Content ideas for the interactive campaign & thumbnails for format, aesthetics, layout of collateral
Initial concept & content for advertising campaign
Before beginning to explore and exhaust all possible visual ideas for the advertising campaign it was important to take into account all past research, rationales and ideas based on augmenting and extending the website through an advertising campaign that promotes and supports existing concepts and ideas. All these factors were compiled together to help me arrive at the content/products/collateral that I wanted to include within this advertising campaign.
Final list of ideas on content for campaign.
The products/collateral for the campaign will help extend from the websites initial focus of offering high quality image content to the end user through:
A photo book that may potentially come in physical interactive kit form for the end user to construct themselves, this keeps with the influence of Japanese engineering I want within this advertising campaign. Something that was touched on in the influence within the structured minimalist layout of the website. It will also give me opportunity to explore the use of materials like nuts and bolts to emulate this idea of engineering, Contrasting with this idea of engineering will be the incorporation and exploration of the use of Traditional Japanese craft through material & process's within the construction. Traditional Japanese craft like Japanese binding may be an option but may prove difficult for the end user, but its a technique I want to consider in the development.
Keyring's are something that suit the automotive target market, a little gimmicky but its a good promotion opportunity having something that promotes the website attached to there keys.
Also a little gimmicky is the idea of Vinyl stickers, automotive fans love stickers and again the placement of these achieve wider recognition of the Tsukuba Motorsport brand.
As the main focus of the website was to offer high quality image content, I thought a good idea to extend this into a more physical output was to offer these photographs in the format of Photographic poster prints.
To keep with the idea of advertising and promotion, I will explore various visual ideas in the format of Leaflets, Business cards, Advertising posters, Banners, Vehicle graphics & Racetrack signage. The potential location & placement of these products will offer wide scope in reaching target audiences at Car shows and events, Car shops, Car showrooms, Car garages & the Vehicle graphics will offer nationwide recognition & promotion.
I wanted to explore traditional Japanese craft, one craft I definitely want to explore is Japanese wood block printing, creating a stamp with something like the Japanese logotype (yet to decide through idea generation & exploration) using this stamp on the photographic poster prints and other digitally printed collateral not only explores traditional Japanese craft but also combined traditional and modern print techniques.
This may be a little childish in its tone of voice and may not suit the specific target audience but extending on the idea of Japanese engineering I thought of an idea of creating a sort of kit, turning something 2D into 3D, one way of doing this would be perforating these "parts" on a 2D sheet which then can be assembled and interlocked 2 dimensionally.
Progressing on from this
Digital interaction & Physical interaction will be further explored within the next stages of idea generation/thumb nailing. Taking influence from current thoughts in past posts and research, visual thumbnails will be explored for all these formats to then began digital developing on and experimenting with there physical production and how they will be all finalised in an interactive way.
Initial idea generation arriving at main concept ideas based on potential augmentation and interactivity.
Based on the main purpose of this brief deriving from the rationale;
Extension of the Tsukuba Motorsport website through interactive print material that takes consideration of digital and physical hands on interaction. The concept of the website was a high focus of high quality large images with concise, minimal textual content. The aesthetics and layout of the site supported this focus and had underlying influence from Japanese engineering/attention to detail, traditional Japanese colours/asthetics, structure and minimalist aesthetic. Supporting GIFs. icons and logos were inspired by elements of Japanese Motorsport.
The extension will maintain this focus on high quality imagery with concise/minimal text through interactive print products. I also want to extend and expand on the aesthetic influence I had in the website, I want to extend this through the consideration of material, process and aesthetic appearance all to be influenced by traditional Japanese craft.
The ideas used in supporting GIFs, icons and logos will be extended within the print campaign to develop further ideas that are influenced by aspects of Japanese engineering, drifting, time attack. Japanese Motorsport and nay other relevant automative elements relevant to the target audience.
The idea of presenting attention to detail and engineering in the structure and layout of the website will be extended taking into consideration the assembly of print products and construction of things to explore this area.
I have began generating ideas to arrive at a selection of refined concepts to work from and narrow down to a finalised concept. All influenced by study tasks and current research. Before beginning to think how the physical advertising campaign would be made in terms of the printed collateral it was important to consider how interaction would be achieved both digitally and physically. Mind maps were created, helping me figure out ideas on how I can achieve interactivity through digital and physical interactions and augmentations. The key ideas I narrowed down too that could be used to develop into main concepts were: The idea of the end user constructing something to emulate Japanese engineering. Using AR to interact with images to provide explanatory text, this extends on the concise/precise and minimal use of text seen in the website. How interactions based on a conceal and reveal concept can be used to present informative elements as well as visual elements, allowing the end user flexibility of the type of content they view.
Mindmaps were created to figure out ways in wich these main concepts could be carried out in interactive ways, the best ideas on these mindmaps are the following and will be used to go on to develop and influence rough thumbnails of physical material for the advertising campaign:
All the individual print materials would work solo but they could also be constructed into a final product by the end user, giving a hands on emulation of engineering to keep with that Japanese engineering influence. This could be done by turning 2D collateral/items into something 3D.
An alternative method of producing this "jigsaw" puzzle idea could again use all the individual products within the advertising print campaign but instead of making up a 3D object out of 2D things, all the objects could be placed together in a variety of ways creating a variety of shapes and patterns, a sort of game. Not very relevant to the automotive target audience but still a nice interactive hands on idea.
To keep the extension of the focus on image (from website) and minimal concise textual explanations I think the images presented in the formats I arrive at will include no text, this keeps focus on image with no distraction. Explanatory text would come from augmented reality interaction, a phone hovered over the images would reveal interactive reference points where explanation points could be selected by the end user.
Top trumps style statistics with supporting iconography is an option.
Or just solo text.
Augmented reality interaction of the GIF animation logotype (or if I chose to create similar material) would benefit from this type of interaction from smartphone or tablet apps. Giving the static logo on the print material motion and a sense of familiarity and connection with the website, this link is important to not only bring new people to the website but to meet the needs of the current fans of the site.
This motion could be achieved in static print too, through a sort of stop motion flick book.
These augmented reality allow a live link option to take the user to the website form these interactions with logo animations, iconography and imagers.
Customization is something that is obvious in Japanese motorsport, the heavy modification of road cars for the use in Drifting and time attack. Giving the end user opportunity to customize something through interactive print material will meet this sector of the industry and connect well with a wider range of audiences. This links back to point's I made in study task 6.
Ideas could come from a conceal and reveal concept or the adding and subtracting of elements within the interactive print campaign.
UV ink could be used to disguise information that may be seen as distractive away from image content, something I wanted to avoid in the website concept. If the end user wants to reveal this information a UV black light would reveal this information, a nice flexible option and the meeting of a large market thats interested in information and one that just wants to see image.
Text could be concealed by intricate folding, this folding would link nicely to the consideration of traditional Japanese craft I want within the print material. (Origami)
Folding could also act as a way in which the Japanese logotype could be translated character by character, a nice hands on interaction of this translation. The visible glyphs are the english translation, lift the flap up and the Japanese glyph is underneath, or vice versa.
Perforation could be used to add a hands on interaction with printed material like posters, a business card could be embedded within the poster.
After arriving at a nice array of ideas on how to interact with the end user in my later visual experimentations and thumbnails I though it was important to plan a little into the use of material and process's as I wanted to emulate Traditional Japanese craft and Japanese engineering through the tactile properties and the physical production of the printed material.
As I know I want to produce some kind of photobook as this seemed fitting for the large amout of image content and the target audience/persona's need for lots of high quality imagery. I began looking into a few ways in which I could construct it keeping focus on Engineering & Craft.
I could explore binding with nuts and bolts and other mechanical materials to simulate this influence of Japanese engineering.
Or to keep to keep things traditional to Japanese Craft I could do an aesthetically pleasing Japanese stab bind. To keep things even more in check with existing concepts used in the GIF animation and logotype (A grid used for the glyph production and the motion path of the animation, this grid was created from a Japanese flag, Tsukuba motorsport, Clock-face, European flag etc) I could position these holes based on guidelines from a grid influenced by Japanese engineering or aspects of Japanese motorsport.
There will obviously be digital printing involved as this is the best method for high quality photographic reproductions but I could experiment with more analogue approach's for the logotype, iconography or simple mark marking.
I could create a traditional woodblock, for example carve the logotype into a piece of cherry wood (if available) and then hand pressed on some traditional japans paper (mulberry/hanshi paper). Or to emulate the Japanese attention to detail even more maybe laser cut the printing block for ultimate precision.
For a more hand made feel I could user watercolor mark making, watercolor is a traditional Japanese painting technique and has beautiful aesthetics.
Or even traditional calligraphy with a sable/fude brush or a more rustic approach with a stick.
A few instructional guides to use as reference.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2095.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting
Next stages from here
To progress from here I want to begin creating a large amount of thumbnail's exploring all these key ideas outlines in this post. Fully exhausting all areas and bringing together key points to create a highly considered idea for the interactive advertising print campaign that expands on my website concept and acts as promotion for new target markets and supports existing fans needs and wants.
I need to figure out the type of products and the format of the products I will be creating, they will be strongly influenced by all the existing research and idea generation I have arrived at so far.
Further visual researc for Aesthetic influence, layout influence, use of material and process.
Previous research was to provide influence of digital interactivity, augmented reality and physical interactions within print, these mood boards will be provided as a visual influence point focusing on there aesthetics, layouts, use of materials, assembly methods and print process's. A focus on similar design traits has been considered when selecting some of these materials, augmented design is to extend on what I already have(visuals, layouts and concepts). So looking at various ways of how I can extend on what I have will be influenced by these examples. A focus on automotive advertisements and digital/print material is included to help influence me on how previous work has been produced to target this particular target audience.
Offering prints of the photos maybe a nice touch, I'm interested in cars and car shows and regularly by photographs and posters so I feel this may meet the target audience. Would be a good way of receiving further external recognition and expanded placement of the Tsukuba Motorsport advertising material.
I like how all the lines on each individual piece of material join up to construct together a number of abstract square shapes, the use of foiling adds an elegant visual flair the very minimal aesthetic and structured layout. Much like the visual flair the red adds to my minimalistic website, the way the intersecting lines interact could also influence ideas of construction relevant to Japanese engineering and previous mentions on how assembly and how things fit together can be explored to emulate this.
A beautiful elegant and subtle photo book produced by Studionewyork, again like my website it has minimal textual distractions taking attention away from the image. All focus is on the image and the subtle pastel colour pallet supports the scenic imagery. Its important to consider paper stock to enhance the images even more, how the images are positioned within the book is equally important as it was when positioning them within the negative space of the website.
Nice little example of how someone else translated some Japanese writing in a little animated GIF, this time a little more simplistic in its vertical movement. Its important to realise that the printed collateral won't give me as much spacial freedom as I had within the large area of a website & screen output.
Moving on from that consideration of how space is used "Closed Cities" by Manuel Radde makes amazing use of the space given in this extremely clean photo book that plays around with how the images & type are sized and positioned on the pages, this gives it a sort of motion within a static print outcome. Something that would benefit my products as Drifting, Time attack and Japanese Motorsport all has obvious suggestions of movement. Again like my website strong use of white helps focus on the imagery.
I like the extending leafs, gives quite an interactive hands on feel within the viewing of the photo book.
I like how this section sewn bind is visible, giving a nice finish and feeling of quality and craft. Expressing this quality and craft would link nicely to my focus on a consideration of Japanese engineering and traditional Japanese craft within the physical outputs.
A nice example showing how more simple construction methods and print methods can be strongly enhanced with the use of different materials. This rustic use of rope creates a nice contrast within this clean and simplistic package design.
Moving away from physical objects too a TV advertisement, Man vs Machine created an amazing new ident for film 4. What I like in this is the start how the film 4 logo transforms through an abstract sort of stop motion, each frame/floor flicks through on a vertical motion arriving at the final logo. This transition works perfect in conjunction with the imagery, its important to work with the image and type and make sure they work together like this example.
Also I have a GIF animation that could take influence from this transition style, this extension could be ue made by converting the animation into a movement represent through static print and consider how the various frames work with images rather than just been solo type or solo image.
What is Augmented design & Interactive print, what influence can my advertising campaign for the website take from these examples?
The purpose of this post & research is to expand on some aspects of study task 12 and help me figure out the benefits of different types of Augmentation in relevance to working towards my current rationale (study task 11).
Augmented Design & Interactive brief purpose The term augmented is something I was confused at to start with, I thought it was a way in which interactive print was described but the objective of the"Augmented Design" in my opinion is to extend on my existing website brief through an advertising campaign that strengthens what I already have and extends on the current concept.
To engage the end user the advertising campaign would benefit from interactivity, this is what needs to be explored. How the end user can interact with the physical print media extending on the current website and its concept and hopefully in turn bringing people in to the website. Its not the only purpose though, it needs to support the website concept aswell so consistency between the website and advertising campaign needs to be maintained. (Asthetics, Layouts, colors, concepts etc)
Augmented reality (AR)
This term best explains how Augmentation begins been a more interactive idea. AR is a live or indirect representation of the physical real world, these elements of the real world are augmented through computer generated input like sound, video, graphics. The main idea behind is it that digital/computer media replaces the real world representation with overlaid artificial elements like text, image and sound. These elements are often interactive with the end user, allowing them to manipulate what is seen through this real world visualisations.
A common and simple example is sports scores been displayed on TV during a match.
Oher technology's that is making the most of AR at the moment are:
Smart phones & Tablets
Ikea add virtual items to a real world representation to give end users a preview of what there products will look like, giving them a nice way of planning and simulating what interior design may look like.
Eye glasses
Google Glass allows real time interaction with the world, allowing voice commands and eye recognition to control what the technology does, the weather forecast & news can be viewed in real time, photographs & videos can be taken from the direct view point of the user, live view directions, text messages can be wrote out through voice recognition. The possibilities with these technologies are endless.
Head mounted displays
The obvious one here these things look ridiculous and are priced way out of the general end users affordability so a limited target audience is an instant result of this, things like this are definitely gimmicky and appeal to limited target audiences. Like the Google glass it offers a live feed of the real world with interactivity through virtual reality overlays.
HUD/Heads up display
Something been adapted by lots of automotive companies is HUD speedometers and trip computers. Deriving from air craft technology I see this as a technology that would be beneficial for the automotive market as it means focus can be kept on the road at all times with all important information viewed directly in front of them in live view with the road ahead.
How its used in advertising & creative/art/design purpose.
Live AR in a shopping cent provided an excellent way of targeting a lot of target audiences and fully emerging them into a virtual reality environment bringing animals and other exciting scenes into the surrounding environment giving the audiences and potential future customers a hands on experience of the type of programs they can view. A very well carried out and thoughtful campaign.
Pepsi depend on end user reaction in these augmented reality examples, altering the real world around them with a variety of scenes all intending to provoke reaction and different emotions (humour, shock, intriguing, scared) playing around with the end users emotions is always a good advertising technique and something that can be explored in my campaign although I don't see opportunity to play with there emotions but its always a consideration.
This is a nice example of AR interaction with print and relevant to my current automotive target audience and my thoughts on presenting technical visuals and influencing ideas based on a hands on feel within the engineering aspects of a car. The physical brochure was also very image heavy which was a focus in my website and a current thought of creating a photo album may benefit from influences from this Audi campaign.
VW, another german automitve company are highlighting to me the increasing popularity in automotive companies making use of AR within the advertising campaign, this has pushed me a little more to include some kind of digital AR and print interaction into my advertising campaign. The only problem here been is the need for a smart phone or tablet which may be a problem for my target audience.
Tesco use blippar, a service like Layar & Aurasma (mentioned in previous study task 12) to create an interactive way of extending on the static posters they have advertising products, it brings in quite an eye catching aesthetic through this AR and also serves as a vehicle for taking the end user to the website, something that I should consider as one of the purposes is to promote the website so a method of transitioning the user from the physical product to the website through these Augmented realties is something I need to explore.
The target markets of for these technologies are endless and due to this I feel AR can be modified and adapted through a variety of technologies to focus on any target audience.
Physical Interactivity in Print
After exploring more digital interactions through augmented reality within print media and more complex technological items (google glass, billboards, smartphone apps) I moved onto more physical interactions within print. Its important to consider how physical print can be interactive with the end user, because as mentioned all these new technologies may not have been accessed by target audiences. I strongly believe this is the case with my target audience.
The word interactive & interaction suggests I can be quite open, its a description of a two way relationship between two or more things, so I feel along as the end user can physically do something with the end product I feel this would meet this interactive need.
Looking back on past research brought me back (Link here) to Hey studios material they made for Art Fad, this hands on interaction allows lots of colour, shape and texture variations through vinyl & sticker shapes on the posters and postcard material. A good example of augmented design from this was then the physical 3D colour shapes they created, an idea I could take into my augmentation, create a physical 3D item from something within the current website content or relevant to the concept?
I love the simplicity of the simple shapes and with minimal textual distraction, just main focus on the abstract uppercase A created with intersecting lines. This focus on one main element reminds me of how my website focus's strongly on image.
A nice technique that seems to be making a comeback is lenticular printing, a process which uses lenticular lenses are used to give an illusion of depth and perspective from different view points. This particular style is an animated and transforming print, changing through a number of "frames" within these lenses that are viewed when the product is moved in specific ways.
Quite complex but a nice way of creating an animated feel with print mediums through the users interaction rather than simply pressing play or watching the animation on screen they can physically control it.
This could work nice with my GIF i made for the home screen. A perfect example of extending from existing content from digital presence into interactive print outcome.
As mentioned in the print finish study task assembly, folding and construction could be quite an interactive consideration. This would also fit well with ideas I have on incorporating elements of Japanese engineering & mechanics. Maybe if all the individual material & collateral within the advertising campaign all combined together to create a final outcome? Sort of like a puzzle. Something that NEEDS exploring.
The book binding essentials created by ING & Jaini Lu on behance explores a nice variety of materials within there book binding "kit". I previously mentioned a focus on materials and process to extend on the current simplistic, minimal aesthetic seen in the website that focus's on high quality images. Taking influence from this project would allow me to fully explore this idea.
Looking back over some old research I remembered the GF Smith "tear notebook" created by the design studio Made Thought, this shows a nice tactile example of interactivity, allowing the end user a hand on feel of the quality of the GF smith papers. A perforation print finish allows an endless combination of shapes and colour combinations (like Hey studios Art Fad material) to be made from the pages, I mentioned a focus on Engineering, this usually means the construction of something but this is a nice way to look at it by flipping everything on its head and influencing ideas of deconstruction.
Expanding on the robot kit Hungry Sandwich club made (Mentioned in print finish study task) will also help influence interactive ideas on constructing print based media.
Final conclusions
Based on this further research coming from study task 12 have gathered more ideas I could use to influence augmented design, interactive print and augmented reality.
What main influences am I taking overall to influence idea & concepts and extend on current opinions & ideas? Using augmented reality gives a good way of bringing viewers into the website through digital interactivity only problem been here is the requirement for a smart phone or tablet which may be a problem for my target audience. I will incorporate this digital type of AR but to full-fill target markets who don't have smartphones or tablets I will incorporate physical interactions within the print media exploring: Construction & Deconstruction interactions to emulate ideas of Japanese engineering and mechanics relevant to this automotive subject. Use of interactive shapes and colours can create endless combinations. Lenticular printing would be a nice way to bring animation and moving image into more static print outcomes, giving the end user control of the motion. Only problem been here is its expensive and turn around times. Bringing the motion from my GIF animation( or similar motion inspired by same concept) into the interactive print would be a nice extension and transition of content from the site been brought into the print interactivity. Explore the use of different materials to give off a nice tactile feel, not quite interactive but this enhances the idea of engineering and the idea of different parts and materials adding up to build a car. Print finishes & use of materials can really enhance augmentation relevant to existing concepts of Japanese engineering and Japanese craft.
