OUGD406 - Communication is A Virus Research (2)

Branding & Identity

The branding of our brief needs to be something simple and memorable, but also relates completely and is recognisable.

I looked into some identities that were very simple, relying on one simple shape or a letter to represent their companies.

http://whynotassociates.com/branding-identity-2/square
http://whynotassociates.com/branding-identity-2/envy
http://www.de-war.de
http://www.davidairey.com
http://bvd.se
http://www.josipkelava.com/41371/505875/gallery/common-man-restaurant
http://www.designbydave.co.uk/index.html
http://bluefaqs.com/2010/04/60-highly-clever-minimal-logo-designs/

Research for Twitter Etiquette Book

Do's & Don'ts

Do’s

• Be yourself
• Show some personality
• Acknowledge tweets sent to you
• Fill out your bio with something meaningful
• Search on topics that interest you and follow topic experts
• Follow people that seem interesting
• Tweet Different Types of Content
• Find original content to share
• Tweet something meaningful
• Be opinionated
• Tweet something worth tweeting

Don’ts

• Hashtag every tweet
• Don’t Make Long Tweets
• Don't overuse #hashtags
• Whinge or moan
• Spam your followers
• Share mundane updates all the time
• Don't tweet about your breakfast
• Tweet too much in a single burst – space it out
• Don't tweet just to tweet
• Don't tweet several times in a row
• Tweet in text talk
• Bully

http://www.copywritematters.com.au/60-dos-donts-for-twitter-newbies/
http://www.practicepro.ca/LAWPROMag/TwitterDosDonts.pdf
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2011/ca2011037_164304.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9127747/Twitter_Etiquette_Five_Dos_and_Don_ts
http://aquamagazine.com/content/post/10-Dos-And-Donts-Of-Twitter.aspx
http://sharpmindmarketing.com/10-dos-and-donts-for-twitter-newbies/
http://mysocialgameplan.com/twitter/10-dos-and-donts-twitter
http://websites.premierit.com/blog/dos-donts-amazing-tweets

For Visual Aesthetic

For the visuals of the book, I wanted it to be informal, friendly and hand-rendered looking. To do this I looked into four designers/studios who worked in this particular area of design.
Mike Perry

Buro Destruct

Koen Taselaar

Cody Hudson

OUGD406 - InDesign

Eagles

Golden Eagle

• This powerful eagle is North America's largest bird of prey and the national bird of Mexico. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their heads and necks. They are extremely swift, and can dive upon their quarry at speeds of more than 150 miles (241 kilometers) per hour.
• Golden eagles use their speed and sharp talons to snatch up rabbits, marmots, and ground squirrels. They also eat carrion, reptiles, birds, fish, and smaller fare such as large insects. They have even been known to attack full grown deer. Ranchers once killed many of these birds for fear that they would prey on their livestock, but studies showed that the animal's impact was minimal. Today, golden eagles are protected by law. 
• Golden eagle pairs maintain territories that may be as large as 60 square miles (155 square kilometers). They are monogamous and may remain with their mate for several years or possibly for life. Golden eagles nest in high places including cliffs, trees, or human structures such as telephone poles. They build huge nests to which they may return for several breeding years. Females lay from one to four eggs, and both parents incubate them for 40 to 45 days. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months.
• These majestic birds range from Mexico through much of western North America as far north as Alaska; they also appear in the east but are uncommon. Golden eagles are also found in Asia, northern Africa, and Europe. Some golden eagles migrate, but others do not—depending on the conditions of their geographic location. Alaskan and Canadian eagles typically fly south in the fall, for example, while birds that live in the western continental U.S. tend to remain in their ranges year-round.

Bald Eagle

• The bald eagle, with its snowy-feathered (not bald) head and white tail, is the proud national bird symbol of the United States—yet the bird was nearly wiped out there. For many decades, bald eagles were hunted for sport and for the "protection" of fishing grounds. Pesticides like DDT also wreaked havoc on eagles and other birds. These chemicals collect in fish, which make up most of the eagle's diet. They weaken the bird's eggshells and severely limited their ability to reproduce. Since DDT use was heavily restricted in 1972, eagle numbers have rebounded significantly and have been aided by reintroduction programs. The result is a wildlife success story—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has upgraded the birds from endangered to threatened.
• Though their numbers have grown in much of their range, bald eagles remain most abundant in Alaska and Canada. These powerful birds of prey use their talons to fish, but they get many of their meals by scavenging carrion or stealing the kills of other animals. (Such thievery famously prompted Ben Franklin to argue against the bird's nomination as the United State's national symbol.) They live near water and favor coasts and lakes where fish are plentiful, though they will also snare and eat small mammals.
• Bald eagles are believed to mate for life. A pair constructs an enormous stick nest—one of the bird-world's biggest—high above the ground and tends to a pair of eggs each year. Immature eagles are dark, and until they are about five years old, they lack the distinctive white markings that make their parents so easy to identify. Young eagles roam great distances. Florida birds have been spotted in Michigan, and California eagles have traveled all the way to Alaska.

Steller's Sea Eagles

• These very large, powerful eagles are also striking in appearance. They are dark but dramatically colored with white tail, shoulders, rump, thighs and forehead.
• These eagles are believed to breed only in far eastern Russia, along the coasts and surrounding islands of the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea. They are most common on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Each winter, many Steller's sea eagles migrate from their breeding grounds to Japan, and a few reach Korea or even farther afield. Other individuals do not migrate, but simply move to open water as winter approaches.
• Open water provides these eagles with their main food sources along coastlines and lakes. In their breeding grounds, Steller's sea eagles subsist largely on salmon, and they both hunt and scavenge for this resource. Annual salmon runs provide an enormous bounty and Steller's sea eagle nests are typically located near coasts and rivers where these fish appear en masse.
• These birds of prey hunt from a perch or from flight by diving and clutching prey in their talons. They also stand in shallow water or on the ice and grab passing fish when the opportunity arises. Like other eagles, Steller's also steal food from other birds.
• In Japan, Steller's sea eagles feast on cod. In addition to fish, they eat crabs, shellfish, squid, small animals, ducks, gulls, and carrion.
• Steller's sea eagles do not occur in large numbers, but their populations appear to be stable. Their feathers were once highly prized, but today these magnificent birds are protected throughout their range. They are especially revered in Japan, where they are known as O-washi.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/birds/golden-eagle/
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/bald-eagle/?source=A-to-Z
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/stellers-eagle/?source=A-to-Z

OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus Initial Research

Research into 5 A Day

• 5 A Day is the name of a number of programs in countries such as the USA, the United Kingdom and Germany, to encourage the consumption of at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, following a recommendation by the World Health Organisation that individuals consume at least 400g of vegetables daily.
• The programme was introduced by the UK Department of Health in the winter of 2002-2003, and received some adverse media attention because of the high and rising costs of fresh fruit and vegetables. After ten years, research suggested that few people were meeting the target.
• The campaign has come under criticism from Channel 4 because of government failure to prevent the food industry from making misleading claims that their products constitute part of a five a day.
• The Government recommends an intake of at least five portions of fruit or vegetables per person per day to help reduce the risk of some cancers, heart disease and many other chronic conditions.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/FiveADay/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_A_Day

Primary Research
For our primary research, for a whole day we each made a tally of how many times we used social networking.

Facebook: 30
Whatsapp: 52
Text: 10
Online newspapers: 15

Research into website/app layouts

App

All App designs are easy to navigate with buttons and bold colours, each with their own icons/identity to distinguish them from one another. Drop down lists are also common as they are easy to navigate. Everything is designed in a way which is engaging for the person. If the app is not easy to use/engaging, it will be easily forgotten about.

Website

Websites design varies completely for the context. The most interactive ones are easy to navigate, with only a few buttons/icons on the home page, all easy to see. The ones which stand out the most are the ones that are using a limited colour palette. Home pages with a lot of colours make it look very cluttered  and unprofessional. In this case, less is more. A simple navigation seems to be key to a professional looking website.

 App & Website

This looks at the way a website changes the layout to work into the tablet & phone formats. There is a huge difference between the computer screen and the tablet/phone layouts. These are easier to navigate and see, with larger icons and clearer direction than on the webpage.

This is the one thing we will have to take into consideration when exploring the idea of how to make the website work on this format.

http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/48-examples-of-excellent-layout-in-web-design
http://designshack.net/articles/layouts/10-rock-solid-website-layout-examples/
http://speckyboy.com/2012/05/23/10-evergreen-website-layouts-that-will-never-go-out-of-style/
http://www.thedesigncubicle.com/2010/01/30-websites-with-lovely-layout-and-typography/
http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/21-clean-web-design-layouts