Learning Goal Reflections

  1. I want top learn about current/new marketing strategies and techniques for arts organizations.

I have learned about several different marketing strategies, many of which overlap . Any one method an organization employs can involved multiple strategies. For example, in my marketing plan for Lane Youth Theater, staff members would go to rural schools, perform a short play at and assembly, and talk to the students at their music classes to advertise LYT, sending the students home with LYT brochures. In this case, this is direct marketing (talking directly to the students about LYT), experiential marketing (putting on a play at the school), and word of mouth marketing (sending the kids home to their parents with collateral materials).

2. I want to learn how to effectively use social media as a marketing tool for the arts.

I have learned that for an organization to successfully use social media, they must post often and be innovative with their posts. To fully utilize Facebook, it is worth it to pay for Facebook advertising to boost your posts, making them be seen by audiences with specific characteristics that are most likely to respond to your product/service.

3. I want to learn what it looks like to make a full marketing plan.

After making a marketing plan for OSLP Arts and Culture as well as Lane Youth Theater, I have learned that a marketing plan requires a thorough understanding of the organization’s mission, a situational analysis, long-term goals, specific objectives, a timeline, and evaluation methods.

4. I want to find resources for discovering who my audience is and what they are more likely to respond to.

Using email analytic programs, organizations can gain a clear understanding of who opened their emails and which links they clicked through.

Learning Goals, Winter 2017

  1. I want top learn about current/new marketing strategies and techniques for arts organizations.
  2. I want to learn how to effectively use social media as a marketing tool for the arts.
  3. I want to learn what it looks like to make a full marketing plan.
  4. I want to find resources for discovering who my audience is and what they are more likely to respond to.

Reflection on ePortfolio

Reflection on ePortfolio


These were the Learning Goals I posted at the beginning of the term:

  1. Learn more about typography, and have 5-10 go-to fonts in my arsenal for regular use.
  2. Expand my creative initiative. Depend less on examples and templates.
  3. See a visible improvement in the quality and beauty of my design work.

It was a little tough to come up with learning goals for this course when I wasn’t sure exactly what it entailed. For example, I made my first goal about finding fonts because I thought we would be going more in depth with typography. Nevertheless, I found some pretty cool fonts while working on my logo. I will keep them in mind.

Coming into this course, I thought it would be better to come up with my own original ideas without borrowing from others. However, I learned that borrowing and looking at other examples are just tricks of the trade in graphic design, or any art form, really. This is one of the most practical ways to grow. Templates should be used whenever possible (to save time)! There is nothing wrong with starting with a template and tweaking from there.

With help from Eric and my classmates, I have seen a definite improvement in the quality of my designs. I had a tendency to load things up with lots of details, and now my logo is simple and direct. While it’s nothing fancy, I’ve learned that simplicity can be a virtue in  graphic design.

I came to this class with some InDesign and Photoshop experience from high school. I was very rusty, and there is no doubt that my knowledge of the Adobe Suite has greatly improved, especially in Illustrator. I had no experience with Illustrator. Watching myself work so fluidly in these programs by the end of the term was easily my biggest accomplishment. I am also pretty satisfied with my logo.

Lexicons – Week 9

Lexicons – Week 9


1. Kerning – adjusting the spacing in between letters in a font to make the text more visually appealing. This is horizontal spacing between the letters, whereas line spacing is vertical between lines of text.

2. Emphasis – Emphasis is graphic design is the focal point of you design. You can draw the eye to the emphasis of your design using concepts like contrast and repetition.

3. Descender – The portion of a lower case letter that extends below the bottom line. For example, the lower stem of a lowercase p drops below the baseline. If the Descender is too low in a certain font, it can impose on the line of text below it, causing a lack of clarity.

4. Visual Impact – If you see a bulletin board full of posters and your eye is drawn to one, that poster has the most visual impact. If you follow basic design rules like repetition, alignment, and contrast, it will help increase the visual impact of your design.