Click to View: Full Program Booklet
Program booklet cover spread: back page (left), front page (right)
- Maker: Jasmine Jackson
- Genre: Multi-page Document
- Level: Graduate
- Program: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
- Course: WRIT 5800: Editing, Layout, and Design
- Instructor: Dr. Eric Mason
- Semester Created: Winter 2020
Description:
The multi-page document began as a volunteer project for a non-profit organization in Buffalo, New York that serves as a space for individuals with disabilities to explore their bodies and capabilities through dance. The document was to be a 30 page performance brochure for the Spring recital, a final showcase for family, friends, and sponsors to witness the year-round efforts of students and organizers. Unfortunately, the program was cancelled when the organization closed its doors due to the threat of coronavirus. Nonetheless, I was interested in trying my hand at InDesign and decided to create a program booklet as a product of my podcast for a fictitious showcase. With the exception of the photography credits and the quote by Maya Angelou on the last page of the booklet, the names of people, venues, showcase numbers, etc. are all fictitious.
The design of the program was inspired by the monarch butterfly. The initial colors of the program were black and yellow because they are most commonly associated with the insect. Yet I decided to follow the inspiration of the blue colored monarch because the symbolism drove home the theme of the showcase. The blue colored monarch symbolizes transformation and change, while the yellow monarch indicates joy and happiness. I aimed to capture the essence of the butterfly’s anatomy in the front and back matter of the booklet. I opted for an image of a person folded in a shape that mimics that of the monarch’s wings. I also, split the image on both pages, in such a way that when opened, the spine of the booklet would resemble the thin body of the monarch and the pages indicative of the span of the wings. Finally, I organized the showcases in an order that is progressive and reminiscent of the process of metamorphosis.
Reflection:
The design thinking process heavily influenced the way that I approached the multi-page document because it enabled me to schedule stages of development to pace the production process. For example, in the empathize and define stages, I focused on identifying what elements would be the most and least important to a client if I were working with one. To do so, I drew upon my performance background and imagined a hypothetical client, Monarch Performing Arts, with hypothetical concerns and wishes.
This process differed from a typical writing assignment because I was able to use visuals in the form of color and photographs to suggest thematic purpose. I was most satisfied with the anatomy of the booklet because it depicts the physiology of the monarch butterfly. Principles of arrangement informed my project the most because I aimed to visually represent the progressive nature of metamorphosis.
