Marina| Mastery Journal

Freelance Graphic Designer at M.Graphics. Bachelor of Science Degree (Graphic Design). 8 Years in the Art Industry (Graphic Design, Tattooing Body Mod). Currently working towards Master of Fine Arts Degree (Digital Design).

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Final Reflection MDMFA Program

How has each course contributed to your personal and professional development as a media designer?

As I reach the end of my Master’s Degree program at Full Sail University it seems so surreal. It was definitely not easy. This program pushed me to my creative and professional limit. To be completely honest looking back at this journey, I still do not know how I made it this far. Full Sail University’s accelerated program is exactly that, accelerated. I was given projects that I would look at and panic because in my mind there was no possible way I would be able to meet the deadline. This is where Full Sail University pushed me. It made me realized I was more of a Media Designer than I thought I was. I buckled down and finished each project on the deadline. This accelerated program made me understand that if I truly want something in life I better be ready to give it everything I got. Full Sail University’s program gave me a glimpse at how demanding it is to be a media designer. The program taught me how to be timely with my work and incorporate a schedule into my daily routine. Instead of taking it day by day and hoping I have enough hours in the day, I have now learned to efficiently track my day to complete all tasks ahead of me. Learning how to manage my time greatly helped my personal and professional development. Instead of melding my personal and professional life together, I have now found the appropriate amount of balance to give to both these areas of my life. The most important development I gained from the courses is how to act professionally in all situations. By learning how to carry myself professionally it will ensure that I will not allow my emotions to blind me of the bigger picture. The bigger picture for me is being a person that my kids can look up to.

How well were you able to utilize the concepts and techniques you learned from the program (theories, design process, and the creation of multimedia content) as you designed, developed, and completed your MDMFA Thesis Project?

When reading this question I laughed to myself a bit. Full Sail University’s instructors made sure that I utilized the concept and techniques I learned, even if I thought that I already did. Through constant reiterations of the same design piece over and over again, it was like they were ensuring that the information stuck. At the time I hated it, it is frustrating reworking the same design constantly but now I appreciate it. When moving forward into my MDMFA Thesis Project I noticed a few errors in my design that I would normally overlook. This reassured me that I was indeed growing as a designer. I learned how to incorporate storytelling into my work, which helped me to realize how many opportunities I had missed in the past due to this lack of knowledge. This storytelling lesson helped me to create a story for my Thesis Project that would help to capture the interest of the target audience. Ultimately, these concepts and techniques helped me in my Thesis Project because it made me more aware of my errors and how to fix them. By going through a hectic process of reiteration after reiteration each week through the courses leading up to the Thesis Project it helped to strengthen my design eye when it was time to work on my Thesis Project. By being able to catch my own mistakes it ensures that I will be a Media Designer that will always look at my designs with attention to detail and reiterate the designs accordingly, no matter how many times it takes.

3) Describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course.

Full Sail Online Orientation: My personal triumph for this course is taking the initiative to grow as a designer. When I made the step to go back for my Master’s Degree I knew it was going to be hard especially with just having a newborn baby. Going through orientation made me realize I had made the right choice. My personal triumph in this course was conquering my own self-doubt in order to grow as a designer.

Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership: My personal triumph through this course was finding out the reason I should want to achieve Mastery. It helped me to realize that if I do not have passion in what I am doing then I am wasting my time. If I am not passionate, I will never achieve Mastery.

Defining Client Needs: My personal triumph through this course was learning how to understand my clients. Before taking this course I never took the time to understand the needs of my client. I priced them, asked what they wanted, and made a design. Now I can ask the right questions and find out more about my clients’ needs in order to create them a successful design.

Brand Development: My personal triumph for this course is learning that a brand is not a logo. This helped to understand the steps I needed to take in order to elevate my own brand. Instead of just posting my logo on my social media accounts and leaving it there, I am more active and have created a larger social following for myself.

Effective Copy Writing: My personal triumph in this class is learning how to efficiently copy write to raise brand awareness. Learning to copy write, taught me how to engage my target audience in wanting to work with me. Copy writing has helped me to seem more enticing, which helped me to raise the awareness of my brand.

Design Research: This personal triumph gets a little bit more emotional. During this course, I lost my aunt on my husband’s side to heart failure. She passed and I couldn’t seem to push the sadness out of my mind to focus. I used my classwork as a way to keep busy, hoping that the creative outlet was enough to get me through. While researching designers I created an infographic timeline of famous designers who impacted design history. One of these designers lost someone close to him too. This designer’s name was Nikolai Suetin. Suetin lost his friend another designer by the name of Kazmir Malevich. Through his pain, he managed to create a coffin and Suprematism gravestone for his friend. This piece of design research reminded me of how much pain our body can endure and still triumph over this pain. My personal triumph from this course was learning how to be strong again.

Organizational Structures: My personal triumph for this course is learning how to organize design elements efficiently. I love collages, that’s my problem. Going into this course I had to make mood boards that were more structured than I was used to. At first, it irritated me, I felt I was being stripped of my raw organic approach. Little did I realize, this raw organic approach is what made my work hard to understand when it came to presenting my ideas to my clients. After learning how to create structure within my designs it helped me to be able to efficiently present my ideas to my clients without any unnecessary confusion.

Design Strategies and Motivation:  My personal triumph for this course is learning to take feedback and using this feedback to elevate my designs. I am an artist, so whatever I create I have grown emotionally attached to. I was unable to see the bad in any of my designs. When I took this course every constructive feedback I received made me very upset. I felt defeated. After a few GoTo Meetings and being able to interact with my peers I realized that they were not shunning me but they were trying to help me grow. We were able to help elevate each other and understand the importance of feedback. At the end of the course, I looked at my final piece and compared it to my initial piece and at that point I realized how much good my peers meant with their feedback. My personal triumph in this course is that I grew up emotionally and instead of taking everything personally, I now take feedback and I learn from it.

Design Integration: My personal triumph for this course is learning how to research a company before moving forward with a transmedia campaign. Before learning this lesson, I would never write a narrative for a small business I am helping to rebrand. I would just create the things they ask for without a thought on whether or not it will be cohesive with their brand. By taking this course it taught me to delve in further in order to truly help my clients. My personal triumph in this course is becoming a designer that my clients have referred other people to because I showcased that I cared about them and their business.

Multi-Platform Delivery: My personal triumph for this course is being able to create a huge amount of media assets in a short amount of time. This is a triumph for me because I thought I couldn’t do it. I felt like giving up because I thought it was “too much work” and I had “too little time”. This wasn’t the case; I was allowing the feeling of being overwhelmed raise my self-doubt. I ended up creating all the media pieces I needed to create and even added more to the list. My personal triumph in this course is learning how to persevere.

Measuring Design Effectiveness: My personal triumph for this course was conquering my social anxiety. Before taking this course, it made me nervous to reach out to people and ask them for their opinions. Due to this, I found myself having no or very little friends. This course required me to gather survey results from 20 people measuring the effectiveness of my designs. It was very hard reaching out to people because I was scared of rejection. Rejection did happen but it didn’t kill me, it just made me realize to work harder to meet the 20 people mark. Over time I exceeded the mark, and it helped me to understand that people are willing to help as long as I am willing to break my social anxiety problem. This course had to be the hardest course for me because it made me face a problem I had my entire life. Is my social anxiety gone? No, but I am working on it and to me, that is a huge personal triumph.

Presentation of Design Solution: My personal triumph for this course was learning that the way I was presenting my ideas was not working. At one point, I thought my audience didn’t understand my ideas because I didn’t explain it well enough. So instead of presenting the idea better I gave them a barrage of information they didn’t even form a connection to. Basically, they have already lost interest in the idea and they have already lost interest in me. This course taught me how to be a storyteller. By incorporating storytelling into my presentations I am now able to keep my clients interested in what I am saying. I use storytelling to involve them in the idea. Now, I am Media Designer that has a purpose when I present.

Professional Practice: My personal triumph in this course is learning how to put together a professional portfolio. Before my portfolio consisted of everything I made even if it wasn’t my career focus. By learning how to narrow down my portfolio to key pieces and showcasing only client worthy work, it has made my portfolio shine. My personal triumph is that through this course I have a portfolio I would be proud of sharing.

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Following Ethical Guidelines

Week One Reflection: 

The lessons I learned this week is based on the importance of following ethical guidelines, in addition to the repercussions of not following these guidelines. Coming into this course I was guided by morals and the idea of karma, basically what goes around comes around. I taught myself that if I do not want bad things to happen to me, I should never do bad things. This has worked for me thus far, but the realization that I have come to after learning these lessons is that bad karma is opinion based. What I may see as okay or good others may not. The fact is ethical guidelines go far beyond the idea of karma it is about really understanding what these guidelines are and the significance behind them. By understanding the guidelines it will ensure that I know how to follow them in order to be a reputable professional designer. Moving forward there are many important concepts that I learned but I want to elaborate on what I felt to be the three most important concepts.

In the initial post, we had to research a case study and use this case study to explore ethical guidelines further. The case study I chose was based on the ethical guidelines of authorship. This is the first important concept to me because as a designer I may find myself having to incorporate photography into my designs. The ethical guideline of authorship is an important reminder that as a professional designer any design element I use, if not my own, I should give proper credit to the owners or obtain permission for. By using the case study I chose as part of this lesson it helped me to see the backlash that occurred from failing to provide authorship. The case study I chose was Mannie Garcia/ The Associated Press v. Shepard Fairey. Since Fairey did not follow ethical guidelines to gain authorship he was sued. Additionally, following the settlement with Garcia and The Associated Press he was also brought up on criminal charges for his criminal actions following the allegations. This lesson served as a reminder to me of the legal troubles that could be avoided by following ethical guidelines. By learning of these legal troubles it helped me to understand the importance and protection following ethical guidelines pertaining to authorship provides. According to AIGA (2009), “A professional designer shall not claim sole credit for a design on which other designers have collaborated.” (Design business ethics, page 34). By providing authorship to all works that I am not the sole creator of, it will ensure that I do not infringe on another’s work and land myself in legal trouble or hurt my professional reputation. Taking this lesson into my future work, I will ensure that any photos or other works I use for my designs will be free to use, share and manipulate. If for some reason I cannot find a free to use image, I will contact the creator of the photograph or other works to gain permission from them to use their work.

The second important concept I learned is about spec work. At one point spec work to me seem like a good idea. It allowed me to add to my portfolio and market myself as a high-quality designer. After reviewing the lessons, I realized how damaging spec work can be to me as a designer and to the design field as a whole. According to Web Designer Depot (2011), “Companies requesting spec work often feel like they’ll get better designs, since they’ll have a variety of designs to choose from. They feel that by making it a competition, they’ll somehow get better work.” (para. 7). By offering part of my services free of charge I provide a service that is devalued. It will also open up doors for the client who receive this spec work to feel that they can treat a design I worked hard on as a contest piece and devalue my work even further. They can do this by asking me to do more free work due to dissatisfaction or pass my work on as an inspiration piece to another designer. I will take this lesson with me to future work by simply not doing spec work. Instead of doing spec work, I will choose to create fake projects for fake clients or create stock designs to sell. By choosing to go this route I ensure that I will not be taken advantage of and I do not devalue my work or the career I have chosen.

The third most important concept I learned is about design and culture. This lesson is something I should have picked up years ago because I am a graphic designer that has done numerous interviews with an international newspaper called Sabay News. This newspaper focuses on my career as a graphic designer and how to encourage Cambodian youth to find creative outlets and education to battle depression due to poverty. Before this lesson, I interviewed with an Americanized mindset. I didn’t take into account the culture and social behavior of the individuals. I created designs that were based on the idea of freedom of speech and press we have here in America. According to Wolowicz (2011), “Culture is defined as the collection of customs, social behavior, and ideas of a specific group of individuals. Therefore, what might seem as a successful design here in the United States might seem offensive or even harmful in other countries.” (para. 6). The first interview I did a lot of my interview was edited out, since the government is corrupted in Cambodia you cannot say or show certain things that may be implied as an outcry to rebel. I unintentionally created what may seem to Cambodians as propaganda and answered questions that would be okay to distribute here in America due to our constitutional rights but not socially okay in Cambodia. By understanding this lesson, I have a new outlook on how to treat this situation and future situations when dealing with design and culture. I will always analyze the culture of a specific group of individuals before leaping forward into an opportunity I may not be okay committing to or may hurt my reputation by being offensive to the social group. By taking this lesson with me in the future, I will be sure to research the culture and social groups I create designs for in order to be appropriate to them and to understand what I may be getting into before I decide to move forward with the opportunity.

References:

Design business ethics. (2009). New York, NY: Richard Grefé, AIGA.

Ethics in the Design Field. (2011, February 17). Retrieved from http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/ethics-in-the-design-field/

Wolowicz, M. (2011, September 07). Ethical Issues in the Graphic Design Business. Retrieved from https://dpageek.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/ethical-issues-in-the-graphic-design-business/

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Presentation of Design Solution | Takeaways and Reflection

This month I completed the course, Presentation of Design Solution. Through this course, I learned many lessons that will help me progress forward in my career as a Media Designer. The three takeaways that I took from this course are very important to how I will present my ideas in future presentations to make the presentation enticing to the audience I am targeting.

The first takeaway I took from this course is the concept of storytelling. I learned how to create a story structure in a presentation so the content being presented is easy to follow and understand. “Using the format of a story, rather than simply presenting information, makes it easy for your audience to identify with your goals, remember your ideas, and agree with your suggestions.” (Sykes, Malik,West. (2012). Chapter 2). By comprising the presentation with a beginning, middle and end story structure it will give the audience a timeline to follow that they are familiar with while also organizing the content in a way that is easy to understand. By following this story structure it will help the audience to grasp where the ideas began and where it is headed. If they are able to grasp the ideas it will be more likely for them to be able to make the appropriate decisions regarding these ideas. Helping them to understand the presentation will alleviate any unnecessary stress and confusion that may deter them to agree with the suggestions, overall ideas, and goals at hand. This takeaway is important because it helped me to understand how to build a story structure to make any presentation I give more compelling to the target audience. 

The above series of images is part of a project book I created to present to a fictitious raw organic honey business by the name of Honey Dew Bee Company. If you take a look at these images they may raise some questions as to why the first two images are appropriate for a company that sells raw organic honey. The idea of imagery that uses dead flowers and dead honeybees is not the norm when it comes to pitching an idea to a honey company. It may read off a bit morbid in some sense. These images are the beginning of the project book and it will trigger the audience’s curiosity as to why these images are appropriate and important. Through these images, I have now captured the audience’s attention; they have a need to understand its importance. As they thumb through the book the images will become brighter with flowers and honeybees. The honeybees have pollinated the flowers and plant life and honeybee population is now thriving. With the use of imagery, the project book helps to tell the story of the depopulation of honeybees and the importance of the company expanding to help repopulate the honeybees in order for the world and plant life to thrive. The story has now given the audience a purpose of acting.

This brings in the second takeaway I took from this course, the inclusion of characters. “To draw members of your audience into the world you create, you have to help them experience it. Use characters to help the audience experience the specifics of the world in the story and build an emotional connection; then form a link between the character and something you want your audience to care about.” (Sykes, Malik,West. (2012). Chapter 11). Creating characters are very important it gives the audience a reason to care. If the audience gains an emotional connection with the character created, it will help the audience to build an emotional bond with the ideas being presented. What happens to the characters is now detrimental to their emotional state. They want to see the character succeed because when the character succeeds they ultimately succeed as well. By giving the audience a role in the story it will give them purpose as to why the ideas being pitched is important to them. This takeaway is important because by including characters in the story I am now able to connect my presentation with the target audience and give them a reason to care.

The image above is another page from the project book. This page reiterates the fact that Honey Dew Bee Company is important to the repopulation of honeybees. I placed the client as a character in the book that is the hero. With their services they can help save the honeybees and by saving the honeybees they can save mankind. Without honeybees, mankind will cease to exist. By giving the company such an important role it gives them a purpose to follow through with the ideas in the presentation. They now have a reason as to why their actions to reach the goals is important and they have gained an emotional connection with the presentation. By looking at the book they can see the two decidable outcomes of their actions. In the beginning of the book they can see an outcome that is morbid if they do not take action and at the end of the book they can see an outcome that is great if they do take the necessary actions provided in the book. These two outcomes work as a reminder to the audience of the importance of their character role in the story.

After establishing the character it brings me to the third takeaway I took from this course, which is learning and decision styles. Every audience targeted within a target group has key influencers who have a certain learning and decision style. By understanding the learning and decision styles of the audience it will help me to speak to them in a way that will help them to understand the task and make them comfortable in making decisions. Before taking this course, I knew everyone learned and made decisions differently. But when I presented an idea I spoke to them all the same. They were grouped as the people “I needed to sell my idea to”. By not understanding their learning and decision styles, I spoke to them all the same. By speaking to them all in the exact same manner, it made it hard for the audience to consume the ideas I was giving to them. Through this course, I learned how to break down these learning and decision styles in order to speak to the key influencers and decision makers efficiently so they can follow my ideas and understand the concepts I am providing. “With an understanding of the learning and decision styles, you can start to consider how to focus the content more clearly on the audience's needs. In the personal story on the opposite page, you can see how you might start to think about the content specifically for the full mix of styles in the audience.” (Sykes, Malik,West. (2012). Chapter 09). When working with an audience, it is important for me to research the audience first, understand their needs, wants and purpose. By understanding these things it will help me to research further as to what is important to them and how these certain characteristics define their learning and decision styles. Once I research the audience efficiently and understand them I will be able to analyze their learning and decision styles and use this information to help to carry the presentation. This takeaway is important because it reminds me of who the presentation is made to impact and how to make the presentation impactful to this audience.

For example, using the project book once again the core style appropriate for the key decision makers and influencers in the audience I am targeting are meaning type learners and behavioral style decision makers. With meaning type learners they have a strong urgency “to make connections and understand the reasons why. If they don't understand why something is important they will lose interest.” (Sykes, Malik, West. (2012). Chapter 9.). With this audience, by capturing their interest immediately they are more likely to follow the ideas given. This audience is also behavioral decision makers. They are the social focus and worry about how the decisions will impact everyone as a whole. The approach to take with this type of decision maker is to describe how the changes will affect the characters in the story. By setting up the story in the project book to read as a story that is detrimental to everyone in the world through the depopulation of honeybees it gives the meaning type learners a reason why to be interested in the goals at hand. Starting off the book with the immediate why will help to keep their focus. Additionally by showing through visual storytelling the impact of not meeting the goals it gives the behavioral decision makers a reason as to why the plans given are important to everyone because everyone is impacted.

Through these three takeaways, I have learned how to become a presenter with a purpose. Instead of pitching ideas to an audience without giving them a reason to listen, I now know how to involve the audience and speak to them in a way that is interesting to them. I will take these lessons into my future career to help me to be a better presenter and to help my clients to understand that any presentation I make is to help them and to support them on their journey. By using these lessons in future presentations, this new found approach will make this support and help more evident to my clients.  

References:

Sykes, M., Malik, N. A., & West, M. D. (2012, December 17). Stories that move mountains: storytelling and visual design for persuasive presentations. Retrieved July 14, 2016, from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/communications/presentations/9781118423998

All images used for the project book pages showcased are used under a CC license through Flickr.com or through a free to use image source site (Pixabay.com). References can be given upon request.

[marinahonggraphics]

Measuring Design Effectiveness | Reflection

This month on Measuring Design Effectiveness has taught me a lot as far as how to interact and make designs that will speak to the target audience. Before starting this course I based all my designs solely on personas assuming that as long as I create a design based on this persona the design would be successful. What I failed to realize is that sometimes when I am in the creative process that I would actually forget that the personas I created are of my creation as well and may still have a little bit of me in it.  The point is I am not the target audience and creating a campaign based upon me would not be unsuccessful in speaking to the target audience efficiently. When conducting the survey I realized this error with some of the feedback I received.

 The billboard below is a billboard I created to include in the survey. This billboard to me felt like it matched the target audience in an attempt to educate them. The problem with this billboard is that it is bland; it felt a bit boring and didn’t fit the tone I was trying to convey. The tone I was meant to convey was a happier bright tone. I became too stuck on the strategy of educating the public that I lost sight of the tone and the voice I needed the designs to speak in in order to reach the target audience. When I received the survey results this misstep became evident. The design choice was made to rid of the billboard and create a new one.

Below is the new billboard. This billboard is brighter and more inviting. It offers an image of a happy individual, which brightens up the tone and mood. Had it not been for this course and the assignment to create a survey I would have never caught the mistakes I made and had this been a real life campaign I would have publicized an unsuccessful media asset. Going forward creating surveys before committing to an advertising piece will be part of my creative process.

Additionally, through out this month I had to make countless revisions to my media assets. This part of the course was very demanding. The iterations although demanding were very necessary. As I look back at my initial work to my final work it became evident to me as to how necessary these iterations were. It helped me to focus in on the weaker areas of my design and it helped me to strengthen these areas in order to make the design or media asset more appealing. Through the feedback given to me I was able to view my designs from another person’s perspective. By taking myself out of the equation it helped me to make a design that would be more visually appealing to the masses. Below I wanted to provide one example of an initial piece to the final piece.

(Initial Guerrilla Marketing Tactic idea)

(Final Guerrilla Marketing Tactic Idea) 

This final piece is brighter and more inviting than the initial piece. This design piece now fits the voice of the campaign and will help to promote the company efficiently. By including a mascot and flowers it makes the guerrilla marketing tactic less scary and a lot more fun. In one of the articles we had to read for our lessons titled Why Iteration Is a Designer’s Best Friend and Not the Enemy, by Chelsea Larsson she states,

“Instead of thinking of iteration as the slow process of spinning straw into gold, look at it as a buildup of interesting scenes in a performance that culminate into one show-stopping final act. Each phase is its own delightful moment to challenge yourself in your craft. Also, iteration doesn’t have to happen in a vacuum. Some of the best moments a creative can have are collaborating with other skilled designers or awesome clients.” (Larsson, C. Why Iteration Is a Designer’s Best Friend and Not the Enemy. (05, December 2014). http://www.bhavacom.com/why-iteration-is-a-designers-best-friend-and-not-the-enemy-2/).

This piece from this article reminded me of how important iterations and feedback is. Even though the process is pain staking the final results will surpass the original design in appeal and perhaps be more successful when marketed. This course taught me a very valuable lesson it taught me that the creative process should not just be about me and the design choices I make but it should include many people and their feedback to help cater to the success of the design. It humbled me and made me understand how important outside feedback is and how lucky I am to be able to have a creative team that I can bounce ideas off of. The most important lesson I learned from this course and this experience is that being a Graphic Media Designer is not a one-person job and the value of teamwork should be implemented into each design.

Three Takeaways:

Surveying: This is my top takeaway, by learning how to create a survey and ask the right survey questions it taught me to understand the target audience better and how to speak to them efficiently through each design piece.

Iterations: This is one of my least favorite parts of the creation process but it is an amazing takeaway for me when moving forward in my career. The iterations of my designs helped me to realize how impactful my designs can be if do not just settle for the first outcome of the design.

Constructive Feedback: Constructive feedback before this course to me always felt like a death sentence. Before this course when I received feedback I felt that my designs were not good enough, after this course I learned how to take this feedback and use it as fuel to create a successful design. Being able to take constructive feedback is a must in this industry and by learning how to take this feedback and being able to use it appropriately it will prepare me to be able to do the same with my future interactions with clients.

What I Expected To Learn:

Going into this course what I expected to learn was how to work within my creative team. I thought that we would conduct peer reviews within a discussion board and use these reviews to progress our designs. I also thought that the measuring of the effectiveness of the designs would be through my creative peers and their opinions and feedback of the designs.

What I Actually Learned:

What I learned is how to find the target audience, survey them and use their opinions to create a successful design. Part of creating designs is to appeal to the target audience if the design does not appeal to the target audience the design is unsuccessful. By learning how to survey the target audience I was able to learn the value of their opinions when moving forward in advertisement pieces for the campaign.

What I Want To Learn Next:

What I want to learn next is pretty vague; I want to learn how to appropriately offer pricing as far as a price list for my designs. As a freelance graphic designer I create my own price list but this price list often leads to potential clients not willing to pay this price. I want to learn how to pitch the prices to the potential clients to help them to understand the significance of the price as oppose to clip art and template sites that offer a more affordable price but not a unique piece for them.

References:

Free Image on Pixabay - Dharwad, India, Beehive, Honeycomb. (2014, January 08). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/dharwad-india-beehive-honeycomb-240539/

Bernswaelz. (2016, April 12). Free Image on Pixabay - Window, Old, Stone, Old Window. Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/window-old-stone-old-window-1324694/

Free PSD Detail | Cement Steps | Official PSDs. (2010, September 13). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from http://www.officialpsds.com/Cement-Steps-PSD54627.html

Free Image on Pixabay - Flower, Pink, Blossom, Bloom. (2015, August 27). Retrieved June 22, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/flower-pink-blossom-bloom-petals-1425708/

A. (2015, July 21). Free Image on Pixabay - The Hive, Wasp, Crawl, Insect. Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/the-hive-wasp-crawl-insect-sting-856672/

Free Image on Pixabay - Frame, Border, Background. (March). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/frame-border-background-1246811/

Free Image on Pixabay - Children, Games, Family, Child. (2015, March 16). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/children-games-family-child-happy-670669/

L. (2016). Free Image on Pixabay - Happy, Couple, Smiling. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/african-happy-couple-smiling-1129024/

Hornet Bee Mascot Costume Wasp Mascot Costume Bee Mascot Costume Carnival Costumes Cat Halloween Costumes From Feiying2315, $110.56| Dhgate.Com. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2016, from http://www.dhgate.com/product/hornet-bee-mascot-costume-wasp-mascot-costume/381503085.html#sc1-6-1b;frsh|2305899951

Larsson, C. Why Iteration Is a Designer’s Best Friend and Not the Enemy. (05, December 2014).Retrieved June 25, 2016 from http://www.bhavacom.com/why-iteration-is-a-designers-best-friend-and-not-the-enemy-2/

Free Image on Pixabay - Man, Grass, Happy, People, Male. (2010, June 25). Retrieved June 22, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/man-grass-happy-people-male-692941/

[marinahonggraphics]

Week 3 Measuring Design Effectiveness | Full Sail University

This week on Measuring Design Effectiveness at Full Sail University we were to create another survey measuring the effectiveness of the media assets we have created. The survey questions I created are below along with brief explanations as to why I chose to ask these questions.

 Narrative:

Honey Dew Bee Company offers harvested organic raw honey that is naturally beneficial. Honey Dew Bee Company's focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep the hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. Honey Dew Bee Company puts honesty, quality and care into everything that carries the Honey Dew Bee Company's name and is committed to this quality while also preserving this natural, beneficial and clean product.

 Explanation: The narrative was included in the survey so the survey takers can get an idea as to what the company and its media assets is meant to represent.

 1) Looking at the three media assets above which one would entice you the most to want to learn more about the company?

           a) Live Event / Guerilla Marketing Tactic

           b) Billboard Advertisement

           c) Social Media

 Explanation: This question was posed to help me understand which media asset is the most effective and how to make the other advertisements more effective and to enhance the effectiveness of the most enticing asset.

2) A Guerilla Marketing Tactic is a tactic that most companies use to create a memorable experience for potential consumers. It usually only takes place during a limited time. In the above pictures, image number 1 displays a Guerilla Marketing Tactic. The tactic is a large man made honey hive that potential consumers could visit to gain free honey, photo opportunities, family fun and no purchase obligations. Would this “honey hive” be something you would be interested in visiting if you were given the opportunity?

           a) Yes

           b) No

           c) Other (Comment Box)

 Explanation: This question helps me to understand how effective the GMT is.

 3) Of the three media assets above, which asset caught your attention first in the most positive way? 

           a) Live event/ Guerilla Marketing Tactic

           b) Billboard Advertisement

           c) Social Media

 Explanation: This question helps me to understand what type of media assets captures the attention of the audience.

 4) The billboard advertisement above is one of many 3D billboard advertisements created for this company. How appealing is this 3D billboard advertisement to you? (Matrix Rating Scale)

 Not at all appealing

Somewhat appealing

Neutral

Appealing

Very Appealing

Explanation: This question helps me to understand how effective the billboard is as is and what elements within the billboard I need to improve upon.

5) How likely are you to purchase this product after seeing these advertisements? (Matrix Rating Scale)

Not At All Likely

Somewhat Likely

Perhaps

Likely

Very Likely

Explanation: This question helps me to understand how effective the media assets are what I need to do to improve upon these assets to make them more appealing to the target audience.

6) Of these three choices, what do your leisure time mostly consist of?

              a) Finding/ going to live events

              b) Driving around taking in the scenery

              c) Browsing Social Media

Explanation: This question helps me to understand the target audience further and what media asset would be the best asset to reach them.

7) Which social media platform do you use the most?

           a) Facebook

           b) Instagram

           c) Twitter

Explanation: This question is to help me understand which social media platform the target audience uses the most. The answers to this help me to know which platform to keep the most updated.

8) Have you ever purchased raw organic honey?

            a) Yes

            b) No

Explanation: This question let’s me know the experience the target audience has with the product and how much information should be added to the design. 

Exposition:

What I learned from this lesson is the value of survey taking in order to be able to market the product efficiently. By showcasing prototypes of the media assets it helps me to understand which asset needs to be removed or improved upon and which asset is already strong but can be improved to be stronger. By conducting this survey it helped me confidently move forward with my ideas and gave me fresh eyes on the design and how it is consumed. I will use this lesson on future design assets to help me to understand the target audiences better in order to create media assets that would speak to them. In an article by Lyndon Cerejo titled, Design Better and Faster with Rapid Prototyping the author states,

“The old adage, “a picture speaks a thousand words” captures what user interface prototyping is all about: using visuals to describe thousands of words’ worth of design and development specifications that detail how a system should behave and look.” (Cerejo, L. Design Better and Faster with Rapid Prototyping. (16 June 2010). https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/design-better-faster-with-rapid-prototyping/).

By including the images in the survey as suggested in this article it gave the survey takers an idea of where I was going with my ideas and if it appealed to them. By understanding the audience better it gave me an idea of how to progress forward.

Below are revisions I made to the media assets following feedback given to me: 

Progress: Information was simplified and typeface has been sized up.

Progress: Mascot has been added to GMT.

References:

Cerejo, L. Design Better and Faster with Rapid Prototyping. (16 June 2010). Retrieved on 19 June 2016 from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/design-better-faster-with-rapid-prototyping/

Free Image on Pixabay - Dharwad, India, Beehive, Honeycomb. (2014, January 08). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/dharwad-india-beehive-honeycomb-240539/

Bernswaelz. (2016, April 12). Free Image on Pixabay - Window, Old, Stone, Old Window. Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/window-old-stone-old-window-1324694/

Free PSD Detail | Cement Steps | Official PSDs. (2010, September 13). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from http://www.officialpsds.com/Cement-Steps-PSD54627.html

Free Image on Pixabay - Cosmos Flower, Cosmos, Flower. (2014, September 02). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/cosmos-flower-cosmos-flower-bloom-433424/

A. (2015, July 21). Free Image on Pixabay - The Hive, Wasp, Crawl, Insect. Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/the-hive-wasp-crawl-insect-sting-856672/

Free Image on Pixabay - Frame, Border, Background. (March). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/frame-border-background-1246811/

Free Image on Pixabay - Children, Games, Family, Child. (2015, March 16). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/children-games-family-child-happy-670669/

L. (2016). Free Image on Pixabay - Happy, Couple, Smiling. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/african-happy-couple-smiling-1129024/

Rx Icon - Free Icons. (2014). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://simpleicon.com/rx.html

Upc-a Bar Code clip art free vector. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://4vector.com/free-vector/upc-a-bar-code-clip-art-110896 

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Week 2 Measuring Design Effectiveness:

This week on the course Measuring Design Effectiveness at Full Sail University we took the results from last week’s survey and used it to choose the logo that we felt would work the best to market the fictitious company we chose. From the results of the survey questions, the logo below yielded the most positive results:

The above picture is the colored version of the logo, the white version of the logo, and the black and white version of the logo. 

The above image is the transparent logo created for this company. 

Each of these different types of logos created are important because it showcases that the logos can be used on a variety of media platforms if necessary. The all white logo can be used on darker backgrounds, the colored logo can be used on any platform that may need the logo to be cohesive with the color palette chosen and the black and white version will be used on any media platform that needs to have the logo accompany it but it cannot be used on a dark background. The transparent logo can be used on any media platform and showcases how the logo can be placed on packaging etc. 

Narrative:

Honey Dew Bee Company offers harvested organic raw honey that is naturally beneficial. Honey Dew Bee Company's focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep the hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. Honey Dew Bee Company puts honesty, quality and care into everything that carries the Honey Dew Bee Company's name and is committed to this quality while also preserving this natural, beneficial and clean product.

Above you will find the logo animation which could be used to showcase the logo on any media platforms or following a commercial if one is to be made. The logo animation uses the color of green associated with this brand making it cohesive with the rest of the campaign. The choice of music bed represents a happy tone that is associated with the brand while the sound effects offer a natural and organic sound. The logomark flies in to gain the viewers attention in a friendly way while also directing them to the name of the company. The tagline offers a reminder that this is truly organic honey that comes straight from the hive. This tagline was added to remind the consumer that this is truly organic honey.

Moving forward with this logo that was the most appealing to the survey takers, I created a few media asset pieces that I felt would best represent the company and would most efficiently reach the target audience. Below is a few of the media assets I have created and explanations why I chose to create these assets:

Social Media Advertising:

Social media advertisement was created to give the company a social buzz. Since the target audience is social media heavy the best way to reach them is to gather a social media trend and use this trend to showcase the company. This social media advertisement was made to be trendy and fun. After researching trending topics the trendiest topic that has been circulating social media for a couple months now is the “Birdman and Breakfast Club Interview”. This interview has brought in a slew of memes, quotes, and shares. Even Birdman has embraced the iconic quote, “Put some respek (respect) on my name.” (Man, B. (2016, April 22). Birdman Breakfast Club [Interview]. In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ittIKSughAw) and welcomes the many ways in which it has been shared. The Breakfast Club has also shared these many renditions of this quote and other celebrities have created their own rendition of this quote into song form. By using this quote in a social media advertisement it helps to gain social media shares and raise awareness of the company and product. The idea of “Put some respek (respect) on my name” is based on cleaning up the bad name that organic raw honey has obtained through past legality issues and for the thought that it is less clean because of less filtration in comparison to grocery chain liquid honey.

Packaging:

Packaging needed to be created so the product can stand out amongst its competitors. The packaging offers a homemade organic feel that is fully recyclable. The tags that incorporate the packaging can be found below:

Newspaper Advertisement:

Newspaper advertisements were created to reach consumers to give them a reason to want to the store front or if they are unable to visit the store front they can visit the website. The offer of free raw organic honey through the website requires an email signup to retrieve the free honey. This email sign up will help to raise further awareness of the company and educate the public. 

Poster used to pair with Honey Dew Bee Company’s Guerrilla Marketing Tactic:

This poster is to help create a social buzz that will lure the potential consumers to the Guerrilla Marketing Tactic which incorporates a large honey hive with free samples of Honey Dew Bee Company’s Raw Organic Honey and coupons. 

The coupon will be used on social media, during the GMT and on newspaper advertisements. 

Billboard:

The billboard was created to capture the consumers attention with a strong message followed by a call to action. 

What I learned from creating these media assets and from collecting the survey results is how much of an impact those results had on the design choices I made moving forward. By conducting the survey I was able to get a feel for what appeals to the target audience. Using these results it helped me to define what the best approach was to speak to the audience and how to capture their attention. 

Thank you for taking the time to follow my journey. Next week I will be creating more media assets to add to the campaign. See you soon! 

References:

Honey picture Free Photos 1.53MB. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2016, from http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/honey_picture_167062.html

 Allergy cold disease Free Photos 1.26MB. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2016, from http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/download/allergy_cold_disease_265842.html

 Download Honey And Sunflower Free Mobile Phone Wallpapers 4671 Full Size. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2016, from http://hdwallpaperfun.com/screensaver/honey-and-sunflower-free-mobile-phone-wallpapers-4671.html/honey-and-sunflower-free-mobile-phone-wallpapers-4671

 Poster:

 Domiriel. (2011, July 02). Pouring Gold III. Retrieved June 03, 2016, from https://flic.kr/p/9YQMV3

 E. (2007, February 11). Bee and flower. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from https://flic.kr/p/AmDfx

 New dark wood texture. (2015). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.texturesforest.com/new-dark-wood-texture/

 A. (2014, August 1). Raw Honey. Retrieved June 03, 2016, from http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/raw-honey.html

 Logo Animation:

 Green Marble Seamless Background Image, Wallpaper or Texture free for any web page, desktop, phone or blog. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.zingerbug.com/background.php?MyFile=green_marble_seamless.php

 Meadow Hills [Music]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/uplifting/

 Bee Buzzing [Sound Effect]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.salamisound.com/3845337-bee-wasp-or-bumble-bee-in#

Honey Labels:

Brown Vintage Paper Tag with Metal Rivets. (2012, July 30). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from http://paper-backgrounds.com/brown-vintage-paper-label-mockup/

Vintage Label. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from http://luvly.co/items/89/Vintage-Label

Transparent Logo:

Storebukkebruse. (2013, November 09). Honey, honey, honey. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from https://flic.kr/p/hotMJ5

Website Banners:

S. (November). Free Image on Pixabay - Honey, Sweet, Syrup, Organic. Retrieved June 08, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/honey-sweet-syrup-organic-golden-1006972/

Pink Eye for Bright Eyes[Day287]*. (2007, October 14). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from https://flic.kr/p/3oMNyR

Coupon:

S. (November). Free Image on Pixabay - Honey, Sweet, Syrup, Organic. Retrieved June 08, 2016, from https://pixabay.com/en/honey-sweet-syrup-organic-golden-1006972/

Social Media Ad:

Darlene's Living Room. (2003, April 30). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from https://flic.kr/p/8XaFF

New dark wood texture. (2015). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.texturesforest.com/new-dark-wood-texture/

Sunglasses Free Clip Art. (n.d.). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from http://clipartsign.com/image/12779/

Man, B. (2016, April 22). Birdman Breakfast Club [Interview]. In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ittIKSughAw

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Design Effectiveness and Logos | Wk 1 Measuring Design Effectiveness

This week I began the course Measuring Design Effectiveness at Full Sail University. During this week we were to create iterations following the final sketches we made last month and then digitizing those sketches to be added to a survey measuring the effectiveness of the design. The survey was to include questions that pertained to the narrative, industry sector, and demographics of viewers. The images of the original logos and the iterations are below:

Final 5 Sketches from Multi-Platform Delivery course:

Progress Made Before Survey Submission:

After creating the iterations I digitized the sketches of the logos and the image for that is below:

5 Digitized Logo Choices:

By digitizing the logos and applying it to the survey in a digitize form it taught me to display my design work in the most professional way possible. By creating the survey to look more professional it will help the survey takers to analyze the design more effectively and provide the best possible answers from their analysis of the design.

 The survey questions I created are below with a description as to why I posed these questions:

 Survey Questions:

Narrative/ Company Description:

Honey Dew Bee Company offers harvested organic raw honey that is naturally beneficial. Honey Dew Bee Company's focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep the hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. Honey Dew Bee Company puts honesty, quality and care into everything that carries the Honey Dew Bee Company's name and is committed to this quality while also preserving this natural, beneficial and clean product.

Explanation: The narrative was added to give the survey takers an idea as to what the values and ideals that the logos are suppose to represent.

Question 1: (Multiple Choice)

Is the narrative/ company description evident in the logo choices above and signifies the product and company services this company offers? 

•   A) Not at all

•   B) Yes the logo choices do

•   C) Other (Please Specify) (Comment Box)

Explanation:  This question was to ensure that the logos were appropriate in its representation of the brand.

Question 2: (Multiple Choice)

From looking at these five logos which logo choice would you most likely purchase raw honey from?

•   A)Logo 1

•   B)Logo 2

•   C)Logo 3

•   D)Logo 4

•   E)Logo 5

Explanation:  This question was to decide which  logo would be the most appealing to the audience when it is to be sold against competitors.

Question 3: (Multiple Choice)

Which logo choice makes you feel the happiest?

•   A)Logo 1

•   B)Logo 2

•   C)Logo 3

•   D)Logo 4

•   E)Logo 5

Explanation:  This question was to research which logo fits the target demographic. Which is aimed towards happiness and individuals that value the thought of a caring product.

Question 4: (Multiple Choice)

Which logo choice makes you feel the most like the company offers a high quality product?

•   A)Logo 1

•   B)Logo 2

•   C)Logo 3

•   D)Logo 4

•   E)Logo 5

Explanation:  This question was to research which logo fits the narrative in the thought of offering a high quality product.

Question 5: (Matrix/ Rating Scale)

If you saw one of these logos on a honey product at a health food store would it make you want to try raw honey?

 1                     2                            3                           4                      5

Not at All     Slightly                 Perhaps                    Yes           Very Likely

Explanation:  This question is to rate the effectiveness of the design when marketed to the target audience.

Question 6: (Multiple Choice)

Which logo choice most appeals to your sense of hunger?

•   A)Logo 1

•   B)Logo 2

•   C)Logo 3

•   D)Logo 4

•   E)Logo 5

Explanation:  This question was posed to see which logo would appeal to the target audience and help persuade them to purchase the product through the emotion of hunger. 

Question 7: (Multiple Choice)

Which logo choice caught your attention first in a positive way?

•   A)Logo 1

•   B)Logo 2

•   C)Logo 3

•   D)Logo 4

•   E)Logo 5

Explanation:  This question is to research which logo would provide the best emotional connection to the target audience at first glance.

Question 8: (Multiple Choice)

Are you aware of the benefits of raw organic honey?

•   A) Yes I am

•   B) I am moderately aware

•   C) No I am not

Explanation:  This question is to research the target audience and how the promotional items should be marketed to speak to them efficiently.

By creating this survey it provided me with a valuable lesson on how to test market a design before branding a company. The results of this survey allowed me to narrow down the effectiveness of each design and ensuring that this design would work when it is used for marketing purposes. By targeting the correct audience it helped me to understand whether I need to make further iterations on the existing designs or if I had a design that was strong enough to move forward with. Next week I will provide the results of this survey and display how these results helped me to move forward in the creation of my media assets. Moving forward, I will use this research technique on future designs so I can ensure the best possible outcome for the designs I create for future clients.

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Reflection Multi-Platform Delivery

Reflection on Multi-Platform Delivery Experience | Design Work Examples

This month I took the course Multi-Platform Delivery at Full Sail University. This experience was challenging but provided me with great insight as to how fast paced the industry expects a media designer to be when it comes to how quick they can put together a professional well thought out campaign. The course challenged me to think professionally and creatively in a fast pace way while still gathering important research to base the campaign on. The experience taught me how to prioritize my work and how to approach the work given to me in a time attentive fashion. By learning how to do this I am now able to approach any campaign I am hired to in the most professional, efficient way possible.

This week I had to wrap up all my ideas and research into a 60 second pitch, which I will provide below:

By creating this pitch I was able to provide the viewer with an understanding of where my ideas came from, how it will benefit their company and the research I took to make sure that all strong aspects of the company are showcased and would speak efficiently to the client. This pitch also made me aware of the environment in which I shot the pitch to make sure the environment was cohesive with the tone of the campaign and narrative of the company. The narrative of company is as follows:

Narrative:

Honey Dew Bee Company embodies the health of their customers’ bodies. They harvest organic raw honey that is satisfying sweet. At Honey Dew Bee Company their focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep their hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. The bees are able to forage on 7 miles of flowers and they are constantly monitored to make sure they are indeed organic. The importance of keeping the customer healthy is the main focus so Honey Dew Bee Company puts honesty, quality and care into everything that carries its name. Honey Dew Bee Company is committed to this quality and preserving this natural, beneficial and clean product.

In order for the client to fully understand the campaign and the ideas behind it, when creating the pitch, I also had to keep this narrative in mind. By doing so the pitch will also showcase the voice and tone the campaign will have and give the client an inside glimpse of what direction I am going with for the complete campaign. The voice and tone is as follows:

·      Informative

·      Honest

·      Caring

·      Smart

·      Happy

Additionally, I had to refine my original logo sketches. These original logo sketches are below:

By having to narrow down my original sketches to the sketches that were the most appealing to my creative peers, it helped me to understand what areas I needed to refine in order to create the most eye-catching logo. The refined sketches are below:

These refined sketches took the original logos and adjusted them to be cleaner or took the original logos and combines them to add more appeal. All the logos were inspired from the directive words below and the narrative:

Directive Words:

·      Healthy

·      Organic

·      Honest

·      Clean

·      Quality

By following these directive words it ensured that the chosen logo would be cohesive with the entire campaign and the company it is meant to represent.

This experience has been very educational to me because it taught me how to handle campaign goals and the time management necessary in order to satisfy the goal at hand. The experience itself was very eye opening as to how the industry works and what the industry expects when it comes to deadlines and workload.

What I learned and how it will Benefit My Career:

What I learned from this course is the importance of being confident in my work and the ideas I have to offer. I learned that by speaking in a confident tone backed by research I would be more appealing to my client because they will see that I carry the necessary knowledge to represent them and the confidence to showcase it. I am not much of a public speaker and when I am nervous I tend to giggle a lot. When I chose to create my pitch outside it was very nerve wrecking for me because people kept staring at the women in a bright blue dress speaking to a camera. This experience from having to shoot the pitch video for this assignment gave me a view of what I will have to do when I am pitching to a client and how they will look at me. It taught me that under any circumstance I still have to remain confident without nervously laughing and breaking this confidence. I learned how to gather my ideas into one pitch and to not go over time limits. When I chose the video outside my nerves told me not to do it because I knew I would be scared, I forced myself to conquer this fear. My thoughts were that this same fear would have to be conquered eventually when I have to pitch to real clients in a real life setting. This lesson taught me to conquer my anxiety and to believe in myself when moving forward into my career as a Media Designer. A lesson that I obtained while attending the meetings within the course that I found to be very important was when my instructor told that class to present the ideas and to not be a “floating head” (Kratz, A. Goto Meeting. [Lecture] (26, May, 2016). With such a simple statement she really spoke to me, this statement made me realize that just talking about my ideas will not sell the ideas, that I had to fully immerse myself in every aspect including the environment and the body language I used to express these ideas and the research behind it. It made me realize that a slide show or animated video will not suffice for a pitch and that in order to gain my clients’ attention I had to gain a connection with them through the tone I used throughout the pitch and the way I carried myself. This lesson helped me to understand that every single thing I do within a pitch should have meaning. That all elements count and by using them it will give me a platform to make my ideas even stronger.

Three Takeaways:

The first takeaway is gathering research. Had I not been required to research before having to work on these elements of the campaign, the pitch and the design elements would not have been as strong. When creating my logo sketches and my video pitch I caught myself continuously going back to look at the research I gathered. By being able to look back at this research I was able to create design elements that had meaning and a pitch that had a strong platform to base my ideas off of. This research is a very important takeaway because it allowed me to understand how research can help to benefit the way I approach the strategy for future clients.

The second takeaway I obtained from this course is the idea of a second refinement of logos instead of going right to digitizing the first original logo. By having to create the second refinement it helped me to elevate the stronger logos into an even more compelling logo.  This second refinement helped the logos to become more appealing and spoke to the audience more efficiently because they were derived from a logo that has been recently reviewed.

The third takeaway I obtained is the idea of creating a video skeleton before recording my video. This video skeleton helped me to understand where certain information needed to go and during what time. By using this video skeleton for my pitch video it ensured that the video flowed correctly without any unnecessary breaks. This skeleton also gave me an idea of how much time I had to complete the video while also including all the information I needed to have in the video.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my experience with this course. If you follow me on here, I will see you next week! Thanks again.

References:

Kratz, A. (2016, May 26). Thursday May 26 Goto Meeting. Lecture presented in Full Sail University.

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Voice and Tone

This week on the Multiplatform Delivery course at Full Sail University I had to create two design elements. I was assigned to create a static mood board and a dynamic mood board based on the static mood board. These mood boards had to speak to the look, feel, voice and tone of the narrative and had to be directed by the directive words inspired by the narrative.  The narrative is as follows:

Narrative:

Honey Dew Bee Company embodies the health of their customers’ bodies. They harvest organic raw honey that is satisfying sweet. At Honey Dew Bee Company their focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep their hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. The bees are able to forage on 7 miles of flowers and they are constantly monitored to make sure they are indeed organic. The importance of keeping the customer healthy is the main focus so Honey Dew Bee Company puts honesty, quality and care into everything that carries its name. Honey Dew Bee Company is committed to this quality and preserving this natural, beneficial and clean product.

 Dynamic Mood Board (Above)

Static Mood Board (Above)

By reading the narrative we can determine the voice, tone and direction that needs to be established in both the dynamic and static mood boards. This voice and tone is important because it ensures that everything that is part of the campaign is cohesive and speaks to the values and ideals associated with the campaign. In an article by Robert Mills titled, Finding Your Tone of Voice in this article he states,

“When we speak to others in person, our non-verbal communication says more than the words themselves. Non-verbal communication consists of facial expressions, tone, cues, gestures and pitch. Online, we lose of all of these except tone. We can imbue our Web copy with a tone that is distinct, clear, consistent and relevant to the target audience. You can’t create a strong and effective user experience without language. And tone of voice plays a big role in this by doing the following: Differentiating you from competitors, showing your personality, (and) helping you gain and retain customers.” (Mills, R. Finding Your Voice and Tone. (21 August 2012). https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/finding-tone-voice/).

If you are interested you can read this article by following this LINK.

This article highlights the importance of establishing a voice and tone. By establishing this voice and tone it provides the designer a way to efficiently speak for the brand and market it. With the mood boards I created, I gathered research that will help the fictitious company Honey Dew Bee Company stand out and appeal to potential consumers and then I used this research to create a narrative that embodied this voice and tone. From there I created a mood board that stemmed from the narrative and went on to create a static mood board that established the mood that this company is meant to carry. By doing this type of research it will prepare me to move forward with the marketing strategy.

 References:

E. (2007, February 11). Bee and flower. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/earl258/388788415/in/photolist-AmDfx-6ijQ9N-gRLwhX-3KbuF-3s2on-h7V61-5AFU8-973Eps-nYjQS-cmnPWw-96ZBx6-5AFCL-8ykjWR-rydUL6-abREXN-589r6n-5Q23EH-dFi54Q-mkYHm-fgbV56-qTBPiW-wqvdpy-8d9krQ-ucUCQL-fNzegT-4KHab4-dZ7rJQ-nhQMnB-s9pbxF-eby6sJ-ytGXC-pzwaAX-bURgax-3VBLG-t7gQys-nnCFqg-aqbCvn-8eV8bv-g3RcZX-9A2zj1-KrRjF-6qkDMf-uMH2s4-ujYyAQ-DULEVz-gTAA9-p1PVSP-6r8b8A-5GNsB-aecff

Bee Buzzing [Sound Effect]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.salamisound.com/3845337-bee-wasp-or-bumble-bee-in#

Howard, N. (n.d.). Rape (Canola) Near Winchester, UK. Retrieved May 19, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilsingapore/7165684072/in/photolist-bVd1e7-PziUG-8Xufc3-qtpfP9-cA2nS9-9GkDTy-dZUU6g-awFFUo-4TJY2M-4TPcgb-4TPc9s-5HP38s-mn3sbb-5ohDpC-4TJY6z-4TJY92-eiiiXW-4TJY4g-4TJYcP-ag5uMR-9EpbzU-7bueZr-qxRXES-oEza2m-ocEcny-dUEfoX-C9a8K-ak1bxw-awbCNR-4TPbJJ-4TPcdd-6zmHAb-mn2fTT-4TPcbw-5HP2TN-4TJYok-4TPc4u-58Ty4x-4TJXXK-4TJYsB-5HP31N-4rpJFL-5HP5tE-og7Rr-a4yKaa-9fYJRX-oKMQbD-9Gu8i9-eiijEq-d6bqrS

J. (2005, May 30). Sky. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeyatlarge/16645379/in/photolist-2tj6i-5BcZdg-db7tDo-8KyhLQ-cQ9QFA-764LMn-4HWLx2-2ehkiG-768GAQ-fxpWmM-ocbf5-eaLYBE-764NKa-NhEZ5-768Ezb-aiHy31-768Gt3-764Nxk-6ShToR-pTXEaM-hu1MdU-oBF5bQ-4igaMB-5DhVYM-DSGA-86R6PP-8Kvh96-7aZrPd-ciHb2G-ciHatq-ciHaL5-ocmMvu-764NUH-dZ8oV6-g5j5Bm-9TAJUJ-8mXf7-6bqTCA-pzp78p-6va6du-d4dDnf-d4dCZy-crKpqC-dbbo1m-768GT7-crKpks-mi3HU-2YStqF-eiYj4r-2fzmwm

PngImg.com. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://pngimg.com/download/395

Meadow Hills [Music]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/uplifting/

Dinasou Online Supermart. (2015, December 23). Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://dinasouonlinesupermart.blogspot.com/2015_12_01_archive.html

Crabtree, J. (2010, December 23). Daisy. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicacrabtree/5286398108/in/photolist-949aYY-8RdmPV-aryBDm-86jn3e-d8fMmA-6yHNHh-M8usC-8d2j5v-7P1YMW-chhish-65KboL-fPvCM-ekydJj-8qkF9J-9UqQy3-6hmqn9-3HYSY-GWmby-2v5Sx-ed5te-9PX9K3-7BQ5pM-myePxT-nux613-furf1-GPKbW-4HHmpE-53r9cN-54Fgoq-8qkHKC-2xrAM-582zXG-bJsLZx-ehx2Tw-S2xVy-2CeSvr-5321Cu-8qkJPb-a2uLi1-2moCSB-53Mtfk-iVWyH-7RjdrB-hyCSC-9Tc4ZA-8cdydQ-4UzvkH-9HQoZy-Wv3xJ-2YGqm

Mills, R. (2012, August 21). Finding Your Tone Of Voice – Smashing Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2016, from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/finding-tone-voice/

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This week on the course Multi-Platform Delivery at Full Sail University, I was assigned to create an infographic for the fictitious company Honey Dew Bee Company. Honey Dew Bee Company is an organic raw honey manufacturer. I had to gather research and decide on a media mix that would best represent this company and to build a brand image for the company. After creating a narrative, deciding on how to approach the strategy, and creating personas, I had to decide what media mix would help to elevate these ideas. In the infographic, I displayed all the information gathered in a visually appealing way while also providing a visual story that spoke appropriately to the values and ideals this company carries. Below you will find the narrative for Honey Dew Bee Company:

Narrative:

Honey Dew Bee Company embodies the health of their customers’ bodies. They harvest organic raw honey that is satisfying sweet. At Honey Dew Bee Company their focus on health stems straight from the hive. They keep their hives healthy and the surrounding plants healthy to ensure the best quality in organic raw honey on the market. The bees are able to forage on 7 miles of flowers and they are constantly monitored to make sure they are indeed organic. The importance of keeping the customer healthy is the main focus so Honey Dew Bee Company puts quality and care into everything that carries its name. Honey Dew Bee Company is committed to this quality and preserving this natural and beneficial product.

Honey Dew Bee Company has a high focus on the quality of their organic honey as oppose to their competitors. They ensure that their honey is truly organic by providing the bees 7 miles of organic plants to forage on. While bees are known to forage about 2.5 miles away from the hive there is sometimes a chance a stray bee will forage further. (Honeybee Food Foraging : Where? Why? How Far? (2014, December 16). https://brookfieldfarmhoney.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/honeybee-food-foraging-where-why-how-far/). The furthest a bee can travel away from the hive is 7 miles. By giving the bees the full 7 miles its guarantees that no bee will bring back nectar that has been contaminated with pesticides back to the hive. This infographic tells the story of the importance of each element the bee brings back to the “hive”. The hive in the infographic represents Honey Dew Bee Company and the surrounding information represents the important elements that need to be brought to the company to ensure that the company continues to thrive. In an article titled, The Do’s and Don’ts of Infographic Design by Amy Balliett she stated,

“Organizing an infographic in a way that makes sense and that keeps the viewer interested is not always easy, but it’s part of the job for most infographic designers. Usually, you will be given a lot of data and will need to create a visual story out of it.” (Balliett, A. The Do’s and Don’t of Infographic Design. (14 October, 2011). https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/the-dos-and-donts-of-infographic-design/).

By learning this important tip it helped me to realize that every element within the infographic should have a reason as to why it was included. All the elements should help to tell the story of the brand. Just as the same process would be for a regular hive, the hive is the bigger picture it has to be healthy and thriving the bees brings the nectar and other important elements to the hive in order to ensure that the hive continues to flourish. The infographic shows how each element within the infographic is important to help the success of the brand and the bees guides the audience to each of these elements while still remaining connected to the hive.

Thank you for joining me again this week. See you next week!

References

Balliett, A. (2011, October 13). The Do's And Don'ts Of Infographic Design – Smashing Magazine. Retrieved May 14, 2016, from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/the-dos-and-donts-of-infographic-design/

Honeybee Food Foraging : Where? Why? How Far? (2014, December 16). Retrieved May 14, 2016, from https://brookfieldfarmhoney.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/honeybee-food-foraging-where-why-how-far/

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This week I started the class Multi-Platform Delivery at Full Sail University.In this class we had to start on our final thesis where we took everything we learned from the months before and apply it to our last chosen company to showcase what we have learned. The company I chose is a raw honey manufacturer, Honey Dew Bee Company. I created a SWOT analysis for this company to research the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By gathering research for the SWOT I was able to understand how to efficiently market my chosen company. Understanding their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats allowed to figure out what approach I should take when it comes to how to showcase this company. I also had to create personas for Honey Dew Bee Company. In this article by Eeva Llama titled, Creating Personas she states that not creating personas could result in,

“Everyone on the team having a different opinion about whom we are designing for (who the target user is). This can result in: self referential design.” (Llama, E. Creating Personas. (09 June 2015). http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/creating-personas/).

By creating these personas for the company I was able to understand how to create a design that would speak to the target of this company. The personas embody the whole target audience into one person so it helps to narrow the focus of how to approach said target. 

Additionally, I had to work on the narrative and strategy. By creating a narrative for the company it allowed me to express the brand’s personality, characteristics and provides voice and tone to the strategy. By providing voice and tone to the strategy it helped me to understand how to efficiently speak to the target audience and appeal to them. 

References: 

Llama, E. (2015, June 09). Creating Personas | UX Booth. Retrieved May 06, 2016, from http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/creating-personas/

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Design Integration Reflection

Reflection:

In the final week of the course Design Integration at Full Sail University I wanted to reflect on the lessons I learned and how it will benefit my career as a media designer. It has been 4 weeks of valuable lessons on the creation of transmedia campaigns where I had to create a unique promotional item, a guerrilla marketing tactic, a 20 second radio spot and a 20 second TV commercial. I have to admit it has been a long month for me but a very impactful one nonetheless. It made me realize how much research and planning goes into creating a successful transmedia campaign for any client. By researching and understanding the client beforehand and the importance of their story (narrative) it helps me as a designer to create a campaign that will speak appropriately to what their company stands for.

The first lesson that I felt was very important and I wanted to share is the importance of guerrilla marketing. As a media designer it is important that any design we create will make a lasting impression on the target audience. In my experience in working freelance, I am bombarded with flyer creation, after flyer creation, after flyer creation. Being stuck in this cycle really dumbs down the imagination. It makes it hard to see that there are different ways of promoting a product or event besides the creation of a flyer and posting said flyer around the city and through out social media. By learning more about guerilla marketing I am able to pass this knowledge on to my clients and give them an idea of different ways to promote their business besides just flyer posting. This excerpt from the article, What is Guerrilla Marketing? explained this idea best, it read,

“This alternative advertising style relies heavily on unconventional marketing strategy, high energy and imagination. Guerrilla Marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise, make an indelible impression and create copious amounts of social buzz. Guerrilla marketing is said to make a far more valuable impression with consumers in comparison to more traditional forms of advertising and marketing.” (What is Guerrilla Marketing. (2010). http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/).

What is important about this excerpt for me is my clients are Internet heavy when it comes to promoting their business and a guerilla-marketing tactic could really benefit them. Their main form of advertising is posting flyers. While this may work to get the name of the event out it does not give them the social buzz they could obtain if they decide to do a guerilla-marketing tactic. By understanding the creation of a guerilla-marketing tactic it benefits my career as a media designer, because I am now able to provide this service to my clients and help their company shine even further.

Another lesson I wanted to share is the value of the transmedia campaign. With technology ever evolving, as a media designer it is important to be able to create advertising for each media platform. By being able to do this, it helps to ensure that whatever platform the audience uses there would be an advertisement for the company on that platform. Understanding the importance of this ensures that we aim at the target audience from every direction. This article by Jason Thibeault titled, Is Transmedia Storytelling the New Digital Marketing? In this article he states,

“The first thing to understand about marketing today is that it’s all about shared experience. Consumer behavior is radically changing with respect to content consumption. No longer are people consuming most of their content on the TV, a newspaper, or even their computer. Rather, they are using a combination of channels.” (Thibeault, J. Is Transmedia Storytelling the New Digital Marketing? (7 October, 2013). http://jasonthibeault.com/2013/10/17/is-transmedia-storytelling-the-new-digital-marketing/).

I was able to learn how to create different types of advertisements for each of these spots. By learning how to do this it benefits my career as a media designer because it will be something that I could offer my clients if they wanted this type of advertisement. I am no longer stuck in just creating flyers or logos but I am now able to branch out to the creation of radio spots, TV commercials and script writing. By widening my portfolio and the advertising designs I am able to do, it will allow me to be an asset to their company and what I have to offer them.

3 Takeaways:

The first takeaway would have to be storyboarding. At first I felt storyboarding was a nuisance. I felt it took too much time to create and I wanted to be driven by pure creativity alone, no planning necessary. What a train wreck of an idea and process that thinking was. By creating a storyboard I was able to help the flow of my creative ideas. Everything I was thinking for my guerilla tactic seemed to make more sense to my creative peers and myself. The storyboard allowed everyone on the creative team to understand my idea, where it was going, how it worked and how beneficial it was. The visuals on the storyboard answered all the questions raised without my peers having to dig into my creative mess of a mind.  I will take the process of storyboarding with me to help me through my creative process and to help the team I work with to understand all my ideas better.

The second takeaway I would like to share would be the importance of time. Timing in radio spots and TV commercials are a pain in the neck but they are very important because these spots are extremely expensive. As a media designer I have to ensure that the message is clear in the time allotted. This can be very hard because when I wrote my initial script it was based solely on pure creative drive. Basically, the script was written, the characters were placed and the idea behind the narrative was in the forefront surrounded by a whole bunch of fluff words. After recording, I realized I went over the 20-second time mark and had this been a real advertising spot my commercial or radio spot would be incomplete. So I had to revise my script, test record the new script and make a script that had the time in which each verse should be complete. By creating a new script, I was able to meet the time I was given, lose some of the fluff words and made the advertisement easy to follow and understood by the audience. From this experience, what I would take away is how I created the script to include timing. By creating the script in this manner it help me realize when I was about to run out of time and how long I had to get the message across.

The third takeaway I wanted to share is tone. I wanted to believe I have a lot of character in my voice but after doing the radio spot and not having visuals to depend on I realize this wasn’t so. When I created my radio spot the idea was driven behind happiness. My tone didn’t have this happiness in it, although I was happy my tone seemed bored or dull. Since my tone did not match the script this could have left my audience confused as to the message I was trying to convey. I had to rerecord my script and put some perk in my voice and really sell the idea. This lesson was beneficial to me because it never dawned on me that when I spoke to clients my tone sounded just like that in the radio spot. I sounded bored and not thrilled to be working with them. Since I speak to my clients on the phone before consultation they are not able to see my expressions visually and can only pick up my emotions from the tone of my voice. This tone could send the clients the wrong message that I do not appreciate their business when I do. This radio spot gave me a huge wake up call on how I should handle my voice when it comes to how I speak to other people who are unable to see me. I believe that by exacting my tone in my own real-life situations it will benefit my client-professional relationships.

 What I Expected, What I Learned and What I Want to Learn Next:

So going into this course what I expected to learn was how to build upon the designs I created last month and perfecting the logo to be more useful in other media platforms with logo animation. I thought that we were just going to learn how to tweak our logo animations further and make it look more professional. What I actually learned is how to take the brand of a company to new levels by speaking about this brand in different media platforms. I learned how to break the company narrative apart, find the directive words and place the directive words into each part of the campaign so the transmedia campaign is cohesive with company’s brand image.

What I want to learn next is pricing. While I am a media designer who loves what she does, I also have bills to pay. I sometimes do not understand how to price my clients fairly. By doing a Google search for prices of the services I offer, the prices are very high. I feel like although my qualities of designs are worth it, I also understand that most clients will not pay this price and will look for a competitor that offers the service at a cheaper price. Not to mention the sites that offers the same service as far as logos etc. for $5. How am I to compete with that? Although my logos are custom made, uniquely theirs and not clip art, it is hard to explain this to a client who “just wants a logo”. I want to understand how to price my work. I need to understand how to establish a price that will remain fair to myself and the efforts I put in to each design, while also remaining fair to my clients and their budget. I know pricing is a hard thing to talk about because everyone values their service differently but I think by learning what the industry price is, what I should expect and how to approach my clients with the price, it will help me to be able to sell my designs more efficiently without feeling I am overcharging or being low balled.

Conclusion: 

Now to end on a happier note, since we got the pricing elephant out of the room, I wanted to share with everyone the pieces I created this month. Below you will find my complete transmedia campaign:

TV Commercial:

 Radio Spot:

Guerrilla Marketing Tactic: 

Unique Promotional Item and GMT Packaging:

Thank you for joining me again throughout this month and see everyone next week!

References:

Hart, E. (2007, May 19). Grass. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/eh3k/2359335117/in/photolist-4Aud8F-PSZd2-9P6tT8-6gpKDp-8xQjWk-2fuU9K-5pzDtw-cWwWi7-51eajc-89A5RZ-NhDLu-4xUbdm-8TnDTg-fzv4f6-aaAYCG-a24W4b-2fz2yw-nxrctF-9ZAWQM-7r8N89-6NQCSp-qDmPtw-6qdgNw-5bKqRq-8x6fUh-njp76d-8x3fgV-dodD9D-8Tg6oF-bijWMe-fZjqVh-4gTRca-8x3gJx-6xBjkc-4LT6CS-3f38m-3jNYp6-nP5ZFs-pgjFnQ-7ZYTqP-4THJh9-7iwhyK-dEVV5B-pGnCP9-c3g9DU-6j18Rw-eZ6Gru-eZ6GDC-7ePDRi-axj9Ez

Marini, F. (2007, September 6). Blue sky 2. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabiomarini/1340979055/in/photolist-33uSmx-wdPyTi-8jjPD2-q81YZR-5WYNAJ-5WYNw7-3ita5L-4qzL8X-dHLrH-7U7B1f-4PWBvA-dgX3F6-mMwvPz-6Zm3jq-avRbqs-4jx1BC-qqwdZj-4E5KDZ-nJGSfa-4E5JvP-qzRuvR-a1AWT4-a1DPVy-cXdqaL-pxiz5U-oH3PnV-m9uXYp-61Nj5E-9AiNf1-4E5KmZ-9AiNr5-85sX4t-a1DQ7w-o3YrSY-o1vrb7-a1DPku-5p4UgP-4E5KaP-fWqpp-hYwXrd-4Ea1eU-4wqMcz-33uSmk-9AiNBQ-s1QJ6t-ehc216-dKsAQ-qhrK8a-s3i3w8-4Ea1oh

Damaged sidewalk on 25th Avenue NE. (2015, February 21). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sounderbruce/16581281676/in/photolist-rgepmQ-r9vUC7-6az6pQ-sjEDfh-QuP28-9NhKEU-dxWP4a-jtLoQ8-8dUT25-m2uTUz-o4dJmX-5Kyga3-8eqVxr-cW3vvJ-8cK2o8-a1WFiL-8SCKz7-jnfhbA-bidc34-rchPn5-fkLS5R-BLa8S5-rboAsq-d16cyL-cYC9S3-asm1zf-caV5sJ-54Vsgk-9Y1YhN-nrZ14Q-8exQdL-q2cGAj-s1D43v-cowikL-9sZY5F-kjambB-iSb8Vi-9B18DY-efwe7B-9A2Yo4-9YyHpy-pjceSL-qGDnqD-8uw2tE-gxNB5C-it2sGb-efWzdZ-kU58jw-aTedP4-5TrZ5c

Ambience City Park. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3 

Raking leaves. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3

Space whoosh. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3

Magic trunk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3

Maid bell. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3

Sparkling and Twinkling (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3

Burns, K. (n.d.). Ken Burns America. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/explore/detail/3159

Thibeault, J. (2013, October 17). Is Transmedia Storytelling the New Digital Marketing? Retrieved April 30, 2016, from http://jasonthibeault.com/2013/10/17/is-transmedia-storytelling-the-new-digital-marketing/

What Is Guerrilla Marketing? (2010). Retrieved April 30, 2016, from http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/

Onkelix, A. (2015, July 29). USB. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/onkelix/20707708964/in/photolist-xxSqqU-FKfRYf-3wZGcv-9RtZT-7GZTFz-4T81rf-bDz1SQ-5YfmQq-5YfmHG-5YfmW7-9MGth1-9MGte5-4VRVMP-boAZwx-8AcYz5-pThdeo-2Xv8LU-GjZgK-2mGLLG-8ASyeU-2qyMbc-8APsvv-4vGvuq-dPr6Zn-djK4C1-dPr6W4-4PUgtM-CzpK-4SkZUC-7pMeXQ-8T6xfe-fmRMYN-4DT7ov-af5zio-6t4q-cwWKbb-3brn-8AcYzJ-9MGtim-dXjSqp-3br3-dPwJuo-bkmhJi-9MGtfb-aRC5p2-7H4NQY-3do7Y3-4rVMYh-8azUtV-6HfGmB

Wood texture. (2015). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.texturesforest.com/wood-texture/

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Video Skeleton for 20 Second TV Commercial

Video skeleton for TV commercial for fictitious company Confection Connection. Full Sail University | Design Integration

This week on Design Integration at Full Sail University, I had to make a video skeleton and scripts for my radio and TV Commercial for the fictitious company Confection Connection. What I found to be very important in this lesson is figuring out the best way to approach timing. Since both the radio and TV spot had to be a mandated 20 seconds, the script had to be straight to the point. Using too much fluff words would make the script too long for the time allotted. By taking many test recordings and scaling back my word choices I was able to fit the 20-second mark. Learning how to storyboard during this process has also helped me to understand timing better as well. Being able to visualize where I should be headed before jumping into software allowed me to get a foothold on how my creative process should be moving and how I should animate moving forward. Taking these ideas into script form also helped me to gain a better understanding as far as how the time and animation should work together in order to fulfill the time given.  In a lesson on Lynda.com titled, Instructional Design Essentials with Daniel Brigham he explained the importance of storyboarding beautifully it reads,

“A storyboard also forces you as a designer, to think about the structure and flow of your course. Why are you designing it this way? Is there a better way to present this information?” (Bringham, D. Instructional Design Essentials. (30 April, 2014) http://www.lynda.com/sdk/PowerPoint-tutorials/Instructional-Design-Essentials-Storyboarding/160064-2/transcript).

By creating a storyboard beforehand it taught me to ask many questions before committing to a design. It made me really evaluate my design choices and how these design choices will impact my client. By asking myself these questions, I was able to make the best possible choices, when it came to the creation of elements for the commercial and the scripts for both the commercial and radio spot.  

I provided a YouTube video of my video skeleton. I created the design elements in Photoshop. Everything was created with an initial sketch and was than digitally drawn and painted by me. It took me a total of 6 hours to create the old man character and I plan on creating more elements for the commercial. These elements in the video skeleton are what I have so far. Thank you again for joining me.

I also provided a video of my test recording for my radio spot. This is a rough recording and I will be working on it further to perfect it. I have also included the TV script and radio spot scripts for you to view. 

Thank you for joining me again this week. I hope to see you next week!

Revised Narrative:

Travel to a whimsical world filled with an array of satisfyingly nostalgic sweets. Everywhere taste buds are greeted with a delectable adventure. Excitement is all around with an array of inviting faces and the deliciousness these faces bring as they offer a life filled with sweet and tasty happiness. An abundance of old favorite candies provides a vintage enchantment that is like a trip down memory lane. A bite into one of these old-fashioned candies stops the busy world outside the doors. These candies become a morsel-coated trip into a whimsical expedition. With one bite, the worries of the world slips away providing a break for a moment, to partake in everything that is deserved. Enjoy a moment in a place where happiness thrives, where sweetness is found in every nook and cranny. For a moment there is a connection. Welcome to Confection Connection. A Happy Place.

 Directive Words:

Happiness

Nostalgia

Whimsical

Sweet

Vintage

Below are the scripts I created for both my TV commercial and radio spot. These scripts were inspired by the narrative and has helped me to figure out how to time my TV commercial and radio spot:

TV Commercial Script:

Radio Spot Script:

Test Recording for Radio Spot:

References:

Ambience City Park. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://www.freesfx.co.uk/download/?type=mp3 

Brigham, D. (2014, April 30). Instructional Design Essentials: Storyboarding. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.lynda.com/sdk/PowerPoint-tutorials/Instructional-Design-Essentials-Storyboarding/160064-2/transcript

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This week on Design Integration at Full Sail University we worked on cleaning up our designs and perfecting it. If you follow me on here, you will notice that the sketches have been cleaned up a great deal in order to look more professional. In addition to that, I have also added a second page to my story board to include information on how the promotional tree will be transported. This idea was given to me through feedback in order to raise more awareness for the company by creating a pop up promotion in busy areas. Both the UPI and the guerrilla marketing tactic stems back to this narrative and these directive words within the narrative: 

Narrative:

Travel to a whimsical world filled with an array of satisfyingly nostalgic sweets. Everywhere taste buds are greeted with a delectable adventure. Excitement is all around with an array of inviting faces and the deliciousness these faces bring as they offer a life filled with sweet and tasty happiness. An abundance of old favorite candies provides a vintage enchantment that is like a trip down memory lane. A bite into one of these old fashioned candies stops the busy world outside the doors. Blanketing the world with a joy filled ride that revels the energy, with every morsel-coated trip into this whimsical expedition. With one bite, the worries of the world slips away providing a break for a moment, to cease in everything that is deserved. Enjoy a moment in a place where happiness thrives, where sweetness is found in every nook and cranny, for a moment there is a connection. Welcome to Confection Connection. A Happy Place.

Directive Words:

Happiness

Nostalgia

Whimsical

Sweet

Vintage

By using these words as a base for the creation of the UPI and guerrilla marketing tactic I was able to tie each element to the story behind Confection Connection. The outcome of doing this will make the story easily understood and consumed by the potential customers. 

By using the lesson I learned from this course, I was given an article to read titled, What is Guerrilla Marketing? Through this article and lessons I learned how to apply my creativity and to think outside of the box to make Confection Connection shine. In the article it read,

“This alternative advertising style relies heavily on unconventional marketing strategy, high energy and imagination. Guerrilla Marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise, make an indelible impression and create copious amounts of social buzz. Guerrilla marketing is said to make a far more valuable impression with consumers in comparison to more traditional forms of advertising and marketing.” (What is Guerrilla Marketing. (2010). http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/).

This excerpt from the article really opened my eyes as to how important it is to think more creatively. By understanding that the guerilla market tactic and UPI has to be uniquely memorable, it helped me to understand that I had to push my imagination to the forefront in order to stand out. I researched many UPI ideas and guerilla-marketing tactics in order to get an idea of what others are doing and I steered away from those ideas. By doing this, it narrowed down what possibilities I had left and forced me to think outside of the box to be truly creative. Through these lessons, I was able to truly connect with my company and understand what made them unique. By understanding what made them unique, I was able to create a transmedia campaign that spoke exclusively about them.

EXTRA:

I also created a motion graphic video to be viewed with the storyboard in order to thoroughly express the idea behind the tactic. You can find this video below:

Thank you for taking the time to allow me to share my lessons with you. See you next week!

References:

Onkelix, A. (2015, July 29). USB. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/onkelix/20707708964/in/photolist-xxSqqU-FKfRYf-3wZGcv-9RtZT-7GZTFz-4T81rf-bDz1SQ-5YfmQq-5YfmHG-5YfmW7-9MGth1-9MGte5-4VRVMP-boAZwx-8AcYz5-pThdeo-2Xv8LU-GjZgK-2mGLLG-8ASyeU-2qyMbc-8APsvv-4vGvuq-dPr6Zn-djK4C1-dPr6W4-4PUgtM-CzpK-4SkZUC-7pMeXQ-8T6xfe-fmRMYN-4DT7ov-af5zio-6t4q-cwWKbb-3brn-8AcYzJ-9MGtim-dXjSqp-3br3-dPwJuo-bkmhJi-9MGtfb-aRC5p2-7H4NQY-3do7Y3-4rVMYh-8azUtV-6HfGmB

Hong, M. (2015) Photography. [Personal Photography]

Wood texture. (2015). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.texturesforest.com/wood-texture/

Clown- Merry Music Maker PEZ dispenser - GREEN STEM. (2016). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from https://pezhead.info/store/product.php?productid=18028

Bricusse, L., Newley, A. (1971). Pure Imagination. [Public Domain]

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Reflection:

This week on Design Integration at Full Sail University we took a look at Transmedia Campaigns and how the use of them can benefit the sales and marketing of a company.  We had to research different Unique Promotional Items, Guerrilla Marketing Tactics, Radio Spots and Television Commercials. Upon research of these various avenues we had to analyze our chosen companies from the past few months and create a transmedia campaign that would speak to the values of the company and appropriately represent them throughout each tactic.

If you have been following me for the last few months you would know that I am basing my campaign around a fictitious candy company, Confection Connection. I started the whole process of a static mood board up to a website style guide and I am now moving forward with how to create a transmedia campaign to make this company stand out. I bring this up because it made me realize how important truly researching a company is before delving into creating a marketing tactic for them. I was able to immerse myself in this company for three months. I learned the ins and outs of the company what they stand for and the values associated with them. By using the other elements I created through out the last few months I was able to understand how to create a transmedia campaign that truly speaks to their audience and gain the emotional connection with this audience in order for them to want to support the company.

What I have learned this week is the importance of understanding a company and using research gathered to create an appropriate transmedia campaign. I had to resort back to my past design elements that I created, such as the narrative to make sure any advertisement or tactic I follow through with will have the same tone and be cohesive with the overall brand of the company. This lesson will benefit my career as a Media Designer because it will provide me a blueprint of how to appropriately represent a company.

 Takeaways:

 1) Guerilla Marketing: Learning to create a promotion that will be different and unique from the competitors. The promotion has to stand out in a unique and interesting way to build a connection with the audience.

2) Unique Promotional Item: Promotional items should not just be an item that showcases your logo. The item should be useful to the audience and should relate back to the company as far as what the company stands for.

3) Storyboarding and Sketching: By putting your ideas on paper you can see what will work and what will not work. It gives the designer and company a visual of what the intended plan is and if the plan suits the company or will work for the company.

Important Resources:

This week we gathered a lot of resources to help us gain the knowledge we need in order to move forward with our transmedia campaign. I felt it was necessary to include excerpts from a few of these resources that has helped me to understand the lesson better.

“Guerrilla Marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise, make an indelible impression and create copious amounts of social buzz. Guerrilla marketing is said to make a far more valuable impression with consumers in comparison to more traditional forms of advertising and marketing.” (Creative Guerrilla Marketing. (2010). http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/).

This excerpt is very important to me because it defines why the correct use of guerrilla marketing is so important. By using guerilla marketing it will surprise the audience and will help to remind them of the company. The interesting approach will also compel consumers to want to talk about it and word of mouth is an incredible marketing strategy. 

“The first thing to understand about marketing today is that it’s all about shared experience. Consumer behavior is radically changing with respect to content consumption. No longer are people consuming most of their content on the TV, a newspaper, or even their computer. Rather, they are using a combination of channels.” (Thibeault, J. (17 October, 2013). http://jasonthibeault.com/2013/10/17/is-transmedia-storytelling-the-new-digital-marketing/).

This excerpt works as a strong reminder as to the importance of why creating a campaign that will work across all boards is not only beneficial is a must. As a designer restricting yourself to just one platform you may lose out on a huge audience that may not use this platform.

“So here we are, talking about marketing in a marketing-soaked culture. "I actually look at a lot of traditional advertising," Ewen says, "and so much of it is sold on a promise of what kind of person those tires -- or whatever -- are going to make you be. Not about what those tires do." Products sold by suggesting that they will make you rich and sexy, "all of that stuff is bullshit," he continues. And then he says something that anybody familiar with the fake Sony Ericsson tourists or the Boston fiasco is probably going to find hard to swallow: "I believe that the new killer app in advertising is honesty." (Walker, R. (June, 2008). http://perfectbusiness.com/YourResources/Articles/tabid/106/aid/2567/Default.aspx).

This excerpt is important because it also works as a strong reminder of what we should consider when creating advertising pieces. As graphic designers the main purpose of our advertising pieces is to sell a product, company or service. The problem with this is that we lose sight of the importance of honesty and the truly believing in our client’s product. We fall into the personality of a “used car salesman” and overwork the idea of having to glamourize the product instead of showing what the company/ product is and what they can do. People appreciate honesty and by creating a campaign based on honesty the audience will not feel like they got swindled into supporting the company but because they truly wanted to.

Design Work:

This week I had to create concepts for a unique promotional item, a guerrilla marketing tactic, a 20 second TV commercial and a 20 second radio spot. Above you will find the initial sketch for my unique promotional item and a storyboard for my guerilla marketing tactic.

 Unique Promotional Item: (1st Image Above)

Pez Dispenser USB:

This item is a Pez Dispenser with a hidden USB drive. The Pez Dispenser speaks to the type of product Confection Connection sells and how they value the idea of sweetness and nostalgia. The USB is an item the consumer can use so that the promotional item will be still useful to them. The detachable USB will have the logo printed on the outside of it so for whatever reason if the top part of the Pez Dispenser gets lost the USB will still stand as a strong reminder on its own of the company with the included logo. The item is useful to the consumer and speaks the values associated with the company.

Guerilla Marketing Tactic: (2nd Image Above)

Candy Tree: Trees in busy areas of the city will have lollipops and a few of the UPI’s tied to them that will include a tag with company information on it.

This promotion is meant to hint at the whimsical aspect that is tied to Confection Connection. The approach takes a whimsical element and places it into modern society. The potential consumers will be able to interact with the tree while also obtaining information on the company. This is an interesting approach because it gives the consumer an idea of the values tied to the company and captures the audience by playing into their curiosity. When they retrieve the candy from the tree it will also have a tag on it with the logo of the company and contact info on it. By adding the tag it ties the tactic to the company. Additionally photos will be taken showcasing the interaction between the tactic and consumers and these photos will be used on social media to give a media buzz.

20 Second TV Commercial: (In Progress)

The commercial displays a man interacting with the promotional tree, which compels him to visit the store. While buying the candy he loves, the experience turns him back into a child. The scene doesn’t change but an effect will be added to look as if the man turns into a younger version of himself. The commercial displays the nostalgia factor associated with the narrative because the scene is shot to make it seem like time has been rewound to where the character still craves the sweet nostalgic candies into adulthood bringing him back into his childhood. After eating the candy he is reminded of his childhood. This commercial will showcase the emotional connection that most people have with the sweets they grew up with and the interaction that will take place with the guerrilla marketing tactic.

Script:

(Opening) Low organic sounds of birds and people chattering.

Tree: You look like a man with a story.

Old Man: Well these Pez Dispensers really bring back some memories for me. My two siblings and I use to have to share just one.

Tree: Luckily, there is more than one candy in each dispenser. What a bond this must have created for you and your brothers.

Old Man: Yes it did but we still fought over who gets the last piece, til’ this day we only share one dispenser amongst the three of us, and we all collect the dispensers as trophies of who got the last Pez.

(Cut to Store Scene)

Relaxing instrumental plays in the background

Man points at the candies he likes transitions in to a child.

Shop bag and logo ends scene.

 20 Second Radio Spot: (In Progress)

The radio spot will showcase the happiness between a mother and son as they interact with the promotional tree. It displays the happiness that is connected with Confection Connection and their narrative. The commercial will highlight the memories that the consumers can share with their children be it with the new experience they will encounter with the tree or the nostalgia they can share with their children of their favorite vintage treats. The radio spot takes humor, happiness and fun to display the warmth the company has to offer and to introduce the guerrilla marketing tactic. This happiness and warmth is appropriate for the theme and style of Confection Connection because it matches the ideals within the narrative and the values behind the company. The radio spot displays the narrative by the happiness that is taking place between the mother, the child and the tree.

Script:

The radio spot will open with a conversation between a mother, child and promotional tree.

Tree: Hello.

Child: Mom!! A talking tree with candy!!!!

Mom: Well say hello back honey.

Child: Hello, can I have some candy?

Tree: Sure, but be careful it tickles.

Child: (The child giggles) Mom! I got a piece of candy look it’s from Confection Connection. Can we go there?

Mom: Hmm, I suppose so, they do sell vintage sweets I can show you some of my old favorites:

Child: Wow! That must mean you’re older than this tree!

Mom: (laughs) Do I really look like I’m more than a hundred years old? Don’t answer that. Let’s just go to Confection Connection and make some more happy memories.

References:

What Is Guerrilla Marketing? (2010). Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/

Thibeault, J. (2013, October 17). Is Transmedia Storytelling the New Digital Marketing? Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://jasonthibeault.com/2013/10/17/is-transmedia-storytelling-the-new-digital-marketing/

Walker, R. (2008, June). Meet America's Top Guerilla Marketer. Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://perfectbusiness.com/YourResources/Articles/tabid/106/aid/2567/Default.aspx 

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Wrapping up the final week of the Design Strategies and Motivation course at Full Sail University we were to create a style guide that directed how to use the design element for the company we chose efficiently. This narrative inspired the style guide I created:

You enter a whimsical world filled with an array of satisfying sweets. Everywhere you turn your taste buds are greeted with a new delectable adventure. Excitement is in the air as you look around you to only be greeted by inviting faces and the deliciousness these faces bring as they offer you a life filled with sweet and tasty happiness. You grab one of your favorite candies, and allow yourself to receive the enchantment it has in store. As you take a bite the busy world that confronts you outside the doors stop. You are blanketed with a joy filled ride that revels your energy to take in every morsel-coated trip into this blissful expedition. The worries of the world slips away as you take a break for yourself and for a moment you cease in everything that you deserve. A moment to yourself in a place where happiness thrives, where sweetness is found in every nook and cranny, for a moment you are connected. Welcome to Confection Connection.

I took the use of directive words such as vintage whimsy, happiness, sweet and nostalgia and created an atmosphere that embodied each of these words into the complete style guide. The opening page with a quote from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Public Domain) is the first tactic I used to set the mood and to capture the audience. This page is very important because this page is the first step in invoking the right emotions that needs to be carried through out the style guide. The style guide also stays true to the overall tone of the brand of Confection Connection being sure to spew happiness and nostalgia through out each page. By setting the same mood for the style guide in each design piece it helps to remind the designer’s how the tone should be for each design element and how to use it appropriately. Thank you once again for following me on my Mastery Journey and allowing me to share my updates with you. Next week after spring break, I will be starting a new class and I hope to be able to share more of the lessons I learn with you all. See you then!

If you are interested, you can click the title of this post to see the style guide or you can follow this link below: 

http://marinahong44.wix.com/confectionconnection

References:

Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory [Quote]. (1971). MGM. Public Domain.

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The Value of Research

This week on the Design Strategies and Motivation course I am attending at Full Sail University we were to compare and contrast style boards in order to create a style board for the fictitious company we had chosen earlier throughout the last few months. By gathering the research needed before the creation of the style board we were able to understand what work and what may not work for our style board. It also helped us to gather inspiration as far as how we wanted the look and feel of our style board to be. For my research, I compared and contrast three style boards that I felt would help me to progress in the creation of my style board. The three style boards I chose were Dylan’s Candy Bar because it catered to the same product that I chose, Walmart due to its popularity and familiarity amongst consumers and the University of Cambridge because it uses a website platform to showcase its style board which is the same media platform I am preparing to use.

Dylan’s Candy Bar’s style guide is very bright and bold it embodies the feeling and emotions that this company wants the designer to feel. When I look at this style guide I understand that this company values fun. At times the style guide becomes very busy and the huge amount of bright colors feels a bit overwhelming. The colors seem to not have any rhyme or reason except for the fact that it was to be bright and fun. Instead of complimenting the company it made the company seem too busy and didn’t feel there was any direction as to what the designer needed to do in order to showcase the company. Additionally, they didn’t provide a clear space example, which may prove detrimental when it came to how the logo is to be handled. What did work is the fact that they did manage to express the voice and tone of the product and company. They were also able to showcase how they want their imagery handled but they didn’t specify which was the correct and incorrect way to use it. To the Graphic Designer, this would be left up to assumption as to what they felt would work best and this is not a good detail to leave up to assumption because the style guide should make sure that each designer is on the same page as to what is the correct method to be applied so each design piece is cohesive. I did however appreciate the simplicity of this style board it was easy to follow without too much additional information that would have added confusion rather than easing the creativity process. To view this style board please follow the link below.

http://cintasartwork.millmats.com/files13/1057900/s-79009596.pdf 

Walmart’s style board took a different route and incorporated a more corporate approach when it came to how they handled the information within their style board. I admired the fact that they chose to add some information about how they wanted each design to feel with the use of directive words. With the use of directive words within the style guide the designer understands that anything they create has to embody the values of caring, real, innovative, straightforward, and positive. The only downfall of this is that with the style guide Walmart embodied four of these values but “caring” felt disconnected. The style board did not provide warmth to it but instead felt cold and unemotional. This can make the designer have the wrong idea as to the tone they should express throughout each design piece. Additionally, Walmart has added some very strong visuals to their style guide. At first glance the Walmart style guide can feel a bit overwhelming. They are very specific as to what they want and it feels like the designer has very little room to deviate. To some designers this may feel very stressful but I think that this order helps to assure that their design looks the way it was intended to. Walmart does become a bit too wordy. With their visuals being so strong they didn’t need to add three to four paragraphs following these visuals. I think that one paragraph following the visual would suffice and it will help to not give the designer a creative block because they felt too confined because of the mandatory structure. Walmart also provided great examples of clear space using a portion of their logo to define it. Using a portion of the logo to define clear space helps to ensure the logo is handled properly no matter the platform or dimension size.  You can find the Walmart style guide by following the link below:

http://studioazura.com/wp-content/uploads/Walmart-brand-guidelines.pdf

University of Cambridge is the last style board I researched. This style board was very easy to navigate and the information provided was easy to consume. When they showcased a visual they gave a few clarifications as to what they wanted and provided this clarification in a paragraph at the most. I believe that by doing this it didn’t feel overwhelming and it helped me as a designer to consume the information efficiently without feeling too restricted. I understood the rules without feeling like I was getting hit in the head with it. I did feel that the University of Cambridge’s style guide lacked a tone. Although the style guide was cohesive with the overall look with each design, I couldn’t pick up how they wanted the designer to portray the emotions behind the design. I did appreciate the menu set up they had though. It was easy to navigate through each page and the use of subpages to gather all the pages that had information in common helped me to understand how to create a menu that would be easy to navigate as well. You can find the University of Cambridge’s style guide by following the link below:

 http://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources/promotional-items

Overall this week really helped me to learn the value of research and gathering information in order to gain inspiration. I was able to compare and contrast each style board I looked at and delve in deeper on how to apply the information I learn to my creative process. This lesson helped me to understand how to gather information efficiently and apply this information productively. Had I not done this research I would have created a style board based solely on creativity and may have lost the message I was trying to convey. By gathering this research I was able to understand how easily this information can be mishandled and how a designer like myself will consume this information. Thank you for joining me as I learn a few lessons and grow as a designer. I will see you next week.

 References:

Ando, M. (n.d.). Dylan's Candy Bar Style Guide. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://cintasartwork.millmats.com/files13/1057900/s-79009596.pdf

Walmart Style Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://studioazura.com/wp-content/uploads/Walmart-brand-guidelines.pdf

University of Cambridge Brand resources. (2016). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources