From the beginning of this project, I knew that I wanted to get an understanding of what people know about PCOS when they don’t have an entire blog dedicated to it. I myself am well informed about the ins and outs of this ailment, but I couldn’t say the same for those around me. Initially in my rough draft, I skipped over an explanation of PCOS and included a very choppy interview with my roommate. The missing explanation could have easily left listeners confused about the topic if they weren’t already educated on their own. All around, my rough draft was messy so I wanted to make some big changes in the final story.

After hearing some feedback from my peers in the class, it became clear that the others viewed my rough draft in a similar way. They offered me really helpful constructive criticism that I agree with, like implementing more than one interview and using the razor tool to make sure my transitions are sharp. They also pointed out that my roommate’s voice was quiet and hard to understand in the rough draft, so audio quality was definitely a top priority for me this time around. They also suggested I include a short explanation of PCOS to act as an intro for my story, which would provide more background info for the listener.

During the tutorials, I really enjoyed the vox pop format. When I revisited the tutorials to remind myself of the tools, I decided that a vox pop approach could definitely work in favor of my topic. I decided to go with this set up because it communicates multiple points of view very quickly, which can give the listener a great perspective on more than one person’s idea of PCOS.

When it came time to do my recordings, I took one friend at a time into an empty lounge in our dorm so we could have quiet and focused audio to use in the project. I recorded each question and answer individually so that the clips would be easy to arrange on my multitrack. I used the voice recorder on my phone to record the audio, and then just emailed the files to myself so I could work on the computer form there.

I had already gone ahead and labeled each of my clips while recording, so I mostly just had to place all my pieces in the right places. Some small amounts or trimming and rearranging were needed, but this approach was pretty straightforward and I was able to put together my final story fairly quickly.

From there, I gave the track a few listens just to see if there were any obvious mistakes. After taking the time to think about this project and put my plan into action, I feel like I’ve created an informative (albeit short) audio story that I can feel proud of.

For this project, I decided to go with a narrated one on one interview with my roommate. In the interview, I focused solely on her knowledge of PCOS, my topic for this course. I gave her short and easy questions just to get a feel for how much she already knows about PCOS as someone who doesn’t have it herself. This set up was ideal because it included narration to help the listener understand the direction of the course, and the flow was easy to understand from a logistic standpoint.

In all honesty, not too many specific design influences came to mind. I knew that I wanted to take the interview route (writing a rap was my other option) and was kind of excited to edit an interview with Edward R. Murrow. In a sense I guess I’d say that the tutorials inspired my layout. The actual design of how the short interview went didn’t require very much research and my approach seemed pretty straight forward. My piece has three parts: a narrated introduction, the interview itself, and a narrated conclusion. This flow of information is easy for the listener to understand and makes the story seem more whole.

To actually make my piece, I utilized several tools that I was introduced to during the tutorials. First, I made a new multi track and added each of my sound recordings in the order that I wanted them on separate tracks. Next, I trimmed the unnecessary elements of each individual clip using the side bars. I also used the razor tool to segment the clips down even further so I could control the volume more specifically since my voice was picked up much better than my roommate’s voice and I had to make it louder in specific areas. I planned on also adding in transition sounds or ambient noise but I never got around to recording quality sound bites.

When I go to make my final project for this unit, I definitely will pay more attention to the quality of my sound recordings. I’m okay with the structure of my rough draft but I know I could do ten times better if I gave myself the time and tools necessary. I plan to stiick with the same general idea and timeline in my final draft but will be re-recording all of the audio so the quality comes out better overall. I was also thinking about possibly interviewing additional people and including their answers as well to give an almost vox-pop appeal. These are just ideas and I’m not completely sure what I’ll end up with, but I know it’ll be improved either way!

Using the narration and interview raw audio clips, I plan to illustrate how much or how little someone knows about PCOS when they aren’t personally affected by it.

Originally after creating my draft logo, I didn’t see very many ways that I could have improved my design. To me, it seemed simple and effective. This in particular is why I am so thankful for the feedback portion of our projects. The people in my group helped me to appreciate the strengths of my design but also had me acknowledge the weak points. Most of the feedback I received had suggested I add text to the design, and that I fill in the rest of the circles surrounding my Venus symbol. Another suggestion I read was increasing the overall thickness of my design so that the scalability would be strengthened.

I kept all the core elements of my design from the draft to the final. The Venus symbol still represents that PCOS only affects women, while the ten circles with only one filled in as pink represents the one out of every ten women that are affected by PCOS. The main changes that I focused on including filling in each of the turquoise circles with color, which added more unity; and adding text so that the audience knows exactly what my brand is supposed to represent. It took me a while to find a font and placement that I was happy with for the “PCOS” text aspect, but I feel like I landed in a good place. I also made sure to center my design on my art board this time, since I forgot to with my draft.

I used the color turquoise as the primary color because it’s the shade used for PCOS awareness. The pink was chosen simply because it compliments the primary color nicely. My logo is simple and to the point, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I really enjoyed using illustrator this whole time and look forward to our future projects.