Using Microsoft Word to Create Flyer and Newsletters

This week we used Microsoft Word to create Flyer and newsletter. Typically I use other software when creating these types of items.  I find publisher to more effective and easier to use.  However MS Office did have some redeeming qualities.  If you are doing something quick and easy like a flyer MS Word will work just fine.  It is easy to put in a texture background, some good colors and the text required.  I found adding shapes was fairly easy as well. The challenging part comes from trying to move things around once they have been place such as resizing pictures.  This seemed to shift the entire page and made things annoying.  While this problem seems minor if you have several items to resize the project to could way longer than necessary and there are easier tools, such as publisher, to get the job done.

As far as making flyers I liked what MS Word had to offer for tools.  I found it easy to design a flyer and add shapes and color.  Again the area that was most challenging came in the from of trying to resize or add text to the shapes.  In one area I used a wavy banner and tried to add text but I couldn't get a text box to fit the shape the way I wanted.  It took several tries and a compromise on the design to make it work.

I think MS office is useful for more than just word processing and I could see myself using it again to design simple flyers and newsletters.  I could also see teaching my students the basics of design on a toll such as this because it is easy to use.