As a final reflection on this semester, I am amazed at what I have learned. It was certainly a long and challenging semester. The amount of work necessary to be accomplished for a three credit class exceeded what I was anticipating, but in the end it may have been for the best. I certainly approach my message design with a new light and new vision that was probably realistically there under the surface all along, but I wasn't able to formulate what made it good or bad.
Creating effective message design is not easy, and I still struggle mightily with it daily. It seems like it should be a breeze to think creatively, but deadlines, outside distractions, dry material and creative lapses make it tougher than it seems. However, with practice and review, I think I will find this semester to have been one of the most influential of my sessions at UCD.
Good (and bad) message design is all around. In watching the evening news, I gained a new perspective when examining the differences between the local and national news presentation styles. Granted the budget levels make the graphics easier to accommodate, but local news seems to carry much more of a "read the bullets" style of message, where as the national news uses the backgrounds and graphics as an enhancement tool. Music videos (at least good ones) can tell two stories at the same time. The music plays and gives a message, and the story plays out on the screen. Sometimes it matches, some times it doesn't. Regardless, the visual elements that have been so key to all of the readings and projects make for the most effective design. And it is out there, you just have to open your eyes to look and realize. We often shut our brains down from messages due to the bombardment of overstimulating messages we see each day, but a really effective storyteller or visual message stands out. And not to say that every message we make should have to reach that point, but we should all set it as a goal if we want our messages to sink in.
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