Visual Metaphor Project: Insecurity

Visual Communication IV: Visual Metaphor Project

The first few weeks were spent on thinking about the metaphor we wanted to explore. I spent those weeks thinking asking myself, what do I want to work on? What matters to me?

My personal stake in the project: 
The timing was quite coincidental too; It was near the start of the semester and as I do each new semester, I resolved to be better at design and life in general. I’m a rather petty and jealous person sometimes, but I was tired of being like that. I wanted a way to improve together with people and not feel like I was in competition with everyone all the time. It was exhausting and honestly, not very good for someone’s mental health. The metaphor project came at an interesting time and I thought that it would be an interesting way to learn more and be able to think deeply about something I care about. So, this semester, I learnt to help put aside my ego and instead, attempt to make more connections with people and support others and myself too.

The metaphor I chose was insecurity. In dictionary terms, insecurity is defined as “uncertainty or anxiety about oneself” and a “lack of confidence”. There were many posts online about the kinds of insecurity people faced and the methods of dealing with it. How was I going to talk about all of these insecurities? In the end, I focused on finding a metaphor for the general feeling of insecurity.

When you are insecure about life, it feels like:

  • A tunnel you cannot get out of
  • Hopeless
  • You are stuck in a tunnel of your own making

Insecurity is like…

  • A bubble
  • A tunnel
  • Being fragile- being transparent (painfully so) but you are the one hurting yourself
  • A fear of the unknown and what it’ll bring

 

Insecurity is like… running a half-marathon?
My first metaphor equated insecurity to the stages of running a half-marathon. You start at the same line but somehow some people end up in front of you, you get so tired and somehow you have to keep pulling yourself along, you’ve got this because you trained for it, and somewhere along the way, you feel it might be okay, you’ve got this.

Well, it ended up being a little hard to explain what exactly about running the half-marathon is equivalent to insecurity. It felt a little flat so i abandoned the idea.

Insecurity is like… termites.
This idea came to me in that short moment before you fall asleep. So I literally shot out of bed and wrote stuff on a note pad before going back to sleep. Why are termites like insecurity? Here are some nasty facts about termites from my research:

  • Early (termite) detection is vital if you want to prevent large scale damage (Detecting something that feels wrong before it eats you up inside.)
  • Some termites destroy from within, hardly leaving any indication from the outside.
  • Croptotemus and Recticulitermes) The surface wood may seem solid but from the inside, it has been riddled with termites. (Similar to a heart that has been eaten up alive with insecurity and fear.)
  • If the wood is heavily damaged, it will crack or puncture easily.
  • Thin cracks near the base of a wooden frame or beam usually suggest the presence of termites.
  • Fissures and fractures usually appear near the corner.
  • Termites do not bore nice looking holes in wood; they construct galleries and chambers, while eating the wood out in the process.
  • (Crypotermes) drywood termites- the damage is often slow going and limited in extent.
  • The common signs of drywood termites are the appearance of small fissures and cracks near the wood surface and tiny fecal pellets comprising their droppings (called frass) which they discharge from their nests; these pellets may look like granulated sawdust. Drywood termites can infest furniture and slowly destroy it.

Insecurity is similar to termites because:

  • It is intrusive
  • It is structurally dangerous- comparing the human sense of worth to a building/wood that has been eaten through
  • Only with knowledge of how we can spot termite activity early can we prevent too much damage from

 

The medium- Version 1:

The first idea was to create a game as a final deliverable, using Lightwell, a program that allows you to create games without coding. After facing some technical difficulties on my laptop in the first few weeks and realising that creating the game would instead require more resources or knowledge than I had, I reluctantly dropped it. However planning through the game gave me certain insights into the nature of insecurity and how I intended to talk about it.

The game required a storyline and characters to be designed in the initial stages. The main character was supposed to be a termite hunter who navigates through a path of complex pathways, battle termites, and somehow have to be better than the competitor that always seem to be doing so much better than you.

Along the way, the main character gets discouraged and tired and your words are supposed to help the character power up as they finish different stages. Each stage would lead them to a powerful weapon to aid in their journey- such as a sword of self-acceptance or a mace of self-approval- and would be a quality that each stage would try to help instil in the player. The twist in the game would come when you realise that you have to work with your competitor to defeat a final boss instead of having to defeat it along, thus promoting the idea of connection and companionship through the struggles of insecurity.

This idea was scrapped ultimately.

Sketches for game
Character sketches for game

Certain takeaways I got from reading about games and gamification in design are:

  • Tiny Habit Methods- where games or programmes do not attempt to change a person’s habit immediately but through small repetitive steps, eventually allowing the person to build a habit to break themselves out of the rut they find themselves in.

 

The medium- Version 2:

In brainstorming, I considered several other mediums:

  1. “Choose your own adventure book” – where you as a reader gets to choose the path you take next.
  2. Graphic Novel- similar concept to the game except that it’s in graphic novel form. It will be written through the eyes of the main character, our termite hunter.
  3. Campaign- A phase in a campaign that spans a wider timeline.
  4. Book- A book with diecuts that resemble the pathways of the termites eating through the book.

I eventually went with option 4- a book.

 

Creating the book:

For the content of the book, I looked at the stages of insecurity as a cycle and they are:

1. The problem

2. The search

3. The Journey
a. Forgiveness (of self and past)
b. Acceptance (of present and future)

4. The Solution
a. Self Approval
b. Good self talk
c. Confidence
d. Self-care
e. Assertive
f. Trust

 

This should be seen as a process of actions to take when faced with insecurity. Healing does not occur in a linear timeline similar to the one given above but that’s okay. Therefore, in the book, I decided to give myself some parameters to follow for a cohesive final look.

  1. The characters in the book shall be simplified. Instead of drawing literal termites or characters, I wanted the book to instead focus on the message instead of distracting with the visuals.
  2. The process shall be divided throughout the books so that the readers can access them easily.

 

Draft 1: Dot

Draft
Draft

 

The draft still felt as if there were too many elements in it. It was clunky and not very aesthetically pleasing. The first chapter had too many pages and it could be very draggy as a book.

When I went back to reflect on why it wasn’t working and through consultations with Nanci, something came through. There were some images of dots and lines online by Korean students. She also showed me the book “Flight of fancy” by Bruno Munari when he connects dots and lines to create simple yet light-hearted stories. Their simple use of dots to tell a story inspired me and made me realise that, in my piece, it is ultimately the storytelling that was most important. No matter the medium, the story it tells matter most. I didn’t want to just design dots base on post from Pinterest. The dot- a circle- meant something to me but I couldn’t articulate it. I went to look at more books and came across another of Munari’s book, Square Circle Triangle.

 

 

The circle has taken many forms throughout history and Munari’s book explores the various ways that it has manifested itself all over the world.

Meteorological Signs

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From this research, I reflected on what the dot means to me and came up with another set of parameters when designing the book:

  1. The dot is your main unit- this being the central figure of your book.
  2. We shall only introduce lines or dots to denote other figures.I wanted to use Paul Klee’s famous line “A line is a dot that went for a walk.” to explore storytelling in my book too.

In the end, I did away with the second parameter too and decided that only the circle could be used to design the entire book.

Cover PageFinal Book:

 

The link to the book can be found here:  https://issuu.com/fernandezleong/docs/dot_book_pages.4_lowres

 

Sample of a page
An overview of the book when sent for printing.1
An overview of the book when sent for printing.2

 

An overview of the book when sent for printing.3

 

The dot in the book is the simplification of a human. In the book, it encompasses a human and its perceived wholeness of being. When the dot gets destroyed or punctured with holes it is no less a human being but one that has been destroyed inside.

Insecurity is a very personal journey to me. Everyone can look good on the outside to others but be very damaged inside by the thoughts you tell yourself. The book is printed in a small size (10.5cm x 10.5cm) because it is a book meant for one person at a time only. It is meant to be an intimate experience with the words and something that can be carried around easily. Nobody knows when the bad thoughts will strike us and I want the book to be easily accessible to all so that you can read it wherever you are. It is also divided into individual sections inside so that the reader can flip through to that page when needed.

Final deliverables- book, book sleeve, and post cards

My final deliverables are a book combined with a book sleeve, and post cards. Why post cards? These postcards will ideally be sold with the book. Postcards are items whose sole purpose is to connect a new space or idea to others. Since the journey of healing from insecurity is better taken with companions, the post cards can be used to send a message to people you care about or want to reach out to.

Through this project, I learnt much about my own insecurity, especially regarding my design works and ideas. I’m quite satisfied with the final deliverables even if I do have regrets about not being able to accomplish others. However part of  the process of healing from insecurity is learning to let go and be with the present, which I will do.

The Water Project – The Ripple Project

Summation of journey for visual communication

To understand where a project has taken you, I feel the first thing we have to do is  go back to its roots. Why did we choose this path? Why did we want to talk about when we show our final product? How did we get there? These are the few questions I attempt to answer before going into the final products.

 

Beginning

The premise we were given at the start was interesting. When given the topic water and tasked to research on it, it feels open-ended, perhaps a little vague and more importantly, exciting.

What can we talk about water?

I went through a range of interests that I had before reaching the final topic I wanted to talk about. Below is a quick map to look at the thought process.

 

Water >> Naga and myths >> Conservation of spaces and movement of water in these spaces (Specially islands and water) >> Ecology of water akin to a cycle >> Water pollution and its roundabout effects of human

 

It took a while but when reading about water and water being part of the ecology, it just felt as if it were right topic I wanted to explore. How important is water to the cycle of life? Very important, as it turn out.

Here are some slides that were presented to the class in the process of thinking about what we wanted to talk about.

 

In the slides, certain key words were highlighted. Words like biodiversity, ecology; these words represents a relationship of similar things seen in different perspectives to me. How so? With biodiversity, we know that there is a wide range and variety of flora and fauna. With ecology, we deal with the knowledge of relationship between the environment and the living beings. With ecosystem, we think of these beings as a system. If one part were to malfunction, the whole system is affected. Therefore from small actions or changes come consequences. This brought me to the topic of a threat that we see far too much, anthropogenic threats, also seen as the impacts of the human ecological footprint.

The idea of relationship and systems interested me and I decided to look at places where we see tangible results of this relationship. One example was the Marine Dive Trail near St John’s island. Coral reefs are in danger of being damaged or destroyed by human activities hence the decision of NParks to protect the reefs. At the same time they turned the space into where people are able to join to admire and learn more about the reefs.

However, when researching more about the impacts of human threats on the ecology, I found that the impacts are way bigger and drastic than just the corals and the dive trails. That’s where my direction changed when I decided to switch the scope of what I wanted to say.

 

 Process

So I started researching. There were many articles and papers online about the effects of human action on the environment and I was admittedly unsure where to start.

When I was doing my research I tried to be as open minded as possible. There were many interesting articles about findings in Singapore and around the world. My initial interest was choosing between the mangroves in Sungei Buloh and the marine dive trail at St Johns. However my research led me to finding new terms such as microplastic, the circular economy, ghost  fishing etc. These problems seemed so much bigger, so much more urgent that I switched my focus halfway and decided to talk about it instead.

Funnily enough, upon looking back, I felt that perhaps it might be better to stick to talking about these specific spaces. I don’t regret learning and talking about the plastic problem that the world is facing but I do feel that when talking about such a big problem, certain things get lost in translation, for example the sense that we can help as humans wherever we are, or even thinking about how this large problem has affected us in Singapore and how we contributed to it. I did talk about this in the booklet however I feel that it would work also if I kept narrowing the scope to these locations and let my research help inform the design and solutions I have for these spaces. Perhaps a continuation of this project?

In the end, I chose to talk about the impacts of human actions on the marine environment and focused on the effects of plastic pollution on the environment.

This came in the form of a project titled “The Ripple Project”. It is a fictional not-for-profit organization focused on disseminating information and educating the public about the effects of plastic pollution.

One of its main concerns was that the information about plastic pollution is too scattered at this point in time; there was no one place where all the information could be found. Similar to how the world is interconnected, the efforts of the other organizations should not be isolated. Share the findings! Talk about it! Link to other organizations and create conversations!

The Ripple Project’s first aim is to create an online space where the user gets connected with these organizations without having to go to many sites.

 

These are the three deliverables:

  • A website
  • A booklet
  • Posters
  1. The website:

The online website ties in with the posters and booklet because it is the product that the users get directed back to immediately. It has informations on upcoming talks where one can register online, a challenge for people to participate in and learn about mindfulness, and links to local and globals organisations that hosts different initiatives or provide information on the pollution.

F0r the challenge, participants are encouraged to post photos of single use plastic they used over a one week period. Through this challenge, it hopes to cultivate mindfulness in the participants while allowing them to understand that every small action has unintended consequences, thus linking back to the idea of the ripple effect.

Link:  https://fleong005.wixsite.com/therippleproject

Screenshots of website:

 

 

2. The Booklet:

 

This was intended as a print booklet hence the QR codes included where users can scan with their phones and it’ll bring them to the website indicated. The booklet aims to reach students and young adults and it will  most likely be distributed in schools, cafes, and included as reading materials in company lobbies.

 

The information inside introduces the reader to the plastic pollution problem before narrowing it down to how people in Singapore could have contribute to the problem. It then suggests ways that the people can take to reduce plastic waste before introducing links to organisations that the users can look through for future action.

Link: Ripple_Finalbooklet-compressed

Cover Page

3. The posters:

The posters are large with taglines that have bite sized facts about the problem. With more information below the tagline giving context to the problem, it aims to inform and encourage people to find out more about the plastic problem through the QR code. This code links the user back to the website.

Final_poster.1

Final_posters.2

Final_posters.3

 

Conclusion and reflection

The objective of the project was to raise awareness of the plastic pollution problem. However the harder part would be getting people to act. There are certain setbacks to this style of campaigning that I realised upon hindsight. The things I liked about the project was the amount of time we had to research on the topic before designing for it. It allowed me time to think about my role as a designer when talking about matters that extend beyond the field of design. I find myself asking questions like, why does this matter? How can I reach people better with my designs? Where will my designs be distributed so that the issue gets more attention? My skills has improved somewhat too. Upon seeing the works of my classmates, I find myself being excited about other methods of presenting information as compared to what I’m doing now.

The setbacks would be that I should have started on the creation earlier. I found myself stuck with too many things I wanted to say but then I got overwhelmed when I think of all that I wanted to say. When I look at the works of my classmates, I realised they picked a part of the whole and worked on creating a solution for that. This was something I feel I could definitely do better in. Also some design elements, such as logo creation or poster design, could be improved on too.

In conclusion, the thought process took longer this semester but it allowed me time to really think about my project. I really appreciate the ample time given to us but I really should be careful of being stuck in the thinking process. Sometimes I get frozen when thinking about the designs because you start thinking questions such as How can I design well enough to convey my messages, or something like that. With more time, I feel that my message and purpose of designing is stronger. As compared to the last few semesters, I don’t find myself questioning what the whole purpose of the project is about because I chose this path myself. Although it was tough, I felt that I learnt quite a lot about the design thinking processes (Will want to improve on this too) and my technical skills this semester.

Assignment 1 Therapeutic Graphics: Final

The final image for assignment 1:

image6
25cm x 25cm

The challenges I faced were

  • Deciding on the final direction I wanted to go with. There were so many ideas I had that it seemed such a pity to just focus on one but due to practicality and time constraint, I eventually settled on what I feel I could do.
  • Technical skills could be improved. I feel that I’ve learnt quite a bit about drawing on Photoshop through this assignment and aim to improve my knowledge.
  • Choosing of colours: I wanted to go with colours that would pop and be pleasant to the eyes hence the choice in pastel colours. The flowers had their own colour schemes too which made having a library in Photoshop a godsend.

Assignment 1 Therapeutic Graphics: Research

screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-11-43-40-am
First visit to Eng Teng Fong Hospital

In our first class, we received out brief: Create something that would fit on the glass window of the hospital and consider its relationship with the viewer, that’s what we would tasked to do. During the field trip to the hospital, here are the things I noticed about the space we were supposed to design for.

  • The space was airy and large but seemed a little cold because of the monotonous colour usage.
  • Some windows were blocked by grilles which provided a limited view of the outside.
  • There was light coming in from all side and shadows were very diluted.
  • People were mostly zoning out or  looking at their phones. Most of them were staff and some of them were patients. Some patients and their presumed relatives seemed worried or tired.

Through this observations, I thought about the function of my graphics and wanted them to be positive, light-hearted, and have the ability to provide a moment of happiness for the viewer. Since the location is only a place that links people to other parts of the building, they only have a few minutes to spare which is the only time I have to capture the attention of the people.

Initial imageries I wanted to play with were plants, for the soothing atmosphere it provides and its link to the outside of the hospital, or patterns with colours, that would invoke an emotional response in viewers.

The initial ideas I had were:

  1. Create 3D interactive pieces that viewers can interact with. e.g plants made out of cotton wall.
  2. Stickers with fun designs to be pasted on the wall. This opens up a lot of opportunity to play with the light coming through the window. Also there is a possibility of creating a suggested space where viewers can imagine the stickers as items that sit on the window ledge.

After learning that this was a purely 2D project, I decided to focus on the second idea. I then came up with 3 mood boards.

screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-11-51-58-am
Patterns and colours form a soothing design
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-11-52-04-am
Papercut-like designs- nature and floral motifs
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-11-52-11-am
Design of plants with cute graphics. Creation of a garden within the space of the window.

 

Throughout this three mood boards, I decided to work on the third idea and came up with some rough sketches. Before working on the rough sketches I decided to research on the function of a garden and the meaning of flowers which I was going to introduce to the design.

image3
The flowers were limited to just 5 different kinds with varying colours.
screen-shot-2016-08-21-at-5-28-41-pm
The flower language of white zinnia is goodness.
screen-shot-2016-08-21-at-5-28-19-pm
The flower language of yellow tulips is sunshine in your eyes.
screen-shot-2016-08-21-at-1-18-31-pm
The flower language of smilax is loveliness.
screen-shot-2016-08-21-at-1-18-26-pm
The flower language of iris is hope.
screen-shot-2016-08-21-at-1-18-07-pm
The flower language of pink rose is sweet thoughts.

 

The flower language of all five flowers form a bouquet of good thoughts and well wishes which I attempted to convey through the array of colours and graphics.

I went to reference books on landscape design after to understand what the best way to design a garden was. Some tips I took away and decided to utilise were:

  • A well-equipped garden will revitalise us
  • The presence of plant life in a confined area inspires a feeling of satisfaction
  • Garden as a place for leisure
  • Perspective can be used to make a garden seem larger

 

Rough sketches:

image2
Incorporating the flowers and pot graphics into a design
image1
Another perspective but instead there are shelves.

 

After the consultation with Michael, our lecturer, and the class, there were suggestions that the garden could be less dense while the flowers in the foreground could be larger to suggest that the garden is closer. The floating flower pots and its almost fantasy-like nature received favourable comments. Since it was a personal favourite too, I decided to keep it.

 

Second draft:

image4
Using one point perspective helps lead the eye in and create a suggested space. The pots seem higher and seem to float above the viewer.

Stages of development:

img20160828232916-copy-copy
Other ideas for design of pots
pots_individual
Colouring the pots.
screen-shot-2016-08-26-at-1-08-07-am
In-progress. Pots and flowers coloured.

 

Assignment 3 Final: Get well card

The final designs for assignment 3 are as below:

front_oss
Front of card
back_os
Back of card
img20161107122131
Front detail of card with die-cut
img20161107122156
Front detail (2)
img20161107122143
Back detail with die cut
img20161107122138
Interior of card

There were certain challenges that I faced along the way which I feel helped me grow as a designer. Some of the challenges and solutions are as below:

  1. Designing the folds before imagery. Also thinking that folds had to be extremely elaborate for it to look nice which isn’t the case. A simple one fold can still look good. The thing that has to match and be considered is the combination of card fold and design. How does the design relate to the fold? How does the viewer interact with the card? How do they approach the card and what visual cues can we give them for a better experience on their side? These user-oriented questions would be better instead of self-oriented questions.
  2. Clarity of design. We need to ensure that the potential viewers understand what they are looking at before we can call the design a success. One good way of gauging is to show a mock up to people of the same age group as your potential client. They will be able to give indicators if the design is working.
  3. Pushing your design is needed. When you have an idea and it’s working out fine, what we can do next is how can we further push the design?
  4. Printing! This was a major problem because the alignment between both sides of the card had to be precise, which it wasn’t. I had to go back to the printer’s a second time after editing the design at home and check the alignment on the spot again. Upon seeing that there was still a small margin of error, I came up with a blue gradient on the outside of the design so that it would not look like it was a mistake. Also when printing, considering the card weight is important too.

I did learn quite a lot from the assignment and hoped that I would continue adding on to the knowledge as I continue on with my studies!







Assignment 3 Research: Get well card

The assignment started simply enough- create folding and perforation lines to make a 3D card out of a single sheet of paper. Unfortunately I have never been too good at 3D materials but I am interested to see what I can do. Here we go.

When reading about the brief, where we have to explore possibilities in creating a get well wishing card, the first thing I did was think about the folds I wanted to use. I went through card pieces I saw online and at Art Friend and played with the idea of different folds to create.

viscom1
Sketches for card graphics and fold
viscom2
Other exploratory sketches

I wanted to card with two folds that folded on top of each other. There were two ways that it could go then:

 

  1. A person raise their hands in triumph while the second layer forms a sunburst design. Both layers would be cut out with a die cut. The last layer would be a background upon which the first two layers would rest and together they would form a completed image of a person in a dynamic pose and cheering the viewer on.
  2. Words on top divided into three portions according to the fold of the card. The words say “Get Well Soon”. The imagery for this is undecided.
viscom9
Front of mock up.
viscom8
Back of mock up with box for corporate text and logo.

At the end of the first consultation,  Michael, our lecturer, suggested that the image be the focus before thinking about the folds we want to use. It was the complete opposite of what I had been doing which made me panic for a moment. Then it was back to the drawing board.

When I think about graphics, I also think about what I am capable of currently. If 3D isn’t my thing, then I can focus on creating good graphics. What I wanted the viewer to get out of the card is happiness and a sense of warmth. Hospitals can be rather cold places, with their bare walls and rooms devoid of personal items. The card should aim to provide some warmth and convey the sense of love that people are giving when they give a card.

I focused on the graphics and thought if I wanted to do it digitally or traditionally. The things I thought of were flowers or colourful designs so I went to look for images online.

http://www.canstockphoto.com/illustration/wildflower-background.html
http://www.canstockphoto.com/illustration/wildflower-background.html
g50-peacock-masha-dyans-watercolor-greeting-card
http://masha.com/page/6/?taxonomy=product_shipping_class&term=1
x51-christmas-ornaments-angel-galina-sokolova-watercolor-greeting-card
http://masha.com/product-category/holiday/

At this point, I just looked for images that interested me visually but had no idea yet how to apply them to the final product. Also I then came up with more sketches focused on interaction with the viewer.

viscom3
Sketches and character sketches

3. The woodlands creature idea involved the inside of the card being a suggested space where woodland creatures come up to surprise the viewer with their cuteness and well wishes. I was still thinking of using the two fold design. So the first layer would be a door which would open up to an interior where the characters would give the surprise.

 

At the second consultation, we then discussed about the possibility of doing away with two folds and bringing it down to one fold where the first layer would just act as a door and the act of opening the card is akin to opening a door. Michael also suggested doing away with the “Get Well Soon” words at the top and creating a die cut with a character at the front, which will correspond to the design at the back.

I quite like the idea and decided to stick to it. I had a few design sketches for certain characters but realised that they would not all fit into the final design. So I kept to just four final characters- the Hedgehog, who would be inviting you into the room and has presents (yay!), the Bear, who likes to see people happy and warm so it made soup for you, the fox, who is shy but likes to dance in joy at seeing a person healthy, and the squirrel, who likes its nuts or acorns but doesn’t mind sharing if it makes you feel better.

viscom4
Character sketches
viscom5
Hedgehog sketches

After designing the characters, I then designed the layout. Using various image sources, I combined them into a final design.

viscom7
Pencil sketch for the front
viscom6
Pencil sketch for the back design

 

viscom10
Front mockup

At the third and last consultation, the suggestions given were that I had to consider about the space I was inviting the viewers in to when they opened the door. Also the images of the mushroom could be a little bigger to suggest distance instead of it being flush against the door. A classmate suggested that the corporate text at the back could be combined together with the design, perhaps on a notice board, which I found really helpful!

 

Assignment 2 Final: Zika Poster

After weeks of consultation and tweaking, the final artwork was as below:

I wanted to give it a contemporary feel hence the font chosen. Texture was also used to suggest blood stains and the sac at the bottom of the mosquito where blood is usually collected. The mosquito creates an instantly recognisable image which people can understand visually before the words register.

finalfinal-viscomm_rgb

Certain challenges I faced were:

  1. Deciding on a slogan: Maybe copy writing is not my thing because I had a bit of trouble trying to come up with something catchy.
  2. Deciding on a layout I wanted to use: It was a little strange that I thought we had to do a sort of infographic and then I see everybody doing image-driven posters instead. In the end, due to time constraint, I did up a poster. Making a decision and sticking with it is something I have to learn.
  3. Positioning of image: I went through many drafts and mock-up to come to the final product. It was pretty interesting in the end.

Assignment 2 Research: Zika Poster

Some research I did before starting the poster was to look at the different ways information was disseminated.

  1. Infographics: This form of information sharing largely uses graphics and colors to provide information in bite sized portions and make it easily digestible.

zika-3

2. Illustrated infographics and comics: This form of information sharing uses a storyline and related graphics to share its information.

zika1

3. Image-driven: This form of information sharing is similar to how websites are design. It sections the information and uses large images that works with the text to create a pleasant combination.

zika2

The initial idea was to focus on sharing information in bite-sized portions and also to highlight the danger of Zika. Therefore I decided to focus on the second mood board above.

 

Initial mockup: Editing the image of a mosquito and redrawing it in an illustrated style. The purpose was to make it seem like a wanted poster hence the choice font seemed to that in a cowboy show.

image1
Mock up 1: The squares and circles were to contain information
image2
Another variation

After consultation, the slogan I decided to work around was “Who is the unwanted resident?” which focused on the idea of the mosquito being unwanted in the home. Certain information I wanted to illustrate were tips on how to mosquito-proof your home and what zika was.

In the end, due to time constraint, I decided to focus on an image and instead use it to catch the attention of the viewer and be able to bring across an understanding of the content with a look. Therefore I focused on the most iconic image to represent zika- the mosquito.

The following are some of the drafts:

image3
Another variation of the poster where the information was supposed to encircle the mosquito image.

 

image4
Playing with the mosquito image as main focus of poster. This has an old school feel, like the James Bond movie, hence I decided to put the target images to make it seem as if the mosquito was being aimed at.
image5
A variation of the poster above. Black and red was added to give the mosquito a more menacing feel. Certain aspects of the mosquito are repeated also to emphasise its scariness.
image6
Initial design with red background. This was an incident; I accidentally painted a whole layer red and it gave a bloody effect which I decided to keep.
image12
A variation in which the font is changed and the red is more saturated. It gives a vintage feel which I quite like but might not use since I want to make it more relevant to present times.
The colour is a little off-color here… Playing with a textured background and suggesting blood stains.
Changing the position of the poster gives it a smoother visual flow. As English speakers, we read from left to right, which is what the suggested direction the mosquito image is providing us.

After a final consultation, the slogan was edited to “The Unwanted Visitor”. Using visitor instead of resident gives the connotation that this is something we do not want in the house in the first place as opposed to a resident which means that it already resides in the home.

 

Visual Research: Infographics


inforgraphic

An example of health communication posters I have always found interesting are infographics. I have added two examples to show the variations an infographic can have.

What stood out for me were the harmonious flat colours and graphics. The colours had two purposes- They were used to create visual interest and also to create an image which the viewer can easily identify. Colours were also used to segregate different portions in a pie chart.  In using graphics and colours together, it becomes almost like a story in visual form. For example, in the second posters, the orange van and green blocks were used to identify amount and the visuals make it easier to understand in one glance. The colours in the health posters tend to veer towards darker colours which seem more appropriate when the information is about caring for your body or going for checkups. A darker, somber colour would probably be better for older viewers. Yet perhaps putting one colour as contrast could help to create eye-catching sections for viewers to zoom in to immediately.

 

The information was easy to locate too. With a line separating major sections and information being spaced comfortably apart, the poster is easy to view and understand. Information is provided in bite sized pieces and is better to digest in.