DM Message Design & Content Creation

There are five essays/assignments worth 500 points (of the 1000 total).

Each essay will be given a “points/no points” grade based upon its meeting minimum requirements (subject matter, word count, turned in on time). Two will receive a letter grade, one of your choice (you will write a short paragraph explaining why you selected this assignment) and one of the remaining three selected at random.

The last assigned essay is a reflection on your learnings in the course. It substitutes for a final exam and will be due finals week. No late assignments accepted.

See this sample COM585 page.

Assignment 1

Identify five different websites that will form the basis of much of your analysis this quarter. There should be one from each of these genres:

• an e-commerce web site (must have online ordering)
• a government web site
• a media web site
• an entertainment web site (such as for a movie)
• a social networking site

Include the following information for each site:

• Site name and URL
• Genre (from above list)
• Site description
• Audience (your deduction)
• Business/Site Goals (your deduction)
• Homepage screenshot

On your WordPress blog, create a page entitled COM585 Course Deliverables. This page will serve as the “table of contents” that links to your assignments. Create a new page for each of the five websites; its parent page should be the COM585 Course Deliverables page. The page title should be the name of the website. Be sure to then list and link each website on the COM585 Course Deliverables page in a section/paragraph called Assignment 1.

Due 9 am Tuesday Saturday, 6 January (Week 3)
Graded on completeness; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100

Assignment 2

For each of the websites, develop five possible user tasks.

On your WordPress blog, create a new page for this assignment; its parent page should be the COM585 page. List each website from Assignment 1; provide a link to your summary page as well as to the site URL, followed by your narrative. Be sure to link this page on the COM585 page in a section/paragraph called Assignment 2.

Due 9 am Friday, 8 February (Week 5)
Graded on completeness; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100

Assignment 3

Revisit the tasks you identified in Assignment 2. Revise, making them more precise. In addition, find at least three user tasks that you believe should have been considered in the design (but which you believe were not considered). Elaborate on why you think they are important and how you made the judgment that they were ignored.

Pick one genre for more in-depth analysis. Pick two other examples from other students in the class. What are the similarities in tasks in these three websites? What are the differences? How effective are these three websites at helping users accomplish their tasks? Give evidence for your judgment, based upon identified (by you or other students) user tasks.

On your WordPress blog, create a new page for this assignment; its parent page should be the COM585 page. For part one, list each website from Assignment 1; provide a link to your summary page as well as to the site URL, followed by your narrative. For part two, list each website and provide a link to the appropriate student summary as well as to the site URL, followed by your narrative. Be sure to link this page on the COM585 page in a section/paragraph called Assignment 3.

Due 9 am Friday, 22 February (Week 7)
Graded on completeness and quality of analysis; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100

Assignment 4

Pick one genre for more in-depth aesthetic analysis. Pick two other examples from other students in the class. What are the similarities in visual design in these three websites? What are the differences? How effective is the visual design? Give evidence for your judgment.

On your WordPress blog, create a page for this assignment; its parent page should be the COM585 page. List each website and provide a link to the appropriate student summary as well as to the site URL, followed by your narrative. Be sure to link this page on the COM585 page in a section/paragraph called Assignment 4.

Due 9 am Friday, 14 March (Week 10)
Graded on completeness and quality of analysis; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100

Assignment 5

This, the final assignment, substitutes for a final exam. In this essay, you should reflect upon what you have learned in the course; give examples (evidence!); illustrate how your thinking changed or detail other “ah-ha” moments. How will you apply this learning? 600-800 words.

Due, via Collect-It, 9 am Thursday, 20 March (Week 11 – Finals Week)
Graded on quality of insight and analysis, grammar, spelling, general professionalism; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100