Promising Promotion

Recently, I got a promotional postcard from Wegmans Food Markets, who are hiring full-time culinary, entry level management and customer service positions for their new Germantown store. The postcard is simple but effective. 

At the top of the card, two assorted fonts, in different sizes, reveal the content of the promotion—want a job you will love? 

Employing a handwriting typeface paired with a modest sans serif font, the postcard implies the information—the company is offering a job opportunity that will meet one's personality. Psychologically, the contrast between two typefaces underlines the individuation of the company. 

Besides the fonts, the color theme is impressive. Purple, as a primary color, is applied to  images and fonts consistently. Two smiling faces stand out as the image color contrasts the background effectively, which drags me to notice two testimonials next to them. And then, the purplish sans serif font continues the hiring information. 

On the back of the postcard, the same purple color retains the continuity of promotion. In fact, it is another evidence from the manager, who has been working for company since 1988.  

As a result, the proper color scheme, discreet font choice, and dependable sources promote the reliability of the sale. 

Keep the Smile

Hanging around the Lakeforest Mall, I found out a couple of attractive posters. Disrupting Poverty,for instance, is one of the good examples among them. The poster with an aim to tell every customer passing by that we need to work 
with communities to assist those young Kenyan girls. Providing education is a way to free these lovely girls from 
a forced early marriage and a lifetime of hardship.

The poster is effective as the designer utilizes the contrast between words and image constructively. The picture, 
showing in the adverting light box, presents a happy life with a lovely smile. However, the headline—Disrupt Poverty—reveal a potential terrible situation if they are involved into the poverty.Nobody will know whether they still have the 
same smile as this. Smiles vs Poverty. 

The poster encourages me to gain more information about the organization. It is easy to follow—the information just appeared at the top of the poster, with a white sans-serif font in a 
dark-green background, which is clean and simple. It directs to their website, a non-profit adoption agency—ChildFund International

Traveling Inspiration

"...pigeons echo through the damp gloom of massive, unfinished brick edifices. A group of farmers take a smoke break nearby, while a bustling film crew directs several costumed monsters for a television commercial in a blue-roofed fantasy tower a few dozen feet away...And yet, everything seems still, as though the vast expanse of open air, sleeping buildings and swaying crops swallow sound in this abandoned sanctuary." An article excerpted from one of my favorite traveling blogs—Atlas Obscura.


The Atlas Obscura blogger team has an excellent writing ability.Their traveling stories not only depict a vivid story, but also reveal information residing in these areas. A Visit to China's Knock-off Disneyland, an article showing in above, for instance, describes how they traveled in an abandoned area in a suburb of Beijing. Pigeons echo, sleeping buildings and swaying crops show me a gloomy scenery that a big project has run aground, which trigger me an old memory when I was in China. Actually, with the development of China, commercial companies purchase a huge amount of farmland to build up houses and amusement places. The Disney Wonderland is one of them.Once the company is involved in a legal dispute, the project will be stopped for one or two years long, leaving a forlorn land in the suburb.

The bloggers describe their experiences as a story and record the scenery as a news as well, which is in accordance with the principle of Roy Peter Clark. He states that story creates the experiences, and report conveys the information. A Visit to China's Knock-off Disneyland not only puts me into a deserted countryside, but also points me to the terrible situation when public facility was abandoned. In fact, the local blackmailers extorted them there.

In a summary, a nice blog should tell a detailed story as well as reveal its social significance .

 Photo by Zoetica Ebb, Alternative Beijing

Digital Publication

I really love the National Geographic . From my perspective, it has a better version of computer than in the print. To begin with, it has clear visual hierarchy—different font sizes distinguish the importance of each topic. As a customer, I could choose my favorite topic just in three seconds, without wasting time. Furthermore, the images, which are key elements for a traveling magazine, seem to look better online. For instance, when watching a video or movie, we see vivid images moving around. Nevertheless, when they appeared on the paper, the hue of images is changed. Perhaps, it results from many factors, such as printing machine, paper quality and so forth. The truth is that we do lose some interests on it. When doing my project, I even found out that some slightly differences existing between my computer and my paper work. However, to be honestly, I cannot read the whole web page patiently. In fact, digital publications teach me how to use key words to catch the information as soon as possible. As a result, for me, a best way catching up the times is to update my knowledge and work hard in a traditional publication area.