Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Final Brief

A simple explanation of each spread:

Cover:
The cover begins the speech bubble aesthetic, it's simplistic, bold and sets the scene for the story being told by victims of bullying. 'Working within the food chain' plays with the metaphor we chose to use with the animals.

Issue:
The issue page includes our first environment with the lion and deer, the deer is explaining how it feels about the bullying situation. This gives an emotional and personal take on the issue. Stats are used to introduce the issue. 'In the lions den' is a known play on words, meaning being in a place of danger/risk. We have a clear heading, subheadings and body text.

Background:
Set out in the same manner as the issue page, this time with the two birds. Once again a play on words in relation to the animal used. The small birds down the right represent the many victims of bullying in the workplace. This spread is important as it informs people on what is actually considered bullying.

Audience:
Same as previous two, keeping cohesive. Fish and shark scenario. Minimal but to the point information.

Audience Needs:
This page is where the brief visually changes. We see the fish mixing with the sharks showing the fish making progress in confronting the issue even in the risky situation. The headings are no longer a play on words but represent the information. 

Client:
The client page is unique from the others, This is the different environment victims communicating to inform each other of the help available, the help being the clients. The use of cropping changes up the layout to keep it interesting.

 Client Motivation:
The client motivation is giving more detail on the organizations listed, mainly the union. The victim animals have now come together and are working towards an improved workplace and well-being. There is now hope for change.

Barriers:
We bring in the 'bully' animals again together. They are seen as part of the barriers as a common barrier is fear of the bully. I think many victims can relate to the barriers.

Desired Action:
Power in packs not only links to the animal kingdom, but suggests if you join forces with others you will have a louder voice and more power. The desired action really is to inform victims of what workplace bullying is, that it is unacceptable in any situation, there are ways of dealing with it and people out there willing to help. Its about giving victims hope and empowering them to stand up strong. All the animals and their groups have joined together now, an unbeatable force.



Final Spreads













Monday, 10 August 2015

Visual progression



We started to play around with how we wanted to layout our characters and tell the story
We choose to include speech bubbles to give the animals a voice and provoke emotion within the viewer. The speech bubble with a 'hand-drawn' type font in contrast with the clean information pages creates a visual dynamic that we will carry through the whole brief.

Sunday, 9 August 2015

Our vector characters

Here are the animals we created using the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator 








Our indesign grid, consistent throughout the brief.

Saturday, 8 August 2015

Referencing Resources

 References to websites that helped source our information


WAVE- Workplaces Against Violence in Employment, 2012.
http://www.wave.org.nz/

Ministry of Buisness, Innovation & Employment, New Zealand Government, 2009. http://employment.govt.nz/er/services/law/case/themes/2009-08-workplace-bullying.asp

10 Tips for dealing with workplace bullying, New Zealand Herald, 2014.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11339691

Workplace Bullying, 2015.
http://nobullying.com/workplace-bullying/
http://nobullying.com/bullying-statistics-in-new-zealand/

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions- Te Kauae Kaimahi,
Rights and Protection, 2010.
http://union.org.nz/rights

Preventing and responding to workplace bullying, WorkSafe New Zealand, 2014.
http://www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/information-guidance/all-guidance-items/bullying-guidelines/workplace-bullying

Rise in bullying complaints, national, 2014.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10667416/Big-rise-in-workplace-bullying-complaints

http://www.stats.govt.nz/

Friday, 7 August 2015


We did basic concept sketches/ storyboards to help decide on a visual narrative

Feedback

After making some progress with starting our vector animals and working out a narrative we spoke with both Lee and Mark about our idea and received helpful feedback. Mark suggested we follow an empowering narrative that gives hope to those who are experiencing workplace bullying, making it more about well-being of the victim than work and the bully.

He also suggested we check out Cahan & Associates. They transformed a basic and quite frankly boring annual report by making it into a narrative with cartoon images. Although this seemed odd and unconventional for the content, it was popular with the viewers, as they were more engaged with the narrative of the characters and the aesthetic.

Here's an image of the report


Thursday, 6 August 2015

Statistics

 One thing we found difficult that we did not expect was the lack of NZ statistics. This is the only valid statistic we could find that overall related to our brief. 


"The most recent Survey of Working Life by Statistics NZ revealed 10 per cent of employees had experienced discrimination, harassment or bullying at work in the previous 12 months."

"Last year, a survey by Victoria University found almost a third of the 16,000 Public Service Association members who responded had experienced bullying in the state sector"

- Shane Cowlishaw
Article on stuff.co.nz

Clients







Visual Inspiration/ Research





I liked the look of the basic geometrical
vector images. This would make for a
clean, yet effective design.

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Visual Rhetoric

We came up with the idea of showing hierarchy and bullying in the workplace in a metaphorical manner. Using animals and their place in the food chain. For example; Lion- deer, shark- fish, bear-beehive and eagle- little bird. The different animals are obviously from different environments, this represents that bullying can take place in many varying workplaces.

Using the dominant character as the 'bully' and the weaker character as the 'victim'.
From here it should be simple to create a type of narrative to engage the viewer, rather than boring them with basic info.