www.airtoons.com

Airtoons is a website which doesn't have much function except to make fun of the airline safety card instructional images.
The website started when the creator was taking a flight and chose to read the safety card from the pocket of the seat in front. He saw this image:

And wondered why there was a picture with no text that looked like a man eating licorice out of his life vest. He realised after a while that it was a tube to blow in and inflate the vest, but looked through other images an found many similarly confusing pictures. 

After this he decided to make a website featuring many pictures similar to this one which he has captioned just as the in the image above. 

While looking on this website I also found these instructional images which were released by the government when a nuclear terrorist attack looked imminent. It is interesting to see the exact same look and feel as the plane safety cards but in a completely unrelated context.

This could be really useful as a reference point when I start to experiment with my own versions of informational images.

Instructional Images

I found the image below while I was looking at some fire safety equipment to see if it could fit with the brief and thought that it could be an interesting way to take forward the instructional images.

It shows the fire safety code for schools with illustrations to make it clear what the point is. 

This is the same kind of thing that I would like to achieve but with much simpler characters instead of the shaded drawings below. 

The in-flight safety cards below show the kind of drawing style that I would like to use for my instructional images. I want to use really simple characters and objects to create the same kind of pictures, using directional arrows to suggest movement and people to represent the audience. 

I want to try and use these images in a funny way to attract the user with humour. 

I should use the images to convince the audience to save using the money box and to try not to spend money unless necessary. 

The below example is from the film 'Fight Club'. The characters in the film think that it is strange that on the in-flight safety cards non of the people are scared or panicked but all remain perfectly calm even thought they are very likely about to die. So to solve the problem, the characters create this new more realistic version and get one of their friends to replace all the cards in a plane with their new cards.

Although the idea is a really dark humour, it is the same kind of idea that I want to create. I want to change the whole feel of the seriousness and kind of corporate PC imagery. 

Emergency Equiptment

After finding that the fire alarm idea had be taken for a money box, I decided to see what other types of alarm or emergency equipment exists and see how suitable it could be as a money box.

Above are a selection of fire alarms from other parts of the world. The middle image in the top row is the common UK fire alarm that most people would recognise. This is the alarm that i wanted to use, but it is far too similar to the existing money box that it seems uninteresting to try and create it myself. 

The other alarms could be posibilities, but the main issue is that they are almost unrecogniseable as alarms in this country. Because of the shape and colour of the alarms it could be assumed that this is what they are but at the same time the product could end up just being confusing and leave the audience why the alarm looked like that. 

This alarm is an alarm clock based on a hammer and bell analogue alarm. It is quite a clever use of the analogue style alarm and is kind of ironic that the creator has turned something analogue into something digital. The fact they are using the style of a serious and important alarm as an alarm clock built specifically for novelty is quite funny. 

I could use the analogue style of bell and hammer alarm as part of a design for my product but it is likely to be very difficult. It would impossible to modify an existing alarm but equally as impossible to craft one myself. 

This is another design for an alarm but this time the alarm is concealed behind a door. This is a much more realistic style of design that I could use for my money box because of the simple shape and existing mechanism (door opens to reveal money inside). The only problem is that I don't think it is recognisable as an alarm at all apart from the bold type on the door. I like the simple shape but I don't think that this idea could be used as my money box. 

This is another design for a completely analogue alarm. In this instance the handle is pulled to release high pressure gas through a horn which creates the loud alarm noise. As interesting as this product is, I think it is far too complicated in shape to be turned into a money box of any kind.

Instead of the alarm, this time I looked into a siren light. The design of the siren light is easily recogniseable and immediately gives the sense of emergency so it would relate well to my brief. However, the design is again complex and doesn't really have any existing relationship to a money box. There is o way for the money to go it or come out, and the inside is filled with a bulb and electrical parts. Again, I would not be able to use an existing light because of the materials used to create it and I would not be able to craft it myself because of the complexity. 

Looking at a different style of the siren light, this design would have exactly the same problems as the previous one and I don't think it would work at all as a money box. 

The fire blanket seems to be a surprisingly good existing design to link with my brief. The main things that I notice are that it has a really simple shape to work with which I think could be crafted myself out of lightweight materials such as a thick card and strong glue. In terms of design, it has a large flat surface on the front which would be useful for adding instructional images and type. 

It has the tapes which create an easy way to open the box but also can be easily resealed to make sure that the money box is re-useable. Maybe the only problem is the ambiguity of the box because it could really be anything unless labelled and placed correctly. 

The fire extinguisher is undoubtedly the most recognisable symbol for an emergency that there is, though  I'm not sure if it represents a fire or an emergency more. In terms of design the extinguisher is far too complex to work with and would be quite unrealistic to use in my design. 

After looking at these I think that it is probably the fire blanket that I can work with the best so I need to develop the idea further and see if it is realistic to use as my product. 

I also found these emergency signs while I was looking for images of the equipment.
The signs are definitely immediately noticeable as being directly linked to all emergency and evacuation situations and could be really useful to use on or with my product.

The simple, bold type and illustrations are clear and leave no room for confusing the message.

Emergency Money Bank

After thinking that I came up with the idea of an emergency 'Break Glass' money bank I decided to post the existing ones here.

These are the two main ones that I could find which popped up over and over again when searching for the product. It looks at though these things are really popular as they are featured across hundreds of websites. I was genuinely surprised to know that they already existed when I searched for them on google, but I suppose it makes sense that someone could have had the same thought chain as me and come up with the same resulting idea. 

Actually the money box that I had in mind was based on the common UK fire alarm box so it would not have looked the same but I still think far too similar to take forward as the design of my final product.

Theosaurus

To start the Speaking from Experience brief I was looking at piggy banks and different innovative ways that they could be designed. I found a few different designs for the piggy banks but most of them were simple generic pigs with different patterns painted on their outside.
Until I found this variation on the piggy bank called 'Theosaurus' <- click for link

The designers simply altered the original design by making the pig stand up and using the snout nostrils as money slots.

The design itself is quite modern and has very little to suggest that it is even a pig besides the obvious snout and the ears. Other than that, we can understand that it is a pig because of its context in holding money the same way as a regular piggy bank. 

The bank comes in a few different designs but nothing drastic; the overall look and feel is kept simple. 

The whole product comes packaged in a box with an instruction booklet held in the lid. 

Although this is obviously beyond my ability to create, it definitely shows the extent of the development that could happen during the brief. The designers clearly thought outside of the normal design and what has been created before to make their design interesting and stand out from the rest.

Type and Image - Amnesty International

I'm really interested in design which is used to change peoples minds or actions for the better. I'm almost always impressed with the design used by Amnesty International because it focusses on so many human rights issues (Probably the most important issue in terms of world ethics) in so many different ways but always remains impressive and thought provoking. Almost every piece of design is eye catching and many use contraversial content to get their message across in a shocking but effective way which I find really impressive because the designers know just how far they can take a topic before it becomes completely offensive or distasteful.



This is an example of one of the Amnesty adverts that impresses me the most. They disguise the issue of world arms trade as a teleshopping advert to show the relaxed, casual way that arms dealing is regarded. They use teleshopping as an example of how easy it is to buy illegal weapons in mass from different parts of the world and the entire video is made perfectly to look like a typical low budget teleshopping channel.



Again this is another amnesty video advert which shows several types of abuse which amnesty works to fight. It uses the same kind of shock tactics which can be seen in a lot of other amnesty ad campaigns and I think it works really effectively. It covers all ages, races, several nationalities and both genders to relate to as many people as possible and represent different human rights violations across the world.

This is another Amnesty advert but this time in print. It uses a really simple idea but one which is innovative as far as I'm concerned and uses a common existing product with a simple tweak to make it work in the confines of the topic.
The idea behind the campaign is about supporting Amnesty to help rescue wrongly imprisoned people who have been targetted because of ethnicity, gender, religion, language etc.
Just by the simple action of taking the letter out of the envelope, the prisoner who was behind the bars on the window of the envelope is now free in just the same way as Amnesty would like to help wrongly imprisoned people.

Type and Image - 3M Security Glass

The above image is an advertisment for 3M security glass which is part of a bus stop in the US. The security glass claims to be unbreakable, and to show this the company placed real money between two sheets of its security glass and ecouraged the public to try and get the money.The advert works on a lot of levels to show the company in a good light.

The most obvious reason for the advert is that it is straight to the point and completely proves the quality of the product.

As well as showing off the quality of the product, the placement and visibility of the advert make sure it will always have a huge amount of attention which makes for great promotion of the product.The fact that you can physically see and feel and test the product means that you don't have to enquire much further to decide if you want it or not.Maybe the best part about the advert is that it shows off innovation and impressive design, as well as a great sense of humour and ability to force public interaction.

This design is probably more image based than image and type but I think that the type in the bottom left corner of the glass is important for the overall effectiveness of the design. It shows the 3M logo as the largest type in the whole image clearly explaining which company the advert is linked to and states clearly next to it that the product is security glass. By doing this, people know exactly what the product is and who make it, as well as the connotations that the advertisment brings with the understanding that it is security glass and the mass  money behind it.

The reader immediately associates this product with protecting their money, whether they are a large bank firm or even a small convenience shop.

Type and Image - Graphic Thought Facility

GTF are a London based graphic design company that work with many high profile clients across the UK. They work in print, digital media, product packaging, identity and probably touch on everything else in the industry.

Above are  a series of print adverts created for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Productions advertising a series of theatrical plays for a season called "The Edges of Rome". GTF have clearly looked into roman history and have based the idea on roman grafitti which was common on the streets of ancient rome. GTF have given the grafitti a modern look of grafitti to show that the plays are still relevant and desirable in the present.
Each poster is well linked by sharing a lot of the same composition and format.
The Shakespeare Globe Theatre logo features in the center of the left hand side of each poster and the right hand side is split in to two parts: The image covers about 2/3 of the side and then the short bit of writing sits just above it.

The other important part of the design is the use of colour and the splats of paint across the left side of the advert. Each poster has just 2 individual colours besides black white and grey. This works well to seperate each design and give them a sense of individuality as well as link them again to the modern, colourful and vibrant style of grafitti.
The designs follow an obvious pattern which must have been the order in which the plays were advertised and performed. It is easy to tell the order because of the layers of colours.
Instead of having each advert as an individual design, GTF have taken the previous design and added the next design on top of it for both the colour splat and the image in each design.
The image itself changes for each design and is related to an aspect of each story.

This is another design by GTF for Marks and Spencer Café Revive. The simple design uses cocoa powder in the shape of florar designs using stencils. The designs are used on top of coffee and on the walls of the cafe. The design is simple and really pleasing to look at because of the varied patterns and tones of the cocoa powder depending on the thickness and accuracy of the application.
The design is really clever and quite innovative, though it links to an old post I have on here from a company using the same process to put their logo on the top of cups of coffee.

As well as showing off the innovation and progression linking to Marks and Spencer, the designs are also elegant and suggest some kind of intellectual superiority.

Communication is a Virus

Onion News:

Onion news is an American fake news website quite similar to what we will be making. They show fake news stories either regarding recent news or just seemingly random stories. The stories are internationally focussed but usually regard the United States. Like oir website will be, every story on the site is fake.
The big difference between this website and the one that we want to create is that Onion news is very over the top and very clearly fake. It is almost marketed as fake news and is specifically for comic entertainment. We want our website to be as believable as possible so we will try not to hint that the stories are false.

Communication is a Virus

We decided that we wanted to look at making a mock websites which featured a lot of different lies in the form of news stories. Naturally the first place to look is at news websites:

Each othe these websites have a lot of the same aspects across them:
-Logo at the top
-Usually a navigation bar under the logo
-Search bar in the middle or right of the screen
-Images across the page
-Many show adverts at the top or right side
-Often have date and time
-Usually have videos

To make sure that our website looks genuine we will have to make sure that we focus on all the aspects that other news websites have and at least think about and experiment with each of these points.

Kailie Parrish

This is a really good example of some information graphics which works really well. The designer recorded her dreams for 2 and a half months and then categorised them into groups (location, mood, type etc) through lines and colours.

This links in well with the 'What is a line?' brief because it is physically made up of lines but also shows a line of events which matches to one of the line definitions.