The document outlines the goals, audience, and key message for a design project about promoting Degree Works to students. It then provides details on several design iterations, including changes made to the theme, images, layout, text formatting, and color schemes. The goal was to create a design that effectively communicates what Degree Works is and its benefits to students, while appealing to a wide student audience. Various sports, team, and chalkboard themes were tested before arriving at a final design incorporating a diploma image and bringing back important text in a readable layout.

1. Goals:
I want students to use Degree Works.
I want students to know what Degree Works is and how it can help them.
I want students to know Faculty, Advisors, and Graduation Evaluators are
using Degree Works.
Audience:
Students, transfer and first time freshman, who are new to WOU as well
as returning students.
Message:
Degree Works is a guide to students degree requirements. It can help
them make good decisions about how to complete their requirements.
Students should use Degree Works because Faculty, Advisors, and
Graduation Evaluators are using Degree Works.

2. For my first design I wanted to try using a metaphor to help get my point
across to students.
I thought a sports theme would be fun so I focused on the idea of staying on
track for graduation.
I had an image of the Western track that I took a while back and thought it
would work to emphasize the metaphor.
I used a black, white, and red color scheme.

4. I wanted to sick with the idea of using a metaphor to help get my point across
to students.
I changed from a track theme to a team theme and went with a football
huddle.
Again I found an image that would help emphasize the metaphor.
I stayed with the black, white, and red color scheme.

6. I wanted to stay with the football huddle theme as well as the black white and
red color scheme.
The design was too busy so I changed the layout of the picture to reduce
clutter. I also reformatted the text to show better relationships using proximity.
I also got rid of the centered alignment and chose a right and left justified
style.
I repeated the red type and the bold sans serif type to add interest through
repetition.

8. I stayed with the football huddle theme as well as the black white and red
color scheme.
I wanted to put less emphasis on the image and more on the text so I made the
image smaller and rearranged the text to emphasize the text components. I
also changed all text to left justified.
I added bullet points to try and break up the text and make it appear less effort
intense.
I kept the font styles and the repeated elements from the last design.

10. I again stayed with the football huddle theme but decided to change the color
scheme to work better with the image.
I decided on using a split complements scheme in blue and oranges to draw on
the color pallet of the image.
I wanted to emphasize the title as well as the other text components so I
added the blue bands at the top and bottom of the design.
I changed the “Degree Works” text to a red-orange to help emphasize the text
and draw your eye in.

12. For my next design I wanted to try something completely different. I wasn’t
loving the football theme and I wanted to try something that was more general
and spoke to a wider audience of students.
I really liked the idea of orange as an accent color and wanted to try a
chalkboard feel for my design.
I opted for a black background with a monochromatic color scheme in orange.
I got rid of the image and eliminated most of the text.
I wanted to focus on the most basic idea of Degree Works. It’s a guide to your
degree requirements and it can help you make good choices for your degree
path.
I also wanted to play around with text direction so I set the font at an angle. I
selected font size to make the first line of text set the boundaries for the
design. I attempted to align the rest of the text within those boundaries.

14. I really liked the new design and wanted to stick with a theme that would
appeal to a wider student audience.
I wanted to bring back some of the text I eliminated in my last design and
include a line of text students could take action on. I added the url for the
portal with a brief description of what to look for behind that url.
Since one of my goals was for students to know that Faculty, Advisors, and
Graduation Evaluators use Degree Works I wanted to bring this text back as
well.
After adding the text back that I felt I was missing the design felt as if it was
missing something. I wanted to find an image that would help embody the
text. I found this quite challenging but did come across an image with a
diploma and book. I thought this could work since I am referring to Degree
Works as a Guide (ok, maybe it’s a stretch). It actually had the orange from my
color scheme too so that was a bonus.
I attempted to make sure everything associated well in regards to alignment as
well.