Document Design was a life-changer. Understanding fonts, contrasts, colors, alignment, and layout among other things has helped me both academically and professionally. I use the concepts from this course in almost everything I do. These projects illustrate mastery of the following UALR Professional and Technical Writing Master of Arts program outcomes: 

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Understanding the history and theory of the profession - As culture progresses, we find it necessary to modernize our approach to design. Understanding the history of design and how it relates to time and space helps us ensure our work is sensitive to people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Design elements that might have been culturally acceptable 50 years ago are likely to raise concerns during an era when we strive to design for everyone rather than a select group of people. Because design's reach is international and worldwide, it is important to understand the history and theory of design and utilize in ways that are respectful reflective of the culture in which it is used.

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Analyzing a variety of rhetorical situations - Consideration of rhetorical situation when designing builds on the importance of understanding history and theory. In my designs, I focus on representation and designing with all people in mind. I deeply appreciated the attention given to these ideas during instruction, and I was grateful for the guidance in creating designs that are usable for everyone. Each of my designs represents presentation to a different audience with differing ideas, values, and purposes. I strived create designs that both resonated with the target audience and held value to various audiences.

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Using ethical and appropriate rhetorical strategies to develop arguments - As a result of instruction, I have learned to prioritize how cultural ideas and perception affect design and how they should or should not do this. It is easy to design something that works for our eye and our ideas, but it is more challenging to consider how things affect people who do not have the same lived experience as we do and how designs can sometimes reinforce stereotypes if we are not careful. Feedback from a variety of people of different backgrounds is extremely important, and just thinking critically about my design choices creates significant improvements to designs.

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Exploring and experimenting with technology - The biggest challenge when learning design was understanding and using technology I had not previously used. I have had the opportunity to familiarize myself with new design programs including Canva, Gravit, and the Adobe Suite. Although it took time to understand the tools and techniques these programs featured, using these programs in academic and professional designs helped me develop a degree of digital literacy that is crucial when utilizing other technologies that are unfamiliar, such as new content management systems, web development tools, and databases.

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Participating in the profession outside the classroom - Design instruction has proven remarkably handy in my work. I have used the concepts of these courses in drafting technical medical documents, editing submissions, designing promotional material, creating web content, and much more. As a content creator, the visual aspect of my work is arguably the most important part. A solid understanding of basic design concepts is an essential skill in my line of work.

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