Action plan revisited

Based on the action plan we had created on Thursday, we went away and made mocks up of what we had decided.  On Monday our feedback from the lecturers made us realize that we were heading in the wrong direction with our choice of style as it was not related to our concept. We agreed because we were both getting lost and confused as to the direction we were heading in and the feedback made us realize what was wrong. Case in point, the following unfinished website mock up where it just wasn't working with our idea.

ACTION PLAN

Since last lesson we have developed on our 'spin some yarns' concept. We took into account the feedback we were given in the interim presentation and have tried to make it more about communication than 'knitting' and make the reference to residential apartments more clear. We are still working on our visual solution, but we have chosen our direction and are both on the same page about where we are heading.

We have now started thinking about how the journey of our transmedia narrative is going to work, how and when people will interact with each different media form, and what role they will need to play. We have decided that the poster will most likely be something that people see before the event, the website will be something they go to after that, but still before the event, and the brochure is something that will be used during and after the event.

We started planning out the content that we are going to need on each of our different forms of media, now that we have decided the purpose they serve. We then moved onto grouping this information, wire-framing and drawing up thumbnails of the website and brochure to work out how they will look and flow and make sure we are on the same page.

We have also decided to split the workload between us so that Anna is working primarily on the website, while I am working primarily on the brochure. We will communicate and share our progress throughout this process, making sure its a collaborative work, but this makes the workload more achievable for us. To make sure our work remains cohesive we have organised things sure as colour palettes, imagery, style and tone that will make our work consistent.

Researching websites and breaking them down

As part of the home work we were given on Monday we had to break down two existing websites into wire-frames as well as site maps.
This site map and wire frame was from the 350.org website.



We found that the 350 website was very cluttered and not easily followed. The bombardment of information was too much and actually made the website very hard to read as we didn't know where to look or start. There was not hierarchy of information. There was a lot of repeated information that was unnecessary. The aesthetic of the website was also very boring as the visuals were all just plain images of people.

NZ opera website

We found that this website was a lot better as the information was set out really easy to navigate. the aesthetic followed the latest show and created a cohesive look.

Favourite website- Panera website.

Purpose :

                Education of artificial ingredients within foods.

Goal:

                To raise awareness about the harmful outcomes of these ingredients.

Unique aesthetics:

                 miniature model combined to photographs to create a immersive experience on

                 the website.

Does the look and feel complement each other:

                 yes.

We have also been continuing to look at existing design and collecting some inspiration on our shared pinterest board: https://nz.pinterest.com/annawu127/neighbours-day-inspo/ 

Researching Existing Transmedia Campaigns

Wellington on a Plate

The 2016 Wellington on a Plate advertising campaign went for an eccentric and wacky style, carrying the typeface, bright bold colours, simple photography style and crazy food throughout their media forms. This was specific enough that it was recognisable, but just broad enough that the style could be adapted and applied to suit different media. The posters were used to attract immediate interest in the event, whereas the website gave more specific information about what was happening. Other things such as coasters and table stands were to reinforce the excitement already built up. 

'Stop before you start' 

The 'stop before you start' smoke free campaign was targeted towards young people who were at risk of starting to smoke, therefore they used a grunge style and humorous kiwi manner to relate to them. The grunge style and muted colours are easily recognisable throughout their transmedia campaign, as well as the 'mascot' - the unattractive cigarette. The posters are used to make an immediate impact on people and make one clear message, whereas the website gives more in-depth information, stories, and help that the user can navigate in their own time once their interest has already been captured.  

 

Interim One (We made it to the table of success)

These three posters were the ones we presented in class for interim. The second spin some yarns poster was chosen as one of the ones that was singled out because the clever and engaging relationship between the words and visuals.This surprised us, as we did not think this was our strongest idea or visual solution to begin with. In this poster, we are playing on the saying 'spin some yarns' and a 'close knit neighborhood'. We are targeting apartment dwellers who might not have much time to interact with their neighbors, so we are making our event a night-time apartment crawl. We are exploring an urban style, to appeal and relate to our audience who are younger and live in the city.

We had a group critique in our table groups and the feedback we got was that the idea of a residential apartment block was lost, so we need to make that connection clearer visually. We also have opportunity to play with text hierarchy. There is also a threat when using yarn as a key visual tool, as it inherently has connotations of being targeted at old ladies and of knitting, when that is not our intention. We need to think about how we can twist and grow the idea of yarn and 'close knit' communities in a way that is directed at younger people and apartment dwellers. We also need to think about what day of the week the event is on, and think about other ways yarn can be used. We need to think outside the box!!

Preparation for interim 1

In preparation for interim 1 we decided to visualize some of the rhetorical approaches we had made in class on Thursday from the random word thumbnails. We explored a range of different rhetorical approaches and visual styles for critique next lesson.

  

The two posters we chose to present to class was the join the wolf pack poster as well as the orange spin some yarns posters. We then decided to create new mood boards for these two posters to better flesh out the style approaches. 

Spin some yarns mood board

Join the Wolf pack mood board

Primary Research

We have both been around town, looking at apartments and taking photographs. This has been giving us more of an idea of symbols, textures, styles, and visual material we can use.