Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Some Inspiration

Right now y'all are in the process of putting together social awareness posters. I know these are difficult and I thought I would give you some examples for inspiration. As you look at these, think about how some of the aspects of a good social awareness poster that you've talked about in class relate to these campaigns. Who is their audience? Would the poster catch the attention of someone walking by? Would people stop to read it? Does it clearly motivate an action? Does it tell you why you should act? And finally, does is it give enough information to act?

The first is a poster I think communicates simply and very well. The text isn't elaborate but it is well integrated and a clever play on text abbreviations. (Typographic syntax, anyone?) Most importantly, you get the point immediately. I do think though that this poster is week on impact. Why should I not text and
drive? It isn't very clear. It's so close though! Maybe if they added some statistics dealing with texting related accidents and deaths. What do y'all think? How would you improve the impact of this poster?

The second photo is an interesting campaign (way outside of any of our resources or our budgets) by Amnesty International dealing with domestic abuse. It senses the motion of people walking by and when they are not looking directly at the display it shows a picture of a man beating a woman. But when people look at it directly it shows them happy and smiling. Highly eye-catching and high on impact. It is a bit unclear on action though. What do I do? But at least it provides a website for more information.

One last photo. This is to give you an example of a campaign dealing with subject matter that is a bit lighter. I mean, it's cheesy. And, quite frankly, it isn't my favorite design. But it does illustrate something, you don't have to make people weep to have a poster that makes a point.

So there you have it. Look at these posters and think about what you've learned in class and how to apply those things to your posters. Something else these posters should show you though, it's hard to make an awareness poster that answers every question I posed at the beginning of this post excellently. So, don't be discouraged if you are struggling. But that doesn't mean it isn't possible and that you won't be able to. Keep at it!

PS. For another campaign I think it clever and impactful, especially from a photographic standpoint, check out http://www.behance.net/gallery/Social-Awareness/478149.

10 comments:

  1. When dealing with a social issue like texting and driving, the problem is that even though the studies suggest that teenagers are more likely to do it, why don't they actually focus on the parents who provide the teens with the phones? Almost anything you do to try and get the attention of those who do the texting is going to get blown off because we all do it! Statistics are great to add but there isn't a way to to get the point across to people who do not want to hear what statistics or we have to say about the texting. To prove this point I mention a certain Governor Schwarzenegger who signed a law into effect prohibiting texting and or holding a cell phone while driving in California only to have a photo taken of his wife talking while driving her SUV. So to cut this long winded post down I would say I like the texting poster even though it lacks the punch to make someone want to take action. It does something else...it plants a seed that hopefully will grow into realization that this is truly a problem and it starts with the adults. We do it in front of our children, they learn from us. (Included is a short story on the Governor's response to his wife breaking his law.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/14/maria-shriver-schwarzeneg_n_320351.html

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  2. I like all of the posters. I like the first one because it uses text lingo to communicate it's message. I think the second poster the best. I think it's a really creative way to raise awareness for domestic abuse. It is interactive because you have to look away to see the abuse and when your looking the couple is smiling. I think it makes you stop and think twice, which is what they were trying to accomplish. I like the last poster because of how simple and humorous it is. I think that's is all that needed to raise awareness protecting yourself on the internet. It gets you thinking and has information on it to further read up on the issue.

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  3. I agree that the poster on texting and driving is rather weak. I like the way it uses text-speak to convey its issue, but again, the message is not something new. Its rare to find someone who honestly doesn't know that they should probably not text and drive. Thus the poster would have been more effective if it actually convinced people to stop texting while they drive. The sock poster did a much better job of attempting to spur the viewers on to an action. Whether or not the design was the best, it got its point across clearly and effectively.

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  4. I really like the passwords are like old socks poster, that is a really good idea. The typographic syntax is cool on the please don't text and drive poster.

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  5. I think that the first poster catches people's attention and is very clever on the text abbreviations because it is very popular today,and very recognizable. The second poster is great because it makes one thing looks like two and that always gets people's attention and makes them think twice about what they are seeing. The third poster I think the copy makes it so much more effective. If you just saw socks it would not make you think but the clever text adds what it needs to make it work.

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  6. The campaign by Amensty International is... for lack of better words... way cool. When I see things like that my very first thought is, "Where did someone come up with an idea like that?" But, campaigns that go outside of the box are usually the most impacting. I really enjoyed the last project where we came up with ways to campaign our social issue, because it forced us to think past just a poster or a computer screen.

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  7. I really like the second one. I really think that it would catch my attention the most, and makes me feel more strongly about the subject, and it makes me want to act where the other 2 posters don't as much.

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  8. It is so easy to fall into the typical line of thinking - to make a poster, bumper stickers, and assume it'll catch on. But the campaign aspect of our project made me realize just how little of this "outside the box" thinking (that i pride myself on at times) I actually do.

    The moving poster (while void of a call to action) is clever. Clever holds people's attention. I want to work at thinking crazy.

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  9. I feel like the texting and driving poster is rather effective, especially due the the fact that it used texting language. I don't know, it may be because I just watched a rather disturbing documentary about texting and driving and I now am more aware of how dangerous it can be.

    The second poster is INGENIOUS. I like how it represents real life in such an overt way. Abuse doesn't happen when people are watching, it happens when people's backs are turned and that's what makes it so effective.

    Thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration!

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  10. I like the first and third ones the most. The first one is clever, but that last one seems like it may be even more effective because it evokes an emotion. The first one informs the viewer, but the last one is pretty gross so it seems to be more convincing because of the fact that is evokes emotion.

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