San Lorenzo Valley High School
Artifact 1
Effective Communicator
The main purpose of this assignment was to create a Cover for the yearbook that was being published in the middle of the pandemic. It was important that the cover included our theme “Our story, our way, our history in the making.” When given the assignment I immediately got to work on brainstorming the cover. Although this cover took the longest out of the three that I had composed, it is the one I am most proud of.
It was evident that the 2019-2020 school year was nothing short of a struggle. That being said, it was important that this cover really showed what had occurred that year. I didn’t want the cover to only show the good parts about the school year. I wanted it to also portray the bad parts; because in reality we were living through this time of tragedy. The cover was supposed to be a part of the story line; that the students of SLV were all contributing to their own history in the making that would be talked about years later. This piece of art really tied me in as I wanted it to be different than the past years. This Project is solely responsible for creating the love that I have for design. It showed me how much potential I had within design and it’s what kickstarted my passion.
This project shows my ability to be an Effective Communicator. It exemplifies my skills in being able to communicate visually and in writing through my designs to tell the story of the book. This cover required that I utilize my listening and social skills in order to accurately convey my message. This also shows my dedication to this course; due to how much time and effort was put into composing this cover especially during such a hard time. Working on this cover improved my creativity leading to the improvement of my designing skills.
This project has a lot of impact on how I view my future plans. Being able to be creative in my own way has motivated me to be a better student. It has also influenced me to share my creative side with others in hopes of them being able to find theirs as well. This project, like many that will be featured in my capstone, has played a major part in helping me find my true passion.
Artifact 2
Quality Producer
Throughout the process of composing a yearbook, the most important aspects are the photos. The photos not only showcase what happened when and where, but also tell a story. The project was mainly to capture the most important moments meaning the most exciting parts of an activity. For example the game winning goal at a soccer game, or a rally activity involving the students, or just simple student life. We were advised not only to snap photos of an event, but to also be creative with the angles or placements of the photos. Attached below are examples of these photos that were taken and inserted into the yearbook.
As stated before, photos are one of the most important attributes when it comes to a yearbook because the sole purpose of a yearbook is to capture memories of the year to look back on years later and reminisce about the past. With that being said, this was an important job to take on as I wanted to include every one of the students at least one time in a picture. I utilized the tools that I had like our coverage report to keep track of the students and how many times they were featured in the book. Prior to sporting events, clubs and other school related activities I would research who was involved with these events. I would then create a thorough outline according to our coverage report on what students that we needed interviews or photos from. ALthough it was difficult and very time consuming, I worked hard at trying to feature multiple kids on each page that had not been in the book yet whether it was a photo or quote.
This project shows clearly that I can be a Quality Producer as I have worked hard in capturing all the best moments in a unique way and have tried to be as inclusive as possible. This project also demonstrates that I have a good work ethic as I had created my own system in making sure everyone had an equal opportunity to be involved in the yearbook even though it was not one of the main requirements of the project.
This project has not only taught me great photo taking skills but also how to be inclusive for others sake. It was important to me that everyone got to experience what it feels like to see themselves pictured in the yearbook. I will continue to utilize these skills that I learned in my future.
Artifact 3
Community Contributor
Marketing the yearbook is almost as important as creating the yearbook. Marketing comes into play as soon as production starts, but towards the end of the year when the book is complete, marketing becomes a bigger task. When given the assignment to create good marketing strategies I thought about what would catch not only the students’ eyes but the parents as well. I utilized skills such as social media and design to create things such as posters to influence people to purchase a book.
Although this seems more of a straight forward assignment, there are many factors that come into play. In order to be successful with sales, we have to create something that will not only interest those buyers, but also persuade them to purchase. I learned a lot with this assignment. The most important things that I learned were advertising, communications, consumer behavior, public relations, and marketing strategy and research. Through this experience I now have more knowledge on the marketing factor as well as how to sell a product.
Marketing is not a “one man job”. Although it could be done individually, I worked better alongside my peers. Working with others was an easier way to bounce our ideas off each other to discover the strongest, most efficient one. It’s not always the easiest working in a big group as one has to be a good communicator, but this experience has taught me a lot. It not only has taught me how to clearly communicate my ideas and my opinions but also how to allow others ideas to correspond with mine. By being able to be flexible and open to new ideas, we were able to create a well organized marketing system in which we sold almost 100% of our products; which was far greater than last year’s.
This project demonstrates my clear ability to communicate and advertise products. Not only does it show my strengths in marketing but it also shows that I can be a Community Contributor. Marketing requires a genuine understanding of the community one is targeting, and the ability to project connections through our marketing materials. Additionally, we use our goal of inclusion in order to appeal to all students. We also offer scholarships to students facing financial hardship, and I am proud that we were able to give back in this way. Through my marketing tools I have used to sell the book I have also been able to interpret more of my designs into things like posters or social media posts. The skills such that I have learned through this assignment will also do a lot for me in my future. I will be able to use these skills in my daily life as well as my future career. Attached below will be examples of our marketing strategies that we used to sell our product.
