Communications

Writing Assessment: Visual Text

Task Brief

Term 3, 2025

Task:

In last term’s Short Writing Response assessment, you proposed an idea for a poster designed to either promote tourism or spread awareness of an environmental issue relevant to Aotearoa NZ. This term you will create four variant designs for this poster accompanied by writing explaining decision-making process.

Your final submitted assessment will consist of:

· FOUR images that are four different versions of your poster idea

· A 120-150 word writing for each of the four poster versions explaining their unique features and appeal

· A further 300-350 word writing which explains your overall journey/thinking during this project and that recommends one of the four designs.

· This is 780-950 words total.

This practices several important skills including:

· Making thoughtful variations of a media document to appeal to a range of clients and situations

· Effectively communicating the strengths of each version in accurate English writing

· Using non-verbal visual communication that appeals to audiences

· “Pitching” – creating interest in your ideas and convincing others that they are good

IMPORTANT NOTES

· While AI tools may be used to iterate and test ideas for posters, copying and pasting AI art to present as your own work will be considered academic dishonesty. Submitted work must be assembled by you. Similarly, you will not be able to submit photos or found images. Arrange poster elements yourself. As with writing, a copy/paste approach is not acceptable for visual work. Students who do not follow this instruction may lose marks or receive a zero.

· Image components can be drawn by hand and scanned into your device, or digitally created using software.

· It is important to remember that this is a communication assessment, not a visual art assessment. This means you are not being marked for artistic skill. It is fine to have flawed or amateurish art. The visual element is intended to give you practice preparing visual examples. The focus of the assessment will be on the ideas in the written portion of the task and how effectively you communicate them.

About the variations

The four poster images you submit will not be four completely different posters. They must also not be too similar. They should be variations of the ideas in your Term 1 Short Response assessment which means they are mostly the same but feature significant differences, for example:

Different colors - Different layout

Different choice of words/phrases - Different images

This is a standard part of design presentations – allowing a client to choose is generally more successful than only offering one possibility.

Here are five elements of static (non-animated) visual design:
Image – the picture(s) included in the poster

Copy – the writing included in the poster

Font – the style. of lettering in the poster

Palette – the range of colours in the poster

Composition – layout, the arrangement of elements within the poster

When you write about your first poster, you should briefly address all five of these. For each of the other designs, you should change TWO OR THREE elements and keep the others the same. In your writing for posters 2-4, explain which elements have been changed, the way they have been changed, and the reason why. What effect are these changes intended to have? What context is this version suitable for?

Assessment Stages

Note re: changes in Stage 4/5

Big changes are discouraged for stages 4/5. Your final assignment should reflect what you have learned and thought about at all five stages. However, if you are unhappy with your work/ideas during stages 1-4 and wish to make big changes, inform. your teacher about what you are changing, how you are doing it and why. Drastic changes in your work, particularly relating to level quality and polish, can be a sign of academic misconduct and could lead to your assignment being investigated.

Format for Stage 4/5

The final assessed assignment will be typed in MS Word.

1. Include student’s full name and student ID in a title page.

2. Use Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman Font in the assessment writing. Poster can use any font.

3. Use font size 12 in writing, 16 in titles.

4. Use standard margins – 2.5cm

5. Use 2.0 line spacing.

Page 1 – Title page

Page 2-5 – Each of these pages will display one image and a 120-150 word paragraph. This paragraph will:

-point out what is different about this version

-explain the purpose of this change and what situation/purpose it might be good for

Page 6 – This will contain a longer paragraph of 300-350 words. This paragraph will:

-explain the ideas you had at the beginning of this project

-explain the work you did and the process you went through as you did the work

-explain how ideas changed and what you learned

-identify which of the four poster designs you think is the best and why

Task Requirements:

1. Complete all five stages of the assessment as described on page 4 of this document

2. Write four paragraphs of 120-150 words each to accompany each image.

3. Write a fifth paragraph of 300-350 words to summarise your work.

4. Write in an academic style.

5. Do not use translation software or AI to wholly generate text or images. In the event of suspected excessive AI/software use, a zero mark may be awarded.

6. The intent of your writing needs to be clear to the reader. This requires correct use of grammar and vocabulary.

7. Do not copy writing from elsewhere, including other students, teacher and class notes.

8. Follow all instructions and formatting requirements.

Assessment Outcomes:

AO1: Respond to the task fully and appropriately

AO2: Organise and sequence materials effectively

AO3: Use a range of suitable vocabulary and structures accurately

AO4: Display adequate control of visual communication

Late submission of work/penalties:

For assessments submitted late but before 24 hours have passed, there is a 10% penalty.

For assessments that are between 24 and 48 hours late, there is a 20% penalty.

For assessments that are between 48 and 72 hours late, there is a 30% penalty.

For assessments more than 72 hours late, the student will achieve 0%.