log_book_unproofed by willbeeching

ISSUES:

A PERSONAL RESPONSE

ATTACHED WITH THIS BOOK SHOULD BE: (1) DVD

CAMPAIGN: AN ORGANIZED COURSE OF ACTION TO ACHIEVE A PARTICULAR GOAL.

Introduction

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UNDERSTANDING OUR CAMPAIGN 4 PREVIOUS CHARITY WORK 6 WHO ARE THEY? 8 WHAT’S THE COMPETITION 10 OUR RESEARCH 12 IN DEPTH BARNARDOS 14 CHRISTMAS VIDEO 16 MEETING THE CHARITY & PRESENTATION 18 CHRISTMAS VIDEO REFLECTION 42 PRODUCT CONCEPTS 44 INITIAL BOOKLET DESIGN 46 SECOND BOOKLET DESIGN 48 THIRD CONCEPT DESIGN 50 THIRD CONCEPT V2 52 FINAL DRAFT DESIGN 54 FRONT COVER BOOKLET DESIGN 56 LOGO CONCEPT DESIGN 58 DESIGNING BUSINESS CARDS 60 DESIGNING LETTERHEADS 62 CORPORATE SIGNATURES 64 COLOURS & FONTS 66 CHARITY WEBSITE 68 FINAL CHARITY WEBSITE 70 DESIGNING THE FLYERS 72 EXTENDED BUSINESS CARD 74 ETHICS & ISSUES 76 FEEDBACK LETTER 78 REFLECTION 80

Introduction

UNDERSTANDING OUR

CAMPAIGN

Our brief was to create a charity campaign for a local charity. This was to produced through two or more mediums. We had to research local charities and contact our chosen charity with information about our project and our services. When we were first presented with this campaign, I began to research into charities around Maidstone that I felt had a cause, that I really felt passionately about. I wanted a charity that I also felt strong enough about the cause that I could understand what sort of information needed to be put into their promotional material, without need for consultation until presenting the initial design. Originally I was looking at local charities that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any contact with, after some research this showed that I was limiting myself as to whether the charity would use the promotional material that I would be designing for them. This was where I had to make a decision as to whether I would like to see my material being used in a real situation. My colleague Edward was looking at large national charities such as the breast cancer charities, he suggested that I looked at assisting the charity that my father worked for; Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource.

This was a charity based in Tunbridge Wells, providing support and confidential service for people with mental health issues. I had helped design a few flyers for them prior to his project, I had also been commissioned as their official photographer for their fun run even in October 2010. I came to the decision that providing my services to this charity I would be supporting a worthy cause and I would also have the pleasure of seeing my designs being used as the promotional material for the charity. I contacted my father and explained about my project and what it entails and his response was extremely positive as I knew that their advertising was extremely old fashioned and not in tune with the current advertising. Edward was struggling with the concept that his designs may not be used if he decided to support a national charity. I presented him the offer of collaboration with TWMHR, to which he thought about and then later, accepted.

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“WE WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO ACCEPT YOUR ASSISTANCE IN HELPING OUR CHARITY BETTER IT’S ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL”

Chris Beeching Co-Ordinator

Introduction

To set us up for our main project, we were set a miniproject to produce a short advert for a charity of our choice. Ed and myself had never produced a charity video before, so this was quite new to us. We were shown a few charity videos on YouTube, this gave us a feel for the type of message that we should be putting across. We particularly liked the Australian Barnardos We Believe in Children advert. Shown here http://youtu.be/FpE_-lvXFrg

WE LOOKED AT THE BARNARDOS ADVERT IN DETAIL, WORKING OUT WHAT IT WAS ABOUT HIS ADVERT THAT MADE IT SO EFFECTIVE. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A EXTREMELY SIMPLE ADVERT, THE PROFESSIONALISM OF THE WORK WAS INCREDIBLE. We chose to recreate this advert but for Cancer Research UK, although this is a well known charity we felt that we could still support itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cause through our photography and editing. Although we had a limited amount of time to produce this piece, I felt that this was an extremely effective advert. A lot of time and effort was put into choosing the music, in the end we produced two versions. One including Dreaming Out Loud by Sally J Johnson, and the other featuring Primavera by Ludovico Einaudi. These are viewable on the attached DVD media.

CHARITY WORK

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HOW IT WORKED CANCER RESEARCH UK

For this campaign we chose to support Cancer Research UK this was made using Premiere Pro and Photoshop. We wanted the advert to be simple, yet effective. The whole advert is based around basic movements on the text, this draws the viewer in to reading the words especially the words that are englarged. We mainly focused on photograpy in this advert as we needed emotional pictures which were then gradually made either larger or smaller in the advert. We also felt that basic crossfades worked well to emphasise the impact of the campaign.

Introduction

WHO

ARE THEY

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Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource LTD (MHR), a registered charity, based in the heart of Tunbridge Wells, was founded in 1993 to provide practical and emotional support in a safe and caring environment, for people suffering from mental ill health. Figures show that in the region of 160,000 people in Kent require support for their mental health illnesses. Despite living in what is popularly thought to be an affluent area, many of these people find themselves in financial hardship and social isolation as a result of their illness, sometimes losing their job, home and family. MHR seeks to empower people with mental illness, so they are able to re-take control of their lives, increase their selfconfidence and feel a full and valued member of society. Today, MHR is one of the few organisations providing comprehensive services and support delivered through our Centre, Advocacy and Reachout projects in the Weald of Kent area, Advocacy and Reachout projects in the Weald of Kent area, which includes the major towns of Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and the rural surrounding areas. Our services are funded through both statutory and fund raised income and are delivered by paid staff with the support of volunteers. Information provided by TWMHR TWMHR is a relatively small charity and therefore does not receive the recognition that most national charities get, this can be both a positive and negative aspect. As they are not a national charity they are able to focus their efforts and provide a much higher quality service at a local level, yet have limited budgets as they do not receive a large amount of donations. As mental illnesses are surrounded by a great deal of stigma, TWMHR is constantly trying to dispel this perception, and this is one of the reasons why they

needed a advertising campaign with a greater impact. 1 in 4 people in the UK suffer from a mental illness as some point during their life. Mental health is not always as crippling as the majority of people assume it is, mental health can range from basic stress to schizophrenia. As most people do not know that stress, (which most people suffer from) can turn into a mental illness they categorise people with mental health away from society. This is why TWMHR need’s to greater it’s advertising strategy and provide simple, effective information so that people do know the difference and also will hopefully support their cause. The World Health Organisation defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”. In the mid-19th century, William Sweetzer was the first to clearly define the term “mental hygiene”, which can be seen as the precursor to contemporary approaches to work on promoting positive mental health. Isaac Ray, one of thirteen founders of the American Psychiatric Association, further defined mental hygiene as an art to preserve the mind against incidents and influences which would inhibit or destroy its energy, quality or development. Courtesy of Wikipedia ©

Introduction

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE

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COMPETITION Before we started on our campaign we needed to look into what type of advetising other charities showed, mainly the other national mental health charities. as mental health is a serious issue, an issue that is subject to a great deal of stigma as it is an issue that tends to be pushed away. We looked at a variety of charities to give us an idea of how charity advertising stands. The two main charities that we looked at were Rethink and Mind. These are both national charities in the UK and had a great marketing strategy. Their designs are both clean and simple. The Mind charity showed the best designs and advertising, they had obviously put a great deal of money and time. They had employed a professional advertising company to create a brand and identity for themselves. We looked at the current advertising strategy of Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource, we felt that it was very traditional and old fashioned. Our initial reaction was that it needed to be much more fresh and clean, they had incorporated very little white space and the fonts and colours were vastly outdated. The current logo was also very outdated, the people standing round, we felt was more Gothic horror than showing a community spirIt, we felt that a logo like that such as Mind would be a lot

more effective as it looks like it was hand drawn which makes it a lot easier for the viewer to sympathise with the charity. Apart from the name of the charity underneath their logo, their was no connotations explaining who, or what the charity was. This means that their audience would almost immediately be switched off, as it was quite a negative image. As the government funding for mental health support was changing in the next few years, TWMHR needed a better marketing strategy as they needed to be able to attract outside funding from the general public and other organisations. A better advertising style would make more of the general public feel that they can donate to the charity as a professional exterior is the best way to portray a organisation, as the majority of the general public will only be basing their views on what they have in their hands, whether it be a poster, flyer etc.

Introduction

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IN DEPTH

RESEARCH Prior to this project, we had looked at various advertising campaigns that gave us a invaluable insight into charity advertising. The two main adverts that stood out to me were the Oxfam - Be Humankind and the Barnardos - We Believe in Children. These are comparatively extremely contrasting adverts, there are almost no similarities in the two adverts. Oxfam - Be Humankind

Barnardos - We Believe in Children

This was an interesting advert to study as it quite subtly tries to portray it’s message across to the public. The main message behind the campaign was that many issues people turn a blind eye to, and Oxfam is striving to bring these issues to our attention and asking for our help.

The Barnardos advert, I felt was a extremely powerful production. The use of emotional photography played the main part in the advert.

The advert features a little old lady walking down the street with issues such as flooding, world poverty and injustice being ignored by the people around her.

Our new TV community service announcement for the 2010-2011 financial year continues the theme begun last year that highlights our belief in each and every child in our community. Focussing on issues linked to abuse and neglect the ad again takes a positive view about what is possible for vulnerable children - that with a little belief even the most damaged children can turn their lives around.

It ends with her showering light from her mouth onto a grizzly monster shaped as the word ‘injustice’. As she does so the people around her follow suit and it begins to shrink beneath an explosion of fireworks. A voiceover says “be aware, be moved, be involved’ and the ad ends with Oxfam’s new strapline ‘Be Humankind’. The campaign aims to make the UK public realise how easy it can be to help remedy the situation, rather than turning a blind eye or leaving it to someone else and tries to illustrate how people can take action, by doing something as small as signing a petition calling for change or making a donation.

Information courtesy www.barnardos.org.au

The campaign shows images of four children - children whose stories will be told in Barnardos appeals and newsletters throughout the coming year. There is also a 15 second version of the TV CSA, a 30 second radio CSA, and print advertisements in various sizes.

ANALYSIS OXFAM HUMANKIND

When we were first shown this advert, I originally thought that it had been devised by Tim Burton as the style of animation and the darkness of the advert is similar to his style. Although we later found out that this had not been created by Tim Burton but a standard advertising company. Initially you would not have thought that this was an Oxfam commercial, this was the effect that they desired as stated to a news website. “Julie Wood, director of corporate communications at Oxfam, said: “We want people to take a fresh look at the Oxfam they think they already know.” The starting shot shoes how many people turn away from disasters, as they see many of the same types, then when the news is shown the reporter is reading the news he shows no emotion as he is not connected to the events. I felt that the old lady is used because it shows that you can help no matter who you are. I personally didn’t feel that this was one of Oxfam’s best adverts as I felt that it was too dark and most people will not realise the meaning if they only see it once.

Introduction

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IN DEPTH

BARNARDOS This is what our original advert was based upon, this is where we looked at how they had used a simple concept and executed it perfectly. They had created an advert that had a large impact on the viewer and how to viewer perceives the charity. The music also has a great impact on the viewer as it goes right under your skin. This advert is also a change from the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;genericâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; charity advertising. Normally charities tend to focus on showing shocking images or footage that provokes a emotional response from the audience. This advert brought a new concept to Barnardos advertising, where simplicity was the key. The main advert was focused around the emotional photography used in the piece. Emotive words also played a key part in the advert, as they were questions directed at the audience to consider.

ANALYSIS WE BELIEVE IN CHILDREN

When you first watch this advert, it is immediately prominent that this advert is supposed to target your emotional side. The powerful photography displayed in this advert is the main selling point of the advert. Although these images are not of the individuals themselves, actors were used to promote Barnardosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cause. The capitalisation of certain words and changes in the typography in the advert, grasps the viewers attention and makes words stand out. For each child there is two sentences shown, splitting the question that is being displayed to the viewer. The colours of the questions change too, they use different colours for different issues that Barnardos are bring to light. It also portrays how many completely different issues there are that young children are facing everyday. Barnardos have a niche market for their advertising, as they deal with children the majority of the public feel sympathetic towards children and will either donate or support their cause through other means.

Production

CHRISTMAS VIDEO OUR INITIAL PROJECT When we were first presented with this campaign around Christmas, we thought that we should start early and produce a promotional Christmas video for the charity. We wanted to create a video that promoted a Christmas feel or spirit. We wanted to show how many people can feel trapped at Christmas and how MHR helps these people through their services and care. We visit MHR for a day wih camera equipment, and filmed the activities that were taking place. We tried to capture the feel of what people were doing and show how MHR was really making a difference to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives. The service users were happy to let us film although some wished not to be in the short video, They were extremely helped us and extremely talkative, they gave us an insight as to how they view MHR as a charity which we tried to portray in our video.

A NICE QUOTE EITHER FROM MRS LEWIS OR MR GODDARD PRAISING THE DESIGN.

TEACHER, MAIDSTONE GRAMMAR SCHOOL

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THE CONCEPT

The video was based loosely around the song Christmas Lights by Coldplay. We wanted to included Bokeh shots of electric lights which created a nice Christmasy atmosphere. We included many close up shots of people as we felt that these shots made things much more personal. The clips of service users participating in activities shows the community spirit present within the MHR groups. The whole video was based around the ‘Christmas feel’ we wanted this video to be used on their website and maybe on televisions in the centre. Unfortunately we hadn’t finished this video in time for Christmas and looking back on the video we were very unhappy with the outcome. Although we weren’t going to use it we showed the board of directors and explained that although it wasn’t a product for them to use, we had visited the charity and gained valuable knowledge that could be used for future products.

Introduction

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MEETING

THE CHARITY We were asked to present our ideas and concepts to the board of directors at the charity. Our project had already been given the approval of the charity coordinator and prior to this event we had been asked to create a awareness booklet to promote general information and awareness for the charity. A meeting date was set for the 1st February 2011, this gave us time to research ideas and think up some concepts to be used by the charity. The main points that we wanted to address were; — A new ‘fresh’ website. — Improved paper based marketing. — Professionally designed awareness booklet. — Greater interaction with Internet and Social Media. — Professional photography for promotional material. — New Logo Design for continuity. — Move away from Publisher based layouts. We produced a Keynote presentation for viewing by the board, Ed and I presented our ideas in a professional manner, using crib notes and a simple, yet effective presentation.

From the feedback we felt that the board were impressed with our concepts and designs, one of the main points that was raised was to included ethnic diversity into the photography element. We were also asked how many stake holder presentations we had presented before, to which they were surprised when we explained that we had not produced this type of presentation before. After we had left the room, the board had a meeting to discuss whether or not they were going to accept out proposals or not, after a couple of hours, the coordinator informed us that they would like to go ahead with all of our proposals. He also remarked that there had been several attempts to re brand the charity before, and none had been successful as the charity was a extremely traditional which was part of the problem that they were facing.

Our presentation was well thought out and rehearsed on several occasions. We wanted to portray the most professional approach to the charity to gain their trust that we did have to commitment behind our concepts to produce a campaign that would be marketed to the public. Prior to this meeting, we had been taught how to present our ideas in a professional way by a presentation teacher who had been commissioned by the school. She taught us the fundamentals of public speaking and making sure that our body language was open and non-offensive. We also needed to show we were open for questions and ideas. One of my main hurdles was fear of speaking in front of an audience, although when it came to the presentation, I felt that our presentation was well rehearsed and that I could speak competently.

CREATIVE & MEDIA STUDENTS

MAIDSTONE GRAMMAR SCHOOL Charity Campaign Project Mental Health Resource - Tunbridge Wells

1 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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WHO WE ARE • Two

young aspiring design artists

• Currently • Can

studying Creative & Media Advanced Diploma

provide brand identity

• Knowledge • Clear

in social media

idea of design conception 2

Sunday, 1 May 2011

WHAT OUR PROJECT ENTAILS

• We

are tasked with creating a charity campaign for a local charitable organisation

• To

help increase awareness, support and recognition for our chosen organisation

• To

create a brand identity for the charity

3 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU •A

brand identity - logo and slogan

• Marketing

through graphics and web design

• Advertising • Podcasts • Social

and informative short ﬁlms

for the website

media integration 4

Sunday, 1 May 2011

LOGO

5 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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6 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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WEBSITE

7 Sunday, 1 May 2011

2009 UK ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE Television 26.2%

Press 29.6%

• Clear

trend towards tv advertising and press advertising

• Internet

is the third largest expenditure

• As Cinema 1.1%

television advertising is extremely expensive £6,667 for a 30 second advert.

Radio 2.8%

Outdoor & Transport 5.4%

Direct Mail 10.7%

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Internet 24.2%

• This

shows internet advertising is more feasible option

8 8

Introduction

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9 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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AWARENESS BOOKLET

10 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Contact

Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource Charity

Details

Please include a map for the Centre and all our contact details as shown on the website.

Suitable picture here please Working in partnership with Kent County Council, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, NHS West Kent, Citizens Advice Bureau, Voluntary Action Within Kent, Sevenoaks Mind, Trinity Arts, Rethink (Sevenoaks) Town & Country, Friends Meeting House

11 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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13 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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QUOTES FOR PRINT • Bison

Print Maidstone

• One

off - Fully mocked copy £30 (25% discount on usual prices)

• 100

booklets £215 silk + stitched

• £2.15

per booklet 14

Sunday, 1 May 2011

LETTERHEADS

15 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION

16 Sunday, 1 May 2011

17 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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SO, WHAT NEXT?

18 Sunday, 1 May 2011

OUR IDEAS • Re-designing

printed media to ﬁt website design and retain continuity

• Create

a podcast interview with Chief Executive for website

• Create

• Fine

designs that can be edited by Diane Bradley without our intervention

case studies on service users with pictures for website

a video raising awareness of how mental health issues should not be ignored

tune designs and appropriate images on website

19 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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PREVIOUS WORK

20 Sunday, 1 May 2011

FIN

27 Sunday, 1 May 2011

Introduction

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PRESENTATION

REFLECTION We were asked by the charity coordinator to present our ideas as a proposal to the board of directors at the charity. This was mainly to persuade the directors to use our ideas as the main marketing strategy. We had clear ideas on what to propose and decided to create a keynote presentation to aid us with visual representation of our ideas. Initially the task seemed daunting as we had never pitched to a stake holder meeting before, to make sure that we were confident we rehearsed our presentation on multiple occasions using crib notes that we could easily follow. This helped our confidence greatly because we felt more in control and had faith in our ideas. Contained within the presentation were images of the current logo and website. We also showed our transformed versions of these products. Also included was a 12 page booklet, letterheads, social media integration and some of our previous work. We felt that the directors were extremely receptive to our ideas, and they showed this by asking in-depth questions at the end of the presentation. We were also asked how many stake holder presentations we had pitched in the past, and the directors were surprised that we hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t produced this kind of pitch in the past. After the meeting, we were informed by the chief executive that the directors wish to use all of the ideas and proposals that we produced for them. This included a complete company branding and visuals reform. The idea for a reform had been presented to the board in the past, and none had succeeded

with good enough ideas for the board to change the branding. We felt that overall the presentation went extremely well. Ed and myself set mini-deadlines to work to, to ensure that we kept on track and within time scales. In the end we had produced some products that were extremely high quality and reflected the company and our style in design. We believe that the board liked our products and we received positive comments about all our designs. The different colours on the letterheads proved very effective as each of the board liked different colours. This shows that the public and other organisations would also like the design colours. We would have liked to have brought a physical copy of the booklet to the meeting as we felt that this would have persuaded the board even more than just our presentation itself. We were unable to bring a copy to the meeting because of the printing cost, the initial mock-up cost of a booklet was ÂŁ30, which we were unable to fund out of our own pocket. This also would be a waste of resources had the board chosen that they did not like the booklet. The charity also decided that they would be able to print the booklet using their printer. Which would not be as high quality as getting a professional company to print but would be much more cost effective.

PRESENTATION CONCLUSION

Overall the presentation was a success, the board were very accommodating of a proposals and I felt that we came across extremely professional and gave a very high quality presentation. The next steps will be to create more designs in the terms of printed media, also we need to update the website with the correct information that we need provided to us. We need to unveil our business cards that we have worked on for them and get some designs printed for them. Our next idea is to create a promotional video to be displayed on their website. This is among many other ideas that we have scheduled. All of our designs have to be in place and switched over by the start of the new financial year (1st April 2011)

Production

Before we pitched our presentation we needed to draw up some initial concepts and ideas. We knew that our charity were happy for us to design material for them, so we could put in a great deal of time and effort. Whereas if our proposals had not been accepted we could have been wasting our time. Awareness Booklet This was the first piece of advertising material that the charity asked us to design for them. Email received about Awareness Booklet; “Will, The booklet template attached is something that we would like designed for the purpose of distributing to Doctors surgeries, notice boards, clinics and libraries and general publicity. It needs to be an A5 booklet as roughly shown, I have tried to give you some initial ideas of colours (These are the colours now used throughout our project leaflets) content (If added then new and needs to be as written by the project head) otherwise use the info that is currently on our website for the project please.

Our initial thoughts on this brief without looking at the template that had been sent, was to create something fresh and to fit in with the new style of advertising. We also wanted it to fit in with modern advertising today, many companies are choosing to go for the approach that less is more. Take the Apple Paper advertising for example, their adverts contain an image of the product, one main heading and a small tag line. They are considered to have one of the most effective advertising campaigns, yet their is little to no information on the page. The idea of less is more, is used by making the white space flow around your information or text. Before, advertising was mainly about fitting as much information on the page, whereas nowadays this is seen as cluttered and unsightly. To create the booklet, we set ourselves some guidelines; – It needs to be fresh – Make good use of white space – Non- Offensive and clear message – Appropriate professional images – A style that can easily be reflected in other media

I have not had any feedback about suitable photos to use so could you please find something suitable where required. Could you use a programme that would be compatible with what I have access to please as in time I may need to make change”

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Assert Project The advocacy service is independent from the NHS or Social Services. It is free and confidential. Advocates are there to:

Listen to your views and respect your decisions Help you explain what you want to other people Find out about services and benefits you can apply for Support you in getting your rights

Independent Mental Health Advocates Many people who are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 e.g. sectioned, under guardianship, or on Community Treatment Orders, have the right to help from an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA). IMHAs are there to help people understand the law as it applies to them and explain their rights. To speak to a member of our Assert team please telephone 01892 554722

19th January 2011

PRODUCT

CONCEPTS

Ple fro tha

Contact Reachout

Details

Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource Charity

Project Please include a map for the Centre and all our contact details as shown on the website.

Please take information from the Reachout leaflet that is currently on the website

Our

Our Centre

ease take information om the Centre leaflet at is currently on the website and add Suitable pictures

Activities Our Centre is based at the heart of the community and is easy to access by local transport. Qualified, friendly staff offer practical and emotional support and provide information to help you find other services that you may need, in order to improve your quality of life. There are activities every day that you can join, and these are facilitated within and outside of, the centre. Our aim is to work alongside you to achieve long and short term goals. You will have the opportunity to learn new skills and refresh existing ones, at your own pace, and socialise in a safe environment, thus helping to maintain your mental and physical well being. A free counselling service is also available. Well being group - Focussing on everything that helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle, in line with the ‘live it well’ initiative, including diet, relationships, family issues and physical, social and leisure activity. Speakers, on a wide variety of subjects, are employed on a monthly basis. Cooking for health – Work as a team member to learn basic cooking skills and build the confidence to try new recipes. People can achieve a basic food and hygiene certificate. Computer tuition – Our Volunteer will teach you how to get to know your computer and help you practice new skills. Needlecraft – Enjoy being with other people whilst learning how to create a beautiful piece of work which you can include in our exhibitions. Badminton – Physical activity is proven to lift mood and since it is played at St John’s leisure centre, you may learn to be less anxious in a public place. Men’s group – Peer support in a safe setting with planned social outings. Women’s group – Focussing on women’s issues and mutual support with monthly outings to local facilities. Art workshop – Based at Trinity Art Gallery, providing an opportunity to explore your creative side and gain the confidence to use a variety of methods and materials. Creative writing – What better place could there be than the Library for this relaxing and therapeutic activity. People can put thoughts to paper and gain the confidence to share their writing with the group. Pottery – Adult Education provides the setting for this skills based course. Friendly, helpful tutors will teach you how to transform a piece of clay into a piece of pottery of your choice. This can be included in one of our exhibitions. Yoga – Learn how to relax whilst helping to tone your body in our group at the Camden Centre. Our tutor will instruct you so that the sessions take into account your own safe level of exercise. Ten pin bowling – Join us on the last Friday of each month for this fun packed social activity. Bowling equipment is available for people who cannot bowl unaided. Weekend service – Monthly outings, weather permitting, to places of interest using public transport or mini bus.

TEMPLATE RECEIVED FROM MHR

This was the template for the ‘new’ booklet design, as you can see from these images, the booklet has been made in Microsoft Publisher and this is very imminent from looking at it. Although they have tried to included the purple colour scheme of the charity, the green is very bright and garish which is distracting from the information on the booklet. We felt this had the opposite effect that they wanted their booklet to have. As mental health is stigmatised so much, they need the booklet to be picked up and read without the design turning them away.

Production

INITIAL BOOKLET DESIGN 01/02/2011 This is the first whole booklet design that we presented to the charity, this was the version that is presented within our keynote presentation. Although this wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t our finished design we were extremely happy with the outcome. We felt that this booklet was fresh and exciting, it portrayed the prospects of a new image for the charity that would challenge the stigmatization of people with mental health issues. This we believed would help MHR become a charity with good advertising stance. After presenting this design to the board, the only criticism was that set of images needed to include ethnic diversity. We were thrilled, for our first design to be approved and gaining a positive reaction was a step in the right direction. Our response to the criticism of the images, was that as we were using free stock images, you struggle a great deal to find images that contain ethnic diversity and are good professional pictures.

THIS IS AMAZING! A PROFESSIONAL PIECE OF WORK INDEED. THERE ARE IMAGES AND WORDING THAT NEEDS CHANGING BUT WE WILL DISCUSS AT A LATER DATE.

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Production

SECOND BOOKLET DESIGN 28/03/2011 This was the modified booklet design to fit with the information provided by MHR, this is where we felt the designed suffered as for a booklet like this you need professional images to reinforce the message. Once all of the information and images were incorporated into this design, we felt that the design had been ruined to an extent, because although we were the design team. The charity were telling us how to design the booklet. As they were the ‘client’ we had to make the changes stated by them, this however did give us the insight of how design companies operate and the hurdles that they have to overcome. We felt that this was not the right direction for the charity to be driving forward, we did try explain how we thought that this wouldn’t convey the professionalism of their charity to their target audience. The front cover, we felt was trying to impress too many people, which can have the opposite effect to the one the charity were trying to create.

I CAN SEE HOW SOME OF OUR IMAGES DON’T FIT WITH THE DESIGN, IS THERE ANY OTHER DESIGNS WE CAN LOOK AT PRODUCING?

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Production

THIRD CONCEPT DESIGN 29/03/2011 I was so unhappy with what had been changed with our old design. So I went back to the drawing board and designed this. This I felt was infinitely better than even our first concept. It made good use of the paper and looked stunning. This design was based around a prospectus that I had seen. Lots of white space around the page, allowed the pages to flow into each other. I decided to make the booklet landscape, the page size is just smaller than A4, so a good readable size. I knew when I created this that there were many aspects that still needed tweaking and fine tuning but I hope that even though this was such a radical change from our old design, let alone their current marketing style, that they would see the potential that this booklet had for their organisation. I presented this to Ed, and his response was that he really liked it, he made comments of some changes that would be made to fine tune the design, but nothing major.

THIS IS CERTAINLY A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, ALTHOUGH I LIKED THE ORIGINAL BOOKLET, THIS IS A DEFINITELY AN AMAZING PIECE OF PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL.

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Production

THIRD v2 CONCEPT DESIGN 31/03/2011 This is a design that was extremely close to a final draft, apart from the text and photography contained within. The major changed were more images and spaces for text and a change of fonts. The font’s that were changed, was to give a more a more professional approach as although the Angelina handwriting font is a good logo font. It doesn’t reflect the services being promoted in the booklet. We decided to use Lucida Bright for the main headings, and Helvetica for the body text. We tried to find some appropriate stock images for the pictures, we struggled to find images that we felt reflected the views and ideologies that MHR upholds.

ALTHOUGH I CAN SEE SOME OF THE FONTS HAVE CHANGED WE NEED TO CHOOSE DIFFERENT IMAGES. MAYBE WE CAN TAKE SOME OF OUR SERVICE USERS?

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Production

FINAL DRAFT DESIGN 19/04/2011 This is the final draft for the awareness booklet. The designs are all completed, and all that is to be changed is either the images or information. MHR are happy with the design itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completion has been agreed. This final draft was not that dissimilar from the Version 2, the main changes to the design are that a web address has been added to the right hand side. This means that the reader always has access to the website where they can find more information on each service. Final adjustments have been made to the positioning of text and sizes of paragraph boxes. The charity are currently trying to finalise the information and make sure that all their staff and service users are happy with the images and information. Both Ed, myself and the charity are happy with this design. All of us have compromised and we believe we have a much cleaner and professional design.

WE KNEW THAT THE (OLD) DESIGNS WE HAD WERE INEFFECTIVE, BUT I WAS ASTONISHED AT THE POSITIVE REACTION THESE (NEW) ONES HAVE HAD. IT WILL DO WONDERS FOR INCREASING AWARENESS OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES.

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Production

FRONT COVER DESIGN 29/03/2011 This is the design for the front cover solely created by Ed Craddock. The design is made up of pain brushes in Photoshop. The mhr has been layered multiple times to give the outline effect, mhr wanted the tag line added in too. This was the first graphical front cover that we created, Edâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design was accepted by the charity the first time we presented it to them. They liked it as it did not include photography which can cause offense, also it is colourful and we hoped that it would entice someone to pick it up. The coloured bars down the side I added in using InDesign, this just gives reference to the pages that are all colour tabbed. Overall the front cover was a huge success as it was accepted instantly, whereas many other parts of the booklet had not been.

THE PAINT STROKES LOOK SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE, I FEEL THIS IS HUGELY BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL FRONT COVER. WELL DONE!

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Production

LOGO CONCEPT DESIGN CREATING A FRESH LOOK Before this project was handed to us, I was already helping MHR with their advertising stance. I had already created the logo beforehand as I was looking on the internet for fonts, and found one that fitted my brief perfectly. I found a font for free from www.dafont.com, the font name is Angelina. Personally I thought that having a font that was similar to a hand written word would allow the reader to feel more personally connected to the charity, This was the reaction that I was looking for, I needed a font/ logo that would engage the viewer. I took inspiration from the national mental health charity minds, their logo is a scribble and protruding from it the word minds, as if someone had drawn it. The scribble has connotations to mental health as people suffering from mental health issues can feel that their life is tangled and disorientated.

THIS IS SO GOOD; WHY HASNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T SOMEONE DONE IT LIKE THIS BEFORE?

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promotin

THINKING ABOUT THE TAG LINE

mhr

Whilst designing the logo, I decided that having a charity slogan or tagline below the ‘mhr’ would anchor the logo a lot more, and would have the connotations relating back to mental health that wasn’t present in their preexisting logo. Their current slogan was ‘supporting mental health is West Kent’ we thought that this was very traditional and region based, and apart from the word ‘supporting’ there are no positive words in the sentence. We chose to use ‘promoting mental well-being’ this we felt was an extremely positive message to portray with promoting and well-being be strong positive words. As we presented the logo as a whole including the slogan, the charity board accepted the logo and slogan as one.

g mental well-being 59

Production

DESIGNING BUSINESS CARDS THE PROFESSIONAL LOOK Business cards are the customers / clients first view of the charity, when a business card is handed out it needs to reflect that company and it’s views. As mental health is a serious issue it needs a clean, yet professional approach. We originally created letterheads with a paint splat over the top right of the page. We though that this would look good if we incorporated it into a business card. The orange card which you can see on the right, is our initial business card design, whereas we felt a more professional card is more appropriate (top blue) due to the seriousness of the issue that mhr are discussing. The simple colours and text portray a experienced charity with a solid approach to their cause. We liked the idea of having different colours for different departments or people within the charity as we could also incorporate these colours into the website and other media.

I THINK THAT THESE BUSINESS CARDS LOOK STUNNING AND WILL GIVE A NEW FRESH FEEL TO MHR’S ADVERTISING.

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THE ACTUAL DESIGN

The splat design business card is a simple 2480 x 1242 piece of card. The splat had been created in Photoshop using the pen tool to create a shape and then colouring. The font used is Frutiger for the information and Angeline for the tag line and logo. The more professional business card is 10618 × 6154 resolution though scaled down to fit on card. The design consists of a simple rectangle for the web address and black and a set colour for the text. The fonts used on this design are DIN for the information and Angelina for the tag line and logo. There are many ways you can abbreviate the phone, fax or email. But we felt we would use F:, E:, and T:. We felt that this was the simplest and easily readable way.

Production

DESIGNING LETTERHEADS CREATING A CORPORATE LOOK Mhr needed a letterhead designed for use when they send out letters to other companies / individuals. This needed to reflect the seriousness and authority of the charity. Our original letter heads had a paint splat on the top right, exactly like the business cards on the previous page. The letterheads had different coloured spats for different pages. Our idea was originally to design the letterheads for each department with a variety of different colours. Although this was a nice idea from the design aspect, we felt this would draw attention away from the professionalism of the charity. They charity also asked for the design to be black and white, this would save printing costs as it is cheaper to print black and white. This also looks more professional, and corporate.

AFTER MUCH TIME AND EFFORT IT IS GOOD TO SEE THE FINISHED RESULT! BLACK AND WHITE DOES SEEM TO BE CHEAPER AND MORE PROFESSIONAL!

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THE PROFESSIONALISM

When the charity sends out a letter, this is usually an authoritative letter that needs a design to reflect the charity’s earnest intent. The letterhead also needed the charity name and the contact details. We also included the tagline ‘promoting mental well-being’ the main address needed to be present along with the telephone and fax no. Also present is the full company name and the charity and company number. One aspect that we haven’t included is the website address, this could be something

Production

CORPORATE SIGNATURES SIMPLE EMAIL SIGNATURES Mhrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current email signatures were basic text based in blue, with what we felt was missing a layout and colour schemes. The way in which the information was presented was also quite traditional and old fashioned. We decided to create a email signature that could be customised to fit each member of the organisation. It needed to be simple, and not too flashy. It needed to also look professional and not our of place. The colours needed to fit in with the continuity present within the rest of the campaign. It should also be a similar design to the business card and contain the same information. The design with the circle (bottom) is the original concept for the business cards, this we felt was too unprofessional to be portraying a mental health charity.. This is why we created our second design (right) which is a much more simple / clean design.

THESE SIGNATURES PORTRAY OUR CHARITY IN A GOOD, POSITIVE WAY AND EMPLOYING A PROFESSIONAL APPROACH.

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THE CONCEPT

The charityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current design is shown on the left, in an email we received as part of the modification process when designing the booklet. We came up with the version on the right, this has all the information needed and their tagline. It also includes a link to their website, along with contact details. The font was a mixture of Helvetica and Verdana to ensure worked on all computers as many have different fonts.

Production

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COLOURS & FONTS PICKING THE RIGHT COLOUR Mhr needed a colour scheme to match their designs, we created this colour chart which gives them a basic idea of what the colours look like and figures for the RGB, CMYK, HEX and Pantone colours. They also needed a set of fonts that they could use throughout their work and a set of guidelines as to where to use each font for certain advertising media. Shown on this spread there is a colour chart and a font list detailing specifics about each colour or font. These colours were picked by myself and Ed, to ensure that we both had the same idea and that we both felt the colours were appropriate.

Lucida Bright

Awareness booklet headings, mainly for elegant and formal text.

Angelina

Logo, tagline and web page headings.

Helvetica

Flyers + Headings mainly for easily readable text.

Calibri

Body text within formal letters, general use.

A NICE SET OF POSITIVE COLOURS AND A READABLE, PROFESSIONAL FONT LIST.

DIN

Mainly for business cards and general use.

Production

CHARITY WEBSITE REPUTATION & DESIGN A website is generally what a potential client will look for as it is the most easy to access medium. A website needs to inform you with what it’s about within the first 7-10 seconds from landing on the page. A website also needs to look appealing and attract more people to the website. There needs to be a constant colour scheme and consistency with other material.. A charity website also needs to be asking for donations, this means that they also need the website to look authentic and ‘real’ as many people are security conscious about passing their card details over the internet. This is the website that we initially created; Overall the website concept it relatively simple, lots of use of white space and high quality pictures. The black menu bar gave a contrast between the white and greys, and the slideshow was an engaging feature of the website as simple transitions of pictures makes the website ‘come

IT’S NICE TO SEE SUCH A REFRESHINGLY POSITIVE APPROACH TO IMAGES SUPPORTING MENTAL WELL-BEING.

alive.’ This is the effect that we wished to create. On each page there was a box with a link where you can either find directions to MHR using Google Maps or you could donate via Just Giving. The three columns on the bottom of the home page give simple concise information to the viewer as it is easy to read and is broken down to the key points. Also as we were trying to incorporate social media sites, we included Facebook and will soon be incorporating Twitter. Quick boxes with links to other popular pages such as Christmas, and the launch of their magazine were placed at the bottom near the site map.

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Production

FINAL CHARITY WEBSITE REPUTATION & DESIGN We felt like the first design was too ‘generic’ of a charity site, and we wanted to create something different. This was a design that we came up with, this is almost a finished design although the colours have not be included yet. This website is extremely different to the first design, although it still makes good use of white space, the concept behind the design is using lines and boxes, similar to this book design. We swapped the logo and tagline round as we felt that the tagline is the first piece of text that the viewer should read. We then included just a basic paragraph with a header for the introductory paragraph, along side this there is a boxes dedicated for quick links and donation buttons etc. The rectangle where you can see the picture of hands is where the slideshow is to be. We chose to make this bigger than it was on the existing design, we felt that this would engage the reader more and ‘show off’ the charity’s message.

A SIMPLE AND CLEAN LAYOUT, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE VERSION WITH ALL OUR INFORMATION PRESENT.

The site map and links at the bottom of the page were kept the same, as too were the colours around the sides of the website. Appropriate colours for the lines and text had not yet been chosen as the website had taken a backseat as the awareness booklet had taken priority.

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Production

DESIGNING THE FLYERS THOUGHT PROVOKING Ed initially designed some flyers, which I liked the concept of but could still be perfected. The original design was based around the symbols on toilet doors, as this has no ethnic connotations as they are just plain white figures. Ed had already chosen the colours, but to be able to blow these up to large poster scales for use required the figures to be redrawn. I redrew the symbols as vectors so they could effectively be blown up as big as the charity wanted. This allowed room for change and also they could be displayed large scale within the charity building. I decided to change the blue flyer as I felt that a more elaborate style would be required. We took inspiration from the government propaganda posters during the war ‘Keep Calm, and Carry On.’

A GOOD SET OF POSTERS/ FLYERS TO BE USED OUTSIDE THE CHARITY, ALTHOUGH THEY MAY CAUSE SOME CONTROVERSY INSIDE MHR.

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WHAT IS IT FOR?

The main concept behind the design is to show how mental health can impact 1 in every 4 people. Many people do not know that statistic, but this puts the message in visual terms making it easy for the viewer to understand the message. Spreading the message across 3 posters or leaflets also makes it more effective because the message is repeated along with the website address.

Production

EXTENDED BUSINESS CARD QUICK, CONCISE, INFORMATION Whilst in Sainsburys we noticed a small leaflet for V Water, it had a nice, simple and effective design promoting their water. We felt that this sort of product would work for the charity as it is relatively low cost and small card that could be put in your pocket. We took inspiration from the V Water leaflet, and using InDesign created a 4 Bar Leaflet which had vectors, like the V Water design with concise information about the charity. There were no images included in this design, only small ornamental vectors. We felt that this would work to be given out to people like a business card but for the whole charity, not just an individual at the charity. A side was given to each part of the charity and others used for general information and statistics.

THIS IS A GOOD IDEA/ CONCEPT, ALTHOUGH IT DOES NEED SOME WORK TO PERFECT IT INTO A FINISHED ARTEFACT.

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WHY DIDNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T WE USE IT

We both felt that although it was a nice idea, it needed a great deal of time spent analysing every aspect of text and design as it was so small and it needed to still make use of white space. Also the deadline for our project was drawing to a close, which meant we could make better use of our time perfecting our current products rather than creating a totally new product which may not be accepted by the board of directors.

Ethics & Issues

ETHICS

& ISSUES

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When designing a product that is going to be displayed to the general public, you have to be incredibly careful as to what your product portrays and how it can be interpreted or sometimes misinterpreted. Although you may be designing a product with no harmful intent, what one person see’s in a product can be completely different to what another person interprets. We had to carefully consider these points as mental health is an extremely sensitive issue. The main points that we had to consider were; — Products should incorporate a range of ethnics and ages in order not to exclude a group of individuals. — The product should not include any images that can be seen as extreme or can cause offence, Or any image that could have any hidden connotations. — Try to consider all angles and points of view when you choose a design or an image. When we first designed our booklet, we had included images that we had come across and what we thought was a neutral booklet. However when we presented our booklet to the board of directors they pointed out some aspects that we hadn’t realised. Points such as; — The images contained no ethnic or age diversity — Some of the wording was not considered appropriate, the word ‘suffer’ is thought to be too negative. Although the copy included in the booklet, was provided to us by the charity which we had not edited. — In the penultimate booklet design included a image of a woman performing yoga, which was considered to be too religious for the booklet in terms of how the woman was sat. Our booklet was shown to some of the service users in one of their discussion groups, there was quite a lot of negative points and these far outweighed the positive. The negative comments were predominantly about the pictures included in the booklet, as many users thought they were inappropriate.

One of the service users wrote to Diane Bradley the Fundraising officer at the charity, as she felt extremely unhappy with the booklet. Most of the comments Ed and I could not have foreseen as both Ed and I and even Diane and the charity coordinator could not understand how the booklet had offended her so much. We also could not understand some of the comments that were made about the booklet, at the time we didn’t see how the pictures could have caused such offence. One of the main points that she was also raising is that there should be more service user involvement in projects such as these. Although one counter argument presented by Diane is that the service users are good at criticising products, but cannot think of any alternatives when asked what they would like. It was also brought to our attention that the lady who wrote the letter had not been informed that this was only a concept design and nowhere near a finished product. It seems that she was extremely misinformed as both myself and Ed had visited the charity on several occasions, yet she thought we had created something without ‘seeing for ourselves’ which we felt quite insulted by. On the other hand this allowed us to learn from our mistakes because we had feedback from a service user, a person suffering from mental health which is what the charity is for.

Ethics & Issues

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FEEDBACK

LETTER

You will never design a perfect product. But we felt with our final booklet we got pretty close. We were quite saddened by the feedback received but we felt it was due to the nature of the charity’s cause that we received feedback as strong as present in this letter. An aspect that we were concerned about was that the service user hadn’t been informed that the booklet she was shown was a concept version. When you received negative, unconstructive feedback as a designer, you feel slightly like you’ve let yourself down. What we learnt was to look at the feedback in a constructive way, we looked at how we could address the points raised in this letter. Photograph choice was one of the main cause of the negative feedback in this letter, this we felt was our of our control. As the charity is working with an immensely small budget they don’t have the money to pay for a professional photographer to take pictures that represents the charity. We had to look a stock image, free stock images that is. Free stock images are hard to find and images that are appropriate for use is even harder. In the end we managed to find a balance of photographs taken by myself and stock images that we’d found. The first issue in this letter was to do with the name change of the charity. When we first came on board with the charity they were in the process of changing their name from Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource to MHR. This as you can see is less of a mouthful and a name which is much more easily marketable.

As this was a relatively new occurrence the service users hadn’t been fully informed about the changes. So when the service user saw this new name change, she obviously instantly thought we were trying to change the name of the charity, and objected. This is one of the problems that both Ed and myself were facing, almost all of the people at the charity are extremely traditional and are adamant that the name will change. We needed to get past this prejudice against change and try to inform them that they need a new advertising / marketing style. As government funding is changing in the next couple of years they are going to be relying on their promotional material to gain them funding more than ever. Although we did not say so, we felt that if they didn’t change their marketing style, they were more likely to put a potential client / donator off the charity rather than help them. The comments that we felt are most important have been highlighted on the letter.

Reflection

PROJECT

REFLECTION

MYSELF AND EDWARD PRESENTING OUR SEMI COMPLETE DESIGN TO GREG CLARK THE TWMHR PATRON AND LOCAL MP.

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Working with a charity and producing material that they want, was a daunting task. Now that I have worked with a charity and had the satisfaction of seeing our work being used commercially, I believe I have gained the valuable skills to work with other businesses and produce a design that promotes the charity in a positive and professional way. Our brief was to create a charity campaign for a local charity. This was to produced through two or more mediums. We had to research local charities and contact our chosen charity with information about our project and our services.

the make that critical decision, otherwise all our work would have been for nothing. The charities marketing had remained the same for the best part of a decade, this is why the style and strategy needed to change.

When we first were presented the task, I was looking to contact one of the national charities and try to produce something ‘different’ for them. When I first was looking at charities to support, I realised that I wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing my designs put into production. A national charity would have their own design team and advertising specialists to market them, so they would not use the designs of a student.

National charities have to keep up with the change in the advertising world, as advertising is constantly progressing and getting better and better all the time. One of the issues that we faced at MHR was the reluctance to change, although I say this negatively, there were many times where myself and Ed were trying to present a good idea or design, and the reason why it wasn’t accepted was because it was ‘different to before.’

After the suggestion of contacting my dad’s charity, working with a local charity seemed like a much more feasible idea. Although apprehensive at first Ed came on board and started working with the charity too.

Even though there were many problems to do with change, and designing I feel like I have come away from this project with a greater understanding of how a professional design agency would handle these jobs. There is a lot of compromise and negotiation, and I have learnt that the designer will not always be happy with the end outcome. Though at the end of the day, as a designer is getting paid to produce a product, not to be happy with it.

Both Ed and myself completely believe that we met our brief, we now have had the privilege of working with a local charity and gained valuable knowledge and understanding of how difficult it is for a charity to promote itself, especially when they are trying to tackle the stigma against mental health. Am I happy with what we have achieved? Yes — I believe that what we have created for the charity is extremely professional and casts the previous advertising styles in the shade. Many people had presented to the board of directors plans for the branding and advertising style to change. We were the first people who persuaded the board

I was also impressed with our ability to produce professional designs that portrayed a reputable charity and a strong commitment to quality. The designs that we are especially proud of is the booklet we felt it would encourage donations to this charity and help promote their services throughout Kent.

Reflection

REFLECTION

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CONTINUED...

OUR PHOTOGRAPH OF A SERVICE USER DISCUSSION GROUP TAKING PLACE AT MHR FOR USE IN THE AWARENESS BOOKLET.

Compromise is what both myself and Ed found to be the best technique when approaching a task such as this, nearer the end of our project, Ed and I had to start acting more like a design agency where we complete a task we set rather than trying to improvise or present new suggestions.

In some cases we had to have products or revisions turned round within a matter of hours and I felt that we met these deadlines as previously hadn’t had to work to such tight time scales. When we first visited the charity neither myself or Ed fully understood what mental health was, as quite naïvely had categorised it under the same general disability group. It was only when we started reading the information and copy that we were having to include in our designs that we realised what mental health really was and how much of an effect it has on people and their day to day lives. We did a great deal of research for this project as we realised how inaccurate our assumptions of mental health was. Our production and filming of our initial video gave us a lot more scope as were talking to the service users directly where we got a lot more of an idea of being in the clients ‘shoes.’ This in turn allowed us to reflect on the information and create our later products with a lot more thought and consideration for the cause. One of our first ideas was to produce a cheque book style advertisement. This was supposed to be a product that someone would pick up as they didn’t know what it was. Inside the cheque book were large headings and small amounts of text that we had researched about well known mental health conditions and information for help. When producing a product for a charity or any organisation, you will always hit some problems, some can be overcome

other’s can’t. One of the main problems that we faced was that the fund raiser at MHR was being told lots of different opinions from other people in the charity which she was then trying to condense into a list of changes that should be made to send to us. Then when we looked at the list of changes there were too many that conflicted with the main design aspect of the product. This is where in some cases we forgot that we were the designers and not the client. To gain full experience out of this project we needed to learn that we needed to do what was specified by the charity. Even if we felt that this was defeating the objective of our designs. In the future I know that we need to remind ourselves that we are the designers and not the clients. Also a issue that we faced was that all of the discussions were taking place over email, where a face to face meeting would have been more appropriate. All of the staff at MHR are also part time. This made life difficult for their fund raiser as she was not able to get opinions from people as they were not always in at the same time that she was. If Ed and myself had spent a week with the charity, I feel that we would have been more productive in terms of the amount of products created as we would have more time and insight for the production. When producing our product we experienced a lot of negative and positive feedback. As you could see from the previous section, some individuals took more of a dislike than anticipated.

Reflection

REFLECTION

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CONTINUED...

OUR PHOTOGRAPH OF GREG CLARK SUPPORTING A MHR DONATOR WHO RAN THE LONDON MARATHON TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE CHARITY.

This project has provided me with a variety of tools and skills that I had not been equipped with before. During this course I have taught myself to build websites, design layouts using InDesign, and also boosted my communications skills and scope to allow myself to be more creative and also become a more enthusiastic team member.

This was an important part of our project as I feel that you cannot produce a good design unless you have received feedback, as this feedback either good or bad can greatly improve the product, as long as you look at it in a constructive way. This is where we realised how bigger part consultation came in the design process. Most of the feedback we received wasn’t constructive although we had a good response to the blue tree on the second page of the booklet. We felt many of the points made were rather pedantic as they didn’t appear to be major issues with the booklet and more focused on the fact that MHR’s image was changing. Our feedback from the board was, however, positive! They took a good balanced approach whilst we presented but after our presentation appeared to be in full support of our proposal. We were also glad that the board knew that MHR’s image needed to change. We didn’t have to persuade them that this needed to happen. This proved fortuitous as we had to persuade many of the staff and service users that the image needed changing, when some of them wanted to keep the charity exactly the way it was. I think that if I were to be asked to create a charity campaign again, I know where there are some aspects which I would like to change approach to.

presented it to the charity. This would allow us to have taken the feedback into consideration so that we knew there weren’t any major issues concerning the design. Also, if the charity had the money, I would like to have employed a professional photographer, as I feel that a high quality professional pictures can emphasise and even make or break a design. Professional pictures also present that the charity is a organisation that knows what they are doing concerning marketing. Although professional images cannot be discredited, I believe that the photographs that I shot were up to the standard that we required for the booklet. Timing was also a key aspect that I would wish to change, as I think with more time we could have created more designs and more ‘complete’ charity Campaign. We could have included audio interviews and we would have liked to include moving image, as we feel that this is the most personal format of media. It would have also given us more time to gather the feedback and give it more consideration and thought. More time speaking to the charity and their staff would also have given us a clear impression of how people felt about the charity changing their image. Therefore allowing us to give a more considered approach as in hindsight I don’t think we realised how much people were objecting to MHR changing it’s face.

Firstly, we needed to produce a design that we get feedback from our peers and tutors, friends and family before we

I would like to make a special thanks to MHR for allowing us to produce a campaign and marketing strategy and giving us the opportunity to put our ideas into practice. This book is ÂŠ William Beeching 2011 Website: www.zuuve.co.uk