Assignments

Assignment overview

All assignments are submitted through Canvas. The dates below are the fall 2026 plan. Canvas is the source of truth for deadlines.

Assignment descriptions

Cluetrain Manifesto media analysis (50 pts)

Due: Friday, September 11

Read the “95 Theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto” as preparation for this analysis. The reading has no separate grade.

Find a piece of media that is relevant to the Cluetrain Manifesto and analyze how it connects to the document’s core ideas.

Instructions:

1. Find a piece of media — This could be an article, advertisement, social media post, video, podcast episode, company announcement, or any other piece of content that relates to the themes in the Cluetrain Manifesto.

2. Identify the relevant thesis/theses — Reference the specific item(s) from the 95 theses that your media example connects to. You can cite by number (e.g., “Thesis #7” or “Theses #12-14”).

3. Analyze the connection — In 1-2 paragraphs, explain:

   • How does this media example relate to the thesis/theses you identified?
   • Does this example illustrate that the principle still holds true 27 years after the manifesto was published (1999), or does it suggest the claim no longer resonates?
   • Why do you think this is the case?

Submission:

• Submit via Canvas text entry (not a file upload)
• Include a link to your media example
• 1-2 paragraphs (approximately 150-300 words)

Grading criteria:

• Clear connection to specific thesis/theses
• Thoughtful analysis of relevance in 2026
• Writing clarity and mechanics

Tips:

• The manifesto was written in 1999, at the dawn of the commercial internet
• Consider how markets, companies, and conversations have changed (or haven’t)
• Strong submissions will go beyond surface-level observations to analyze why the principle does or doesn’t hold up

Design a slide deck that doesn’t suck (50 pts)

Due: Friday, October 2

Create a 5-7 slide presentation on a topic of your choice that demonstrates strong design principles: visual hierarchy, contrast, alignment, and restraint.

Requirements:

• 5-7 slides maximum
• Minimal text (no paragraphs)
• Consistent visual style
• High-quality images or graphics
• Present to class during Week 6

Organization choice and landscape scan (75 pts)

Due: Friday, October 2, at 1:00 p.m. Available until: Sunday, October 4, at 11:59 p.m.

Choose the organization for your final project. Submit one Google Doc of about one page. Show that you have looked at the field this organization works in. This assignment is worth 75 points and counts toward the final grade. The research dossier, due October 30, is the longer version of the same work.

Include:

1. The organization. Name it. Say whether it is real, fictional, or one specific effort inside a larger brand. A giant brand is a weak choice unless you limit the project to one effort, such as one local event.
2. Why you can speak about it. Use experience you have with the organization, as a member, a customer, or a critic.
3. A landscape scan. In a few short paragraphs, cover who the organization is for, two or three others that speak to the same people, where people actually encounter it, and one communication problem or opening you might work on later.

Field research means you look at the setting the organization actually works in. The audience, the other organizations, and the places people meet the brand all count. A summary of the organization’s own About page is not enough.

A landscape scan is a short map of that field. It shows who else is there and where your organization sits among them.

Optional reading:

• Field studies, Nielsen Norman Group
• Assessing community needs and resources, University of Kansas Community Tool Box

Submission: Paste the Google Doc link in Canvas. Use Share, then Anyone with the link, then Editor. Uncheck Notify me.

Alien propaganda poster (50 pts)

Due: Friday, September 18

Finish your alien propaganda design

Finish the design you started in class. You work for a fictional galactic public-relations organization. Your job is to persuade an audience on an alien planet to believe something or take an action.

Choose one clear message. Your campaign could promote an empire, recruit explorers, or encourage a strange public habit. It does not need to involve war. It can be funny, unsettling, subtle, or serious.

What to make

Complete one poster in Canva. Start from a blank design, not a template. Use a vertical 2:3 aspect ratio unless another format serves your idea better. If you choose another format, explain that choice in your submission comment.

Apply the principles we discussed:

• Hierarchy: Make it clear what viewers should notice first, second, and third.
• Contrast: Use differences in size, color, brightness, or type weight to emphasize the message.
• Balance: Place elements deliberately. An uneven composition should serve a purpose.
• Repetition and motif: Use recurring shapes, symbols, colors, or other elements to connect the design where useful.

Before submitting, view the poster at a smaller size. Can you still understand its main message? Can you read the important text? Remove anything that competes with your main point.

How to submit

1. Open Share in Canva.
2. Set access to Anyone with the link.
3. Set permission to Can edit.
4. Copy the link and submit it through Canvas.

Submit the working Canva link, not a downloaded PNG or PDF. Check the deadline listed in Canvas.

Grading and critique

This is a completion-based, pass/fail exercise. Submit a completed design that applies the class principles. A blank canvas does not count. You do not need Canva Pro, and watermarks will not lower your grade for this exercise.

We will review a selection of designs in class. The goal is to practice making deliberate visual choices that support a message.

Customer persona (35 pts)

Due: Friday, October 9

Build at least one fully developed customer persona for your final project organization. Two is better. A persona is a fictional profile of one specific type of customer, grounded in research. It must be specific enough that you can design and write content for that person directly.

Start from the landscape scan you submitted on October 2. Start with your core customer: the audience group that matters most to your organization. Build one person who represents that group.

Personas lead directly to campaign ideas. A persona who commutes to work every morning and stops for coffee on the way becomes the premise for a morning-rush loyalty campaign. Build the person first, and the ideas follow.

Your persona must include:

• Bio — one or two sentences to give the person a face. Name, age, occupation, and a detail that makes them real.
• Material conditions — the external structures shaping their life: income range, transportation (car, bus, on foot), childcare responsibilities, and work schedule flexibility. These limit what is possible for this person.
• Typical day — walk through their daily schedule at the level of detail that is relevant to your organization. Where are they? What devices are they on? When do they have time to engage?
• Digital habits — not just “uses Instagram” but how they use it. What accounts do they follow? Do they read comments? Do they click links in bio? Where do they discover new things?
• Goals — what are they trying to accomplish, both in general and in moments relevant to your organization?
• Pain points — what frustrates them? What problems are they trying to solve?
• How they interact with your organization — what brings them in, what keeps them coming back, and what could drive them away?
• Sources — two or three things you looked at to build this person, such as reviews, comments on the organization’s posts, a conversation, or your own observation.

Submission:

Set up one Google Drive folder for your entire final project. Set sharing permissions to “Anyone at Montclair State University can edit.” Add your persona document to the folder and submit the folder URL in Canvas. This one-time setup covers all future assignment submissions and gives me editor access to leave inline comments.

Grading:

This submission is graded on completeness and on whether the persona is grounded in something real (35 points). The final project needs at least three personas. You will revise this persona and finish the rest in the research dossier.

More details about this deliverable.

Research dossier (75 pts)

Due: Friday, October 30

The research dossier is your project’s full research document. It maps your organization’s field: competitors, audience, strengths and gaps, and inspiration. It builds on your landscape scan and your first persona. It is the foundation for the campaign strategy, due November 6, and it goes into the final project package.

What to include:

• Competitor analysis — three to five competitors or comparable organizations, covering social media presence, pricing or positioning, and key messaging
• Audience analysis — current audience compared with potential audience: who they are and what they need
• SWOT analysis — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• Inspiration — three to five examples of content or campaigns that could inform your approach, with what you take from each one
• Customer personas — at least three: your core customer (the largest, most likely group), a potential customer (interested but unsure, or not yet aware of you), and a Hail Mary customer (unlikely, but worth testing your ideas against). Revise the persona you submitted on October 9 using the feedback you received.

Submission:

Add the research dossier to your project Google Drive folder. Submit the folder URL in Canvas (same link as the customer persona — no new folder needed).

Grading:

This submission is graded on depth and analysis (75 points). Describing competitors is not enough. Explain what their choices mean for your organization and where the openings are.

More details about this deliverable.

Campaign strategy (75 pts)

Due: Friday, November 6

Write a 1–2 page strategic document that bridges your research dossier and your creative production. This is the plan before you make anything — what you’re doing, why, where, and how you’ll know if it worked.

Your personas are the foundation. Before you write a single word of this document, look at the people you built. Your strategy should flow directly from what those personas want, where they spend time, and what problems they’re trying to solve.

Structure your strategy using this framework:

1. Goal — one specific, measurable statement of what the campaign accomplishes. Name the audience, the outcome, and a timeframe. Start with a high-level aim (“increase foot traffic”), then drill down to the core business objective (“increase weekday lunch sales by 20% among remote workers by June 1”). One campaign, one primary goal.

2. Strategies — 2–4 broad directional approaches to reaching that goal. Strategies explain why you’re doing something and where you’re showing up — not what specifically you’ll do.

3. Tactics — the specific, actionable things you’ll do to execute each strategy. Each tactic should map to a strategy. “Post on Instagram three times a week” is a tactic, not a strategy.

4. KPIs — 3–5 metrics you’ll track to measure success. Check your analytics before you write these — you need a baseline to measure progress. Pick numbers tied to real business outcomes, not vanity metrics like follower counts.

5. CTAs — the specific actions you want your audience to take. Define these upfront so they’re consistent across all content.

Also include:

A two-week sample content calendar showing what you’d post, where, and when — enough to show you’ve thought about posting frequency and platform mix.

Submission:

Add the campaign strategy to your project Google Drive folder. Submit the folder URL in Canvas (same link as the research dossier — no new folder needed).

More details about this deliverable.

Critical copywriting (100 pts)

Due: Friday, November 13, at 1 p.m.

Write a blog post for your final-project organization that calls bullshit on one concrete problem in its field. Explain the problem and why it matters, highlight organizations that do it better, and show how your organization fits the better approach. The connection to your organization must follow from the evidence. It should not read like an advertisement.

Read chapters 2–7 of On Writing Well by William Zinsser first and apply them: Cut clutter, hook the reader early, use plain words, and read your draft aloud.

Write the post in a Google Doc with a headline. There is no word count. Share the Doc with editor access and submit the link in Canvas. This is the first draft of the critique blog post that the final project requires. Use the Canvas assignment for the full instructions, checklist, and grading criteria.

Social media promotion (75 pts)

Due: Friday, November 20

Create a social media promotion package for your blog post: featured images, social graphics, and platform-specific social copy. This is where your writing meets its audience — everything needed to make people click, read, and share.

Write new social copy to promote your critical copywriting blog post. Use the platform-specific guidance from class and pair it with visuals that earn the click.

Deliverables:

• 2 featured images — graphics for blog post social previews (1200×630 pixels). These appear when your content is shared as a link on social media and determine whether someone clicks through.
• 4 social media graphics — standalone images for direct posting (1080×1080 pixels). These need to work on their own, without the context of an article.
• Social copy for at least 3 platforms — one must be Twitter/X (280 chars max). Choose two more from Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Platform-specific — not the same text on every platform.

Requirements:

• Consistent with your style guide (colors, fonts, visual language)
• Alt text for every image
• Exported as PNG or JPEG, optimized for web

Submission:

Add all image files and your social copy document to your project Google Drive folder — do not embed images in a Google Doc. Submit the folder URL in Canvas.

Full assignment details.

Brand kit and style guide

Due: Friday, December 4

Draft review: Friday, November 20 (in class)

Create a style guide that codifies every visual and verbal decision for your brand. The goal: anyone following the guide could produce content for your organization — a social media post, a flyer, an email — and the audience wouldn’t notice the difference.

What to include:

1. Logo and mark rules — Approved logo versions (full color, white-on-dark, black-on-light, icon-only), minimum sizes, clear space requirements, and a “don’t do this” section showing misuse.

2. Color palette — Exact hex codes for primary colors (2–3), secondary/accent colors (1–2), and neutrals for backgrounds and text. Include usage notes for each color.

3. Typography — Exact font names, weights, and size ranges for headlines, body copy, subheadings, and captions. Specify what’s forbidden (e.g., “never use more than two typefaces in a single design”).

4. Voice and tone — Voice is consistent (who the brand is, always). Tone shifts by context — define it for at least three situations (e.g., social media, apology, product description).

5. Grammar and mechanics — The small decisions that matter for consistency: capitalization, Oxford comma, number formatting, punctuation rules.

6. Image and photography style — Describe the visual aesthetic: lighting, color temperature, subject matter, what to avoid. If using illustrations, define the style.

Bring a draft to class on Friday, November 20 for in-class peer review.

Submission:

Add your style guide to your project Google Drive folder.

More details about this deliverable.

Final project: Multimedia campaign (500 pts)

Due: Tuesday, December 15

Create a multimedia campaign for a real or fictional organization. All assignments from here on are deliverables for this project — you’re building it piece by piece throughout the semester.

Choose your organization wisely. Avoid large, dominant brands (Disney, Apple, the Knicks) — their existing professional work is too high a bar to compete with and limits your creative freedom. Strong options:

• A small-to-medium business (local coffee shop, bakery, gym) that’s good at what it does but weak on marketing
• A local or niche organization (a theater, a community group, a non-profit)
• A fictional brand you invent from scratch
• A hyper-specific campaign for a large brand (e.g., one product launch or one regional initiative)

Required deliverables:

1. Style guide and branding kit — A detailed manual with specific rules for fonts, colors (primary and secondary palettes), tone, grammar, and design elements. Goal: anyone following the guide could post for the company without the audience noticing a difference. More details about this deliverable.

2. Research dossier — Your living internal document: competitor analysis, audience analysis, SWOT, and inspiration. (Built throughout the semester.) More details about this deliverable.

3. Customer/user personas — at least three fictional profiles (core, potential, and Hail Mary customers), each with a bio, typical day, goals, and pain points. These lead directly to campaign ideas. More details about this deliverable.

4. Campaign strategy document — A 1–2 page plan structured as: Goal → Strategies → Tactics → KPIs (success metrics) → CTAs (calls to action). More details about this deliverable.

5. Two written pieces — One must be a “call-out” piece: identify an industry problem, explain its impact, and highlight brands doing it right. More details about this deliverable.

6. Two featured images — Graphics for blog post social previews (1200×630 pixels). These boost click-through rates when your posts appear in social feeds. More details about this deliverable.

7. Four social media graphics — Standalone images for direct posting (1080×1080 pixels). Must be visually compelling on their own. More details about this deliverable.

8. Nine social media captions — Three must be for Twitter/X to practice writing within the character limit and force conciseness. More details about this deliverable.

Substitutions. These eight parts are required. The research dossier, the personas, the campaign strategy, and the style guide cannot be replaced. You may propose a substitution for a written piece, a featured image, a social graphic, or a caption when the substitute serves the campaign. The required piece stays due until the instructor accepts the substitution in Canvas.

Submission note: For any graphics embedded in Google Docs, you must also include the raw image files (PNG or JPEG) in your shared project folder.

Presentation: You will present your campaign during finals week. Be prepared to walk through your strategic decisions and explain each deliverable.

Submission guidelines

• All assignments submitted through Canvas
• Use Google Docs for written work — share with “Anyone with the link can edit” and uncheck “Notify me”
• Images should be high-resolution exports (PNG preferred)
• Include alt text for all images
• Late work loses 10% per day