The Proper Prop

Great job yesterday working on our class exercise!

The students were tasked to:

Work in one group for this exercise. Together as one creative team, you will be challenged with selling an object with very few defining qualities. In other words, the object that you will be given will not be branded or have any significant defined purpose. It will be up to you, the design team, to discover its best purpose and sell the said object as best you can.

Things you will need to determine
product name. "The Proper Prop"
target audience. tweens, teens, young adult 18-25
Reason to believe. To support their devices
Positioning Statement."The proper prop" props your device for comfort and ease of use.

A couple things

Nice work finalizing our self-promotion advertisements. I should have all your hard copy work submitted at this point.

For Wednesday, 
Don't forget! Quiz!!! Study Everything from readings, blog postings, etc. up to the PSA blog posts. Information about PSA's will not be on the quiz.
Digital Documentation due Wednesday, September 26. Please include your process and final digital files of work for this project. Complete folder of work should be submitted into dropbox.

Begin thinking about your PSA project.
1. What are some narrowed down topics you are interested in?
2. What are some target audiences you'd like to speak to?
3. What are some themes you'd like to work with to get your message across? 

New advertising books in the library

How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding
The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads
The Medium is the Massage
Ogilvy on Advertising
Cutting Edge Advertising II (v. 2)
Creative Advertising, New Edition
A History of Advertising (Basic Architecture Series) - On Reserve
Advertising Today

Fun Kinetic Type Pieces

Student Work from GSU

Students last year did PSA work surrounding the topics of bullying (and cyber bullying brought up in 2011) as well as the bed bug fiasco of 2010 (remember in NY).

Here are some of those projects.

Some more PSA's

Online Resources (PSA)

Some 2012 trends in culture...

• Texting while driving
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0LCmStIw9E (Has gotten a lot of hype recently because it is very graphic and just bottom-line, factual) - UK
• Dating Abuse Prevention
• http://bcove.me/cpbvh5o6 
• Autism awareness
• energy efficiency

Also, check out the classics! http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/The-Classics

If you spend all of the rest of the afternoon reading / watching videos from the ad council site, that is OK. There is so much stuff here! http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work

http://willsherwood.com/success-ideas/30-best-and-creative-public-service-ads/

Try to find an array of examples that target different audiences, age groups, etc. Also, while you are researching, try to find a variety of implementation techniques like video, vs. animation vs. kinetic type.

The PSA (Public Service Announcement)

  

http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=15

The PSA Mission
Our mission is to identify a select number of significant public issues and stimulate action on those issues through communications programs that make a measurable difference in our society.

To that end, the Ad Council marshals volunteer talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to create awareness, foster understanding and motivate action.
The Ad Council is the nation’s largest producer of public service advertisements and our mission is quite simple: to address the most pressing social issues of the day. Whether it was polio in the ‘50s, racial discrimination in the ‘60s, pollution in the ‘70s, AIDS in the 80s, recycling in the ‘90s, or today’s obesity epidemic, the Ad Council’s docket has evolved to address our country’s every changing needs. Today, our campaigns address energy efficiency, internet safety, financial literacy, youth reckless driving, cyberbullying and autism awareness, to name just a few.

We have approximately 50 campaigns on our docket at any given time. The issues we address can broadly be categorized under the following topics (examples of each are included):

* Education: Lifelong Literacy, High School Drop Out Prevention
* Health: Obesity Prevention, Anti-Steroids
* Safety: Cyberbullying, Online Sexual Exploitation
* Environment: Ocean Awareness
* Community: Adoption, Fatherhood Involvement

Another way we categorize our campaigns is by target audience. For example, we have campaigns that target:

* Teens: Teen Dating Violence
* Tweens (grades 4-6): Energy Efficiency, Inspiring Invention
* Parents: Nutrition Education, Booster Seat Education
* African-American community: College Access, Stroke Awareness
* Hispanic community: Diabetes Management
* General Public: Financial Literacy, Predatory Lending

* Adoption
* Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
* Community Engagement
* Disability Awareness
* Energy Efficiency
* Fatherhood Involvement
* Foreclosure Prevention
* Haiti Disaster Relief
* Hunger Prevention
* Making Home Affordable - Foreclosure Prevention
* Mentoring
* Re-connecting Kids With Nature
* The Shelter Pet Project
* Think Before You Speak

Education Education

* College Access
* Early Childhood Development
* Financial Literacy - General Market
* GED® Achievement
* High School Dropout Prevention
* Hispanic Parental Engagement
* Lifelong Literacy
* Supporting Minority Education

Health & Safety Health & Safety

* Autism Awareness
* Booster Seat Education
* Campaign for Mental Health Recovery
* Campaign for Mental Health Recovery - Multicultural Effort
* Child Passenger Safety
* Childhood Asthma
* Drunk Driving Prevention
* Emergency Preparedness
* Emergency Preparedness - Business
* Emergency Preparedness - New York
* Fight Arthritis Pain
* Flu Prevention
* Food Safety Education
* Gulf Oil Spill Distress
* Hands-Only CPR
* Hispanic Patient Involvement
* Lead Poisoning Prevention
* Let's Move! - Parents & Caregivers
* Let's Move! - Youth
* Men's Preventive Health
* Newborn and Child Survival
* Patient Involvement
* Stroke Awareness
* Teen Dating Violence Prevention
* Teen Suicide Prevention
* Treatment Options Awareness
* Veteran Support
* Wildfire Prevention
* Youth Reckless Driving Prevention

Draplin Lecture at Brooks Museum

I have arranged with the Brooks Museum for a discounted admission for the Aaron Draplin lectures this Thursday and Friday. I realize this conflicts with our own Visiting Artist Lecture Series to which alumnus Matthew Robbins will speak— which is most encouraged. However, there is the option for Mr. Draplin on Friday. While there is no actual student entrance pricing, the Brooks has kindly offered the member's level admission [$12 for the Thursday evening lecture and $8 for the Friday morning lecture] to Memphis College of Art students. If they purchase tickets online, they must enter code "MCA" when it asks for their member

Sketching 3D

Today you will spend about 45minutes visualizing your 3D packaging, mailer, leave-behind advertising piece. If you are unsure what the final piece will be, this is OK. Visualize a few ideas and the class can help narrow down your choices.

Objectives:
1. Draw 3D forms to visually explain what you are imagining for your "pick your own" advertising piece. Your sketches should inform and educate about your design plan without any verbal explanations.

Process:
1. Use paper / pens to draw ideas. You may include multiple drawings on each page to show different angles or perhaps a step-by-step drawing. However, think about composition and try not to over-crowd page.
2. You may use symbols like arrows or numbers to describe but not words.

Some things to think about:
1. Add some line weight to improve details.
2. Add a splash of color to enhance drawing.

Materials: 8.5''x11'' copy paper, pens, pencils, markers, etc.

Desk Crit @ 5:20pm
Include final pieces in process book. Scan work and save into project folder.

Some online examples:

In-Progress Campaign Presentations

Students were tasked with preparing presentations that included 3 different advertisement campaigns. Each campaign had to tell a different story through line, image, and body copy. Each campaign had to have a different message.

The recipients of the presentations were tasked to act as collegues that would finalize direction for designer. Each student had to give their "2-cents" about the ads and then come to a final decision together.

It turned out to be a really fun way to refine direction and *I think* the students enjoyed the process. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong participants).

Here are some photos from the day.