Editing and Graphic Design for MSU Extension

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Why use our team’s services?

To take advantage of our professional expertise in editing, design and curriculum development
To give yourself time to focus on your own area of expertise
To have a fresh set of eyes to review your work
To help avoid embarrassing mistakes and legal issues
To uphold the quality standards and maintain the reputation of MSU Extension as a leader in agriculture, early childhood and youth development, community and economic planning and development, and health and nutrition programming
To ensure that your finished product appeals to your target audience
To help you get your products noticed and read
To help your readers understand and retain information through visual unity and organization
To give your high-quality information the most polished and professional appearance possible

Editing tasks include checking and if necessary, fixing:

Grammar and punctuation.
Content, organization, clarity and consistency.
Style.
Jargon, biased language and undefined terms, acronyms and abbreviations.
Readability.

An editor will also flag potential issues with:

Copyright, plagiarism and permissions issues. (It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permissions where necessary.)
Inclusive and nondiscriminatory language.
The accuracy of facts and reference citations. (It is the author’s responsibility to ensure information accuracy and cite sources completely and correctly.)

Design tasks include:

Translating the tone and structure of the content into fonts, colors, photos, illustrations and graphic elements
Considering the environment where a design piece may be displayed or used and how it needs to be reproduced or distributed
Developing layout structures
Developing color, font and graphic themes
Providing typography that makes reading easier
Selecting or creating visually consistent images that are inclusive and appropriate for the intended audience
Understanding and using MSU and MSU Extension brand standards
Preparing artwork and documents for a variety of uses – web, print, signage and more
Adding accessibility features to web and other electronic documents

Writing and production resources:

The Educational Materials Team offers a D2L course and a toolkit designed to help you – whether you’re a first-time or experienced author or author team – streamline the writing and production process for your next project.

Preparing to Submit Your Educational Project to an Editor D2L Course – Completing the entire self-paced course typically takes 1.5 to 2 hours. The content is organized into five modules that you can work through in multiple sessions as your schedule allows:
- Content and Writing Style
- Authorizations, Permissions and Copyright Issues
- Parts of the Document
- Formatting
- The Submission and Editing Process
Educational Materials Writing Toolkit – The toolkit includes links to the D2L course and to fact sheets and checklists that will guide you through the writing process.

Meet the MSU Extension Educational Materials Team

Our professionals start by assessing your project needs, taking into account your timeline and budget and the audience, purpose, projected shelf life and visibility of the final product. To find out more about how our team can help you create polished, readable, beautiful and effective products, contact our project manager.