Infographics Intro

According to Google, "infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly."

This is an infographic about brands and colours - which links with work I've done about colour and moods.

In a glance, you can recognise the colours and moods (like trust is blue and optimism is yellow), and you can also see some brands that pop out at you (like Fanta, Coca-Cola and Nikon). These brands are actually located nearer the brighter colours, and I wondered if the bright colours had an effect on everyone. In class, I asked a couple of friends to name three brands that they saw first. For all of them, they named either a yellow, orange or red brand.
This shows how effective the colours in this poster is.

When you take a second look however, you see the symbols at the bottom of the page, summing up the words in the colour. This is really visual and makes it easier to look at the poster. You also spot a four companies not included in the chart, after a double-take. These companies include more than one colour, besides from Diversity which is grey.

Overall, infographics is a great way of giving a lot of information to people but in a way that catches their eye.

Organisation Update (again)

This is the latest screenshot of my planner from this week. So far, it's nearly all green and have hours now to complete any orange tasks. Since I downloaded it on my phone, it's been way easier to keep on track of my tasks when I'm not in college, so nothing's ever overdue or late.

Youtube Research Results

As you know, I made my own primary research using Google Surveys about YouTube channels. Overall, it got limited responses but they were helpful for gathering information I needed to know. I used some of the responses to create graphs in Excel:


This is a screenshot of the tables and charts I made, including ones on gender and age.

This helps me organise the data I gathered and helps me to compare it to my secondary research.

In the chart to the right, it tells me the most watched types of videos on YouTube (at least from those who took my survey). As you can see, the most popular type was music videos and the last being educational videos.

Now if I was thinking of starting a channel, I know to steer away from educational - as they aren't that popular and look into music. Or, this could tell me that there are a lot of music channels already on Youtube, so it may be best to pick vlog videos, or beauty/fashion, so I don't have a hard time competing with other music channels.

This does also link into the previous secondary research I did, as a handful of popular You-tubers were - obviously - vloggers, but also music artists, and there were a couple that had a particular 'theme' to their channel like beauty or gaming, etc.

I also asked what other social media people used to see if people followed any channels outside of Youtube - if they can. This graph shows the social media people used, and we can see Facebook is the most popular. This could tell me that it may be worth it to open a Facebook page of a channel to reach more people worldwide, and not just on Youtube.




However, there are limitations to my research. Firstly, as I said before, there were limited responses so I didn't get much variations in responses. This means that my results weren't actually that representative of the population. However, there were other limitations, such as the gender of the people who responded. Over half were female, and this made the survey a little unfair as there were less males.

Additionally, half of the respondents were 14-16, and over a quarter were 17-20. This is probably because I posted the survey on Facebook only, and under 16's aren't allowed Facebook legally. Also, adults may not have Facebook or could have been working when I posted the survey, as it was midday on a weekday. Also, the older generation may not even be interested in YouTube.

Finally, answers like above were qualitative data types, so it means that the data was descriptive and was harder to put into graphs than quantitate data as that's where the data can be measured and easily charted. This made it harder to analyse the data I had gathered.

Update on Planner

So far, all has been going well with my planner. I've been on track and determined to get all greens before set any work before the next week's tasks. Also, I downloaded Google Sheets on my phone so I can check it regularly now and even update it - before I had just taken pictures of it on my phone. Anyway, that's all for now but I'm sure I'll post more up until Wednesday! 

Research (Reflection Post)

In media theory, we have been learning a lot about research and types of research you can get. One way to learn even more about research is to conduct your own. We were given a scenario where we wanted to 'create a Youtube channel', but we had to find out what would be popular.

I started with some secondary research on Youtube on Google Docs, and this helped me to understand what was popular worldwide. However, I wanted to know what people locally to me and close to me thought of Youtube.

So I made my own survey with Google. You can see a sample of question I wanted to use in my research.

Click here if you want to take part in the survey!

We also practised referencing and giving credit (in my Google Docs), and learned that referencing was really important as it was giving credit to the people who's data you're using for whatever purpose.

Designing with Type

In class, we had to choose two words from a list. I chose exaggeration and migration.



I've posted Wikipedia's definition of those words, and they're pretty simple to understand. Exaggeration being where there's an 'over-reaction' to something to make it seem better/worse, and migration being the movement of something from one place to another.




To explain these words in more detail, and to see how I could present them in a way that almost explains the meaning without words, I designed a black and white poster of these words.


 I used a bold stencil typeface for the word 'exaggeration', like it was exaggerated itself. I also added a shadow of the word to create depth in the poster and exaggerate it even more. Finally I added a border and a drawing of a man with an exaggerated muscle - to make it pleasing to the eye.

For migration, I slanted the type to having a 'moving' effect, and I also added shadows underneath as if it was moving (added later than the screenshot). The birds and vegetation was added to - again - make the poster look pretty.

Here are the final pieces:

Finally, I combined what I've learned over these past weeks about colour and type to make a coloured poster for each word.

I used a complimentary scheme for exaggeration - as it make it stand out and a lot bolder. I used an analogous scheme for migration, as those colours usually link to nature themes.

I did like the migration poster. however, I did a slightly altered version:

In this version, I made the birds white and the sky blue, and I prefer it to the original poster as it looks more natural - rather than a white sky and blue birds.

Editing Film

In class, we were given footage and had to create a minute clip, using our new skills, that flowed nicely.

I looked at the actor's movements in the footage and made sure that there were no jumps or awkward cuts. I also added a soundtrack, fades and text. The only thing I struggled with was just making a storyline out of footage I didn't make. However, I did my best and used the footage to the best of my advantage.

I think the way I faded the video in and out, and the text, is effective and I've developed my skills from just creating footage to blending it all together using professional transitions.

Anyway, here's the video:

Branding

Branding is where an industry, company or organisation use certain typefaces, colours and styles to present their company and/or products. For example, when you see a big, yellow 'M', you may associate it with McDonalds. Or even a bitten, silver apple is linked to Apple. Branding affects people in this way, and makes us associate 'normal' things with brands.

In class, we were given the task to 'brand' our monster posters, by either changing the typeface or logo if there is one. I decided to go onto Photoshop and alter the font. I used the smudge tool to make a copy of the font and smudge it behind the original typeface, like so:

 I really like the effect it gave the image, and though I didn't alter the font directly, I gave it a little twist instead. This also adds to the sinister look of the 'horror' poster.

The colours I used were red and black and white, and this created a theme of danger - telling people that this is a movie about sinister events. Also, the typeface itself is very creepy and is actually based on 'Wild Woods', and has a creepy effect. The typeface is quite unique - especially with the smudge behind- so hopefully, if people saw this font they would link it to my movie.

To be professional, I made a Google Doc with guidelines to use 'my poster's brand'.

These are the basic guidelines I included in that Google Doc, stating how to use the colours, font (and where I got that font) and the icon I created.

Type and Examples

Type family

A type family is a group of fonts for one typeface (see picture). So you can have bold, italic and many more including in one 'family'. 

The example picture is of the typeface 'Frutiger' and it's many versions and fonts, which makes a type family.

Kerning and Tracking

Kerning and tracking are quite similar as it's to do with spacing between letters,  but the type of spacing is different.

For instance, tracking is the space between the letters in a word (and this spacing is equal). However, kerning is where the letters overlap so it isn't uneven between letters. Here's an example:


http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/2606/difference-between-kerning-vs-letter-spacing

The 'VA' under the kerning example are actually overlapping each other, whereas in the first picture the V and A are unevenly spaced.

How to do this on InDesign?

It's simple, really (well, when you get the hang of it).

https://99designs.com/designer-blog/2014/01/20/11-kerning-tips/

This is a great example, and it shows you the content you need in the 'Character' box, which should show up when you form a text box.

In this example, it shows you where kerning and tracking is used and how to control it. However, it also shows you how to control leading in the same toolbox - but what is leading?

Leading is the distance between the first line's bottom 'x line' and the next line's bottom 'x line'. An x line is like I presented to you earlier (to be put in). You can control this - again - in the character tool box in InDesign.

Magazine Examples

The first magazine article I picked was one that varies with kerning, leading and tracking. In the title, 'projects' the J is actually overlapping the O slightly and there is very tight tracking (little space between the letters). The leading varies, also, as in the title and sub-title there is a bigger gap between the 'x' bottom lines, than compared to the actual content of the article. This seems to have been done so that you can tell there's a lot of information in the article.

Finally, the writer has used serif which shows you this is a printed piece of work rather than online.







My next example, I decided to do an article with contains an interview to see the differences in type.


Here, there is more variety in the type family used. For instance, there are some lines throughout used in bold, and some in the original typeface. This is done so by questions can stand out from the answers. Due to poor quality of the photo you can't see any italics, but there is italics on some words where the interviewee must've put emphasis on the word, so that the tone of the interviewee comes across on paper.

There's not much variety on leading or tracking here, but there's a huge contrast of kerning, between the content and title in the article and the 'Q&A' sign in red in the top-left corner. This gives a nice effect on the overall page, and makes it seem less 'robotic'. I could include how the red also matches the interviewee's hair - but I won't go into that.

Again, the writer has put the font in serif - which shows it's a printed article.

The Grid

Finally, there's the explanation of the grid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_(graphic_design)

To the left is an example of a grid - which is used in graphic design to create a layout for articles, leaflets, etc. which can be read with ease and can be exciting.

In this example, the white lines represent the grid lines which helped the graphic designer to put this flyer together.

In this example, the grid creates a sense of symmetry, which is aesthetically pleasant (attractive to the eye). You can also see that the information being shown is laid out evenly and is brief and to-the-point. This makes it easier for the reader to get the most important information from the flyer as quickly as possible.

Creating a grid in Indesign, however, isn't as easy a first. Firstly, you go to create a new document in the software.

Next, you have to sort out the page size, and adjust it to what size you want/need.

You can select the number of pages you want, the width, height and size. After you've adjusted those settings, you can continue to adjust the leading of the text and the margins.

To create margins, you will need to do a bit of maths (if you want a certain layout, anyway). For every column you need a gutter (a small space in between each column).

Here, in the margins and columns settings, you can set the width of the gutters and the size of the columns - and of course how many columns there are.

Source: https://medium.com/@flobin/creating-a-baseline-grid-in-indesign-df0139e290ac

The Pen Tool

Sorry if this physically hurts your eyes, but I learned to use the pen tool last week. It's complicated and it takes precision and patience, but one you've got the hand of it - you can make almost anything!

There are thousands of tutorials and guides online to help you if you need a little extra help with the pen tool yourself. Click here for a little game that will frustrate- I mean, motivate you to use the pen tool to your own advantage.

It's actually kind of fun once you get used to it, and it's a brilliant time waster.

Colour Wheel

Colour is everywhere, but it's actually hard to find. It's important to understand certain colours and what people associate with them - especially in different locations and cultures. There is a grid of colours on the link and, usually, what they're associated with, such as anger as red and yellow as happiness. However, it's not strictly true as many people interpret colours very differently. For instance, the shade of pink makes me tend to think of new life and children, because it was the colour I painted my baby sister's room.

Everyone has their own opinion on colour, and this can change how you feel when you see certain colours.

Another way to 'read' colour differently is through cultures. To the right is an amazing poster of different colour meanings in different cultures.

For instance, the colour associated with cold is generally blue across the cultures in the poster, but the colours associated with mourning and loss in American cultures is black, but in Muslim cultures it's yellow, and in South American cultures it is purple. Another thing to notice is how in American, Japanese and Hindu cultures there are a range of colour associations, but in African and South American cultures there are limited colours. This could be for many reasons, such as poverty.

To get a basic knowledge of colours, I went out to the city and captured pictures of different colours - including proucts in stores such as Lush and Yankee Candle. There was a huge range of colours but some were harder to find than others. For instance, red and yellow were fairly easy to find, with postboxes, road signs and a few company logos. However, colours such as purple and blue were harder to find, with only really finding purple and blue coloured signs and products in stores.

I put these pictures into a colour wheel so you can see the colours I struggled more with and ones I got many pictures of. However, sometimes the lighting around the camera and the camera itself changed the colour of some of the objects I was capturing. For instance, some light blue colours were actually captured as really light and almost white - and this was probably due to the lighting.

Peer Assessment Importance

Peer assessment is hard to give - as we don't want to be mean to classmates - and sometimes tricky to receive because, well, who likes people criticising something they worked hard on?

However, we tend to forget that peer assessment actually helps us. It gives us opinions of people as viewers, and it goes towards to make our work better. For instance, if someone has made a short video but there's some faults - such as lighting, or whatever - then, with peer assessment, people can help you realise that and correct such faults before actually handing it in.

Earlier, we all created a short piece in groups, and, in class, we peer assessed them. Here's a copy of what I wrote for my peers:

 Everyone did this after watching the film, and then we all gave feedback on said film.

On my group's film, we got good comments about the angles and focus of the camera, but some comments on how some shots were a bit too long and it made the entire piece a little awkward. This means now I can keep in mind in editing to keep exaggerated shots at a minimum and for a reason - but I also know that the filming was good and to stick to that quality of filming.

Organisation is Key

I've updated my spreadsheet, and, so far, it's working! I've kept on track, and I've done the tasks needed in time. I've also constantly blogged about certain things (you're welcome), and I added a new colour because I was just bored of the white.

This spreadsheet is actually really easy to fill out and I don't mind getting homework, because I know I'll complete it if I stick to this.

Anyway, sorry I've been blogging so much!