Hemisbridge Process Book

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H E Y, ST O P F O R A M O M E NT. L E T ’ S F I G U R E O UT W HY Y O U A R E HERE FLIPPING THROUGH THESE PA G E S . D O Y O U WA N T T O H E L P ME CHANGE THE WORLD? Brainstorm TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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C O NT E NT S

TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

Why should you care? Defining the problem

What can we do about it? Brainstorm

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I D E N T I T Y, B R A N D I N G , A N D V I S U A L S

How do we identify? Identity

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Initial naming

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Logo development

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How do we communicate? Branding

Audience & stakeholders

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Competitors

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How does it look and feel? Visuals

Message and drivers

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Mood Board

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DELIVERABLES

How does it starts? Poster series: “Be curious and...”

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What’s in it for you? Mobile App: “Hemisbridge Journey App”

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What about everyone else? Event: “Hemisbridge Community Projects”

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Does it comes full circle? Service: “Hemisbridge Community Challenges”

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Get inspired, get connected, and make lasting changes

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TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

Let me introduce you to Hemisbridge

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W HY S H O U L D Y O U C A R E ?

THE TRUTH IS, YOU DON’T HAVE TO.

HERE’S THE BACKGROUND

But you can be curious and see what

Everyone is curious about something. Everyone has compassion. And everyone has the potential to make a difference. The problem is that not everyone knows how to utilize that innate sense of curiosity to make a meaningful impact on the world.

happens when you decide to care.

Hi, I’m Fannie. I am curious about neuropsychology, social justice, and visual communication. That is why I created Hemisbridge, a brand that uses graphic design and curiosity to promote community activism.

In my undergraduate at UCSD, I was a part of Alternative Breaks, service learning trips that use education of social justice issues combined with direct service to have a lasting impact on college students and the communities they work alongside. The trips I went on changed my life and my perspective of my role and purpose in the world.

After graduating, I realized I want to make that experience available for everybody, not just college students. Everyone can find something interesting about “giving back” to the world and my goal is for everyone to be a globally conscious active citizen.

Defining the problem TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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W H AT C A N W E D O A B O UT IT ?

DIVERGENT THINKING

After defining the problem, I did a little divergent thinking and asked friends, family, Internet strangers, and my dog for words related to the topic of curiosity and learning.

I wrote down all the words on sticky notes and started placing them in relation to curiosity on an axis of adults vs children, organized vs organic, fun vs boring, practical vs leisure, and other spectra that could help frame and organize these ideas.

Words were placed in groups, separated, discarded, replaced, reworded, and regrouped.

The spectra were also replaced and reorganized. The process was repeated and repeated until the groups and words felt the most cohesive to move forward with.

Brainstorm TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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It started with a storm

CONVERGENT THINKING

My goal for this project is to help individuals connect their curiosity to compassion. I chose the axes of “structured to organic” and “recreational to vocational” to frame my brainstorm wall. After some distilling, initial key words were identified for the ideation phase.

STRUCTURED +

STRUCTURED +

ORGANIC +

ORGANIC +

RECREATIONAL

VOCATIONAL

RECREATIONAL

VOCATIONAL

Volunteering Exploratorium Hobbies/Projects Traveling Camp TEDTalks

Schools Lessons Workshops Classrooms Labs Education

Wondering Playgrounds Imagination Pretending Mystery Explorations

Internet Library Reading Wikipedia Knowledge Fear

Brainstorm TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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Curiosity is a wild and powerful phenomenon that I wanted to bring to practical use.

“HOW MIGHT WE”

My process is not completely linear, though.

I revisited the brainstorm wall several times throughout this project and the highlighted words are the ones that ended up being the most applicable. Each time, I asked questions related to those words that would move my project forward. The question most instrumental to this project was: How might we cultivate an individual’s curiosity to spread compassion and change the world?

Brainstorm TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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I D E NT IT Y, B R A N D I N G , A N D V IS U A L S

This is what we discovered

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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HOW DO WE I D E N T I FY ?

IDENTITY

Capitalizing on the abstract concepts of curiosity, passion, and learning, this project was going in a direction that was very cerebral.

It was during this part of the process where problems started emerging. I started to explore naming and logo directions. A framework was developed to help give shape to how this project proceeded. But, it was becoming too ephemeral, a direction that could not yield tangible design results. So, I referred back to the brainstorm wall and asked more questions to generate different ideas while developing other aspects of the project.

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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The naming game

“Hemisbridge” comes from the bridging of the two hemispheres of the brain.

INITIAL NAMING

At this point, I had been stuck on the idea of utilizing curiosity to find passions. The name “Wandrr” fit that fantastical direction.

I explored the visual identity with this name, but upon further feedback and concept clarification, I chose the name “Hemisbridge.”

The name, Hemisbridge, grounded my concept of individualized development, community action, and global thinking. The name is a combination of “hemisphere” and “bridge.” From the book, “Curiosity and Exploration,” Hans-Georg Voss and Heidi Keller define curiosity as “visual, linguistic, haptic, motoric, or intellectual activities that make new information available to the individual.” Curiosity uses the entirety of the brain to discover new things — it’s how people find things out.

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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LOGO SKETCHES

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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LOGO DIGITIZED DRAFT 1

LOGO EXPLORATION

In the early stages of identity exploration, I tried both typographic and iconographic logo styles. I had two main concepts during this exploration. The first idea is based off a curious person wondering off and being unconnected.

The second idea was based off of the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

When the name, Hemisbridge was confirmed, the visual identity took form and the bridged brain combination mark was developed.

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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LOGO FINAL EXPLORATION

Primary lock-up

Horizontal Lock-up

Identity IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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HOW DO WE C O M M U N IC AT E ?

BRANDING

S T R E N G T H The biggest advantage Hemisbridge has is the continuous feedback loop of the Hemisbridge learning process. Each step supports the other step of the developing the individual and the community.

W E A K N E S S Curiosity is a fairly abstract concept. The weakness in this organization is the difficulty in measuring curiosity’s success.

O P P O R T U N I T Y The opportunity

lies in the demand of an existing cultural consciousness looking for change. History shows that people will always seek to make the world a better place.

T H R E A T A potential threat will be other civic or public institutions and the government. Changes in governmental policies may affect support and attitude for organizations such as Hemisbridge.

Branding IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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Frame it and hang it up

Studies have shown that curiosity, as an intrinsic motivation, allows a person to absorb and retain more information more effectively. This is the foundation for learning, creativity, and innovation.

NAME

Hemisbridge

CATEGORY

Service

LOCATION

Community-based

PURPOSE

SCOPE

BRAND FRAMEWORK

As with the brainstorm wall, I created a framework to provide structure to this project.

This framework served as a jumping off point for branding exploration. While some points remained the same, the name, location, purpose, and scope have all gone through changes. That is to be expected of an evolving project.

The purpose is to inspire curiosity in people to do greater things.

Non-profit sector

COMPETITION & INSPIRATION

TED, Break Away, VolunteerMatch, MeetUp

Branding IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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Give the audience a stake

PEOPLE WHO WANT CHANGE

Stuck-In-Routine

College Student

Writer’s Block

Complacency and apathy are two issues that Hemisbridge aims to tackle. The personas I have created are all people who are interested in changing themselves or the world around them, but are unsure how.

Stuck-In-Routine is a person who has been at their nine-to-five job for twenty years. They are bored of life, they fear complacency, and are ready for a change. They are stuck and need something to help them initiate that change in their mundane life.

College Student is a junior in college who is now well educated and motivated. Their college experience made them realize that there are a lot of things in the world that need fixing, but they are not sure where to go or how to fix them.

Writer’s Block is a copy writer whose publisher needs them to crank out exciting and engaging material for their monthly publications. They are constantly seeking inspiration and fresh material to relate to their readers.

A G E 42 years old

A G E 20 years old

A G E 34 years old

O C C U P A T I O N Mortgage banker

O C C U P A T I O N Junior in college

O C C U P A T I O N Writer

I N C O M E $200,000/yr

I N C O M E -$20,000/yr

I N C O M E $40,000/yr

W O N D E R S A B O U T Why does their Fortune 500 company not have a recycling program set up for the reams of paper they use every day?

W O N D E R S A B O U T What would happen

W O N D E R S A B O U T Would their editor

to their family if a big wall was built on the US/Mexico border?

would allow them to cover the City Hall hunger strike instead of which celebrity should read mean tweets about themselves?

Branding IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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STAKEHOLDERS

Local Non-Profit

School Board

CEO

The stakeholders are people and organizations that are affected by volunteering and community projects. They are also affected by the opportunities provided for and mental development of the individuals who ascribe to Hemisbridge.

Local Non-Profit is a community organization that is constantly seeking more volunteers.

Hemisbridge encourages people to connect with their communities through volunteering and service projects, so Local Non-Profit would want to partner Hemisbridge for volunteers.

The School Board of the university that College Student attended would want to ensure that their students are getting a good education and opportunities to become valuable members of society. They need their students to be inspired and be the next great changer in the world.

The CEO of the publishing company that Writer’s Block writes for would want to encourage their employees to find resources for inspiration. They would want their employees to be happy, relevant, motivated, and productive in order to keep the business innovative and flourishing.

Branding IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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Who should watch out for us

Break Away

VolunteerMatch

Meetup

Break Away is an organization that promotes the development of quality alternative break programs through training, assisting, and connecting college campuses and communities. Their goal is to transform college students into active citizens.

VolunteerMatch is an online service that makes it easier for good people to connect with good causes.

Meetup is a platform for people to selforganize into local groups or to join other groups to build a community.

However, VolunteerMatch provides very little

However, Meetup is not designed to connect people

oversight to facilitate the growth of the individual

with established community social organizations.

to become consistently and actively engaged with

They are not aimed at helping out any social causes.

However, Break Away’s Alternative Break service

the community.

trips are not local, last only one week, and are only provided for college students.

Branding IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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H OW D O E S IT LOOK AND FEEL?

VISUALS

The brand has a main message and uses driver messages to carry that out — all of which surround the concepts of individual and community improvement.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

-Margaret Mead

Visuals IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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Let’s message the driver

Get inspired, get connected, and make lasting changes within yourself, your community, and your world.

VISUAL VERVE

Get Inspired

Get Connected

Make Lasting Changes

Erik Shonstrom describes in his book, “Wild Curiosity” that people are “hardwired for adventure” and that there’s a style of learning that involves “contemplation, self-reflection, and reverie,” that cannot be taught in a classroom. In fact, curiosity is a personalized journey that Hemisbridge aims to facilitate in the pursuit of socially positive change.

Curiosity is a powerful motivator. When people are placed in challenging situations, they become curious, they get inspired, and they grow.

Create a community and get involved. The sense of belonging amongst a group of people supporting and positively interacting with each other benefits everyone.

The acts of volunteering in the community and individualized self-growth form a sustaining symbiotic relationship that builds on itself to create lasting changes.

To complement the brand message, the tone of the language and visuals in the communications is inspiring and academic with a touch of approachability. It should be welcoming the audience to take a step towards a life-changing experience, but also letting them know that this experience is about learning and making changes in within the self and the community.

Visuals IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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Setting the mood

MOOD BOARD

This is the visual direction for Hemisbridge — bold display typography paired with a scholastic humanist serif, a deep bluish purple and peach color palette accented by a strong yellow color, duo-toned images with friendly and human-centered photography, a clean and intuitive grid system, and just a touch of simple hand-done illustrations.

KEY WORDS mystery, human-centered, activism, academic

Visuals IDENTITY, BRANDING, AND VISUALS

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D E L IV E R A B L E S

Here’s our action plan

Brainstorm TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

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H OW D O E S IT STA RT ?

POSTER SERIES

In this series of three posters, the goal is twofold: 1) to convey the message of the powers of curiosity and 2) to inspire the audience to get connected with their community.

Initially, I wanted to evoke the audience’s natural sense of curiosity when they interacted with the posters, but the message was too cerebral. In the final refinement of this series, I was able to create a system titled, “Be curious and...”

“Curiosity killed the cat... but satisfaction brought it back.”

-Unknown Origin

Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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POSTER SERIES

Revision 4

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POSTER SERIES

Initial draft 1

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Make something new and see it in action

Look closer at the things around you and see new depths and crevices

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GET INSPIRED EVERYWHERE

I N I T I A L D R A F T I brainstormed several ideas in this draft, exploring curiosity in

association with education, spontaneity, and intelligence. However, the resulting posters felt too cluttered, cold, and lacked focus.

R E V I S I O N In this iteration, I retained the focus of learning from the initial draft and

modified the message, but the visual consistency fell short. The technique was interesting, but it was disconnected from the visual verve I had originally created.

Feed your curiosity.

Explore and learn about the things you have been wondering about at work.

Find a new way to play with your children and learn their language

Go snow shoeing and see the mountains in the snow

Go scuba diving and discover an underwater world

Dig around and uncover treasures

Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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Final refinement

BE CURIOUS AND...

This final iteration conveyed my intention of expressing the powers of curiosity. I utilized the feedback from the previous drafts and remove it from feeling too cerebral. By adding humancentered photography and a clearer message, the series became more tangible and grounded.

The audience now has a more concrete direction and are able to feel more connected to the Hemisbridge brand.

Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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POSTER COMPS

APPLICATION

Leveraging my personas and mood board, I composed the posters into environments in which they will be the most effective for the audience I hope to reach.

P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T A T I O N Stuck-InRoutine would frequent transit spaces such as the train station or buses. Commuters often do a lot of life-pondering in these spaces as they await the next scheduled ride.

C O L L E G E C A M P U S Walking from class to class, the College Student would glance over the community boards. Students are always looking for opportunities to gain work or volunteer experiences.

M U S E U M O R C A F E As the struggling Writer tries to get inspiration, they often do their work at a hip cafe or around a creative space such as an art museum.

Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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W H AT ’ S I N IT F O R Y O U ?

JOURNEY APP

In this journaling app, the goal is to provide the audience with the stepping stone to get into volunteering and global thinking.

By shaking the phone, the app generates random “Acts of Kindness” or “Reflection Questions.” Acts are simple, local, and community-based. They range from picking up dog poop to writing a letter to a senior at a local senior center. And questions vary from work to body to spirituality. Individuals are then encouraged to record these journeys and reflect on them through their journal.

“Think global, act local.”

-Patrick Geddes

Journey App DELIVERABLES

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HEMISBRIDGE JOURNEY APP

REFLECTION COMPONENT

Inspiration is not always an external manifestation. While revisiting the competitors, I explored a process that makes Break Away such a successful organization.

They incorporate in their service trips a component called “Reflection.” Selfreflection will allow people’s to understand themselves in relation to their world, making a more mindful individual.

I sketched out a wireframe for the Hemisbridge Journey App to best let the audience to reflect and distill experiences in their community and in their minds.

Journey App DELIVERABLES

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C U R I O U S F O R A N A DV E NT U R E ?

The Hemisbridge Journey App will take you on fun and exciting adventures in your community and in your mind!

Journey App DELIVERABLES

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Reflection Questions

TRACKING CHANGES

Hemisbridge encourages a combination of self-reflection and direct service to create positive individual and community changes.

Adventures are split into communityoriented actions and reflections. After going on a community or reflection journey, the user is able to record their experiences in their Hemisbridge journal along with a visual representation of their feeling regarding that experience. The Tracker monitors the user’s mood and well being and will provide tips, advice, and encouragement.

Self-Development Tracker

Journey App DELIVERABLES

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COMMUNITY-ORIENTED ACTS OF KINDNESS

For the first-time volunteers or those who fear commitment, the Acts of Kindness are very clear and simple tasks for the user. The acts will benefit the community and the user as well.

There are multiple ways to record these experiences including text, photo, video, and voice.

Users are able to revisit their journals and reflect on past experiences.

Map for local “Acts of Kindness�

Hemisbridge Journey Journal

Journey App DELIVERABLES

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W H AT A B O UT E V E RY O N E E L S E ?

COMMUNITY EVENT

This is a 1-2 day community-based project sponsored by a local organization.

Hemisbridge helps the local organization gather and organize volunteers. In this example, the project is called The Playground Edition and the goal is to build a playground with the help of community volunteers.

To have a cohesive system of deliverables that support the brand, the Hemisbridge Community Event is connected to the Hemisbridge Journey App by making this event an “Act of Kindness�.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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HEMISBRIDGE COMMUNITY EVENT

STORYBOARDING

Storyboarding was an integral part of my process. I mapped out the journey of one of my personas, Stuck-In-Routine, and how they would interact with the Hemisbridge Community Project. By placing myself in the shoes of this persona, I could determine what things were necessary in navigating this event and what would help the audience become more inspired and connected.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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THE VOLUNTEER

Hemisbridge aims to encourage individuals to learn about themselves and their community through volunteering. Therefore, the focus is on helping the audience become a well-rounded volunteer. Sponsoring local organizations will supply the project and the supplies while Hemisbridge ensures volunteers not only get to learn about the project and the community, but about themselves as well.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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MULTI-LEVEL ENGAGEMENT

There are multiple levels of engagement for the volunteer. The volunteer could very simply be a single-day volunteer (yellow). A team leader (purple) will guide the single-day volunteers and lead workshops that teach a particular skill involved in the project such as wood treatment. The volunteer could also be an organizer (peach) who assists the sponsoring organization in planning and running the event.

The map above depicts the assembling of two playground structures at a local park.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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THE FIELD GUIDE

Upon entering the event, volunteers will be greeted and checked in so they could receive a Volunteer Field Guide along with other goodies. Team leaders and organizers will also receive their own field guides to guide them through the community project and self-reflection.

Name tags and team workshops will allow for individuals to connect with fellow community volunteers. The Field Guide also encourages volunteers to complete a pre-event selfevaluation. After the event the event, the organizers will facilitate a post-event reflection.

Each level of volunteer can be distinguished easily by shirt color and nametag.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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Community Event DELIVERABLES

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THE FIELD GUIDE

In the research phase, I learned that many volunteer opportunities are poorly organized. Non-profit organizations often need volunteers, but those who help are often untrained. When I volunteered at those events in the past, it detered me from returning. Therefore, I created the Volunteer Field Guide to help individuals learn about and understand their roles in a specific project. This also helps sponsor organizations create a more productive and sustainable relationship with their volunteers.

The guide is designed to be pocket-sized so that volunteers are able to work and refer to the guide conveniently.

Community Event DELIVERABLES

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D O E S IT C O M E FULL CIRCLE?

CHALLENGES WEBSITE

This website is designed as a two-part service that 1) aides community organizations in need, and 2) helps develop active community citizens.

Much like users of the competitor, Kickstarter, community organizations in need will create a video and a detailed description of their community-based problem. Individuals or teams in the community are invited to support this organization by applying to take on that challenge. In doing so, Hemisbridge Challenges will support the individuals and teams’ developments via a team-oriented project.

Winning teams will have their solutions implemented. Solutions may even be turned into a Hemisbridge Community Event!

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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HEMISBRIDGE CHALLENGES WEBSITE

FULL CIRCLE

The Hemisbridge Challenge website was the first concept in the design of this brand. The goal was to create a service that would be able to stand alone, but also integrate with the other deliverables.

Hemisbridge has a cyclical philosophy that serves to improve individual lives in the community and the world.

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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THE FOLD

Above the fold, the landing page encourages describes the process of the Hemisbridge Challenges website. We call out the main feature of the website, which is The Mystery Challenge.

The Hemisbridge Challenges is a service that connects local community organizations that are in need to the individual members of the community. It features various communitybased problems that will challenge collective community to work together to help solve. The website lets people sign up with a team or as an individual and facilitates the growth of the team through the various challenge projects. In fact, it encourages individuals continue to be mindful and active within the community.

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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FEATURED CHALLENGES

YOUR VOTE COUNTS

For the curious and the brave, the Mystery Challenge is a surprise challenge. The team that signs up will not know the problem or scope of the challenge until registering.

This feature requires individuals to step out of their comfort zone and take on risks and learn new roles.

After each challenge, members can vote on successful solutions. There will also be a jury (shown on Challenge Details page), that are involved in this voting process. The goal is to make sure the community-oriented problem gets solved and implemented in the best way possible. As members of the community, they certainly get a voice in this process.

It also encourages team members to get their friends and family involved, creating a stronger sense of community.

There will be other featured challenges that may pique a team’s interest. We challenge the audience to take on new and different roles to learn about themselves and each other.

A simple and consistent footer makes contact information easy to find.

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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CATEGORIES

CHALLENGE DETAILS

Feature challenges can be chosen based on need or interest. These challenges can potentially become a Hemisbridge Event.

Once the challenge is selected, sponsor organizations are encouraged to create a video to define their problem and provide a summary of the specific need. Teams can evaluate the challenge and choose to register. Teams are encouraged to reach out to the organization to gain further insight to develop a solution.

There will be a jury that will evaluate the team submissions. Their votes will be casted along with the community vote to determine the winning solution.

Inspired by the competitor, VolunteerMatch, I thought it was best to split up challenges into categories. The sponsor organization can more clearly define their need and teams can select challenges based on personal interest.

The strong grid structure on this page allows for easy and intuitive navigation.

Multiple Call-To-Actions at different points on the page reinforce the user to register.

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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The goal of Hemisbridge is to help individuals learn about themselves and their world so they can make it better.

TRUE COLORS

Developed in 1979 by Don Lowry, this test was originally created to evaluate learning styles.

Personality traits are split into four colors — green, blue, orange, and gold.

We selected the True Colors personality test to help individuals learn about themselves and their team. According to the personality temperament theory, everybody has traits of all four colors in different amounts. This test shows the individuals dominant colors and provides communication styles and suggestions. Personality temperaments may also change, so members are prompted to take the test at various stages in their project.

The look and feel of the Self-Evaluation page differs slightly to show distinction and importance of this section.

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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Now that you have learned about yourself and your team, go and inspire each other.

Together, you can change the world!

Challenges Website DELIVERABLES

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I HOPE YOU LEARNED A L IT T L E SOMETHING FROM THIS B O O K . N OW, W H AT W I L L Y O U D O N E XT ?

Poster Series DELIVERABLES

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COLOPHON Book design, original photography, printing, and binding by Fannie Ko (2016).

Photography: All photography has been modified from original states to provide mood and inspiration.

Page 8, 10 A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way by Ed Yordan, 2013 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Page 70-75 Kaboom! by The Knights Foundation (CC BY-SA 2.0) Fannie Ko 2016 Typefaces: League Spartan, Museo Sans, Chaparral Pro

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HEMISBRIDGE Š 2016 Fannie Ko All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Fannie Ko.