Week twelve
Lecture Notes:
Lecture Summary:
I thought this weeks lecture was really interesting in terms of the way that Grant Hunter spoke about the the way of story telling but in different cultures. As we often assume that everyone understands the culture that we are in. So it as really nice to hear the perspective of someone that had experience in global cultures. I think Grant has a really interesting job role, especially being able to travel and learn about different countries. I thought the project about the video option on the phone was a really interesting insight, especially relating to tiktok but also how they decided to do a digital mascot for the Olympic Games in 2012. It was clever how this then enabled children to connect with the mascot.
Resource Notes:
R1
R2
Resource Summary:
R1
I think this goes to show how important messages and catchy slogans within a song and advertising can be to getting your message across to the consumer. Making it easy to understand but also available to everyone. Also creating awareness around what you are trying to highlight, it was probably really scary to see it at train-stations as a-lot of people just think that it won’t happen or effect them but in reality it does. This was a really warming case study and I hope there will be more designs like this.
R2
I think I took from this small interview that simplicity works in your favour, keeping it simple to the point of the message you are trying to say. I think this allows the consumer or the user to really engage with the content that you are creating.
Research
Promote and Test
Within this weeks research, I really wanted to do some more research about simple public service design ideas but also look at ads for a source of inspiration of how they have put the video together so simply. I also wanted to look into adverts that told a story and analyse their effectiveness. I would then be able to use this as inspiration for my project.
Superunion
BBC rebrand
Although not story telling, I wanted to look into some of the work that super union had done after the lecture that we received from grant. They decided to rebrand BBC 2, to make sure that it was inline with a lot of the other leading broadcasters. To do this they wanted to emphasis on the motion graphics that had been around for a long time but reinvent it. But the thing that connects all the motions together is “The simple, elegant curve of the channel’s instantly recognisable number 2.”https://www.creativereview.co.uk/bbc-two-rebrand-by-bbc-creative-and-superunion/ Another instantly simple design that can be so effective for the whole brand, the colours that are used are clean and fresh and feels like a whole revamp although a small change has been made.
Apple
Looking at one of the worlds leading brands, apple, they always have a story to tell but in a different way. A lot of the time with apple products, which I previously researched, they have the same generic advertisement that they would then deploy across all of the countries. But this add is different to a lot of the ads i’ve seen before.
The underdogs looks at the story of getting a pitch meeting that could change your life at work, a lot of the time I was watching this ad I didn’t even notice the product to begin with and then you remember that this is an ad for apple and all the amazing things that they are showing you can do with a device. It tells a story throughout a design process and how a design can change soemone’s life.
I think this is a really clever advert especially with the story telling and you learn the personalities right from the beginning.
Adidas
Adidas as a brand are known for being a sporting brand, a lot of the time I put Adidas with football or other sporting advertisement but this story telling advertisement is a little bit different to the norm. Telling us to never give up on our dreams no matter the obstacles. I think this is a really moving story thats been told, its a simple ad with no words but just actions and movements that have been taken. The music accompanies the ad perfectly. It also talks about breaking free from the norm and seems to be pretty inspirational.
Nike
The competitor of Adidas, but story telling has always been apart of this brand. I wanted to look into some of their ads. A lot of the time they use story telling in such a simple way but I wanted to look at when they don’t nesscarily promote a single product. I found this example of the ad impossible stairs, this promotes all of the air max range with every step that she takes being pushed by air to push her forwards. I think this is really clever as it takes a simple technique of showing of the different shoe design. But alot of the time nike make sure that it isn’t about the actual product but also the people themselves. They are also really clear on none of their ads needing voice-overs which a lot of other brands have.
Sephora
Another huge brand but this is one of the best story telling adverts that I’ve seen, its a simple approach with a voice over and talking about what makes you beautiful and how you see yourself and other people. I think Sephora have done a good job and going through the stages of a girls life and using the voice over to connect with the consumer on a personal level.
Navy
Although not an add for a product, the navy always have had good recruitment videos that encourage people to apply to the programme. They have a story of one person, talking about their particular story. It has a simple voice over the top explaining the story of how he got to apply and what he does now in the navy. I think the simple voice overs and the step by step are really effective.
From watching and learning about all the above advert; it became clear to me that I needed to have certain things within my workshop challenge this week that told a story.
Simple layout
easy to understand
the problem
the solution
voice over
easy to understand in all countries.
Workshop Challange
Create and record a two minute case study film, which highlights the challenge you tried to solve and the design you created to solve it.
Your case study film should analyse the success, failure and potential social impact of your design solution. Please include any user, peer and key stakeholder feedback.
Upload your case study film to YouTube.
After watching the workshop challenge for this task, I immediately had ideas to how I wanted to video to be and what it should look like. To plan this out, I started by planning this out in presentation format:
I then did this in a really legible format, making sure that the wording was really clear. I also found some fast paced music to accompany - this led me to draft 1 which can be seen below.
I used stock videos that I thought would be motivational and encourage cycling but wanted it to be clear.
This was the first feedback received when I posted to the ideas wall.
I needed to think about the coloured background as well as the positioning of the wording. But at least I knew I was on the right track.
I changed around some of the wording and the layout of the words, which left me with draft 2.
After this draft, we had a webinar where it was discussed that narration was needed. So because of this, I felt that my current layout was a bit ad like to be a narrated video - I replanned again.
I wanted to narrated video to be really clear about the problems and the solutions but at the same time trying to encourage people to get back cycling again.
I then went on to narrate the video trying to get the voice over in time with the music and the imagery.
I posted this to the ideas wall, happy that id made the changed and that it looked clear.
I feel that there was some disagreement that my voice sounded a bit dull but I wanted it to try and be clear.
From this feedback, I am going to re-record the voice over of the video.
After completing this version of the film, I realised that I hadn’t added impact of the design. So I decided to go through and shorten some of the clips, allowing me to add a section at the end.
Weekly Summary
I think this week has been really insightful, not only learning about a company that specialises within the brand campaigns but also learning about one of the most viral Public Service videos that was trending across the world. I think this just goes to show how simple a campaign can be but can make all the difference. Taking all of the knowledge and research that I found out and I tried to apply this to the case study video that we had to make for the workshop challenge this week.
I wanted the video to be really simple and clear about the message I was trying to portray. I think it started off too much like a ad but in the end came together to be a case study video which I am proud to present. I initially wasn’t sure about a voice over as I was sure about having no voice in it, but I am glad that I have one just to put a human voice to the product and to make it more friendly to the user. I think that the design would make a huge difference to Southampton cycle users.
Ideas Wall Posts
Reference list
Adidas (2016). Adidas – Break Free. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfLl3qYy0k&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 13 May 2021].
Ads of Brands (2020). Sephora: The Unlimited Power of Beauty. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSCJ8eIB3c&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 13 May 2021].
Apple (2019). Apple at Work — The Underdogs. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9TdA8d5aaU&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 13 May 2021].
BBC (2018). How trippy are BBC Two’s psychedelic new idents? - BBC. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szX9L8J6CC8&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 13 May 2021].
Creative Review (2019). BBC Two rebrand by BBC Creative and Superunion. [online] Creative Review. Available at: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/bbc-two-rebrand-by-bbc-creative-and-superunion/ [Accessed 13 May 2021].
Kamata, S. (2019). Nike: Impossible Stairs (2017). [online] vimeo.com. Available at: https://vimeo.com/230728917 [Accessed 13 May 2021].
RoyalNavyRecruits (2015). Made in the Royal Navy - Ben’s story. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAMFQwebh6Q&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 13 May 2021].