OUGD505: Study Task 4- Vote!

The final presentation for our solution to study task four.

OUGD505: Study Task 4- Development

In order to appeal to a younger audience we wanted to take a slightly cheeky tone and use some hand rendered type to create a none authoritative look, we did this by using a cross to represent an expletive as well as a cross in a voting box. Using examples of Vanessa's handwriting I created a digitised type to complete the none formal look and feel of our posters.

The whole campaign would be a pack handed out and delivered to student accommodation and universities. As well as containing a booklet on how to vote, information on the parties and a form to register to vote there would also be badges and key rings.

I designed these as well as the posters for the final campaign. 

OUGD505: Study Task 1- Appropriate and Subversion

After looking into examples of fanzines and the rushed cut and paste aesthetic of zines such as sniffin' glue we were given the task of producing images in the same style. I focused on parody adverts as opposed to a zine and produce two 'mock-verts'.

OUGD505: Study Task 2- Presenting Research

After gathering all of our information this study task required us to organise it and present it through 5 design boards.

OUGD505: Study Task 4- Ideas

Idea Generation

After combining all of our research we began using design thinking, listing down issues and potential solutions for our voting problem. 

The main issues we found was a distinct lack of trust and a feeling of not being heard felt by the younger generation of voters. There was a sense of apathy and uncaring with politics felt by 18-22 year olds as well as not being informed enough about politic policies, party views and issues. We also discovered that most 18-22 year olds are easily distracted and demand to the point, simplified information without too much waffle.

Idea

The idea we came up with revolves around the tagline 'Because it matters'

We want to create a campaign that engages in a no nonsense not patronising way to inform 18-22 year olds that taking part in a vote does truly matter. We would focus on the policies that will directly affect audiences of that age and explain that if they have an issue with the way it's done the only way to change it is to do something, because it matters.

We'll be creating a pack that can be handed out at uni's and sent to student accommodation filled with basic information on each party, highlighting political policies and issues the generation faces and a guide on how to vote. We would also include a voter registration form, a poster, badges, key rings and even bottle openers.

There would also be a digital arm for the campaign including twitter and facebook pages as well as youtube videos discussing issues relevant to younger people and the policies that matter to them.

The whole idea behind the campaign is to try and make it personal for young voters, to connect them to politics by discussing the policies they care about and that directly affect them. It would explain that although they may not like the process, or the politicians involved if they want change or have an issue with whats happening  the only way they can actually do something about it is to become involved with the political process and vote. They should take part in it because it matters.

OUGD505: Study Task 4 Research

Why do young people not want to vote?

Guardian Article

The first conclusion from these results is that it is no surprise that the current political system is unappealing to so many young people. Take immigration, a subject that obsesses politicians and the mainstream media. Many of those I spoke to conceded it was a big issue – or, at least, so they had been repeatedly told. No one nominated it as the issue that most concerned them personally. “The media are portraying immigration to be a monumental issue,” said 22-year-old Jenny Sturrock from east London, “but I think that is just because of parties like Ukip who see it as an easy target.”

At the same time, subjects that disproportionately affect the young get bumped down the political agenda. The main parties are finally waking up to the housing crisis – perhaps because middle-aged homeowners have stopped cheering how much their big asset has appreciated and started wondering why their children are still living at home. But the solutions offered are limited, because, like the Tories’ Help to Buy initiative, they are often aimed at stoking demand without tackling the fundamental problem of lack of supply. This problem is most acute in the south-east of England, and the average age of a first-time buyer who does not have parental help is nearly 40. As 19-year-old Joseph Dwan from Sutton in south London puts it: “I feel like London is the epicentre of what is currently wrong with the UK. As a young person, my options for employment are mostly entry-level jobs. I simply cannot work in central London, however, where many of these jobs exist. If it costs me upwards of £15 to travel to and from work a day, that’s close to half a day’s work post-tax.”

“There needs to be a cap put in place to stop greedy landlords rinsing us.” Lauren Sharkey, 20, lives with her parents in Kent because she cannot afford to rent a flat of her own. She says: “Ultimately, I want to live in London, but looking at the price of renting there is depressing. The housing crisis seems to be getting worse, not better.”

What are their issues with the democratic process?

Ageist Policies

The highest age of voter is 65+ this means that politicians have to appeal to them more than the younger population (18-24) who vote the least. When policies are made and cuts are announced it's safer for a political party to tread on the younger generation; by cutting education, minimum wage, increasing uni fees and house prices, who aren't likely to vote anyway, rather than the older generation by cutting money to pensions, nursing homes, NHS elderly dedicated departments. 

Russel Brand

The anti-voting anarchist Russell Brand may be responsible to a younger generation who don't feel the need to vote. He appeals in a way politicians don't and stands out as a voice very different from the samey political talk. He also understands how to interact with a younger audience and what mediums to use to engage them, far from the political TV debates Brand uses youtube, twitter and social networks to spread his ideals, something 18-22 year olds can engage with more.

However a recent interview with Milliband may be something that can engage the disinterested generation who were determined not to vote.

“There was some cynicism underlying the whole thing – they saw it as a very blatant attempt to reach the youth vote and felt that Miliband was a little bit clumsy in his performance with the weird cockney accents.

“But they said that ultimately this didn’t really matter – they were pleased that one of the main parties was trying a bit harder to engage with younger people and felt that, on the whole, Miliband came across well, managing to get across some good ideas and policies.

“They said that it felt like an important and positive election moment when there haven’t been many and brought it up spontaneously when I asked about ‘key election moments that have changed your mind or confirmed your view’.”

Among those who took part in the Dewsbury focus group, Uwais, 25, said: “I thought it was good – he [Brand] was asking the right questions, the questions I would want to ask. He surprised me, Miliband. He came across well, he handled it well, he had some good ideas.”

Yedidia, 18, said: “I saw it on Facebook and read comments about it. I think it was targeted more at our generation. Everyone on Facebook was saying Miliband did well.”

Husna, 23, said: “I really like Russell Brand. David Cameron said something about Russell Brand being a joke and so Miliband was a joke, but I think he said that because he was intimidated. Russell Brand is very, very confident and for Ed Miliband to go and be interviewed by him knowing what views he has I think it was quite challenging. 

“Ed Miliband has done well. You can’t ignore people like Brand who say ‘don’t vote’ because I’m at uni and I’ve never once had a conversation with other students about voting, and the youth vote matters. Cameron’s being a bit naïve to think that Brand doesn’t matter because he does.”

Why do they distrust Politicians?

BBC Article

Almost two thirds of young people have little or no trust in politicians, new research suggests. Three quarters of those surveyed also said political parties didn't keep promises once they were elected.

"After the expenses scandal, why weren't there harsher consequences for the people involved?

Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 18-year-olds and found most (63%) were interested in politics.

However, the same number also said they were turned off specifically by the behaviour of politicians and political parties.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed (64%) said political parties weren't interested in things that mattered to young people.

One of the researchers, Professor Matt Henn, said the evidence pointed to young people feeling "disheartened and frustrated" by politicians.The study, from Nottingham Trent University, is aimed at understanding why fewer than half of 18 to 24-year-olds voted in the 2010 general election.

His colleague Nick Foard added that politicians must now do more to show young people that they have "a sincere and transparent concern to listen to their voices".

OUGD505: Study Task 4

How can graphic design be used to ensure that more than 41% of 18-22 year olds actually participate in the election process?

For this task we'll be working in randomly selected groups of three. 

My group: Me, Vanessa and James Holt.

Deadline: May 7th

The final outcome will be a slideshow compiling all our work, ideas and development. The font slideshow will be presented to the other groups on the 7th.

5 minutes presentation. Presenting as if to a government organisation, explain certain decisions and a rationale for the solution. 

OUGD505: Study Task 3

For this week long study task we were asked to produce a flyer and a concertina booklet for the exhibition 'Disobedient Projects North' at the People's History Museum in Manchester.

Both needed to be A5 with the flyer containing the basic information and the booklet containing more detailed text about the exhibit. The flyer was confined to black and white where as the booklet could be in colour if we chose.

We were given the content and images to be used for the design and set off to produce the final products.

I decided to start with the flyer as it had to most design constraints and then produce the booklet based on the final leaflet design.

The final look for the flyer I wanted to be quite simple and also a little dated looking. I felt that over crowding the design would take away from the information it was trying to provide.

From this design I went on to produce my booklet, although now I see that I've laid it out the wrong was round. I used the same text style from my flyer to keep a consistent look but added some colour to the mix. I didn't want to bombard the piece with colour, I wanted to make sure the design was secondary to the information so just stuck to orange (orange to me always felt like a rebellious colour).

Booklet:

Instead of spreading the information across both sides I wanted to have one side dedicated to a quote that I felt really summed up the feel of disobedient objects. This would also make the booklet into a collectable poster to take a piece of the exhibition home with you.

I wanted to capture the sense of rebellion and anarchy throughout the designs t so I decided to use bold stand out and unconfined type. To continue this free and rebellious feel I didn't use a grid for either piece and instead went by eye to get the content to sit properly on the page.

OUGD505: Study Task 3

Create a flyer and small booklet for the exhibition 'Disobedient Objects North' to understand the importance of clean and clear layout for communication within design.

The a5 flyer will be simplistic, the concertina booklet will be more text heavy. The content will already be provided though we can create and use new images if we choose.

I decided to begin by creating the simpler flyer and then extending it into the booklet design, I felt the flyer had the most restrictions being black and white and so it would be best to start there. 

After downloading the disobedient objects images I flicked through to see which I felt were the strongest and would be best suited for a flyer design and then sketched a rough layout design for said image.

 

I then experimented and mocked up some of my better ideas digitally. The font choice for them all was Blackout and Blackout 2AM, I wanted something heavy and strong replicating type used for placards and demonstrating the  strength that comes with protest. I contrasted it with futura, something simple and straight talking with very little personality. The point of blackout was the sum up the exhibition, futura was used purely to convey information. 

How to Blog Effectively

How to Blog Effectively

One: Try Writing in 3rd Person

Writing a post in third person can help cut the crap and get straight to the point.

Two: Write Objectively 

When talking about work and design decisions make sure everything is explained in a objective way. Although design decisions can be justified with personal preference there are many more factors to consider when properly analysing personal work whether they be cultural, contextual, audience based, about communication, primary research or literature. 

Three: What's the Difference?

Describing: to give a detailed account in words. 

Analysing: examine (something) methodically and in detail, typically in order to explain and interpret it.

Evaluating: form an idea of the amount, number, or value of; assess.

Contextualising: to look at something pertaining to, or depending on the context.

Theorising: to form a theory or theories about something. 

Narrating: to tell a story.

Four: Summarise Small Changes
Sometimes during the process a series of small changes/design decisions will occur. Instead of talking about every little decision with a stream of images summarise and evaluate the accumulation of design changes. This will cut the crap and decrease the waffle.

OUGD504: Study Task- Print Finishes

This session we were set the task of finding out about print finishes. I was lucky to be given a book to flick through call the production manual, it had an entire chapter on finishing which included folding binding as well as the all important finishes applied to print.

Perforation

Perforation comes from the Latin word “foramen” and means hole or opening. This is a process that creates a cut-out area that can be detached from the page. Potential uses include mail out packages, or contact information that can be torn out and kept.

Duplexing

When two stocks are bonded to form a single sheet this is called duplexing, it's a technique used mainly on business cards or invites. 

Thermography

This print finishing process produces raised lettering using powder fused to the page in an oven. It gives the overall look a bubbly and mottled surface that is very touchable and eye catching. This can be used in any statement piece such as cards, high end promotion materials such as leaflets, and decorative posters.

Foils

Foiling an image adds a 'shiny' layer to the page and is produced by pressing a heated die to the paper. Also named foil stamp or foil emboss it is a widely versatile finished process and can be used on leaflets, book covers and promotional materials such as leaflets or business cards. They can also be used as watermarks for samples.

Embossing and Debossing

Both embossing and debossing involve a mounted plate being pressed into the stock to produce the finish. The difference between the two is that embossing creates a raised impression on the paper where as debossing creates an indented look. Both have many applications including watermarking, book covers, adding a textured dynamic to business cards or letter heads, invitations etc. If doubled with a foiling technique it adds a really interesting look to printed material.

Die Cutting

Die cutting is a process where shapes are 'cut out' from the stock using blanks or templates; blades formed into the desired cutting shape; and a press. When manufacturing mass amounts of one cut out product die cutting is the easiest method to use, however producing a new design takes time and effort and if it is for a small number of jobs it becomes more effort than it is worth.

Laser Cutting

Similar to die cutting; they both remove shapes from stock; but more flexible with what you cut. Laser cutting is all set up digitally and then produced with a laser cutting machine. For smaller numbers of cutting products this is the tool to use, however is mass production is your thing then die cutting is the better option. It takes less time to set up, once a digital 'cutting' file is produced but takes longer toy cut; vice versa for die cutting.

Varnishes

There are many types of varnishing finishes for many different effects. They are: gloss for a shiny look, making photos and images look sharper and the colours brighter, matt for the opposite of gloss, neutral for an almost invisible look useful for quick turnarounds as it dries very quickly, pearlescent for a luxurious effect, satin and silk for that midway look between matt and gloss, textured spot UV to apply texture to paper such as leather, crocodile skin etc, and UV varnish a form of varnish that will dry when exposed to UV rays, a page with this varnish on it will be shiny and a little sticky. 

Laminates 

Like with varnishes, there are many different types with many different effects. Matt, diffuses light and reduces glare, satin for somewhere between matt and gloss, gloss, a shiny highly reflective laminate, sand, for creating a subtle sand grain on a design and leather, to give a leather texture to the page. 

A shape with foiling and UV spot varnishing.

 A two colour image with foiling.

A three colour image with spot varnish. 

OUGD504: SB4- Study Task

Creating a Project Rational

For studio brief 4 we have to produce printed advertisements for our website- some to include an interactive/augmented/digital element to them. In order to do this first a project rational should be written to clearly outline the problem and necessary requirements.

For the rational many considerations must be taken into account including purpose, audience, tone of voice, formats, distribution and placement etc.

So here's mine: Rough outlines followed by formally written rational. (Coming soon)

Purpose: What is it doing?

To inform and raise awareness about bumble bees and bee conservation. The key idea however is to inspire action and promote individual conservation efforts and ideas.

Audience: Who is it for?

Young families and nature lovers, also new audiences who aren't already nature lovers and conservation supporters. Rough ages- 18-35.

Message: What is it saying?

Bees need your help! The key message is that bees as a species are in trouble and simple, small individual efforts can make a difference. 

Tone of Voice: How is it being said?

A two pronged approach is required for the tone of voice. Firstly a formal and informative tone must be used to convey serious facts and problems and secondly a friendly and positive tone must be used to show people that although things are bad there are measure that can be taken to help. 

Format: How is it being presented?

I've had a few thoughts about this. There are the obvious printed formats such as posters and leaflets, however I want to add a digital and interactive twist to these formats. Leaflets and business cards will contain seeds so they can be planted, some leaflets will be folded into 'eco boxes' so they can be buried or filled with soil to grow more wildflowers. Also large posters, certain seed filed leaflets and billboards will have a digital element; when a phone is held up to them flowers are revealed so people can see what the area would look like with wildflowers. Also bees on the posters will fly out and buzz around.

Materials: What's it made of?

For the seed filled printed adverts a rough recycled or handmade paper will be used so that seeds can be embedded within them, for the rest the materials will be a nicer, potentially matt stock. If they could contain some texture to reflect the handmade paper then it would tie them nicely together however whether this would be tactical for printing and display is yet to be tested.

Budget: How much will it cost?

Honestly, I don't know about this one. I'll update it when I've spent all I need to spend on the project. However if this was in the real world then I know it would cost a lot to produce handmade paper on mass and distribute the printed media across the country and billboards won't be cheap so… a lot?

Placement/Distribution: Where will it be?

Like with the tone of voice I envision a two pronged method of distribution. While it makes sense to place posters and billboards and leaflets in areas of nature (parks, walking routes etc) to target the nature  enthusiasts who may already be educated on the subject I also want to encourage new people who may be unaware of the issue and target areas of the country where wild flowers are barely seen. This is why I would also want to advertise in city centres, the interactive 'if flowers were here' would work best in an environment where there are no flowers already.

Must dos and must nots

DO- encourage people to take individual action in bee conservation, supply the tools needed as well as the information needed for at home conservation, encourage people to go to the website (a page must be added/QR code leading to page to show people how to plant the flowers)

DONT- Push all focus with interaction onto flowers and forget the bees, be over the top with tone of voice, come across as patronising, make it difficult for people to understand/want to interact.

Time Frame: When is it going down?

The most appropriate time frames to follow will be dictated by planting seasons (March-May and August-October) so that when people get their hands on eco boxes or seed filled cards and leaflets they can plant them straight away instead of having to wait and then losing enthusiasm for the project or forgetting completely. 


Uses of Augmented Design

What is the Potential of Interactivity with Print?
Whether digital or physical interactivity the possibilities are endless when it comes to augmented design. There are the simple designs such as the afro hair poster or complex digital installations like the bus stop camera used by pepsi max. As long as the advert is engaging and makes people want to interact with it then it doesn't matter how big or small the concept or complicatedness of the design is.

Can Augmented Design Draw People to your Website?
Yes and no, I mean, there's a huge consideration to be made on the overall effectiveness of advertising as a whole and how much it actually contributes to drawing people in and making sales. But the none essay answer to this is yes, it may not draw people directly to your website but it will make people think about the website, it will make the advert stand out in memory and stand out against the none interactive or engaging competition. If we were to choose between an augmented printed advert and a regular printed one then I guarantee audiences will always be more drawn towards the augmented one.


Is it all a bit Gimmicky? Or, are there Opportunities?
No, by any means I wouldn't call it gimmicky. Things that can be considered flash in the pan ideas can go on to make huge impacts on the advertising market. Facebook and Youtube are both strong examples of how websites created for fun have become almost essential tools for advertisers, I think this will be the case with augmented design also. Advertisers always need to find a new way of drawing people in and making a memorable impact and as stated in the previous answer when an member of the public is show an interactive or augmented advert against a regular one, the augmented one will always be the most memorable and will stand out the greatest. 


What Kind of Interactivity Will be Effective for my Campaign? 
Because the aim of my website is to raise awareness and motivate people towards the cause of bumble bee conservation I think the strongest route to go down will be the conservation style posters. So there's a shock value I need to address, but I would like to couple that with a positive twist, an interactive poster displaying what life would be like with bees and without bees is probably my best bet. Everything looks dark and depressing until you interact with it, physically do something to the image and suddenly because of your intervention the world can be positive and bright again. I also think producing something physical will engage audiences also, seed paper is something that could be printed on but also provide the tools for people to begin home conservation efforts straight away and begin making a difference. 

OUGD504: SB4- Audience, Message, Tone of Voice

For the final brief in our 503 module we're asked to produced a printed ad campaign for our websites and to include some element of interactive or augmented design. 

To begin with we needed to produce a design board explaining our audience, message or tone that the ad campaign will need to take and to establish that I decided to look into existing ad campaigns for bee conservation projects to analyse their use of colour, type, language and imagery to communicate tone; as well as examples of creative print campaigns and current printed ad trends.

Design Board

Existing Bee/Ad Campaigns

The Great British Bee Count

Hosted by Friends of the Earth the Great British Bee Count set out this year to get people aware and  involved in bee conservation and to count the different species of bees spotted over the summer. They produced 'bee bingo' leaflets for people to cross off bee species as they saw them and an app for people to ass their findings to the survey. At the end of the summer they produced an info graphic poster documenting the results.

Keep Britain Buzzing

A campaign to make people plant more seeds from the UK Soil Association containing leaflets, seed packs and small posters.

After looking at these printed examples I wanted to look as how websites can advertise themselves through printed mediums, however no matter what I search I can only come up with adverts used on websites, in banners etc, so instead I've decided to focus my research into print campaigns I find interesting and beautiful as well as interactive and creative print based designs.