Sign Designs from CSE 615

GOAL:My goal for my design, throughout the term, was to create something that would grab the attention of potential fans of WOU Football and make them feel as if they had to be a part of our family.AUDIENCE:My audience would be the local community. Off of the top of my head, this design would be placed in already supportive establishments in the Monmouth, Independence, and Salem communities.MESSAGE:The message I hope to provide is that WOU Football is an exciting program that needs your support. I hope to portray a sense of excitement for football and for the atmosphere. I also hope that my use of sensory appeals will cause consumers of the design to link our design with prior experiences with both the climate of the Willamette Valley and any prior involvement in any group.

First Design

I have to say, that in looking at my first design, I’m surprised at how my design evolved over the course of the term. I started with a Title, identified a sub-title that I liked, and put together a text block that really pushed the involvement I wanted the consumer of the design to feel. All of that, put together with the image of the team in the post-game huddle on the field, comprised of my initial design.

Design Two

In my follow up to my first effort, I made several changes to my design. I stayed with the simple, black and white color scheme, but changed much of the verbiage on the design. I shortened the sub-title to “Join us”, and completely overhauled the text block. I found that my first text block was a bit much for my eyes when I returned to it, it was far too busy. In its stead, I created a block that aligned to the left and utilized different weights and fonts within the block. I also added a final message, just over the attention grabbing image. And finally, I changed the image from the first week. Although it is an older photo, I liked how it showed the broader view of the stadium, while still including a view of the football team.

Design Three

This design came two weeks after the prior design, in Week Six of the term. As you can see, I made some dramatic changes to my design. I kept the image and the text block the same, as I thought I had found my core components. I added in a black bar at the top of the page to break up the monotonous white background from prior designs. That, coupled with the change in text color and weight, really made my design pop more off of the page.

I also added in a second image, of the in-state wolf. A newer logo, I wanted to include it to combat the age of the primary photo, which I left in the same place. I also put the new image in a spot that broke up the black bar, giving it kind of a different, almost abstract look. The caption at the bottom of the design is expanded, combining the caption from the previous design with the final message. Additionally, I changed the alignment of the text block to the right side, whilst also underlining the sensory appeals of each line. At the time, I was hoping to really make the consumer look at those concrete nouns and feel them just by reading.

Design Four

In this image from Week Eight of the term, dated two weeks after the submission of the previous image, I made a radical change. After many weeks of very similar designs, I changed what my thinking was entirely. I wanted to, instead of creating a poster, to create some sort of postcard like object.

At its core, regarding text, my design stayed the same. I kept the same title and sub-title. The text block stayed the same, although I utilized some color after the lecture from Week Seven. I kept both images, making them both transparent. And the core message, “Run with the Pack” was altered slightly.

I really loved this design. One of its flaws, however, was that the picture I used for the background did not mesh with the text block. Due to the darker background of the stadium, even the red of the text block did not do enough to make it stand out from the background. I think though that, with a few more tweaks, I will want to use this at a later point.

Final Design

And here it is, my final design. For my final design, I went back to a similar layout to my Week Six layout (two designs back). I kept the same Title, sub-title, and the same caption. Also carried over from the previous design, I utilized the “Stencil” font, famous from many action movies of the 1980’s, and paired it with a Script font from the previous week. I think that that combination really worked nicely, so I wanted to keep it for my final design.

I did make many changes to my design though. I kept the transparent, in-state wolf from the previous design, but enlarged it and had it stand alone. I altered some of the text block, shuffling around the 3rd and 4th lines and splitting up the previous line of, “Hear your voice join the Pack” into two separate lines. I think that this really strengthened my alignment, and enhanced the in-state wolf image.

Perhaps the biggest change was that of my primary image. While I liked the image I used for most of the term, I found that I considered it too impersonal. It showed a game being played by WOU, and then fans way in the back. I created this image from a video that I liked quite a bit more. It shows the team in a celebratory, happy mood, and the fans right in the midst of it. To the consumer, I think it is a much more welcoming image and shows how much fun it can be to be a part of the WOU Football experience.

I’m very proud of the evolution of my design over the course of the term, and I think, in the end, I ended up encompassing exactly what I wanted my message to be.