Reader Test for Blood Shed Advertisement

I interviewed ten students while they read the advertisement.
I interviewed them about the front and back individually, along with the advertisement as a whole. For word count's sake I will only share the stats for the advertisement as a whole. (Use the photos above as a reference to the key areas of the advertisement I am discussing)

50% of the readers jumped around while reading it, 40% skimmed it, and 10% read it from start to finish. This shows that the advertisement is very busy and difficult to read from start to finish and not all the information presented is being read.

For the most part the ad. was successful at getting its point across though 100% of students would have like more information to be given. 70% claimed the point was to display oppression in Mexico while the other 30% claimed the point was the art that was coming from the oppression.

When asked what was the most clear aspect of the advertisement, 40% said the front side as a whole, 20% the time of the event,20% the woman, 10% the description of repression in Mexico, and the last 10% the text on the front. This leaves 70% of the most clear aspects being on the front which does not give very much information, which is not such a great thing for the success of the advertisement.



When asked what was least clear, 50% said the back as a whole, 10% the text on the front, 10% the reception information, 10% the yellow corn background, and the last10% the + symbols on the back. This shows that 70% of the most unclear points are on the back of the advertisement, which has the most information and should be the most clear.

On a scale of 1-10 (1 is worst, 10 is best), students ranked the clarity, effectiveness, and how drawn they felt to attend the event. The clarity received a 6.4 average with a low of 3 and a high of 8. Which displays that the advertisement is barely clear enough for the reader. It gets by but should be clearer. Effectiveness received an average of 6.4 as well with the same high and low. Again this flyer is barely effective enough. For feeling drawn to attend the event, the low was 3 and the high 10, with an average of 6.75. This shows that the event will attract some people but will not attract many from the advertisement. This is only considering the people that have read the advertisement alone. There are other ways to hear about the event and thus more people will probably go.

I also asked the students to describe in one word the emotion that they felt while reading this advertisement. 40% said indifferent, 30% intrigued, 10% worry, 10% troubled, and the last 10% concerned. This shows that about a third of the readers felt a negative emotion from reading the advertisement, but one that the author may have intended. 70% however did not feel a strong emotional feeling for the people involved with the repression.

The results from the student readers show that this advertisement is moderately effective and clear. It barely gets by. The author should have spent a little more time considering how well some of these advertising methods would work.

In the Name of the Blood Shed

Audience:
Students and faculty around campus, specifically RCAH students and faculty.

Purpose:
The purpose is to advertise an art showing in the Lookout! Gallery, featuring pieces about resistance and repression in Mexico.

Summary:
The front of this, two sided, post-card styled advertisement, has a woman with a red scarf around her mouth standing in front of a background of drawn corn. The back tells who the featured artists are and when the event takes place.

Center of Gravity and Points of Eye Catching Interest:
The red scarf around the woman's mouth on the front of this ad is the first image that caught my eye. My eye then quickly jumped to the yellow corn back ground. I then go on to read the text on the front and view and ponder the woman and what she has to do with blood shed. She looks poor, yet strong. The way she is portrayed with the colors hints that she may be the one whose blood is in danger of being shed. She also appears to be carrying something. Is it a baby or sack with something in it? I am not sure and this is not clarified later in the text at all. The text however hints that she may be a minority in Mexico and may be the one resiting and repressing. She definitely revokes pity, concern, and curiosity. She makes me want to flip the ad over to see if there is more information on the back. When there is, i want to read and find out who she is. When i do flip to the back i immediately see in bold red and almost grafiti style writing "Blood Shed" and "March 02-28". I immediately understand there is an event of sorts about this blood shed and who the mystery woman represents. Bold, bright, and green is the word "Mexico", which then tells me the woman represents a people group in Mexico, and gives me a better understanding of who this woman is. I read on to discover that this ad is for an art show about the blood shed in Mexico and the resistance. Human nature makes us inclined to find despair and violence intriguing. This ad discusses despair and violence in Mexico particularly involving the blood shed and resistance. Thus it grabbed my attention and curiosity.

Does It Work?
Initially this ad is very successful. It controls the order the reader reads very well. It does so in a way that effectively intrigues the reader and makes him or her want to read on and participate in this event. The author seems to have an understanding of the order in which the eye recognizes colors. Red is the first color in which the eye sees. The red scarf on the front attracts the eye to the woman which is the main point of intrigue and wonder. Then the eye notices yellow and in this case that would be the corn background, which adds to the interpretation of the woman, being from a more rural community. On the back the reader notices the main points early on, they are a blood red color, the topic of the event, and when it is happening. Also a little bit of information about the mystery woman is revealed but not enough to satisfy the reader. This works and doesn't work. It works because it leaves the reader wanting more information, which can only be obtained by attending the event. It doesn't work because not enough information is given and some readers may simply blow off their intrigue and move on. It does get the reader to read it and possibly attend the advertised event, making it a successful advertisement.

What I Would Change:
I would tell the author to give the reader more information about the artwork. I feel as though the the blood shed in Mexico isn't really explained in the text. The parties involved in this conflict are not given. This would be beneficial to the text to include, because it helps the reader connect, if they know who they are meant to be connecting to. Also, if the reader is familiar with these groups they may become more excited about the event, especially if they have a passion for this conflict. This is a successful eye catching piece, it just needs a little more information.

Gallery Center Pieces

I will start this entry by going through the sections of the Center Piece and giving my thoughts as I read it. I will then analyze the Center Piece more thoroughly and explain why it worked, why it didn't work in places, and how it lead my thought process.
This is the most accurate acount of my thought process that occured while I Shane James Luke read the center piece in the Gallery. My thoughts are in parenthesis.

Side One (Univeristy Activity Board):

Uab.hfs.msu.edu (what does hfs stand for?)

Want to get involved in planning on-campus activities? (I don't think so. This is probably a really large group and I doubt I will have a huge say or desire to make my voice heard in this group since it is not something I am really passionate about.)

Five times August with special guest, Cary Judd (Who are these people, I wonder what type of music they perform.)

Free Bowling and Billiards (Awesome! I love bowling, even though I suck at it. Billiards, eh, I don't care so much about that.)

The Dating Game (Sounds fun, and I would like to meet someone but I don't think anyone I would be interested would be there, It would make me look odd if I told people I'm going to date night at the Union. Maybe I care too much about what people think about me.

Trump It! Euchre Tournament (I don't like Euchre, I'm not even going to read the details because there is no way I'm going to that event.)

Side Two (UAB Info. Continued):

Follow UABatMSU on Twitter (Oh my gosh I hate Twitter it is so obnoxious and unnecesary.)

Tie Dye Time Craft Night (That sounds fun and interesting, do they provide items to Tie Dye or do I have to bring my own? I don't think I will go if I have to bring my own items, I don't have alot of money right now.)

Dive-In Movie Night (That sounds frickin awesome! I wonder if I can get anyone else to go with me. Crap that is the same night as a party Peter invited me to. Hmmm I will have to see which one I would rather go to. It's Night at the Museum 2? I don't know if I want to see that movie though, but the idea of a movie in a pool sounds aweomse.)

Comedian and Izzone Campout (This isn't really my thing, either one. SKIP!)

Campus Cinemas (ooh the free movies at Wells Hall. I like that.)
Star Treck (I have seen it and I'm not really into Sci-Fi.)
The Proposal (I have wanted to see that movie it looks really funny.)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (That looks funny too. I want to see this and The Proposal. Which one? Wait, maybe I can convince someone to see both with me. I hope so!)
ELFS: Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (Eww! Football. This looks like an old black and white football game that they are replaying for some reason. Not going to see that!)

Side Three (Get Hooked Up With a Singel):

Get Hooked Up Witha a Single (Another dating thing? Why does MSU encourage dating so much?)

More Space More Privacy More Freedome (Oh, wow am I dumb. They are talking about the single rooms that are still available. I am happy with my living situation right now, I have an awesome roommate and floor. I don't feel the need to move to a different one. Skipping to the next side.)

Side Four (The Food Side):

Combo-X-Change Flex Option (wow I did not know there were so many food options and places to eat. I can use it at the Union Pizzeria and Serranos? Wow this is awesome!)

Combo-X-Change (I already know what this is.)

Flex Option(Only Commuters and Faculty and Staff meal options can be used at the Union? What? I thought anyone could. This should have been made clear when they talked about the Combo-X-Change and Flex Option above. They got my hopes up. This kind of sucks.)

Sparty's Sandwich Combo (That's not too bad. But why would I spend six dollars of my money when I can get almosth the same thing at sparty's with my Combo-X-Change).

River Walk Market Section (This sounds cool. Is it outside? Will it be shut down for winter? Where is Owen? I think I will try this sometime soon just incase it closes for winter if it is outside.)

Union Pizzeria (I don't like Pizza. Skip!)

Serrano's (Tacos? I thought this was an Italian thing. Apparantly not. That's ok I like tacos.)

Don't MIss These Special Meals:
Wizzard of Oz Lunch and Dinner (Interesting I like the wizard of Oz. Ooh Landon is the place with the ICee machine.)
The Soloist Dinner (I remember that, I didn't go but they had themed food.)
Taste of Wharton Dinner (What is this? Why is there no description?)
Rosh Hashanah Dinner (Again why is there no description?)
Eid Al Fitr Brunch( This is getting annoying that they did not say what these are. Not everyone knows what they are.)

The Center Piece is a three dimensional advertisement that sits in the center of all tables in the gallery (unless someone takes the center piece from the table). It is folded into a four pointed star shape, this makes it different, unique, and more intriguing to those who sit at the tables. If it were not folded into the star shape it would not be quite as appealing. When something is different or out of the ordinary it is more likely to catch someone's eye. Each side has a different theme making it organized which is always more appealing than a chaotic mess. The immediate and basic appearance of the center pieces are very succesful. They catch one's eye and do not dissplease or stress the eye, they flows, which makes the reader more likely to read them.

These center pieces provide information about movies, special events, concerts, and options about living on campus that students may not naturally think of on their own. The point is clear, which add to the success of the immediat appearance of the center pieces.

Placed in the center of the tables in the Gallery week after week makes the intended audience, the students, familiar with the center piece and causes them to expect it there every day. This is a very succesful place to put the information, students will come into the Gallery to eat usually anywhere between one to four times a day. Each time they site down at a table, the center piece and it's information await their arrival. One is also likely at one point in the week to eat alone. When alone one is more likely to pick up the center piece and read it for entertainment while eating. When a student eats whith his or her friends they are less likely to read the center piece because they are already entertained or engaged in a converstion with their friends.

The center piece has a diverse selection of information. So that there will be usually atleast one point of interest for every reader. The center of gravity of the center piece is the food side, because it has the largest variety of bright colors.

Personally, I felt the center piece is overall succesful in catching the attention of readers and delivering the information to them. The Single and UAB sides are the most successful. I did not find myself stuck or confused with the information presented. Given, questions were arraised, but enough information was given that I knew how to answer those questions and where to go to do so. On the food side, however, an insufficient amount of information was presented and not all of my questions could be answered. Particularly on the themed dinners portion. The dinner title, location, and time was all that was given. It did not give a description and was very exclusive to different audiences. Only those who knew the terms used in the title were targeted, really, (I am not sure that was the intention of the author). Because of this only a generally curious person would take the time to pursue what the unknown terms were, and then would be included in the audience. This portion required too much work by the reader to understand and become engaged in the reading. Also, two different sub-sections of the food side gave different deffinitions of the Flex option. I am still not completely clear about how this option works. The only other section with unclarity is the Tie Dye night. It does not specify weather or not the student needs to bring their own itmes to dye or not. This makes the event not as appealing. Other than these unclear sections and sub-sections the center piece was direct and did not leave me confused.

The diversity of the information on the center piece allow the reader to skim, jump, and only read the sections that are of personal interest. The use of titles, headings, and sub-headings, allowed for the reader to discover what each section was about and not have to read the details of the section to discover they are not interested in the section. This allows the reader to not feel like they have wasted anytime reading the center piece. This will keep the reader coming back week after week to read the center piece.

For the most part the pieces set up expecations and delivers them successfuly. The UAB sides give the reader an expectation of reading about specail events and activities and while the reader reads on that expectation is satisfied. There is no other unrelated information given which adds clarity and ease to fulfilling expectations. The Single side, depending on how the reader interperets hooking up with a single, different information will be expected. The reader could interperet hooking up with a singele, to be hooking up with a single room, or a single person. Because of these two interpretations, one being completely unintended (or atleast i hope so) by the author, perhaps a different heading/title should have been used. Given this unclarity by the author, it is up to the individual reader's mind to interpret the heading as it naturally desires. Because, males typically have more sexual thoughts than females, a male is more likely to interpret the heading as hooking up with a person. Hooking up is a term for a one time sexual fling, and that is it's more common use. That is why it is not surprising for the heading to be missinterperated.

Background information is not typically necesary to understand the center piece's information. Only the themed dinners require background information in the form of definitions of terms used in the titles, which creates a more exclusive audience.

The writer establishes a formal yet almost "in your face" reltionship with the reader. It is formal in the fact that there is no personal information about the author included or personal emotion presented in the center pieces. The author is in a sense "in your face" because of the questions used to grab the reader and make him or her think and become engaged in the center piece. The bold headings, titles, and colors also add to this attention grabbing "in your face" effect. I picture the author almost like a door to door sales perosn. Very formal, energetic, and in your face. They try to draw you in, make you think about the information they are giving you, and use questions to make you feel like you want the information even though you may not.

The Big picture or foreground of the center pieces are the headings and titles. They deliver the main information and try to catch the reader's attention. If the attention is caught the reader then focuses more on the details and the background information (the descriptions in small print). The headings are the actors, the colors and pictures are the props, and the descriptions are the dialogue, that will only be heard by those who are interested.

RCAH FILM SERIES FLYER

Purpose: I’m not 100% sure but 99.999 % sure this flyer was intended for RCAH students and to inform them about movie showings specifically for RCAH Students. But again I cannot be 100% certain because there is always the slight chance this flyer is a trick or experiment of sorts to undermine the student population.

The appearance of this flyer is not necessarily attractive it is quite plain it has a whopping four colors and tones of one of these colors on it. There are a few bold words, such as the title, and is in the typical RCAH flyer color scheme and style. It has the RCAH logo. Nothing pops off the flyer. This normally would not catch my attention, I only noticed it because I was hunting for a flyer because Fraiberg said to.

Basically I discovered this flyer in an exciting way. My friends and I were staying up late working on this project. We were walking around the third floor looking for an empty study room, finally we found one. Anyway, we began and I realized, oh my stars I forgot to grab a flyer for this project. Fortunately “The Lord” provided for me and she (Katie, her nickname is The Lord) had many different flyers and shared one with me.

The only aspect of this flyer that made me want to read it was the topic in the title (Film Series), because as I stated earlier this flyer’s layout was not particularly attractive or unique. The resonating pieces of this flyer can resonate intensely or not. They are the descriptions of the films. The descriptions of the films could either intrigue a reader minutely, majorly, or bore them depending, completely on the reader’s personality. There were two points that I found myself stuck on. One was the Chatauqua themed night, it sounds more like a discussion than a movie night, mostly because it does not mention a movie anywhere in the description. The other point was the RCAH Student films week, this caused me to get stuck in wonderment because it is a tentative event. This is something that needed to be included in the flyer that no matter what the author were to do people would still find themselves stuck in wonderment on it.

These are my exact thoughts while reading this flyer, some are odd I know.
Is this like a movie theatre session like in wells hall or an actual film festival and are these movies by students or Hollywood movies?
Why is this in French
Do I have class at 7-10 on Wednesdays
No I don’t I could go
How did hip hop reach third world African people?
Jackson that is the teacher of the class I haven’t been able to go to yet
I should email him about missing class last week
Another Wednesday why are these both the same time is this a weekly thing?
Chatauqua that’s the thing with the professor with glasses
This one sounds more like a discussion than a movie event why was the movie name not listed. Is there a movie if not why is this being advertised on the film flyer
Now the films are switching to Tuesday nights I guess I was wrong earlier
What are the student films about, this could be interesting
Another Tuesday one
Cautiva what does that mean, oh captive
My Spanish teacher in high school was from Argentina
Why can I not remember the dictator in Argentina’s name, is it Peron I can’t remember if he was a dictator or not
This sounds really good, did Christina’s current parents take her or adopt her?
I might actually want to go see this one
Oh so RCAH FILM SERIES is a student club

6. When reading this text I must say I did read it in its entirety. I started at the RCAH logo and realized this is for the RCAH (what a shock). My eyes naturally moved to the blue letters which were the description of the movies. Because of the size and change in color of the writing I regarded it as something that should be read later so I moved on the bigger words. This sent me reading it in the order the Author intended (I believe, unless again this is a conspiracy or trick), except for the descriptions being of the first words I noticed.

The main points of this flyer are to raise awareness of the RCAH Film Series, and the individual movie nights’ information.

The main question that was raised was involving the Chautauqua night. Is there going to actually be a movie? This question was not answered. I cannot tell you how many nights I have lost sleep over this unanswered question. Not really I am kidding.

I was expecting to learn about movies involving the RCAH and topics that go with the RCAH, I was pleasantly not surprised. I read the title and expected this and then read the rest of the flyer and I was not disappointed.

This article only requires background knowledge of what RCAH is, other than that, it simply tells about a group within the RCAH and the movies they put on.

Who wrote this flyer? There is no given author name. This flyer, because it is for a group, was probably written by a student who is most likely a high ranking member of this group, maybe even president. This mystery person, is interested in films and their impact on culture. They are possibly, artistic, being in the RCAH implies some amount of creativity but not necessarily. The plain layout of the flyer begs to differ and say the Author is not creative or artistic, but maybe they do not like to take risks or felt the flyer needed to be formal. My conclusion would be this person is formal and intrigued by culture and movies.

This is a quite formal flyer, which creates a lot of distance between the Author and the reader. The lack of boldness the flyer has increases the distance between the two people. The author assumes the reader is uninformed about the RCAH film series and gives the reader information about the series and the basic and necessary information.

If this flyer were an epic movie, RCAH FILM SERIES would be the title. The word tentative is used a couple of times making the would be film mysterious in ways, and give the viewer feelings of uncertainty. It zooms in and focuses on the descriptions of the movies and shows the big picture of it all including the relation to the RCAH. This is all the foreground. The background is the information regarding the student committee for the series. This is shown as less important compared to the films themselves.

Shane James Luke? Who the heck is that?

Let's See,
My Name Is Shane James Luke. I am a freshman at Michigan State University. I went to Fruit Port Elementary School for K-2nd grades, then Coopersville Area Public Schools for 3-10th grades, and Lansing Eastern High School, home of the only fighting Quakers, for my Junior and Senior years, where I was an International Baccalaureatte Diploma Candidate but fell one point short of it.
Some organized and unorganized facts:
Languages Spoken: English, Intermediate Spanish, and about twenty words of Japanese.
Ethnicities: Two Thirds German, A Quarter Italian, and a we bit Irish.
Sports: No I am a clutz.
Music: I love Heart, P!nk, and Sugarland. I also write blues rock music sometimes.
Movies: I like alot of different movies, musicals, comedy, horror, and most other movies.

As for my dreams, as far as careers go, are either a teaching, social work, or music (atleast
these are what I am currently considering).

As far as my writing experience goes, I do not consider myself a good writer. I used to be very good at writing, in elementary school through my junior year i was praised by my teachers for my writng and it was displayed to the class as an example. Then my Junior year I have no idea what happened. I did ok in my IB World Litterature Class, then my Senior year no matter how hard i tried i would get no better than a C. I guess I am more of an abstract writer. I can write poetry and song lyrics well but as for essays that have to follow a perfect format, I struggle greatly.
My Technological skills are close to none. Instead of listing the computer skills I do not have (which is too many for even a computer to count) I will list the ones I do possess;
I can google web sites and images (that is it)
Check Email
Write on a Blog and Upload pictures
Download music.
I honestly tend to break technology and get very frustrated at it.

One more little fact about me, I am an open book, ask me a question I will always answer unless maybe I go deaf, but even then I would answer it would just take me longer because I would have to learn Sign Language First.