Aside from the content of a poster, the actually quality of the poster, such as whether it has bends, folds, or scuffs, can aid-or inhibit- the credibility of the presenter. As this article noted above, format and layout are especially import in order to maintain an authors credibility. For example, a letter from a university professor should include the university title as well as a standard business letter format and an appropriate signature. Similarly, if a professor used a poster board to present research findings at a seminar, he or she would be deemed sloppy, unorganized, and less credible if his or her poster displayed significant wear and tear.

I had never heard of the difference between sans serif fonts and serif fonts, but I find it interesting that sans serif fonts like Arial are more effective for headings, but not for body texts. Upon researching the difference further, I found that according to the blog Writing Spaces, sans serif fonts are often considered more "modern and clean," so their crisp style is often utilized on websites and other online texts. However, traditional "bookish" serif font is still easier to read when it comes to large bodies of texts like journal articles. To read more from Writing Spaces, click here: http://writingspaces.org/wwsg/serif-and-sans-serif-fonts

Although this goal is related to graphic design, I believe that all technical communicators should strive to create harmonious content through following the four basic principles of graphic design. For example, my resume, which we workshopped in class, is not a graphic document, but I have aimed to follow the same principles. For example, on my resume attached below, I have made an effort to keep related information in close proximity to each other. I have also aligned subpoints with indentations to indicate that they fall under the above text. Third, I have utilized repetition by presenting details with identical bullet points. Lastly, I have used contrast by bolding my headings, which makes it easier to recognize the different sections.

https://www.dropbox.com/home?preview=Updated+Resume.docx

In "Rethinking Plagiarism for Technical Communication" the author discussed the difficulties that technical writing students have in understanding the nuanced interpretations of plagiarism within technical communication. I noted that the Creative Commons, which is also discussed in Writer/Designer: A Guide to Multimodal Projects, is an excellent source for finding visual resources through their collection of resources in which many, depending on their license, can be freely used without permission and without adhering to the fair use guidelines.

Throughout the service learning project, I have learned the importance of choosing visuals that aid the rhetorical situation. At Our House, Sabine expressed concern regarding trauma and PTSD that many of the residence face. That being said, we are keeping those concerns in mind as we create our signage, especially in choosing the images that we use . For example, one of the signs that I have been working on regards emergency safety. In order to stay aware of the trauma history of the shelter, I should not include any images of wounds, as many of the women may have experienced domestic violence.

Flowcharts are an excellent way to present information that includes a process or steps to be made, however some flow charts may be overly complicated, which distorts the presented information due to lack of readability. Here, I have included an example of a messy, complicated flowchart: https://s3.amazonaws.com/vetter/photos/102/continuous%20improvement%20strategies%20-%20complicated%20data%20flow.gif The flowchart is so overwhelming that I cannot see what information is being presented.

Oftentimes, technical communicators may be responsible for presenting data or findings of a researcher, or analyzing data. In this circumstance, it may be difficult to remain concise while clearly explaining results. When this happens, technical communicators should consider utilizing SPSS, which stands for "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences." SPSS is a software that I have used for statistical analysis in both Political Science and Sociology courses. With SPSS, users can take hundreds of statistical findings from research, imput an independent and dependent variable (x and y axis) into SPPS, and create an easy to read line graph. Here, I have provided an example of a line graph that displays the relationship between ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and grades. http://www.restore.ac.uk/srme/www/fac/soc/wie/research-new/srme/modules/mod4/13/spss_logistic_regression_graph_-_interaction_line.jpg Line graphs like this one are especially useful because it saves the audience from reading several paragraphs of complicated information.

Because visual content serves different functions, their utilization depends on the rhetorical situation. For example, in a peer-reviewed journal article for the Harvard Law Review, the primary visual aid that could be used, but still deemed appropriate for the content would be charts and graphs. In terms of design and layout, a peer reviewed article should also include a minimalist design that adheres to APA format, in order to ensure that design elements do not take away from the content and that the article itself follows the status quo of journal article format.

I believe that this is an extremely important factor of layout and format in technical communication that often goes unnoticed. I think that this is partially due to the way that students are taught to write academic essays. For example, when writing an argumentative essay with three main ideas, we are typically taught to present our two strongest ideas at the beginning and end of the body paragraphs, while squeezing less effective points in the middle. On the contrary, in technical communication it is most effective to place strongest points at the top or center of the document, as readers may become less engaged as they read towards the end of the document.

Attached is an information graphic or "infographic" on infographics. I find this one particularly effective because it utilizes several types of graphs and diagrams to display content. Although typical chart styles are used, the "key info" located in the bottom corner. I like this diagram because it utilizes an image of a key. In combining both a diagram and an image, the information sticks out to viewers.

http://www.brentcsutoras.com/2012/01/26/infographic-infographics/