Need a little help from everyone
by , (9 comments)
I have a favor to ask of our community. Iím in the first year of my graduate program in Visual Communication Design, and am doing some preliminary research before my Thesis formation next year. Iíve chosen to focus on HIV/AIDS related communication. In particular I am interested in communication materials in developing countries where resources are distant and disconnected from rural communities.
One of the areas I am looking into is online collaboration between field workers, community members, researchers, funding organizations and designers. These collaborations could only be practically facilitated if they were remote. So to learn more about what limitations and benefits reside in online collaboration, I am hoping to do a brief collaborative design process through our BLOG.
Thatís where you all come in. Iíd like to have us begin the process of conceptualizing a logo to be used for communicating HIV/AIDS prevention messages to college students. The challenge of this project is to create a consistent identity and message for various interest groups to use on a University campus. This consistency would help HIV/AIDS messages achieve quicker recognition and impact among students. Ideally the identity would be ìkicked offî with a large on-campus campaign, but for our purposes we are only concerned with the visual identity itself.
I have already taken a group of designers, students and faculty through this process in-person and will be comparing that process with ours. In the end, we will only begin the process of developing concepts, however if many our interested, we could finish out one or several finished identities. Might be a nice group project for our BLOG!
So, any questions before I introduce the project more thoroughly? And don’t fret, this is very informal research.
Comments (9)
Jake Stutzman said:
You should probably try to do most of your testing from ‘dial-up’ or ‘wireless’ environments. I doubt anyone in those remote places are running T1s or Cable lines.
Posted on November 16, 2004
Clinton Carlson said:
Yes, ultimately the final prototype would have to funtion on 56K. But for what this preliminary test is exploring it won’t make any difference. I am purely interested in our ability or lack of ability to communicate in a BLOG or message board environment. Some research has been done trying to create an environment for real-time collaboration and meeting with existing 56K or satelite internet connections, however these attempts have been far from successful.
Posted on November 17, 2004
Clinton Carlson said:
Hopefully a few of you are able to commit a few moments to be involved in our little collaboration. If we happen to meet in person, I’d be happy to return the favor and buy you a coffee, soda or beer…whatever your persuasion. Again, don’t think this will be some tightly wound research process that astounds you with its process and results. We are only engaging in grass roots discovery-phase research here. I’ll only be gathering observations, not detailed analysis and numbers…so as we go along, feel free to make comments about the communication…If you’re already lost and confused by what’s been said, or feel like the discussion is worthless, revealing, bland or exciting, please make comment. I’m not even worried that you’re not my focus audience, or may not even be aware of specific issues that have to do with HIV/AIDS prevention. I am only concerned that you are human and are willing to share your thoughts and ideas and feelings.
I’ll leave off here and post a brief description of our goals and direction for the project.
Posted on November 17, 2004
Clinton Carlson said:
PROJECT GOAL: To create an consistent visual indicator or logo for messages about HIV/AIDS/STD prevention on a university campus.
The messages may be varied in content and origination (ie. health clinic, counselor, campus group); however this visual identity should connect these messages and organisations so that HIV/AIDS/STD prevention achieves greater visiblity among students. The messages may promote abstinence, faithfullness, condoms, or all three. They may be purely informational, or be more focused on behaviour change.
PROJECT QUESTIONS: What visual metaphors and concepts could be used in developing a recognisable, meaningful identity for HIV/AIDS/STD prevention messages? (ie. red ribbon)
What kind of tone should an identity addressing these issues take? (ie. serious, humorous, ominous)
YOUR TURN: OK, enough questions from me for now. I’m sure our discussion will start with more questions than thoughts, so fire away and we’ll do our best to come to some conclusions. Thanks again.
Posted on November 17, 2004
Robert Coronado said:
I’ve actually already created something to what you’re looking to do. Specifically for college campuses. One visual area I recommend we stay away from is the association of HIV/AIDS and death. Visuals of death, although shocking at times, are just that. Shocking. And doesn’t really communicate what it means to be HIV positive.
When looking at developing visuals, we should start with who this audience is. Can I get additional feedback as to what the college audience is up to. Just some initial thoughts.
Posted on November 17, 2004
Adrian said:
Lets talk a little bit about the red ribbon. When you think of a visual to accompany anything AIDS related, that is the default visual. At the risk of offending anyone, I think the red ribbon is pretty weak. My initial reaction would be to stay far away from the obvious and find a better solution for the logo. Then again, there is definitely some equity in the familiar. Robert Coronado makes a good point that we need to be careful about shock value. With the power of the images associated with Aids, that might turn out to be a balancing act. I am leaning toward a type solution. Just seeing “HIV/AIDS” in type has a great deal of power. Maybe a visual besides type is unnecessary.
Posted on November 17, 2004
Clinton Carlson said:
Good points. There was a campaign in Australia that used dark imagery of the Grim Reaper in communicating risks of HIV/AIDS. It was notorious because it gained almost 92% recognition, but had very little impact on people’s behaviour.
I’d say the power in these icons or images is in their repetition and connection of various voices. When Nelson Mandela wore a “red ribbon” for the first time, it had a monumental impact on South African citizens behaviours and attention to HIV/AIDS. They’d heard the messages, but it became personal when they saw Mandela cared about it.
Anybody closer to college students in proximity or age that can give some thought to Robert’s question?
Posted on November 17, 2004
Bennett said:
I wouldn’t discount at least a version of the red ribbon. If it aint broke… What is wrong with using something immediately recognizable like the ribbon. Some of the greatest symbols out there use clichÈs, but in a very unique and clever way. Would everyone agree that a sure thing is the use of red?
I think the Know HIV/AIDS logo is fairly successful and it is mostly type. Although I am bothered by some of the imagery on their website. I don’t understand why they have to show couples at all. I hear people all the time trying to break down the stereotype of only gay men getting AIDS. On one of Know HIV/AIDS main pages they have a single image of a gay couple. This doesn’t seem to be productive. I would avoid imagery of any group of people.
Posted on November 19, 2004
Clinton Carlson said:
Just wanted to bring to a close this little experiment. Thanks to you who contributed. In the end, it went about as well as planned. Even though this was far from the perfect scenario or test, it’s still interesting to speculate on the differences between in-person collaboration and online. In person allows for a lot more non-verbal interaction. Quicker communication of complex ideas. Instant feedback, clarification and direction. Humor also seems easier in-person. I wonder if it is easier to create a rapport within groups online or in-person?
I’m not sure where I will go with this, but online collaboration is an area of importance. I think it’s especially important when attempting to create highly personal messages for small groups of the population, and must be replicated with some amount of ease.
Posted on December 15, 2004