Design Blitz

Designing for Emotion Chapter 4 – Emotional Engagement

By Tori Beechum in Aaron Walter, Chapter 4, Design Blitz, Designing for Emotion, Emotional Engagement, PR Publications, PR Publications Weekly Blog Post from Designing With Emotion February 15, 2014

This week my publications class read in Aaron Walter’s book, “Designing for Emotion,” about designing with emotional engagement. This chapter was very informative. The top three keys I took away was: surprise, anticipate and prime. What does this mean?

Well with any type of design you was your audience to be able to connect with it so your probably have added some personality to it. Now it is time to surprise your audience. It is very interesting that Walter teaches this because I think most would agree that surprises keep you wanting to come back for more to see what else is in store. It is simply very hard to resist when the surprise was pleasant.

Anticipation can be a very hard concept to apply. I think you should anticipate once you know what your audience likes, but it is very important to be careful about what you try to add to a website. Twitter is a good example of this. The makers of twitter decided there needed to be a new interface in hopes of gaining a new audience and to keep those who were already users interested. The makers made a big leap by presenting a new interface but continued to give the audience a chance to keep the old interface unlike its competitor Facebook, which makes users change to the new interface designs. I think that people respond better when given a choice and it somewhat keeps people wanting to use your services when they know they can create it however they want it.

Finally priming is when we send positive emotional experiences and people can deeply engage with it. Walter gave a great example of the mail chimp site. He said that mail chimp added the speech to the chimp and people like it because it was out of the ordinary. He compared this to the old Microsoft Word paperclip, Clippy, who would ask users midway trough their document if they needed help and etc. That got really old and mail chimp wanted their comments to be different were it was more helpful than annoying. This idea was so great, Walter said many people tweeted about it and mail chimp gained exposure because of its talking chimp.

One thing that I totally agree with it the use of open interaction. The gaming world is really capitalizing off of it because people like to be able to create their own fantasies rather than have a closed interaction that lays everything out for you. What I did not agree with was when Walter said that if you have a “when you create emotionally engaging experiences, a marketing budget is no longer necessary.” I think it’s important to have that back-up plan just in case. What if your audience doesn’t like a new step that you’ve taken and your company starts to get less attention. You have to figure out a new way to engage.

Overall this was a very interesting chapter and I think it is worth the read if you’re interested in learning about how to emotionally engage with your audiences.

-Tori

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

By Courtney Kittrell in Design Blitz, JMC 3433 February 2, 2014

In terms of design, color is extremely important. It is crucial that the selected colors coordinate with each other well. You can visit certain websites that can assist you in this process. The Gideon website, for example, has a feature where it gives you coordinating colors based on the main color you wish to use.

The concept of minimalism is important to consider when designing a web page. In the public relations world, it is always wise to err on the side of clear and concise. By keeping your ideas and designs simple, the site can appeal to more viewers.

The way an idea reaches a viewer relies heavily on typography. The font you select must match the concept and overall design of the website. In layman’s terms, more standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman are easier to read but flashier fonts such as Broadway or Comic Sans bring a certain pop to the words. There has to be a “happy middle” between conveying the message eloquently and conveying the message appealingly.

Much like the balance you have to find in typography, there also needs to be a balance between form and function of the design. Your design may be appealing to the eye, but if it does not function in the real world there is not much use for it. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that all the “bells and whistles” cannot be thrown in if it hinders your design capabilities.

The use of metaphor in design can be tricky. At the same time, however, a cleverly placed metaphor can make or break the overall concept. By comparing two contrasting things in a way that makes them similar, a designer can bring a new aspect to the overall website.

Originally posted at CK1

Minimalism

By Tori Beechum in Design Blitz, minimalism February 1, 2014

In this example of minimalism, Apple uses its space in a clever way. It has white space on the left side and in between the text. The two screens is what really draws your attention though.

http://www.apple.com

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

Metaphor / Symbol Example

By Tori Beechum in Design Blitz, Metaphor, Symbol February 1, 2014

Here is an example of a metaphor / symbol used in graphic design. It’s the Chili’s sign. Seeing a chilli pepper makes you think of the restaurant almost automatically.

http://www.chilis.com/EN/Pages/home.aspx

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

Typography

By Tori Beechum in Design Blitz, Typography February 1, 2014

Here is an example of typography. This example is from the website Mooncamp. http://www.mooncampapp.com

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

Color

By Tori Beechum in color, Design Blitz February 1, 2014

Here is an example of color.

http://nclud.com

Originally posted at Tori Beechum - PR Pubs

Design Blitz

By wesmoody in Design Blitz, JMC 3433 January 31, 2014

I wanted to try to apply this assignment to my career field, sports communications. I tried to find these design elements in publications from different university and professional sports teams’ publications.

Color: Most sports publications use the same colors over and over. Team colors are a huge part of the brand for these organizations and for that reason they don’t vary their colors. However I thought that this infographic that OU tweeted earlier this week was a great example of using color to create contrast and in turn, emphasis. The contrast of the crimson and gray draws your eye to the numbers that they want you to notice.

Typography: A recent trend in sports is to use typography to express the brand. Teams put some element of their sport or mascot into the type of the logo. In the past most teams would just put the image of the mascot and the type around it but recently more teams are using the type itself. I think this creates a more minimalist and modern look that serves the brands well. Some example below.

This logo is reminiscent of beer logos and fits the brewers mascot very well. I think it reminds me of the logo from the show CHEERS and that makes me think of a bar so it is working well. This logo very simply draws the mind to think of a rocket taking off. The pointed upward stroke on the R looks like a nose cone from a rocket and the bleed on the lower parts of the R make you think of the flames that come out during a launch.

This logo uses a very simple change to the T to create a logo that immediately identifies itself as a hockey team.

Very simple use of a halo turns somewhat boring text into something much more dynamic.

Mataphor/Symbol: I think the typography example above is a good example of using symbols. In sports the mascot is the symbol for the team and so using typography to express that mascot is an example of using symbols to express the brand.

Branding is so important in sports that you won’t see anything related to the organization that doesn’t have the brand on it. Even the balls that they play with are branded with the symbol of the brand. You don’t notice this during the game on TV, but in the pictures that you see after the game, if you can see the ball, you can see the brand.

Minamalism: This seems to be a trend in modern design. I always think of those minimalist movie posters that are all over the internet.

The Big 12 will be changing its logo this summer. This is the current logo.

This is the new logo. They have eliminated all the shadowing and extra lines and have created a logo that is much more modern and sleek looking.

Form and Function: This one was slightly more difficult but I remember something from my Sports PR class. Every sport makes a media guide that they give to the media that cover their sport. This book is a major part of the job of an SID. They contain all the current and historical info that might be needed to cover the team. They originally were made to give to recruits and so they were bound like a regular book. Then the NCAA made a rule that recruits could not get them, so only media were using them. Well media use them in-game and to work so that binding is impractical because they won’t lie flat. So all media guides given to working media are spiral bound, so that they can lie flat. This is an example of form and function making your publication more likely to be read and used.

new spiral binding

old binding

Originally posted at Wes Moody PR Publications

Design Blitz

By hick6171 in Design Blitz, JMC 3433 January 31, 2014

There are many elements that make a great design. Color, typography, symbols, minimalism, as well as form and function must all be in accordance in order for the design to be considered flawless.

Color can tell a whole entire story by itself. Here is an example of a huge color spectrum that can be used in a design. Vibrant colors such as bright red, yellow or orange can convey energy, happiness or even power. Other colors such as darker ones like blue or black are more solemn and send a message of sadness or even seriousness.

Typography works with color and the overall design to help convey whatever message that is being put out there. Like color, typography can help convey emotion and is more than just the type of font. For example, in this image the word not only says Beautiful but the typography helps convey that message. The font and style it is written in is actually itself beautiful which helps to reinforce the message.

Symbols and metaphors help convey messages in a quick and easy fashion for the reader or whoever is looking at the piece of work. They are useful in design when trying to get a point across without typing a whole paragraph. For instance, it is easier to have this sign posted then to have a sign that states “this road will be slippery if it is wet.”

A good goal for any web designer, or any designer of anything for that matter is to do as much as possible with as little as possible. Minimalism is key to any good design. Shelton Flemming, a London based live event and exhibition agency, does it well with its website picture above. A simpler message “turning ideas into experiences” is portrayed with just a couple of words and an arrow. From here the person visiting the website can click and get access to a bundle of information.

Creative design is crucial but the specific design has to also convey to the user how it is supposed to be used and what it is supposed to be used for. Good form and functionality with any design is another crucial need. These vases pictured above have a very unique aesthetically pleasing design to them but also convey to the viewer what they are supposed to be used for by not being over the top with any particular attributes.

Originally posted at Spenser Hicks's Blog