Product Advertisement: Developed in Adobe Photoshop

Context

This document was developed within the bounds of a Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) course: Professional Writing and Technology Studio. Each student needed to produce a 1-2 page document using Adobe Photoshop. I worked within the genre of an advertisement, choosing to represent Luna (an herbal sleep aid for adults). The document had two separate audiences: fellow students in the course and adults from 18 and older. My fellow students would provide substantial feedback, paying attention to representation of the genre’s conventions and overall visual design. They served as a trial group before the public, but I was still tailoring my work in preparation for their viewing. I composed this document with the goal of public purchase/consumption. Consumers would feel captivated by Luna’s tagline for the sleep aid, along with the calming colors placed directly behind the text and graphics.

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Rhetorical Strategies

Composition of this document involved making several rhetorical decisions. I needed to ultimately connect all elements of the document, both visual and verbal, to the genre of an advertisement. So, my main objective was to persuade adult audiences to purchase the Luna sleep aid. The tagline on the left side of the document invites the audience to picture a restful sleep with relaxing dreams. I developed a short tagline to be effective and memorable, not an overload of unnecessary text. The Luna bottle was placed in the foreground of the document and it’s one of the largest objects on the page. After all, this image represents the purpose of the advertisement. Another element of persuasion, besides text and images, is the use of color. The background was intended to mirror sunrise with deep purple at the top, then transitioning into a bright pink shade. This color combination adds a soothing element to the document, while further balancing out the colors directly featured in the Luna bottle. This element of color was the best way to invoke a feeling from a digital document, hopefully prompting a potential customer to consider the value Luna could have on their sleep and overall well being. 

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Reflection

During the course of this project, I gained first-hand experience working with genre conventions. I needed to be mindful of the visual and verbal methods that I was implementing, so audiences would have the desire to purchase the Luna sleep aid. A stronger understanding of genre conventions can be applied to all types of composition, from multimodal projects to scholarly writings. It represents a form of identification and purpose for the audience to absorb. Although I designed this digital advertisement over two years ago, it’s still a piece that I’m very proud of. I was weary of the transition from scholarly essays and assignments to multimodal composition, especially with no digital design experience. With that being said, this piece often reminds me of my growth as a multimodal composer, and it has led me towards internship and career opportunities that I wouldn’t have previously considered.