Quotes from Margie Jameson's 2002 Best Practices Application

This excerpt explains how students in Computer Graphics 2 are exposed to the real-life process of keeping a client happy.

Step 1. Students are asked to produce a brochure for the Senior Service Project by the coordinator in charge of the program. She arranges a time with the instructor to meet with the class, however the students are not aware that their schedules will now have to be arranged to meet a new client and her deadlines. The Instructor has set up 5 prearranged groups that will brainstorm on walk-in client projects as teams. The client brings with her a written sheet of information she wishes to include in the brochure. The students ask her about her project and her expectations for the brochure. They are trying to understand her preconceived ideas of what sort of design she might like, the target audience for the brochure, and the most important information that must be highlighted in the piece. The client answers to the best of her ability on who the target audience and the community business members will be. As for her ideas on design she says: "I know what I like when I see it." After the meeting, students debrief with the instructor and discuss their plan of attack for the project. They are beginning to understand that some clients know what they want and can describe it in detail, while others do not know, or are not capable of verbalizing what it is they want. This brings a valuable real world lesson to the designers.

Step 2. Student groups set about creating layouts. Students must do research on the perceptions of community business members of West Essex High School Students who may work for them. They need to understand the target audiences perceptions, needs, and attitude towards West Essex Students in order to create an effective brochure. They must also research the history of the Senior Service Project at West Essex in order to under stand the perceptions of the business leaders of the past performances by students in the program. This will help them understand if they need to do any damage control or if they can highlight and praise the efforts of past success stories. They gain a richer understanding for the community, culture, and climate they are in. They also gain a deeper understanding of the skills needed to be in the design and business fields. They must seek to understand their client and their client's client. Each group member creates his/her own layout and presents it to his/her group. The group then can combine the best of the ideas, choose one over the others, or restart the process from scratch until they have a design they would like to present to the client at the second meeting. At the second client meeting the student groups present their layouts to the client one at a time and receive feedback for revisions.

Step 3. Revisions take place and students produce the brochure based on the client's suggestions. Students gain valuable knowledge of the latest technology and software as they seek to produce a product that resembles their layouts. They have a felt need to learn the programs and use the equipment in order to produce a winning design. They refine their projects using basic and advanced principals of design. They use the library of contemporary and historical resources provided by the instructor within their classroom. (The instructor is well suited to this position, as she has owned and operated an advertising agency since 1986.)

Step 4. The client is presented with five finished brochures to choose from. She chooses the one that best fits her needs and conferences with the students on why she chose the one she did. This gives the students valuable insight into the decision making process, and their performance.

Step 5. Debriefing. Students and instructor review the project, the process the designs and the outcome. All mistakes are valuable lessons. All comments are valued and valuable. The forum offers a safe avenue for critique where everyone is a winner because they learned from their successes and their mistakes.