This guy worked for o2

After some more research we found a designer who actually did a brief for o2. Before this we were under the impression that o2 had a specific graphic design for their company, apparently not. We found this guy, Sam Gilbey that designed for the o2 x awards. it is an inspiration to see that o have hired a freelance designer, we can see and deconstruct the way he may of approached the brief by his description and the final piece, this will help us when we are designing in detail to fit in with o2 design at the present.

http://www.sam-gilbey.com/design/

Mailshots

Another way in which we could advertise and deliver the message that we are better connected is through quick, simple yet effective mailshots. They are effective and also can be creative so that the user can interact with the product, which should make it more memorable.

Here are some example of mail shots out there at the moment.

All this designs are quick and simple, yet visually appealing. With our ideas we can incorporate some of the techniques used to portray "we're better connected" through designing a mailshot package for non o2 customers and present customers.

Further animation experiment

Developing the idea of possibly using the dot -to- dot sequence to represent connection both in digital media and print we played around with another simple ident idea that we could possibly develop along with print based resolution so that we can advertise in a range of medias and environments.

Here we used a well known object that relates strongly and represents connection....a jigsaw piece.

With purposes of development and testing we got alot form this and it has mad use think about what other objects can be linked and could represent connection both on it sown and with people. If we were to develop this idea we would want to animate the motion so that it is flowing instead of jerky, which would give a more realistic effect, and also, possibly have multiple jigsaw pieces that come together and connect which then fades into the o2 logo.

quick o2 ident experiment developed

From the previous short animation we created to grasp a possible concept for our o2 advertising, we wanted to edit the timing down so that it would be short and sharp yet still deliver the message. The animation was edited to a time that we think is suitable and gets the message across clearly.

We are really pleased with the progress that this animation has brought to our project and development, it has opened up other possibilities of where we can take it, such as tpye manipulation, animation, billboards and web. It has been a valuable experiment, one with pleasing results.

Advertising breakdown and tips

http://www.postersitesuk.co.uk/index.html

this is a link to a company who produces billboards and posters at large scales. we thought it would be worth looking at as we wanted to produce something using billboards and large scale adverts and we thought it would be wise to research the cost implications behind our idea (if it's a bit ridiculous or not)

Context photos research

this is some of our initial research to find out about companies such as o2 and what their competitors are doing. and along the way we found some interesting locations that we could use to advertise in. One of the main posters phone companies are using are sheets attached to the inside of the window, and usually they are done this way so that they can be changed on a regular basis to keep up with their promotions etc. also i liked the locations in store such as a giant iPhone and the POS stands as you could connect each stand to one another. also we found locations such as bus stops and steps that you could link together or use to put text or image onto to try and explore other avenues other than the usual bus stop posters. Along with this there where locations such as the centre of the light where there is a large beam that goes from ground level to the roof and i thought you could design something to be printed onto this that connects the floor to the roof such as a massive plug on the floor, the wire runs up the beam and connects to all the lights on the ceiling. these are some initial ideas however we will need to explore the in our development and see the realistic possibilities of these locations.

context, hyde park road, bus tops etc

i like the idea of the seating on the bus stop and that we could design something that gets people to connect or show a connection when they are seated at the bus stop. or the poster space in the middle could be used but then designs could be drawn out of the shape and onto the rest of the bus stop structure.

i thought that with this bus stop layout we could design something that links the two billboards together across the billboards. or even connect the two bus stops together!

on the telephone box there are really cool possibilities as phones are use to connect people so you could have something like "o2 late to call?" or "02 soon to call back?" could offer interesting and engaging adverts that consumers relate and are attracted too.

context ideas, billboards Hyde park corner

As our brief is better connected i thought that these billboards could offer some interesting ways of advertising o2's campaign. this is down to the fact that they are all positioned next to each other and you could design something that flowed across the three boards.

Both of the side billboards a quite long so there are possibilities of stretching the design out of or designing something that works on a long thin format. also when designing we will need to make sure we are designing to the right size for billboards or any other advertising contexts.

the middle panel is a rotating advert therefor there are options with covering each panel with something that changes but still works with the two side boards, they could be some visually interesting ways of using this function to our benefit.

Also there are this selection of billboards just on the opposite corner, again i feel there could be some interesting possibilities with this layout as you could design something to flow or "connect" over the four boards, also on the side of this there are the two single adverts and with these you could possibly incorporate this into the design layout of the grid of four billboards.

i feel that the location of these billboards are ideal for the consumer market as there is an array of shops and bars and restaurants that people regularly use. also it is a main passing points for students to pass on their way from home to the universities, therefor they will notice new adverts that are placed in these areas. Also something that is interesting and stands out form the other and would be talked about and more noticeable, and would appeal to the students and you professionals when passing them.

Dot -to- dot animation mock up

Through our research we uncovered alot of inspirational design that we could incorporate into this brief. But before we even stumbled across such design the idea of being better connected through a dot-to-dot sequence was thought up. This particular concept approach was liked during crits and was an idea that we decided we could try and develop. Design by the heads of state, as you can see in our previous blogging research has the similar dot-to-dot element, which further inspired our design process.

We then started to draw up a quick way that we could design o2 through the dot-to-dot sequence. After a quick, rough storyboard, a quick animation was created.

This quick and simple animation gives us confidence that we could produce a short ident for o2 along with other forms of advertisement. The text was vectoring in illustrator, joining up the dots that were placed over the layered text. After all the dots were joined constructing the entire statement, there were 211 separate layers. The layers were then opened into after effects and each individual layer edited so that the animation was consistent.

We have got alot from testing this idea as it means we can assess the design and concept and develop it in the areas we think it is weak or even take it in a completely different direction.

The improvements that we are wanting to make are to speed the animation up so that it is a quick sharp ident but still delivers the message and also experiment with different words and quotes aswell as background colours.

I apologise for the poor quality of the video as it has been down sized to fit on blogger.

Dot -to- dot animation tests

Here we created some tests to see how the dot-to- dot sequence would look on screen and how it could possibly be developed into a full ident or animation. We started by testing the individual words of the strap line o2 gave us, "we're better together" By doing initial tests it gives us a basis to start developing and look at what we could improve and develop in the next stage of design. but for the present time the initial design from paper to mac is a step in the right direction for design development.

We're

Better

Connected

These tests have been very informative and also got us using another media other than pen and paper and then to print. it is a different direction we intend to take out project. We hope to develop this idea further and create some interesting concept designs.

veers, type city

these pieces have been taken from veer and they are basically building that have been created from type. i picked these design s out as i thought that they provide a possibility of using type from text messages (what people say) then they can be used to create things iconic buildings around the world, and things that you use to connect such as envelopes, phones, pigeons.

the heads of state, designs 3

these are just a few other designs produced by The Heads Of State. i picked these out as the first two are really clever as they reverse the type out but use seeds to create the background, we could produce something that is similar to this idea, for example use what people send in messages to create the background then they form the words "we're better connected" the words could feature on separate prints or all on the same one. the bottom illustration interested me because it relates to our concept of connecting to people across the world and across the country and a simple image like this could work and then could be dissected and bits can be used to promote different offers etc.

the heads of state, designs type 2

this is some more type work that the heads of state have produced, i personally felt that the design was really appropriate to our project and the idea of dot to dot works really well. we could use the concept of dot to dot to create images or type and could create things that are ambiguous and makes people look at them and think about them what they make etc. however you could also do something that is a series that reveals the image slowly over time.

the heads of state, designs type

this is a typeface created by heads of state and i just really thought it was innovative and exciting. also it's using objects that are out there already, and things such as ceiling tiles which are something we don't usually pay attention too are changed so we think "o whats that all about" it gets people thinking thinking. we could use doors the floor things that people would stop and look at if something had been altered on.

the heads of state, designs 2

i really like the fresh feeling of using screen printing. in terms of this design i was thinking how the tree connects all it's branches and that we could do something that uses the tree but it is connected to a building to signify the connection from country to city. also the leaves could be phones or even type that Say's things such as what people would say in text messages.



this print gave me the idea of making the o in o2 link with things or how objects could link for example two objects that fit together (connect) such as key and lock or boat and paddle and see if these ideas could be merged.

this piece is really simple and i thought that we could do something like attach a person to an aeroplane or illustrate things that show people trying to connecting by using day to day transport but interacting it as a balloon that people are attached too. or the flower could be replaced by a phone etc.
this is an advert for the band beck i think the idea is really clever repeating the letters etc. also i like how the whole design fills the page and the style it's done in interests and draws people into it. my ideas steaming from this is that how we connect using buttons on phones or key board keys that could display thins like "trainshopping" like in the vodafone ads.

the heads of state, designs

Five covers in a system for a series of user experience design text books. each colour represents a book basically but each poster also does the same. in relation to this brief i felt the designs are really simple and the use of shapes and colours work really well and if it was applied to our brief we could produce something using circles (shape relates to o2) that link together, showing connecting.