Cover Page
ALL4ONE - CCM Pop-Up (Top Banner)
CMN 448 (Sec 021)
Prepared by: Matthew Lomon
Date: April 14, 2020
Prepared for: Professor Dianne Nubla
Designer Bio
As a professional communications major, it is my duty and obligation to expand my communicative horizons and adapt to the multitude of platforms available for conveying a message. I have learned that written and oral communication skills are not the only tools necessary for becoming an effective and powerful communicator. CMN 448 has preached the power of effective visual communication and although I would be hesitant to say that it is my strong suit, I have gained a better understanding of core principles that help translate to effective design. With these principles fresh in mind, my first true attempt at crafting visuals focussed on simplicity. Given my limited background in the field, the last thing I wanted to do is create an elaborate design that includes so much visual stimulation, it distracts the viewer from the message. Keeping this in mind, I kept thinking, "simple yet effective." I felt that this was the best approach to take when creating mock-ups for the top banner because the purpose of a top banner is to be clear, digestible and concise. I applied a limited colour palette, small amounts of text, and similar imagery throughout all designs. My work is showcased down below and I am confident that it reflects my simple yet effective, design style.
Pop-Up Theme
Our pop-up caters to the local community and was made possible by our friends at CCM and Ryerson University. We have organized a charitable event called, "Line Change" with the goal of receiving used hockey equipment from community members and then distributing said equipment to children and young adults living in the Regent Park neighbourhood (see Figure 1 below). It is no secret that the Regent Park neighbourhood has struggled with various social issues, hence we made it our intention to give back to the community by providing the younger generation with alternative social outlets. We hope that the donation of hockey equipment will encourage Regent Park residents to participate in Canada's game and experience the value of teamwork, collaboration and dedication.
Figure 1: Lake Devo (red location needle), is roughly a 5 minute drive or 15 minute walk from Regent Park (highlighted by red shaded square) (Map: Google Maps)
In terms of the geography of the event, our pop-up will take place on campus at Ryerson and be located at Lake Devo (southeast corner of Victoria-Gould intersection). We will have a tent, measuring 20 feet by 20 feet, which will house two tables and nine stand-up lockers displaying the equipment donated. This is where participants will hand over donated equipment and sign a legal document agreeing to the surrendering of their items. During the winter months, Lake Devo (seen in Figure 2) is frozen and constantly manicured by city officials to preserve integrity and safety standards. It is very common to see individuals of all genders, races and orientations partaking in the joys Lake Devo has to offer; whether it be a peaceful skate or a fun game of shinny - an informal pickup game of hockey that discourages shooting and uses shoes as an impromptu net.
Figure 2: Community members engage in a game of shinny on Lake Devo (Photo: Kirsten Svitich, TO Times)
Our group will generally focus on features of ecological theory, namely lighting (the tent used to cover the booth will be white, resembling the roof of most hockey arenas), light (similarly to colour, the white colours would complement the nearby ice), and scale. Further, the equipment we acquire and display would act as concrete referents for the additional equipment we are hoping to bring in.
Item Vision
Context
I did my best to build each design with simplicity and clarity. It is extremely easy to overthink and overcomplicate a banner with too much text, improper spacing or just general clutter, making it confusing for the audience. Within each of the designs, I placed emphasis on the name of the event, "Line Change," and the logos of Ryerson and CCM, in compliance with our chosen colour palette (Figure 3). The main purpose of this is to direct the eyes of the audience to the event name and showcase the two entities we are working with. In terms of the course concepts highlighted in my banners, I focused mainly on semiotics, Gestalt Theory the effects of font type choosing.
Figure 3: Above is our agreed upon colour palette, organized into main and secondary categories
Semiotics
The cartoon hockey sticks and pucks (Figure 4) in design #1, are examples of iconic representations of the actual object. I thought the use of cartoon sticks and pucks would enhance visibility and set a uniform design style that best accompanied the tone of the banner, which intends to promote a youthful feel for our younger attendees. In designs #2 and #3, the silhouettes of hockey players were chosen strategically as icons to represent real hockey players. I chose the silhouettes instead of using real players because they do not show gender or race and I believe that this is the best way to promote inclusion for our event.
Figure 4: Cartoon hockey puck and hockey stick are iconic representations of the actual items
Gestalt Theory
In terms of Gestalt Theory (examples seen in Figure 5) I decided to incorporate elements in design #2 and #3, as well as the final item design. It can be seen in the form of figure-ground relationship, which describes a prominent figure seen in the foreground of an image that is distinguishable from the background because of proper contrast between the two elements. Put into practice, the black silhouettes of the hockey players stand out beautifully against the white and RU Gold backgrounds of the banners to create a clear figure-ground relationship and maximize visibility for the audience.
Figure 5: Examples of figure-ground relationship in my design (left) and in general (right)
Effects of Font Type Choosing
The integration of lecture eight concepts are also present in all three banners. Within design #1, “Line Change” is centred and written in bolded and enlarged sans-serif font (Figure 6), which is best suited for web design. I wanted the audience to have zero difficulty reading the event name because if they cannot, they obviously will have no idea what we are offering. Design #2 has the most emphasis on text arrangement, I used a thick border to enclose “Line Change” (Figure 6) because it highlights and isolates the text from the rest of the banner, thus drawing the readers attention. The text itself is written in a capitalized, bold font to assure legibility from a further distance. Finally, for design #3, readability is emphasized by arranging the text from left-to-right, with “Line Change” being written in a larger point. Left-to-right is the traditional sequence for reading text, therefore our audience should be comfortable reading this heading. In conclusion, I tried my best to make simple, yet effective designs that would act as the front banner for our pop-up tent, without distracting or under-educating our target audience.
Figure 6: Sans-serif font highlighted in my design (left) and in general (right)
Three Possible Item Designs
Design #1 (RU Gold Background)
Design #2 (White Background)
Design #3 (Off-Blue Background)
Final Item Design
Displayed above is the final reworked design that will grace the front facing of our tent. It incorporates elements from both design #1 and #2, but the foundational elements of the final item stem from design #2. Initially, as documented above, design #2 had a white background but after critical discussion with my peers, we decided that implementing an RU-Gold background (Figure 7) provides the banner with a little more life and better contrast against the facing of the tent.
Figure 7: RU Gold background based on tentative colour palette
From there, we felt the hockey players (Figure 8) needed to be rearranged to reduce clutter and overall stress on the viewer. The silhouette on the left side of the final design replaced the original silhouette in design #2 because the stick was longer and pointed towards the centre of the banner, while the silhouette on the right side was slightly enlarged and brought down to the middle of the banner. These changes helped create an interesting setup because both silhouettes have their sticks pointing towards the text, which encourages the readers to pay special attention to the informative aspect of the banner. Playing off of this, all the text is centralized and reads in a top-to-bottom sequence, to ensure the reader is not actively searching around the banner to decode the message, as it is all in one location.
Figure 8: Collection of hockey player silhouettes used in Design #2 , #3 and Final item
The last change involved the logos of CCM and Ryerson University (see Figure 9). Originally, the names of both entities were typed out in their respective colours and placed at the bottom of the banner, but we decided to incorporate the logos to reduce the amount of text and help viewers make an instant symbolic connection. One slight change involved the cartoon puck between the logos, which replaced the ampersand to increase artistic effect and make it seem as if the players were converging on the puck to signify a hockey game. Overall, I believe that this banner adheres to my principle of simple yet effective design because it gets the core information across, without confusing or bombarding the audience with overly stimulating graphics.
Figure 9: Collection of logos used in Design #2 , #3 and Final Item
Works Cited (Links of Images Used)
Cartoon puck:
Cartoon stick:
CCM Logo:
Ryerson Logo:
Transparent players:
