Vilde R Tobiassen
Digital Advertising and Design Blog
Portfolio Project - Website
The second part of the portfolio project was to create an online portfolio to showcase my work. I already had a website up and running at the beginning of this project, however, I made some changes to the website, throughout the unit. I also ended up deleting some of the projects that were on there originally as I realized that I don’t think they represent me or my best work. One of the key things I changed after speaking to Brian was the navigation, to begin with my website didn’t have any nav and the user had to go back to the home page every time they wanted to see a new project, I now have a drop-down navigation, which makes it a lot easier to flick through the website
I also had a portfolio review at Wieden+Kennedy which was super helpful, and I received a lot of useful tips. One of the key things I was told was that while its good to have real client briefs, its almost even better to show personal creativity and self-initiated projects. Based on this feedback, I created an “Experiments” section on my website where I’ve put up some things I’m working on or the side or just trying out. Hopefully, this shows that I like experimenting and trying out new things.
I think my website displays my work well and shows off my best projects. Although I think my portfolio is something that can constantly be improved and hopefully it will be constantly evolving to become better.
For the portfolio project, I worked collaboratively with Jordan. We both wanted to explore a field we had never tried out before, and both of us were quite curious and intrigued by the Bare Conductive Touch Boards. We had previously discussed a project idea but never got around to actually doing it, so having an open brief for the portfolio project suited us perfectly.
When the Touch Board first arrived we did a lot of brainstorming about how we could use the board in a creative way. We found that the best way to see what was possible was to just have a play around with the settings and get familiar with the board and using Arduino Code. We looked at a few tutorials online on how to set up the Touchboard as a MIDI board as well as a Theremin. Working with the board was really exciting and actually quite eye-opening, as it was a completely new design process for the both of us. We are both mostly used to working on digital, screen-based projects, so having something physical was a new challenge for the both of us, but I definitely learnt a lot from it as we continuously had to experiment and push the boundaries of our knowledge.
For our concept, we came up with the idea of celebrating mundane objects that are often taken for granted. In order to celebrate them, we turned them into an interactive installation that will give the user a newfound respect for the mundane objects, as suddenly they are shown in a brand new light. We coded the boards to be set up as Theremins, and each object was its own Theremin, meaning that the closer the user gets the louder it gets. To invite users to come closer to the objects we used small signs with tiny type so that the viewer would have to lean forward and thus initiating the sounds.
We plan to develop the installation even further and have a physical installation at our Degree Show. We will build plinths to simulate a real museum exhibition, by using plinths, the mundane objects will be made to look even more special.
Overall, this project has been both challenging and exciting, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring a brand new area, and I hope to do some more experimenting with Touch Boards in the future.
Degree Show
Jordan and I also ended up with taking the lead on this years degree show for DAD, and have been working to create the identity of the show as well as the physical production of it. We took on the ideas we discussed as a class, using the theme of the internet and old computer UIs. Working on the degree show alongside the portfolio project has been quite challenging, as we have struggled getting content from students, which has, in turn, left things until quite late and adding to the stress of having two projects running simultaneously. However, I think we’ve pulled it off well so far, and have managed to complete most of the banners so far, but still need to do quite a bit before the show is ready. I think juggling these two projects has been stressful, but it has also improved my time management skills and I’m sure that when I (hopefully) start working I will have more than one project on at the same time.
For my Final Major Project, I wanted to take the opportunity to learn a new skill. Coding languages is something I’ve always been intrigued about and wanted to learn more about but never gotten around to actually doing it. The reason why I chose to use Trump as my “character” or topic is that I find it extremely fascinating how a man who is so hated can be so loved by the internet at the same time, he is one of the most popular people to “troll” or make fun of on the internet, and I see almost daily, my friends sharing links to funny things about him, or just people on the internet posting about him and his tweets for example. It is well known that he is a person that knows how to aggravate and fire people up, his tweets are always offensive, and he says the most ridiculous things. Therefore a lot of people are angry at him. That’s where the concept for my animation came from, an online anger release. The user can use a digital boxing glove to punch his face around in a space. One of the reasons why I wanted to work on a project like this was to improve my skillset and also to do a project that is engaging and fun, and a bit different from other projects that I have done. A lot of my other work on my portfolio is mainly campaign ideas and concepts. Therefore I thought this would a good opportunity to do something completely different.
In order to create this animation I started doing online tutorials on Javascript on Codecademy, I also watched a lot of Lynda videos and tutorials on Youtube. I have to admit that this project turned out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, and I underestimated the amount of work and time and skills that go into creating smooth user-friendly web animations. I spent a lot of time on trying to learn and it took a while to get a grip of what to do and develop an understanding of the Javascript language. I don’t think that this is necessarily my strongest project if I’m just looking at the visual side or the concept side, however, I do think that because I took the time to teach myself a completely new skill, that was quite difficult as well, that I have been successful. My aim for this unit was to develop new skills and create work that stands out from my previous projects. There are of course many things I want to keep on exploring and learning about programming languages, and as I go along I will hopefully improve this initial project as well.
When it came to creating the animation, I tried out a number of different methods. I tried using existing animation libraries such as anime.js and velocity.js. I ended up using a program called Hype as well as just vanilla javascript. One of the biggest aspects was adding physics to the different elements and experimenting with the density and bounce of the different objects int he scene, in order for the collision between the boxing glove and trumps face to work correctly. I also had to create the boundaries of the scene so that the heads wouldn’t escape straight away. Next steps would be to add sounds on collision as well as possibly a counter.
Joe and I decided to work on the Hellmann’s D&AD brief together. The brief was to tackle food waste. We came up with a concept aimed at children, little monsters that live in the bin and tell a story about what happens when food is wasted by humans. This was a fun and different brief to work on, and it was definitely challenging in some ways. Previously, I have never worked with children as the target market, so I think that having done this project has been beneficial to me, as it has widened my range of knowledge about markets. Furthermore, we also had to actually find a child, and film them for our concept video. Neither Joe or I had ever worked with children before, so it was a really good experience, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how it went. Overall I’m really happy with the outcome of this project, we worked hard on it and I think we managed to come up with a nice solution for tackling food waste, that is a bit different than what a lot of other people might have gone for.
For my first D&AD brief, I decided to go for the Adidas brief. I chose this one because I love sports, and Adidas is a brand that I feel like I can relate to personally. I also found that the brief had a lot of room for creativity, as they didn’t specify any specific outcomes etc. I had fun working with my idea for this brief, my idea was to create a running highway, to get away from the crowds on the streets in big cities. One of the biggest things I got out of working on this brief was that I used Cinema4D for the first time, so it was really good to learn some new skills that I am going to try to develop even more over the next few weeks. Using Cinema4D really took the project to another level, as can be seen below.
The Bear Brief was a bit different to the briefs that we have been used to getting, it was more focused on communicating what the brand stands for, and what the brand wants the audience to see it as. Previously, briefs have been more about the activations and the outcomes. I think it was a really good experience to get a brief like this, that was actually issued by someone from the industry. It was really great to get feedback from Roberto on the presentations, and I think he gave really good constructive criticism that was helpful in developing my ideas. I did find that this project went on for a very long time, and I found it difficult to divide up my time correctly, which I think affected my work a bit at the beginning, however, I am quite happy with how the concept turned out in the end.
When I first heard how the live brief unit would work I was slightly terrified, it sounded very intense and quite daunting. A week to complete a brief is definitely not a lot of time, but completing this unit has definitely been very beneficial. At the beginning of the unit I hated pitching, I found it very scary and it was like I would forget how to speak when I stood in front of a client. However as this unit has passed by I have definitely become more confident when it comes to pitching, it definitely doesn’t seem like such a big deal (obviously it’s a big deal to pitch, but it doesn’t feel like the end of the world). There are definitely things I still need to improve on when it comes pitching, but I feel like this unit has given me a very good foundation. Having such a quick turnaround on briefs has definitely been challenging but I think it has created a sort of routine for me when it comes to getting a new brief and how I go about solving it. Previously I have only worked on briefs where we’ve had ages to do them, and I think I almost prefer the quick turn around because when you have over a month on something it’s easy to kind of plateau and get stuck and bored, but a week is challenging but fun. Overall this unit has been a big challenge but I have definitely seen improvement in my pitching skills and it has prepared me for different types of briefs I may get in the future.
Corndel is a software engineering academy training students under the Apprenticeship Levy. The objectives of the brief is to raise awareness of Corndel and encourage employers to hire a Corndel trained engineer.
Progress
For the Corndel brief I struggled a bit to think of a concept to start with, however the way the introduced themselves to us it genuinely seemed like a really good program and it seemed like something that would benefit all parties. Which is why I thought a campaign that runs on the idea that its a Win-Win for everyone could work. The campaign would consist of banners on web, posts on social and email newsletter, the ads would feature different reasons why using Corndel is a win-win.
Reflection
Once I found a direction with the Corndel brief I was quite pleased with my idea, I think my tagline is quite catchy and that it works for what Corndel wanted to say to the public.I think one thing that I could have done differently would be to make it look a bit more professional since they are a software engineering training program and it’s a serious business. I think I limited myself a little bit by only providing examples for the channels they provided, I could have shown how the concept could work on other channels that might be more creative. I think I also should have provided more examples of the web banners with different reasons why Corndel provides a win-win situation for everyone involved.
WWE is a massive global multimedia company and they have a large fanbase all over the world. However today children don’t watch TV in the same way that they did before, kids have different devices they can use and usually don’t have the attention span to stick to just one thing. The brief is to consider how WWE can stay relevant, what new areas does WWE need to consider?
Progress
I started off brainstorming, but quickly realised I needed to do some research first because I had never watched WWE before so I only had a vague idea of what it’s about. I found out that a lot of the things I had brainstormed, already existed, so back to square 1. Some of my initial ideas were
1. WWE Online training program
2. WWE Online game
3. Interactive tv show - viewer influences the outcomes
4. WWE PS/Xbox training program
At first I was quite focused on doing something that had to do with the fighting bit, however I moved away from it as WWE probably dont want children fighting each other in the playground. Instead I started focusing on the community aspect of WWE and how it brings people together. WWE already does reading challenges etc and are quite involved in supporting childrens education. My idea was to create an online learning platform for children. This platform would work as an online community where kids could post their weekly goals etc. and then exclusive content would be available.
This idea could also be extended to physical community clubs around the UK which would encourage kids to stay in school and hang out in a safe space around people who have the same interest as them.
Reflection
This is one of the briefs that I found to be the most challenging of all the live briefs, this is because I have never watched or been interested in WWE, so I had to read up on it a bit. I also found that they have so many different shows, features and existing games etc, so everything I thought of seemed to exist already. However once I found an area to focus on it became a bit easier. I quite liked my idea of creating a learning tool as it connects WWE to a very important aspect of kids’ lives. I think that once I again I could have stepped the idea up a bit to make it more exciting, at the pitch I got quite good feedback however I don’t think a learning platform was what WWE needed. If I were to do it over again I would probably try to think of an idea that incorporates use of newer technology, for example using VR or something that children can be fully immersed in, in their own homes. It was definitely a very cool experience to have pitched for WWE though, not everyone can say that they have done that.
Zakti is an affordable activewear/lifestyle brand and their aim is to make a healthy lifestyle available to everyone. Kimberly Wyatt has been the face of the collection, but as she is pregnant Zakti needs to find a replacement for the SS17 collection. The brief is to create a campaign to find the new face of Zakti.
Progress:
The first thing I did was to create a brainstorm so that I could get some ideas down on paper. For this project I want to focus on celebrating women being active and healthy. The first thing I thought of was the Adidas Unleash Your Creativity campaign, which is very inspiring and shows different women who all live a healthy lifestyle etc. I thought a good way to both increase engagement with the brand as well as actually finding the new face would be to do an Instagram competition. The campaign would be called “What Makes You Bold?”, this would invite women from all over the country to upload videos or photos of them doing what makes them feel strong and confident, this could be anything from football to yoga. The competition would work in a way that likes count as votes. There would be promotional material posted on Facebook and Instagram to increase awareness.
Reflection:
I thought this brief was quite fun as it was a bit of a challenge. I t was a very social media focused brief and what I found a bit challenging was to create a campaign that wasn’t too similar to everyone else, however I think that a lot of the ideas were quite similar in the end. I think that if I were to do this brief over again I would try to think more out of the box in order to make my idea stand out more. We didn’t recieve too much feedback from Zakti so it’s hard to say exactly where I went wrong, but I think that I was playing it a bit too safe with my idea.
Create a 20 second video that will inspire people to go to Richmond Park. The videos have to be inspirational and promote a respectful use of the park. Vidsy also gave us 5 creative tips for the video:
1. Be Quick
2. Sound Off
3. Think of the frame
4. Tell a story
5. Give it context
Progress:
For this brief, I worked with Jordan and Anya. We sat down to discuss some ideas straight away. At first we were thinking of making a video with a typical city-londoner, a man in a suit with a briefcase going into Richmond Park and having no idea how treat the park respectfully. However we realized that it wouldn’t really fit with the bref as it would be more funny than inspirational. We decided to create a video which focuses on how close it is to the city and how easy it is to get there, as well as the natural beauty of the park.
The video:
Reflection
I think that we did a pretty good job at relaying a message of how Richmond Park is full of beauty and that its close to London City. We also managed to tell a story with our video. The feedback we got from Vidsy was pretty good too, they said that they liked our shots and that it was one of the videos with the highest success rate when it came to views when they posted it online. What we could have done better would be to experiment with the use of the screen, as it was shot vertically they wanted us to use the screen in a creative way, however this we did not do so that is something that definitely could be improved. As a group we also worked really well together, when we went to film in Richmond Park we were really efficient and got all the shots we needed quite quickly. The editing process was also good, we all sat down together and edited it so that each one of us could have a say in the final outcome. Overall I’m very pleased with the work we did for Vidsy.
