Kalman and UCB

Kalman:
Interesting article about the power of an image as an advertising device. Somewhere in there, it talks about how important it is to captivate the viewers, hold their attention, and make them think. All of this could be possible if the product is shown with powerful imagery. At the end, there were several questions that asked how can you create a message without text and yet have it appeal to all ages, which I thought is an interesting challenge since young kids would have to get it but older people would still stop and think.

UCB:
"Communication should not be commissioned from outside the company, but conceived from within the heart." This reading really helped me understand who I should be targeting the new branding towards. It is about the individual rather than a customer, so in a way it has to get personal. Solid, strong concepts also help make it memorable and eye catching. At the same time, it should be target everyone and have them talking about it. Much like the previous article, it emphasizes the use of a strong image to communicate with the audience rather than rely on text.

Revised Appeals and Audiences

I switched up the modes of appeals since my last blog post about them in class. The Dove's chocolate is still pathos. Logos is the granola now because of the 100% natural and 14g whole grain. Therefore, Cheerios is ethos because that whole grain guarantee check is pretty dominant so it has that seal of approval. I flipped those two because even though Cheerios had those facts on top, the check mark was more dominant. Also, the granola didn't really have a trustworthy source on the front (there's one on the back) and that's the main focus.

Audiences:
For the Dove chocolate, I'm going to say mainly women because of the text and how everything is rendered. It has a very sensual feeling and the colors reiterate that. The Bear Naked granola is towards both genders. Probably healthy, active people that are into organics and natural stuff. Cheerios could be towards kids and parents because it has that bee on it but then also that big heart with the fact, so that's more towards parents.

F+S

Just randomly stumbled on this while looking for contemporary inspiration. It's a really good use of parody.

Taken from http://365concepts.tumblr.com/, which has a ton of really good stuff.

Final Jazz Poster

Final jazz poster? Perhaps. We shall see.

This was quite the experience, being able to design for a real life job. It was hard at first because my concept (the moon thing) didn't work out so I was behind and then text and colors weren't working and everything just seemed rushed and I don't know. Somehow I was able to put something together and I really love it now. I posted some iterations of different backgrounds and text ideas below and I chose to keep with the gradient and the triangles because it kept to the simplicity and the spotlight is still there but not as evident and I just really like it. I used pun as my rhetoric trope with the l being a mic stand and then having his mic be on top of that. That lead to text being image and so I had to choose typefaces that was modern but still communicates him and his music. And then since I didn't have much image to rely on, the background had to speak to his music as well. So warm colors were chosen since his music was warm and romantic. I tried some blues below but it seemed too cool for him. I chose to use triangles because it makes a mark with all the angles and corners and that's what he is like, making his mark on jazz. Also, it's more visually interesting than the squares and lines and circles. At first I really didn't like this project but now I love my poster, especially from where it was at the beginning.

Jazz Ads

These are my ads for the jazz posters.

Round 1:

Round 2:

 Final:

I only had so many elements to work with so it was difficult to make it interesting but I think the new background helps it a bit.

Jazz Poster Rounds Pt.2

So many iterations... These were since final crit and after talking about what the Folly people wanted. Therefore, something more modern! I changed the font to be sans serif instead of a modern serif. You can see in the 2nd row, there's my "final" one and then everything new around it. The Folly liked the warm colors and the spotlight effect/gradient so I wanted to keep that in.

I experimented with the background a bit, as seen in the 1st row, and I really like that effect so I tried that along with a warmer color palette. And kept iterating it....

Then I tried other stuff...

Yea. Much improved in my opinions.

AfH Relogo

I didn't get a chance to show these in class so here they are. These are the 5 sketches I had (plus some more).

 And then some digitized versions of my favorite ones.

 And then the "final".

I initially wanted the logo to have a building like silhouette to it because it is architecture and I really like their current one right now but I wanted it to be a bit more bold. So yep.

F+S: 3 Packages

These are the 3 packages I chose from the store.

Bear Naked falls under ethos because it appeals to the character of a person. It aims more towards a healthy person since it says "100% pure and natural granola". I actually like the design because it is simple. I also like that they used the product as the image for the packaging and that they used their bear claw logo thing in the text as well so it ties everything together. The color scheme they have is nice too. If you see their other kinds, it comes in green and blue as well, but those represent different kinds of granola.

The Dove Chocolate falls under pathos because it says "silky smooth milk chocolate promises" and that appeals to the person's emotions. The package I got actually has inspirational messages insides so it further reinforces that emotional plea. I like how the Dove logo is made out of chocolate and the use of the chocolate theme is nice as well. Images of the product is dominant but the logo pops out more since it is on a white background, glow thing.

Honey Nut Cheerios is the last one that is logos. They have that bar on the top that tells all about the nutritional values like calories, sodium, and calcium amount. They also have a huge hart that says lower cholesterol. The product image is dominant but the text conflicts with it along with the bee. I like the rays coming out of the bowl though that supports that healthy breakfast idea.

Modes of Appeal Readings

Type and Image, pg. 130
Decorative elements enhance communication with graphic resonance. Ornament is a vehicle for heightening the sensory experience and adding connotative expression to denotative forms. The reading talked about how influential the style of whatever is to the message it conveys. They had some good examples of like the Bauhaus type and how it reflected the time period. Decoration shouldn't just be decoration, it should also have meaning behind it.

Aristotle's Appeals
There are 3 types of appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos means convincing by the character of the author. It is often conveyed through tone and style of the message and through the way the writer refers to differing views. Pathos means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. It causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify with the writer's point of view. Logos means persuading by the use of reasoning. It refers to the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reason, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence.

Jazz Poster Rounds

So after finalizing my concept, I continued to build on that by looking at type and colors (there's a lot more than what I'm going to post on here. These are just the good ones).

 

After that, I did iterations on what I thought works.

The last two was the "final" one that I showed for crit and the professionals. In the end, I chose to print the orange one because his music a lot warmer than it is cool, but I think both colors work for him.

Detail Narrative 2

So for the second detail narrative, I chose to do an audio piece about the history of the organization. I can't figure out how to upload an .mp3 online and then embed it in here. So anyone who knows how to do that, help?

For the audio, I took it from this clip. It has an interview with the founders and some side projects information. When I originally pitched this idea, I was told to make it as original as I can, so it doesn't seem like I just took something and edited it and called it my own. That's what I was most worried about. So to resolve that, I edit out A LOT of stuff. Originally I was able to cut it down to a minute and 30 seconds? Something like that. The final piece is only 36 seconds. So I cut out phrases and parts and then rearranged them to tell a different story from the original. If you could hear the original and then what I edited, I think there's a significant difference.

It took me a lot longer than I expected to finish this. First, I never really edit sound only before and I never used Audacity before this. So learning the software and then cutting it at the EXACT spot I want it to, so that it could cohesive, was difficult. In my piece, you can hear some parts that I just couldn't cut off or I cut off too early. :/ In general though, I'm ok with how it turned out.

The Final Language

Kind of late but here are my final spreads.

I really enjoyed this project. At first, I was so lost but the more I got into it, the more I liked it. It's all based on a system (which is how I usually think) and it has a small grid that it follows. My colophon says a lot about what it is all about so. Sorry it's out of order. I also don't like this new blogger editing tool thing. :/

Final product images:

Understanding Comics

I really enjoyed this reading, mainly because of the format of it. It was interestingly fun. The way I thought about transitions before this reading was basically one frame to another. After reading more about it, there are so many different types. There are moment to moment, action to action, subject to subject, scene to scene, aspect to aspect, and non sequitur. I also liked how they showed examples of each transition and how a lot of transitions are based on how the reader views them but it is up to the author to be clear on where they want the reader to think. These ideas can be based in my one framed narratives as well as my multiple frames. With the one frame narrative, there is the chance to convey, lets say the history, with a before and after picture, therefore the viewer can decide what happened in between there. Perhaps making it into a comic book frame by frame could also work, except making it more professional looking and not so cut up.

Detail Narrative Process

I already posted the final video below for crit today but I didn't include process yet so here it is! I wanted to do their mission statement in text and like I said, wanted to build on my first project. Their mission statement, fully, is:

"Architecture for Humanity is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 to promote architectural and design solutions to global, social and humanitarian crises. Through design/build projects, competitions, workshops, educational forums, partnerships with aid organizations and other activities, Architecture for Humanity creates opportunities for architects and designers from around the world to help communities in need. We believe that where resources and expertise are scarce, innovative, sustainable and collaborative design can make a difference.

We are proud to say we have become a resource for community groups and aid agencies in search of professional design services, local architects—and the most critical element, construction funding. The network that began with a simple competition now includes thousands of architects, designers and others. We remain a pro bono organization of design and construction professionals based on grassroots funding."

Of course, I wanted to shorten it so it ended up being just three sentences, their logo, and then their slogan/motto. So the text I used is:

• We aim to promote architectural and design solutions to global, social, and humanitarian crises.
• We aim to create opportunities for architects and designers to help communities in need.
• We believe that where resources and expertise are scarce, innovative, sustainable and collaborative design can make a difference.
• Architecture for Humanity logo
• Design like you give a damn.

Most of what I had trouble with or learned is down below so I won't repeat it here.

The Language Pt.2

These were for today's crit since last crit. I moved things around and actually put titles on them. These could be considered "finish".

During crit today though, the titles were said to be too bold. Which originally I wanted them small and quiet but it was suggested I did them bigger and bold to contrast the small type so the next 2 spreads are the ones I've changed around already. I just need to change the rest by Friday for final production.