Ai TEST

"This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

"Friends don't let friends drive drunk."

"You could learn a lot from a dummy."

How many of these phrases ring a bell? These widely recognized slogans from national public service announcement campaigns by the Ad Council have become a part of our culture.

While the above examples were all big-budget campaigns, your own organization's public service announcements (also known as PSA's) -- even if they're a small, locally-produced campaign -- can be a great inexpensive way to get your message out to the public.

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Ai TEST: Using Ai, design a 11" long x 3" tall Public Service Announcement (message) for a bumper sticker. View the samples below and read "getting ready to design your PSA" below.

Email your Ai PSA design to your instructor by end of the period on March 9, 2012.

100 pts. possible

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Getting ready to design your PSA:

1. Choose points to focus on. Don't overload the viewer or listener with too many different messages. List all the possible messages you'd like to get into the public mind, and then decide on the one or two most vital points. For example, if your group educates people about asthma, you might narrow it down to a simple focus point like, "If you have asthma, you shouldn't smoke."

2. Brainstorm. This is also a good time to look at the PSA's that others have done for ideas. Get together with your colleagues to toss around ideas about ways you can illustrate the main point(s) you've chosen. If possible, include members of your target group in this process. If you're aiming your PSA at teenage drivers, for example, be sure to invite some teenage drivers to take part in brainstorming.

3. Check your facts. It's extremely important for your PSA to be accurate. Any facts should be checked and verified before sending the PSA in. Is the information up to date? If there are any demonstrations included in the PSA, are they done clearly and correctly?

4. Identify a "hook". A hook is whatever you use to grab the viewer's attention. How are you going to keep them from looking away before reading your message? A hook can be something funny, it can be catchy image, it can be a shocking statistic, it can be an emotional appeal -- whatever makes the viewer interested enough to read and consider your PSA.