will true - portfolio

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will true

writing & designportfolio


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will truetable of contents

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research articleBehind the Propaganda and Public Relations of ISIS

booklet designDont Write Classicals Requiem

op ed

technical instructionsDocument Setup in InDesign CC 2014

feature articleHome Is Where The Heart Is


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research articleBehind the Propaganda and Public Relations of ISISSkills Developed

Feature Writing

Research Accommodation

Magazine Design

Written in October 2014

Designed in December 2014

Digital/Print Booklet

Individual Project

For our Professional and Technical Writing class, we were

asked to select a research topic of our choosing and write

an article of under 1,500 words about it. I decided to ex-

plore the radical Islamist group ISIS and how theyve man-

aged to gain such a strong foothold in the Middle East and

in the minds of Muslims around the world.

This was a very difficult topic to explore. Because of length

limitations, I had to carefully avoid discussing the underly-

ing intra-Islamic tensions between ISIS and other radical

groups in the area, while still capturing a view of the orga-

nizations public outreach efforts. It was one of the more

difficult things Ive ever written.

In Communication Design Fundamentals, we were asked

to take a piece of writing and format it to the style of a par-

ticular magazine. I chose to use my own work in the styleof Time and Newsweek, formatting the piece in a manner

that I thought was professional and thoughtful. While the

research, writing, and design processes were time-con-

suming, I am very proud of the result.


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BEHINDTHEPROPAGANDA

ANDPUBLICRELATIONS

OFISIS

The actions of the radical Islamist group ISIS havedrawn international condemnation and military inter-

vention. Why have thousands of Muslims, domestic andforeign, pledged their lives and deaths to the cause?

by Will TrueOctober 17th, 2014


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feature articleHome Is Where The Heart IsSkills Developed

Feature Writing

Magazine Writing

Interviewing

Written September 2014

Digital/Print

Individual Project

For this assignment, we were asked to interview a person

associated with Carnegie Mellon University and write a pro-

file piece on them with the idea that it may be published in

the future. I chose Lingling Zhu, a former coworker of mine

and Chinese national. Not only did I want to tell her story, I

wanted to relate it to the demographics of Carnegie Mellon

in general and explore why the university is so attractive to

students from Asia.

I struggled with condensing Linglings story into a palatable

length while maintaining its narrative. When I interviewed

her, she laid out her life story for me for over an hour. It

was a mountain to climb, but I embraced the task, focusing

on the journey moreso than the result.

Another difficult aspect of the story was creating an effective

lede. When Lingling told me about her flight from Pittsburgh

to China after leaving IUP, I knew I wanted to frame that as

the lede. In the end, I believe it hit the emotional notes I

intended it to.


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Home Is Where The Heart Isby Will True

As she boarded a flightfrom Pittsburgh to New York, a connecting flight back to her native China, LinglingZhu wasnt sure what the future held. is was Plan A, after all; she would go to America to study abroadfor a year, gain some experience and build a resume, then fly back to her homeland with a leg up on her com-petitors. Still, she was conflicted. She was leaving behind a community that welcomed and supported her, a lovethat could be the real thing, and a world-class education she might not get anywhere else.

So when she was seated on the plane next to a librarian from Carnegie Mellons Qatar campus, it seemedpredestined. You know, the librarian said, you should really think about CMU.

Alright, she thought. Plan B it is.

Lingling was bornin a small farming village on top of a mountain, a six-hour drive up winding dirt

roads from the nearest town of Huishui in the Shaanxi province of China. Although her family waspoor, they were well respected within their community, as her father was an educated government offi cialand her paternal grandparents were farmers. When she was 5, her father took her into Huishui where heworked to further her schooling; as she left, she began to cry, and her father turned to her. Youre notgoing to make it. So soft, you cant do this. People arent going to make a big name of themselves if theycry as often as you do. Sitting across from Lingling at the restaurant where this interview took place, youdont get any impression of softness. Soft-spoken, perhaps, but not soft.

Her mother eventually joined the two of them in town, becoming the chef for the towns police depart-ment. She would leave that job to start her own business some time later. Her mothers initiative providedthe spark for Linglings enterprising spirit. Ifyou want to do something, youd better figureout a way to do it, her mother told her. If youdont, nobody else is going to help you to realizeyour dream. At the age of 15, Lingling left her

parents behind to attend high school in the cityof Ankang, five hours from Huishui. Living ina dorm with 8 other students far from familytook its toll on the teenager. Looking back, itfeels unbelievable, she says. How did I havethat strong a resolution?


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do something more personally fulfilling. With a more balanced worldview, it seemed like she was headedtoward a prosperous future in her home country.

en, one day, her friend came up and asked her if shewanted to learn about a scholarship opportunity for study-ing abroad. It was the last day to sign up, her friend said.Now or never.

In 2009, Lingling came to Americaas part of an exchange program with Indiana University of Pennsyl-vania. To add to her economic background, she studied business administration and marketing. Howev-er, the Pittsburgh region held a lot more for her than just academics. Once I got here, I felt like my worldjust opened up. I didnt know there were so many things I could do. She became the president of IUPsstudent exchange program, which helped her improve her fledgling spoken English skills, and she becamea Chinese tutor. It was in that role that she met Matthew, her future husband. He was a geology student,and the two quickly became best friends, trading Chinese lessons for English lessons.

Despite not speaking English on a regular basis until the intercontinental move, her grasp of the languagenow is stronger than a lot of native speakers. eres a very slight rasp to her voice, the type that commandsauthority no matter the volume of the conversation.

At the end of her exchange year, Lingling prepared to head back home. However, Linglings professorswere so impressed with her growth both as a student and as a person they felt she would be doing herselfa disservice by not returning to America for graduate school. In addition to an excellent education, itwould help her determine if her relationship with Matthew could last. Two birds, one stone. After somesignificant thought, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in Pittsburgh, but there would still be a year

between for her in China while she applied to schools and took the required tests. In the meantime, shetaught English at her old elementary school, giving something back to the system that raised her.

In the past decade,Carnegie Mellons student population has gone through a drastic change. e Offi ceof International Education reports that the number of international students has doubled since 2003,from under 2000 students to over 4000. Of these students, nearly half of them come from China. In 2013,Asian students made up 23 percent of the student body; the only larger ethnic group was white students

at just over 40 percent.

e draw of CMU to international students, especially from China, is multi-faceted. CMU is the newIvy League, Lingling says with a sense of pride. At Southwestern, almost every class was chosen for her;at Heinz College, she was allowed the freedom to take electives alongside her core requirements and shapethe Masters degree in public policy she received in 2013. It was CMUs focus on social entrepreneurship

I take pride in

where I grew up.


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demonstrated service to the Heinz College and made significant contributions to the quality of life forresidents in the Pittsburgh region.

While she was honored to receive the award, she felt that she had not done enough for Pittsburgh todeserve it. Matthew proposed after four years together and the two were wed, enabling her to stay in thecountry and pursue opportunities locally. Instead of accepting one of the several marketing jobs offeredto her, she chose instead to enter the AmeriCorps national volunteer service program. For a small livingstipend, Lingling spent a year working in Pittsburgh in theHandsOn Tech program to bolster the citys nonprofit sec-tor with affordable and sustainable technology. e pro-

gram was a partnership with Google and the Points of LightFoundation in Atlanta, and provided her with a unique op-portunity to hone her skills and make important connec-tions while doing her adopted city a service.

Three months into her year with Americorps,Lingling was contacted by Mike Matesic, the CEO ofIdea Foundry. Idea Foundry is a nonprofit that acts as a business incubator and commercializationaccelerator for the innovations of Pittsburghs student population. Matesic wanted to expand Pittsburghs

reach in China, positioning the city as a national leader in tourism, education and business. Matesic askedLingling if she could write a business proposal on the benefits and potential opportunities for Chinesevisitors, which they could then pitch to local and statewide partners. She put the proposal together in herspare time, and her and Matesic laid out a regional marketing plan.

e plan was positively received, and as a result, Lingling was hired full-time by Idea Foundry as the leaderof their Greater China Initiatives program. In partnership with Visit Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Re-

gional Alliance, the organization launched its Friendly Pittsburgh and Friendly PA programs, whichserve as user-oriented hubs for prospective visitors and students to both the state and the city. I reallycreated something, I feel, she says with a huge smile on her face. e two websites, FriendlyPA.com andFriendlyPittsburgh.com, were recently launched.

In her role, Lingling is Pittsburghs unoffi cial cultural ambassador to China. After working for the successof China and Pittsburgh separately, shes found a way to work for their continued success as a whole.Even though theres no direct link between me finding this job and Heinz College, she says with total

confidence, I feel because of my education, my mindset and my work ethic, theyre all leading me to thisposition Im in now.

Oh, the waiters name is Jake. Lingling takes the pen with which she wrote the tip for dinner andwrites ank You Jake on the receipt, capping the sentiment off with a smiley face. Its 6pm onF id d h li h h f h i I ld b i h h d b h

People at CMU

are humble. Theywork hard.


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booklet designDont Write Classicals RequiemSkills Developed

Visual Design

Communication Design

Adobe InDesign

Written March 2015

Designed April 2015

Print

Individual Proect

We were asked to create an eight-page booklet that refut-

ed a timeless criticism of classical music: that it is a dying

artform. We were specifically asked to incorporate statisti-

cal data into our presentation, to ground our argument in

real-world scenarios. This proved to be very difficult.

With this assignment, I captured the readers attention

through simple design, data visualization, and easy-to-digest

highlighted text. To draw readers in, I used a colorful picture

of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance.

On the interior, I divided the booklets into areas of strength that

classical music possesses. I color-coded each page to the table

of contents with a vector image that relates to the topic of each

page. A graph on each content page that illustrates the relative

success of classical music in different respects.

The page numbering on the brochure is in subdivisions of

quarter notes. Its an Easter egg for musicians.

The booklet in this portfolio is in sequential order rather

than booklet form. This may distort the physical appearance.


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Alive & Kicking

Weve all heard the rumblings. Classical is dying has become a commonrefrain across the musical world. Detractors decry the precipitous declineof musics oldest genre.

But is classical really dying?Is this genre on a downslide that cant bereversed? Are we witnessing the extinction of a genre that has existed forover a millennium?

Rather the opposite, in fact.

While traditional measurements of success may indicate a decline,era-appropriate measurements and statistics tell a different story.

This booklet shows that classical music is as vibrant as ever.

Those are not the sounds of death throes you hear...

they are a steady heartbeat.

William Robin

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Passing It On

Money to be Made

The Public Radio Boom

Classical Goes Digital

New Frontiers

Table of Contents


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Curtis Institute

Juilliard School

Oberlin Conservatory

Eastman Institute

Boston Conservatory

Passing It On

Choosers Can Be Choosy

Percentage of applicants admitted

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Diogenes

If you want to know how healthy the heart of classical music is, you needonly look at education.

Despite popular wisdom, statistics show that music education in publicschools is still widely available.

In a 2012 study, the Department of Education found that 94% of public ele-mentary schools and 91% of secondary schools offered musical instruction.

Those who want to become classical musicians have a vast array of schoolsto choose from.

Less than 20% of applicants to top music schools like Juilliard, Colburn,and Curtis are admitted. If classical was dying, these schools wouldnt beable to afford such selectivity.

sources: Department of Education, TheBestSchools

Money to be Made

If youre a classical musician, theres still money to be made!

Orchestral musicians can make anywhere from $28,000 to $143,000 a yeardepending on where you live. For instance, a position in the Alabama Sym-phony is worth over $35,000, while a seat in the Boston Symphony Orches-tra is worth nearly $135,000.

Studio musicians are in higher demand than ever, with an average annual sal-ary of over $60,000 dollars. The eld is expected to grow by 10% before 2020.

Church organists can command an annual salary from $30,000 to$100,000. On the other end of the stand, conductors can make anywherefrom $15,000 to $275,000 a year.

You can still make a living performing classical music; the opportunities are

out there, but perseverance is required!

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60

90

120

150

ChurchStudioOrchestraFreelance

Salary range (in thousands)

Persistence Pays Off

It is the working man who is the happy man.

Benjamin Franklin

sources: PayScale, Berklee, Houston Chronicle


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The Public Radio Boom

The move from commercial to public radio has benetted classical musicgreatly.

In 2012, the number of public classical stations increased by 40%. Classi-cal public radio is the second-most popular form of public radio, with 406different stations nationwide.

According to Jim Cunningham, the artistic director of WQED FM in

Pittsburgh, anywhere between 70,000 and 100,000 people listen to theirclassical station every week.

While only 3% of adult radio listeners tune in to classical music, its import-ant to remember that classical is a niche musical genre. With so much mu-sic out there, 3% is a remarkable feat.With live attendance holding steadyand the audience for public radio growing, classical is here to stay!

The format is changing, and its lost a lot of its old stuness.

St. John Flynn

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5

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15

20

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Concert Attendance Stays Strong

sources: Current, KDFC, Arbitron, WQED, Nielsen Scarborough

People who attended classical performance in last year (in millions)

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Classical Goes Digital

Classical Music Flourishes Online

Global digital music revenue in 2014 (in millions)

Digital music services have revolutionized music, and classical is no exception.

Classical music is twice as popular online than on the radio,making up 6%

of total music consumption. Thats over 400 million dollars in revenue!In 2013, subscription rates for streaming music services went up by over50%, and total streaming shot up 54% in 2014.

The online musical world can also introduce classical to younger audiences.On American radio, 70% of classical listeners are over 54. Online, over half ofthe American streaming population is under 25.

Digital music has never been hotter, and classical is thriving on it!

The rise of digital technology has

drastically altered how people consume classical.

Charlotte Higgins

sources: Nielsen, Current, Next Big Sound, Edison Research, IFPI

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200

300

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Metal Latin,Reggae

World Classical Country,Indie Rock

Pop,Rock


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New Frontiers

As taste and interests change, so will classical music.

Video game music has become increasingly popular.Princeton Enter-tainment has collaborated with the people behind Pokemon to performsymphonic renditions of their scores, incorporating video and audienceparticipation into their performance. After three wildly successful perfor-mances, they recently announced 30 new tour dates.

Additionally, symphonies have had success recording video game musicand releasing it separately. When the London Philharmonic recorded abest-of compilation in 2011, it reached 23rd on the Billboard 200.

Classical music isnt just an American enterprise. In 2007, it was estimatedthat 40 million Chinese played the piano or violin. In 2012, Juilliard an-nounced that it was planning to open a campus in Beijing.

With an expanding world, we cant rely on old measurements of success.

Classical isnt dying, its adapting to new times. Its up to us to adapt too!

Classical music is alive and thriving,

but its future will depend on innovation.

Fred Bronstein


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CMU PROFESSIONALWRITINGINDESIGNTUTORIAL

Welcome, professional writing students! In the following document, the MAPW

class of 2015 will be showing you the ropes ofAdobe InDesign, a powerful tool that

youll be using frequently in your studies. With it, you can format your documents

in a visually appealing manner, and showcase your ability to communicate infor-

mation creatively and effectively. Rather than rush into the software blindly, were

here to help you focus on the tools youll want, not just the tools you need.

BEFOREYOUGETSTARTED

When you start upInDesign, your screen will look something like this (Figure 1).


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The first thing you will have to do is create

a new document. Click Filein the menu

bar, then hover your cursor over the New

option (Figure 2).

For the purposes of the professional writ-ing program, the only option youll want to

choose is Document. When you click on

that, the panel in Figure 3 appears.

Youll be setting the parameters for your newdocument in theNew Documentpanel.

We will be going over what each of these

buttons mean, but first, notice how all those

measurements look kind of strange? Thats

because theyre currently being measuredin points, a unit that might be confusing for

you if youve never worked with it before.

To do that, click Cancel, then click the

Figure 2: File >> New >> Document

Figure 3:New Documentpanel

If youre familiar with points, feel free to

skip ahead to DOCUMENTSETUP. Otherwise,

heres how you can convert pointsintoinches.


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Here, youll see the menu forInDesigns

preferences panel. The only thing youll

need to focus on is theRuler Unitssection

(Figure 5).

You can see that theHorizontaland

Verticalruler units are in points. From the

dropdown section in each menu, change

the setting from Pointsto Inches.

Make sure to click OKin order to save this

change.

After doing that, go back to the menu bar and click File >> New >> Documentto get

back to theNew Documentpanel. Now all the measurements are in inches, and youll

have an easier time wrapping your head around the options available to you.

Figure 5: Ruler Units section of Units & Increments Panel

with units in pointsand inches


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DOCUMENTSETUP

Figure 6: AnnotatedNew Document Panel

1.Number of Pages: In this field, you canset how many pages your new document

will have. You can add or delete pages

once youre inside the document, so dont

worry if you add too many or too few.

2.Start Page #: This will set the starting

page number of your document to what-ever you want. If you are working on a

chapter for a book, for instance, you could

set the start page to 42, and the following

pages would be 43, 44 and so on.

3.Facing Pages: Check this box when you

want pages to be read side-by-side, as ina book or magazine. This will change the

labels of the margins; we will explain what

this means later.

4.Page Size (Figure 7): Here, youll be able

to set the height and length of your doc-

ument. Youll only need to know what a

few of these mean, and what theyre bestsuited for:

Letter: This is the paper size youll find

in almost all printers 8.5 x 11 inch-

es. Its best suited for essays, handouts,

and pretty much anything besides large

posters and booklets.

Tabloid: This paper is 11 x 17 inches;

youll be using them to display work like

posters, concepts and newspaper

layouts

Lets go over what the important controls on the New Document panel mean (Figure 6):


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5. Orientation: Orientation is the way the

text will be laid across the paper. You can

either choose Portrait (shorter width, lon-

ger height) or Landscape (longer width,

shorter height).

6.Number of Columns: Here, you can

choose the number of columns in your

document. In portrait-oriented columns,

it is suggested that you use no more than

two columns; in landscape, no more than

three.

7.Column Gutters: This is the white space

that will appear between your columns.

If you make the gutter too small, the text

from the columns will appear to run into

each other; too wide, and your document

will look very unpleasant.

8.Margins (Figure 8): These four measure-

ments control how much white space will

border your document. Like with columns,

youll be able to change the margin once

youre designing, so youll want to explore

your options and see how increasing and

decreasing your margins affects the

presentation of your text.

The chain box means that all the margins

are locked into the same size; break that

chain by clicking on it to adjust the sizes

of each margin individually.

9.Preview (Figure 9): Preview lets you seeyour document before you click OK and

finalize your settings. Always check your

settings before you finalize; you never

know what you might have missed.

Figure 8: Margins menu with Facing Pages box

unchecked and checked

NOTE: Youll be able to change the dimensions and

number of columns once you start designing, so

play around with the settings and get the kind of

columns you want!

NOTE: When the Facing Pages box is checkmarked,

the labels for the margin will change from Left

and Right to Inside and Outside; Inside indi-

cates the margin facing towards the spine of the

book, and Outside indicates the space where you

would hold it in your hands.


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SCENARIO

My instructor has asked me to create a 10-page instructional pamphlet for incoming

students. She wants the pamphlet to be full of information, with minimal white space.

To do this task I set the Number of Pages to 10 and checked the Facing Pages box I

Figure 10: Scenario document with Preview box checked


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op-edRetrospective: Why 808s & Heartbreak isKanye Wests Most Important AlbumSkills Developed

Editorial Writing

Magazine Design

Graphic Design

Written in November 2013

Designed in December 2014

Digital Spreads

Individual Project

This piece originally appeared on Mostlyjunkfood.com, a

popular music blog, in November of 2013. The piece got a

significant amount of traffic and social media engagement,

and I was happy that I was able to express my opinion to

such a wide audience.

For my portfolio, I redesigned the piece to demonstrate my

acquired skills with InDesign and Photoshop. I turned the

cover of the album into the background for the entire piece,

and incorporated the image into the text of the title. I used

Photoshop to isolate the images of Kanye and the bear.. I

also used InDesigns anchor point feature to draw the heart

that I used as a recurring section divider.

Prior to entering Carnegie Mellon, I had zero experience

with graphic design. I was familiar with web design, but Ididnt know how to make the images and format documents

myself. This piece demonstrates what I was able to learn in

less than 3 months, and how I can incorporate that knowl-

edge to improve the work of both myself and others.

R i

Suprem


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Retrospective:

Why 808s & Heartbreakis

K A N Y E

Image Credits808s Cover: Fake Shore DriveKanye West: KanyeToe.comKanye Bear: Nicholas Yee

W E S T S

Most ImportantAlbum

by Will True

In late 2008, I was going through a pretty rough time

I was a college freshman and still not quite acclmated to life outside the confines of my small, quiesuburban existence. I moved from the outskirts Boston to the boonies of Pennsylvania for schooand it was a major adjustment. Id just gottethrough a messy pseudo-breakup (we hadnt beedating long, but as a late bloomer, it felt bigger tha

it was), and I didnt really have much going for me

It was pretty much a period of constant sadnessprinkled with the occasional marathon video-gaming session and the writing of essays I couldnt caless about. I was on autopilot, just surviving.

On November 24th, three days before anksgi

ing, I purchased the soundtrack to my sadness. changed the way I, and much of the world, lookeat and experienced popular music.


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will true - portfolio

Documents