Category: Design Research Blog

In today’s society, everybody has easy access to social media, and because of this, companies will use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok to advertise and campaign their causes. Marketers have took the opportunity to use social media to show users their message.

A good example of social media marketing is Cadbury’s ‘Secret Santa’ campaign. Around the UK there are Cadbury Postal Services dotted around so you can secretly send a Cadbury’s chocolate bar for free. The idea behind this campaign is to put a smile on people who may be having a tough time and with the cost of living crisis within the UK, Cadbury’s are helping the less fortunate to still send a little gift.

Cadbury’s have also used Facebook and Instagram to boost their campaign, their Facebook and Instagram posts have links straight to their website for more details on how to send the chocolate bar. On their instagram they also have a ‘highlights’ section which shows celebrities using their postal service.

Another good example of social media marketing is the brand Absolut Vodka, Absolut have introduced a campaign called ‘Born to Mix’ which raises the importance of body positivity, self-love and equal rights.

The ‘#borntomix’ has created a movement on Instagram, users have been using the hashtag to show off their body positivity. Over 5000 people have used their hashtag which further spreads their message across the social media platform.

The final campaign to discuss is J & B Scotch, this isn’t a good example however, I’d like to discuss the potential of using social media to market their campaign,

The Christmas advert shows the campaign for trans rights, it shows an older man practicing make-up on himself so he can give his trans granddaughter a make-over on Christmas. Below are some screenshots of their Facebook and Instagram, as a brand, they are not very active on social media platforms.

To boost this campaign, they could start actively posting on Facebook and Instagram, many young trans people will find comfort in this advertisement so their social media platforms could become a safe space for them. Actively posting about this campaign on social media is great marketing strategy because it gains more attention towards the LGBTQIA community which could increase sales.

References

Absolut Vodka | Swedish Vodka. (n.d.) www.absolut.com. Available online: https://www.absolut.com/ng/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

J&B – She, un cuento de J&B, English subs (‘She, a tale by J&B’, Diageo, Xmas, 2022). (n.d.) www.youtube.com. Available online: https://youtu.be/oOVVgEtuybk [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

Send Chocolate secretly to someone you love. (n.d.) secretsanta.cadbury.co.uk. Available online: https://secretsanta.cadbury.co.uk/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

‘Brutalism in web design is a crude, plain, and transparent style that prioritizes functionality over form and effectivity over aesthetics.’ (How to Use Brutalism in Web Design + 7 Great Examples, 2022)

The websites previewed on brutalistwebsites.com vary from extremely chaotic to very basic and boring. An example of an extremely chaotic webpage is m-o-l-l-y.com, when you click on this website you are presented with a background video and a dancing woman layered over the video. Straight away it’s very busy and it takes a couple of minutes to load.

When you click on ‘Design – Writing’ you are presented with the above image on the right. This page could not load properly when first clicked on but after refreshing the collage style layout was presented but the background video could not play. The images can be moved, rotated and do present bigger when clicked on. After reading Molly’s interview they stated that they designed the website themselves but used Wix, which is a website designing brand (HOME, n.d.).

Another example of an extremely chaotic web design is ‘Studio Job’ (https://www.studio-job.com/), below is the home page the user is first presented with. It’s animated and full of life. There are no negative spaces within this web design. Studio Job are contemporary artists and their web design really do represent their art and personality (Studio Job, n.d.).

Moving on to quite a timid and basic website, Kostas Murkudis (http://kostasmurkudis.org/ss2018) is a website showing photography collections.

As you can see this website is very timid compared to the two other examples shown above. On the left half of the website there is a block of text stating the collection names and dates, this runs throughout the whole website so the content shown can only be seen on the right half of the page. When the user scrolls up, they will be presented with an ‘about me’ page and when they scroll down the website will go through the collections throughout the years. In the interview with Kostas Murkudis, they state that their design focuses on the content with no effects. The design is very clean and pure but could struggle to keep a user engaged, it lacks in colour and the font used is very basic. (Kostas Murkudis, n.d.).

Bibliography

Brutalist Websites. (n.d.) brutalistwebsites.com. Available online: https://brutalistwebsites.com/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2022].

HOME. (n.d.) molly. Available online: https://www.m-o-l-l-y.com/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2022].

How to Use Brutalism in Web Design + 7 Great Examples. (2022) Elementor. Available online: https://elementor.com/blog/brutalism-in-web-design/#:~:text=Conclusion- [Accessed 4 Nov. 2022].

Kostas Murkudis. (n.d.) Kostas Murkudis. Available online: https://kostasmurkudis.org/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2022].

Studio Job. (n.d.) www.studio-job.com. Available online: https://www.studio-job.com/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2022].

A visual responsive website is a web development that creates changes within the appearance of the design, depending on the size of the screen (Experience, n.d.).

Starting off with a good example of a responsive website/application, the two images below show the Netflix webpage and their application.

The two screen designs have very similar layouts, the website has allowed more than two thirds of the page to be an advert for a new film/series. The app also does this but the once the website has loaded the advert will play straight away whereas the app is just an image, promoting a new film/series. The menu that is across the top of the website wouldn’t be found on the app design because it has been developed into categories that automatically recommend films/series for you.

The two images above show the homepage of Wayfair, the web design looks very busy, there is a lot to look at whereas the mobile sized version looks very zoomed in, yet minimal.

On the larger sized screen there is a lot of options on show from the first screen, but the smaller size has just about 3 options in view. This is a good example of responsive websites because the spacing in the larger area has been used to add in more options.

Snapchat was first created as an application for mobile and was not able to be accessed as a website, so this was going to be a bad example of a responsive website, but it turns out that Snapchat have now created a website with the same purpose as the app, you can still take pictures and chat with contacts through the website. There is still a lot of negative space on the web design but that is because the camera in the middle of the screen is still the size of a mobile so it can be shown on other mobiles.

Bibliography

Experience, W.L. in R.-B.U. (n.d.) Responsive Web Design (RWD) and User Experience. Nielsen Norman Group. Available online: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/responsive-web-design-definition/#:~:text=Responsive%20web%20design%20(RWD)%20is [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Netflix. (n.d.) Available online: https://www.netflix.com/browse [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Snapchat. (n.d.) Available online: https://web.snapchat.com/?lang=en-GB [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Wayfair. (n.d.) Available online: https://www.wayfair.co.uk/?refid=GX587302180078.Wayfair%7Ee&position=&network=g&pcrid=587302180078&device=c&targetid=kwd-297288814273&gclid=Cj0KCQjwteOaBhDuARIsADBqReg8nx9XdZAsUNDTn9lTYq9GZ-9q6fsIej6vRhxwhBgHk5Pr3sSxhzgaAhrxEALw_wcB [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

“Designers use storytelling to get insight into users, build empathy and reach them emotionally. Designers create personas to represent target users and add conflict to stories that reflect their user journeys and problems. Crafting stories, designers can better understand what users want from a solution.” (What is Storytelling?, 2013).

The storyboard example above shows four scenes within a film. The script on the right of the illustration’s states the angle and positioning of the camera during these scenes. Like graphic design, visuals are needed in the process of any storytelling because it helps developers understand the end result that designers or writers want. These two storyboards are scenes from Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’, a very popular psychological horror.

Storytelling doesn’t need numerous scenes to get the message across to an audience. The example above is by a wedding photographer, Simon Atkins, his main focus is to tell a story within his photographs. As you can see the man on the left is teary while looking at his presumed daughter in her wedding dress. This tells a beautiful story of happiness and joy within a family.

Above is my own version of storytelling through photography. This is five images of my dog that create a narrative sequence of him trying to eat a bubble. Included is a script stating what the dog is doing and how the camera is angled, this was inspired by Eric Yamamoto’s Get Out storyboard.

Bibliography

Atkins, S. (n.d.) Storytelling Wedding Photographer. Available online: https://www.weddingphotojournalist.co.uk/storytelling-wedding-photography/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2022].

What is Storytelling? (2013) The Interaction Design Foundation. Available online: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/storytelling [Accessed 20 Oct. 2022].

Yamamoto, E. (n.d.) Get Out Sunken Place. Available online: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/storyboard-examples-film/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2022].

Multichannel User Experience is when a company uses multiple medias to engage with users. An example of a company using a multichannel is Superdrug, below are some images taken in-store.

Superdrug has used multiple designs around the store, including leaflets for their sim deals, posters showing student discount with an interactive QR code for their digital health and beauty membership card and posters showing different promotions for certain products.

Moving on to their digital side of things. Superdrug have an app and website where users can order products to their door or to their nearest store. Both the website and app also store a digital version of the membership card, this is convenient for the younger generation of users that use their phone more often.

Another company that uses Multichannel UX is fast food chain, Mcdonald’s. Mcdonald’s use many different designs throughout their restaurant such as their food packaging, wall art and the posters used for their trays.

Another example of design used within the restaurant chain is their yearly Monopoly. Recently they have switched the Monopoly to digital but a few years ago they would give customers a foldable Monopoly board for users to add their stickers. Below is a comparison of the 2.

Another good example of Mcdonald’s use of multichannel UX is the packaging used for Christmas time. The design is different and includes illustrations to fit the theme of Christmas, this is a good marketing scheme to convince the user to try their yearly Christmas menu.

Bibliography

Mcdonald’s Christmas Cup. (n.d.) Available online: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/407153622537336192/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2022].

Mcdonald’s Website. (n.d.) Available online: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb.html#carousel-e3792f9941-item-4f61fb3085 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2022].

Mcdonalds Monopoly. (n.d.) Available online: https://qsrmedia.co.uk/promotions/news/monopoly-returns-mcdonalds-uk-thirteenth-year [Accessed 12 Oct. 2022].

Partridge, J. (2020) Mcdonald’s to reopen. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/01/mcdonalds-to-reopen-some-restaurants-for-deliveries-during-coronavirus-lockdown [Accessed 12 Oct. 2022].

Superdrug. (2019) Superdrug.com. Available online: https://www.superdrug.com/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2022].

Grids and frames are the foundation to any design, using a grid brings accuracy to a design, it helps the structure become straight, clean and uniform. Grids are commonly used in architecture, whether that be the blueprints or the actual build itself. If you were to strip back a building, you would see that within the walls there are wooden frames in a grid like layout.

Above are some photos of buildings, these structures show examples of how grids can be used in architectural design. As well as the cubic structure of these buildings, the windows also create a grid layout with the same placement and size. The window frames also show very grid-like designs. Each of these four buildings show a modular grid within their structure.

Figures six and seven are again showing how grids are used within architecture.

Another grid to look at is the ‘rule of three’ grid. This is typically used within photography and above is an example of how this grid is used to make photos and designs look a lot cleaner and more professional. Grid layouts can normally be found within camera apps on smartphones for this reason. Another example of this grid can be seen below.

Grids and frames can also be found in everyday essentials, such as the toaster shown below. An example of a column grid can be seen within this toaster.

Bibliography

Galvan, M. (2021) Getting started with grids in digital design. Medium. Available online: https://uxplanet.org/getting-started-with-grids-in-digital-design-7aa3bcc8c881 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].