Deadline: Mon 21st Nov by 12.15pm
Here's some effective visual solutions to a recent student brief on this module (linked to Zero Carbon Britain).. It's really useful at this stage in your process to look these over and to examine and analyse them to see what factors 'work' and potentially what factors (in your mind) could still be improved upon. Each student has answered a few quick Q's to help you understand what their thinking was too.
Understanding why these pieces were effective could then help you build in some of these key factors in your own final work too..
BLOG TASK
1. Look each set of student solutions through and choose THREE examples from these below to analyse further.
2. Save the image(s) chosen to your desktop by (PC) right-clicking them or (Mac) control-clicking them from this post.
3. Create a new post on your learning journal blog titled 'Past Student Work Analysis'.
4. Bring each of the 3x examples of student work chosen into this post and then answer the following questions about each of them underneath each image..
Listed in alphabetical order below [please click individual design boards to enlage them].
Megan Andrews
1. List 3 ‘key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions and why these are important or significant.
Initial broad research began by looking into a range of organisations who’s aims and ambitions is to help the planet and is therefore at the forefront of the work they provide. These included Beyond Meat, Tristram Stuart, Tentree and Friends of the Earth, all of which inspired me to choose the two sectors and themes; food and diet – solutions and energy – ambition. This is because I had the aim of bringing climate change to the forefront of people’s minds, showing them the impacts of their everyday actions.
Carrying out closer researching into food and diets, facts and statistics enabled me to see the dramatic contribution that different meats had on the amount of CO2 that is being produced and releasing the large amount of people that are not aware of the dangers that this could have. Through reliable sources I have created a poster comparing the CO2 emissions of meat consumed for both beef and chicken. Beef produces large amounts of CO2 compared to chicken and therefore I wanted to not only make people aware of this but to also show how cutting down or switching to chicken can have a dramatic improvement of the planet.
I paired energy with the theme ambition as I wanted to highlight how switching to more renewable energy rather than fossil fuels can provide a brighter future. This is because of the growing concern of global warming and I wanted to make people consider the options of switching to renewable energy now rather than later. Although switching is a global challenge and one that everyone will have to take part in, I feel that it is good to show that every individual can make a difference.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB project are effective ones?
Through visual graphic elements, I feel that my final designs are effective as they represent the two different sectors and themes chosen by showing the realisation of the impacts of CO2 and highlight how simple changes can make a huge difference. I feel that through visual graphics I have enabled all elements to be visually appealing and stand out to the desired audience. This is achieved through various elements such as information diagrams and illustrations supported by a relevant colour scheme.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I feel that my final designs might affect the minds of the British public by visually showing them how their everyday actions are contributing to climate change and with a simple change in lifestyle and different decision making they can help stop this.
Karum Garcha
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
Greenpeace 'Tell Oreo to Drop the Palm Oil', this heavily inspired my deforestation poster and encouraged me choose it as a final topic as it's something that could do with more recognition. Lovers design studio's 'Plastic Ocean' campaign. The studio's lateral thinking was very inspiring and encouraged me to think outside the box. The documentary's we watched during the module lectures were also very inspiring.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
The tagline is very catchy and there's a common theme which ties all three posters together. The colour palettes are harmonious and eye-catching. The information succeeds in informing people about environmental issues and provide a solution.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
Hopefully they'll help them decide to make a change, and teach them more about these issues.
Abbie Lowe
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
My first and foremost reference for my designs would be my experience that I had when visiting CAT as a younger girl - we made wind turbine in small groups. This gave me the idea to compare a small user built model to the actual thing in order to show the impact that it can have, both to the user and the planet. This became overcomplicated and so then I took a step back and took a more visual step, and this is where my final design idea came from.
Another inspiration for this module is the beef consumption poster that we did in week 2. This proved to me that "less is more" within design. Therefore, I took this through to my final designs.
Similar reasoning as previous answer, I was very inspired by a previous students work. Georgi undertook the sustainable comms brief from Friends of The Earth. Their final designs were incredibly simple and very powerful. This is something in which I wanted to do with my own design and their work proved to me that someone 'at my level' and with my understanding can achieve.
All in all, most of my inspiration was to keep my designs simple and effective. This is also shown in the Green Patriots Poster book which I looked into. It seemed to be a common theme within designing for a sustainable cause, I wanted to ensure this was seen in my own design.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
I feel that they are effective because they have a very simple context. There are a lot of things within that design that are small add ons to help engage people. Also, I feel as if my designs are compatible with various issues within sustainability, this was proven through the design set backs between my energy idea and transport idea - it translated perfectly to the new idea with the message staying the same but still as effective. This also created a theme within all six of my output designs. This could help the Centre for Alternative Technology's brand recognition and hopefully induce impact on people.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I feel that my designs might engage the public in a semi-new light, I am hoping to stump the public and after looking into my design more, realise the meaning. Hopefully the realisation is impactful enough in order to get the audience to do what they need to. I feel like this might work as I haven't said to make any big changes, I haven't said to make any small changes either. This then doesn't create any pressure on the audience and hopefully they can see this and make any changes, big or small.
Anna Miller
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
• In the ‘Raising ambitions’ report, there was a page under each topic called ‘postcards from the future’. These postcards spoke about how the world will have changed for the better by the actions taken now; what it is hoped the future will look like. For example, people eating less red meat and dairy products, healthier diets being developed, less junk food and fast food restaurants etc. For transport; more public transport available, more hybrid and electric vehicles on the road and less petrol-based cars. Reading through these postcards encouraged ideas for imagery to use on the posters.
• Further research was carried out into individual zero carbon groups around the UK including; Transition Worcester, Zero Carbon Edinburgh, Zero Carbon Wedmore etc. Useful information was gained from this research. Edinburgh university provided inspiration for layout; they had a series of A4 posters, the imagery was in a square at the top of the page and the bottom third was for text and logos.
• The other two groups (Wedmore and Worcester) provided ideas for imagery as they spoke about how as a community, they are making small changes. During week 8, client Paul Allen got back to the group with feedback on initial designs. He suggested more focus was placed on ‘people doing things’. This is where the Zero Carbon Wedmore and Transition Worcester groups became useful – they listed ways they were making small changes as a community, such as hosting gardening sessions where people can learn to plant and prune their own fruit trees to grow their own apples etc.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
My designs are effective because they are very straight forward and to the point. They each consist of two images, one on the left showing what we are currently doing and why it’s wrong, and the image on the right shows how to combat the image on the left – what we can do to make a change and reduce our input to global warming.
I have used colour to emphasise the wrong and right – the images on the left are duller, and the images on the right are much brighter to show the difference between the positive and negative images. Furthermore, I have included a tick or a cross in the top corner of each image to make it obvious.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I’d like to think my designs provide useful suggestions on how small changes can be made to people’s lives, whilst having a positive impact on the environment.
Rather than drastically changing the way they live, e.g. buying a new Tesla to replace a petrol-based car they currently own (which is an unrealistic target for most people at the moment) – they can take more public transport instead.
Moreover, rather than becoming a vegan and cutting out all dairy and meat from their diets, they can either cut down on these products, or just support locally grown produce instead of buying from supermarkets. The food sold here will be less fresh and have higher transport mileage, counting towards greenhouse gas emissions.
Ross Morgan
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
The CAT Trip - First hand research became invaluable, and allowed us to talk to John, the CATS existing graphic designer. By doing so knowledge was obtained about the methods behind the existing assets, by gathering this data and reflecting on it allowed me to make necessary and meaningful changes.
Patriot Posters - Looking over a series of other posters from various designers opened my eyes up to the utilisation of simplicity, this was a turning point in my project and made me think more heavily about implementing the same attribute.
Before for Flood Film - The documentary opened my eyes up to the effects of climate change and the scale of the problem that engulfs the world today, before this I had a very vague understanding of what climate change actually was.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
They harness simplicity and consistency and confidently display that they belong to a pair. They aren't complicated and would retain familiarity across whatever platform they are used on, despite these positive attributes they also deliver a clear and concise message.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
The designs have versatility that allow them to be transcended across various platforms and sizes, through doing they speak to a large volume of people, they apply to the masses. They also display the negative and positive effects of climate change through the means of imagery and colour palette.
Kelly Smith
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
Our group trip to CAT made a big difference to my confidence with the project; it enabled me to get a better feel of what their ZCB aims are and what the centre itself is like.
'A lazy girl's guide to green living', a book by Anita Naik, really helped me to narrow down my ideas and choose the sectors I would most enjoy working with. The book was straight to the point using a bullet point system and it was organised in topics such as 'transport' and 'food'.
Having our questions answered by client Paul during a skype call as well as a general chat involving his opinions was really useful, he mentioned many different things which inspired my final designs such as being fond of hand drawn illustrations.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
My designs can relate to everyone as long as they eat food and use an oven hob... I wanted to base my ideas on changes that everyone could make to work towards a positive future; they are relatively small changes and could make a huge difference if everyone made the effort to make them. I generally aimed my designs at teenagers and young adults, who essentially will be the people that shape our future. I believe my designs will work with all other age groups too, though.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I hope that my designs would make people think 'ah it's not so difficult after all'... I think we see too many posters which aim to make us think it's just not possible to make such a huge change in a small amount of time, but we don't see enough about making small changes bit by bit and how it can all add up to make a difference.
Ben Topp
Key Research Findings
- The government statistics that show how transport is effecting the environment. These were interesting and engaging and helped me out when producing the final flyer pieces.
- Research into campaigns, this taught me how to present certain information and how other companies present themselves.
- Infographic pictures for flyer helped me as they fuelled my designs.
Why are they effective?
- My designs are effective as they provoke thought and inform you on our climate.
British Public
- My flyer targets the residents of Worcester directly so they feel a connection with the designs. However the idea was to provoke thought.
Understanding why these pieces were effective could then help you build in some of these key factors in your own final work too..
BLOG TASK
1. Look each set of student solutions through and choose THREE examples from these below to analyse further.
2. Save the image(s) chosen to your desktop by (PC) right-clicking them or (Mac) control-clicking them from this post.
3. Create a new post on your learning journal blog titled 'Past Student Work Analysis'.
4. Bring each of the 3x examples of student work chosen into this post and then answer the following questions about each of them underneath each image..
Questions (Please write a minimum of a sentence answer for each, simply writing 'I don't know' or leaving the question blank isn't acceptable here - we need your considered thoughts down here please..).
A. Please answer per picture choice: how successfully (or otherwise) do you feel this solution fits the brief? Please explain your answer.
B. What colourschemes have been used in this solution, why do you think this is? Please explain your answer.
C. What visual 'art style' or treatment has been used here (i.e. diagrammatic, pictograms, loose illustrations and/or maybe photographic, vector/flat colour or template mockups maybe)? Do you feel these are appropriate (?) - please explain your answer.
D. What type styles have been used here? Do you feel these are appropriate (?) - please explain your answer.
E. Each solution chosen will have a form of corporate ID across the various elements normally. These may be 'given' ID's or colourschemes/refs as part of the brief (or) ones developed as part of the brief by the students. Do you feel these are appropriate (?) - please explain your answer.
F. Elements on the page or design board.. Some solutions are better as simple but effective solutions, looking per chosen item do you feel it's 'complexity' re visual elements is either appropriate, too complicated or maybe too simplistic? Please explain your answer.
G. Does your chosen element or design board use a mockup or photoshop template to help show it in different scenarios in the real world? These can often help best present visuals and (depending on source used) can either be freely aquired or for a small fee. If 'yes' then please explain how these are used in the example and how effective you feel them to be, if 'no' then do you think using these might improve the overall presentation of the final student work?
H. Improvements. Looking at each eaxample and already having a summary of the brief, do you feel that your chosen element or board could be further improved still? If 'yes' then please suggest how this might be. If 'no' then please explain why you think they've supplied the optimum solution(s).
Final Overall Q: (Answer this after you've worked through all 3x examples)
I. Looking at these examples of final student outputs on each brief, do you feel that analysing these further has given you further ideas about final presentation of your own work on this project? Please explain your answer (whether yes or no).
Listed in alphabetical order below [please click individual design boards to enlage them].
Megan Andrews
1. List 3 ‘key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions and why these are important or significant.
Initial broad research began by looking into a range of organisations who’s aims and ambitions is to help the planet and is therefore at the forefront of the work they provide. These included Beyond Meat, Tristram Stuart, Tentree and Friends of the Earth, all of which inspired me to choose the two sectors and themes; food and diet – solutions and energy – ambition. This is because I had the aim of bringing climate change to the forefront of people’s minds, showing them the impacts of their everyday actions.
Carrying out closer researching into food and diets, facts and statistics enabled me to see the dramatic contribution that different meats had on the amount of CO2 that is being produced and releasing the large amount of people that are not aware of the dangers that this could have. Through reliable sources I have created a poster comparing the CO2 emissions of meat consumed for both beef and chicken. Beef produces large amounts of CO2 compared to chicken and therefore I wanted to not only make people aware of this but to also show how cutting down or switching to chicken can have a dramatic improvement of the planet.
I paired energy with the theme ambition as I wanted to highlight how switching to more renewable energy rather than fossil fuels can provide a brighter future. This is because of the growing concern of global warming and I wanted to make people consider the options of switching to renewable energy now rather than later. Although switching is a global challenge and one that everyone will have to take part in, I feel that it is good to show that every individual can make a difference.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB project are effective ones?
Through visual graphic elements, I feel that my final designs are effective as they represent the two different sectors and themes chosen by showing the realisation of the impacts of CO2 and highlight how simple changes can make a huge difference. I feel that through visual graphics I have enabled all elements to be visually appealing and stand out to the desired audience. This is achieved through various elements such as information diagrams and illustrations supported by a relevant colour scheme.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I feel that my final designs might affect the minds of the British public by visually showing them how their everyday actions are contributing to climate change and with a simple change in lifestyle and different decision making they can help stop this.
Karum Garcha
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
Greenpeace 'Tell Oreo to Drop the Palm Oil', this heavily inspired my deforestation poster and encouraged me choose it as a final topic as it's something that could do with more recognition. Lovers design studio's 'Plastic Ocean' campaign. The studio's lateral thinking was very inspiring and encouraged me to think outside the box. The documentary's we watched during the module lectures were also very inspiring.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
The tagline is very catchy and there's a common theme which ties all three posters together. The colour palettes are harmonious and eye-catching. The information succeeds in informing people about environmental issues and provide a solution.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
Hopefully they'll help them decide to make a change, and teach them more about these issues.
Abbie Lowe
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
My first and foremost reference for my designs would be my experience that I had when visiting CAT as a younger girl - we made wind turbine in small groups. This gave me the idea to compare a small user built model to the actual thing in order to show the impact that it can have, both to the user and the planet. This became overcomplicated and so then I took a step back and took a more visual step, and this is where my final design idea came from.
Another inspiration for this module is the beef consumption poster that we did in week 2. This proved to me that "less is more" within design. Therefore, I took this through to my final designs.
Similar reasoning as previous answer, I was very inspired by a previous students work. Georgi undertook the sustainable comms brief from Friends of The Earth. Their final designs were incredibly simple and very powerful. This is something in which I wanted to do with my own design and their work proved to me that someone 'at my level' and with my understanding can achieve.
All in all, most of my inspiration was to keep my designs simple and effective. This is also shown in the Green Patriots Poster book which I looked into. It seemed to be a common theme within designing for a sustainable cause, I wanted to ensure this was seen in my own design.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
I feel that they are effective because they have a very simple context. There are a lot of things within that design that are small add ons to help engage people. Also, I feel as if my designs are compatible with various issues within sustainability, this was proven through the design set backs between my energy idea and transport idea - it translated perfectly to the new idea with the message staying the same but still as effective. This also created a theme within all six of my output designs. This could help the Centre for Alternative Technology's brand recognition and hopefully induce impact on people.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I feel that my designs might engage the public in a semi-new light, I am hoping to stump the public and after looking into my design more, realise the meaning. Hopefully the realisation is impactful enough in order to get the audience to do what they need to. I feel like this might work as I haven't said to make any big changes, I haven't said to make any small changes either. This then doesn't create any pressure on the audience and hopefully they can see this and make any changes, big or small.
Anna Miller
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
• In the ‘Raising ambitions’ report, there was a page under each topic called ‘postcards from the future’. These postcards spoke about how the world will have changed for the better by the actions taken now; what it is hoped the future will look like. For example, people eating less red meat and dairy products, healthier diets being developed, less junk food and fast food restaurants etc. For transport; more public transport available, more hybrid and electric vehicles on the road and less petrol-based cars. Reading through these postcards encouraged ideas for imagery to use on the posters.
• Further research was carried out into individual zero carbon groups around the UK including; Transition Worcester, Zero Carbon Edinburgh, Zero Carbon Wedmore etc. Useful information was gained from this research. Edinburgh university provided inspiration for layout; they had a series of A4 posters, the imagery was in a square at the top of the page and the bottom third was for text and logos.
• The other two groups (Wedmore and Worcester) provided ideas for imagery as they spoke about how as a community, they are making small changes. During week 8, client Paul Allen got back to the group with feedback on initial designs. He suggested more focus was placed on ‘people doing things’. This is where the Zero Carbon Wedmore and Transition Worcester groups became useful – they listed ways they were making small changes as a community, such as hosting gardening sessions where people can learn to plant and prune their own fruit trees to grow their own apples etc.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
My designs are effective because they are very straight forward and to the point. They each consist of two images, one on the left showing what we are currently doing and why it’s wrong, and the image on the right shows how to combat the image on the left – what we can do to make a change and reduce our input to global warming.
I have used colour to emphasise the wrong and right – the images on the left are duller, and the images on the right are much brighter to show the difference between the positive and negative images. Furthermore, I have included a tick or a cross in the top corner of each image to make it obvious.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I’d like to think my designs provide useful suggestions on how small changes can be made to people’s lives, whilst having a positive impact on the environment.
Rather than drastically changing the way they live, e.g. buying a new Tesla to replace a petrol-based car they currently own (which is an unrealistic target for most people at the moment) – they can take more public transport instead.
Moreover, rather than becoming a vegan and cutting out all dairy and meat from their diets, they can either cut down on these products, or just support locally grown produce instead of buying from supermarkets. The food sold here will be less fresh and have higher transport mileage, counting towards greenhouse gas emissions.
Ross Morgan
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
The CAT Trip - First hand research became invaluable, and allowed us to talk to John, the CATS existing graphic designer. By doing so knowledge was obtained about the methods behind the existing assets, by gathering this data and reflecting on it allowed me to make necessary and meaningful changes.
Patriot Posters - Looking over a series of other posters from various designers opened my eyes up to the utilisation of simplicity, this was a turning point in my project and made me think more heavily about implementing the same attribute.
Before for Flood Film - The documentary opened my eyes up to the effects of climate change and the scale of the problem that engulfs the world today, before this I had a very vague understanding of what climate change actually was.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
They harness simplicity and consistency and confidently display that they belong to a pair. They aren't complicated and would retain familiarity across whatever platform they are used on, despite these positive attributes they also deliver a clear and concise message.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
The designs have versatility that allow them to be transcended across various platforms and sizes, through doing they speak to a large volume of people, they apply to the masses. They also display the negative and positive effects of climate change through the means of imagery and colour palette.
Kelly Smith
1. List 3x ‘Key’ research references/findings that inspired your final design solutions & why (you feel) these are important or significant.
Our group trip to CAT made a big difference to my confidence with the project; it enabled me to get a better feel of what their ZCB aims are and what the centre itself is like.
'A lazy girl's guide to green living', a book by Anita Naik, really helped me to narrow down my ideas and choose the sectors I would most enjoy working with. The book was straight to the point using a bullet point system and it was organised in topics such as 'transport' and 'food'.
Having our questions answered by client Paul during a skype call as well as a general chat involving his opinions was really useful, he mentioned many different things which inspired my final designs such as being fond of hand drawn illustrations.
2. Why do you feel that your final designs for your CAT/ZCB Project are effective ones?
My designs can relate to everyone as long as they eat food and use an oven hob... I wanted to base my ideas on changes that everyone could make to work towards a positive future; they are relatively small changes and could make a huge difference if everyone made the effort to make them. I generally aimed my designs at teenagers and young adults, who essentially will be the people that shape our future. I believe my designs will work with all other age groups too, though.
3. How do you feel that your final designs might affect the minds of the British public?
I hope that my designs would make people think 'ah it's not so difficult after all'... I think we see too many posters which aim to make us think it's just not possible to make such a huge change in a small amount of time, but we don't see enough about making small changes bit by bit and how it can all add up to make a difference.
Ben Topp
Key Research Findings
- The government statistics that show how transport is effecting the environment. These were interesting and engaging and helped me out when producing the final flyer pieces.
- Research into campaigns, this taught me how to present certain information and how other companies present themselves.
- Infographic pictures for flyer helped me as they fuelled my designs.
Why are they effective?
- My designs are effective as they provoke thought and inform you on our climate.
British Public
- My flyer targets the residents of Worcester directly so they feel a connection with the designs. However the idea was to provoke thought.
