Sunday 7 February 2016

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 04 FAFF Researching Similar Organisations

This was an organisation cited by Sharon in particular during the briefing. To see what all the fuss was about Izzy and myself got their website to have a look at how they brand themselves. We made some note about the key points that we noticed.
Highlights of pink- it's a bright decisive colour choice when combined with black aspects it almost looks a bit punk. However, can this colour choice be a bit cliche in representation of feminism.
Women's silhouette- somewhat ironically using.a stayed image of a woman from 1960s signage, with a circle acting as a magnifying glass, showing women as the focus. This ironic and somewhat tongue in cheek tone of voice and message is perfect for what could seem very dry subject matter. However, could this be done in a more professional and aesthetically pleasing way?
Tracking of type - the typographical aspect of the logo is spaced to fit into an oblong shape, basically fully justified. However, this creates the effect of increasing the visual texture of the type because each line is differently spaced. This in turn makes the type and the image aspect of the logo fight for dominance, the the differences in spacing making the toe draw the eye. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this but there is a sense of the two aspects fighting, this is something we will need to bear in mind with our own designs.
Colour in UX design - the way they have used the pink key colour in the functionality of the website is really interesting. The unclicked important links or buttons on each page are pink while the clicked buttons turn green. This is a clever use of colour symbolism, it seems as if with each click to educate yourself you are making things better and using feminism to do so. This integration of branding in functionality and UX design is also something worth bearing in mind for our own design.
Over all, although we may argue that the logo is not very well executed in terms of aesthetic, it does what it needs to do and effectively so.



Literal imagery- the use of the image aspect of this design is a very literal representation of the ideas behind Vera media. Simply put they are framing women in history. This is shown by the square placed above the image of a statue. This is simple in form but great in the concise communication of the central ideals of Vera media.
Suffragette colours- they have used green and purple, the colours of the original suffragette movement. Although this doesn't look bad her and even works in reference to the history of feminism, this really seems wrong for what we want to create. This is because FAFF needs to seem independent and open to celebrating all women's achievements rather than just suffragette movements. Also although FAFF is about recording the past and the present, the defining feature is that this shapes an optimism of the future of fiminism.
Name - Vera media is quite a vague and difficult to decode name which communicate very little of what they do. However, since their conception they have branched out into supporting many minority groups. This works in this situation because the image aspect of the logo communicates so much about this. However, FAFF, when not abreviated communicates so much about its ideals but also doesn't communicate what they actively do so much. This is something that we will need to consider in our own design.



Slick finish - this logo looks very slick and shiny in a way that looks almost magazine like. To a certain extent this works with the fact that this organisation is media based which in essence is very slick and shiny. However, both izzy and myself agreed that this was not the right finish for what we are branding because it contrasts with the message of universal celebration of women and the idea that looks are not what calidates women any more.
Pink key colour - once again this organisation is using pink as its key colour. When combined with the sleek finish of the brand this starts to look a bit preppy and fake. This could be just that when on a digital platform everything looks a lot more insubstantial and clean. Although this is something to think about with our own project, I think that this sleek professional look is what they are trying to create because they are celebrating professional woman however the preppy, fake look is a by product of this that we should be careful to avoid.
Visual content - the way they have structured their website is very effective in helping to communicate what they do. All the images of the women that have received recognition for their work are really effectiveness in creating positive images of what they do. This is something worth mentioning to Sharon to help them organise their content to their greater benefit.


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