December 6, 2017
A Tour of the HUA Requirement: The Breadth and Depth Component
Here is the final draft of our comic!:
A few things we changed from our first draft:
Artists' Statement:
In our comic, “A Tour of the HUA Requirement: The Breadth and Depth Path”, we are targeting prospective students and first-year students that have already enrolled at WPI and are exploring their Humanities and Arts Requirement options prior to course registration. Our purpose in creating this comic is to explain the breadth and depth option of the HUA requirement, since it is one of WPI’s most confusing and diverse graduation requirements. In our comic, we include a sample breadth and depth schedule to give students an example path they could follow. The story of the comic follows a general overview of this particular HUA option interlaced with the breadth and depth classes that Gompei, the star of our comic, took. We chose to use WPI’s mascot as the main character in order to create ethos with the reader. Finally, we added testimonials from WPI students that explained why they benefited from this option. We decided to add students’ personal stories to the comic to show why WPI students like having the humanities as a part of their education, even though WPI is considered a tech school. As neither of us have much artistic talent, we decided to superimpose pictures of Gompei that we drew on top of various locations on WPI’s campus that we photographed. These pictures will be familiar to the audience, further creating ethos. Our comic is meant for two different mediums, online and print. It could be put online as a series of panels on the humanities and arts website, or be printed as a poster panel or a pamphlet that would be distributed at Accepted Students Days or before course registration.
Areas for Improvement:
A Tour of the HUA Requirement: The Breadth and Depth Component
Here is the final draft of our comic!:
A few things we changed from our first draft:
- We changed the font we originally used. This font has more spacing between the letters, thus making it easier to read. We also increased the size of the text to ease readability.
- We got rid of all of the plain red backgrounds and replaced them with pictures to strength each panel and contribute to the comic's unity.
- We fixed minor issues with our pictures of Gompei.
- We also added a sample breadth and depth schedule to show students what they could do with this requirement.
Artists' Statement:
In our comic, “A Tour of the HUA Requirement: The Breadth and Depth Path”, we are targeting prospective students and first-year students that have already enrolled at WPI and are exploring their Humanities and Arts Requirement options prior to course registration. Our purpose in creating this comic is to explain the breadth and depth option of the HUA requirement, since it is one of WPI’s most confusing and diverse graduation requirements. In our comic, we include a sample breadth and depth schedule to give students an example path they could follow. The story of the comic follows a general overview of this particular HUA option interlaced with the breadth and depth classes that Gompei, the star of our comic, took. We chose to use WPI’s mascot as the main character in order to create ethos with the reader. Finally, we added testimonials from WPI students that explained why they benefited from this option. We decided to add students’ personal stories to the comic to show why WPI students like having the humanities as a part of their education, even though WPI is considered a tech school. As neither of us have much artistic talent, we decided to superimpose pictures of Gompei that we drew on top of various locations on WPI’s campus that we photographed. These pictures will be familiar to the audience, further creating ethos. Our comic is meant for two different mediums, online and print. It could be put online as a series of panels on the humanities and arts website, or be printed as a poster panel or a pamphlet that would be distributed at Accepted Students Days or before course registration.
Areas for Improvement:
- We could have included more diverse pictures of Gompei or given him more facial expressions.
- I think we could've included more information or developed a deeper story. The comic isn't terribly long, which is good, but it could still be developed to tell a stronger story.
- The language used to describe breadth and depth is still not completely clear. We chose to use the word area to describe the different humanities "categories", but they still may not be specific enough.
I can confirm that the changes you made to the text make it significantly more readable. I can now read your comic on one half of my computer screen without zooming in.
ReplyDeleteGood choice replacing the red gradient backgrounds with more pictures.
I am disappointed that you chose to remove the selfie at the end. I think it added some ethos appeal because it showed the reader that the comic was made by students just like them.
Good point on the selfie! We honestly ran out of room at the end of the panel, but we could have either made another "about the author" page at the end of the comic to include that. Definitely something to keep in mind.
DeleteRyan actually brings up a really good point - I didn't recognize the ethos that having a goofy selfie of us could create! We could totally add that in "room for improvement". I do like the room for improvement section of your blog too, I think it shows how critically you think about your work and how, with design, there really is always room for improvement. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI really love your final draft!! It is clear and engaging and you are conscious of your audience and their interests throughout. I love how you stick with only WPI pictures in the background. I feel like it is so much more cohesive. The same goes for how you included more pictures of students earlier on. It looks so professional and something I could see the Humanities and Arts department using. I really love how you created a balance of the different styles of comics to create one final product. For example, you use real people, a cartoon, info-graphics, abstract ideas represented as pictures. Honestly you have it all but it doesn't feel overwhelming or out of place. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteIncluding a sample schedule and then explaining the choices behind the classes was definitely good decision. While it might have been a little easier to follow if the schedule and the course plan were on the same page, it still makes it easier for readers to think about what they could do for their own schedules.
ReplyDeleteThe new font is certainly much easier to read, and it doesn't feel weirdly mechanical like the previous one did.
Hadn't you mentioned something about the part at the end being real testimonials from those students? If so, that is an excellent way to build ethos while explaining some of the possibilities for the HU+A requirement, I kind of wish you had called more attention to it (perhaps even with a little * note at the bottom).
Oh, and I do wish it was easier to see the scale against the photo background, but oh well it's a relatively minor nitpick.
I really enjoyed how the red panels were replaced with pictures. The comic was definitely unified through it! I also like the sample depth and breadth schedule - it makes the comic more "real" to the challenges students will face when choosing courses, but it's still relaxed enough that it doesn't overwhelm them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that you guys needed a deeper story. Because Gompei is giving them a tour, the story is just the information he's giving. It's a solid theme that allows you to get right to the point. Good job!