MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Matt Cox

From: Charles Brian Kelly
Date: Saturday, April 26, 2014
Subject: Group Project Evaluation
The purpose of this memo is to provide an evaluation of our groups (Michelle Hasapis, Brian
Kelly, Jessie Marshall, and Brittany Rogers) project (redesigning the website and newsletter of
the Iowa Psychological Association (IPA)), and to discuss the communication processes used by
our group.
Successes of Project
I would consider this entire project a rousing success. Initially, I knew that I had a great group
with Brittany Rogers and Jessie Marshall. However, with the addition of Michelle Hasapis, our
group really took off. Our unanimous choice of using Jessies IPA logo redesign, followed by
deciding to divide the project into teams (Brittany and Jessie website; Michelle and Brian
newsletter) really helped to get things off to a running start. We also divided up the
responsibilities for who would write and submit each transmittal memo. By dividing up each part
of the project, we made sure that each person would have a clear idea of what their
responsibilities were and what they should rely on the other group members to accomplish. This
division of responsibilities was particularly helpful in that it allowed each group member to
concentrate on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. The familiarity of Brittany and Jessie
with website design, as well as, Michelle and my strengths in newsletter design meant that our
team divisions were clearly well thought out. By allowing Jessie to have a major part in
designing the website for the IPA, Jessie was also allowed to use her (really impressive) website
redesign as part of her capstone project to be submitted in part of the requirements for her
finishing her M.A. in English.
I am particularly proud of the look of the IPA newsletter. I think that the redesign captures the
professionalism that our group was striving for while still maintaining a distinctive enough feel
so that a reader will not mistake it for a newsletter by another group. I also think our group
(particularly the team of Michelle and myself) was successful in writing some new articles for
the IPA newsletter based on articles that were read from other psychological newsletters. One of
the most satisfying things that were accomplished near the end of this project was achieving a
clickable icon on the website that allowed a viewer to open the newsletter in pdf format. I think
that this shows how well each of our group members worked together. Each team worked on its
portion of the project (as well as collaborative transmittal memos and design discussions) and
then, together, combined them both into a functioning website and newsletter combination.
Communications
I honestly dont think that our group would have had any of the success that we had if it were not
for the massive amount of interpersonal communication that we had. Before the work on this
project even began, Brittany, Jessie, and I had emailed one another and decided (if Dr. Cox

would allow us) to form a group to work on this semesters projects. With the addition of
Michelle, we quickly emailed each other to set up an initial Skype meeting. During this meeting,
we made an initial timeline for all of the projects this semester, formed our two teams, and
decided who would do what. We also scheduled another Skype meeting the following week as
well as each week (except for holidays) for the remainder of the project. We also decided that
each email about any aspect of the projects, no matter how small, was replied to in such a way
that every group member received a copy. In this way, even small changes to the website or
newsletter could be approved or vetoed by the other group members, so that a massive list of
changes and suggestions wouldnt need to be recorded at the weekly Skype session.
Since Brittany and Jessie were working on a live website, they were able to see what the other
had done to the website instantaneously. While there are programs such as GoogleDocs that
allow documents meant to be printed (such as newsletters) to be live updated, Michelle had
indicated unfamiliarity with such programs. Therefore, Michelle and I used email extensively to
show any and all updates to the newsletter. Due to their close proximity, Brittany and Jessie
occasionally met in person to work on the website. Michelle and I, on the other hand, live much
too far away for meeting in person. So we used Skype, email, and telephone to discuss much of
our work on the newsletter.
Style Guide
The most difficult portion of our project was actually compiling the style guide. Even so, this
process was only difficult due to several last minute color and font changes to the newsletter and
website. Our group had decided that Brittany and I would take the helm in writing the style
guide, so a person from both teams (website and newsletter) would be able to add their teams
changes to the style guide. These changes were, as all other changes to the website and
newsletter themselves, shown in emails sent to every member of our group for their approval. I
did find that while I wanted to be rather exhaustive when deciding what to include in the style
guide; this suggestion was vetoed by the other group members in favor of a more streamlined
style guide that would be appropriate for someone who was always in charge of writing the IPA
newsletter.
Aspects that Needed Improvement
I am very happy with my team and our work on the IPA website and newsletter. However, I do
still have a few things that, in my mind at least, needed improvement. I would have liked to
make each one of the tabs on the website clickable, and have each tab taken the visitor to a page
with something about the IPA written on it. While I know that this would have been next-toimpossible with the allotted time: I still think it would have made for a more polished look to the
website as well as a better presentation for the group as a whole. I would have liked to write a
few more articles about the IPA for the newsletter, in order to put more of a group stamp on the
document. Nevertheless, due to time constraints (and other classes projects due dates
approaching) this was not accomplished. Another aspect that I think needed improvement was
the style guide. I think an exhaustive style guide (along the lines of those created for university
webpages) that defined every font used, when it was used, and where it was used would have
been more helpful to the IPA. With this exhaustive style guide, a person completely unfamiliar

with the conventions of the IPA, or even newsletters in general, would be able to compose a new
issue of the newsletter without anyone knowing that the editor had changed. This exhaustive
style guide would also have allowed for the concept of rotating newsletter editors within the IPA,
thus relieving one person of the sole responsibility of writing the quarterly newsletter. Rotating
newsletter editors armed with an exhaustive style guide would also allow for shorter (though
more frequent) electronic newsletters that would be able to give more timely information.
Conclusions
I really enjoyed this series of projects. I had a great team and we all worked really well together.
Though I like to think that I often work better by myself, I have found (and continue to find) that
if your group all pitch in and contribute; a lot of the burden and responsibility of creating and
writing a piece of documentation evaporates. I have also found that my science background has
affected my writing style a lot more than I previously thought. In science, (especially the
qualitative, computational-chemistry I was performing in my other graduate degree) the writing
is often organized so that first you exhaustively explain one thing (and its corresponding jargon)
and then you explain the next thing (and its jargon). Often my group members would spot this
and point it out in my work on the newsletter and style guide, hence, my preference on the
exhaustive style guide. I hope that in my next group project I am in a group of such talented and
competent writers and designers. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, about this or
any other paper or project, please contact me as soon as possible. I can be reached via mobile at
910-619-1433 or email at kellycha12@ecu.edu.
Cc. Charles Brian Kelly