Memo

To: Dr. Greg Wickliff

From: Hazel Mynes

Date: 11/19/2018

Re: Project Assessment Memo for Tutorial

I began the tutorial project by sketching a tutorial based on the sample one we had looked over in class.
With this project, as in the last one, I used PowerPoint to create the first digital draft, and then re-created
it in InDesign. Though I feel more competent using the tools of the InDesign software, it is still
challenging to switch from what I know in other programs to what I now know how to do in InDesign. I
did enjoy learning some new things like how to duplicate a page, make a master page, insert page
numbers, insert a link, add a video and use the media panel, and save the project as an interactive PDF.
I created the tutorial for my web design, media, and marketing business called Dream Link Media. I had
been working on a multimedia project in my other course with this same subject matter, and I thought it
would be good to have a PDF version of the information. The purpose of this tutorial is to alleviate some
of the repetitious work I do when I get a new client and have them sign up for their Weebly account,
where I can then create the website for them.
Graphics
I used the same graphics I had designed for the multimedia project in my other course for this tutorial and
saved it as an interactive PDF so that the video demonstrations for each section could be viewed. I chose
the same color scheme of lavender, gold, black, and gray. I used gold icons to denote the various sections
of the tutorial. I also used clip art gold frame for the headings on the pages. I used screenshots that I saved
from an actual sign-up in Weebly throughout each step of the tutorial. I also added my logo on the two
lead pages and the final page. I also did a screenshot of a sample follow-up email I composed.
Layout and Typography
Once I sketched the layout ideas, I began working on the placement of all the information and put
placeholders in Draft 2 for a lot of the images that I would enter later. I placed 3 to 4 placeholders on each
page aligned left, with Title & text explanations on the right of each.
The images I used were screenshots of each step of the process that is described in the tutorial. On some
of them, I added in red some directions to go with the screenshot.
The tutorial design has purple or gold colored top and bottom borders, alternately. The font is Open Sans
bold and regular for the text and headers. Some of the main headings are in the font, Crystal. The font
color for some is black. For the Tutorial Title and a few other elements, the font color is lavender.
I did not stick with my original plan on layout, however. As I began rebuilding the tutorial in InDesign for
the final draft, I realized that even if one could zoom in on the PDF, it would be easier to read and
navigate if I put just one image with directions on each page so that the image and the content would be
larger.
Production Technologies
After I finished re-creating my design in InDesign, I was very happy with it. I decided to add a video to
each section, an idea I had in the beginning, but had chosen not to do in the second draft. But, when
finishing the final draft of the tutorial, I again decided to put them in. Later, I think it would be nice to
incorporate some of the assessment and feedback quizzes in PDF form that I had in my multimedia
presentation version for the other course.
Feedback
I was able to implement some of the suggestions from Ivy & Miriam, who gave me peer assessment
feedback.
Miriam had three good suggestions, which I implemented in my design.
1. To make the text “TO OUR GETTING STARTED WITH WEEBLY” bolder to have a consistent
flow with the rest the page
2. To separate the following texts into separate lines: WELCOME TO OUR TUTORIAL, then the
second line ‘GETTING STARTED WITH WEEBLY
3. To place the character ‘&” in one line: For example, Create an Account, &, and Add a Domain
Name all on separate lines
Ivy gave me a lot of detailed information, mostly affirmation of what I had done and why she thought is
worked well. Here are her suggestions I picked out of that information and my explanation of why I did
not incorporate each of them:
1. More graphic images/ illustrations incorporated in the title-page
a. I wanted my logo to be the main graphic on the page to highlight it, and also so as to not
drag the eye all around the page.
2. Titles and headings in the table of contents could have been underlined
a. Underlining should be limited in a document as it usually indicates a link when used.
3. Bulleted format for the sub-headings in the table of contents
a. I didn’t want the page to be too busy with bullet points since I was using numbers and
periods. I chose instead to embolden the Title for each section
4. Clear up confusion on why in section 2 of the tutorial there was a placeholder for a video labeled
3.8: Video
a. This was just a copy/paste for a placeholder, so it was fixed in the final draft.
5. The title: 4.1 Select New Domain highlighted in a different color
a. The placeholders were in the same color as the header and footer shapes, and did not
have the screenshots in them yet to give color variation as it did in section 2 she viewed
previously.
6. On page 13, the icon of the video-clip was not incorporated under the heading: 7.1: Purchase your
plan, next to the Unit 7.6’s description of the video.
a. This was just a different placeholder for the video.
 7. The table of contents page could have been formatted differently, in terms of spacing. There is
lots of empty room towards the right-hand side of the page which is not necessary.
a. I chose to format it the way I did so that each entry could be displayed all on one line on
both columns, therefore making it easier on the eye and to have better organization.
I was happy with my project and look forward to testing it on some of my clients to get feedback from
them. I was late turning this in due to getting behind on the major individual project in the other course
when my son was in the hospital, and on top of that, having great trouble learning the Storyline software
we had to use. In the end, I learned it well and turned out a great project, which this one stems from. Also,
our family has only 2 cars between three adults, the other two with jobs away from home, so it has been
hard to get to school to use the software. I was thrilled to realize this past week that InDesign came out
with a new version, and therefore I was able to download the new one and do another free 7-day trial,
which enabled me to get this done. Thank you for the time to get this completed and to have been able to
learn so many new things in InDesign that helped me do this project.