Aurelia Debae - GRAD502

References

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While I was completing my project, I ran into some issues that resulted in a different outcome for my hand in than I was expecting. I ensured I left myself enough time to print my zine and workbook, however when I went to print at Uni I ran into multiple technical issues.

First, I had an issue with my presentation InDesign document, the edge of my background was bleeding to the edge of the paper. I tried to alter the printing setting by it made no difference. I went to test print in A3 but I wasn't transfer my work to a uni computer. So instead I tried to test print my document from my laptop but unfornelty one printer had run out ink, the other had a error which noted paper jam. I tried to fix it as I couldnt observe a paper jam but it still didn't work for me. I wanted to be sure that I would have something to hand in, I decided to take it to a print shop to be printed.

I was uncertain of what I wanted to create for my second collateral for my campaign. I began by thinking of creating bus shell poster series to raise awareness about my campaign within the surrounding environment. I felt that this would have been a good idea as a lot of Gen Z use public transport so they would see my posters and become aware of their screen time.

I decided though that I wanted to do something that complimented my other collateral in a way they could work hand in hand. I came up with the idea to design a mindfulness journal for my campaign. I felt this was effective collateral to create for my campaign as people who play the card game can track their observations or feelings for that session within the journal. It could also be used on its own, as a different way for people to track their emotions, feeling, thoughts and daily activities.

These are my final designs:

As I have already planned out what questions/ prompts I am going to ask through my card game, all I had to do was start thinking of how I want to design them.

I wanted to keep it rather simple, so the user can focus on the questions/prompts while still being visually calming and appealing.

This is my final design for my cards:

I liked that I continued to incorporate a soft gradient in the background of my question side of the cards as it helps to connect it to my zine and poster. I have used colours that are a part of my design system to create the gradient.

This is my finalised design for my campaign zine. I decided to change my opinion again from how I incorporated colour backgrounds. I chose to include them on pages with more text as it helps to make the page more interesting to read. It also allows the other 4 pages to feel more open and the viewer's eyes can focus on my character and infographic. I am happy that I decided to use my wifi icon as an infographic as it was a strong way to communicate the statistic that I had chosen. It is also good as my audience (Gen Z) will understand this visual reference of the wifi icon.

I created another character illustration as I felt that I needed another character to help portray addition to screens. As I had my other female character on the 5th page, I felt that having her there didn't quite connect to the infographic on the 4th page. I feel that this new character helps to communicate Gen Z's addition to screens.

I am also pleased that I was able to incorporate another asset to my zine (on the back page) as it helps to create a soft atmosphere to end the work on. I wanted to try to include my spiral-shaped asset into my design somehow as I like the way it represents aura or an individual's flow.

The main changes that I have made to achieve my final poster are the colours and my character's positioning. I slightly altered the colour of my typography so that it isn't too harsh against the softer colours. I think this has helped to bring attention towards the typography as well as the character.

Moving forwards from the character that I had created for our week 9 asset presentation, I decided to focus on two or three characters that I would use to represent my campaign. I wanted to include one who was dependent on phone justice and the other to show the motion of leaving the screen.

I continued to develop my designers by redesigning their clothing to fit into my colour system. I took the girl's jumper I had drawn and tested it in purple and pink. I didn't want to use blue or green as I wanted them to be colours that are displayed in the background of the character more. I also changed the male character's shirt to a darker purple-brown to symbolise his deterioration due to his phone juice. The colours between my character highlight their contrasting differences, showing one is light, soft and moving to a fresh start where as the other is being drained of energy and self identity.

The way I had designed my male character gripping the phone juice box with both hands like he is hugging it. I wanted to indicate his dependence on his phone and how he needs to receive gratification through social media to feel good. I also changed the eye design of my male character to express this feeling of being run-down and unwell.

I wanted to start test printing my posters this week so I can see how all the elements on my poster work together. This was a good idea as it allowed me to see how my colours will print and how the visual hierarchy will work within the poster because of that. While I was printing I received some feedback from my peers to consider some changes to help it seem more appealing to the eye.

I continued testing different zine layouts till I was able to achieve one that I was happy with. For these iterations, I played around with the layout, arrangement of assets and my type. I also looked at adding background colours to the pages. I thought this would help to make my zine more visually appealing, than having too much white space. When I was doing this, I considered how it would be read, so that there is a pattern used for the backgrounds so it remained consistent.

There were two different patterns I explored, one white and one colour and two colour two white. I tested and printed both patterns to see how they would work for my final zine. I decided that I prefer the white one-colour tiling look as it allowed me to keep my 1st and 5th page with a blank background. I wanted this so the background colour wouldn't pull too much attention away from my character.

I am going to continue playing around with the content I include within my zine and how I will incorporate the rest of my assets. I want to keep the design fairly simplistic so the reader can focus on the information that is within the zine.

As I began to digitalise my zine design, I considered having my assets flow over multiple pages. These can be seen below as I have used my spiral shape to flow over the spread, as well as my wifi icons. I liked this idea but I don't think I will use it in my design. I just liked how it would connect different pages of the zine together.

As we are slowly approaching hand in time, I thought it would be best to start thinking about how I want to design my Zine. The main factor I have considered as I began brainstorming is what story/message do I want to tell with my zine?

I began by planning out what I would like to include within my design, such as the content of the type and which assets I would use. I wanted to feature my character on the 1st and 5th page so they balanced each other out when the zine is opened fully.

It was helpful to sketch this out first so I could visually interpret how all my assets would work together.

These are some things I considered including within my zine.

What is the campaign, what is the aim, why is it important, the benefits of being mindful, quote,

Moving forwards from my drafts, I picked a few elements of my design that I liked and continued to explore them further. From my draft, I have found that I really liked the combination of the female character with the crystallised circles. The reason I want to include these circles in my design as it represents the transition back into our environment and personal auras. I feel that these circles communicate that idea well through the pixelated effect, as it is a representation of the adjustment to being consumed by screens. It is like you come out of a blur, not remembering what you used to do for fun before phones were around. It also symbolises the pixilated reconnection to yourself and that is what I would like to visually communicate through this asset.

I found that testing my wifi icon with this illustration it didn't reflect my character's point of motion. As she is stepping out of the phone, she is turning away from technology, which would include the wifi icon. I think this would be better fitting to use with a different character who is intertwined with technology, so it can communicate how they are linked into it. I also found the pattern created by the wifi icon is too busy in the background, if I were to use this as a pattern, I would reduce the number of icons used so that it doesn't seem too visually overpowering.

After I had designed my poster drafts, I received some feedback from one of my classmates. They recommended that I changed the colour of my display typeface as it is overpowering the softer visuals. They thought that the darker navy colour for the typeface was too harsh and draws attention away from my character. That is why I have tested some other alternative colours for my typeface. I also changed my character's leg so that it looks like she's stepping out of the phone, rather than just walking out. It communicates the pull that technology has and shows how she is lugging herself to get up and out of it.

This week we are starting to construct our posters to use on the back of our Zine. These images below are my first attempt at playing around with my assets to create a poster. I focused first on the layout of my display type and my characters and how I wanted them arranged on the page. I also wanted to explore how my other assets can work into the poster, without losing too much negative space. It is also important to be to play around with the orientation of my characters and assets, to help create a flow across the poster, so my audience doesn't become disengaged. I am a little worried that my colours are too soft that they will provide a dream-like effect. I found this to be the case when I mixed the white background with gradient circles. I found that once I started incorporating colour within my display type, it helped to stand out against the rest of the content within the poster

I decided to start considering how I want to lay out my posters. I wanted to consider how visual hierarchy would play a part in my layout so that all of my assets don't overpower one another. The main thing I had to consider is how I want to arrange my typography, assets and character together to create a captivating call to action poster, in a soothing manner in connection to mindfulness. These two images below are my preliminary sketches for my poster .

In the image above, I was testing different layout possibilities for my poster. I wanted to test my different assets as well to see how they would all connect together. Moving forward, I want to play around with the aura bubbles further to see what possible visual effects I can achieve. I think that this would be a good way to connect my visuals to the message of my campaign.

This week we only had one studio class, due to the public holiday which fell on Monday. Our class direction for this week was to present to the class the assets that we have created so far. Below is my asset presentation which I shared with the class. Even after my experimentation with the watercolours, I don't think I will include them within my design system. At this point in my design process, I am not 100% satisfied with my assets and want to keep developing my characters while exploring different assets to include. The feedback that I had received so far for my work was that my classmates liked my character designs and the idea of climbing out of the phone. Meghian also commented that she now visually associates my hand-drawn type with my campaign, which is a good indication that my design system is beginning to form some structure. I want to continue to build on my character designs, to be able to produce two characters, one that is stepping out of a phone, and the other being attached and controlled by his screen juice. I also want to start revisiting the fonts that I want to use for my subheadings and body text. I have a few options that I presented to the class, but I was not provided with any feedback on which connects to my campaign the best. I have been considering using Proxima Nova as my body font as it is the same font that is used for Instagram. I thought that this would be a subtle visual connection to technology and maybe familiar to my audience. I am going to continue testing my subheading fonts so they visually connect with my display and body fonts.