Evaluation of my social action designs

1. Evaluation
Tom Brett

2. Logo
In my opinion my finished logo is fit for its intended purpose because it has all the symbols for the different beliefs, interests and genders. I have featured as any different symbols
that I could find so that means I am not leaving anybody out, further showing that my logo applies to everyone, it also means that the logo is supporting the campaigns idea of
equality. Other people agreed that all the symbols put together in one megaphone shape shows that everyone has a voice. I think my logo communicates my message clearly
because it has all the different symbols in one megaphone shape, this shows that everyone has a voice and that they should speak out about it and be treated equally. The logo
links with the rest of my production as well, I have placed it on most of my products because it looks sharp and supports the messages my products are trying to give. Again my
responses have agreed with me by saying its showing that everyone has a voice. However one of the responses said that they didn’t know what shape the symbols were making
at first, therefore meaning that the purpose of the logo is clear but not the actual logo itself. My target audience is everyone, but more specifically younger people who use social
media or are effected by social media, this is because social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have a lot of persuasion and influence compared to the news. I think
my logo is appropriate for my target audience because it features a lot of symbols which represent all kinds of people, by doing this I don’t believe that my logo can be offensive
to anyone for it was designed to bring people together.
My final logo is completely different to what my original intentions were, at first I had a logo that was meant to represent a jigsaw puzzle, however that idea did not look
professional enough, plus it did not make much sense. My final logo is a lot better because it looks professional, its simple and there isn’t much colour to it so it will be able to
work with more posters and other products. However my final logo has a larger chance of people not being able to understand what it means. My logo is different to other
organizations that are out there because my logo features a lot of different symbols, and it applies to almost, if not everyone, whereas other logos are made for one specific
purpose and for one group of people generally, however my logo does not feature any text on it like most other logos do. The responses I have got from my survey inform me that
that the logo is effective because they can understand what its purpose is, however its not a graphic or shocking logo, it just uses creativity and symbolism.
There are a lot of differences between my first logo design and my final logo design, and it was not just me who can notice these differences but everyone else who was asked
could as well, my first logo was an oval that had green and blue puzzle pieces in it that was used to represent the Earth, the colours did not clash with each other well and in fact
made the logo ugly and not very nice to look at. On top of the puzzle pieces there was some text that said “Peace of the puzzle” initially I chose to have this slogan as a play on
words because of the puzzle pieces as well as the campaign being an idea of introducing world peace, however this idea got confusing and the slogan didn’t work with any of the
future products that I created such as merchandise and posters. My final logo was a large improvement compared, and multiple people agreed when I would have vocal
conversations with them, they preferred the fact there was not any text because that way the logo looks a lot more slick and clean, and they said that the shape of a megaphone
is a very powerful image and shows that it is trying to say that everyone has a voice. I agree with this feedback as that is what I was trying to accomplish with my final logo, I also
agree with the feedback about my first logo and how it wasn’t very good, I personally think that the logo itself looks to childish and cartoon-like to say that the campaign is very
serious and is talked about daily by most of the population. The few problems that I could come across with my final logo is that some people may not recognise that the shape I
am trying to make is a megaphone, in fact this point was mentioned by someone when they were giving me feedback or the two logos. Another problem that I could face is that I
might have forgotten to put in a symbol that represents someone's beliefs or values, however this was done accidentally.
Old
Logo
New Log
Pre Existing
Logo

3. Posters
I believe my posters are fit for their intended purpose because they suggest themes of respecting others and getting along with each other, which is what my social action is
about. The intended purposes for my posters are to spread a positive message, and to change peoples mind sets if they think negatively against certain groups of people. One
response from my survey states that they like my posters, meaning that if it is doing a little bit of good then I will keep it that way because at least it is affecting some people. I
have used a lot of text in some of my posters detailing and describing what they have been made for and what the purpose of the campaign is, however there is a balance of text
to images though, and personally I feel that my imagery portrays my message clearly enough. I also think my posters are appropriate for my target audience, which is everyone
who is interested or at least the social action applies to, they are not offensive and are made to support everyone, they do not single out anybody or make anyone stand out,
however one response from my survey has said that some of my posters have too much text and not enough images, meaning that they posters are good legally and ethically,
the problem is that if there is too much text not as many people will look at the posters and be affected by them.
My original intentions when creating my posters were to have a few people build a 3D spherical jigsaw puzzle of the earth, then take a photo when they are halfway through to
portray that the world would be better if people worked with each other, however I did not have suitable props, so I made all my products on Photo Shop, however I stuck with the
jigsaw puzzle idea but it did not turn out as well as I hoped my original intentions would, I placed an image of the earth onto a flat, square jigsaw puzzle then I roto-scoped around
2 puzzle pieces and took them away to show that the earth is not complete if we don’t stick together. Compared to my original intentions my posters are not as effective as they
would’ve been if I carried on with my original ideas, a response I got from my survey said that I need more posters that have little amount of words on them because the public will
be less likely to read the poster when they walk past it if it has too much text on it. In comparison to professional posters, my products are not as effective, this is probably
because I have not used powerful imagery or text that can scare the reader enough.
Whilst researching posters that have already been produced and published by popular and well known companies I found that the most successful posters and advertisements
are the ones that have the most shock value, companies such as THINK! And NHS do this well because they deal with health and life threatening situations so they have a lot of
opportunities to create these shocking adverts. These posters have similar features to them that make them so shocking, a lot of the time there is gore, blood and the aspect of
death or they will have text that can be considered ‘across the line’ but is still used because it shocks the reader into believing the poster. These posters tend to either get banned
or censored due to these shocking factors but them getting censored or banned for use in public or TV means that the build up a lot of controversy and end up on the internet
where they get viewed all the time just because people are curious to find them. In my instance I could not make any posters with shock value purely based on the fact my social
action was about peace and respecting others, this meant I did not have much of a chance to create any shocking material because it would not be fit for purpose and definitely
would not fit with the rest of my campaign, however I looked at other styles of successful posters and used similar techniques but made it relevant to my social action, this means
that the poster might be affective however I did not get to use many technical skills or abilities to create it as it was fairly simple as it was just text. A lot of the feedback I got from
my posters stated that not many people would stop in the street to look at my posters if there is too much text, I agree that this is a fair comment as one of my posters has a large
paragraph of text and whilst I was performing my research I noticed that the more text a poster had the less effective it was. I do think my most effective posters are the two with
less text on because one of them is a short sentence that readers might get stuck in their head and the other one is a slogan that is accompanied by an image, which I personally
believe is my strongest idea out of the total three that I created.
My Posters Professional Poster

4. Merchandise
When I designed and created my merchandise I went for fashion over function, whilst still trying to spread the word through my designs and products, that is why the designs are
so simple because I was trying to make them more appealing. The merchandise that I have made has got a map of the world in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle piece on it, this
linked with my original poster and logo intentions because they were all themed around the idea of puzzle pieces and the world. My later merchandise ideas were the same
however instead of having the puzzle design on my shirts, I used my logo instead, this is because it looks sharper and is more fashionable, plus it represents a stronger message.
Even though I made my shirts to be very simple I still used designs that I have made before to put on them, the designs that I have made portray a message about everyone
having a voice and how everybody is a piece of a puzzle that needs to be put together. I wanted to make the shirts fashionable so more people would potentially wear it and
spread the word, because I made them more fashionable I’m hoping that more of my target audience will wear it. My target audience consists of everybody, but mainly college
students and younger people in general like me so I wanted my products to appeal to them. My target audience have responded to my merchandise, some have said that the
shirts are good because they promote unity however a lot of responses have commented on how my shirts are too simple and do not have enough diversity with the designs.
My original intentions for my merchandise were to have shirts with the puzzle piece on it, then I moved on to create more merchandise with my logo printed on it, meaning that I
had two designs to work with so I used both to have a little bit of diversity within my products. One problem I have faced is that because I wanted my shirts to be fashionable I
made them with simplicity and did not have any complicated designs on them, but after looking at my responses I have learned that the designs were too simple and people
would’ve preferred designs that explained more about the campaign. Other responses have said that the designs are bright, colourful and link in well with the rest of my
campaign, and is effective when it is trying to spread its message. These responses make me debate whether the audience will like the merchandise or not because I have
positive feedback and feedback that indicate where I need to make improvements. Professional shirts and fashion in general tend to have very niche and hipster designs on them
that either take up the whole shirt or only take up a small amount of a shirt like a badge, where as my shirts have a large design that takes up half of the shirt, meaning that it is
not as fashionable as other shirts, plus the style isn’t as demanded as other shirts on the market.
My Merchandise Fashionable Merchandise

5. Merchandise
After reading the feedback that said that there was not enough range of products as I
only created T Shirts. I got from my merchandise I started to use the logo that I
created because it was a design that I am proud of on more products and not just
shirts, this way there are more products available for people to buy which also
increases the chance of people buying them and altogether raising awareness about
the social action. I made a decision to get rid of the design that had a map of the Earth
in the shape of a puzzle piece because the quality of the image was poor and the
design itself did not work with the rest of my products so it would be impossible to
know that the shirts were promoting a campaign, so instead I just used my logo as the
main design as it looks a lot nicer as well as it being linked with the rest of my
products and being known by others who look at the shirts because it’s the logo of the
whole campaign. In my opinion I much prefer these new pieces of merchandise
compared to the previous pieces because not only do they look a lot more
professional but I managed to use the logo to its full ability because that’s what I
wanted to do but I very much limited it with the small amounts of products that I
created, however I have now made a lot more products with the logo on for people to
buy, this means that I have listened to my audience and their feedback and I have
acted upon it.

6. Campaign Idea
I think that my finished pieces are fit for their intended purpose, this is because I chose an event that was
already made and created, but I turned it into a campaign by making posters, merchandise and leaflets for it,
meaning that I had something to work with and a point to start at. The event was an interfaith week, so I made
posters and merchandise explaining how interfaith week is about exploring other faiths and showing off your
own whilst respecting other people whilst they do it. My poster and my leaflet are very informative because of
the fact that they are made for an event, so people want to find out what its about, where it will take place and
when it will be, therefore unlike my other products where there isn’t as much text on the products, these
posters and leaflets have to. My campaign is appropriate for my target audience because the event is set up
by college for college students and my main target audience are college students or people around my age.
Just like my merchandise I worked with my original intentions because my social action limits me with what I
can make so I decided to create a campaign and work with it, I created multiple different products for the
campaign such as a poster, leaflet and different merchandise. My survey responses have mentioned that
interfaith week is a good concept and that my campaign helps to promote it. I used a lot of text instead of
images because I wanted to inform people what interfaith week is, not try and persuade them to go.

7. Campaign Idea - Poster
This was the poster that I created as part of the Interfaith week campaign,
and is the best poster that I created for the social action project, this is a
mix of the design work and the purpose of it as well. The poster is colourful
because of the colours used in the background, I decided to use pastel style
colours as they are a lot calmer to look at and are a lot easier on the eyes,
this makes the poster more inviting for people to look at it and will have a
higher chance of people actually being persuaded by the poster. The
campaign idea was for an event that is held by college and is for students,
the event is called interfaith week and it is when people of different faiths
and beliefs come together for a week a learn new things from other
students, because of this I used the megaphone logo as the main image
because it fits perfectly with the context of the event – multiple beliefs
coming together as one. It is also good to have a large image like that from
a design point of view as well because having a large image that’s bigger
than the text will attract more people to look at it and with my logo in
particular it means that they can look at all the different symbols and some
of the audience might try to guess what the symbols represent. The text is a
good example of visual hierarchy because it has the slogan that most people
will remember in large, bold and capital letters and then underneath it in a
smaller and less stand out font is a paragraph that briefly explains what
interfaith week is. I believe that this poster is fit for the target audience and
is just as fit for its purpose as well because the campaign idea seemed to be
the most effective idea and this poster helps as it is the largest piece of
work and the most colourful piece of work that features in the campaign
idea.

8. Campaign Idea - Leaflet
This is the leaflet that I created for my campaign idea as part of the social
action project, the purpose for this leaflet was to be a small handout for
people to grab and read on the go instead of standing and reading a poster.
I made the leaflet black with white text and images, this is a technique used
to make the text and the images stand out as they are the most important
parts, and will be the areas of the leaflet that will be seen by the reader or
the target audience the most. The campaign that this leaflet is made for is
called Interfaith week and is an event that is for students of York College,
however unlike the poster that I made, the leaflet has got the title of the
campaign clearly written on the front cover in large and bold letters to grab
the audiences attention, underneath the title is the slogan that is featured
on all the products that have been made for the campaign, this means that
there is a lot of continuity within the campaign, it also means that it is easy
to tell whether one product and another product are part of the same
campaign. The title and slogan create another good use of visual hierarchy
with the title being in large letters so readers can identify that the leaflet
will be about interfaith week straight away. Similar to the poster, the leaflet
contains a large image of the megaphone logo because it is a perfect fir for
its purpose, followed by a paragraph about the event, however this
paragraph is more informative as it is a leaflet for people to read rather
than a poster for people to briefly look at. This leaflet is the best product
that I designed and created as part of this project because it has a nice
finish to it and has examples of different production tools and abilities that I
have. It was also mentioned a fair amount in the feedback that people gave
me because they said it was incredibly fit for purpose because it was
straight to the point and its design will attract teenagers who are the target
audience as it is an event that is made for students.

9. Campaign Idea - Merchandise
This is the merchandise that I created for the campaign idea as part of the
social action project, similar to my leaflet I did not incorporate any colour
with my designs as I wanted some continuity with the leaflet, also because
of the designs themselves I could use colour because it would either be too
hard to see or the images looked better as black and white. These shirts are
designed to be worn by people who are helping out with the event, which is
why it has the slogan that is featured on every other piece of work that has
been made for the campaign idea so far, this shows further development
with the event and means that people who wear these shirts will be raising
awareness because people who don’t know about the event will wonder
what is happening and find out about the event. I did not put the title on
the shirts but instead I used a large image, the large image I used in the first
shirt was the megaphone logo as it fits well with the event and also has a
nice design as well which makes the shirt look nicer and more appealing.
The second shirt has an image of the earth covered in multiple different
religious symbols, this provides the same message and works well with the
first draft work I did with throughout the social action project, but it would
still be a good shirt for other helpers to wear to give a bit more diversity to
the event. I did not get much feedback for the shirts however I did get
feedback from previous products that I made for the campaign idea which
suggested that I create shirts for the event for people to wear as
merchandise because it could help raise awareness. This shows that I have
acted upon the feedback and can create more designs to suit more peoples
needs.
Shirt 1
Shirt 2