Bonnie Cook – Design Musings

Tonight i’m working between finalizing the slides that I want to accompany my audio component (which I have written into a transcript and practiced). There are 20 slides total (including the introduction and the sign off page) and I am nervous about appropriately pacing myself through the presentation. Below is my self-assessment of this project based on the criteria provided in the unit content.

 

Owning the Content

I feel confident about owning the content by now as I have spent enough time reading the articles and working through the nooks of each researcher’s paper that I feel like their thoughts are living in my head. I can quote who believes what without needing to reference the sources. The story of my limited literature review makes me feel energetic because I understand where I can go with it.

 

Practice Makes Perfect

As I am still practicing, I know it is not perfect yet. I am working to pace myself to make sure that everything is ready tonight and I can just focus on recording and posting the presentation tomorrow night.

 

Engaging the Audience and Enticing Discussion

Though I feel like my information is engaging, I am anxious about making sure that viewers feel the same way. I am trying hard to make sure my visuals offer as much reflection as the audio to keep the viewers listening and interested.

 

Self-Criticism

I have been working hard to make sure my presentation is not only interesting, but really does offer an unbiased perspective on what research has been done about Storytelling in Graphic Design so far. As I look at my presentation tonight, I still see a “direction” that lends to the listener believing that storytelling is necessary for graphic designers to use in their work. Because a limited literature review needs to be able to see the issue from both sides, I need to go through and tweak out these parts that go beyond informative into persuasive.

 

My Own Presentation (Thus Far)

Presentation Introduction

The introduction is interesting and the part I worked hardest to make engaging. It is a story about telling stories! I provided the necessary background information for what i’ve been researching and why I am interested. Without it becoming a autobiographical account, I kept the information succinct.

 

Presentation Tone 

This is the part that I have trouble with. I want to make sure that I pause to allow reflection and absorption of information but I want to keep the audiences attention and am having to do so without being able to take on any body cues. This is unlike any other presentation i’ve had to give as these types of elements must be considered.

 

Vocabulary Presentation

Though design storytelling is not “defined” officially, I create my own definition through hybridizing storytelling and graphic design. Throughout the presentation, I do not lead the listener away from the topic, yet I cover all of the important areas of research.

 

Visual Presentation

I think I am worrying too much about this part. I’ve gone deep into “designing” the presentation and part of me feels like it is especially important since I am going to be presenting about the importance of a designer crafting stories for listeners. I am literally practicing what I am preaching (or at least presenting).

 

Presentation Flow

Based on the amount of slides and the time it takes for me to get through the information, I feel like the flow is nice. I do not feel like there are too many slides and I am having to rush through them, and I also have allowed for the possibility that my speaking may take a little longer once I begin to “present” with the visuals.

 

Presentation Timing

Currently the timing is right below 7 minutes. If it went as long as 8 minutes, I would not be encroaching on the “too long” time frame, which is 10 minutes according to the rubric (3 minutes over). Timing is something that makes me nervous, so that is why I am making sure I can dedicate an evening to getting it right.

 

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So far, so good. If I were giving myself a grade for the work done so far, it’d be an A as I have worked hard to get that on this project! I may add to this post after Thursday night to give further perspective on how it goes.