SAFETY FIRST

Gareth WilliamsGraded UnitHND Year 1 – Computer Arts and Design

Brief•Brief Chosen: Safe Sex Campaign

•Target Audience: 18-24 year olds

•Aims: Lower unplanned pregnancies and lower the amount of new STI (Sexually Transmitted Disease) cases.

•I plan to do this through an adshel poster, leaflet and website, for maximum exposure.

Mind map

Target Audience...

...and their interests

ContraceptionI looked at different forms of contraception to see how they could be implemented in to design but also for information for my final products, including what the pros and cons for each are.

Protection

I looked at the word ‘protection’ to find out what people associate it with visually.

This helps me develop my concepts and final pieces.

Germs, disease and STI

I looked at how germs are perceived by people for conveying their image in my products.

Turning them in to characters gives them more ‘personality’ compared to the real images.

Colour Schemes

From analysing various colour schemes I created using Kuler I decided that blue would be a strong choice, for it’s clean look and being easy on the eyes.

However yellow and brown is a strong contender for its ‘grunge’ look, and appeal to the target audience.

Typography / fontsLooked at both digital and hand-drawn fonts, as well as typography in design.

I favoured the sans-serif fonts over the serif and script fonts.

They are more appropriate in conveying the information I want to get across.

ContinuedExplored the use of hand-written fonts as this was a possibility if I took a cartoon approach.

Doesn’t have the feel I want my campaign to have and very time consuming getting it right.

Chosen fonts

For my main designs. Clean, sophisticated and modern.

For the website, where computers may not have Eurostile font installed.

ContinuedTypography in Design

I looked at 3D, pictures made from text and also how the layout of the text could greatly affect the look you are after.

Methods of ApproachCartoon and hand drawn.Grunge

3D RenderingCartoons offer the versatility of being very humorous and adult cartoons such as Family Guy are big within the target audience range.

Grunge is a popular look with the target audience also, although is more suited to darker/grittier looks.

Layouts & appearance -Leaflet

Health related leaflets have a small array of colours, look simple with well organised information.

Layouts & Appearance - NHS Websites

Site 1: Simple layouts. Not many colours. Informative.

Site 2: Much more of a visual impact and aimed towards a younger teen audience, but still informative. More edgy design and colour scheme.

Layout & appearance –Posters

Use of visual puns and clever word play. Each campaign is very unique even amongst the same company. Like the NHS posters which are humorous to informative.

Other inspirational work

Although not directly related to health campaigns these designers who work with typography and poster design offer inspiration and motivation for my own creations.

They are David Carson (top left) and Neville Brody (top right)

They emphasize thinking outside the box and clever use of typography.

SketchbookI used a sketchbook to document everything I did as I went along, using it as a printed portfolio.

It also includes my initial thumbnail sketches which went on to become some of the concept ideas I’m about to show, as well as the full interpretation of the brief.

Concept 1 Idea – Basic first stagePositive:•Bold idea and statement.•Strong, alerting colours.

Negative:•Limited range of colour choice.•Limited designs, related to sign shape.•Limited in font and typography choices/layouts.

Cont’dThe background offered versatility but that wasn’t enough.

At this stage decided to take this concept no further.

Concept 2For my second concept I started with the characters first, as they would be the main focus.

Condom dressed as a bouncer.‘Protection’ image.

Germ or STI been given a horrible appearance.

Characters developedI liked the direction this was going so I applied colour to the characters. Trying multiple colour schemes on the germ to find the best effect.

Concept 2

At this stage I had decided this was definitely the direction I wanted to go in and set about making the initial poster layout.

I then went on to develop this design further...

Final Product

Adshel Poster

Minimal information to prevent boredom or reluctance to read, but impacting slogan and a website referral for more information.

This then became the basis for the other products, especially the characters.

Final Product Website – Home page

Website – Additional pages

Final Product – Leaflet, front and back

Final Product – Leaflet, inside pages

Things I brought from other areasDigital Imaging – Photoshop and Illustrator. Creating characters using the vector package illustrator, applying effects and creating the layouts of the products in Photoshop.

Developmental drawing – Making use of traditional drawing techniques to create the characters out of inanimate objects.

Self-learning – Graphics tablets. Using online tutorials and practicing use of a drawing tablet.

Managing the ProjectAlthough I kept reasonably well to the schedule I originally set out, I did not comprehend how much more work there would be the further in to the project I got.

The next project I work on, more time will be allocated to the development stages.

Were the aims met?The original aims were to educate those on sexual health so that there were less unplanned pregnancies and less new STI cases.

I believe the products incorporate all these aims, with the leaflet and website offering a lot of information and the poster being a visual statement which referred the audience to the website whilst leaving an memorable impact with them.

One thing I would have liked to include is maybe an alternative poster which also refers to unplanned pregnancy. Or to make a poster which included both messages.

Strengths & weaknesses The characters and humour were effective without venturing in to immaturity.

Consistent colour scheme which showed a relationship throughout the products…

…the same can be said for the characters which appeared throughout the products.

The website had the initial feel I wanted. But more images and other visuals throughout the pages could have been used to keep the audience more engaged.

More detail in the character drawings would have been a bonus, but as this was my first real project with traditional art techniques applied I feel that it went well.

Thank you for listening.

Any questions?