Critical Diary
By Milton Bvururu, 28/05/20.
Our brains process visuals about 60,000 times faster than text, that means one image is worth more than a thousand words. 90% of the information we consume to the brain is visual. As a designer and of course marketers we both notice the importance of using visual materials in marketing.
The importance of Social Media and Graphics Design
We live in a world that is controlled by social media, as a consistent social media user I have noticed, it's growing every single day and it's always going to be a part of our life now, traditional advertising doesn't reach the target audience as much as it does on social media, on average an advert posted on social media reaches thousands of people within a matter of minutes after being posted. I am interested in bringing clients stories to life, starting by exploring the concepts and ideas. In this work industry, it is crucial to be able to understand the history of the client's brand, creating a future for them, asking questions and thinking about a big picture by identifying trends, behavioural patterns and recognise the key challenges is all part of the procedure.
As a graphic designer, planning, analysing and creating visual material that communicates within the problems and messages, differing in print and digital media has become so much easier these days using various print and layout techniques such as type, animation, colour, illustration and photography. There are a lot of ways to communicate and convey a message, representing designs through using images and type is one of them.
Every advertisement produced by a designer must have elements of being pleasurable, eye-catching, stimulating, persuasive, organized and most importantly convey a message to the targeted audience. Within advertising, graphic designers gather information by meeting clients, art directors or creative and asking questions as well as doing secondary research to intend the message that is portrayed by design and make sure it appeals to the target audience before developing a new design. Many designers work in a similar style for example, Matt Hollands, a graphic designer, after getting set a brief, Matt researches ideas, begins looking at styles, competitors and trends, then chooses the strongest idea while expecting feedback from client after this Matt develops and finalises the delivery. “I like to build long-term relationships with all my clients, so once we have launched your project, we can both monitor the growth and impact – and find other ways to work together.” - Matt Hollands. I totally agree with Matt communication between myself and the client is key throughout the design process as it builds a fundamental trust and makes working together in future a lot easier.
Brief History of Graphic Design
The role of a graphic designer has evolved from being a one-off contractor to playing an important part in any business team. Today many brands depend on designers to help them start up their business, that is building presence and recognition of the brand online. When the graphic design was first fundamental, designers would mainly design logos and adverts, such as leaflets for a small business however that has all changed, today it's become very important to companies, as they use graphic design every day as part of their social media marketing. Graphic design means so much more than just artwork, it's more about establishing a genuine connection with clients and companies through words, tone, design and images.
In the 1900s designing for companies, it was more of explaining to the company in the most effective way possible, even though it's still relevant now but it has developed. Many brands look at things like colour and the impact of shapes in a psychological way to be certain that the designs are going to convey the appropriate personality for each client whereas designers are no longer focused on designing for a single app anymore. They have to make sure the colour, logos and visual identity is equally compatible with apps, mobile devices and bigger screens too. The modern world doesn't have a specific style anymore like Modernism, DADA or Propaganda to speak of instead graphic design, today focuses on trends and expectations.
Social Media Markerting
Social media marketing is when you use social media platforms to share your work, engage with your audience to build your brand, increase sales. You can also connect with your existing customers and promote their desired mission, tone or culture this is also known as digital marketing.
Working in an advertising agency such as AHOY, Brave, Isobel etc.. require specific skills to be able to join their team. They help a lot of brands find their purpose and voice. These are the most common skills every agency seeks:
- An appreciation of typography, colour, layout, and accessibility
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Creative Suite
- Photography and videography experience
- Portfolio demonstrating commercial awareness
- A passion to exceed expectations and build on previous performance.
- Reliable, determined and hard-working.
- Ability to make work as part of a team.
- An Innovative and creative approach.
- A desire to work in the digital marketing sector and always want to know more.
An advertising agency creates effective strategies that are intended to increase their clients market share, increase recognition or build brand awareness through things like campaigns. An agency that certainly peaked my interest was Top Media. Top media is a social media advertising agency made to innovate and challenge the current social media consumer to create an advertising that can be remembered. Their duties and tasks are creating, planning and buying. Agencies are effective because they work together with clients to make a campaign which satisfies client’s needs.
These have departments such as media, buying, creative, admin and client administration. These lead to the main roles and what they do:
Creative director: A creative director is responsible for determining the creative concept of a campaign that will.
Creative executive: It supports creative directors by bringing ideas and searching for inspiration.
Graphic designer: Designers usually follow instructions from the creative director and executives to create content and assets for the advertising campaigns.
Media buyers: Initially they develop a buying plan which is followed by research and eventually it turns into a whole buying strategy.
Client manager: This is a crucial role for large agencies where customer relations are really important and communication is maintained almost on a daily basis. In many of my recent work projects I have showed, I work in a similar style to what is expected for a graphic designer in this sector both mentally and physical.
Case study
In recent years The Guardian marketing has been focused on driving subscriptions and support with their audience, and research suggests that they had work to do in driving awareness, affinity and therefore support with younger readers. Their target audience is 18-26 and needed to be digitally native and consumers of content across multiple devices. I took a social media and environmental advert approach. The simplicity behind these designs was to get the audience to think, while the captions and images have the audience feel emotions which will leave them curious to search for #NewsSimplified or scan the barcode for quick access of the news. As a young adult, I put myself in the target audience's shoes, I have a passion for driving audiences into a new world, research showed hashtags have been trending for years and the quickest way to spread the news across social media that was the reason behind choosing a social media approach.
#NewSimplified in London billboard.
Nike had a mission to bring inspiration and innovation by using the Nike running app to every teen girl in London. Nike’s target audience as 14-19-year-old London girls. Research showed many girls are uncomfortable participating in any sporting activities because of their physical appearance and don't think they can be good at sports. My mission was to inspire the TA helping them gain confidence towards sporting activities by using pictures of influential girls, sweating, no makeup and body positivity. The focus was to get London teens to use the Nike app regularly both, during activities or outside exercising. The designs were innovative in a motivational way and I used two-tone colours overlaid by a huge typeface to bring a new refreshing design concept to Nike's designs and make a strong impression. This was all targeted to females with intentions to grab their attention and persuade them to use the Nike Plus app.
“People ignore designs that ignore people” –Frank Chimero
Social Media Post
Sloane Williams Poster Design
Instagram Story Post
The University of Northampton is launching a new online, on-demand TV channel. It will be the destination for FAST’s creative content from across all the Arts in the school as well as developing external marketing and brand recognition as a ‘creative arts educator’, it will be a global platform for the students’ work and their creative profiles for the Professional Creative Industries to search and browse. This allowed me to work as a part of a team which meant I had to be reliable, determined and pull my socks off! Our platform was called Edge, a cutting edge meaning we are a brand that pushes the boundaries.
Revisiting after a few weeks, I wasn’t happy with the completed document because it wasn’t edgy or bold enough and the message of the design wasn’t communicating with the brand attributes so I decided to build on my previous performance and develop my document. I aimed to create consistency throughout and genuine integration. Using InDesign helps me align my typography, images and text in place so that the document is sleek, professional and consistent synergy to create a unique brand personality that delivers an emotive experience.
Original Edge document
Improved Final Edge document
Whats next?
Finishing university to proceed on to getting an internship to gain work experience as this will help gain a deep understanding and mentally training my brain of what is expected in the “real world” won't be easy but this will allow me to enhance my skills, deal with tight deadlines and different types of clients. After this, the aim would be progress on to working with an Ad agency, social media marketing in particular and this is where the real test of my skills and developments come to show. At the same time, I'll be working, building trust and relationships with customers, I will be expanding my portfolio by adding the work I do for big brands especially to gain recognition. “Working in an agency allows you to tap into different ecosystems of all the different markets. By working with different brands and industries you get a feel of how they operate and what is trendy in the industry” - OnesecretOutlet (Youtuber) In her YouTube video she was explaining how working in an agency differs and is considered as a good start-up point if someones interested in freelance soon.
Strengths and weaknesses
My decision making works effectively as it is a balance between logic and creativity although I might not have so much of logic my decision making has been made to work, in my past projects that are based on social media marketing. Advertising is mostly about persuasion and this is one of my strengths and using psychology, I will make the audience think they need the product even though they might have a similar product at home. You need people skills to be a successful advertiser, that happens to be one of my skills, I believe good communication skills, showing empathy and showing a genuine interest in others are essential requirements to creating working relationships, also aligns with teamwork. I have had some successful teamwork projects. It is a skill alone to be able to work and come to terms with an idea with people that are not bothered about the work. One of my weaknesses is time management so therefore I aim at working on my organizational skills and meeting deadlines preparing for the “real world.” Patience is another of my weaknesses which can all be solved as “great things come to those who wait” by Nayobe. At the moment another one of my weaknesses is presentation skills. While I am still in university this is one of the things I focus on improving as it is a crucial skill in the agency industry.
Social media marketing is extremely fast paced, but it’s not for everyone, many people don’t have the required skills to be an advertiser because it is a very demanding job that requires a broad range of skills. I plan on working on my current strengths and weaknesses, developing new skills, especially skills required for this particular sector. To accomplish this I have to be self-motivated and surround myself with motivation and be more optimistic about the future, this means meeting deadlines, contacting ad agencies, freelancers, attending exhibitions and reading blogs focused on social media marketing. Through my designs, I would like to demonstrate the clients unique brand personality and deliver the emotive experience at every opportunity given.
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