SASH Advertisements

By Henry Paul

Evaluation• There were guidelines to follow when thinking about making my adverts fit for purpose. With that said there were also

a lot of choices to be made too. I wanted all my designs to follow a theme so that they were fluent throughout. I think that most, if not all my designs are fit for purpose. The reason I think my advertising campaign is fit for purpose is because of its continuance. I used a colour scheme that correlated throughout my designs. I didn’t want any of them to be hard hitting because I wanted them all to be inviting and warm. The best way to encourage people to volunteer is to make them realise how easy it is to help. If all my posters were hard hitting it might be slightly un encouraging for the people who I want to apply. I think my bus advert was slightly less fit for purpose because it doesn’t really state clearly that its an advert trying to get you to volunteer. The bus advert could be asking for donations to help stop homelessness. In some respects you could look at it as multipurpose but that wasn’t the task. The campaign on a hole does feel although it fits together well as I’ve used all the same colour schemes throughout. There are some variations in colour throughout my design but it normally changed between black and white until I came to a decision I liked.

• The only way to make my designs more fit for purpose would be to make them more professional and consistent throughout. I could make them better if I had more skills on Photoshop because I would be able to fine tune the layouts and images. I got feedback from class members throughout the project, this helped me cut down my ideas and be more critical of my own work. I think my work defiantly got better as I went along because I gained more ideas and I begun to learn what fitted and what didn’t. I begun to learn how to create a product for this audience as I gained the knowledge I needed from class mates and tutors. SASH obviously want to keep their work consistent throughout so to make mine this way I used the same logo for each design. I wanted to keep all the colours warm through out my designs so that they were more fit for purpose. The idea of these posters was to encourage, not show suffering. I think if I had gone for more hard hitting images and text then my designs would have become less and less fit for purpose. I was trying to design quite stereotypical adverts this was so they could be relatable and more effective for the masses. I needed my designs to state clearly their reason for existence, basically I didn’t want any hidden messages. This is so my poster/bus advert/sticker can be as effective as possible. I think that my poster and sticker were especially fit for purpose. I like the solid look they seem to have. Originally I liked the bus advert because I liked the idea of the hands representing the loneliness and helplessness that being homeless can cause. The bus advert didn’t have the same feel as my other two adverts and didn’t look as crisp. It could be partially to do with the slightly poor quality of the image I chose.

I think that my advertising campaign for SASH will have a positive or good effect on the public. My reason for this being that they don’t look too out of place. They stand out enough to be read but they don’t stick out like a swore thumb. I tried to make all my designs in this campaign quite stereotypical in terms of poster layouts, this was so I could optimise the effectiveness and guarantee they weren't going to be too far fetched that they were dismissed on sight. I think that the theme of hands that flows through my designs is what will make them memorable. If you saw the bus advert on a bus I don’t think it would make you instantly want to volunteer at all, but what it would do is make you think about homelessness on a whole. I think that the sticker will be more effective because of how easy a sticker is to distribute. Children can wear them, they can be given out along side a collection box and they can even be stuck on posters them selves. An advert on the side of a bus doesn’t really give you the chance to write down details or anything like that because a majority of the time it will be passing by you.

I tried to make my poster look interesting but I also didn’t want there to be an overload of information. I think I found a good balance between the two. I think its eye catching enough for you to stop and read it especially if you passed it every day. I think that if you want to volunteer in anything you will already be looking into it somewhat. The idea of my campaign is almost a memory jogger. It could be something that's happened to a friend or a family member and then seeing the poster is what encourages you to take the next step of volunteering. It could be something subconscious after passing the poster everyday. I think all my designs would be effective, some less than others but all have the required information. I think they all fit the criteria for being an advert for SASH, they aren't over crowded and all have a solid feel. Non of them are hard hitting because I wanted them to be encouraging for the right reasons.

Bus advert• I think that this idea could have potential because I like the caption of text that I decided to put

on it. It took me quite a bit of time to get this idea done because I didn’t like the unprofessional look that I had given it the first time around. I tweaked my idea until I came up with something I was happy with. The point of this task is to try and design something to encourage volunteers to join SASH. I think it does communicate my message well because its bold and and the text is easy to read. It isn’t really direct because its not asking you to volunteer its asking you to help stop homelessness. There are many ways you can help stop homelessness other than volunteering.

• This bus advert could be seen as thought provoking because it makes you think about ways in which you could help other than just volunteering. The image is of two hands slipping away from each other, this is to show helplessness. The hands aren’t hard hitting but still show the helplessness of being homeless. We are trying to encourage volunteers because of this I chose quite a warm colour scheme that is very similar to SASH’s. I think this bus advert does communicate the message well because its eye catching and depending on the colour scheme can be bold or subtle. Its stating contact details and SASH’s logo/brand. They are the two important things that need to be on there so that people can remember SASH as a social enterprise and remember them as a contact. Depending on who sees it and where the hypothetical bus might travel it could be useful for a young person who is in distress but doesn’t realise who they can contact. I think I would defiantly need to tweak it before it begun looking anymore professional but I do think it fits the brief well.

• I think that it is appropriate for my target audience because it relatively quick to read and it just gives you information that you need to know. We are targeting a young audience because of this I made sure my bus advert didn’t have loads of text on it. Another obvious reason for not wanting lots of text is the fact that it could potentially be on a moving bus. You need something that’s quick to read that also stay in peoples minds. I thought the large eye catching hands would probably be something that would be easy to remember. On the side of a bus they may have some impact. The colours aren’t old fashioned or too bright so that the piece could be off putting to some. I used a generic colour scheme that fits in with the SASH colour scheme. The advert is towards young people in need and people who could potentially volunteer. This is a broad age range to a certain extent that is why I have gone for quite a simple design that is difficult to criticize for any age based reason. There are some aesthetic qualities of this piece of work. My favorite of the different variations is stated below. I think this is the best because it looks the most professional of my designs. It doesn’t look out of place and all the strokes are added were appropriate.

• I have used some different techniques throughout this poster design. One technique I used was choosing two words that are very similar in terms of the way they look when written down. Its almost relating helplessness with homelessness. I made the first piece of text saying “stop helplessness” in smaller font this is because stopping helplessness in the main focus of this poster. The piece of text saying “stop homelessness” is in a larger font so that people see it more clearly and so they know what the poster is about. The large gaps between the hands and font are showing helplessness, the sea of green is necessary for this to be seen. I chose to put a stroke around the hands on my final design to separate the image from the page and make them stand out more. I thought about putting a stroke around the text but it looked better embedded into the background.

• I think that the content within this design is relatively effective, the purpose of it is to raise awareness of SASH and I think that it does this well. It states what the charity does and it gives you some contact information so that you can get in touch if needs be. The logo is also in plane site so that it’s a memorable part of the piece. The hands slipping away from each other are to show helplessness. I think this is quite clear by the placement of the hands themselves.

This is my final and favourite of the different variations that I created. On the right is the flat plan for this design. I think that I followed my plan relatively well with a few minor alterations.

I was originally going to have the text over my image but this was before I had chosen it. I chose my image and then begun to change around the text. I realised that it looked a bit too crowded when the text was over the image.

I said on the flat plan where logo could go and I stuck to that as well. I tried variations with it in the middle and in the bottom left hand corner. After these experimentations I came to the conclusion that it looked at its best in the top right hand corner.

I added contact information where it fitted best after I had placed everything else.

This was the first design that I created but it was the last that I came up with in flat plans. I think it has potential as an idea but didn’t look as professional as I had hoped.

I was originally going to have the text the same size but I decided to make the top left piece of text smaller so it looked further away. This shows distance and adds progression to the piece.

I found the image on the internet. I then tried roto-scoping my image to see how it looked and it looked ok but lacked the professionalism I wanted. I tried using the magic wand tool but the base image was too poor quality. I managed to add a stroke and then magic wand tool that to get a better quality image for the final piece.

I went through many of these layouts and tried a few different things. This is my favourite variation of the different poster designs with this layout. I think that it looks somewhat professional and I like the choice of font. I like the idea of the hands portraying helplessness as it adds another element to the poster and its relevant. I made the text at the top left a little bit smaller. This was to make ‘stop helplessness’ stand out more. I stuck to SASH’S colour scheme so that It looked consistent throughout. I added a stroke to the hands so that they are separated from the page more. The hands had a slightly blurred edge because of the original image that I used. I thought that the slight roughness of the hands added to the effect of the poster. I like the text that I chose for this design because it stands out and it helps get the message across clearly. If I were to do it again I would maybe choose a larger background image. I would choose a larger background image so that more of the blank space is used. I came to the conclusion that it looked best with strokes just over the image and not the text. The distance between the two text captions is there to help show the gap between the hands. The gap between the hands and the text is showing helplessness.

This is my favourite of my bus adverts.

Poster design• The message on this piece is very direct and tells people instantly that what they are looking

at is a poster encouraging you to volunteer. The message is very clear as its not asking you a question its making a statement. Its almost telling you to do something. Its telling you to prevent homelessness by volunteering. The main goal of this activity is to get people to volunteer and I think this poster would be quite effective at that. There’s nothing you have to figure out in this poster that is why I think it could have the potential to be successful. Its direct and straight foreword. I think with this design it gets more and more clear as you go along.

• I think my first design had a bit of a layout problem. I think that the text placement seemed a bit off and could have placed in a more easily readable position. That is why I continued on to make the other improved versions of the first design. These different variations consist of two main blocks of text, contact information, logo and the image. I thought the image was relevant as it matched with the theme of hands. The hands in this image is to show people wanting to volunteer. The hands are all people rushing to be of help. I tried the image in different colours and with different effects such as the stroke. After looking at the image in a lot of different places I discovered that it looked best in the bottom left hand corner. This was because it became less of a main focus for the poster so I could then concentrate on the free space. I added a text box to make it more informative and to relate the poster to SASH itself a little bit more. Its clear and laid out to a somewhat professional standard.

• I think that these designs are appropriate for my target audience because they stick to the same theme as the other pieces in this project. This keeps up consistency and professionalism throughout. As I began altering the designs I realised that it looked a bit bare so I began filling in the blank spots. I added a triangle shaped text box to make it informative and to appeal to a slightly older audience. Its not a hard hitting poster at all so it needs to be bold and stand out. I think the hands that I have continued through my theme are the eye catching part of the piece. I think that it looks consistent throughout and does look somewhat professional.

• I used a different array of techniques to get my message across and make sure its applicable for the target audience. In my original image I was going to use black to colour the hands. I decided to see what it would look like on this too. I thought that it looked bold which would have been good for grabbing peoples attention. In the end I decided that it looked too separate from the rest of the poster. I decided to make the hands a more subtle part of the piece and to make the focus the font instead. In white the hands looked good but needed something to make them look right. I added a small stroke around the hands to make them subtle but still visible. It also wouldn't have continued to comply with the theme I had chosen. I steered away from my original flat plan because I didn’t completely like my original idea. I made the text close together so that when people read it they will get the message straight away. I have chosen hands on this poster because its telling you to volunteer. The hands are supposed to represent peoples hands rushing up to volunteer.

• I think that the content for this design is quite effective. Its not too hard hitting and the images and text stand out from the page. It gives you some contact information alongside a thought provoking message. I added a fact from the SASH’s website. This is so people can learn more about SASH to then relate to it. I chose the image of the hands because its supposed to show people rushing to volunteer. This will hopefully be a subconscious message, if not an obvious one. It also upkeeps with the theme of hands that I am replicating throughout my designs.

The poster design on the left is my favourite design of the different variations. The design on the right is the one that looks closest to my original plan.

At first there was going to be three different pieces of text on the poster. I removed a piece of text that was not that necessary. The piece of text said “help stop poverty” and it was in the centre as shown on the flat plan. The point of the campaign is to fight homelessness, not poverty on a whole. Another reason for removing this piece of text is that it made the poster too crowed.

Originally I was either going to put an image of a young homeless person looking distressed or an image of volunteers looking happy. I was going to chose an image of a homeless person in distress to try and get the sympathy vote from people that may see the piece. I was going to choose happy volunteers to show how rewarding helping SASH can be.

I decided to go with neither of my original ideas for the image as it didn’t seem to fully comply with my theme. I decided on something less hard hitting in the end and continued the hands throughout my designs.

My completed design to the left was very different from my original plan. I added an information box to fill some space out in the poster. It was going to be quit a plain poster but then ended up being constructively crowed.

Originally I was going to have the hands in black because it looked bolder. After feedback and trying different layouts I concluded that they looked better in white with a small black stroke.

This is my favourite poster from the ones I designed because it looks the most professional. I tried lots of different versions of this design with slight colour differences. This is the most professional poster I designed with this layout. I added strokes where necessary, to separate things from the page. In the end I decided again that the stroke only looked good around the image. The text and information box looked better flush to the page. I like how well the white and green work together. Everything on the poster is stated clearly. I also used progression with the two lines of text. I made the sizes different between the text so that ‘volunteer now’ would stand out more. The images of the hands are supposed to represent people rushing to volunteer. If I were to change anything I would make the piece of text saying ‘volunteer now’ a bit larger. I would make it a bit larger so that it stood out more. I used the same font as in my previous designs so that my pieces would be more consistent. I continued the theme of hands through onto this design because I found an image that could work well. I don’t think that anything on the page looks out of place and you could imagine this as a poster that could be put around college.

This is my favourite design of my poster variations.

Sticker design• This sticker is my favourite design out of the four base ones that I created. I like this design

because it seems to fit well together. The colours, fonts and image all seem to work. This was my last design and I think it was a good collaboration of my previous ideas. I think this does send a clear message. The original one that I created stated the name of the company, had the logo underneath, then the image and some contact information. This did look ok but it seemed to just double up on the logo.

• I though it would look more professional if it just had the logo, image and the contact information. Stickers tend not to be jam packed full of information so I made it simple and more effective. The sticker tells you who the company is, it also has some contact information that could be useful at a desperate time. SASH’s slogan is “preventing youth homelessness together”, I thought I would choose an image appropriate to that. I chose two hands coming together to meet in the middle. I thought it was an appropriate image because it shows togetherness, the heart is to show the love and shelter that SASH has to offer. I think it is a clear design especially after changing the layout around a bit. I think the design looks somewhat professional and I could imagine it being used to promote SASH. I think I could have made it a little better by playing around with the background shape as appose to just keeping it a circle throughout.

• I think that this sticker is defiantly appropriate for my target audience. It uses a generic colour scheme that I use throughout all of my designs. I think you imagine this being handed out in a college or in someone's place of work alongside a collection box. There are two target audiences for this sticker so I tried to make it appeal to everyone. I chose an image that is appropriate for everyone so it was something that people would feel proud to wear. I think that because its promoting a charity, people will want to wear it as long as its not completely off putting. If someone is supporting something they will more likely than not, show it. The colours are quite warm as well as being bold this gives it a well rounded professional look. I made the logo and slogan larger so that they they were the more prominent part of the piece. The logo and slogan are a fairly self explanatory when comes to stating what SASH does.

• I used some similar techniques as the other two designs because I am continuing my theme. I knew that I wanted to continue the hands over to my sticker design. I have chosen two hands coming together to create a love heart. In SASH’s slogan they state that they are “preventing youth homelessness together”, the hands meeting in the middle are showing togetherness. The heart is showing SASH’s care and love for helping the homeless. This sticker is meant to make people aware of SASH and give them the details they need to contact them if they need to. I think it fills out its purpose relatively well. I kept it simple so that it is easy to understand what its about. I made sure the image of the hands is large so that it grabs peoples eye. I added a stroke to the outer edge of the sticker, this made it stand out more. I also added the same size stroke to the hands and I think it made it look a lot more of a full and clear piece.

• I think the content within this sticker is effective. Its simple yet everything seems to work well together. It gives you some key contact information whilst also stating SASH’s logo. The logo itself is quite self explanatory in terms of telling you what SASH does. It tells you everything you need to know without telling you anything unnecessary. I think all the space is used well. I think that you could imagine this sticker next to some kind of collection box.

The design to the left is my favourite of the different sticker designs that I did. It looks professional and everything works well together. I continued my theme of hands through onto this design. There was no planning involved in the creation of this sticker, with that said it didn’t hinder me too much. I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like. I like the colour scheme as it matches the ones from my other designs. I chose hands forming a heart to show SASH’s love and commitment for their work. I added a stroke that was the same size around both the hands and the outer edge of the sticker. I tried a few different variations of this design just to see what looked best in terms of colour scheme and placement. I originally made the hands black but I thought they stood out a bit too much and they didn’t really fit in properly with the rest of my designs. I tried another design where it said in bold letters ‘SASH’ but I realised it was pointless because it states it clearly within the logo.

This is my favourite design of my sticker variations.