We were put into groups and given different topics to research. Our topic was 10, 000 Steps. With this concept we were asked to work as a group to form an outcome of our choice. We began our initial research into existing websites related to 10000 steps:
From this research we began to form a brainstorm of the main words and ideas associated with 10,000 steps. Some of the main terms were:
-Health
-Lifestyle
-Exercise
-Walking
-Activity
-Motivation
-Heart
-Pedometer
-Challenge
-Daily
-Routine
After researching existing websites and resources we discovered that the general themes used were relatively generic. They have all used a simple, safe and predictable approach to conveying a message about exercising. As a group, we agreed that this approach doesn't really engage with the target audience effectively. The websites appear bland and boring. We wanted to attempt a new and unique design to generate a more effective response.
After a group discussion we decided to experiment with a totalitarian state. We wanted to create designs based on old propaganda style. The idea would be to 'infect' the nation with a new set of laws enforcing people to walk 10,000 steps a day. Essentially the laws would spread like a virus through a broad range of distribution methods.
I began by researching various examples of propaganda. I wanted to get a greater knowledge of the design methods, styles, type and image used in propaganda.
- What do you sent to say? To maintain a basic lifestyle you must walk 10,000 steps a day
- How will you say it? Propaganda-style authoritative language
- Appropriate language? Formal, persuasive and serious
- Will content be primarily text/ image/ both? Mainly text, including some imagery
- What is the relationship between type and image? Minimal, using short, simple and bold statements.
- What are you aiming to achieve? An effective response and reaction to design outcomes and concept.
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During our crit with Amber and Simon, we were asked to reconsider how our idea would be presented to the target audience. We realised that as our idea was not realistic we would not be able to actually present it within the required context. As this would mean we would have difficulties recording if our outcome was effective, we began to reconsider our idea all together.
In order for our concept to be realistic we took a new approach and decided to focus more on encouraging people to exercise as opposed to forcing them to. During our initial research we discovered that the existing marketing methods within this area of interest were mainly bland, generic and not particularly effective. In order to compete with these we agreed we would need to use original, engaging visuals alongside a range of motivational facts, statistics and subject matters to support our cause.
A few of our new ideas included:
1. A treasure hunt around Leeds
2. A route through Leeds which covered the average distance encouraging people to walk their 10000 steps.
3. Using the Otley run route to attract students attention and create an association with walking and something they already know and love.
4. Infographic-based posters, publication or handout for students.
5. An information pack informing students about the benefits of walking 10000 steps.
The Otley Run is a well-known bar crawl in Leeds. As we wanted to aim our concept at students we thought this would be an effective way to gain attention from them. The idea would be to advertise along side the Otley Run, reminding students how easy it is to achieve 10000 steps with a small reward along the way.
The Destinations:
The route:
The disadvantages of using the Otley Run were:
-The route was closer to 3miles than the recommended 5miles required in order to complete 10000 steps.
-The main aim of the Otley Run itself is to move from pub to pub, each time buying a new pint. This defeated the aim of a healthier lifestyle and made it difficult to encourage the target audience without the association with drinking.
-The route is has been formed to suit each pub/bar involved and without drinking this could seem pointless or just a waste of time.
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As part of the project we were asked to rewrite our own brief as a group. This was to ensure the brief was more specific and personalised towards our project. This also helped us to form a clearer plan of what we were intending to achieve. Our final brief is shown below:
For our final and favourite idea we decided to focus on informative, encouraging info graphics, statistics and facts. We wanted to make 10000 steps seem easy, effortless and beneficial. Our intention for doing it in this manner was to suggest students could easily exercise more as opposed to insinuating that they should. By using a light-hearded tone of voice we wanted to give students their own choice. Many students like to feel independent but can also find it hard to stay motivated with little no encouragement from others. Therefore we intended for our project to be the small bridge between independence and guidance.
As we were only allowed to use 2 colours plus stock we experimented with different colours to see which would work most effectively with our theme. Originally we considered using blue and green as they are the most natural colours. Another idea was to work with red orange and green to represent a subtle reference to a traffic light. However after experimenting with different contrasts we decided the most effective combination was a pastel blue and orange on white stock.
We decided to use the blue and orange shown below:
These were then applied to our designs in Photoshop and Illustrator
Once we agreed on this colour scheme we then allocated each group member a different benefit for carrying out 10000 steps a day to focus on. These were:
-Psychological Health
-Physical Health
-Money
-Distances
-Exploring You City
-Different Routes to Consider
My topic was 'Exploring Your City'. I began by choosing a wide range of landmarks around Leeds that were relevant to students. I wanted to consider landmarks which covered a broad range of interests and activities such as outdoor, luxury and educational. My eight final landmarks were:
The Dry Dock
Hyde Park
Millenium Square
The Corn Exchange
Leeds Market
The Town Hall
The Canal
Leeds Trinity Shopping Centre
As we were going with an infographic theme I decided to design small icons to be placed on a map. Therefore I needed to create simple icons which would still be recognisable and effective on a small scale. I drew initial rough sketches of each landmark. These were then scanned into Illustrator where I used the pen tool to generate vectors for each individual landmark.
I experimented with different applications of colour but eventually decided it would be most effective to keep each image blue for consistency. The orange was to be applied to the less detailed elements of my final poster.
I scanned my initial sketches into Photoshop where I edited the contrast and clarity of their detail. Once happy with each image, I opened an Illustrator file to begin tracing vectors for each image.
The final scanned icon sketches are shown below. I decided that Millennium Square and Leeds Market were simple to create without the drawn image so designed these digitally to save time.
The final vector images including colour produced in Illustrator:
Once happy with my icons I began to contextualise them within an info graphic poster. The title of my poster was 'Explore Your City'. I decided to use a minimal and simplistic approach to the visuals, using a key at the bottom of the poster as the main element of detail.
I experimented with different ways in which to represent the idea of exploring using various layouts of routes. My favourite idea was to just use a simple ring to represent a route with smaller roads leading to each destination. This added an emphasis to the idea of making exploring easy and effortless. The key at the bottom of the page is also simple, ensuring the info graphic is efficient and easily understandable.
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Our favourite logo design was one which Joe came up with as shown below:
We intended to use this on each individual outcome in order to keep our project consistent and as easily recognisable as possible.
This logo was then produced into a set of stickers. These were essentially to be given out to students partaking in the 10000 steps challenge. The stickers would be for people to do with as they choose but as a suggestion we encouraged people to place the stickers at their favourite landmarks and take a photo to either send to us or to upload onto Facebook or twitter.
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My final info graphic poster included a minimalistic road with smaller roads branching off to each destination. The road also resembles the steering wheel of a boat. I thought this was a nice subtle link to the Dry Dock but also to emphasise the topic of going around Leeds. There is a simple key at the bottom of the page to help users to understand what each icon represents. This route does not follow the order in which each landmark appears on the map. I thought this wasn't particularly necessary as
1.Our route was only one possible order to get people started and help structure their route if they were unsure.
2. As a group we had already decided to include a map including the landmarks in their correct order as a separate poster.
Joe Harrison's final infographic poster of our chosen route:
Jake's psychological health info graphic poster:
Barney's infographic poster focusing on the environmental benefits of walking:
Me and Joe's infographics combined to generate a simplistic map with icons:
Tristan's infographic poster focused on the physical health benefits of walking:
Bobby's poster shows an info graphic of the cost benefits of walking:
In addition to these 6 posters, we agreed to create a bigger poster including a small part of all of these elements. We considered a few different layouts which aimed to show an equal spread of importance of all of these benefits as a whole. This was challenging as we had a lot of info graphics between us. Eventually we agreed it would be most effective to take out some of the less obvious info graphics such as Joe's facts about the route which was not instantly understandable without written text to support it. We were all very pleased with the final layout and decided to print onto antique white paper to give it a more authenticity, complementing the orange and blue used throughout our project.
The final poster:
To help us discover if our campaign was successful or not we created a Facebook and Twitter page. The aim of making these pages was to raise awareness of our cause. This was also a good way of familiarising our audience with our cause. We kept the profile picture as the main logo to attract and engage new viewers. Our Facebook and Twitter pages also includes short memorable facts and quotes about walking. We hoped these would be both inspiring and motivational to encourage as many people as possible (of all ages) to consider walking more.
We also decided to make a lanyard for people to take with them as they walked their 10,000 steps route. This consisted of all of our final posters reduced to an A6 format. The lanyard also had extra pages such as a checklist for each landmark and also one big sticker as shown above. The sticker was the last page. The reason for including a sticker was to encourage people to engage and interact with the task. The sticker is for people to do with as they choose but our suggestion was to place the sticker at their favourite landmark at any point along the route, take a photo, and share it with us on our 10,000 steps Facebook or Twitter page. This would help us to record if the project was a success or not.
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