What You Will Learn and Practice

• Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
• Conduct research appropriate to workplace problem solving, such as literature review, evaluation of online resources, interview, and site inspection. [CLO 2]
• Interpret research findings with understanding of ethical and human implications. [CLO 3]
• Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]

What I Want You to Do

Create a visualization of a design concept with an accompanying descriptive explanation. Incorporate images or screenshots from your website to illustrate the concept. You will incorporate your description into the Methods section of your recommendation report later in the term, as you explain the concepts you analyzed as you examined your website.

The Best Draft Submission for this activity counts as a Best Draft Submission in the Effort Expectations for Each Grade Level.

Why I Want You to Do It

Visualizing a concept for someone who is unfamiliar with it requires you to think from someone else’s perspective. You have to outline exactly what the concept entails so that your readers understand. In your case, you will explain a design concept that is significant for the decisionmaker for your website to understand in order to understand your recommendation.

As you work on your recommendation report, you will likely need to explain other design concepts. When you do so, you can return to this assignment for resources and examples.

Where You Can Find Help

• From Markel & Selber:
  • Chapter 6, “Researching Your Subject.”
  • Chapter 20, “Writing Descriptions,” pp. 561–569.
• Design Description Criteria
• Sources on Design Principles
  • Visual Design Basics (usability.gov)
  • Visual design elements and principles (Wikipedia)
  • 8 Basic Principles of Design To Help You Create Awesome Graphics (Adobe)
  • Universal Principles of Design (LinkedIn Learning)

When to Do It

Peer Feedback Discussions Due Dates

• Design Description Feedback: By 11:59 PM on Friday, February 11, 2022, to submit for feedback from your classmates.
• Second-Chance Design Description Feedback: By 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 16, 2022, to submit for feedback from your classmates.

Design Description Due Dates

• Best Submission: By 11:59 PM on February 25, 2022.
• Grace Period: Ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, April 29, 2022.

How You Do It

1. Review the Design Description Criteria to understand the requirements of your finished draft.
2. Begin your secondary research by examining the Sources on Design Principles listed above and choose a principle to focus on for your Design Description. You need to choose a principle that applies to the design of your website or that your website would benefit from using.

3. Choosing How to Work

   Choose a tool that you are comfortable with. While the visualization needs to be clear, you don’t need to learn new software for this project. Use what you know.

   Decide which option you will use to compose your description:
   1. Software that will create a JPG, PNG, PDF, or DOCX file.
   2. Infographic templates on sites like Canva, Venngage, or Easel.ly.
   3. Web-based tools that will provide a public link to your work (like Google Drive).
   4. Old-school paper and pen/pencils that you will take a photo of and then submit the image.
4. Locate examples on your website that illustrate the design principle or that you can revise to show the design principle. Take screenshots of these examples. You will incorporate these images in your Design Description.
5. Use the Introducing Your Design Description activity to add the descriptive text to your visualization.
6. Share your current draft in the Design Description Feedback Discussion. Next week, use the feedback you receive to revise your work.
7. If you missed the original chance for feedback, try the Second-Chance Design Description Feedback Discussion.
8. Use the feedback you receive from your classmates to revise your work before you submit your Best Draft.

How to Assess & Track Your Work

You track and grade your own work in this course. Be sure to complete the following tasks:

• Track your work in your Weekly Work Log.

This is a working draft for your Best Submission. It is marked Complete in Canvas when you submit it for one of the two Feedback Discussions.