Document Development Exposition: Instructions

Explain in detail your document’s development from planning to finish, describing your
challenges, how you overcame them, and what you learned.

Planning
When I started the introduction packet, I knew that I wanted to create it based upon how to inflate a
balloon. While brainstorming a title I thought it would be important to specify the number of steps
that it would require to complete. I came up with my title “How to blow up a balloon in five steps”. I
thought about adding the amount of time that it would take to complete as well but decided that
“How to blow up a balloon in five steps in less than ten minutes” was too lengthy for the title. I also
knew that I wanted to add images that show exactly what each step explained but at that point I
wasn’t even sure what the steps would be. I chose a text font that I thought fit the subjects of
balloons the best and used it throughout the whole packet.

First Draft (for peer editing)

For my first draft I had the basic plan of what I wanted my final packet to look like. I had the title in
the font and size that I wanted and even added a warning label to the packet that said, “Warning:
choking hazard”. Considering that I assumed mostly young individuals would be reading the
instructions or engaging with the balloons, I thought it would be an important element. I was a little
overwhelmed with the mass number of options I had for the image selection of each step, so I played
around with some to see how I liked them. I ended up adding four pictures that showcased what was
explained in the steps and made sure that the image was next to or near the corresponding step.

Second Draft (for your packet)

After hearing critiques from some of my classmates there were some aspects of my instructions
packet that I wanted to adjust. First, being the amount of color that was throughout the document.
One of my classmates thought that it could use more color or personality, so I did just that. I went
back and changed the color of the steps and title from basic black to blue which I think overall made
it more pleasant to look at. I then changed the font color of the warning label to red because I
thought it fit better and would catch the eye more than having it plain black. I also added boarders
around the images selected to make them pop off the page more which I think really brought It all
together.

Final Draft (for your portfolio)

For the final draft I went back and read the comments the professor left after grading. One of the
main reoccurring comments that was made had to do with the inconsistent placement of the images.
To fix this, I looked up more images that I felt fit to make sure that every step has at least one
picture. This way I was able to place the images in a more consistent manner after each step, which I
agree looks better than having them in multiple places throughout the page. Another comment that
was made was regarding the wording of certain steps. To fix this, I went back and deleted words that
were extra information and reorganized some sentences to make them clearer when reading or
trying to blow up a balloon. After these changes I believe that my instructions packet has improved in
its efficacy.
Document Development Exposition: Instructions