in southeastern Oklahoma. I think the same could be said of script writing. I have seen multiple formats of scripts. The important thing, in my opinion, is writing a script that communicates to producers what is going to be said, heard and seen in the proper sequence. This assignment helped me think about the spot in real-time and how it would sound to an audience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Putting that into practice was simple. I wrote my PSA for PRSSA's Panel on Inclusion. I included a hook and all the facts that one would need to know for the event. It's not the flashiest of PSAs, but it does get the job done, in my opinion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that I know the importance of PSAs and broadcasts in public relations, I will look for more avenues of practicing writing scripts and producing pieces. That way, I can become even more valuable in the field with an extensive set of skills. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-11461789769139201492017-04-06T16:00:00.002-07:002017-04-06T16:00:05.568-07:00Reflection, Unit 3.6 <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDzvLC7ve-MLUp07lwoGMfarh-iVx4q351kgd2bLr3HhRQ6nTlGB8kEGxshumfWAQv1dQXTJbGRU9XU8nQ3Jva5DB09ROjeUX7FVIp5IJoyryY2vZ5UJT2YRqED60va2XSMzMA3frZzM/s1600/boards-glasses-smartphone-phone-75652.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDzvLC7ve-MLUp07lwoGMfarh-iVx4q351kgd2bLr3HhRQ6nTlGB8kEGxshumfWAQv1dQXTJbGRU9XU8nQ3Jva5DB09ROjeUX7FVIp5IJoyryY2vZ5UJT2YRqED60va2XSMzMA3frZzM/s640/boards-glasses-smartphone-phone-75652.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/administration-business-cellphone-composition-75652/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opinions. Everyone has one. As public relations professionals, we will have plenty of opportunities to advocate for our organizations with op-eds and letters to the editor. Last week in public relations writing, we had a little fun with <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/reflection-unit-35.html">the feature story</a>. The Op-Ed and letter to the editor we wrote this week were just as fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The key to these two is having an opinion and expressing it in well-though-out arguments that are backed up with strong support in favor of what you're saying. Op-Eds are usually around 800 words and letters to the editor are even shorter, at around 150 words. Op-Eds are well researched with plenty of evidence to use to prove an argument. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since we were given the liberty to choose our subjects for these two pieces, I chose Oklahoma teacher pay for the Op-Ed and collegiate athlete pay. The letter to the editor was in response to an article published by the Tulsa World. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Op-Ed looked at the reasons we need to raise teacher pay. I did careful research and made sure to cite recent events to give it currency. I argued four points and gave a few possible solutions, in the end, to tie it all together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the letter to the editor, I found an article on the Tulsa World that argued in favor of giving salaries to collegiate athletes since they bring so much profit to colleges and universities. I feel quite strongly about this subject. In my opinion, people go to college to get an education. That is why we have universities in the first place. I know many people who could have killed it in college because of their potential and intelligence. Yet, because they are from a less fortunate background, they couldn't attend college. At colleges and universities, we have athletes who get special perks and treatment all so they can throw a ball. I think no one should get a scholarship or a perk for playing a sport. That's just my opinion. It's not a popular one, but there it is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Public relations professionals will have to know how to write a detailed, well-researched opinion in order to advocate for their organization. This unit taught me even further the importance of research and how it can build your argument. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't ever been amazing at persuasive arguing. However, I feel that this unit and other recent units in this course has helped me to argue persuasively. As a result, I feel more confident about writing PR Op-Eds in my future career. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This assignment was fun because it really makes you think about how your arguments would be received by opposition. If your arguments can't hold water, your opinion that is based around them is worth much either. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-23873029049153544772017-04-06T11:08:00.003-07:002017-04-06T11:08:59.050-07:00Premiere Part II<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiveT_SiJ_Z3gzOF2269JhORYxm7D_INbvKpVAL56bWaqH2bpBUrGkPZ81Oe1DiSDvC6EpvMJ6jyWP_5m3z7k4HU17GLPcyEavJ0ks_UDiKTvG2eL4k0NsKqhMgqtx-fvwM8NZwJvUiBoI/s1600/pexels-photo-271560.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiveT_SiJ_Z3gzOF2269JhORYxm7D_INbvKpVAL56bWaqH2bpBUrGkPZ81Oe1DiSDvC6EpvMJ6jyWP_5m3z7k4HU17GLPcyEavJ0ks_UDiKTvG2eL4k0NsKqhMgqtx-fvwM8NZwJvUiBoI/s640/pexels-photo-271560.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blur-business-busy-271560/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/adobe-premiere-story-of-love-and-hate.html">After becoming more familiar with my love and hatred of Adobe Premiere last week in PR pubs</a>, this week was about revisiting Premiere and the <a href="http://lynda.com/">Lynda.com</a> course over premiere and getting a better perspective on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday, we looked at our video project, which will be a short interview with a partner inspired by <a href="https://storycorps.org/">Story Corps</a>. For those of you who have never heard of Story Corps, Story Corp is a story sharing platform designed to record stories of regular individuals via a recorded interview. It's a really interesting project. The <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/dave_isay_everyone_around_you_has_a_story_the_world_needs_to_hear#t-1286076">TED Talk</a> over its inception is inspiring. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In creating this project, each group of two individuals will interview each other and create videos of the other. The aim is to get a two-and-a-half-minute-long video highlighting something interesting from that person's story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the project being introduced, we spent the rest of class on Tuesday and Thursday's class revisiting Adobe Premiere, since last week our going through the Lynda tutorials may have been a little spotty or confusing. Instead of following along with the tutorial in Premiere, I just watched the tutorial. I feel that this time around I absorbed more about what we are supposed to be doing on a video project and less of the technical aspects and execution itself in Premiere. The shortcuts and tips are important, but equally important is knowing what constitutes good editing versus terrible editing. Those principles will be foremost on my mind in working on the Story Corps project. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm glad we are getting to work with video because I think it's probably the most powerful medium. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then videos must be worth millions. In addition, the skills I'm learning in Premiere will be put to the test soon. I have been handling the Choctaws of OU communications efforts. At the end of the semester, we will be having a banquet where the director of College and Career Resources will be there, similarly to the banquet for which I made a video (if you want to hear the story, see my previous post.). I want to produce a video for it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since the last banquet, I feel that I have seasoned in my understanding of the strategic communication process. I also feel that I will have the tools to make a moving video that will potentially be seen by a program director. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of this aside, I am very much looking forward to working on the Story Corps project. It is my hope that I will learn some helpful tips and tricks that will aid me in completing my Choctaws of OU video project. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3PtjnAMAi8cT8i5cURJJ1ux25jL0DDr9gVEOyDDHfLYCEJcDz5UR17gbC0I3yzHWGrgVjWBQnJFZxrq22YfWCHhoipHulcmRS5yz9VJ0v_-_1J515iaxJMBMHLSeYizC-sH41Q79eo8/s1600/tumblr_olnkilidpU1ts0uczo1_540.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3PtjnAMAi8cT8i5cURJJ1ux25jL0DDr9gVEOyDDHfLYCEJcDz5UR17gbC0I3yzHWGrgVjWBQnJFZxrq22YfWCHhoipHulcmRS5yz9VJ0v_-_1J515iaxJMBMHLSeYizC-sH41Q79eo8/s400/tumblr_olnkilidpU1ts0uczo1_540.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GIF from <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/9cbfa6c57bc2afdb68e8d264bdc8990e/tumblr_olnkilidpU1ts0uczo1_540.gif">Tumblr</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-36835122716095392302017-03-30T14:45:00.003-07:002017-03-30T14:45:35.676-07:00Reflection, Unit 3.5<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY2rL5elBNiZ5L_6gmZbqKdS12ewDQIqj2VG4HhyphenhyphenAcy81dDfSnLkxJV9kFmeqn23ovzY3x1vUlI53UYuaZh8uxIoZ6U1ZikLwz10KN201VZ4kSEYpiRqBmJ6jTfPlmZ09UtS_s7xKjzo/s1600/pexels-photo-70292.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY2rL5elBNiZ5L_6gmZbqKdS12ewDQIqj2VG4HhyphenhyphenAcy81dDfSnLkxJV9kFmeqn23ovzY3x1vUlI53UYuaZh8uxIoZ6U1ZikLwz10KN201VZ4kSEYpiRqBmJ6jTfPlmZ09UtS_s7xKjzo/s640/pexels-photo-70292.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://static.pexels.com/photos/70292/pexels-photo-70292.jpeg">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Feature writing was the focus for this unit of public relations writing. In the last unit, we honed our arguing capabilities in creating a position paper. This unit, we delved into the fun that is writing features. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing features and writing creative ledes has always been one of my favorite parts of news writing. I have always enjoyed telling the specific stories of people, places or things in a way that moves the reader and takes them there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this assignment, I decided to write a feature over an interesting campus personality. For me, that person is my Choctaw College and Career Resources Adviser, Hannah Blackwell. Hannah is a doctoral student in addition to being this full-time representative of the Choctaw Nation. She always has a million things to do, yet she does an amazing job of helping Choctaw student succeed. She and I have so much in common, like being from a rural part of the Choctaw Nation. I think she is one of the most interesting people on campus, and she plays such a vital role for Choctaw students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To begin, I decided who to interview. I know I wanted to interview Hannah for sure. I then decided I wanted someone who works with Hannah and a student whose life Hannah has influenced through her work. I chose the OU Tribal Liaison Warren Queton and criminology student Samantha Manuel. I then began scheduling the interviews.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of scheduling and conflicts, I interviewed Warren Queton first. I drafted my questions and made an appointment to interview him. I recorded the interview and got some very good information and quotes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I repeated the process for Hannah and Samantha Manuel. With all this information, I began the process of writing the feature. I began the feature by talking about Hannah's office in Copeland Hall. I transitioned into referring to it as a command center with Hannah at the helm. From there, I began to discuss what makes Hannah so interesting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing features will definitely be a high point for me as a part of my future career as a public relations practitioner. I feel that I am better at writing poignant, fun pieces about people, places and things. It's not as restrictive as standard journalistic writing. In my opinion, it allows one to really explore the subject matter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As public relations practitioners, we will have to write plenty of features, especially over products. It is very handy to know the different strategies to approach features so we can make them creative and fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would like to know more about how I can smoothly integrate more description into my writing. I feel that it's descriptive as it is, but I think I could get more from it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being able to write features will help our publics get to know people within our organizations, the places associated with them and the products and services they can deliver. It is important that we capture this skill and make good use of it. If not, our publics may never get to know the more personal, human side of our organizations. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-56745233346503278332017-03-30T11:38:00.000-07:002017-03-30T11:38:46.875-07:00Adobe Premiere: A Story of Love and Hate<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttaBpL6LmCPpOw_GnGMDw4gog-e8XJB1edjnvculCFjeB_3jKa6hSzHZH2vGTSFAVB7r5CMenycjU2qtarglbl5vJdRUAY_fFx0q4o4dnDdy10oyI1cnTgVoEfwm3wgHdqueRl1jYlOk/s1600/pexels-photo-51171.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttaBpL6LmCPpOw_GnGMDw4gog-e8XJB1edjnvculCFjeB_3jKa6hSzHZH2vGTSFAVB7r5CMenycjU2qtarglbl5vJdRUAY_fFx0q4o4dnDdy10oyI1cnTgVoEfwm3wgHdqueRl1jYlOk/s640/pexels-photo-51171.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/mock-up-technology-laptop-apple-51171/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last week was a quick and smooth week in public relations publications. We worked on <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/canva-dynamic-tool-for-social-media-and.html">social media assets</a> using <a href="http://canva.com/">Canva</a> as our platform of design. This week we began working with Adobe Premiere. Out of all the Adobe programs I can operate thus far in my career, I would have to say that Premiere is my least favorite. That's an understatement. I hate it. But I love it for the cool things it can do. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">GIF from <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/6f23fe767ea8252201299e68c449a107/tumblr_ocfo9p7oYD1vwbzq8o3_r1_400.gif">Tumblr</a>.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_488359582"></span><span id="goog_488359583"></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Video has been a medium that has taken up residence on the back burner of my mind since I have begun college. I have always wanted to take a course specifically dedicated to video and video editing. When I was at Eastern Oklahoma State College working on my associate degree, I had the option of taking video production courses. However, these classes were never offered at times that worked in my schedule. My advisor, who focused in broadcast journalism during her undergrad at OSU, taught the class and knew Premiere very well. I was very sad that I never had the opportunity to take her classes. Regardless, the need to work with video did arise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During my final semester at Eastern, I was heavily involved with the Choctaws of EOSC program. Our program adviser knew that I was preparing to transfer to OU and major in public relations so she gave me every possible opportunity to hone my skills for the benefit of the program. She approached me about mid-semester and asked me if I would make a video for our banquet, where the program director of the Choctaw Nation College and Career Resources program would see and, potentially, chief of the Choctaw Nation, Gary Batton. Talk about pressure. Knowing that I had little background in video editing/production, I enlisted one of my friends who focused on it to help me. The video was to feature interviews done with program participants. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As it turns out, he was busy with other school projects. I shot all the interviews and pieced <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOsZOg8605qUMyvxo1yz3RoQtanDN0CdMx86KQVfX9MJMT_fF0KE73gptwJweGSSKqI8cKHE_3vYC24GX2Bzzn5NbtTm8yP5PJI5yQHkJTi8MbaRGkEBDds3EtOBfEFhvuFjags5MIG4/s1600/tumblr_omhu98gC5a1tovmb9o1_540.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOsZOg8605qUMyvxo1yz3RoQtanDN0CdMx86KQVfX9MJMT_fF0KE73gptwJweGSSKqI8cKHE_3vYC24GX2Bzzn5NbtTm8yP5PJI5yQHkJTi8MbaRGkEBDds3EtOBfEFhvuFjags5MIG4/s400/tumblr_omhu98gC5a1tovmb9o1_540.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good thing Chief didn't get to see my disarray. GIF from <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/e85c761b548dda87a295701a811ef244/tumblr_omhu98gC5a1tovmb9o1_540.gif">Tumblr</a>. </td></tr>
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together the video all by myself, with the occasional help from my adviser or my friend. In the end, and I mean literally up to the five minutes before we were to show it at the banquet, I was working on it. I failed to export the video properly so I had to scramble to get the ten-minute video exported, which took like 45 minutes. The video was good for my skill level. I knew it could be better. Luckily, Chief Batton was at the banquet that evening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I love Premiere because of the cool things you can do with it, like editing sound and creating animations without having to move into Adobe After Effects. Feature-length films like "The Social Network" were edited using Premiere. It is a dynamic tool that allows the user to create moving masterpieces, whether they be docs, how-to-videos or simple short films. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirC6knWotg-PxXjgzzIOpsUC6hotU9WpDpbPZByAcenpApfQSO0ueovsyaDQOpXARCOdi1He0JmgJoL22T3wwbI5-NjvKf2aWX0jgtaC7ySmqewW8EMxoDcUbBPInQJzQ7gR8V2MsvbIQ/s1600/tumblr_oms3vxvHQE1t1bfwbo2_r1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirC6knWotg-PxXjgzzIOpsUC6hotU9WpDpbPZByAcenpApfQSO0ueovsyaDQOpXARCOdi1He0JmgJoL22T3wwbI5-NjvKf2aWX0jgtaC7ySmqewW8EMxoDcUbBPInQJzQ7gR8V2MsvbIQ/s320/tumblr_oms3vxvHQE1t1bfwbo2_r1_250.gif" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Me using Premiere. GIF from <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/73003bb2ab1ccc1ca7dde3d08b0202d1/tumblr_oms3vxvHQE1t1bfwbo1_250.gif">Tumblr</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a dynamic tool with many uses. Now comes the part where I talk about my deep hatred for it. Premiere is not very user-friendly. I say that because I am spoiled to Illustrator and InDesign, that are concerned with 2D, stationary content creation. Premiere can do so much so the interface must be complex in order to do what it is designed to do. People who just want to fly in and edit video, like me, have to take the time to learn the basics before making "Titanic." One little misclick and not making note of it can completely ruin your workflow and, potentially, your project. It's frustrating. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that I got on my soapbox for a hot minute, I can talk about the amazing <a href="http://lynda.com/">Lynda.com </a>tutorials we followed in class and outside of class. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tutorials we looked at were incredibly helpful. Especially for someone like me, who hasn't used Premiere in a while, and a new version at that. I got a good refresher on how to cut and edit video and sound, how to employ B-roll, how to create titles, etc. I had previously learned all this when working on my Choctaw video. However, I haven't used that knowledge in a year and not on 2017. I knew how to use it in Premiere CS5. It's a complicated process, but when you figure it out, your end product is amazing. You created a film. <i>You</i>. Even if the video is unadulterated garbage, I find it extremely satisfying to see my work. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLwR0ki3ptBU0_j2HdJV6i0n0Nr93urIDkrlHzXP78ekF9gXy44kAqkGtAlgsMKLbw9nIcSO-iI4BO-Zgyt8I2hAgowcHeXV9y4h9B2psGej4SwnM1kN31_bTrKhAlpdTOVJAPj_XrPQ/s1600/tumblr_njqejwftvo1s7gnr1o1_400.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLwR0ki3ptBU0_j2HdJV6i0n0Nr93urIDkrlHzXP78ekF9gXy44kAqkGtAlgsMKLbw9nIcSO-iI4BO-Zgyt8I2hAgowcHeXV9y4h9B2psGej4SwnM1kN31_bTrKhAlpdTOVJAPj_XrPQ/s320/tumblr_njqejwftvo1s7gnr1o1_400.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">GIF from <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/cb85faf0cb3c360d03fc27af48cd7ffd/tumblr_njqejwftvo1s7gnr1o1_400.gif">Tumblr</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that I recovered the basics of Premiere, I am excited to use it to create our video assignment coming up in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, this was enough so that I wouldn't get neck deep in a project and find out that I completely ruined it through personal stupidity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-80563759977906418842017-03-23T11:05:00.001-07:002017-03-23T11:05:06.663-07:00Canva: A Dynamic Tool for Social Media and Beyond<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECokHHxIo9dn_X8uYLoQc1E_figzzZOLC_mygSSjv0OoDnLWOFq8ajXYwBInndNCDXfopMXx-pHTWvmiUuwyqjz0-894hGCmgEunNHY8aKO-9jmwGH4pZwaqOuYwAv-ogD59ywJB6ukw/s1600/pexels-photo-248533.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECokHHxIo9dn_X8uYLoQc1E_figzzZOLC_mygSSjv0OoDnLWOFq8ajXYwBInndNCDXfopMXx-pHTWvmiUuwyqjz0-894hGCmgEunNHY8aKO-9jmwGH4pZwaqOuYwAv-ogD59ywJB6ukw/s640/pexels-photo-248533.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://static.pexels.com/photos/248533/pexels-photo-248533.jpeg">Pexels</a>. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After completing the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/finishing-direct-mailer.html">direct mailers with Photoshop the week before spring break</a>, we switched gears and worked with <a href="http://canva.com/">Canva</a> this week in public relations publications. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For anyone who doesn't know what it is, Canva is this amazing online graphic design software that comes with free templates and sources. All that you have to do is create a Canva username, and it takes literally seconds. Canva has a design school, which teaches anyone the basic principles of graphic design. I highly recommend anyone in strategic communications, marketing, entrepreneurship, etc., to create an account with Canva because it is good for several reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, as I mentioned, the design school. The design school tutorials are a good way to jump into graphic design. When I first started in design, my designs were flat-out atrocious. I really wish I had known about Canva and its design school for that reason. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next, Canva is simple to use. You can pick from a multitude of professional-looking templates to begin an aesthetically design. Instead of having to learn commands and the general set up of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, Canva lumps all that into its design interface, by categorizing templates by use, such as social media, print, etc. The tools on Canva are a breeze to learn as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thirdly, it's free. Instead of paying hundreds to thousands of dollars for the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can do so much of what you can do on the Creative Cloud for free on Canva. This yields a high ROI, especially if you are a freelance designer, marketer, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canva is amazing. However, it does have its shortcomings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What you see is what you get. On Canva, it is impossible to do small tweaks to designs, such as changing the weight of a line. This task can be accomplished easily in all the Adobe programs. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cNrTIESUQIJx005gmvuIbj3ZOLEAtub3nVxm5um26dKEBtEKpNbqh0o2uYVMg48pCd2TUFs4Q5pr5BAdzfkrMrjVQERVn0ymB1qzi2dazls-I0olyHBa-X3MUz4ZMFdABlT96hNIpXo/s1600/Jason+Wilson.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cNrTIESUQIJx005gmvuIbj3ZOLEAtub3nVxm5um26dKEBtEKpNbqh0o2uYVMg48pCd2TUFs4Q5pr5BAdzfkrMrjVQERVn0ymB1qzi2dazls-I0olyHBa-X3MUz4ZMFdABlT96hNIpXo/s320/Jason+Wilson.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook Profile Picture</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike doing a traditional design on InDesign, you cannot add fonts to your library on Canva, which is limiting, especially if you are working with a brand, like I was in this assignment. I designed my social media pieces for an artist I know who I'm in the process of branding. In many of the materials I have designed for him, I utilized Bebas Neue and Palatino as my font choices. Canva has Bebas Neue, but it does not have Palatino. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bottomline is Canva is good for designing pieces that will be used or seen for a short period of time. It's great for social media and fliers. I would not design an annual report or something more longterm in Canva. These types of pieces would present many types of challenges that may not be easily solved in Canva. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjao3QQCdZnw_hKQNoOk3vLhCb37PQx5oM0MB0gJEUGdnq-pudJdQnFgx758jG4xjfnkwKKDhnONdTvSsQ2dodBtiBBRLA7EYtrsFKqkKi-6azyDkAV_zn0q4kxnCbRmHOx30rdBrjFsA0/s1600/Festival+of+the+Arts.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjao3QQCdZnw_hKQNoOk3vLhCb37PQx5oM0MB0gJEUGdnq-pudJdQnFgx758jG4xjfnkwKKDhnONdTvSsQ2dodBtiBBRLA7EYtrsFKqkKi-6azyDkAV_zn0q4kxnCbRmHOx30rdBrjFsA0/s400/Festival+of+the+Arts.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook Cover Photo</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For my project, I created social media pieces for an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/artbyjasonwilson/">artist</a>/family friend. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEBEose76nIoUjKLfPUA50-UAbxiO-CrZx4gNbvNYLxpTuf-O8tUPqlsGbJ5Tf_7ebWYvySuhfrUo5tiAgc_Qfo_fezXUofbYxqQfqc8LjGFh822k-DnD6TMod8NGgcoAYZK0757vR0A/s1600/The+Greatest+Artini+on+Earth.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEBEose76nIoUjKLfPUA50-UAbxiO-CrZx4gNbvNYLxpTuf-O8tUPqlsGbJ5Tf_7ebWYvySuhfrUo5tiAgc_Qfo_fezXUofbYxqQfqc8LjGFh822k-DnD6TMod8NGgcoAYZK0757vR0A/s320/The+Greatest+Artini+on+Earth.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instagram Post</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last summer, before I began my career a the University of Oklahoma, I knew I needed experience in public relations. His art career was taking off, and I figured he could benefit from my expertise (what little I had). I wrote news releases and started a Facebook page for him. Because I did not know much about public relations at that point, I became disenchanted. He kept getting into shows and exhibitions, but because of his work and acclaim. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, since I have more experience due to my PR courses, I have begun helping him more in his communications efforts. I wanted to help him even further with this assignment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To do so, I designed three social media pieces: a profile picture to replace the general </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">picture of one of his paintings, a cover picture to replace the atrocity of the one I designed and an Instagram picture for an upcoming show. Canva was very helpful in creating these pieces.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With his brand in mind, I created the three pieces. I incorporated elements from his paintings and elements that reflected his brand and upcoming events. Overall, I am very satisfied with them. I think he will be as well. </span><br />
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-55549657065407970572017-03-09T21:31:00.000-08:002017-03-09T21:31:05.722-08:00Reflection, Unit 3.4<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNCesU_jo2GbwqkZ4DEhobm4qtfdVJjelv14UsXJqxu5WgC2eZmU0CesZ8mhyphenhyphen-MNN_sUSadzLocZrVpvbYm9unrvxxvAhmSBfyPjd1mXfCMzrKsF6A2FmTkQyekZlBybxEUxXerqP7w4/s1600/pexels-photo-28773.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNCesU_jo2GbwqkZ4DEhobm4qtfdVJjelv14UsXJqxu5WgC2eZmU0CesZ8mhyphenhyphen-MNN_sUSadzLocZrVpvbYm9unrvxxvAhmSBfyPjd1mXfCMzrKsF6A2FmTkQyekZlBybxEUxXerqP7w4/s640/pexels-photo-28773.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spring is in the air! Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/flowers-sun-sunshine-green-28773/">Pexels</a>. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We moved into position this week in public relations writing. Position papers, that is. Last week, we covered <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/reflection-unit-33.html">backgrounders and fact sheets</a>, which was very helpful in developing the position paper. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The backgrounder really help us with this assignment because we had to do in-depth research for the backgrounder. The position paper required the same level of in-depth research. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The video we watched over developing a position paper was useful. It gave us an idea of what to include in our papers. The format is simple. An introduction summarizes the piece. Next, you move into counterarguments and debunk them. After that, you offer three points to argue with solid supporting evidence. Finally, you tie everything up with a conclusion that offers solutions to problems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our assignment required us to write a position paper on why the Tipton Children's Home was a viable option to Oklahoma DHS foster care. I started by plunging into research to find out more on the topic and what could be argued for this position. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After finding credible websites and articles, I discovered my three main points to argue: teaching children self-sustainability, creating community and offering emotional support services. I gave detailed arguments for each point and found some strong support for my points through research. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I found this assignment easy after the backgrounder. The more time you spend researching it, the better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Writing position papers comes as the advocacy part of being a public relations professional. We will be writing advocational materials constantly and should know how to do our homework. We need to know exactly what constitutes as a strong argument how to give strength to our arguments. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my dream career in tribal communications, there are plenty of issues facing Native American tribes that would require writing a position paper. One such event that comes to mind is the Dakota Access Pipeline crisis. Many tribes and nations came out in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its efforts. I could imagine that writing position papers would come in handy in this situation. This way, tribes could express to local populations their concerns about this issue and how it affects them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am very happy that spring break is next week. I am ready for some time off. I will be heading to Mena, Arkansas, via Talimena Drive. It's nothing much, but I am excited nonetheless. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-87945598110149195542017-03-09T11:48:00.003-08:002017-03-09T11:48:40.108-08:00Finishing the Direct Mailer<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllRNOUp8UdnzPSS5V_KNoFhZb4LH0ywS8qjCH9sa4JRggeHAwn2oxPQo_lSOz9bIaDs80Ta6g7Y7LtMDdrppVdBcQAj-mO3IEwd2yHrYZITtVuPfSkwNaE_CdIEz_4C4-93zFljHxfBU/s1600/man-hands-holidays-looking.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllRNOUp8UdnzPSS5V_KNoFhZb4LH0ywS8qjCH9sa4JRggeHAwn2oxPQo_lSOz9bIaDs80Ta6g7Y7LtMDdrppVdBcQAj-mO3IEwd2yHrYZITtVuPfSkwNaE_CdIEz_4C4-93zFljHxfBU/s640/man-hands-holidays-looking.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-looking-at-postcards-6100/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Midterms week has been absolutely insane. With so much going on, it was nice to have a creative escape and finish the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/03/direct-mailer-and-market-research.html">direct mailer from last week</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The direct mailer has been a challenging project through and through. Like I stated in my previous blog post, I had strong feelings about this project. It gave me some real insight into what I want to do in my future career. Agency work probably wouldn't be a good fit for me because I want to communicate for something in which I am invested. For the record, I believe in the University's mission and always want to help in someway to further its mission. Now, I digress. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV2EJWN9De6ZzWwuMpB1ET3a8gzcl0V-Tmmb4T__c08wgBLRWBYtRRMYKH0I4PHuI7XyG98SbQISTBJH-nPTmxyS43KQJRUqz6DHAexmiPoYTZidUOhqs_kPwYOVuOvjjeKRVDi7HMzA/s1600/Direct+Mailer+1+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV2EJWN9De6ZzWwuMpB1ET3a8gzcl0V-Tmmb4T__c08wgBLRWBYtRRMYKH0I4PHuI7XyG98SbQISTBJH-nPTmxyS43KQJRUqz6DHAexmiPoYTZidUOhqs_kPwYOVuOvjjeKRVDi7HMzA/s320/Direct+Mailer+1+Front.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I spent the class on Tuesday working on what I had created last week. Each of my direct mailers had one of the two residential colleges on it. One was to be marketed to the legacy Sooner parents and one to the legacy freshman wanting a community on campus. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh66AhQSfvtcxhKB4Nks-mwru-Rvg5J0YE43QJkTF9DItYf0lKF4COE1UdkOEgrQYZC8ELzFgN3vjyxPiZvTjPFDu9i2jFSk9jteQ5iTDeVRPc1ZqZiFRxgB4K20YI3mskHDo9itrayKfo/s1600/Direct+Mailer+1+Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh66AhQSfvtcxhKB4Nks-mwru-Rvg5J0YE43QJkTF9DItYf0lKF4COE1UdkOEgrQYZC8ELzFgN3vjyxPiZvTjPFDu9i2jFSk9jteQ5iTDeVRPc1ZqZiFRxgB4K20YI3mskHDo9itrayKfo/s320/Direct+Mailer+1+Back.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Legacy Parent direct mailer</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started with an image of the exteriors of each respected residential college on each mailer. I changed their opacities and then placed interior shots on the fronts. I then placed my respected messages on each one. I was unsure of this so I got rid of the background images and just incorporated as a standard image with the interior shots. The direct mailers were starting to get where I wanted them. I asked my instructor for his thoughts and he told me to change some positioning, which helped their look immensely. I also changed my messages from "Living the Sooner spirit" to "Starting a new Sooner tradition" for the legacy parent direct mailer and "Community" to "Creating a Sooner Community" for the student direct mailer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I worked on the back side outside of class. On the back, I placed the crest of each respected residential college. I lowered their opacities to about five percent. On top, I placed the address of OU Residential Colleges and my call to action, with icons, below, starting with following on Facebook and Twitter and then moving to going to the website for a virtual tour and actually applying. I played around with the fonts until I found a good combination. Gill Sans, I decided, complemented Baskerville, the font used by OU Residential Colleges in its logo. I looked at the <a href="http://www.ou.edu/residentialcolleges.html">Residential College website</a> and wrote a short bit of copy describing the residential colleges' function, each copy geared to its respected public. The back of my direct mailer was close to where I wanted it to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKkgs17C0yUvnF7XHQhrm5asX7C1WmKP1VOOg7FlywIXPiSVAq1wnzrxDP7TjOt6TaazlYbKRUCsup54-Xm5Ug8UwnQmkejvkboB93Re24pxxbTKZ6obTEULBYdDRG83ALkc6mS6H2GQ/s1600/Direct+Mailer+2+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKkgs17C0yUvnF7XHQhrm5asX7C1WmKP1VOOg7FlywIXPiSVAq1wnzrxDP7TjOt6TaazlYbKRUCsup54-Xm5Ug8UwnQmkejvkboB93Re24pxxbTKZ6obTEULBYdDRG83ALkc6mS6H2GQ/s320/Direct+Mailer+2+Front.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday, I came to class with a nearly completed project to get some critiques. My instructor advised me to change the order of my calls to action and to fine tune my copy. Once that was completed, I was finished with this project. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">With this project under my belt, I feel like I really expanded my knowledge of Photoshop and applied the principles of design. Designing direct mailers in the future won't be an issue at all.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzMlPZw5Iyq2NyaqGIzHumNb5DTwPIHcHOzeSm8jRuhg5XHXLsduqdyNYHjTw24G8UZles4dIlOMaANBomqHRN71oq_IYCitVYU3RPSOoAzedmYsfiRj8_TEnQq8hnorwRemFNCF6Qgk/s1600/Direct+Mailer+2+Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzMlPZw5Iyq2NyaqGIzHumNb5DTwPIHcHOzeSm8jRuhg5XHXLsduqdyNYHjTw24G8UZles4dIlOMaANBomqHRN71oq_IYCitVYU3RPSOoAzedmYsfiRj8_TEnQq8hnorwRemFNCF6Qgk/s320/Direct+Mailer+2+Back.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Student direct mailer</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so happy this week is over. Spring break is next week. I will be going Mena, Arkansas, via Talimena Drive from Talihina. It's not much, but I'm excited nonetheless.</span></div>
Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-72867094454878953322017-03-02T19:33:00.001-08:002017-03-02T21:08:57.676-08:00Reflection, Unit 3.3<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrb8FxwYF19JLZeVtPkpO5UA8etVCEAjGFP09-k-F-Q-2hWlAZF0EgfeqFKXzEqC0vuh31KwQh1wJLWnmGNAIMmR_BS8AupzjehCy08hStCs9JJSPJknuypsThErjeNSLf3WmxOGj35cg/s1600/pexels-photo-317383.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrb8FxwYF19JLZeVtPkpO5UA8etVCEAjGFP09-k-F-Q-2hWlAZF0EgfeqFKXzEqC0vuh31KwQh1wJLWnmGNAIMmR_BS8AupzjehCy08hStCs9JJSPJknuypsThErjeNSLf3WmxOGj35cg/s640/pexels-photo-317383.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/directly-above-shot-of-keyboard-on-table-317383/">Pexels</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week in public relations writing, we learned about fact sheets and backgrounders. This comes after we looked at <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-32.html">media pitches and media advisories</a> last week. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are learning about all the different tools we will be expected to use in our future careers. In my opinion, the fact sheet was one of the easiest assignments we've had so far because all you have to do for those is list facts. Using a two-column format, you put headers in the left column and the facts on the right. each fact should be between two and three sentences in length, sticking with the one idea per heading. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The backgrounder was the more difficult piece of writing because of the research involved. Backgrounders are great because you can pack it full of useful information about your organization or a specific topic or issue. When writing my backgrounder, I made a special effort to cite everything so that it would be credible to whoever reads it and so that readers can go and find those things out for themselves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These assignments were great because I felt like I really got inside the head of a public relations professional. Now, I have a better understanding of what to include in a fact sheet and a backgrounder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As public relations professionals, we will be expected to put together media kits. You can't have a good, overarching media kit without at least one of these tools. Backgrounders and fact sheets make journalists' lives easier, which helps our relationship with them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the future, using these two tools will be imperative. They help to bolster news releases and they make our work more credible and whole. Now, we have another way of creating a two-way, mutually beneficial relationship with our publics. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-34595418012992764302017-03-02T19:08:00.001-08:002017-03-02T19:08:07.328-08:00Direct Mailer and Market Research<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyWiNtFUhCcOjo0rYyQ8Q2TdGZP35mmUjHnNdp3VSmBiRJ7NAjlELAXN_X20FKTtkE4LbvAKOCBzwhSbc7ZZhYdImbsWPq3AEEZBlDYC8WzICKpbifpS8yYuIxIkUZxWjC3ymUQMZYk8/s1600/pexels-photo-66367.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyWiNtFUhCcOjo0rYyQ8Q2TdGZP35mmUjHnNdp3VSmBiRJ7NAjlELAXN_X20FKTtkE4LbvAKOCBzwhSbc7ZZhYdImbsWPq3AEEZBlDYC8WzICKpbifpS8yYuIxIkUZxWjC3ymUQMZYk8/s640/pexels-photo-66367.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/mailbox-during-daytime-66367/">Pexels</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week in public relations publications, <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/starting-photoshop.html">we picked up where we left off last week</a>. We learned some good tricks on Photoshop and got some great insight into the process of designing direct mailers. We took that a step further with market research. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During Tuesday's class, we heard from a fellow of OU's future <a href="http://www.ou.edu/residentialcolleges.html">residential colleges</a>. He talked to us about President David Boren's vision and how OU plans to achieve that vision with the construction of these colleges, which are meant to be an on-campus, interactive living community for sophomores and upperclassmen. Our guest speaker answered any questions we had about who they wanted to see in Dunham and Headington Colleges</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next assignment was actual boots-on-the-ground market research. Each person in the class chose an off-campus apartment complex designed for OU students to investigate. Our mission was to see how each place was marketed, how they structured their messaging and how we can use similar strategies to communicate with our target audiences. I chose <a href="http://live2900.com/">University Greens</a>, not only because for this assignment but also because I am searching for a new place to live for next school year. I have heard and seen good things about University Greens, so I wanted to check them out. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5mNIxEmHheH0UUh4zTWw1yZFpB_HMCn1vLcEg9TFL4_yEh-9lkExJG3j0hkfxe7pa6FIQpE_88iw1_7Rc3Qp8yEdO1WxcnxI2NB0i8U01my7OHi6xKJglWKX7TqMdXBpyMtQD7nm07c/s1600/IMG_1378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5mNIxEmHheH0UUh4zTWw1yZFpB_HMCn1vLcEg9TFL4_yEh-9lkExJG3j0hkfxe7pa6FIQpE_88iw1_7Rc3Qp8yEdO1WxcnxI2NB0i8U01my7OHi6xKJglWKX7TqMdXBpyMtQD7nm07c/s320/IMG_1378.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">U Greens Booklet. Photo by Wyatt Stanford.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived at U Greens Tuesday afternoon for a tour and hopefully some marketing materials. A person working the front desk greeted me. I introduced myself and asked for a tour, to which he happily agreed. He handed me a small booklet which emphasized U Greens' modernity, proximity to campus, amenities and their three-bed-three-bath floorplan, which sets them apart from many apartment complexes in Norman that have four-bed-four-bath arrangements. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the tour, I saw the offerings in the clubhouse, such as the coffee bar, the computer lab and study rooms. I next got to see the pool. Finally, the U Greens representative took me to the model. The model was the standard 3x3 setup. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The messaging I saw and heard focused intensely on modernity and great amenities at an affordable price. The representative giving me the tour moved from the complex at which I live currently. He told me that U Greens may be a little more expensive, but the experience, for him at least, has been better. On an interesting note, the representative attended a junior college and transferred to OU, just like me. I was talking to a member of the target audience to which I belong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We returned to the clubhouse. I tried to get my hands on other branding materials, but the only other thing I could get was a refrigerator magnet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started to get an idea of how I wanted to communicate and to whom I want to communicate. It was an arduous process for me because I have very strong feelings about the residential colleges. I'm always about the university's mission, but the residential colleges are not my cup of tea. This experience has taught me a lot about the kind of work environment I will prefer in my future career. Agency life is definitely not for me. I want to communicate for something in which I believe, whether it be through the organization's products or services. But this is a different soap opera. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMiVPeSDWsutzs1owFvRUvK7ebBWysYg61bywmYv_KUsES3ASBNLXIPrTmdZorJI5zx8fPUUWsrTLcKXeSKYyQV7hd9daqDMQAYiNtd7RS-slnLvT2GMDHq4v24YvVSlCUGiHnwSo15Q/s1600/persona+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMiVPeSDWsutzs1owFvRUvK7ebBWysYg61bywmYv_KUsES3ASBNLXIPrTmdZorJI5zx8fPUUWsrTLcKXeSKYyQV7hd9daqDMQAYiNtd7RS-slnLvT2GMDHq4v24YvVSlCUGiHnwSo15Q/s400/persona+table.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personas. Table by Wyatt Stanford.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday, I got to work thinking about my target audiences for the two direct mailers. I thought good and hard about who would be most likely to want to reserve a spot in the residential colleges. I came up with freshmen who want involvement and don't want to leave the towers and the parents of those freshmen who want the university experience for their children. I constructed personas based on my findings and inferences. The student persona is "Boomer Billy." His parents are the "Sooner Smiths." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From my personas, I will begin constructing my direct mailers. I will be brainstorming on how to represent these messages and how my target audience will perceive them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-91142377177931418592017-02-23T12:14:00.000-08:002017-02-23T12:14:02.782-08:00Reflection, Unit 3.2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3wNyDrEDgOOOgfTvAr_ke4cbESrr7ETUD3RJ2q0sWl1qlufZrVARWYr1Yl17jspOsF9cNkIaV05hj1mLBKPFQ4SVP-UGDvNrdy_yfjyxVN84tybfoxFBlZH-1LL-DG7rGz3r-qYEpqx8/s1600/pencil-education-pencil-sharpener-art-159731.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3wNyDrEDgOOOgfTvAr_ke4cbESrr7ETUD3RJ2q0sWl1qlufZrVARWYr1Yl17jspOsF9cNkIaV05hj1mLBKPFQ4SVP-UGDvNrdy_yfjyxVN84tybfoxFBlZH-1LL-DG7rGz3r-qYEpqx8/s640/pencil-education-pencil-sharpener-art-159731.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from<a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/sharpened-blue-wooden-pencil-159731/"> Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-31.html">writing our first news releases last week</a> in PR writing, we moved onto learning how to write and use other tools in our PR toolbox: media advisories and pitches. Shorter than news releases, these two tools can be equally as challenging. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We began by looking at media advisories. No longer than a page in length, advisories just give the who, what, where and why of an event to invite reporters to cover. Advisories are meant for journalists and not the public eye, which alters somewhat the way we write them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They are meant to be brief and to the point. Instead of writing them in paragraphs, they usually have a short lead paragraph giving some details and then followed by bullet points of who, what, where and why. It sounds simple enough, but you must know what information is important enough to include since these are basically invitations to journalists and not news releases. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Right after media advisories were media pitches. Pitches are similar to advisories but are usually meant for a small number of reporters if not just one. They take the form of an email, replacing the former pitch letter. These are about more than inviting a reporter to cover an event. They are about building a mutually beneficial relationship with a certain reporter. As such, it is important to be personal when writing a pitch email. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pitches are much shorter than advisories. You must get to your point at the very beginning. Equally important is your subject line, which must intrigue a reporter to open the email and read the pitch. Subject lines must be short, fewer than 60 characters. Your tone must be friendly yet professional when writing the body. Make sure your topic is interesting enough to pique the interest of your reporter. Following up is a must, meaning call the reporter or meet with them in person. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You must anticipate the reporter's needs when writing a pitch. This goes back to creating mutually beneficial, two-way relationships with the press. A short, personal pitch with an intriguing topic can go a long way when trying to get some coverage for a public relations event. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In these assignments, I learned even more about the importance of discriminating against information. I also thought about the needs of the journalist who is the target audience of these two tools. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Writing effective advisories and pitches is probably the next crucial skill after writing good news releases. We must learn how to persuade journalists to cover events. How is the public going to know about our initiatives if we can't get journalists to spread the word?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I forsee using these skills quite a bit in the future. Like I said previously, it is imperative that we know how to write advisories and pitches as future public relations professionals. After all, media relations is a significant part of the daily work of a practitioner. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-64169221725134084292017-02-23T12:13:00.006-08:002017-02-23T12:13:55.689-08:00Starting Photoshop<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8URnGrNFFDqigHZV4VMOK4qAzVhwoenEG9rYUuTg8BtYoqJHsOBvvmQv9ZDCT43nM0Ew2wpNoDQkKEyIcAwHcNRuapP1_SUZKxhXR4S5iC6PurbWgwPhn5j7zVWiGPxuXm_Pt200grc/s1600/pexels-photo-56759.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8URnGrNFFDqigHZV4VMOK4qAzVhwoenEG9rYUuTg8BtYoqJHsOBvvmQv9ZDCT43nM0Ew2wpNoDQkKEyIcAwHcNRuapP1_SUZKxhXR4S5iC6PurbWgwPhn5j7zVWiGPxuXm_Pt200grc/s640/pexels-photo-56759.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/books-notebook-macbook-table-56759/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week in public relations publications, we finished our <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/interview-with-wyatt-stanford.html">letterhead</a> based on our <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/photo-from-feelgrafix.html">business card</a>. This wrapped up our section on InDesign. Now, we are transitioning into Photoshop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday's class was about learning the basics from Linda.com. We watched a video lecture series on how to do some really useful, common operations in Photoshop. Having had a class over graphic design and being involved in photo-editing, I had what I thought was a decent knowledge of Photoshop. These videos didn't so much contradict that, rather they taught me more efficient ways of editing pictures, removing objects from photos and blending photos. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't finish the videos in class, but I did that evening. <a href="https://www.lynda.com/?utm_medium=direct&utm_source=linda.com&utm_campaign=url-redirect">Linda.com</a> is a great learning platform. I think students at the University of Oklahoma are very lucky to have free access to those lectures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Thursday's class, we had a guest speaker from OU's department of admissions and recruiting. The guest speaker told us about what goes into the department's strategy in reaching potential OU students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The strategy they use is very interesting. It consists of three stages. The first one is where they try to get young, prospective students aware. The next one comes when perspective students are juniors and seniors when they are thinking about applying. They use their messaging to get these students to apply. The final stage is where students have applied and now they are about to commit. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhs7ofPfwxAPFBEohVDCQPZDNjL1iJ0uIZ5E_o3Pnrc9dmjwYBwZsyfqdNzJr1SoVVOILJ1-1XZ2ygtmzaMoMFSOKP3pJtqcd_gAIi7gFgicCo9UdlI4Xpi8UxeaMWC-Srak3wuFsSwoA/s1600/tumblr_ojs8r5Lt3k1qctvaco2_400.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhs7ofPfwxAPFBEohVDCQPZDNjL1iJ0uIZ5E_o3Pnrc9dmjwYBwZsyfqdNzJr1SoVVOILJ1-1XZ2ygtmzaMoMFSOKP3pJtqcd_gAIi7gFgicCo9UdlI4Xpi8UxeaMWC-Srak3wuFsSwoA/s1600/tumblr_ojs8r5Lt3k1qctvaco2_400.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GIF from <a href="http://68.media.tumblr.com/25f2a1370ddf0b8a3d75e9a3049fa63f/tumblr_ojs8r5Lt3k1qctvaco2_400.gif">Tumblr</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We learned about the different costs associated with printing direct mailers and postcards. It is actually cheaper and more efficient to stick with regularly-sized objects. I thought it was interesting that OU has switched to sending acceptance boxes instead of acceptance envelopes. I wish I would have received one when I applied to OU during my sophomore year at Eastern Oklahoma State College. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These two class periods were to help get us ready for our next project, the direct mailer, which we will design in Photoshop. I feel like I have a better understanding of Photoshop and how to specialize messaging for specific target audiences. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-47568077893714550182017-02-16T18:30:00.000-08:002017-02-16T18:30:20.461-08:00Reflection, Unit 3.1<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dt0MR0SEeset06NSK6cQ4yyiyBmBU_rXqjRN9ZaNiNkZ2YiEIxR0nc9warpG5HC89KJ3bVWVPua7sLiB1vxWSzicfyzGoyjULVmbUTdAIRVWG1y_QlJqh0lSVIXPsA6_K6bMvjha2Zg/s1600/pexels-photo+writing.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dt0MR0SEeset06NSK6cQ4yyiyBmBU_rXqjRN9ZaNiNkZ2YiEIxR0nc9warpG5HC89KJ3bVWVPua7sLiB1vxWSzicfyzGoyjULVmbUTdAIRVWG1y_QlJqh0lSVIXPsA6_K6bMvjha2Zg/s640/pexels-photo+writing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/keyboard-desk-wristwatch-watch-8264/">Pexels</a></span>.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to put our learning from the <a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reflection-unit-22.html">last unit</a> into action this unit in PR writing by crafting our first news releases. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before actually writing our releases, we looked at the proper format of a news release. The top of the release should contain release instructions and contact information of the point of contact for an organization. It should be single-spaced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next, the headline, centered and single-spaced, should be right before the first graf of the release, summarizing the information in the reader is about to read and intriguing the reader to actually read the release. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, the first graf should follow the headline. This graf, the lede, should summarize the important information in no more than 30 words. A dateline featuring the city of publication and the date should precede the lede. This graf and succeeding grafs should be double-spaced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All grafs should be indented. The second graph is the bridge. This links the lede with the body of the release. The "why" and the "how" are good subjects for this graf. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following the bridge is the rest of the body. Information should follow the inverted pyramid, with the most important information at towards the top and the least important towards the bottom. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the release is more than a page, a "-MORE-" symbol should be at the bottom center of the first page. On the subsequent pages, the writer, slugline and page number (written in the form 2-2-2-2, for example) should appear at the top left corner of the page, single-spaced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the story, one should include an end-of-story symbol in the form of "-30-" or "###". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boilerplate, which usually includes organization information and other contact information, comes after (though it can come before) the end-of-story symbol. The boilerplate should be single-spaced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After examining the format of a press release, we were to look for a press release online, mark it up showing its different parts and upload a picture of it. I chose a <a href="http://ir.sonicdrivein.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1011137">release</a> from the Sonic fast food chain. The release was missing several elements discussed in this unit, but there are many ways to formulate a news release. It all has to do with company preference. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, we wrote two releases. The first one was a general release for the Tipton Children's Home in Tipton, OK. The release was to give pertinent information about the home. The second release was to be about a Bikeathon event the Children's Home was to host. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Out of both releases, I would say the first one was the most difficult to write. It was difficult to find a news element to stress. The next hardest part was arranging the information from most important to least important. I structured my release to give some background information while stating the main mission of the home first and then adding other information that is not so important. I am fairly satisfied with my final release. I know there is room for improvement, but that is the point of this class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second release was much easier since we had an easily-identifiable news element to stress with the event. I structured it to give the what, where, and when towards the beginning. I saved the details about how to register for the event toward the end since this is a call to action. I was always told that, when writing a news release, to keep that information at the end to entice the reader to finish the release. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel like I can differentiate the importance and relevance of information better now since completing my releases. I can now identify the format of a news release and stick to it. I feel like I'm getting better at my self-editing skills because I often had to change the structures of my sentences to increase flow and to help conciseness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I expected to do this assignment relatively early in the course because news releases are the backbone of the public relations industry. These releases not only help our skills in writing news releases, but also our public relations writing skills in general. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This assignment is the cornerstone of our future careers as public relations professionals. Of all PR tools, this one is the most important. It is crucial that we know how to write these. A large part of our jobs will consist of media relations, and if we don't know how to communicate with the media about the news of our organization, then we probably shouldn't practice public relations. </span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-31756043591567739352017-02-16T11:09:00.000-08:002017-02-16T11:09:51.596-08:00Interview with Syatt Wtanford<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GHiejwev-tRRNBwNWvxnanDAOrKBPlzn4LUcO48ZxNk-XeZdfPlf4cfAVzyqsS-1koveCJMfDj6tPgUHYrXd8uYvrhIcP7n5nraLR0IJUcndXFeIHhEBFEXHciwISpLYs9GzY66AzYo/s1600/1392803189-airfrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GHiejwev-tRRNBwNWvxnanDAOrKBPlzn4LUcO48ZxNk-XeZdfPlf4cfAVzyqsS-1koveCJMfDj6tPgUHYrXd8uYvrhIcP7n5nraLR0IJUcndXFeIHhEBFEXHciwISpLYs9GzY66AzYo/s400/1392803189-airfrance.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Air France Logo from <a href="http://www.solardecathlon2014.fr/partenaires" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Solar Decathlon</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: So, Wyatt. What did you do this week in public relations publications?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: This week, we created a letterhead based on the similar design elements from the <a href="https://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=Gp7nSVoBAAA.haYVIbmhUtZa8bC-pOqy4X5CBGSRVLzkF7ivmIT3YhYSshsv67YYkH4mNrqAcu3bNrUH6VIgcH30FMmGXSvRGg.T_-KwzmSE461VP8qIa-kJw&postId=2865990241639415974&type=POST">business card</a> we designed last week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: Excellent. How do you think you did?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: I think I did this assignment very well. I felt like I really had a good grasp on InDesign and the basics of appealing design. This was a quick assignment because of that. I was able to finish the main part of the design in the first class of this week. I did add my letter content on Wednesday, but that was just to see how the letterhead would look in use. I, being a perfectionist, had to write the letter in French. Other than that, getting the letter itself designed was a very quick process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: Great. What was the first step in your process?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDm2GNDjFX8WEyM1Ie4X8QlwxfFkNop4T3Od5urs1_H1Kvz9VuNbRAvFibLJtx_l9EDo1Twsnw633UBYs7zcsr6UgJ6w8BYlFQ9a7nCgcZLnSLMbVXf6kc41Fj2Xd2sMWesWggNCo2mkY/s1600/Aircraft-Commercial-Airplane-Flight-Airline-Jet-1995432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDm2GNDjFX8WEyM1Ie4X8QlwxfFkNop4T3Od5urs1_H1Kvz9VuNbRAvFibLJtx_l9EDo1Twsnw633UBYs7zcsr6UgJ6w8BYlFQ9a7nCgcZLnSLMbVXf6kc41Fj2Xd2sMWesWggNCo2mkY/s320/Aircraft-Commercial-Airplane-Flight-Airline-Jet-1995432.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/static/photo/1x/Aircraft-Commercial-Airplane-Flight-Airline-Jet-1995432.jpg">MaxPixel</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: I began by looking at my business card and determining which elements I could carry over to keep with the brand identity and to ensure consistency. I decided to keep the tail fin design I incorporated on the back of my business card. I also kept the font I used on my business card, for the letterhead itself and the body copy. The logo with the the wing logo was a must have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: What happened next?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: I sketched a few concepts going off several letterhead layouts I found on the web. In class on Tuesday, we all critiqued each others work in a "speed date" way since it was Valentines Day. One side of the room critiqued the other and vice versa. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I got some very helpful, constructive criticism. I ultimately chose a design with the main logo at the top along with contact information and the tail fin and slogan at the bottom of the page. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: Wonderful. What happened in the physical design process? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: I laid out my letterhead. put a place holder at the top where I wanted the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGAyOsXj7V7ilRz8KR6ZqYBkI6jHB-CT1vNuxZfyjTU7Hh_2hxugcmC9qZPE_E3SaonVrB4yVlB0cydWa78Zmz1-npCZPB4Yywt3gHTgSoZntRSjmvwdzmk-BYSyxKZdA0Qh1jg5DWOo/s1600/Letterhead+Print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGAyOsXj7V7ilRz8KR6ZqYBkI6jHB-CT1vNuxZfyjTU7Hh_2hxugcmC9qZPE_E3SaonVrB4yVlB0cydWa78Zmz1-npCZPB4Yywt3gHTgSoZntRSjmvwdzmk-BYSyxKZdA0Qh1jg5DWOo/s400/Letterhead+Print.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Air France Letterhead</td></tr>
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logo and contact info to go. I then imported my tail fin design and slogan from my business card. After playing with the spacing at the top, I was content with the design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: How did incorporating the body copy go? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: It went really well. I wrote a letter from the CEO in French, of course, thanking a donor for their contribution in the company's latest fictional campaign of helping people combat malaria and desertification in countries in Subsaharan Africa. After I completed the letter and shifted the text boxes accordingly, I was satisfied with the final product.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: What was the final day of the assignment like?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: Quick and efficient. I changed with my margins a little and fixed other issues. I got some feedback from my instructor and then proceeded to implement the suggested changes. I finally submitted the project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: Then what?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: I am now having this written conversation with you. On my blog and in my head. We should probably stop before someone notices. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: Good point. It was nice talking with you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Syatt Wtanford: Likewise. <i>A bientôt</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wyatt Stanford: </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bientôt</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-28659902416394159742017-02-09T14:01:00.001-08:002017-02-09T14:09:06.730-08:00Here's My Card<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wbOaJY-r9PFOXp7XlqeodPsjEiVHWHw3TM342SXbwoSr2fkSXVuGj4Wd3QnFprQ2t2LdYjb-7syoCl3pzZMWdgH5CsYcVDgMpR-QqnC1CGbcOg-DizCylhjo7WqGlIjrzO_OkGVF6lg/s1600/963726-air-france.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wbOaJY-r9PFOXp7XlqeodPsjEiVHWHw3TM342SXbwoSr2fkSXVuGj4Wd3QnFprQ2t2LdYjb-7syoCl3pzZMWdgH5CsYcVDgMpR-QqnC1CGbcOg-DizCylhjo7WqGlIjrzO_OkGVF6lg/s640/963726-air-france.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="http://feelgrafix.com/data_images/out/28/963726-air-france.jpg">FeelGrafix</a>. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After acquainting ourselves with the </span><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/02/reacquainting-myself-with-indesign.html" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">finer points in InDesign in PR pubs last week</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, we began and submitted our first design assignment this week, a business card for a brand of our choosing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This assignment actually began last week, when we were instructed to make Pinterest boards for our chosen brand and competitor brands. I have always like the marketing of Air France, especially after their rebrand in 2015 when they updated their <a href="http://logok.org/air-france-logo/">logo</a>, produced <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ahlbWNZPk">new commercials</a>, and published a new <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N3J6fE-0JI">safety video</a> which reflected the new brand focus. In addition, Air France changed its slogan to "France is in the air." In addition, I am a francophile with a French minor, so I felt this was a good marriage of that passion and public relations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once I had decided upon Air France as my brand for this project, I put together my <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/wyattstanford/">Pinterest boards</a>. One, of course, focused on Air France. I looked for as many of its publications and brand materials as possible, whether they be pictures from social media or passed branding. In the next board, I found branding from Air France's competitors, like Lufthansa, British Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, etc. With these two boards in mind, I began to form an image of what I wanted my business card to look like. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzDJJvBcDda2iPl2LPudzISxCD0SiIigRD-a2nXZSdML0r3Rr0hez31lfcKD9pPbJ5e-AS_O_wJcB0U5IoFciUYe2Gc0sscU_qAyt1Kv3X0SKr7us9g1oAD3LeIG5U06pT3186yJWo7Q/s1600/1392803189-airfrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzDJJvBcDda2iPl2LPudzISxCD0SiIigRD-a2nXZSdML0r3Rr0hez31lfcKD9pPbJ5e-AS_O_wJcB0U5IoFciUYe2Gc0sscU_qAyt1Kv3X0SKr7us9g1oAD3LeIG5U06pT3186yJWo7Q/s320/1392803189-airfrance.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Air France Logo from <a href="http://www.solardecathlon2014.fr/partenaires">Solar Decathlon</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In much of Air France's marketing, the company uses solid, bright colors and relies upon its main logo, the company name with the red wing graphic. A secondary logo is also used the <i>hippocampe aillé</i>, or winged seahorse, which has been an extensive part of the company's identity since its beginning. Its latest campaign depicts France almost in terms of chic stereotypes of French culture. For my initial design, I wanted the background to be a sky blue gradient. The main logo would be placed on the front side and a bled version of the winged seahorse logo on the back. The font needed to be a simple sans-serif to match other marketing materials. I also wanted to feature the company's slogan somewhere in the design. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We began class Tuesday by setting up our InDesign document. I surfed the Internet to find high-resolution versions of the company's logos. I created blue gradients for the front and back. I then placed the main logo on the front in the upper right-hand corner of the card and the winged seahorse on the back, bleeding off the bottom left corner of the card. I then set up all my text boxes and putting in all the necessary text on the front, giving me an idea of where to place the text and which weights and sizes to implement. I initially wanted to use white in my text and the seahorse logo to evoke clouds in the sky. I placed the slogan on the back next to the winged seahorse. Class was over by the time I had my document set up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wednesday, I worked on my project in my spare time. I found a font similar to the sans-serif used in marketing materials. I lined up my text in a logical manner, starting with a bold font for the name and using lighter fonts for position title and contact information. Heading the advice of my instructor, I did away with white in the design. Instead, I used Air France blue. I wasn't certain of how the gradient looked. I wanted to make it look like the sky, so I tried another gradient using pink orange to blue. When I had my business card basically designed, I stopped designing to get some feedback in the next class period. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpsthKwaZCBxon0lgdknieafOV_GeYwanWyEUnNpAthYWn7_igTlxjIP0JMvH3L34TxgwPgFXWkRTlN4LFTaOHdbWmGgs_IXvbCUPtoDQCzKJGRhJrpn3w7gMVdSuFv8oRI5Yv6YmTTk/s1600/Business+Card.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpsthKwaZCBxon0lgdknieafOV_GeYwanWyEUnNpAthYWn7_igTlxjIP0JMvH3L34TxgwPgFXWkRTlN4LFTaOHdbWmGgs_IXvbCUPtoDQCzKJGRhJrpn3w7gMVdSuFv8oRI5Yv6YmTTk/s320/Business+Card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Thursday, I began by asking my instructor his thoughts on my piece. He suggested using a solid color and rearranging my logos around. Working with that and thinking about the brand, I decided to do away with the gradient entirely and go with a plain white background to mimic the look of Air France's airplane livery. I also did away with the winged seahorse, since I couldn't find a natural way of incorporating it into the design. Instead, I substituted the seahorse with the design from the airplane tail fins. On the front, I changed the logo slightly, featuring the red wing across the front of the card and the "Air France" prominently close to the red wing. I wanted the red wing to take the eye to the contact information. After a little rearranging of the tail fin design and slogan on the back, I finally reached a satisfactory level with my project. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I feel like this project was a successful first step into designing public relations publications. I am looking forward to our next project, the letterhead, which will be based on the business card. </span></div>
Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-1112035086091552472017-02-07T13:59:00.001-08:002017-02-07T13:59:32.749-08:00Reflection, Unit 2.2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://static.pexels.com/photos/6053/man-hands-reading-boy.jpg" target="_blank">Pexels</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this unit of PR writing, we looked at the basics of news writing. We started by examining news elements, followed by the ABCs of Journalism and finally finished with the two most important parts of a news release; the lede and the bridge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This unit was a very good refresher for me. I have had several writing classes in the past, but not one geared to public relations. The others taught me the basics of news writing and even touched on some PR. This was the first time I got an in-depth look at public relations writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learned some really helpful things this unit. The acronym SPICE COPPS -- suspense, prominence, immediacy, conflict, emotion, consequence, oddity, proximity, progress, and sex -- is a great way to remember the news elements. I previously learned about seven news elements and was a little unsure of what counted as news. This part of the unit greatly cleared that up for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Switching to an PR slant, we looked at the Big Five values (consequence, interest, timeliness, proximity, prominence) and where they fit in public relations writing. We also learned about the ABCs of Journalism, which are the basic principles of news writing. I think it is very important to know how to write accurate, brief and clear pieces since journalists are our main audience in public relations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To write an effective, interesting piece, you must know how to structure your writing, especially when writing a news release, with which we studied next. This section was very specific on the finer points of writing a news release. The biggest thing that I got from it was the Dateweek tool. In my previous learning, I was never given a direct formula of expressing a "when" element in news writing. I will always rely on Dateweek, now that I know the proper way of stating a "when" element. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finished the unit with the parts of a news release; the lede, the bridge and the body. The lede serves as our attention-grabber. The bridge amplifies the story and gives the next important information, like names of people identified in the lede, the source of opinions, updates from a previous story and secondary facts needed in the story. The body is where everything else goes, like quotes. Here, I think the most important tip for writing quotes was emphasized: use quotes sparingly. Quotes should only be used when someone says something unique, when someone says something uniquely, or when someone important says something important. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, I feel like many things were cleared up for me. Now, I would like to know how to come up with impacting ledes that grab attention, which is my pitfall, and how to discern whether one piece of information is more important than the others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As future public relations professionals, we need to know how to communicate well on paper and how to pique interest. I always knew that writing accurately and concisely is paramount in public relations. This unit presented a good basic foundation upon which to build strong writing skills. Needing to know what is news and what isn't news is key, along with how to write the parts of a news release, since so much that we will be doing is writing news releases. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After having gone through this unit, I can safely say that I am ready to pursue the next challenge of actually writing a news release. With this information, I am confident that I will be able to write a substantial news release. </span></div>
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-41320908393128050152017-02-03T08:51:00.002-08:002017-02-03T08:51:56.205-08:00Reacquainting Myself with InDesign<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img height="428" src="https://static.pexels.com/photos/232/apple-iphone-books-desk.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-iphone-books-desk-232/">Pexels</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://wyattstanford.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-basics.html">After learning the basics of design last week</a>, this week in PR Pubs we learned the fundamentals of Adobe InDesign. For me, this was a relearning InDesign and incorporating new techniques into my knowledge of InDesign. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We started Tuesday's class by opening a new InDesign document. Our assignment was to recreate an annual report cover by following along with our instructor. The cover was a simple, clean design making use of shapes, graphics, fonts, and special effects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To begin the design, we had to think about the design three dimensionally. Since the background was solid gray, we first drew a solid gray shape around the page. Next, we placed the graphic, since it was behind the shapes and text. After reshaping and resizing the graphic, we place the first rectangle across the page, from just below the top left corner through to the bottom corner. We then did the same with two more rectangles, arranging them in an intersecting pattern. We brought one rectangle to the front to match the original design. Now that our shapes were drawn, we created our type by drawing text boxes. We had to tweak the text settings, like the leading, kerning, font size, etc., to match the original. We finished the document by putting a drop shadow on a rectangle and a glare over the graphic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During this process, I used many skills from my previous graphic design course. My goal here was to learn shortcuts to speed up the creation of my future designs. I had learned a few shortcuts previously, but I rarely used them, instead, going the long way around when putting together a document. If I would have found this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1xjaxZ9hbc" target="_blank">video</a>, I would have <span style="background-color: yellow;">used</span> the shortcuts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Something that was new for me was learning InDesign on a Mac. All of my previous instruction was on a PC. I had to get used to using "command" and "option" in the shortcuts instead of "alt" and "control." It's a small difference, but it was something I had to learn to overcome.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUk9ick3HGT2_q3fWVi7vaDQIerIPIXBvt1oRN4TQaICxVd-oUnaTRhgZnPJxWQl1-KWqrQrvQN17UolCaIStIdi-_OeiI5DbuhgTOIpNPVpDoCq-ZNE-tMOcL2WMHunvnkqmfQjHJ50/s1600/tumblr_o2hr4bOZI11rs3mr7o1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUk9ick3HGT2_q3fWVi7vaDQIerIPIXBvt1oRN4TQaICxVd-oUnaTRhgZnPJxWQl1-KWqrQrvQN17UolCaIStIdi-_OeiI5DbuhgTOIpNPVpDoCq-ZNE-tMOcL2WMHunvnkqmfQjHJ50/s320/tumblr_o2hr4bOZI11rs3mr7o1_250.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">GIF found on <a href="http://66.media.tumblr.com/0ab583cbd4dd44c3aee546b9c572be88/tumblr_o2hr4bOZI11rs3mr7o1_250.gif" target="_blank">Tumblr</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was very pleased with our final product. I thought the original design was something that looked professional and that I would never be able to produce. This class period proved to me that I can create the same document. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our focus for Thursday was typesetting. Our assignment was to take instructions on how to create the front page of a newsletter and make the same newsletter, given the font, font size, and leading of each block of text. Before we started, we learned something that I had never done before: planning a document. I never the placeholder was there to help in mapping out a design. It was very helpful in our assignment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I began by placing my text boxes, trying to match the placement on the finished product. I then added all of my text to every box except the body copy, which I was saving for last. Next, I formatted all the text to how it was supposed to look in the final document. After moving around the boxes to get them in the right place, I finished by putting placeholder text in the body copy and modifying it to match specifications. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was very pleased with the final product. I'm glad I learned how to plan a document properly. I know it will be a very important skill in the future. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I can't wait to start our first design assignment, the business card, next week. </span></div>
Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498609085484353642.post-68454439797392136362017-02-01T19:53:00.001-08:002017-02-01T19:53:34.317-08:00Writing Effectively, Unit 2.1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo: <a class="" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/pen-writing-notes-studying-8769/" target="_blank">Pexel</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this unit of Public Relations Writing, we learned about writing effectively. There are four ways to clean up our writing: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Writing with clarity: making sure our sentences have a word order that doesn't create confusion or ambiguity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Reducing clutter: being concise by using fewer words to express an idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Sentence variety: using different sentence structure to reduce monotony in writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Sentence emphasis: Structuring sentences where the most important information is first if it is important, or delaying it to create suspense, depending on context. </span></div>
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We were then challenged to create poor examples of each and provide ways of correcting them. </div>
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<b>Writing with Clarity:</b></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poor: Walking down the hallway, her papers were thrown in the trash. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Better: Walking down the hallway, she threw her papers in the trash. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reducing Clutter:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poor: At this point in time, he would like to hold a meeting with the board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Better: Now, he would like to meet with the board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sentence Variety:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poor: J.K. Rowling won the literature prize. J.K. Rowling is the author of the "Harry Potter" series. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Better: J.K. Rowling, the author of the "Harry Potter" series, won the literature prize. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sentence emphasis:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poor: The police chief said Monday the robberies have increased since last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Better: Robberies have increased since last year, the police chief said Monday. </span></div>
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Wyatt Stanfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12697204440482312365noreply@blogger.com0