Rhetorical Situation and Goals:

 

Exigency: Clemson’s Human Resources Department (the client) was in need of posters to decorate the new office and promote Clemson spirit among faculty and staff. The client asked seminar members to include the following: an image of an employee performing his/her job, a captivating quote from the individual regarding his/her job at Clemson, and a visually appealing design. The purpose of the project was to highlight exceptional stories of Clemson employees. The client recommended that seminar members rely heavily on content previously produced by Creative Services, as this department routinely wrote and published feature stories on various Clemson employees. The posters were to further highlight these stories in hopes that office visitors would see the designs and then visit the Creative Services website for additional information.

 

Audience: The primary audience was the representatives from Human Resources. In addition, the audience included current and potential Clemson employees. The poster signage created was to be displayed in the Human Resources office; thus, the designs would be visible by all trafficking through the office. To create visually appealing and memorable work, ENGL 853 seminar members needed to adhere to the client’s vision. Students were instructed to individually create posters and then reflect on designs as a group, offering feedback and suggestions for improvement.

 

Constraints: Due to the client’s relationship with Clemson University, all designs needed to follow Clemson branding standards. Fonts, colors, and logo usage, therefore, were limited to those preapproved. From a design standpoint, seminar members faced limitations due to image size and resolution. When designing large posters, images lacking a high resolution could not be incorporated in the layout. This limited the number of pictures with which the designers could work. A limitation of a different nature was the lack of consultation with the client. While the HR representatives attended the seminar to present the need and goal of the project, they did not return until it came time to view the final product. Thus, ENGL 853 seminar members had little feedback from the client. Fortunately, feedback from fellow seminar members assisted in filling this void.

 

Goals: Fulfilling the client’s need was the most important goal of the project. In order to do so, seminar members created visually appealing designs conveying impactful information. The purpose of the project was to highlight Clemson employees and illustrate their passion for and happiness with their job at the University. With this purpose fulfilled, the Human Resources Department could then meet a subsequent goal of communicating this passion across campus and to current and future Clemson employees. In addition, a goal was to produce posters that would provide décor items for the new office.

 

 

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