Project 4: advocacy website

“Passion certainly strengthens advocacy, but effective advocacy is also about determining what is worth caring about in the situations around us. Effective advocacy also requires figuring out how to design the futures we seek.” –Anne Wysocki and Dennis Lynch, COMPOSE DESIGN ADVOCATE pg. 283

Image credit:
Image credit: Anne Petersen (CC-licensed)

Introduction

Work in groups of 3-4 to create an advocacy website focused on an issue relevant to college students or a community in Philadelphia. The site should be publicly accessible on the internet. By “advocacy website,” I mean an online resource that uses visual (and some verbal) communication to advocate for change or increased awareness of a problem. In Compose Design Advocate, Wysocki and Lynch write that advocacy — like all communication — is an attempt to shape the world (284). Think of this project almost like a “digital poster” in which you present your argument in a digestible, accessible, mobile-device-friendly form. A poster is more visual than verbal. Aim for big-impact design with a scrolling, single-page layout or a visually compelling layout for the main content.  Do not create text-heavy pages that the audience must click through. Here are some examples of what advocacy work your website could do:

  • raise questions about a rule or established practice on campus, for an audience of SJU students (an “investigative report” type of site)
  • bring awareness to homelessness in Philadelphia, for an audience of legislators
  • show that SJU’s current website makes it difficult to find information about sexual violence and why that is a problem, for an audience of students and administrators
  • influence SJU administrators to make different resource allocation decisions, such as funding a campus group or creating a new major
  • counter a corrosive stereotype about Philadelphia or a particular neighborhood / community in Philadelphia, for an audience of misguided people
  • foster public discussion of student debt issues

To do this, you will need to collaborate with group members to distribute the project’s work fairly; showcase each of your strengths as designers; motivate each other to stay on task and on schedule; conduct research to gather not only facts and data but also experiences of real community members; use effective design strategies to deliver a coherent, visually appealing, moving message with an audience and a purpose.

Schedule of deadlines

Due date Component Where to submit it
Wednesday 4/8 Project pitch (variable, see below)
Wednesday 4/15 Milestone 1: statement of purpose (see Wysocki and Lynch reading, page 288) Share it with me and the class
Friday 4/17 Milestone 2: site outline and design board Share it with me and the class
Wednesday 4/22 Milestone 3: individual contributions (variable)
Monday 4/27 Milestone 4: Advocacy website FIRST DRAFT Email link to me and to your peer reviewers
Friday 5/1 Website critiques Write critiques in a Google doc; share with me and your partner
Monday 5/4 Advocacy website FINAL VERSION + Personal reflection + Group evaluation (variable)

Project pitch

Before class on April 8, post a short paragraph on the correct Blackboard discussion forum, outlining what you think would make a great topic for this project. Include links if they help you make your case. In class on April 8, pitch your idea to everyone in a 1- or 2-minute lightning talk. You may use a maximum of two slides for this talk. Create the slides in Google Slides and share the presentation with me before class. You do not have to use any slides.

Choosing a topic

Wysocki and Lynch encourage would-be advocates to ask these questions:

  • What position do you want to have in the world?
  • What do you want the world to be?
  • How do we live together well?

You cannot become an advocate until you figure out what matters to you. Since you may be working with a group on this issue, consider how you might make this issue matter to others — how to get people to share your perspective and get on board? Focus on an issue relevant to college students or a local Philadelphia community.

After listening to all project pitches, you will use Blackboard to vote on your top three choices for a group. I will do my best to align you with your top choice and make sure design strengths are spread out (so we don’t have three experienced video editors on one project team, etc.).

If your project idea is chosen by a group, you will receive an extra 5 percentage points for your participation grade in the class (so an 85% would be a 90%). In exchange, I will expect you to be the “sweeper” for your group. In soccer, the sweeper is a last line of defense before the goalkeeper. The sweeper carefully reads the action of the game and “sweeps up” offensive moves that get by the defenders. You will serve a similar role for your group: step up when no one else is initiating a meeting etc., watch over the project’s progress, and keep me informed if the group begins to fall apart or if there is a problem within the group.

Your group can work together to modify the original idea so that each group member is interested in his or her part of the project. That might mean broadening or reframing the topic that was pitched.

Requirements

Your final website should meet the following requirements:

  • Demonstrate design skillz in at least three of the following areas: (1) video shooting and editing (2) audio essay / podcast design (3) digital photography (4) banner, logo, or icon design (5) infographic design. Use Adobe CC products to create many of the graphics except for video (use Premier, iMovie, etc.) and audio (use Audacity). Do not use web-based, template-driven, click-and-drag platforms and services like Canva, Picmonkey, Piktochart, Easel.ly, Infogr.am, etc. for any graphics. These services pre-package design and they will not allow you to show off what you’ve learned in class. Also, please do not drag in prefabricated symbols/graphics from Adobe Illustrator unless these serve as a very minor part of the design. There are many tutorials online for creating infographics, icons, etc. in Illustrator.
  • Show thoughtful and inclusive research (striking a balance between hard data like statistics and soft data like interviews, community member experiences, and observations).
  • Cite your sources, and cite credible, relevant sources. Include a works cited list somewhere on the site.
  • Use Creative Commons. You must be licensed to use any media that appears on your site unless you own it. Use Creative Commons if you need material.
  • Provide at least basic information (in written form) about the topic/issue—what is the problem, what should be done, and why is advocacy needed?Give context (history or background) to help the audience understand. Let your writing complement, without taking over, the visual elements — I do not want walls of text.
  • Include an “About” page (or something like that) to identify the date, author names (first name and last initial OK), and maybe some biographical information.
  • All websites should show basic web design best practices discussed in White Space Chapter 13. Since this is not a web design class, I encourage you to use WordPress to create your website. Even if you know web design, I don’t want you to spend time on that for this class. You may start the site at a group member’s domain using WordPress.org, or create a new WordPress.com site for free. Below are some WordPress themes and other platforms that would work well for the project.

Choosing a web platform for your site

Find something that will feature graphics and visuals prominently and something that is non-bloggish, i.e. something with a single-page scrolling layout if possible. Mobile and responsive are other keywords to look for when choosing a platform/theme.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *