text is visual

We frequently distinguish ‘textual’ from more ‘visual’ media. But text itself is tremendously visual. The document below demonstrates how professional communication benefits from the application of Gestalt visual design principles, making content easier to understand—and easier to act on—for your audience.

  • Create type hierarchy
  • Add white space
  • Strategic color
  • Use tables
  • Add bullets
  • Use preattentives
  • Use enclosure
  • tighten the Text
You might also experiment with:
  • Indentation
  • Layering
  • Multi-columns
  • Alignments
  • Numbered steps
  • Animations (digital)
  • Borders
  • Icons
  • Shape-metaphors
  • Multiple fonts
Title Subtitle Tables List Headings Paragraphs

Hesburgh Libraries Hackathon

Project Plan

Overview

The event dates: 1) Pre-hackathon (Nov 1 - March 17), 2) Hackathon (March 18-19), 3) Post-hackathon (March 20 - Beyond)

Cabinet Sponsors: Luke Skywalker, Ben Solo

Project Planning Team: Jyn Urso (WSE), Han Solo (PLTC), Leia Organa (TRN), Poe Dameron (RTP)

Partners: Academic Achievement and Tutoring Center (AATC), Center for Digital Scholarship (CDS), Digital Library Technology Department (DLT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Learning Lab (DEILL), Office of Student Success and Engagement (OSSE), Piper Center for Teaching and Learning (PCTL), Office of Information Technology (OIT), Peer Advising and Mentorship Program (PAMP), Web and Software Engineering (WSE)

Dates 1) Pre-hackathon (Nov 1 - March 17), 2) Hackathon (March 18-19), and Post-hackathon (March 20 - Beyond)
  • Pre-hackathon — Nov 1 - March 17
  • Hackathon · March 18 - 19
  • Post-hackathon | March 20 - Beyond
Sponsors Luke Skywalker, Ben Solo
  • Ben Solo
  • Luke Skywalker
Planning Team Jyn Urso (WSE), Han Solo (PLTC), Leia Organa (TRN), Poe Dameron (RTP), Ben Kenobi (DW)
  • Ben Kenobi (DW)
  • Han Solo (PLTC)
  • Jyn Urso (WSE)
  • Leia Organa (TRN)
  • Poe Dameron (RTP)
Partners Academic Achievement and Tutoring Center (AATC), Center for Digital Scholarship (CDS), Digital Library Technology Department (DLT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Learning Lab (DEILL), Office of Student Success and Engagement (OSSE), Piper Center for Teaching and Learning (PCTL), Office of Information Technology (OIT), Peer Advising and Mentorship Program (PAMP), Web and Software Engineering (WSE)
  • Academic Achievement and Tutoring Center (AATC)
  • Center for Digital Scholarship (CDS)
  • Digital Library Technology Department (DLT)
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Learning Lab (DEILL)
  • Office of Student Success and Engagement (OSSE)
  • Piper Center for Teaching and Learning (PCTL)
  • Office of Information Technology (OIT)
  • Peer Advising and Mentorship Program (PAMP)
  • Web and Software Engineering (WSE)

Schedule

orientation

Friday, March 18, 2021

5:00-5:30 PM    Pizza and Welcome
5:30-6:00 PM    Orientation
6:00-7:00 PM    Finalizing teams and signing forms

5:00-5:30 PM Pizza and Welcome
5:30-6:00 PM Orientation
6:00-7:00 PM Finalizing teams and signing forms

Problem Statement

Two of the acknowledged challenges facing academic libraries as we move into the 21st century are centered around emphasizing the library’s value proposition as a provider of information content and services across campus, particularly as we find ourselves in competition with the burgeoning array of web services such as social and other electronic media. And even before this, we must consider the ways in which we will be forced to find, acquire and train the people in emerging technologies. This surfaces a number of questions:

Modern academic libraries face an important challenge—find the right people to distinguish their services from simple Google search, and educate students and faculty about that difference. This raises specific questions:

How can we leverage emerging technologies and technologically-skilled library personnel to best serve library content and services to a demographic of increasingly digitally-native, increasingly mobile patrons? How can we [re-]brand and [re-]market the library in ways that [re-]affirm our uniqueness and relevance as information and service providers for such patrons? Moreover, how might we best assert our claim to be a central hub of intellectual and research activity at the University of Notre Dame?

  • Leverage Technology and Personnel — How can we leverage emerging technologies and technologically-skilled library personnel to best serve library content and services to a demographic of increasingly digitally-native, increasingly mobile patrons?
  • Rebrand the Library — How can we [re-]brand and [re-]market the library in ways that [re-]affirm our uniqueness and relevance as information and service providers for such patrons?
  • Inform Campus — Moreover, how might we best assert our claim to be a central hub of intellectual and research activity at the University of Notre Dame?

Project Goal

I had another hackathon organizer ask me ‘How did you make sure the good people still came out?’ If you're asking about a very particular subset of people that don't need encouragement to go to a hackathons, yes, those people were in attendance. But more importantly, by paying attention to the sensitivities of the community, we were doing just that — making sure the good people still came out.

— Amy Quispe, Carnegie Mellon Hackathon

Amy Quispe, organizer for the Carnegie Mellon hackathon recently stated, “I had another hackathon organizer ask me ‘How did you make sure the good people still came out?’ If you're asking about a very particular subset of people that don't need encouragement to go to a hackathon—yes, those people were in attendance. But more importantly, by paying attention to the sensitivities of the community, we were doing just that—making sure the good people still came out."

With support from the Library and its partners, Hackathon attendees (participating undergraduate students at Notre Dame) will propose and design solutions to problems that meet the needs and wishes of Library patrons. The Hackathon thus aligns directly with the Library’s mission and vision, which aims to foster “an organizational setting that is open, collaborative, empowering, energizing, dynamic, and results focused” [1]. The goals of the Hackathon also align directly with aspects of each of the library’s strategic goals [2], and thus with University goals, including...