Assignment 3:
Lake Walk University Project

(Self-Guided Tour Brochure)

Assigned: Tuesday, October 14
Usability Testing: Week of October 28
Due with commentary and usability test report: November 11

The Project

In this project, you will create a tri-fold brochure (on a single 8.5 x 11 page, front and back), which will enable your reader to take a self-guided tour of specific sites and locations along the Duluth Lake Walk. Since a university's mission is to produce and disseminate knowledge, your brochure should use this Lake Walk tour to teach some introductory "lesson" in a university discipline or field of your choosing—ideally, your own major—in a first-hand, visual way that would appeal to the average tourist or resident. Such disciplines might include (but are not limited to): engineering, architecture, history, biology, art, urban planning, advertising, cultural studies, English, economics, busines, math.

Goals

The ultimate goals of your brochure are

to increase the general public's understanding and appreciation of the work professionals do in your field,
to promote your chosen academic program in particular and UMD in general, and
to create an entertaining and enlightening tour for visitors.

Context and Necessary Contents

Readers will find your brochure inside lakeside businesses (e.g., The Marketplace, Fitgers) in racks marked with signs for the "Lake Walk University." Your brochure should be designed for someone to carry it in his or her coat pocket and actually consult it on the Lake Walk. It should include the following.

contact information for the relevant UMD department
UMD's name and logo
pictures and color
directions and/or maps for finding and understanding specific sites, views and objects,etc.
key disciplinary terms and principles introduced and explained using sites on the Lakewalk as visual examples, object lessons or interactive learning tools.

Foreground Methods and Issues of the Discipline

It's important that you use the your tour to introduce the discipline itself, and not just apply the discipline transparently to explain something on the Lake Walk. For instance, if you're representing the History department and the discipline of history, you don't want simply to tell the history of the Lakewalk or Duluth. Instead, you want to use the Lakewalk tour to introduce readers to the methods of professional historians and issues they deal with: doing primary historical research, weighing evidence and competing explanations, distilling the complex interinfluences of historical causes into a tellable story, etc.

You will turn in 1 color copy of the brochure to me.

Usability Testing

You will need to conduct a live usability test on the Lakewalk with a volunteer sample tourist (a friend or roommate will suffice). See the Usability Testing Report page for more information.

Commentary and Usability Test Report

You will write a 2-3 page (double-spaced) self-commentary to print out and hand in with the project. Please see the complete Self Commentary Guidelines before writing it. Along with the brochure and commentary, you'll also hand in your usability test report.

Assignment 3: Lake Walk University Project