Research map - Design Project A

The brief I’m exploring is “Giving and getting” and I chose to kick off my research by looking into a specific animal charity in Great Britain – The Blue Cross. I researched the organization via it’s corporate website and other online sources – taking note of its resources and evident communications methods.

I then organized these notes into a research map that would help me better digest them and uncover further questions. The map I created is organized into who, what, where and why sections. As in:

• What can be donated? What are the resources the organization needs from the public in order to function?
• Who donates or could donate? Who should be targeted?
• Why do people donate? What are the motivations?
• Why don’t people donate? What are the barriers?
• Where can people donate? What are the touchpoints between organization and public where resources are donated?

I drew lines between the list of resources and the possible motivations and barriers associated with each one. For example, those without the proper living environment would not be inclined to adopt an animal while those with spare time (i.e. students or retired persons) might be inclined to volunteer.

Around the map, I noted various methods by which the organization could reach the public with information. Those noted in red were ones I wasn’t sure existed or I thought might need improving. I also included a small key at the bottom of the map and the key goals of the brief to refer back to.

I placed notes throughout the map to identify missing information that is specific to the organization (in orange) and further research that needed to be done on my own (in pink). I came up with the following questions:

Individual research questions:

• What typically motivates people to give?
• What typically motivates people to give to animals?
• The role companion animals play in society. Why do people love their pets?
• Do other animal charities require different resources?
• Have other animal charities attempted to overcome barriers listed? Were they successful?

Questions for organization:

• What demographic gives most and who gives least?
• How are various demographics targeted differently?
• Has any formal research been done by Blue Cross (i.e. focus groups, case studies) to uncover target audiences or barriers to giving?
• Media relations: what outlets are typically targeted (i.e. print, TV, radio, online)?Have timely barriers occurred due to recent economic changes? How have they impacted the organization and how have you changed your communications strategy to accommodate?
• What current partnership relationships exist and are they being exploited to their fullest potential?
• What outreach method works best in encouraging giving and which doesn’t work at all or needs to be reworked?
• Is paid advertising an outreach method or can you obtain donated space or work with partners/sponsors on joint campaigns?

Hearts

Just a small illustration exercise I did this week.

Designers I think are neato

Noma Bar:
OK, so this guy is actually an illustrator but I just read about him in a magazine recently and fell in love with his work. He does fairly simple but brilliant illustrations. I particularly enjoy his portraits where he uses familiar silhouettes of famous people or characters and then one simple icon as a facial feature that also sums up their claim to fame. I also like his pieces that use negative space to juxtapose two different figures to create meaning for each one. In the interview I read, he mentioned that the simplicity of his work causes people to mimic his style – which I thought was an interested downside and something to consider when developing one’s design style.

Sanna Annukka:
Again, dang, also an illustrator. I noticed Sanna’s work when we took the trip to the Design Museum. They were selling her prints in the gift shop. I love the 60s mod/70s feel to her work in the use of color and general shapes. I’m a huge fan of patterns as well as flat, minimal illustration and I feel that she combines the two nicely. I also love that her work isn’t limited to the printed page – it also expands into home décor and textiles.

Greetings from Jolly Ol’!

Hello to you, reader of my first blog posting – EVER. I set up this blog as part of my MA in Design for Communication coursework – to record my process and progress on the various projects tasked to me throughout the year. However, I may also use this platform from time to time to showcase some of my self-initiated work  - such as this photo I took today of me on a scale I found in my new bathroom. The metric weights just scream, “You’re in Europe now!”. It even shows weight in stones, which I recently learned equals 14 pounds (or 6.35 kilograms). Wow!