Sample document: graphic design needs
Content
Graphic Design Needs for MMSTLC
Logos for MMSTLC Podcasts We are going to have 2-3 regular podcast shows created through the project. Each will need a logo that can be used on the web site for the podcast, as well as for the feed that goes to iTunes for each. The logo for the podcasts needs to be in a 300 x 300 pixel jpeg format, as well as whatever format we want for the associated web page/blog. I would also like each to have a blog feed and blog page, so we will need to coordinate this with the logos. Two of the podcasts are going to be more generic around issues of mathematics and science (one podcast for each) that won’t be specific to the project, but will seek a broader audience of mathematics and science educators. A third, which I will wait a short while to start, will focus specifically on mathematics and science issues for Michigan teachers and will be more topical. The reason I mention this is that I think the first two should have logos and a look that are not necessarily linked in directly with the MMSTLC logo and look. The third, however, should absolutely link to the MMSTLC website. The science podcast will be named “Catalyst: Promoting Change in Science Education”, and should have a logo that incorporates on different aspects of science (perhaps using icon like images of scientific tools, like a beaker, microscope, balance, etc. As per the recommendations from Apple for podcast artwork, the name should be in the image somehow (at least, “Catalyst” should). The mathematics podcast will hopefully be named within a week. Same idea - mathematical symbols, shapes, etc. though these should be more at a middle school level (no trigonometry or calculus symbols). The project podcast is also unnamed, but may be named the Michigan Mathematics and Science Review, or something similar. I hope to have that resolved by the end of the month. Again, you could work with icon like images, perhaps with a backdrop of the state from our project logo, but without the surrounding text circle. Icons For all of the media we will eventually have for the project (print materials, podcasts, web site, blog, wiki, etc), we are going to need to have some simple ways of differentiating and organizing content, and I would like to use icons to do this. For instance, if there is a sample lesson that we want to share with teachers, I would like to have some icons in the header to designate the science content of the lesson, and perhaps icons to designate different parts of the lesson (i.e. using models, gathering data, assessment, etc.). Icons may be of at least four types: • Science content icons for biology, chemistry, physics, earth science (geology, meteorology, hydrology) space science, and ecology. • Mathematics content icons for ratio and proportion, geometry and measurement, patterns and functions, and algebraic reasoning. We can talk with you about these and the previous as to what might make good icons. • Pedagogical content issues for teachers, such as for collaboration, assessment, investigations, modeling, working with data, differentiation of tasks, or other things. I think we will work these out shortly to have the definitive list, but they should incorporate some sense of the other sets of icons. You may want to differentiate these in some way, however (by color or background shape?) • Leadership content icons that address some of the leadership areas or issues for our users, such as curriculum, instruction, data analysis, research, professional development, networking, budget, and school policy. Again, we’ll try to resolve these shortly, but I think this is probably the short list. In addition, we may have another set for the audience for materials, though I think that will be more specific to our print materials, and we may just want to color code pages for these, or separate them altogether. Again, we can talk about this. The reason for the relatively high priority is that I would like to have some of these for the blog that would accompany the podcasts, especially for science content, since that will be the first of the podcasts.
Filemaker Report Appearance This is something that will come a little down the road, as we are working out the final aspects of the Filemaker database for keeping track of people and events in our project. However, once this is done, I would like for you to help provide some input for the layout of the reports that are generated from the database, so that these are usable for other needs. I don’t anticipate this being a terribly complicated or long task, but one we will need to do relatively quickly once the database structure is finalized. This should be done by the end of March. I can try to show this to you on Friday, if you are in the office then. Document Templates and Formatting This is the big one, in that it is going to require working with other members of the project team to see what they view as being needed content and usability issues for the various audiences for our materials, and having you create tutorials or handle the formatting of documents and resources that we create over the next six months or so on behalf of the project. In this past year, working with our pilot sites, we have simply created documents, Powerpoint presentations, and other resources on our own, with little focus on organization and usability, graphic design, branding, etc. As we refine these materials, we need to incorporate all of these considerations along with the modifications we are making to the content and structure itself. To assist us with this, I would like for you to meet with our group in some of our planning meetings for these products, so that you can help us think about all of these issues, and so that you can hear about what we view as the needs for the content, and for the different audiences we are trying to address. From this, I am hoping that you can do the following for us: • Create a set of guidelines for the organization and structure of individual documents of different types (readings, handout worksheets, sample lessons, etc.). • Either create a set of templates in a common editor for these different types of documents, and a set of tools for special types of pages (pictures, tables, etc.), or create a set of guidelines for us to use basic formatting in a simple tool like Word that would then allow you to take what we create and put it in a page layout tool. • Create a form or set of templates that would be used by our participants who wish to submit sample lessons, student work, and other types of materials that would become supplemental resources for our project. These would need to have a common look/feel to the ones we are creating, but might need to be generic enough for others to pick up and use immediately, since we will not have time to train them how to make sure their materials fit our templates or design considerations. • Create any artwork that might be needed for the final versions of these documents, based on input from the project partners. Each would need to provide you with a set of descriptions of what is needed well in advance, and of timelines for when these are needed, so that you can incorporate these into your other work. • Create a workable look for incorporating pictures we would take into our pages, as well as scanned examples or teacher or student work, and possibly, incorporating third-party resources, such as readings and web resources, into our print materials. Again, I see this as a process that will take some time, rather than just a simple request for tasks or templates. This links in with the memo I am sending to the team, so that you might work more directly with them on a scheduled basis (I don’t want them making any unrealistic or last minute requests of you) to develop this over some time. We can talk through this later this week.
Logos for MMSTLC Podcasts We are going to have 2-3 regular podcast shows created through the project. Each will need a logo that can be used on the web site for the podcast, as well as for the feed that goes to iTunes for each. The logo for the podcasts needs to be in a 300 x 300 pixel jpeg format, as well as whatever format we want for the associated web page/blog. I would also like each to have a blog feed and blog page, so we will need to coordinate this with the logos. Two of the podcasts are going to be more generic around issues of mathematics and science (one podcast for each) that won’t be specific to the project, but will seek a broader audience of mathematics and science educators. A third, which I will wait a short while to start, will focus specifically on mathematics and science issues for Michigan teachers and will be more topical. The reason I mention this is that I think the first two should have logos and a look that are not necessarily linked in directly with the MMSTLC logo and look. The third, however, should absolutely link to the MMSTLC website. The science podcast will be named “Catalyst: Promoting Change in Science Education”, and should have a logo that incorporates on different aspects of science (perhaps using icon like images of scientific tools, like a beaker, microscope, balance, etc. As per the recommendations from Apple for podcast artwork, the name should be in the image somehow (at least, “Catalyst” should). The mathematics podcast will hopefully be named within a week. Same idea - mathematical symbols, shapes, etc. though these should be more at a middle school level (no trigonometry or calculus symbols). The project podcast is also unnamed, but may be named the Michigan Mathematics and Science Review, or something similar. I hope to have that resolved by the end of the month. Again, you could work with icon like images, perhaps with a backdrop of the state from our project logo, but without the surrounding text circle. Icons For all of the media we will eventually have for the project (print materials, podcasts, web site, blog, wiki, etc), we are going to need to have some simple ways of differentiating and organizing content, and I would like to use icons to do this. For instance, if there is a sample lesson that we want to share with teachers, I would like to have some icons in the header to designate the science content of the lesson, and perhaps icons to designate different parts of the lesson (i.e. using models, gathering data, assessment, etc.). Icons may be of at least four types: • Science content icons for biology, chemistry, physics, earth science (geology, meteorology, hydrology) space science, and ecology. • Mathematics content icons for ratio and proportion, geometry and measurement, patterns and functions, and algebraic reasoning. We can talk with you about these and the previous as to what might make good icons. • Pedagogical content issues for teachers, such as for collaboration, assessment, investigations, modeling, working with data, differentiation of tasks, or other things. I think we will work these out shortly to have the definitive list, but they should incorporate some sense of the other sets of icons. You may want to differentiate these in some way, however (by color or background shape?) • Leadership content icons that address some of the leadership areas or issues for our users, such as curriculum, instruction, data analysis, research, professional development, networking, budget, and school policy. Again, we’ll try to resolve these shortly, but I think this is probably the short list. In addition, we may have another set for the audience for materials, though I think that will be more specific to our print materials, and we may just want to color code pages for these, or separate them altogether. Again, we can talk about this. The reason for the relatively high priority is that I would like to have some of these for the blog that would accompany the podcasts, especially for science content, since that will be the first of the podcasts.
Filemaker Report Appearance This is something that will come a little down the road, as we are working out the final aspects of the Filemaker database for keeping track of people and events in our project. However, once this is done, I would like for you to help provide some input for the layout of the reports that are generated from the database, so that these are usable for other needs. I don’t anticipate this being a terribly complicated or long task, but one we will need to do relatively quickly once the database structure is finalized. This should be done by the end of March. I can try to show this to you on Friday, if you are in the office then. Document Templates and Formatting This is the big one, in that it is going to require working with other members of the project team to see what they view as being needed content and usability issues for the various audiences for our materials, and having you create tutorials or handle the formatting of documents and resources that we create over the next six months or so on behalf of the project. In this past year, working with our pilot sites, we have simply created documents, Powerpoint presentations, and other resources on our own, with little focus on organization and usability, graphic design, branding, etc. As we refine these materials, we need to incorporate all of these considerations along with the modifications we are making to the content and structure itself. To assist us with this, I would like for you to meet with our group in some of our planning meetings for these products, so that you can help us think about all of these issues, and so that you can hear about what we view as the needs for the content, and for the different audiences we are trying to address. From this, I am hoping that you can do the following for us: • Create a set of guidelines for the organization and structure of individual documents of different types (readings, handout worksheets, sample lessons, etc.). • Either create a set of templates in a common editor for these different types of documents, and a set of tools for special types of pages (pictures, tables, etc.), or create a set of guidelines for us to use basic formatting in a simple tool like Word that would then allow you to take what we create and put it in a page layout tool. • Create a form or set of templates that would be used by our participants who wish to submit sample lessons, student work, and other types of materials that would become supplemental resources for our project. These would need to have a common look/feel to the ones we are creating, but might need to be generic enough for others to pick up and use immediately, since we will not have time to train them how to make sure their materials fit our templates or design considerations. • Create any artwork that might be needed for the final versions of these documents, based on input from the project partners. Each would need to provide you with a set of descriptions of what is needed well in advance, and of timelines for when these are needed, so that you can incorporate these into your other work. • Create a workable look for incorporating pictures we would take into our pages, as well as scanned examples or teacher or student work, and possibly, incorporating third-party resources, such as readings and web resources, into our print materials. Again, I see this as a process that will take some time, rather than just a simple request for tasks or templates. This links in with the memo I am sending to the team, so that you might work more directly with them on a scheduled basis (I don’t want them making any unrealistic or last minute requests of you) to develop this over some time. We can talk through this later this week.
