Memos and How They Work

Our powerpoint about memos is in the finishing stages at this point. We have laid out the slides and added pictures of what we are talking about. We are going to pass out a handout for the class to follow along with as a reference as we are presenting. Over break we will put the finishing touches on the presentation and split up the slides evenly so we all talk equally.

Instructions

I think I will be writing my instructions on how to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch.

Web Design: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This chapter was all about web site design and how to make effective websites. I found the four design principles to be the most interesting and useful things. These can be applied to more than just web sites. You can use these in designing your own documents to make them more appealing and effective. You don't realize how these four design principles really make or break a website. A website that uses proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast is more easy to use than a website that doesn't. An example shown in the text is the Mayo clinic website. It is nicely designed and gives you all the information you need. An example of a poorly designed website can be found here. The colors are awful and the text font looks like it is older than the internet. Clearly, these four principles are important if you want people to come to your site and be able to use it.

IKEA Manuals

For our first writing project I have chosen an IKEA manual. I have built a few things from IKEA and the experience is eye opening. Let's just say you should make sure you are building with a person who can handle screaming and crying because that is what IKEA manuals tend to cause. Needless to say there are good and bad sides to IKEA manuals. The good thing about their manuals is that they are accessible to people all over the world because they only use pictures. This accessibility is lost when you are trying to build a complex item from them. The pictures don't tell you all the information you need and you have to give it your best guess. In the end the manuals accomplish what they need while conforming to IKEA's minimalist culture.