Purpose

In this module, you will take a close look at a digital platform/interface, breaking it down into its component parts and answering questions about its significance. You will also come up with possible revision suggestions that might strengthen the interface’s desired impact or otherwise serve its users. In addition to the actual report, you will provide a “rationale” that explains the rhetorical choices you made in your writing and how you hope they affect your audience.

Tasks & Deliverables

1. Design Report Essay

Word Count: 1,000+ words

Your report should address the following questions:

What is your interface, and what is its intended audience and use?
How does this audience/user group impact the choices that went into the interface’s design?
How have users actually made use of the interface?
How does the design of the interface influence the ways in which it is used?
How has the designer incorporated features to respond to its target audience?
What additional features or design choices might better serve the audience? (Here, you can suggest your own revisions.)

2. Rationale

Word Count: 500+ words

As a companion to your major assignments, you will complete a “rationale,” in which you reflect on the choices you made in completing your work. Each Rationale should be a separate document of at least 500 words that explains your writing process, decisions made, and lessons learned over the course of a given project. These assignments allow you to explore how you approached each of BTW 285’s learning outcomes, with special attention to #4: “Clearly explain, defend, and reflect upon your rhetorical decisions, processes, and products with regard to media and technology.” The metacognition required in these documents will prepare you for the sort of self-evaluation and justification you will need to do in the workplace and beyond.

Each Rationale must be over 500 words, but how you decide to frame these words is up to you. However you approach it, you should describe the following:

Your Goals: What did you want to accomplish with your project? How did you go about satisfying the assignment’s requirements while still making your piece work for you? Did you achieve these goals? Did you compromise on them, or complicate them along the way?
Your Process: What did it take to develop the final draft of your project? How did you move from an empty page to a rough draft to a final draft? How did this process surprise you or feel like other projects you’ve worked on? What technologies or practices helped you?
Your Choices: What decisions did you have to make en route to your final draft? Is there anything you would do differently? How did you know what the right choice was at a given moment?