When I started this project, My original plan was something completely different. But after we discussed this in class, my heart was dead set on making one about puns. Because that is awesome, and I really like to make myself laugh. After the outline was set, my initial post came out looking like this image below.
While I really did like it, when I got it critiqued, I was told that I needed to let the infographic breath and allow the graphics room to breath. So that the flow and the information works together instead of trying to battle for domination in the infographic. The headings and the title didn’t stand out in comparison either, and I needed a more chalkboard-y font. Also I didn’t like my pie graphic and that was going to be changed immediately the next time I worked on it.
The next installment ended up looking like this.
While this one did end up better, I exported it wrong in illustrator and the background came out hideous. I added the dividers and made them more relatable to a chalkboard, so that you knew what I was going for better. And I spaced everything out a ton.
This time, The placement was a lot better, but the flow needed work. I was told I needed to better establish a hierarchy within the infographic and I could do that by making the sticky note headers bigger and making them recenter the flow so that peoples eyes would reset so to speak every time they came to a new section. I also made the cow stand out less so that it didn’t distract from the infographic, but you could still get the pun that it is associated with. I also made sure that the color when I was exporting it from illustrator was set to RGB, and that helped it export better.
Overall, I am really pleased with my infographic and it served as a good lesson on layout and making sure that flow was used correctly, which could easily be solved by allowing it to breath.
As I was brainstorming ideas the thought passed by my mind to do an infographic on Puns! Because they are always fun.
My initial infographic ended up looking like this-
I really liked my plans, but I agreed with the feedback that it needed room to breath, so that each item had flow and could be easier to follow what each section is saying. Also I needed to reconsider the font and add somethings to make it easier to follow.
I made each Chalkboard a little unique and gave the text a new font and a color to match the sticky notes.
Project description-
Create a logo to help brand yourself, to be interesting and to show a representation of who you are and what you offer to the world.
Logo-
I had previously created a Logo of a Treasure chest with a TV inside it and I liked it because it was entertaining, my initials are TV, and I really like the idea of clicking on the logo as if you are opening the treasure chest to find all the gold inside. The gold in this case would be my website and content.
My previous logo-
While I did like it a lot, I wanted it to be different, and there are some parts of it that feels really off to me.
Sketches-
I tried a few different things, before I ended up settling on the one at the bottom
If you click the link below, you will see where I was at the beginning stages.
Since my initials are TV, I put the TV on a Treasure chest. My online name for a long time was TVpirate and everything just sort of clicked and all rolled together. Plus I like the chest just beginning to open a lot more then it already being opened. Because it adds a little bit of excitement about seeing the treasure within, which would be my portfolio.
Finished product-
I made the TV screen a little smaller, and added a latch onto the lid so that it felt a little bit more like a treasure chest.
Overall, I am quite proud of it and I like it a ton.
It is getting to that time of year again when companies are gearing up for big sales and late rushes. Usually lasting from early in the morning until they are out of stock or decide to close for the next day. Black Friday is an important time in Retail because with big sales comes lots of revenue. And Making sure that word of mouth gets to everyone involved they need to make sure that people know exactly what deals will be had and giving people a reason to go to their location and wait in line in the early morning to make sure they partake in that great offer that the retail store is offering.
The one I will be looking at specifically at is Best Buy and figuring out how they did in creating this promotional Advertisement.
What are the Ad’s Strengths? I feel that something this Ad does really well is the fact that it is simple. It tells you exactly what you need to know, Black Friday is coming up and you should see what deals Best Buy has.
What are the Ad’s weaknesses?While it is good that they showed some items that you can expect to be on sale, something simple and creative that they could have done to help drive home the point that there will be some good deals is showing some of the sales that will be involved. This could be done by showing the original price marked out, and the sale price by the item. You could even do it creatively and make it look like a price tag hanging off the item. While simple is good in these cases, just seeing items makes it feel like this could be used for any other sale, not for something grand like Black Friday.
What is the Ad trying to accomplish with it’s design?
The Ad is simply trying to get people excited about Black Friday and to see what great deals that they have. And it does a good job and conveying that message. My personal favorite things about this is the light shining off of the items to show that they are new.
These little examples give off the vibe of new and shiny which causes excitement because everyone loves new and shiny toys. This is something little, but it is a really creative way of showing off that new vibe which gets people excited.
How has the design used: Composition, Fundamentals, Contrast, Lines, Layout, Golden Section, Rule of Thirds, Not Half, Swiss Grid or Custom Grids?
While the text is a little bit bigger then I would think, it catches your eyes due to contrast with the background which makes it stand out, and the fact the Black Friday is pretty big makes your eyes drawn to it. And Black Friday is a big enough event that it will get people excited just be implying deals, because people understand that things are super cheap on Black Friday.
The other design element that I noticed that it did really well was the rule of thirds. The items are on the bottom, while the text is on the top, with the center being relatively open which gives everything a nice flow and a more natural look to it.
What metrics (likes, shares, re-tweets, etc.) will be used to determine if the ad is successful?
This ad was on twitter and while I believe that the likes, shares and re-tweets are all important metrics and will definitely help make the ad more clearly successful. The most important metric I think in this situation is impressions and make sure that it gets as many impressions as possible. Because the thing that is important here is that people see that there are good sales on Black Friday which will make it more likely for people to go there and see if they can grab something. Having an item in mind is always great, but getting people to see the Ad will help drive more people to their stores and online locations.
For the reverse engineering post of the week, I wanted to take a look at a video game that just came out recently that I am very excited to play. Super Mario Odyssey on the Nintendo Switch. The game is the next fully 3D installment from the classic Nintendo franchise, and the first one since Super Mario Sunshine, which came out in 2002 for the Nintendo Gamecube. That means that they created these interactive worlds that you can explore and play around in.
This commercial was shown in Italy to help promote the game to the European Audience and it shows off several fun things that you can do as Mario, and how he interacts with the environment around him. Such as what happens if he runs into a cactus.
What are the video’s strengths? The video’s strengths as I briefly mentioned above is that it shows off some fun features of the game in a short video that still gets the message across that the game is fun. If you didn’t know what a Mario game was like before, this game does a good job of showing you what it is.
What are the video’s weaknesses? Probably the biggest weakness in my eyes is the fact that you are trying to cram a giant game into 20 or so seconds and you can miss a ton.
What is the video trying to accomplish with its design? This video was designed to bring awareness to the game and try and catch more people’s attention. So that more people would go out and buy the game.
How has the design used: Composition, Fundamentals, Contrast, Lines, Layout, Golden Section, Rule of Thirds, Not Half, Swiss Grid or Custom Grids?
I feel that something that this ad did well design wise was how they used rule of thirds to display the game, the game console and images on the right, so that you saw all the great content to the right, and on the left you saw the switch and the game being played. It makes the layout stand out a lot more. Almost like to get to the destination you get to enjoy the ride.
What metrics (likes, shares, re-tweets, etc.) will be used to determine if the video is successful?
Since this was predominately a commercial for television, they were looking for a completely different metric of impressions and views and reach, to make sure that it got seen by as many consumers as possible. But in the digital since, since it was on Youtube, views, likes, and shares are all important to showing that it got seen by as many people as possible.
The video game series Earthbound (Mother in Japan) is a role-playing game that takes place in a modern setting with some science-fiction as well as a little bit of psychic powers to boot. One of the main slogans of the franchise is, “No Crying until the End”.
When I see that phrase, it draws me in. If I didn’t know about Earthbound at all, I would be intrigued by this. I am a huge lover of anything that tells a story. Another thing that I get from that phrase, is the fact that it is promising to be an intense story that will influence your emotions and draw you in.
For many TV shows, I would be the target audience because I get sucked in to the world and I get swept up by the character’s emotion very easily.
For example, A hypothetical crime show has a likable main character and supporting cast. The main character is a bit of a goof ball, but he is compensating for the fact that he is really depressed and angry that his wife was murdered. When a case involving the murdering pops up, you see the main character’s emotions change, everyone reacts to this change. You want to know why he or she is like this.
I just got myself invested in a scenario I just made up. But it brings my point across, The slogan is telling that the game is going to be an emotional roller coaster. That you will be brought into the story like an author wants people to do with their books.
Now for starters, Earthbound is an older franchise that many people might not know about, so in order to give a greater understanding of what the game is and creating a mental image for what to expect.
“For a lot of people, there first and only introduction to these more obscure Nintendo Franchises are through Super Smash Brothers”
You may not play a lot of video games, maybe you only play them when you are with a bunch of friends just hanging out. Regardless even if you aren’t the most intense gamers and you only play them when you are in a party situations. You have at least seen two of the main characters from Earthbound, “Ness” or “Lucas”. For a lot of people, their first and only introduction to these more obscure Nintendo Franchises are through Super Smash Brothers.”
A really good comparison for Earthbound is the Netflix series, “Stranger things”. They both deal with science fiction situations, they both deal a lot with kids and how they see the world. If you have seen Stranger things, you have a good basis for what to expect for Earthbound.
Another video game franchise that is a good comparison for Earthbound is the newer franchise, “Undertale”. The creator, “Toby Fox” used to frequent the forums for the Earthbound site, STARMEN.Net. Where he helped moderate and posted regularly.
History-
The original Earthbound game came out in 1989, it took a while before the franchise came to America, which didn’t debut until the sequel came out in 1995.
The creator of Earthbound is Shigesato Itoi. The interesting fact about Itoi was that he didn’t work in the video game industry. In fact, he is actually a writer, and has a blog that he has kept up for the past 15 years where he has posted several various interviews, written lifestyle articles and a lot times his own psychological views on life and what it means to be human. He has written books based off of his blogs.
Now to give another example of what this franchise is, Itoi explained that one of the more important story moments was based off him accidentally seeing a murder scene in a movie that had a huge effect on how he wrote that scene.
I actually never played Earthbound until I was in my early twenties and my only reference and knowledge for Earthbound was through Super Smash Brothers. I liked the characters, but I had never fully experienced the game franchise, that is actually older than myself.
The first time that I played it was when it was released for the Nintendo video game console, “The Wii U”. But when I finally played it, I was hooked. The game is weird, the game is funny, the game throws things at you that you wouldn’t expect from a Nintendo game.
When you look at other Nintendo games such as Mario or the Legend of Zelda or even Pokemon, you can tell that there is a lot of lore there, the more you read about them, the more characterization and story you find. Maybe they are a little bit sad or dark, but usually they are more implied then shown.
With Earthbound, even though it has a colorful cartoon-y art style, and the humor and weirdness of it all will make you laugh, the game has the ability to draw you in with the character and being happy with them or scared with them or sad with them. When tragedy happens, you feel it.
Story-
I won’t be spoiling anything here because I want people to experience it for themselves. But the general feel of the story is that it is a coming of age story. It is about growing up and it is about friendship and family.
One of the first things that you notice when you play Earthbound is how intense the story is. You’ll find everything from saving a kidnapped girl from a cult that is obsessed with the color blue, to being a monkey who is trying to escape from a tortious life of being the dancing monkey and the abuse he faces.
The Masked Man is one of my favorite villains and perhaps the plot involving him, specially how it concludes is one of my absolute favorites in story telling ever. The ominous feelings that you feel when he shows up in the story or when you confront him, gives off the vibe that this guy is absolutely dangerous.
You will find many characters like the Masked Man, that helps flesh out the world and makes it feel much more alive and vibrant and crazy then if you only gave the important characters a personality.
The story flows as if you are reading a book and going through each important story moment gives me the same feeling I get when I am reading fictional stories like “Harry Potter” or “Lord of the Rings”. I get the same feeling when watching popular TV shows, where you find that you have watched 7 episodes or you have spent 6 hours binging on Netflix, because you are so engrossed that you have to know what happens next. When I played Earthbound, Each Chapter (appropriately named) feels like you are reading a book, instead of playing a game. That feeling for me is amazing. Getting sucked into the story and seeing it unfold triggering the emotions is amazing.
Art style-
The fact that this game came out in the early 90’s and that many video games weren’t able to render pristine super realistic graphics. They instead went for the pixel art. It was easier to make, and if you do it in a creative way, the visuals in the games will hold up for far longer.
Earthbound is no different. The art style is simple, like most retro games, but the biggest difference is the amount of colors that help bring the world to life.
The over world and all the places as well as the creatures the inhabit the world feels like it belongs there even if they are very weird.
The world goes from small towns to large cities to a boarding schools in the middle of the mountains to even the bizarre.
Magicant is a bizarre dreamlike world that you experience that is vastly different that if you will feel like Alice from Alice in Wonderland as you explore through this level.
Characters-
This is probably the most important thing for me when I get into a new story or franchise. I have to like the characters. I have to be able to connect with them, so that I care about where the story goes. I have seen stories with interesting premises and the most beautiful setting and are visually appealing, but fall flat for me because I didn’t really like any of the characters, or the one character that I liked showed up as a minor character or showed up so sporadically in the beginning that I lost interest in the story.
Probably the biggest example of this for me is “Once Upon a Time”. I tried to watch the series but I didn’t care for any of the main characters. The one I did like was Rumpelstiltskin, but he showed up so rarely in the first few episodes that even though I enjoyed him, I ended up dropping the show because it couldn’t keep my attention. That is how important characters are to me. “Once Upon a Time” had a fantastic concept that could get you interested, it was also filmed really well that it was hard to fault it for its’ choice in Cinematography. It’s characters were so boring to me that I didn’t want to follow along.
As I have mentioned previously, this is something that I feel that Earthbound does really well. Even though Ness is your normal role playing game protagonist who is your avatar for the game, they through fun little things that make him fill like he has more personality then you would initially think. Your character in the game can get homesick and miss home and dream about his favorite food. The only way to cure this is to call you mom. Little things like that make the character feel a lot more real.
Lucas the blond haired protagonist from Mother 3 (Japanese only game)shown above, starts off as a bit of a wimp, but as the game progresses and you experience the tragedy from the very first chapter (it is quite sad) and you grow with him, he turns into a very courageous young man who ultimately helps save the world.
Ness and Lucas are the main protagonist from the second and third game in the series but those games are more then just those two. They are joined by all sorts of fun characters. The greatest thing about the cast of characters is how different they all are, yet how they all figure into the story and world that is being built.
One of the most interesting and bizarre characters is Dungeon Man. Who had the dream of becoming a dungeon. Who with the help of another character is able to fulfill his dream as he joins your party and towers over all the other playable characters in the game.
Earthbound is currently viewed as a cult classic here in the United States for its weird humor, lovable characters, and amazing story. It is one of my favorite video game franchises and even though I played the game later in my own life, it has left a huge imprint on how I view what counts as a good stories. It shows that weird can be really good.
I hope that you got a sense of how much I love this franchise as you read this, but I wanted to finish with showing you the impact that Earthbound has made as a franchise.
Shigesato Itoi explains Explains Earthbound.
For more information about Earthbound and where you can play it, you can visit earthbound.nintendo.com/.
Even though Mother 3 is a Japanese only game. You can find more information about it at STARMEN.NET where they have created a fan translation of the game from Japanese to English. You are able to search through their information for any questions that you may have about the franchise, and you will probably find the answers that you are looking for there.
Article links Here
I am a huge fan of DC comics, and as I was scrolling through my feed, this showed up. Articles and videos like this are popping up because they want to change people’s opinions on the DC cinematic universe, showing that it isn’t all doom and gloom. That they can have fun too.
What are the ad’s strengths? I feel that the article shows the presentation principle very well, because they are showing you these 2 actors reacting and enjoying their action figures from the upcoming movie. enthusiasm like that is contagious.
What are the ad’s weaknesses? The biggest problem here is that you have to sign up to see the video and other promotions. Generally when people see stuff like having to sign up, it sways people to no sign up.
What is the ad trying to accomplish with its design? The main thing that this article was trying to accomplish is to show that the DC universe can have fun to. That even though it started off slow, there is hope for the future. Plus seeing adults
How has the design used: Composition, Fundamentals, Contrast, Lines, Layout, Golden Section, Rule of Thirds, Not Half, Swiss Grid or Custom Grids? Since it is a video and not really a design a lot of the normal design elements really apply. But you can see the rule of thirds because they never directly put the actors in the very middle, they are always off center.
What metrics (likes, shares, re-tweets, etc.) will be used to determine if the ad is successful? Since this is a multi-layered article, that is trying to draw people to a specific site or to watch a video. Likes and shares apply here, as well as clicks and views. But probably the biggest metric that they can use here, is how many people signed up for the website.
I choose to analysis the Facebook of Nintendo and what I felt they did good design wise and how I feel that they could improve.
What are the strengths of the brand design?
I feel that something Nintendo has done well with their social media accounts is the fact that they always post the most important information about upcoming games and events to get people excited. Giving people who are looking for the upcoming news or events an avenue to get to an official stream if it is an event such as the Nintendo World Championships or what new software is coming out soon. The logo is simple, and it has been in use since the release of the newest Nintendo console, The Nintendo Switch.
The biggest software that is coming out soon is the release of Super Mario Odyssey. The game is being heavily advertised throughout their various social media outlets. But something that I like personally is the fact that it as soon as you click on the facebook page of Nintendo, you see a trailer for Mario Odyssey. People that are visiting their pages are greeted with the biggest game coming up of Nintendo’s year.
What are the weakness of the Brand design?
I feel that the biggest weakness of the brand design is the fact that even though they are advertising well and putting themselves in a much better position than years of late, they still don’t reach a more accessible demographic because they are still hard to find for people that aren’t gamers. I feel that making the page more accessible to people that don’t think to look up games, connecting with voice actors that have voiced people in their games and having them help promote or doing social media specific events to get people more involved with their social media community. Giving people more reasons to look Nintendo up even if they aren’t gamers or other demographics to their pages.
What is the brand trying to accomplish?
Nintendo wants to create a page that gives back to the fans and gives them a place to show the love and loyalty that they have always shown them. The about pages states, “Nintendo of America is consistently amazed and humbled by the passion and loyalty of our fans. Our hope is that this Page can be a place where that excitement can live, thrive and be shared.” They want to give people an opportunity share their enthusiasm for upcoming products. They also stated that they wanted their Facebook page to be for the fans, Where the community can gather.
How has the design used: composition, fundamentals, contrast, lines, layout, golden section, rule of thirds, not half, Swiss grid, or custom grids?
I feel that this image is a good example of layout and how it gives off that it is coming towards you kind of vibe. The image is being used to represent them going on a tour to promote the newest game and this help set that mood. It was arranged in a good way.
I also feel that the rule of thirds can be used her because the picture is vehicle is off-centered vibe giving it a more natural look with the logo and the dinosaur.
What metrics will be used to determine if this brand is successful?
I feel that there are 2 metrics here that will determine how successful their facebook page is.
The first being how many people liked the page. It shows that people have been coming to the website and liking their content enough to want it to pop up on their feed.
The second being how many shares they have gotten per article. The number of shares is a good way to see how many people are seeing the page and increasing the chances of someone clicking on a link to find out more.
These two together are a good indicator of seeing how well a facebook page is doing and gives them an opportunity to increase the amount of traffic to their sites and getting more people interested in buying their product.
Nintendo owns all rights to the picture as well as the video. Their Facebook page you can find here. The official page can be found here.
What is the main purpose of the ad? The purpose is showing how cool and awesome and sexy it is to own a Kia Soul and why it will make you cooler.
What are the ad’s strengths? It was very original, the music was catching, and it is weird enough that you will remember it and look it up.
What are the ad’s weaknesses? It is very weird, it could easily come off as off putting. Or by it being so random, you might miss the point of the commercial, and not seeing the point goes against the advertising.
What is the ad trying to accomplish with its design? It is showing how cool and awesome and sexy it is to own a Kia Soul and why it will make you cooler.
What metrics (likes, shares, re-tweets, etc.) will be used to determine if the ad is successful? The metrics here are likes and shares. Since the main channel you would see it on is YouTube.
This commercial was made by Kia and they own the product not me.
TVpirate 