Augmented Design: Visit Campaigns

Since I think I want to base my designs on promoting Cyprus as a place to visit and learn about; I wanted to do some research into other countries that have done similar campaigns.

Britons - GREAT campaign

The GREAT Campaign, present in over 60 countries, aims at promoting the best of Great Britain by creating opportunities in the areas of business, education and tourism. GREAT is supported by different pillars that highlight areas of British expertise such as: technology, innovation, culture, sport, legacy, music, sustainability, creativity and entrepreneurship.

By promoting all of these different aspects, it captures the interest of a much wider range of people by finding something to suit everyone. As well as encouraging people to come from abroad to visit Britain, the campaign also gives British citizens a patriotic feeling by reinforcing all the great things to come out of Britain and reminding them about all the things there is to do in Britain. This helps to also bring in revenue from the British having holidays at home rather than setting off to another country.

The design aspect of the advert is relatively straight forward, by having the same caption in the top left of each photo "........ is great" and then underneath "Britain". By doing this they form a strong theme throughout all of their designs which reinforces how great Britain is! Underneath they write a blurb explaining why it is so great. The large bold san-serif font works well as it is punchy and in your face showing off with pride how Great Britain is. The one aspect of the design I'm not a fan of is the half British flag which appears either at the bottom or the side of each design. To me it looks like a squished image and is really rather distracting from the image. I can understand why it needs to be there, to show at first glance it is Britain they are talking about but I don't personally like it.

100% New Zealand, 100% Middle Earth 

New Zealand created the advertising campaign called 100% New Zealand. The aim of the campaign is to tell the story of how the country's unique combination of landscapes, people and activities cannot be found anywhere else in the world - it is a "100% Pure New Zealand" visitor experience.

Similar to the Great Britian Campain they use a selection of images showing off different aspects with the caption "100%.... ...." The campaign works well as the breath taking images are not ruined by over complicated text, it simply says the saying in white. The images are allowed to speak for themselves.

More recently with the new Hobbit films they have changed their campaign to 100% New Zealand, 100% Middle Earth with the aim to take advantage of that global profile by showing how easily the fantasy of The Hobbit movies can become reality in the form of a New Zealand holiday. This again works incredibly well because it gives someone a real alternative to the fantasy world, you can actually visit where it is filmed! its not created digitally.

Below are a few examples of the normal campaign and then a video advert of their 100% Middle Earth campaign.

Theres Nothing Like Australia

A similar campaign was started to promote Australia. The posters still use images as the background but tend to have actors in it, which promotes the life style. The viewer puts themselves in that position and buys into that life style. The campaign uses a softer humanistic font which is more subtle than the last two ad campaigns I've looked at. However this isn't a bad thing as it feels more like a friend is writing to you and telling you how amazing it is, it feels like trustworthy advice.

Responsive - J20: Label Modifications

I decided to make some minor changes to my labels before printing. Firstly I noticed that my package design had the orange and passion fruit the other way around with the orange at the front. I decided that this looked better with the composition of the shapes and changed the neck label to match. Another change I have made is the font - from Fanwood to Aleo. Aleo as a slab serif complimented Futura better. The point size was also increased so that it the description was legible because of this I moved all the information up in the circle so that it could all fit in and not look squished. The colours of the orange and passion fruit were made more vibrant which suits the swirls on the 4 pack, this also changed the strokes around the circle to add continuity. I added a gradient so that it would reflect the package design and reinforce the blend of fruit.

Before

After

Responsive - Feathr: Fuchsia Research and Paintings

The flower symbolism associated with the fuchsia is confiding love. Fuchsia flowers are a very decorative pendulous "eardrop" shape, borne in profusion throughout the summer and autumn, and all year in tropical species. In many species, the sepals are bright red and the petals purple, a combination of colours that attract hummingbirds.

The flower representing confiding love provides a nice concept for my to be floral design. The paintings that I have currently done of the Fuchsia is a bud, a leaf and a flower, these could easily represent the flower growing and developing much like the love in a relationship. This concept would be an extra selling factor and a story on their walls to people who are interested in deeper meanings.

I am happy with my three paintings as the colours all work together to provide a good representation of the flower as well as being subtle enough to work on a wall and compliment furniture. The tone in the bud and flower shows continuity across the designs.

Augmented Design (Study Task 10): Identifying Criteria - Critical Questions

For the practical printed advertisement of my website, I think I want to go down the theme of promoting Cyprus and encouraging people to take an interest in the history and even visit. This fits in nicely with my website as the purpose of it was to encourage people to take a greater interest in Cyprus and learn more. I can take aspects of my website, and keeping the same theme, create an advertising campaign to promote Cyprus. Before I begin to research or designing I want to identify and define the criteria which will shape my outcome:

Audience
The audience will be similar to the website, in the fact that there will be no age range, it will be aimed at people who want to learn or/and visit Cyprus.

Message
The message will give snippets of information about Cyprus which will capture the audiences interest and refer them to the website to learn more.

Tone of Voice
I think the tone of voice can be slightly more tongue in cheek if it is not dealing with the more horrific side. This would allow more freedom in what is written and will intrigue people more.

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Augmented Design: Brief

augment
verb

ɔːgˈmɛnt/
make (something) greater by adding to it; increase.

Your task is to produce a print-based advertising campaign across at least 3 print-based advertising deliverables (e.g. poster, flyer, billboard, etc.) to accompany your 'A brief history of...' website that features an (or some) element(s) of digital interactivity. There are several methods, platforms and technologies available that can be exploited in providing interactive elements to print media therefore it is important that you research these thoroughly in order to develop an effective augmented design.

In order to produce an effective advertisement you must consider carefully factors such as:
audience
communication
distribution
content
materials
quantity
time-frame
printing method and cost

During the planning stages of this project you will show that you have considered each of these factors through a project rationale.

Your advertisements will be print-based with your deliverable outcomes printed to a high standard. It is expected that you are to adequately prepare your design work for a commercial print eventuality - this process should be documented on your Blog.



Background / Considerations
The ubiquitous nature of digital technology and web access means that having a web and/or digital presence is essential for businesses and organisations. That being said, print media is a proven and everlasting method of communication and marketing. Therefore, businesses and organisations are seeking creative and exciting ways of marrying the two. This is an emerging area of design that breaks down assumed barriers between print and screen-based design and presents many opportunities for creative design strategies.

As this is an advertising brief that focusses on production factors in advertising design it is expected that you will commit to significant research into advertising methods and strategies as well as current trends.

Special considerations must be made to the potential and limitations of production methods used in the creation and distribution of advertising media.

Digital technologies present their own set of unique issues and obstacles which can make or break a creative augmented design project. Therefore you must show that you have considered potential issues and thoroughly tested your work in context.


Mandatory Requirements

On-going research, experiments and decision-making must be documented in your design practice blog.

Your advertisements will be print-based therefore you must make special considerations in regards to print processes, cost, quantity and adequately preparing your design work for this.

You must show evidence of an understanding and appreciation of emerging strategies and technologies in augmented design and interactive print whilst also being aware of its limitations.

Correct labelling of your work on your blog is essential. Failure to organise your work clearly will affect the assessment of your work.

Your project must be summarised and presented neatly and coherently on design boards.



Deliverables
Digital design work suitably prepared for commercial print.

Final advertisement outcomes printed to a high standard.

Evidence of research into augmented design and interactive print.

500 word evaluation

Responsive - Feathr: Designing Wallpaper

I began to play around with creating a triangle out of lines. To do this I drew a basic triangle and then redrew the lines pulling one side in half a centimetre. This then formed the new edge of the triangle. The result of repeating that is shown above. I thought this would be quite a cool pattern to make a wallpaper out of so played around with different affects, patterns and shapes that I could make.

Layered

This was just the layering of several lines of triangles each in a different colour and slightly further to the right than the one before. The out come is horrible to look at and would be a horrible disorientating wallpaper.

Plain

This is my favourite so far - just plain and how it is. Even though its not that adventurous compared to some of the others it is the nicest to have on your wall.

Negatives

This is just a reverse of the one above. I do think it looks cool and interesting but the black would be over whelming on a whole wall and would make the room look a lot smaller.

Pucker And Bloat

I experimented with Pucker and Bloating the pattern on different levels. The Bloat made the patterns look more like surf-y flowers, I quite like this outcome but again it isn't wallpaper.

Gradient

I experimented with adding a gradient to the whole thing and also singular triangles.

This was just adding a gradient to the lines. I quite like this outcome I think it is more subtle and adds depth.

Colour

I tried out adding one colour gradients and also two colour gradients. The one colour gradient works best but I am still struggling to see what it would look like as a whole wall paper.

I also played around with which way the triangles faced. The patter changes on whether they are all clockwise, all anti clockwise or alternate. This is something worth bearing in mind when I experiment with this pattern in the future.

One idea which may work is lowering the thickness of the lines so that the pattern is quite faint and then having it as a backing with some kind of illustration or painting on the top to stand out. This is something I will try.

Responsive - J20: Final Designs (Labels and 4 Pack)

Labels - Bottle and Neck

Here shows my final labels for the J2O bottle. I stripped back the logo so that it was just plain. This immediately made the product suited for a maturer audience. The large amount of solid white breaks up the green backing of the label making it easier to look at. The varying width strokes around the edge of the circle represents the fruit in the juice which also compliments the fruit shown on the neck of the bottle. A simple illustration allows people to see what they are purchasing and make the link that it is two blended fruits. The hand rendered illustrations strips it back from a corporate identity and gives it a personal touch which allows people to connect with the product and subconsciously link it to a more homemade product rather than a mass produced juice. 

4 Pack Package Design - Front and Back

Working with the same theme shown on the bottles label, the 4 pack design adds continuity to the overall aesthetic by using the same fruit illustrations and colour theme. Using the fruits on the front of the packaging immediately helps people to recognise that the juice is a blend of fruits. The swirls that come out of the fruit reinforces this idea and adds a fluidity to the design implying it is free flowing and mixed together. The previous design did not show any fruit on the design just splashes and waves of fruity colours, if people cannot see an indicator of what is in it then they are unlikely to buy it. Until this project, I didn't realise J2O was a blend of fruit or how low in calories it is. I always assumed it was a sugary drink for children. The design now fits in a lot better with the target audience, it is still bright and enticing whilst fading away from the younger under 16s audience.  

"A Brief History of...": Evaluation and Design Boards

Evaluation

The aim of this brief was to design a multi-page website that effectively informs a user about the interesting and informative facts, figures, observations and visual content that I had discovered. The website I designed is based on my Summer Project which looked into Cyprus and the history leading up to the divide in 1974. I have successfully been able to create a website that informs the user about the facts and figures I have learnt but in an effective and interesting way.

I chose to work in an Infographic as it was the best and most successful method of getting across a large amount of information in a concise and interesting way. 

I didn't want to create an overly complicated interactive webpage as I wanted the information to speak for itself. Seeing as my design isn't overly complicated and the purpose of an infographic is to present complex or heavy information in a quick and clear way it seemed contradictive to over complicate the interface design. The navigation of the website needed to be simple and straight forward as its target audience is not limited by age but rather by interest. This meant that the website had to be functional and easy to use for both 8 and 80 year olds. I used a simple 3 page website which divided the information into 3 clear sections. The scrolling being vertical stripped back any confusion and reinforced the simplicity and easy use of the website.

Another Factor which has helped to make my website clear is the grid system. Using the golden ratio, I was able to create the basic grid which was applied to every design aspect of my website. By creating detailed mock ups before designing digitally I was able to easily transfer the information onto the computer and not have to think through main decisions seeing as I had ironed out the majority of the flaws whilst drawing the mock ups. This in the long run made the designing of the website easier.

Although due to extenuating circumstances I was not able to fully learn how to code the website, I have learnt the basics and have become aware of both the possibilities and the restrictions which are in place when it comes to web design. Knowing this allows me to now design for web correctly. Throughout the brief I have been able to take these constrictions and work them into my web design by being aware of web safe colours and fonts.

Through designing as an image rather than coding it has allowed me to create an infographic where I can be more flexible and have the freedom to use more visually enticing fonts. I chose to work with Lobster, Amatic, Bebas and Helvetica for body copy. This provided me with a nice range of different but complimentary fonts which provided the design with continuity that wasn't boring or dreary.

Due to time limitations the website isn't fully how I would want it to be. If I had more time then I would want to focus on making it look more like a website, however I have found it hard to make an infographic work as website. Whilst researching I couldn't find any websites that were made purely of infographics so I didn't really have anything to base my layout on. However with this in mind I feel that I have been able to create a different take on an informative website, which provides information and facts but in a fun and interesting way. 

I found that whilst doing my research into Cyprus all the websites were really poorly designed and didn’t engage with the audience. Most of them were reels of text which were tedious to read through. This showed that there is a clear space online for a well designed, interesting and visually engaging web design. I think I have been able to fill this gap and provide a website which both engages the audience but also informs and educates them.

Design Boards

Below are 4 Design Boards which cover the content I have used, the golden ratio used to form my grid, the considerations I have made which informed my final design and also the research which helped to form it.

Responsive - J20: Designing the 4 Pack Packaging (Back)

I wasn't too sure what to put on the back of the J20 packaging as the Brief Pack didn't specify so I took some photos of the current design and have just copied the information.

I decided to stick with Futura for the back as well but use capitals as lower case doesn't have as much impact. I played around with the layout of the text to see how i could fit it in one column close together but whilst still being legible and read in the correct typographical order.

I found that this was the best way to layout the information. I'm still not overly happy with it as I think the type sizes are too similar and don't distinguish a hierarchy but I will play around with it.

I really struggled to get the swirl to fit in and at the same time look good whilst keeping the same style as the front of the box.

I found adding brighter colours and a tonal range to the swirls helped bring it to life. I experimented with a 3rd swirl but found it over complicated the back. The text still feels to heavy, I think I will re design it now knowing what space I have to work within. 

It looks very cramped and heavy in one spot which would be okay apart from the heavy amount of empty space around the rest of the box design.