Final Post!!

Hello all!

Well, it's incredible... the semester has gone by so fast! It looks like there's never enough time to work on all the projects for the different courses, and then, it all comes together (minus quite a few hours of sleep).

This past week, I have revisited some of the tutorials, which was very useful to brush up the second iteration of the business brochure. I am hoping to post this tonight. I still think it needs work, and I guess I will be thinking about the whole summer, before I actually have these printed.

Additionally, I have started to work on the presentation slides, and have practiced adding narration but I do not like my recorded voice. I guess I will not add narration to the slides. At some point I was considering adding callouts with additionall explanations, which I thought could be more hearing-impaired persons. Let's see how this goes. For the moment, I have decided to concentrate on the finishing the presentation, and time permitting make fancy additions.

(Will this be another of my wishful thinkings?)

Hope everyone had a great semester, with a successful project, and enjoy the summer!

Best,

Liliana

Week 13/14 Report

Hello Colleagues!

This week I worked on and posted my brochure. I have been working on it for some weeks already; still, it is amazing how much time one has to dedicate to find out the right words and express in few pages what a business can do. My goal was to develop a brochure that would stand out from the rest I have seen related to my field of work (translation).

When searching for images to include in the brochure, I found quite a few that I liked; however, quite a few of them have been used already, such as groups of flags (these are mostly pictures from the front of the UN building). Also, I realized that most of those pictures did not show all the flags of the countries which languages I work on. I did find something that had the shapes of people around a globe, and the shapes were filled with flags (once again, not the flags I needed). That is what inspired me to work on my visuals. Hopefully, I will achieve what I am visualizing.

I would like to thank once again my peer students who review my work; definitely, they brought up excellent suggestions that will help me improve both the textual and visual content. Although I am not planning to use the brochure right away, it is great to have the opportunity to receive feedback from people who look at the brochure from a more objective perspective other than friends and acquaintances.

It was also interesting to see the many projects everyone is working on, and appreciate how those projects evolved since we started the class. Really amazing! I am eager to see the final iterations and presentations.

Well, that's all for this week!

Liliana

Picture by Anthony Criego (c)

Week 12 - Report Log

Good morning!

We are so close to finalizing the semester! It seems that we only started yesterday... and yet we have done so much.

Last week, I submitted a flyer to a group of acquaintances and co-workers, to obtain their feedback. Some of them were not able to respond by the deadline, although I am still anxious to get their responses. The ones that responded were great, and even made suggestions for improvement, which I am contemplating as I write this.

I am still working on the brochure and an insert. It is taking longer than expected, probably because of lack of time to focus on one project and get it done. I feel like I am only able to work on chunks at a time. This may work well for others, but not for me because I feel I have to restart every time I go back to the project.

This week, I am also planning on reviewing a couple of Lynda.com tutorials on brochures, trifolds, and the like. I need some inspiration once again.

Well, that's all for now folks!

Thanks for reading the post,

Liliana

Week 11 - Project Report

Hello....

Well, I did forget to post yesterday. Times goes by faster than one can track.

This past week, I spend some time reviewing business publications to get the feel of how they announce presentations and how much information they give. That made me realize that I can be more free as far as fonts and layout (rather than what I have read-not more than two font types, and so on). I am trying to be creative rather than sticking to the rules.

While I am still not very happy on the layout for the brochure, I am almost done with the text, which is a big deal for me to include as much information as possible, but without overlapping what will be in the inserts or accompannying brochure from the ATA.

Just "recruited" one of the marketing and communications persons from where I work, as well as two students (who study marketing, and I know will be very honest in their observations), to give me feedback on my work.

I am also requesting input from a manager, to check to what extent he would be willing to attend such a presentation.

So, that's what I am working on during this week.

Have a good week everyone!

Liliana

Week 10 - Report Log

Hello All,

Hope you all had a good week after Spring Break, although most of us were probably working.

During the past week, I had to decide whether to produce the brochure for my translation services business in a trifold format or a booklet. Since I wanted to step out of the box and have some different than a trifold, I considered other options such as a small booklet, but realized that this would most likely become an expensive option for printing. Finally, I decided on a trifold that will be included in sort of a fancy packet but that I can also send by mail if necessary. I would have never thought that coming up with these decisions would be so complicated.

Another decision I made after looking at other translators' websites (although these were mostly companies) is that the brochure will be available online but in the form of slides, for readability purposes.

I am putting together the reviews I received and will improve the flyer per the suggestions of my peers.

Additionally, I continue working on the content for the brochure, which is not an easy task. Deciding what to include is key to interest potential clients, and I want to produce something that has useful information and is pleasant to review at the same time.

Wishing you all a productive week.

Liliana

Report Week#9 - Productive as a Working Bee

Good morning to all!

Aside from working on the drafts for the two fliers that will be used to announce a presentation on the translation industry, I started to work on the brochuer. This is a very important item of the marketing packet because it will be printed, and therefore, become a more permanent marketing tool for my translation services. I am working on the thumbnails and making decisions on whether or not to include some kind of picture. I would not like to include a picture, although some people do it, because I don't think it reflects my work (I am not a PR person). In any event, something to ponder over the week. The good thing is that the color palette is final, and I will continue to play with the background I have created. I am still wanting to find out printing possibilities. It looks like it would be quite expensive to do a green printing right now, but at least I can find out what it takes and design accordingly (for when I am a successfull translator/technical writer making big bucks!).

When designing the flyers, the most difficult thing is deciding on the layout and what information to include. I felt like if I did not give enough information, people would not be interested in atttending. However, I got valuable feedback on my work, and I am working on improving the appearance of the flyer. I was not able to obtain feedback on the flyer prepared for presentations before students. One thing I can say is that it never turns out the way I pictured in my mind.

Though I do not enjoy the luxury of Spring Break, I hope there will be less students showing up (and parents calling!) to see their advisors, so that I am not that tired when I get home from work. I am looking forward to watch couple more tutorials throughout the week on my beautiful 22in screen... feels like I am watching a movie!

Happy Spring Break!

Liliana

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." -Dalai Lama

Photo: Working Bee (c) Anthony Criego 2009

Week#8 - Update

Hello all,

The past week was productive in terms of tutorials and I also worked on thumbnails for the brochure and inserts. It was particularly useful to learn about Copyright issues; I will be taking a TWC course related to this matter during the fall. My impression is that it will always be kind of complicated to keep up with all the copyright information because of the way online communication tools are evolving.

Nothing went wrong the week... other than I am not completely happy with my designs. I guess getting feedback from peers during this week will help me see what I'm not seeing that makes me feel uncomfortable with my designs. I still have some time to tweak them before Wednesday.

So, the goals for this week is to continue working with the tutorials, polish the designs I am working on, and provide editorial review for some of my peers' designs/projects.

I wish you all a creative and productive week!

Liliana

Week #7 - Report Log

Hello all!

Well - it's been an interesting week for me... and not for good reasons.

Before the computer catastrophe started, I was able to go through part of Nigel's tutorial on how to design a brochure. He gives great tips that go way beyond designing. For example, he recommends to make thumbnails or sketches of the brochure (or whatever document we will be working on) and addressing printing and budget issues. It is important to consider these before we start designing to avoid using images or working on a fancy design that may not print as expected. He also recommends to request a pre-press of the document.

He also makes a wise observation: that if we are working on a document for a non-profit, a glossy or fancy look would probably be a red flag for potential contributors: audience consideration is of the essence.

I was able to work on two designs for a business card (one pictured on the side) and on one for a letterhead. They may not be the final versions, and will continue to work on those, and see how they work as I develop other documents.

On another note, I appreciate reviewing fellow students' posts, as there's always something to learn from those. Also, interesting designs.

For this week: I will continue to work on layouts for brochure, and watch tutorials on color and typography. Of course, the posting on this week's reading is on the list as well. Learning about Copyright issues is fundamental; from what I have reviewed, it is a complicated subject.

Have a great week everyone!

Lili

"Challenges bring opportunities."

Week #6 - Project Report

Hello all!

I am happy with what I accomplished this week. I worked on the background for most of my documents, and after trying another color palette (teal + grey), I decided to stick with the ones Ihad previously chosen (dark red + dark brown + amber). It was a little bit challenging (for me, at least) to make the background light enough so that the text on it is readable.

The only problem I had was that the colors on my computer do not look as those on the printed swatches. I had to play with them a little bit, but I think they turn out very close to those I wanted. I will be reviewing some links that the professor has provided on the subject.

During this week, I plan on working on:
- layouts for the different documents I will be producing
- typography (I am sort of decided on what I want, but would probably need to buy a packet; will wait to hear opinions from others)
- review one of the Lynda.com tutorials--probably one that I will look at during the week, related to layouts)

Though I am working with InDesign, I am interested in seeing how those working with Dreamweaver are progressing, as I am planning on working on my website as well.

Wishing you all a great and productive week!

I love that it's raining in Tempe!!!

Sincerely,

Liliana

Project Report Week #5

Hello all!

Well, I am glad that I was able to purchase the program because it will be easier to focus on the project (as opposed to last semester, when I depended on free trials and availability of computers on campus). It took a little bit to install it but it comes with other programs as well; I am looking forward to learn as much as possible about those programs, though for the time being the focus is on InDesign.

I had quite a few problems when accessing some of the Lynda.com files; they would take a while to upload, and that was somehow frustrating. The good thing is that the program came with training modules, so I will be able to use those as well in case the Internet connection fails.

My goal for this week is to learn how to create a background that I could use for most of my documents. I am planning on creating a canvass with different letters or words, sort of overlapping in different directions. I will play with the transparency to adapt it for different purposes. I am quite certain it will not be an easy task, but it is doable (aiming high, like the tree in the picture), and I know I can ask for help from some of my experienced fellow students.

Have a good week with your projects!

Picture: Blueridge Reservoir, AZ - Anthony Criego (C)

Project Report - Week 4

Hello all!

I finally posted my project proposal for creating marketing materials with Adobe InDesign. I will learn to use this software with tutorials on Lynda.com. The marketing materials I will create are for my translation services business that I have just set up (although I have been working as a translator for some years already). Putting my ideas in writing on the proposal helped me clarify how to better target the materials to specific audiences. I am hoping the instructor approves my proposal and make any necessary suggestions.

On another note, I have started to go through some tutorials of David Blatner (not sure if I'm spelling the name correctly), and I find them easy to follow. InDesign is totally new to me, so I had to start from the very beginning. It has been time-consuming because unfortunately I do not have a super-fast connection (there's not much to choose from out here in Apache Junction). I am planning on staying some extra time at work some days of the week in order to go through some more. I like the opportunity to practice using the exercise files. I am a little bit concerned that I do not own the program; however, I can work that out by going to the Poly campus on Saturdays.

My goal for this week is to go through some more of those tutorials, and start working on the designs. I have some ideas already, and I usually carry a little notebook in my purse to jot down anything that comes to mind and may be useful for the project. This could be ideas for text or visuals that come up unexpectedly.

Please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!

Welcome to my blog!

Well, it took me some time to decide which blog I wanted to use, and I may change some stuff around, include pics, etc. I titled my blog The Successful Project as a form of visualizing the outcome by the end of the semester; it will help me keep a positive mindset. Good luck everyone!