OUGD 406 - Studio Brief 3

For this brief we have been put into groups and given a task that we need to research. The task that we have been given is 10,000 steps.

My Group:

• Me
• Vicki
• Daisy
• Mel
• Sarah
• Roxxie

This brief is based around the idea of 'Communication is a Virus'. To me, this seems as though the aim of the project should be getting our idea or concept to be passed along, similar to how a 'virus' is spread. This could be through the means of hear say, or possibly social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter etc. I think that no matter what we do, we need to accomplish and solve this aspect of the project in order for it to be successful. To find out what would make people want to walk, and the different variables involved, we may have to think about constructing a questionnaire; this would give us an insight into different people's views and may give us an idea about how to tackle the problem.

Initially we are going to individually gather research based around the theme 10,000 steps. My original thought, and the obvious one, is to look into 10,000 steps a day; this being the recommended that every person should walk per day.

This is some information from www.thewalkingsite.com:

Maybe you have heard the recent guidelines about walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.  A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits. I have outlined the basic 10,000 steps program, but also added a commentary below. A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.

There are many ways to increase your daily steps. Use your imagination and come up with your own list:

• Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend
• Walk the dog
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park farther from the store
• Better yet, walk to the store
• Get up to change the channel
• Window shop
• Plan a walking meeting
• Walk over to visit a neighbor
• Get outside to walk around the garden or do a little weeding

 BENEFITS OF WALKING

• Burns calories
  
• Strengthens back muscles
  
• Slims your waist
  
• Easy on your joints
  
• Strengthens your bones
  
• Lowers blood pressure
  
• Allows time with family and friends
  
• Shapes and tones your legs and butt
  
• Cuts cholesterol
  
• Reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes, & more
  
• Reduces stress
  
• Sleep better
  
• Improves mood and outlook on life
  
• Can be done almost anywhere
  
• Requires no equipment
• AND it's Free

This is information about walking events within the UK - taken from www.theguardian.co.uk:

Walking events in the UK:

These organised events offer walkers the chance to stretch their legs en masse

Coniston walking festival

A three-day guided walking event that takes in the sights and scenery of the Lake District.

25-27 September; conistonwalkingfestival.org

Isle of Wight walking festival

The UK's largest walking festival with more than 300 walks for all ages and abilities. Full details available from February.

8-23 May; isleofwightwalkingfestival.co.uk

Just walk

Set within the spectacular surroundings of the South Downs, walkers of all abilities can sign up to raise money for a charity of their choosing.

15 May; just-walk.co.uk

Pink ribbon walks

Get in the pink for Breast Cancer Care and walk one of four 10- or 20-mile circular walks. Venues and dates this year include:

• Petworth House, South Downs (8 May)

• Scone Palace, Perthshire (15 May)

• Harewood House, West Yorkshire (5 June)

breastcancercare.org

The Ramblers Association

Celebrating its 75th birthday this year with a variety of organised events around the country.

ramblers.org.uk

Walk the Walk

Various walks to raise money for those affected by breast cancer. Venues and dates include:

• Mayflower Park, Southampton (24 April)

• Inverleith Park, Edinburgh (19 June)

• Ashton Court Park, Bristol (4 July)

walkthewalk.org

Suffolk walking festival

This year's themed walks include storytelling strolls for children and medieval meanders with costumed guides.

15 May-6 June; discoversuffolk.org.uk

This is information taken from http://www.walkstyles.com/SiteCorpInfo/Why10KSteps.aspx:

Why walk 10,000 steps a day?

The goal of doing 10,000 steps a day came from a concept in Japan that started nearly 40 years ago. When you think of the Japanese, you think of a very fit, ageless group of people. We are aware of the Japanese diet that consists primarily of fish, rice and vegetables, and little, if any, processed foods. In addition to eating in a healthy way, the Japanese lead walking lifestyles. This helps them to achieve their fitness levels without additional exercise programs.The Japanese are focused on doing 10,000 steps a day. That equals about 5 miles a day, depending on your stride. The average American takes about 2,300 to 3,000 steps daily, closer to 1.5 miles, according to a study by Novartis Nutrition. The study referencing the Amish told us that the average American walks about 4,000 steps a day. Regardless of the exact number, we are woefully under this healthy threshold of 10,000 steps. Remember, the University of Tennessee study found walking 10,000 steps a day had a huge impact on body fat and waist and hip measurements even compared to a 6,000 step a day count! We firmly believe that knowing your beginning step count and increasing it is key to healthier and happier individuals. For most of us, 10,000 steps a day is a great goal to achieve. Of course, goals can vary due to physical condition and to personal desires, such as losing weight. You should always consult with your physician before starting a new exercise plan.

A University of Tennessee in Knoxville study with pedometers revealed women who averaged more than 10,000 steps a day had 40% less body fat and waist and hip measurements that were four to six inches narrower than those who averaged fewer than 6,000 steps. (Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2004)

Researchers measured the steps of 98 Amish adults with pedometers and found men took an average of 18,425 steps a day and women took 14,196. Compare that to about 4,000 steps for the average American adult, and it is easy to see why only 4% of Amish adults are obese, versus 31% of the general population. (Cooking Light, July 2004)

My thoughts:

• If 10,000 steps is around 5 miles, then this is almost the same height as Mt. Everest. Mt. Everest is apparently around 5.499053 miles above sea level. This means, if you were to walk 10,000 steps a day, then you're nearly walking to the top of Mt. Everest every day.
• Could talk about how much money you would save if you were to walk these 5 miles everyday as opposed to taking various forms of transport. Money would be a big incentive in terms of persuading people to walk.
• We could talk about things people have seen when they have been walking; this idea would rely on people telling their stories of what they've seen when they've been out walking; the stories could also just be about good places to walk. Make people want to go out and try and find their own interesting stories or places to share.
•  Health and Fitness is the usual angle for this campaign, popular particularly amongst middle aged women trying to lose weight. This could be something we used to our advantage, maybe putting a slight twist on the normal health and fitness campaigns.
• A long poster, billboard size, of many figures walking (all representing the same person). Starts off with an over weight, slouched person seeming unhappy; eventually gets to being a fit, healthy and happy person. Simple message about walking promotes health and happiness etc.

I think to get any idea about the best way to solve this problem, we need to get views and opinions of our audience. I think the people we need to be aiming this at should be people aged 17 - 60. I think this is a suitable age range as 17 is the age people can drive, as well as start getting jobs, so would be much less inclined to choose to walk. Generally, people after the age of around 60 will be less likely to walk places, especially if they are far,  as they are getting old and this would be physically too hard for them.

If this project was to be used as the official campaign to get people to walk 10,000 steps a day, it would need to be universally applicable; if it is universal it can be used across the world with only small changes needed to be made. This might be something we need to take into account when thinking about ideas and design work.

Different means of communicating our message, thinking about how this will cause our message to be spread around:

• Newspaper
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Posters
• Stickers
• Flyers
• Billboards
• E-Mail
• Magazines
• Zines
• Word-of-Mouth
• Radio
• Television
• Pinterest
• App
• Book
• Internet

Depending on the method of delivery we choose depends on the specific audience we should aim our project at as well as things such as content, language, tone of voice and format.

Group Review:
We got together as a group and discussed our individual ideas. We decided that our best idea was to create our own affordable, outdoor walking brand; a brand would allow us to branch off and create many aspects that form it. To get some sort of an idea of how these kinds of brands work and the various products and aspects that form the brand, I am going to look into some existing companies and brands.

This is information about the various things you will need when going walking, taken from http://www.thewalkingsite.com/gear.html:

• Shoes - The most important item you need is a good pair of walking shoes. Shoes should fit comfortably, have a flexible sole and plenty of toe room.
   
• Socks - As important as what shoes to wear is your choice of socks. Be sure to wear the socks you will walk in when trying on shoes. Choose Thorlo or any socks made of cool max, rather than the standard cotton sock. Your feet will be much more comfortable, dryer and more likely to stay blister free in this fabric.
   
• Clothing - Wear what is comfortable for you. Wicking fabrics can make walking more comfortable. Also be sure to dress for the weather. On cold weather days, layer your clothing so items can be removed as you warm up. Add a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses on a sunny day.
   
• Water - Please be sure to drink plenty of water. If walking around the block drink some water before you head out and more when you return. If walking for longer than 30 minutes take your water along. Be sure to drink every 20 minutes. There are many convenient water carriers - from waist packs to shoulder carriers. Choose what works best for you.
   
• Heart Rate Monitor - The serious walker may want to invest in a heart rate monitor. This is the easiest way to measure exertion. Wireless types are best because they give an accurate readout and are comfortable to wear. They're comprised of a belt worn around the chest and a wristwatch display.
   
• Pedometer - A pedometer is a device that counts your steps and/or mileage. They must be accurately adjusted to your stride length to get a good reading. They come with a variety of features. Some will even calculate calorie expenditure. The most sophisticated versions are are the new GPS systems. These actually calculate speed and distance based on satellite readings.
   
• Personal Stereo - A personal stereo or MP3 player can be a great walking companion. Music can motivate you and energize your workout while helping to pass the time by creating a distraction. Be sure to keep the volume at a low enough level so you can hear what is going on around you, and use good judgement. There are locations/times safe for listening to music and those that are not.
   
• A Training Diary - A diary or fitness log is a great tool. Use it to write down your goals, and keep track of your fitness program. A wide variety are available or make you own. (There are also many sites where you can track your progress online.)
   
• Fanny Pack - Of course when you get too much gear you will need something to carry it in. There are fanny packs, waist belts, and back packs of all shapes and sizes. A fanny pack that is big enough to carry your essentials and a water bottle is a good investment.

These could all be products that, as a brand, we design, create and would sell. Covering a wide range of products would mean our brand would seem more official and seem more likely to work as an official brand. 

Websites based around walking and running:

http://www.thewalkingcompany.com/ - This websites focuses on the footwear aspect of walking. They sell numerous different brands of footwear giving the customer a wide choice.

 This is the homepage of the website.

This shows the wide range of brands of footwear that they sell.

http://www.roadrunnersports.com/ - This websites sells just about everything in terms of running and outdoor fitness gear, ranging from footwear to apparel to nutritional products. Selling such a wide range of goods, from such a wide range of sources and brands, allows them to appeal to and attract a wider audience.

http://www.realage.com/walking/best-music-to-walk-to - This website is designed to provide different types of music that suits every type of different exercise, whether it be low intensity or high intensity. It contains numerous playlists that correlate to your walking levels.

These are just some examples of different websites that are for a similar purpose to ours. There are many, many more. For ours to be successful in any way, we would need some sort of a unique selling point, something that makes us different and better from everybody else.

As a group, we spoke about putting together a sort of 'walker's pack' that would consist of a collection of products that you would need if you were to go out walking. This would contain a set of goods, similar to the list that I showed earlier, as well as information about our brand and leaflets/info-graphics about the benefits of walking etc. 

My Idea:
From looking through these websites and thinking about the ways in which we could target and communicate our message to a specific audience, I thought that maybe we could produce some sort of publication; this could contain all of the information that we would need to persuade people to start walking more, as well as educating people about the benefits and selling products etc. like a website would. We could make it completely different to the magazines and publications that are available on this topic now; we would achieve this by making the appearance seem more about aesthetics than content (making all of the pages look very visually appealing and easy to read, without cluttering it with useful stuff) If we have time, we could make the publication into a brand or produce a website that would accompany it. Aspects of our previous idea such as the leaflet/info-graphics could still be easily incorporated within this publication, as part of the actual publication or even just as supplements that you would get when receiving our publication. To continue with the idea of this being an 'affordable alternative', this could maybe be a one-off edition or just a free publication that you could sign up for somehow. In terms of content, it could contain the usual aspects of a health and fitness magazine: information (including maps etc.), photographs, products to purchase, stories from readers, other topics relating to health and fitness etc. Being a publication that is free or a one-off edition would mean that we could very easily answer the brief in terms of 'Communication is a Virus'; this being the idea that our message/outcome could be easily spread around, like a virus. These publications could be handed out in the street for free, put inside newspapers and magazines as a free supplement etc. We could even make digital versions of the publication which could then be put online or sent to people via e-mails or through online sign-up systems.
- I am going to take this idea to my group and see what they think; until then I am going to look into publications that I find visually appealing, as well as existing health and fitness publications, to show my group and give them a rough idea what I mean.

These are some examples of publications that I have found that I think are very aesthetically pleasing and are very different visually to the existing and common forms of health and fitness publication. 

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These are very visually appealing and very different to the traditional health and fitness magazine. I am now going to look for the modern health and fitness magazine to try and understand how they arrange their pages in comparison to these examples I have found.

These are common examples of the type of design work used when creating Health and Fitness magazines; these being from the publication 'Men's Health'. The main audience of the publication is men aged between around 18-40 years old and it focuses on ways in which you can get in better shape and become fitter etc.

 

This is the kind of typical layout that gets used through these publications; it is absolutely crammed with information and imagery. It uses very bright and in-your-face colours, even for the type, which confuses the eye at which part should be looked at first etc. I think that this information could easily be displayed in a much more organised and aesthetically pleasing manner, making the overall publication much more efficient, successful and generally just a lot nicer to look at.

Concept Crit:
During the crit we presented our ideas and got feedback from Amber and Simon about the practicality of  our project. We hadn't previously realised that our outcome had to be real and applicable in the real world; we had to be able to go out and get feedback from whatever we had designed/thought about. Our idea to create a 'kit' that we would hand out is practically impossible, we don't really have the money or the time to create enough packs to get assessable feedback in time for the deadline. Cost is a huge factor within this project and because of this we are very limited to what we create and how we create it. Our current target audience that we felt we were aiming our product at was people aged 14+, as well as people that already go to the gym. Looking back, I feel that this is the wrong target audience; we should be aiming our concept at at wider range of the general public, especially those who are currently unfit.

Me and Sarah have been talking about these drawbacks and trying to think of alternative outcomes that would effectively resolve the brief whilst correcting all of our miscalculations.

Our Idea:
We think that our best idea and the resolution that most effectively fits the brief is creating a publication that persuades and informs people about walking 10,000 steps a day. To do this, we would design something completely different to the common 'health and fitness' magazine and much more aesthetic based. It could contain things such as information (including maps etc.), photographs (these would have to be black and white, half-tone, screen printed etc. to suit the requirements), products to purchase, stories from readers, other topics relating to health and fitness etc. as well as much more. However, a publication would involve printing many pages that could end up costing us a lot of money that we don't have; we do, however, have some solutions. To give our publication something unique, as well as cutting costs a lot, we could print it onto newsprint. This would solve all of our problems as well as making our final outcome look much more aesthetically pleasing. To further cut costs, we could create our own paper size, using the skills and techniques learned from our design principles sessions, that could mean we were able to print a full publication onto only a few sheets of cheap newsprint. As this magazine would be designed to be a free publication, this cheap outcome would make much more sense if it was to be produced at a much larger scale and would allow us to hand out a lot more for the same price or less. We could hand these out to people on the street which would allow our product to be quickly spread amongst the general public; copies of the publication could also be left in small shops, hair salon's, newsagents, travel agents etc. To further spread the communication and distribution of our product, a digital version could be made and put online for anyone to be able to access whenever and wherever they want. To involve social media networks as well, such as twitter, we were thinking about designing some form of sticker or badge that could be a symbol of our publication; people would be encouraged to go out on their own walks and take and send in photographs of themselves with the badges/stickers.

Group Meeting: 
As a group, we got together to discuss the progression of our project. We discussed the paper size and everyone agreed that we had the correct paper size for our publication. We also talked about ideas that people have come up with. One idea was, due to our publication now containing mainly motivational quotes and facts etc., we could create a series of post-card like designs with our text or imagery on; these would be handed to the public instead of, or as well as, the publication. We think that people are more likely to keep a small flyer, maybe stick it on their wall or fridge etc. as opposed to a publication which would more than likely be thrown away. However, we still felt that creating a publication would be a good thing and would help us successfully deliver our message and fulfill our brief. We had the idea to create the publication using our quotes and messages etc. and perforate the paper allowing the receiver of the publication to tear out pages that they liked; this meaning that we could incorporate both our ideas into one. It would, however, mean that we would need to re-think our choice of stock. Newsprint is definitely not a suitable choice for this purpose as we are going to need something a lot sturdier for it to be able to withstand being handled and torn apart; something like antique paper would be much more suitable and still has the aesthetically pleasing off-white colour. Another thing that we are going to have to seriously consider now is the binding of the publication. Before this decision to perforate our pages and use stock other than newsprint, binding was irrelevant as we were going to put our pages together in the same style as a newspaper. Now, however, binding will be a huge factor in the production of our publication. I am going to look into these elements, typefaces and consider some colours we could use alongside our stock and black that will help portray a sense of 'health and fitness' and 'outdoors'.

Different types of binding:

• Perfect binding: Gluing the outside edge of the signatures to create a flat edge.
• Saddle-stitch binding: Uses one or more staples on the fold of the signature.
• Side-stitch binding: Stapling the signatures together on the side rather than the fold.
• Case binding: Signatures are sewn together and attached to the hard cover.
• Plastic comb binding: Plastic teeth are fitting into a stack of pages. 
• Three-ring binding: Holes are punched into the pages and fitted into a binder.

 

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Personally, I think that one of the types of stitch binding would be the most suitable for our publication. However, this completely depends how we decided to produce our publication; if we use double page spreads this may be suitable but if we use single pages that are placed together, this wouldn't work. In this case, perhaps perfect binding would be the most appropriate method to use.

As our idea was originally based around the book 'Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite' by Paul Arden, a book aimed to make people start thinking differently about basically everything, I think that our publication should share similar visual traits to this book. I am going to look at the different page lay-outs used within Paul Arden's book, as well as his choice of typefaces and point sizes etc.

Typefaces:
I am going to look through the book 'Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite' by Paul Arden and try to determine the various typefaces he has used. To do this, I am going to use Identifont which is a website designed to help identify a font through appearance, name, designer etc.

The typeface used by Paul Arden for the headlines and titles etc. is 'EF Alternate Gothic No. One'. This typeface was made is 1903 by Morris Fuller Benton and looks like this:

The typeface used for the body copy within this book is 'Clarendon Text'. It was designed in 2007 by Patrick Griffin and looks like this:

I think that for our publication, perhaps we could think about using a serif font alongside a sans serif font. If not, I think that we should definitely consider using a tall and bold font, such as 'EF Alternate Gothic No. One' for our quotes and statements etc, as this would help the text to stand out and be readable from a longer distance. With our publication being quite small and being very simple and minimal, our text is going to have to be very clear and bold to ensure that our page doesn't seem empty. My group have discussed and are thinking about using these two fonts within our publication:

Bebas - For the Titles, Quotes, Headings etc.

 

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Helvetica - For the body copy

I think that these are probably good choices to use as Bebas shares many visual qualities with 'EF Alternate Gothic No. One', the font that Paul Arden uses for the same purpose within his book. Helvetica seems like a good choice as it is very simple and readable; maybe Helvetica is too much of a safe choice though as it is used a lot within modern graphic design. This being said, I imagine that we won't be using very much body copy due to time restrictions and our publication now being based around the idea of quotes and motivational statements. With the two fonts both being sans serif they should work together very nicely and complement each other. I am also going to look at how Paul Arden's book is laid out in order to give us some sort of inspiration and guidance when creating our own publication. Here are some double page spreads I like and think relate to the way in which we are thinking of composing our pages:

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As we are hoping to accompany the majority of the quotes and statements with info-graphic that correlate to them, I am going to look into various ways that info-graphics have been and could be used to represent different facts and statistics. This piece of info-graphics, taken from Pinterest, shows different ways in which you can visually represent various forms of facts and statistics; later going on to show how colour can be added to these.

 

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Info-graphics, mainly due to time restrictions, are going to have to be a secondary consideration. We will have to focus mainly on the written content of the publication etc. in order for us to complete our project on time. Another aspect of the publication that we need to think about is the colour scheme; as we are only allowed to use two colours plus stock, with the body copy needing to be in black, we have to seriously consider the one last colour. I think that in order for our publication to successfully represent walking and the outdoors, the colour should be taken from this. I am going to gather some objects from outside, such as leaves and stones etc., and match this with colours from the pantone range.



These are the colours that my group have decided to choose, selected by Roxxie:

 

We have black (for the body copy etc.), a bluey-green and a cream (which represents the colour of the stock we are going to use). We will almost definitely be using antique paper which is reasonably cheap and has this aesthetically pleasing off-white colour shown above. I think that these colours work very nicely together as they are all very subdued, there aren't any bright vibrant colours that overwhelm the design. The bluey-green colour is very calming and has a outdoor feel about it which successfully portrays our intended message of health and well-being.

When creating my logo designs, in order to get some inspiration and enable me to see how other companies have incorporated similar themes to us into their logos, I looked at existing logo designs. These were taken from www.logopond.com:

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For my logo ideas, I am going to look at incorporating similar ideas as these as well as creating my very own, unique design that is specific to this brief and publication.

Although I already have quite a lot of information about walking and other aspects of this subject, I am going to look into motivational quotes and statements about walking that will be added to the content of the publication.

Information taken from http://www.medicinenet.com/walking/article.htm:

What are the top 10 reasons to walk?

1. Walking prevents type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program showed that walking 150 minutes per week and losing just 7% of your body weight (12-15 pounds) can reduce your risk of diabetes by 58%.
2. Walking strengthens your heart if you're male. In one study, mortality rates among retired men who walked less than one mile per day were nearly twice that among those who walked more than two miles per day.
3. Walking strengthens your heart if you're female. Women in the Nurse's Health Study (72,488 female nurses) who walked three hours or more per week reduced their risk of a heart attack or other coronary event by 35% compared with women who did not walk.
4. Walking is good for your brain. In a study on walking and cognitive function, researchers found that women who walked the equivalent of an easy pace at least 1.5 hours per week had significantly better cognitive function and less cognitive decline than women who walked less than 40 minutes per week. Think about that!
5. Walking is good for your bones. Research shows that postmenopausal women who walk approximately one mile each day have higher whole-body bone density than women who walk shorter distances, and walking is also effective in slowing the rate of bone loss from the legs.
6. Walking helps alleviate symptoms of depression. Walking for 30 minutes, three to five times per week for 12 weeks reduced symptoms of depression as measured with a standard depression questionnaire by 47%.
7. Walking reduces the risk of breast and colon cancer. Women who performed the equivalent of one hour and 15 minutes to two and a half hours per week of brisk walking had an 18% decreased risk of breast cancer compared with inactive women. Many studies have shown that exercise can prevent colon cancer, and even if an individual person develops colon cancer, the benefits of exercise appear to continue both by increasing quality of life and reducing mortality.
8. Walking improves fitness. Walking just three times a week for 30 minutes can significantly increase cardio-respiratory fitness.
9. Walking in short bouts improves fitness, too! A study of sedentary women showed that short bouts of brisk walking (three 10-minute walks per day) resulted in similar improvements in fitness and were at least as effective in decreasing body fatness as long bouts (one 30-minute walk per day).
10. Walking improves physical function. Research shows that walking improves fitness and physical function and prevents physical disability in older persons.