Studio Practice: OUGD405 - Studio Brief 02: Initial Ideas

After determining the content for my information leaflet on rabies entering the UK and gathering a bank of inspiration I was able to start sketching down some initial ideas for my publication.

These were the key elements I wanted my design to include:

Displaying facts and figures as infographics
Limited colour palette. Perhaps: orange, black/navy, and white to add impact and make leaflet look less like junkmail
Tone of voice: serious, engaging, straightforward
Attatch a beloved animal figure / pet so people can relate
Think about the distribution of the leaflet. Flyers through the post can look like junk, ways to avoid this issue is enclose it in an envolope, creating an unusual colour scheme or changing the paper stock, distributing it in pet shops rather than through the post.

Developmental sketches of a few potential ideas for the leaflet. I also sketched the potential for a bus stop advertisement to show how the campaign could be extended.

The first leaflet I sketched out featured a double gate fold design that folds outwards with a mirror image of the same dog on the front: one with rabies, one without. The shocking image would catch a pet owners attention in a pet shop amongst other leaflets, or the attention of a homeowner if it was posted through their door. You would then pull apart the first two front pages to reveal the word rabies, surrounded by infographics on the inside, showing information on how to prevent rabies entering the UK, what the UK would be like if rabies became an epidemic here and other information general about the virus.

The back of the leaflet contains all the information you need to report any suspicious activity you think may be related to illegal puppy smuggling or the virus itself and sources from where I gathered the information.

The stock of the information leaflet would be relatively thick and matte rather than glossy, as to differentiate it from junk mail so it wouldn't be thrown out straight away. This will increase the cost of production however it would mean there is no need to use an envelope, reducing costs in that aspect.

The second design uses a different format: a 6 page accordion spread with the mouth and nose of a rabid dog on the front cover. The opening of the mouth is cut out to revealing a bright orange background. The cut out aspect was inspired by the designs for LCA's brochures in my previous blog post. On the following page will be the word Rabies. The information will then be split into relevant subsections and printed on separate pages as to increase clarity and allow the reader to digest the information.

The issue with this design is that having a cut out section where the mouth is loses space in the publication where information could be printed, and this is one aspect I will have to consider before choosing which design to take further.

Another design was a 12 page leaflet consisting entirely of infographics such as which countries are currently effected with rabies, the amount of deaths caused by rabies a year, what would happen in the UK if rabies became an epidemic and how rabies could get to the UK. I feel this design is not as relevant as the other as it focusses too much on irrelevant information considering the current threat of rabies to the UK. Facts like the puppy smuggling scandal should be prioritised over information such as what to do if you contract the disease etc.

This is sketch of a possible extension to my campaign: a bus shelter advertisement. It too would show infographics of the information using vinyl stickers on a clear glass background.

The most effective leaflets from my research used a limited colour palette of a maximum of 4 complimentary colours and this is an aspect I wanted to encompass in my own design.

Even thought these are not public information videos, the way they use a limited colour palette in their designs creates huge visual impact and looks really effective.

The burnt orange, cream and black colour palette would be suitable for my own leaflet as I feel the colour orange resonates with danger without being too gaudy and over used. These two designs are both printed on a more off white/ cream looking stock as well which is another element I want to incorporate into my publication.

Left: Other Studio's design for Studio Theatre's rebrand Right: Natalya Balnova / Silk screened book design

Feedback: in my group crit I received some helpful feedback on the design of my leaflet. Everyone agreed that the content of information I had chosen was appropriate and focussed on the right aspects of the subject, instead of areas such as 'what to do if you contract rabies?' etc. Everyone also agreed that they liked the first design the best as the cover was interesting but you didn't lose any space from the publication by cutting a hole out for the mouth [like in the second design]. They also agreed that using a limited colour palette creating a screen printed style effect was also a good idea. One point people said is that the leaflets should be distributed in Veterinary surgeries and pet shops rather than being posted through the mail as this would save production costs and also target a more relevant audience as not everyone owns a pet. This is a helpful point as now I can start designing the leaflet with that in mind rather than potentially trying to incorporate somewhere to put people's home addresses onto the design. With all this in mind I can start to take the design on my leaflet further.

Development

Inspired by Other studio's design for Studio Theatre's rebrand I began by choosing a colour scheme for my leaflet using just black, orange and the colour of the paper stock, to reduce printing costs and also increase visual impact.

The bright burnt orange colour is a more modern approach than red for indicating a warning and is also reminiscent of the colours used for cartoon foxes - one of the main animals that would be at risk if rabies entered the UK.

Other examples of Graphic Design that use a colour palette: