WSU PROMO FINAL

Critique: COMM 210-01

Name: Inan Harsh (Critiquing Elena Trager)

Section: 01

Project: WSU Promo Draft

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Critique 1: With a group member

We cannot give credit if this critique is not done with a group member.

Who you met with: NA (I am only other member in critique Group besides creator)
Date/Time: 9/24/23 11:30PM

How you met (in person, Zoom, etc): NA

How long critique lasted: On and off for 4 days (~3hours)

Did you use the Critique Checklist?: As much as I could.

What did they(I) like: I love the the way the WSU logo is used, the slightly off-center of the horizon is ingeniously aligned with the downtown Pullman sign (which I also love) that leads to the “WAZZU”). I also like the choice of colors and opacity for the block around the text and the contrast between the oval for “are you ready?” and the rectangles in the body paragraph. The vignette in the crimson around the logo is also incredibly visually appealing. The body paragraph is also extremely well written and appealing. I also like the text choices. The handwritten style of “WAZZU” and “YOU” I think will be very appealing to High School Students as it puts some personal/human element touches to the rest of the more professional use of images in text surrounding it. The photo used also suits the rest of the design well. The alignment of building against the downtown Pullman size is awesome!

they say you did well? Do not just say it was good; be specific here.

Overall I think this is a phenomenal draft that needs little improvements. However I think it could benefit from a few minor changes.

1. I wish the “Why” stood out a little bit more. Maybe add a shadow to it the way you did for “IS FOR” and perhaps capitalize.
2. I also wish the “YOU!” stood about a bit more. It seems little bit muddled in it’s current placement and increased white shadow behind it. Perhaps try putting it in alignment with “for” or playing around with size and maybe making it a bit more consistent with the “WAZZU” lettering. Or maybe even moving up the “is for you” a tiny bit so you don’t have so much crimson on crimson on the bottom of the Y-O-U-!.
3. You used 2/3 background opaque blocks to surround the body text, I don’t feel this aligns with the text well, try combining it into one shape without the caps as I don’t see any need to create visual separations in the body text. I also feel there is too little space at the top and left of the box surrounding the text (the edge of lettering is very close to the edge of the box). Maybe just move it up and to the left a tiny bit so it covers the body text a little bit better.
4. Very very minor but also maybe see if you can make the “are you ready” stand out a little more by playing with the opaque oval surrounding it or playing with the font/lettering size a bit. But I also feel it is completely acceptable as is.

My Critique (from Elena Trager).

I really like the background photo, the darkness allows for the subject to be the main focus of the poster. I think the theme is very creative, along with the incentivizing and fun language used. To add some more flair I might add an exclamation point after “join the force”.

I think there is very good contrast on the first page, like you said the black makes the colors stand out more. The focal point is very clear, it stands out and is centered perfectly. I might consider using a different color for the second page; the pink is kind of bright which makes the text hard to read and also changes the way the color looks on the logo. Another fix could just be increasing the font size.
I do like how you used bright colors for the fonts, but I think it would look more cohesive if only 2 colors were used instead of 3, it would also create more repetition and pattern. I might also apply that concept to the fonts being used on the first page, all of the fonts are cool by themself, but they don’t really flatter each other, maybe choose one of the eccentric fonts to use and then another one that compliments it.
I like how you spaced out the text on the second page; the alignment also looks good, the only thing I might worry about is the Coug logo being cut off in both corners. Also on the second page the alignment of the logo is different from the first page. I would say there is a lot of good negative space, however the placing of “unleash your true potential” is a little close to the subject and the edge of the paper. Other than that, I think this was done really well.