My Mastery Journal Reflection: MDM570 Organizational Structure
During month six of my MFA, Media Design degree program, I learn how to organize, process, and evaluate information obtained from my previous class, Design Research, and applied my research to dynamic media. This month was full of wonder, excitement, and frustration. I learned how to create dynamic media through the Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro applications. I have always had an interest in editing film and animating my designs. My three takeaways from this course are: Dynamic media is more appealing to consumers, mood boards are crucial for a multimedia platform, and sound is an important element in branding.
My first takeaway is dynamic media is more appealing to consumers than static media. Motion graphics and static graphics have the same goal of communicating a client’s message. The difference between the two is motion graphics is appealing to the viewer’s eyes because the media incorporates illustration animation, narration, music, and sound design. We can find dynamic media used in infographic animation, movie title sequences, user interface design, etc. According to Infographics: The power of visual storytelling, “dynamic media has the ability to appeal to a viewer emotionally through music while also information through voiceover and imagery in motion provides an opportunity to communicate a brand’s message in a powerful way” (Crooks, Lankow, & Ritchie, 2012). Dynamic media is a useful marketing tool for consumers in our current society of instant gratification.
My second takeaway is mood boards are critical for a multimedia platform. Creative Bloq Staff (2013) explains some reasons why mood boards are worth designers time because mood boards are fluid, establish the basics, makes collaboration easier, helps responsive design, and they are time-savers (Creative Bloq Staff, 2013). Last month, I was assigned to create a mood board for the Rebellious Turtle concert and was required to refer to the board, when designing my website for the concert. This month I was adding to the Rebellious Turtle concert’s campaign by providing my client dynamic media pieces. The mood board helped me unify my project with a consistent brand message and attributes. I was able to refer to the board to pull imagery, typefaces, color, and mood from the brand.
My third takeaway is sound is an important element in branding. I will admit I never paid much attention to sound design as a consumer. However, sound is a good opportunity for companies to reinforce their brand by using sound. According to Noel Franus, “it is an opportunity to link brands and benefits through the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence” (Franus, 2007). For example, the famous startup sound for AOL. It has been over two decades since I used AOL, but when I hear the tune I remember it like I used the system just only yesterday. The two approaches to building an audio identity is promotional audio branding and actionable audio branding. The methods use sound to become an identifier and to affect the consumers’ emotions. Sound can connect consumers to different emotions and memories based on melodies and lyrics. This is an excellent way for businesses to relate sound to their brand’s mood.
After finishing this course, I am eager to learn more about motion graphics and video editing. I believe making motion graphics will bring more excitement into my designs. My first step will continue my learning with Lynda.com and YouTube tutorials. My second step will create a short infographic film about my journey receiving my degree with Full Sail.
I referenced back to the mood board I created last month to maintain consistency with my web comps and dynamic media.
My logo exploration helped me identify a concept that expressed the brand attributes of the concert and the theme of punk rock music.
For my motion graphic, I wanted to create a hand drawn illusion, as if, someone spray painted the Rebellious Turtle Concert’s logo on the screen. The parts of the logo appear smoothly, as if, they are being created on screen. This motion style highlights my handmade brand attribute for the charity concert. Once the symbol is assembled, the logo seems as if it’s being hacked. The logo is distorted by static introducing the name of the show. The distortion reinforces a counter-culture of an illegal rebellious lifestyle highlighting my rebellious brand attribute of chaos.
For my 30-second promo reel, I wanted to create a narrative of Rebellious Turtle concert. I wanted to showcase who will be performing, what is their cause, and the genre of music playing. The promo represents the brand’s attributes with imagery, color, tone, typefaces, and message.
Creative Bloq Staff, (2013, April 12). 7 Reasons why mood boards are worth the extra time. Retrieved from http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/7-reasons-why-mood-boards-are-worth-extra-time-4132367
Crooks, R., Lankow, J., &Ritchie, J. (2012). Infographics: The power of visual storytelling. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/illustration-and-graphics/9781118421598
Franus, N. (2007, April 26). Building brand value through the strategic use of sound. Retrieved from http://www.aiga.org/building-brand-value-through-sound/
