Water for New Residents
Scenario for Assignment #1
Your role: You work as a technical writer for your local water utility provider.
Your task: Your boss has tasked you with creating a flyer/information sheet (double-sided) for new residents that informs them about their water supply and related topics.
The purpose/goal: The underlying goal is to help residents learn about where their drinking water comes from and to become aware of conservation efforts, especially since drought and water conservation are increasingly more important for all citizens to understand. (No doubt they are hearing about water issues in the news already and have questions about how this affects them.)
Audience: The flyer is intended for new residents and will arrive in a mailer with their first water/sewer bill. The document will need to be written for a wide audience, but will ultimately need to be understood by citizens with little to no understanding of where their water comes from or why conservation is important. Keep in mind, too, that residents may live in apartments or condos with no yard, or live on 3-acre properties with sprinkler systems.
The document: The document will be a double-sided 8 ½” x 11” page. Its format may be a full-page unfolded document or a document that is folded twice as a 6-panel brochure.
Submit the following 2 items:
1. The document:
Follow the instructions included in the scenario. The document you submit will be one double-sided 8 ½” x 11” page, as it is intended to be mailed in hard-copy (paper) form. Its format may be a full-page unfolded document or a document that is folded twice as a 6-panel brochure. Choose only one of the formats and create only one document for this assignment.
Use visuals and color to gain attention, make your purpose clear, and reinforce/introduce information. If you do not include visuals and ONLY include text, your grade will be reduced by 1/3 (4 points). Type and color choices, as well as inclusion of visuals, must be considered for this assignment.
2. Responses to these analysis questions:
On a separate page (can be a third page or a separate document) from your submittal for this assignment, please respond (several sentences for each question) to the following:
- Who is the primary audience and what choices in your document were made with the audience in mind? Give examples. Explain, making sure to use the language of design introduced in your readings—arrangement/emphasis, clarity/conciseness, and tone/ethos.
- What aspect of your final draft are you most pleased with, and why?
- What aspect are you dissatisfied with, and why?
- Generally speaking, how comfortable are you designing an effective, clear document for a defined audience? Explain.
- Copy your Plain Language checklist/table from Week 1 into this document. Update the document with a brief note for each item to let me know how well you feel you followed each best practice in THIS assignment.
