Writing & Communications
Arts Midwest​
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I was contracted to be a contributing writer for a story Arts Midwest, a nonprofit organization in Minnesota, wanted to cover. The story was about a collaboration project between UW-Stout's Music Department and Brazilian musician, Paulo Padilha, who worked with Stout the previous year for his song "Outro Carnaval". This article touched on the "behind the scenes" and process of this dynamic and exciting collaboration for Padilha's "Outro Carnaval" music video.
Working within a two-week timeframe, I had the opportunity to meet with and interview the Music Department heads, students, and Padilha to better understand the project they've been working on and what excited them about their collaboration. Additionally, I was invited to attend a rehearsal to observe and capture what it takes to produce a music video with a musician across the gulf of Mexico during a global pandemic.
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The article was published on February 17, 2021 on both the Arts Midwest and UW-Stout site. The skills and tools used for this article include: AP style writing, interviewing, and research.
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Arts Midwest is an organization that supports, informs, and celebrates Midwestern creativity—building community and opportunity across our region and beyond. You can learn about them here.
West CAP Annual Report​
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One of the projects for my capstone course in my undergraduate program, Professional Communication and Emerging Media, was to help design a new annual report design template for nonprofit organization, West CAP, with another classmate.
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West CAP is a nonprofit organization located in Western Wisconsin (headquartered in Glenwood City) and serve the following counties: Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, & St. Croix. Their mission statement is: "The mission of West CAP is to take action against poverty by developing the social and economic assets of low-income families and their communities and by working to create a more just and sustainable society." You can learn more about West CAP and their work here.
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Throughout this process, we found that West CAP does a great job of providing information to show how they've impacted their community.
However, we also felt one of the weaknesses was the page structure. Our ultimate goal was to provide several mock-ups for seven pages: title page, letter from the director, a one page program, a two programs on one page, two-page program, infographics, donor page, and back cover. To achieve these eight mock-ups, we researched the purpose of an annual report, looked at other annual/impact reports, created personas to help guide our creative decisions, and audited West CAP's previous annual report. When it came to designing, we felt it was important to use the color palette from West CAP's logo to have a cohesive design and look for the report. Additionally, the use of color helped break up text and make icons pop. After creating the eight mock-ups, we presented our new template and findings to the client, which was the Executive Director of West CAP.
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The skills and tools used for this project include: document design, teamwork/collaboration, public speaking, research, and Canva.