We’ve just finished the latest issue of Making a Difference magazine, a quarterly publication of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD). O’Neill Communications handled the editorial content, cartoon illustration, and overall design of the publication.

The spring 2010 edition features the 12th Annual Disability Day 2010 in Atlanta. Advocates from across the state came together on February 25 to let the Georgia government know that they are ready…ready for the waiting lists to be cleared; ready for legislation to be passed for more readily available accessible housing options; ready for employers to recognize the value that employees with disabilities bring to the workplace…ready for change.

Kathleen Martinez, the assistant secretary for U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), was the co-keynote speaker for Disability Day. “It’s easy to get channeled into a job with low to no expectations,” she continued. “At the Office of Disability Employment Policy, we’re working on developing jobs with actual promotions, retention and satisfaction.”

Also in the spring issue:

• Safe Schools Initiative: Your Child’s Safety on the Line
• Student-Led IEPs Secure a Bright Future
• State Legislature Wraps Up Session

Published by GCDD, this quarterly magazine can be downloaded here.

This winter 2010 edition features a wrap up of the ninth annual Making a Difference Discovery Day 2009. National, state and local industry experts gathered in Atlanta for the Executive Briefing – Making Accessible Travel and Tourism a Reality in Georgia, presented by GCDD in collaboration with G3ict and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This year’s theme was different than previous years’ by aiming to make Georgia a model that the rest of the country and world could follow in creating accessible travel situations.

“Atlanta has so much to offer, and has a strong and proud disability community,” Keynote speaker Eric Lipp stated. “Atlanta ranks eighth in top locations to visit in the United States, and in the south Atlanta ranks second only to Orlando.”

Also in this latest issue:

• Parent Protection Act: Employers, Employees Explore Benefits
• Real Communities Initiative Gets Underway
• Be Counted: Census 2010

Published by GCDD, this quarterly magazine can be downloaded here.

I also find it difficult to critique other people’s work at times, but I realize that they are probably just like me and want to strengthen their writing as well.

After the break, learn what steps I use to critique various writing projects.

1. Take care of spelling and grammatical errors. These stand out to me and can be very distracting, so I always go through writing projects once and just focus on those so I can then move on to bigger issues.
2. Ask yourself whether or not the piece fits the purpose. For example, if I’m writing for a small newspaper advertisement and my copy is three pages long, there is an issue.
3. Make sure the copy fits the brand. Some businesses and brands take on a more serious tone while others are a bit cheeky. Tone is important.
4. Be specific. Writing “awkward” or “too wordy” is not enough. I am very guilty of doing this, but this doesn’t help the writer and can be confusing. If a sentence is “awkward,” explain why. If a sentence is “too wordy” circle what you feel are the unnecessary words.
5. Have a reason for your critiques. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people critique my work and simply say, “I changed this because I like it better this way.” This doesn’t tell me why, other than the person reviewing my work and I have two different styles. Perhaps you’re using more active wording or have shortened the length so the message comes across much more quickly.
6. Make sure you actually read. I’m very guilty of skimming and scanning, but even if you feel like you’ve read a piece two or three times, make sure you go through once to make sure you have caught everything.
7. Make sure nothing is missing. For example, if you’re critiquing copy for an email, make sure a subject line and headline are included. Sometimes I can get so wrapped up in writing body copy that I can forget another aspect of the project. It’s human nature to make mistakes – but that’s why there is a review process.
8. And read it again. Just one more time.
   

As a writer, I can say it’s very helpful to come up with a group of core people that you trust and know will provide honest feedback. You don’t necessarily need to correspond with them outside of writing or to even like them that much – but you need to trust and respect them enough to provide honest, helpful feedback.

What advice do you have for someone who is critiquing copy?

Below are the steps that I use when prepping files for print:

1. Run spell check.
2. Proofread.
3. Have someone else proofread. I suggest having someone who hasn’t been working on the project do this. Fresh eyes can usually catch things that you overlooked or thought were obvious.
4. Create a 1/8″ bleed on all objects extending off the page. It’s an industry standard and helps guarantee that you won’t have plain paper showing at the edge of your print piece.
5. Convert all images and colors to CMYK, grayscale or spot colors depending on the specs of the job.
6. Color correct all images and save in the correct print format. TIFF and PSD formats are best for high resolution photos. EPS format is best for all vector images.
7. Check the resolution of all images. Print resolution is 300 DPI for photos. I realize it’s not always possible to have high resolution photos when you depend on others to submit them, but 300 DPI is the goal. You can still use lower resolutions for printing, they just won’t appear as crisp.
8. Make a mock-up for the printer. This is especially important for complicated pieces. It helps give them a visual for what they’re working on.
9. Collect for print. Most layout programs have a setting for this. What it does is collect your main document and any fonts and images used in the document and puts them in an organized folder.
10. Zip the files and upload to the printer’s FTP site.

Those are my steps for prepping files for print. Are there any other steps that you’d add?

Click here to download the entire newsletter.

Once you’ve got an initial thumbnail sketch it’s time to move onto the cleaner composition drawing. In this step I usually draw each character separately so I can focus on their look and feel and all of the details of their drawing. However, if two characters are interacting closely (such as the boy in the wheelchair and the girl directly behind him in this instance) I draw them together so I can easily capture the appearance of them both occupying the same space.  For these composition drawings, I use a non-photo blue pencil to draw. This will not show up in a photocopy or scan if done in black and white. Then once I’ve got the sketch how I like it, I go over the non-photo blue with a nice black pencil to create the clear outline. In the image below you can see the non-photo blue pencil marks because I scanned it in color so I could illustrate the point.

Once I have all the characters drawn in this way, I then scan them all (in black and white so I can’t see the non-photo blue on my monitor). Then I take each character and bring it into Photoshop, piece them all together and put them in the same space.

Now after I’ve got it looking the way I want to, I add a layer on top of all the characters in Photoshop. This layer I fill with white and then set the layer opacity to about 90 percent and print.

Now I’ve got a print-out with a very light version of my drawing on it. I usually print it out fairly large (12″x18″ or so). On this print-out I then do my final clean drawing. I usually take a lot of care to make sure the line work is very descriptive and just the way I want it. The final result here is a clean looking drawing which I scan again.

Now that I’ve got this cleaned-up drawing scanned into the computer I open up Adobe Illustrator and place this photo in the first layer. I then double-click this layer to change its properties. In the dialogue box that pops up I click “Template” and then leave “Dim Images to” 50%. Then I lock the layer. This gives me the pencil sketch that I can’t accidentally select or move and I can then work right on top of it.

Now create a new layer on top of this template layer. I usually call it:”Linework” as this is where we will be creating the outline of the characters.

On this layer, all you need to do is trace around your pencil drawing with the pen tool in Illustrator. Since we’re using vector graphics thoughout, you can get much cleaner, smoother line work and create some dynamic, fluid lines.

Once you’ve got all the pencil lines traced, zoom out and hide the template layer. You should now have an extremely crisp and clean version of your drawing.

Now we’re going to add a third layer between the Template layer and the Linework layer. Name this layer Colors. Be sure to lock the Linework layer so that the only layer that is unlocked is the new Colors layer.

On this new layer, all we need to do is create shapes with the pen tool to color in the empty spaces in our drawing. At this point I just use flat tones except for some very rare circumstances. This should go pretty quickly as your points don’t need to be exact and will be hidden by the Linework layer. Also, if you keep the Linework layer visible (but locked), you can see where your points on the Colors layer need to be to be hidden.

Now once your whole drawing is colored with the basic flat tones you should have something that looks like this:

Lookin’ good, and we could call it a day at this point. However, I like to take it one step further and add some dimension and depth with some shadows and highlights using shapes and gradients. There are about a million different ways to do this part and I’ve included a detail to show you close up how I handle it.

So that’s it, now we’ve got our final product!  Let me know if I’m missing some great techniques or if you have any questions in the comments below!

“This year’s Long Road Home is not only a celebration of the Olmstead decision, but serves as a reminder that the fight for freedom is not over,” Jennifer Holland informed Making a Difference. Holland is the program director of the Georgia Advocacy Office.

Key Georgians attended the 10th anniversary celebration held at the state capitol building, including longtime advocates Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) and Cherie Mitchell, wife of the late self-advocate Sam Mitchell. “Taking people in and locking them up without consent or even letting their families know – I have a problem with that!” she shouted over the crowd.

Also in this latest issue:

• Faith-based communities reach out to members with disabilities
• New technologies make workplaces and homes more accessible than ever
• The restructuring of the department of human resources streamlines many processes
• Families continue to adjust to the New Options Waiver program

Published by GCDD, this quarterly magazine can be downloaded here.

1. What are you writing about? This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s important to make sure that you are on the same page (so to speak) as your editor. You can save yourself a lot of time by clearing up any possible confusions at the beginning of the process.

2. Do you have the right contact information? Make sure you know how to get the information needed to complete your story. You can’t blame writer’s block if you have no information to begin with.

3. What are your specifications? Find out how long your article needs to be, as well as make sure that you collect any photos needed.

4. Now what? You have completed your story, but don’t sit back so fast. It is now time to edit. Read through once to make sure that all thoughts and paragraphs flow well together and make sense. Then, read through again to catch any spelling or grammatical errors.

It’s time to turn your story in to your editor. She may turn it right back to you to make some final changes prior to sending to the page designer. And then … you’re done! Enjoy seeing your article in print, and take a much deserved break before the next publication.

While you can’t always control when writer’s block will hit, following the above process can help ensure a quality piece of work.

O’Neill Communications has ample experience in producing quality publications with creative design and informative editorial pieces. For more information, contact us!