Lecture notes

Notes from completed Fall 2026 class sessions. Use Canvas for assignment instructions and deadlines.

• November 6: Campaign strategy review and writing clearly
• October 9: Research and campaign strategy
• October 2: Customer personas
• September 25: Slide decks and the final project
• September 18: Poster critique and slide design
• September 11: File workflow and visual design
• September 4: Audience trust and platform dependence

November 6: Campaign strategy review and writing clearly

These notes cover the class discussion. Use the critical copywriting assignment in Canvas for the full instructions, deadline, reading, and checklist. A class transcript is available in Canvas.

Use the session resources for the reading and assignment links.

How the work is graded

The bar is a good-faith attempt. If you tried to do what the assignment asks and took your idea to its logical conclusion, you will do well, even if you misunderstood part of it. Expect notes and discussion, not a list of wrong answers. Pretending to have done work you did not do is the one sure way to lose points.

Assignments give you basic direction on purpose. Clients and employers rarely give more. Practice deciding how to meet a brief, then bring your questions to class. In a field where anyone can produce average work quickly, care and original thinking are what make your work stand out.

Students asked for a checklist for future assignments. Starting with this one, assignments include a checklist to review before you submit.

Keep the dossier working for you

The research dossier can keep growing after its due date. You can keep it in Google Docs or move it to a tool such as Notion, Figma, or Evernote. Use whatever structure helps you find and use your research.

Use the strategy as your roadmap

The campaign strategy guides the rest of your work. It can feel basic at this stage because it sets out the main milestones, not every detail. Expect to revise it before the final project as you learn more.

The strongest strategy discussed in class followed three steps:

1. Scan the landscape. Look at competitors and comparable organizations.
2. Map identities. Ask how each organization sees itself and how customers see it. One example: Sonos suggests an upscale home, while JBL suggests energy, the outdoors, and a party wherever you are.
3. Find the gap. Identify what the organization does not yet own and aim the campaign at it.

Narrow the scope

One focused idea can carry a whole campaign. A special series of can designs for different audiences is enough. You still have to announce it, explain it, create media for it, and show people using it. One idea done well is stronger than five related ideas done quickly.

Not every strategy needs to be loud. Snapple cap facts and the notes on Vitaminwater labels are quiet strategies that reward people who notice them.

When the product is harder to understand, find the one assumption that stops new customers and address it directly. Explainer content often performs well because people like to learn how something works.

Writing is thinking

Writing turns messy, nonlinear ideas into linear language that someone else can follow. That is hard for almost everyone, including professional writers. We read “Simplicity,” chapter 2 of On Writing Well by William Zinsser, aloud in class.

• Clutter is the disease. Unnecessary words, jargon, and inflated phrases hide meaning. “Anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation” means “it may rain.” Inflated language from companies and governments often hides what they mean on purpose.
• The reader owes you nothing. Hook readers early and give them a reason to continue. A reader who is confused in the first few paragraphs leaves.
• Simple is not dumb. Good communicators explain complex ideas in plain words. Metaphor and comparison help readers connect a new idea to something they know.
• Ask what you are trying to say. Then check whether you said it or danced around it.
• Read your work aloud. This is the most effective editing method. Break a long sentence into two. Use one sentence for one thought and one paragraph for one idea.
• Cut your opening. Your real lead often starts in the third or fourth paragraph.

The “calling bullshit” blog post

Use your dossier, strategy, and personas to say something. Find a shortcoming, bad practice, or misleading habit in your organization’s field. Then:

1. Explain what the problem is and why it matters.
2. Highlight other organizations that do it better.
3. Show how your organization fits that better approach.

Do not only say “they are bad and we are better.” That reads as self-promotion and persuades no one. A strong example from a previous class used a cosmetics brand’s limited foundation range to discuss color bias in the beauty industry. It then highlighted inclusive brands and connected them to the student’s own organization.

Write the post in a Google Doc with a headline. A subheading is optional. There is no word count. Use as many words as the point needs. You do not need to publish it. This draft is graded, and you will revise it with feedback for the final project.

If you submitted one of the October 30 assignments but not the other, leave a comment on the Canvas assignment so the submission is clear at grading time.

Review questions

1. What does your organization not yet own in its field, and how does your campaign address that gap?
2. What is the one focused idea at the center of your campaign?
3. What bullshit in your field would your audience recognize, and who already handles it better?
4. Which sentence in your draft would you cut or split after reading it aloud?

October 9: Research and campaign strategy

These notes cover the class discussion. Use the research dossier and campaign strategy assignments in Canvas for the full instructions, current deadlines, and submission requirements.

Use the session resources for assignment links and the Google Docs tab guide.

Build the dossier as a working document

The research dossier collects what you learn about your organization, its field, its audience, and comparable organizations. Start with the larger picture, then organize the details so you can find and use them. Explain what the evidence means for your project, and keep a source list with links.

Use your persona research to guide the questions you ask. Reviews, public conversations, and direct conversations with people in the field can reveal frustrations and opportunities. Contacting an organization can help, but an interview is not required. Separate observations from assumptions. Research tools and AI can help you find material, but check claims against sources.

There is no minimum page count. The dossier is a working reference, so you can keep adding to it after this submission.

Turn the research into a strategy

The campaign strategy is a concise, client-facing document of about one to two pages. Use the dossier to support your choices. The discussion covered four parts:

1. Overarching objective: Describe the change the campaign is trying to make.
2. Primary objectives: Identify specific, measurable results that matter to the organization.
3. Audience actions: Explain what you want people to do, such as visit, return, subscribe, or recommend the organization.
4. Success measures: Choose useful measures for each objective and explain how you would track them.

Ask “so what?” about each objective. More social media engagement alone may not mean the right people trust the organization or visit a local business. Connect the measure to the outcome and audience you care about. If you do not know a baseline, say so and explain how you would establish it.

Plan for constraints

Consider both an ambitious result and a useful result you could still deliver with less time or fewer resources. Keep promising ideas that do not fit the current scope in a parking lot for later. These are planning suggestions, not extra required submissions.

Submit the two assignments

You can use two named tabs in one Google Doc or two separate Docs in the same project folder. The dossier and strategy are separate Canvas assignments. Submit a link to each assignment, even if both tabs are in the same Doc. Follow Canvas for file access and the current deadline.

For the final project, you may propose a campaign centered on one medium if it meets the project goals and the instructor approves the scope. Required writing and at least one “calling bullshit” blog post remain part of the project. See the Canvas final-project instructions for the full requirements.

Review questions

1. What did you learn about the audience that should change your campaign?
2. Which source supports your most important strategic choice?
3. What action do you want your audience to take, and how would you know it happened?

October 2: Customer personas

Use the session resources for the persona assignment and project-folder sharing guide.

Describe people, not just demographics

A customer persona is a research-informed representation of a group you want to reach. Give the person a situation, motivations, goals, frustrations, daily routines, and ways they encounter the organization. Demographics can add context, but they do not explain a person’s decisions on their own.

The final project requires at least three distinct personas. Consider a core customer, someone who might become a customer, and a less likely person whose perspective could reveal a different opportunity. Give them meaningfully different circumstances instead of assuming every customer resembles a student in the class.

You can make a persona in a Google Doc or a design tool. Make it easy to read and connect its details to evidence rather than treating guesses as facts.

Use interviews and other evidence

The class interviewed one another in groups to practice asking about needs, habits, and barriers. A conversation can show the difference between what a brand says and what people experience. Ask open questions, listen for friction, and consider how price, familiarity, access, or trust affect a decision.

Interviews are one source of evidence. You can also use reviews, public discussions, reporting, and other relevant research. Record where a finding came from and identify what you still need to learn. Direct contact with an organization is useful when feasible, but it is not required for the research dossier.

Connect the persona to the campaign

Use the persona to decide what the organization needs to communicate and where. Ask what would persuade this person to take a first step, what might stop them, and what would bring them back. Revise the persona when new research changes your understanding.

Use the current Canvas assignment instructions for requirements and deadlines. The class discussion is a guide to the work, not a replacement for the assignment.

Review questions

1. What does your persona want, and what gets in the way?
2. Which details come from evidence, and which are still assumptions?
3. How would your campaign change for a person with a different income, age, or routine?

September 25: Slide decks and the final project

Based on the shared Granola summary for the September 25 class. Use the session resources with these notes. Assignment requirements and deadlines stay in Canvas.

Check the grade and the file access

Propaganda poster grades are in Canvas. A zero usually means the design was not shared, or nothing was submitted. Share the working file and leave a comment on the submission if it should be reviewed.

A late submission can still be accepted. The penalty is small when the work is complete.

You don’t need a doctor’s note for an absence. Stay home when you are sick.

Make the slide readable before you make it clever

The class reviewed live slide decks in Canva. The same problems showed up across different topics.

Legibility is the floor. A strong idea still fails when the type is too small, the contrast is too low, or the text sits on a busy image. Darken the text, add a drop shadow, or add a light or dark stroke so the words separate from the picture.

A heading has to look different from the body copy. Change the size, the weight, or the color. Put one idea on each slide. A table of contents rarely earns its space.

Use sentence case for quotes and body copy. Save title case for headlines.

Align the elements on purpose. Canva can space a group evenly and tidy the alignment. Match the left and right margins. Left-align bullets. Centered bullets fight the reason bullets exist.

Remove a photo background when the rectangular frame does not help the slide. Layer the cutout and add a shadow so it does not look pasted on. When a slide uses video, make the video the full-slide background. Don’t float several clips on the page.

A references slide and a small color scratch pad are useful working tools. Keep them. Keep the slides the audience sees focused on one point.

The slide deck assignment states the required slide count, due date, and presentation plan. These notes record the critique. They do not replace that assignment.

A brand is more than a logo

The class started the final project: a multimedia package for one organization. The final project is worth 500 points. It is due December 15. The course has no midterm and no exam.

The final project has eight required parts. The research dossier, the personas, the campaign strategy, and the style guide stay in the package. You may propose a different written piece, image, or social deliverable when it serves the strategy. Submit the required piece unless the instructor accepts that substitution in Canvas.

The package includes two written pieces. One of them is a call-out post. Name a problem in the field, show organizations that handle it better, and connect that argument to your organization. That post can supply the featured image, a social graphic, and a quote card. A video, GIF, or animation can stand in for a still graphic after the instructor accepts that substitution.

People often meet a brand in a feed, not on a profile grid. One post may be their first and only look. Design each post so it can stand alone. Reels, Stories, and other feed formats are the usual entry point. A logo is not a brand. A brand has a personality someone can recognize in a new setting. A Nike hotel is easy to picture. A Holiday Inn sneaker is not.

A style guide is a foundation, not a cage. The rules should let the work change without losing the brand.

Choose an organization you can explain

Pick an organization you know, care about, or can judge from experience. A campus group, a local business, or a product you use can work. A giant brand is a poor fit unless you limit the project to one specific effort, such as one local event. A fictional organization is allowed. It is harder, because you have to invent the facts other brands already give you.

Have a choice in mind before the October 2 class. Start a bookmark folder of strong branding, useful hooks, and public failures in that field.

Put the project in one Google Drive folder. Use clear subfolders, such as Writing, Social graphics, and Images. The folder structure is part of the work. Follow the customer persona instructions for sharing.

Class discussed two ways to present the finished package. One is asynchronous: you submit the work, and the instructor records a short screen-share critique. The other is a 15-minute Zoom meeting through the office-hours scheduler, with a grade in the meeting. The Canvas brief confirms which format is required.

Office hours are available on Zoom or in person for the organization choice and the early research.

A social content manager from NJ PBS may visit after the station’s October 1 launch. The station now operates on its own, and that team is building the brand while the work is still new. The visit is a live example of the same problem your project takes on.

Review questions

Use these questions to review the session. They are study prompts, not a new assignment.

1. Which slide in your deck fails the legibility test, and what one change fixes it?
2. What is the personality of your organization, beyond the logo?
3. Which post still makes sense if the viewer has never seen the brand before?
4. What will you put in the bookmark folder before October 2?

September 18: Poster critique and slide design

Based on the shared Granola summary for the September 18 class. Use the session resources with these notes.

Lead with the element that already works

The class reviewed alien propaganda posters in Canva and changed several designs on the spot. The exercise is completion-based. The critique was about the choices.

Place the subject on a rule-of-thirds grid. The frame divides into three columns and three rows. The intersections are natural places for the subject. A diagonal from one corner area to the opposite corner can connect two main elements.

The mathematical center often looks slightly off. Blur your eyes to find the visual center. Margins should feel even, not only measure even.

If one element still grabs attention when it is buried, make that element the entry point. Don’t hide the strongest part of the poster in the background.

Give the poster one explicit message. An implied story is not enough when the viewer cannot tell what to believe or do. A call to action in the margin gets missed. Give it room.

Keep the palette small. Three to five core colors are enough for this kind of poster. Extra colors split attention. When two lines make the same point, use the same color so the eye connects them.

Push a secondary photo back. Lower its saturation or its contrast when it should not compete with the subject. A figure can break out of a frame. That break can add depth.

Remove an element that does not help the message. Duplicate the file before you experiment. You can then move, resize, and delete without losing the version you already have. Step away when you stop seeing the design.

Use type with a reason

Use no more than three fonts unless the extra font does a specific job. Serif type fits print. Sans-serif type fits screens. Mix them only when the difference is the point, such as a contrast between a headline and a note.

Small serif type fails at a distance. Increase the size, or change the face, before you add more decoration.

Left-align bullets. A bullet already marks a new line. Centering that line removes the alignment the bullet was meant to show.

Build a presentation deck, not a document

The slide deck assignment is a live presentation. The topic can be silly, absurd, or personal. It is not a corporate report. Don’t generate the deck with AI. Don’t start from a template if you will present the deck. Canva or Google Slides both work. Submit the link, not a PDF.

A presentation deck and a handoff deck do different jobs. In the room, you say what the slide does not show. The slide is a visual aid. Presenter notes can hold your cues. Don’t read the slide aloud. A handoff file, such as a proposal or a style guide, has to make sense without you. It can hold more text.

Working rules from class for a live deck:

• One concept and one visual focal point on each slide.
• No more than six lines, and no more than six words on a line.
• The first slide should hook the room with a claim, a question, or a provocation.
• Left-align the text.
• Skip GIFs. Use a transition only when it does work.
• Use high-resolution images. Don’t drop a plain rectangular photo into the slide when a cutout would serve the idea.
• Proofread the type.

Canvas and the assignment page control the slide count and the due date. Follow those when they differ from a number you heard in class.

The style guide and branding kit, later in the semester, is a handoff document. The test from class: a friend with little design experience could run the brand’s social accounts for a week, and the audience would not notice the handoff. Montclair’s brand guidelines were the in-class example of that kind of document.

Review questions

Use these questions to review the session. They are study prompts, not a new assignment.

1. What is the one message of your poster, in one sentence?
2. Which element should the viewer see first, and does the layout do that?
3. Which font or color can you remove?
4. What will you say in the presentation that you will refuse to put on the slide?

September 11: File workflow and visual design

Based on the shared Granola summary for the September 11 class. The session resources include instructions for the tools demonstrated in class.

Organize the work so someone else can use it

Create a Google Drive folder for the course and star it for quick access. The naming example from class was LastName-STCM140-Final. Use descriptive names for files and drafts. A date such as 2026-09-11 keeps dated files in order when sorted by name.

Share the course folder with amditisj@montclair.edu as an Editor. The class instruction was to clear the notification checkbox before sharing. Check access on the files inside the folder as well.

The goal is a collection of work that the instructor can find, open, and review without requesting access to each file.

Use shortcuts for repeated tasks

The class demonstrated tab controls, file renaming, and pasting without formatting. Use the shortcut shown in the app’s menu when a command differs between programs.

The Drive folder command is a sequence. It differs from Command + C on Mac or Ctrl + C on Windows, which copies an item. The official shortcut lists provide the full commands for each system.

Keep the writing process visible

The class discussed reviewing Google Docs revision history instead of relying on AI detectors. Draft in the working document so the development of your ideas remains visible. Pasting a finished piece from another app does not show that process.

Writing is part of thinking through an argument. A finished block of text does not show the decisions behind it. Keep your drafts and revisions available for review. Follow the course’s AI policy and the instructions for each assignment in Canvas.

Make design choices serve the message

The class moved from file workflow to the choices that guide attention in a composition.

A drop shadow can help separate text from its background. Typography and color also affect how viewers read the message. Use the design resources to explore those choices.

The kinetic typography example used Stephen Fry’s narration to show how moving text can hold attention. The discussion also examined pacing: A long pause can interrupt an otherwise effective sequence.

Apply the principles to the alien propaganda poster

The exercise places you in a fictional galactic public-relations organization. Invent an empire, a planet, and one message you want an audience to accept.

Build the poster from a blank design rather than a template. Use hierarchy, contrast, balance, and repetition to make the message legible. The campaign can be subtle and does not need a war theme.

The class discussed a vertical 2:3 composition, with other formats possible when the choice serves the idea. The purpose is to practice persuasion through visual choices.

For the Canva workflow demonstrated in class, open Share, select Anyone with the link, and choose Can edit. Copy that link into the Canvas submission. A downloaded image does not provide the same access to the working design.

Use Canvas for the current assignment brief, required dimensions, due date, and grading details. These notes summarize the class exercise.

Review your draft

These questions are for practice, not a separate assignment.

1. What is the single message of your poster?
2. Which element attracts attention first? Does that order support the message?
3. Which repeated element or visual difference helps the audience understand it?
4. Can the instructor open and edit the submitted design?

September 4: Audience trust and platform dependence

Based on the September 4 Fathom transcript, with the shared Granola summary checked against it. Times below are minutes and seconds from the recording. The reading guide connects these ideas to the course readings.

Read Cluetrain as an argument

Discussion starts at 02:42. The class tested the 1999 Cluetrain Manifesto against current media habits. A useful response identifies a thesis, explains its claim, and supports or challenges it with a specific example.

Some ideas still apply: People talk to each other about products, compare experiences, and challenge company messages. Other claims need context. Advertising, audience feedback, and online communities work differently today.

A human voice starts with community concerns

12:32–22:24. The Pepsi advertisement with Kendall Jenner served as a case study for thesis 34. The class examined how the ad used protest imagery while avoiding the concerns behind the protests.

A casual tone alone does not establish trust. Ask whose concerns a message represents and whether the organization understands the people it addresses.

Separate criticism from measured effects. Negative attention does not, by itself, prove that a campaign reduced sales. The class discussed possible business effects without presenting sales data.

Advertising can work even when people recognize it

22:24–38:25. The discussion of thesis 74 challenged the claim that audiences are immune to advertising. An ad can offer useful information, entertainment, or a product someone needs. The Quiznos commercial illustrated the entertainment approach.

Influencer marketing and user-generated content can introduce products through people an audience already follows. Recognizing an ad does not make someone immune to its influence.

• User-generated content (UGC): Posts, videos, or other material made by users. Some campaigns ask people to contribute it.
• Call to action (CTA): A request to do something specific, such as subscribe, comment, or post with a hashtag.
• Marketing funnel: The steps through which someone moves from learning about a product toward becoming a customer.

The class distinguished planned campaigns from unexpected audience participation. A brand cannot assume that people will promote its products without a reason.

Listen to people and help them find useful information

56:50–59:47 and 66:12–71:43. Audience feedback can reveal problems that an organization misses. Large volumes of comments also require judgment about relevance and reliability.

The discussion of hyperlinks connected this idea to publishing. Link to useful sources, including work outside your own site. Readers should be able to follow the evidence without searching for the original source themselves.

These principles also apply to nonprofits, public campaigns, clubs, and other groups that communicate with people.

Build for an audience, not the latest platform trend

72:41–88:42. Joshua Topolsky’s Your media business will not be saved framed the second part of class. The discussion connected the industry’s enthusiasm for video with repeated promises that one new format or tool will solve its problems.

More output does not establish a useful purpose. Start with a specific audience and something worth making for that audience. Consider why people would return and how the work can continue over time.

A platform’s recommendation system can affect distribution. It cannot decide what your organization should contribute.

Keep the work usable beyond one platform

91:55–104:54. The class used Cory Doctorow’s account of platform decline to discuss dependence on social platforms. In that account, benefits shift from users to business customers and then toward the platform’s own returns. Creators have limited control over those changes.

The practical lesson: Treat the work itself as something you can preserve and distribute in more than one place.

Audio podcasts using open RSS feeds provided an example. A feed lets compatible apps find episodes without requiring every listener to use one app. Platform features and exclusive content can still differ.

Review questions

Use these questions to review the session. They are study prompts, not a new assignment.

1. Which Cluetrain thesis does a campaign support or challenge? What evidence supports your answer?
2. What makes a message useful or credible to its intended audience?
3. What action does a campaign ask people to take? How does that action serve its goal?
4. What would happen to your work if its main platform changed its rules or disappeared?

The session closed with a preview of design principles and the alien propaganda poster. Check Canvas for the assigned readings and submission requirements.