PROCESS BOOK
GR 620 Visual Thinking Sandra Isla Fall 2016 By Kush Hiren
I have often lamented that we can’t close our ears with as much ease as our eyes. —Richard Steele
Contents
Topic selection Ideas Brainstorming 3 Ideas Brand formation Background Personas Competitors Framework Visual identity Moodboard Deliverables Posters Sound Space Soundless Echo App Sound Hoodie Accessories
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TOPIC SELECTION Listing Problems Brainstorm Wall 3 Ideas
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Credit Cards: The credit card industry is very huge. 7 in 10 Americans had at least one credit card in 2014. Yet, I have seen examples of people paying excess fee for not knowing a certain rule or limitation of the credit card. I wish to come up with a solution that helps make the information interesting and easy to understand and remember.
Technology: With the advancement of technology in today’s age, life without it seems impossible. Mankind seems to be getting more and more dependent on new technology day to day. At this point, it is becoming more of a luxury that breeds laziness. I wish to spread awareness about the negative effects of technology.
International Students:
LISTING PROBLEMS We created lists of problems we see in this world and then selected five different topics to do further research on.
Through a few personal experiences, I have found out that many fellow international students studying at the Academy of Art aren’t aware of important aspects like OPT and CPT (job opportunities). These students could land into serious legal trouble for doing something without having proper knowledge first.
Prescription Drugs: Addiction to prescription drugs is increasing among teenagers in the U.S. Like most other addictions, this has the potential to destroy and take lives of the people using them. Steps are being taken to stop the damage from increasing further, but I would like to do my part and raise awareness against the use of drugs too.
Noise Pollution: Noise pollution has been proven to cause harm to the human body, as well as the environment. Pollution is a global concern, but I have found that noise pollution is not regarded as important as air or water pollution. I wish to spread awareness about this problem and let people know the seriousness of it.
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Topic Selection
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Wildlife drowning in the human noise. how would we make others aware of the consequences of their noise on the life of animals? Noise pollution along with devices like SONAR has disrupted the lives of animals in such a way that their lives have become endangered. Actions such as mating calls, echoing for way finding are disrupted by noise pollution and I hope to spread awareness regarding the ill effects of excessive noise in the world.
From harmony to screeches. Is all the music of this age melody to our ears? Could it secretly harming us physically or mentally? When you listen with the intent of replying, you overlook what the world is saying. Music has largely turned into mere tunes, and more and more noises are just background tracks. With the ever-growing scope of Electronic music, people are exposed to more and more ‘samples’ of noises at exploding volumes. People should be more thoughtful about the type of music they listen to and the health issues these noises might be causing.
BRAINSTORM WALL I created this brainstorming wall to further explore my selection and to come up with three different approaches to my topic. I then selected one of those and decided to move forward with it.
Machines are the new shoulder to lean on. How has the dependence on vehicles, appliances and other electronics changed our listening habits? From a quiet place to a world where car honks are lullabies, the silent white noise has become a part of our life. Advancement of technology and increase in their use sometimes makes our lives easier, but every new motorbike sounds louder and meaner than the others. Every new cellphone has to sound louder than the previous ones and a stronger, more powerful lawn mower means more damage to our ears. People should pay more attention towards noise pollution and what it can do to us.
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Topic Selection
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BRAND FORMATION Background Audience Brand Framework Visual Identity Brand Details Moodboard & Keywords
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We live in a very progressive time with new inventions happening everyday. This fast pace brings with it many negative side effects. People around the world are very concerned about issues such as Global Warming and Recycling the natural resources. But in this hassle, we tend to ignore another problem and my project is about that—Noise Pollution. My brand targets young adults who live in a busy city like San Francisco, and aims to educate them about the topic.
BACKGROUND
The project asks these people to not overlook a very serious issue like Noise Pollution because it has really harmful effects on us. I also want to give them the message that the sounds that are controllable should be used in moderation. So I mention common relatable things like televisions and motorbikes. The tone of my overall project is highly informal, humorous and sarcastic. At the end of my project, I wish to educate people and make their and the lives of others around them better.
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Brand Formation
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Ryan, 25, is a Graduate student who has recently moved to the city from a much quieter place. He prefers listening to loud music. His gadgets always surround him. He needs my project because his lifestyle exposes him to a lot of unnecessary noise and he needs to learn what is bad for him. Scott, 28, works from home. He just started his family and they live in San Francisco. He is still learning the responsibilities of being a parent. He knows how hard it is for a baby to sleep in a noisy neighborhood so he needs my project because he is very concerned about his son and his well-being.
AUDIENCE For this part of my process, I decided my target audience and came up with a few personalities that I think would be in need of this project.
Naina, 32, works in a design firm based here in the Bay Area. She likes to party and go to clubs very often. Also, she travels a lot everyday and has to visit different sites for her work frequently. She needs my project because she has grown accustomed to loud noises with all her traveling but needs a push towards being mindful of how she harms her ears.
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Brand Formation
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Initial Naming Hush Kush Treble Trouble Noised Echo Soundless Echo
Category Experiential Brand
Purpose To educate the masses and to spread awareness about the problem of noise pollution
Scope It will start as a Local brand, but will work to be an International one.
Competition Noise Abatement Society Noise Free America Noise Off US Environmental Protection Agency
BRAND FRAMEWORK I then went through a naming process, and decided what the framework of the brand will look like. I chose to go with an experiential brand because I want my target audience to “experience� the noise pollution they are affected by.
Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of my project is that the topic is very global and easy to understand. This connects makes my brand to the masses easily. The weakness with my topic of noise pollution is that some loud noises are necessary and some noises cannot be avoided. I must steer clear from dangerous territory. The opportunities of my brand also come with the fact that the topic of noise pollution is not as touched as it should be. This opens up a lot of scope for me to experiment with. The threat my brand could face is that it might be treated as one of the millions of other welfare and awareness programs and be overlooked.
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GR GR 620620 Visual Visual Thinking Thinking| Section | Brand Formation
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VISUAL IDENTITY
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Neue Haas Grotesk Display Bold abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 ABC D E FG H IJ KLM N O PQ R STUV W X YZ Neue Haas Grotesk Display Roman abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 A B C D EFG H IJ K LM N O P Q R ST U V W X Y Z
White
BRAND DETAILS I chose to go with different weights of the very clean Neue Haas Grotesk because of its minimalistic qualities. I could use it really bold and heavy in places to match the loudness of my topic. I also kept the overall color of my brand Black and White; with Reds to again show loud noise.
C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0 Red C : 15 M : 100 Y : 100 K:0 Black C : 100 M : 100 Y : 100 K : 100
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Control: Noise Pollution can be cured by control over your appliances and gadgets. Most noises are controllable, and they should be used appropriately. People need to know that controlled use of their music players or stereos can lead to a healthier life.
Conscious: Noise always surrounds us. People need to make a conscious effort to take notice of it and do something about it. People have a habit of overlooking the negative effects loud sounds have on our body and mind.
Change:
MOODBOARD & KEYWORDS I created a moodboard to serve as an inspiration for the visual style of my entire project and the future deliverables. I also came up with keywords related to my brand and its goals.
Like most other universal problems, the change towards better comes from within. We must learn from our mistakes and change our habits.
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DELIVERABLES Posters Sound Space Soundless Echo App Sound Hoodie Accessories
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(Left) I used an illustrated approach that targets people very directly using humor. (Top) A play with the images to show what needs to change. (Bottom Right) A play with the notion that if someone doesn’t stay quiet, put duct tape on them. My brand is meant to be casual, somewhat friendly and informal, and sarcastic. So I chose to go ahead with the illustrative approach. The posters are humorous and driven by guilt. I have used vector silhouettes of bodies instead of photos to generalize them and make the overall look cleaner and louder so the focus is more on the textual message. I also changed the color palette to a more bold one and added a hint of imagery in the background to add the feeling of a noisy urban setting.
INITIAL POSTERS I created three different posters with somewhat different approaches in the beginning. Two of them were persuasive while another was informational one. I chose to go forward with the illustrative approach and then created a series of posters.
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FINAL POSTER (Left) The final poster and (Bottom) The poster comped in an actual background.
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FINAL POSTER (Left) The final poster and (Bottom) The poster comped in an actual background.
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FINAL POSTER (Left) The final poster and (Bottom) The poster comped in an actual background.
image
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I designed an exhibition space that aims at making people aware of the noises in their surroundings. This exhibit is mainly a walk-through tunnel made of acoustic sound proof glass. This tunnel will be placed at a busy and noisy location like the Pier or Market Street in the Financial District of the city. People walking through the glass box will experience a gradual decrease in the noise level up till the end of the tunnel, and upon exiting, they will suddenly be back to the loudness of the city. This is the main purpose of the exhibit— to get people to notice the background noise. The inside has a set of informational posters, and a monitor that displays the sound levels in real time. This can act as an interactive tool for people to test out how loud their shouts or claps can be.
THE SOUND SPACE My first deliverable is an Exhibition Space because I want my brand to be an Experiential brand and an exhibition is the best way to deliver an experience across.
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Deliverables
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The exhibit will have these monitors that display the amount of noise outside as well as inside the exhibit in real time. The huge difference between the quiet and the city noise is seen very obviously in these monitors. And people can also clap, shout or make noise inside and check the monitors to see how loud the sounds actually are. A note on the bottom also mentions what level of noise is considered to be safe and when it gets to a point when it is harmful to our ears. The displays also change color according to the level of noise. The screen turns red when the noise exceeds the safe limit. (Top) The monitor that displays the inside noise and (bottom) the one that shows the levels of noise outside the exhibit.
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Deliverables
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The exhibit has posters like these that give some facts about noise pollution as well as a description of the harmful effects of excessive exposure to noise. They have one fact each that is catchy to read and keeps the readers engaged while passing through the glass box. Readers with a little more time to spare can also read the detail on the top while simultaneously experiencing the noise reduction in the background.
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GOT TIME?
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There are signs on the floor that direct the people that are walking past and informs them about the exhibit. These signs also ready the people about what is about to come so they know what to expect when entering a chamber of glass on the middle of the road. The inside of the box also has a sign on the floor that informs people about the level of noise reduction on the inside.
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Acoustic Glass Exit
Outside Noise Monitor
Noise Reduction Indicator
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Inside Noise Monitor
Informational Posters
Entrance
Floor Signs
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THE SOUNDLESS ECHO APP My second deliverable is a mobile phone application for users. It is a handy tool for various functions.
Loading Screen
Home Page
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The Soundless Echo App has two primary functions. One is called ‘Sound Count’ and the other is ‘White Noise’. Upon opening up the app, you read a note on the loading screen that says that no audio can be recorded for safety purposes. This gives the users some security while using the app freely. The home page is a noise meter that changes color according to the intensity of the noise it detects. It also gives the users a different bit of information on the harmful effects of noise pollution every time they come to the home page.
Home Page
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Sound Count
+ Add
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Selection
Info
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The Sound Count feature keeps a track of how noisy your household appliances are, and gives you tips on how to use them. Users can make a list of their appliances in the app and feed their sounds to the app. The app listens to the sounds and keeps a record of its reading for every appliance. It highlights the dangerously loud ones with a red exclamation mark. The noise meter still works in the background and is seen as a colored bar on the bottom of the screen. Upon tapping on any appliance, the app give you a calculation as to how that appliance can harm your ears. It asks the users to be cautious of the other background noises as well.
Analyzing Sound
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White Noise
Recommended
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The White Noise function works similar to a white noise machine that is already available in the market. You can choose from a variety of sounds to play in the background to help you focus or relax and sleep. Users can also select ‘Recommended’ to play the sound that is most appropriate according to the current background noises. A unique feature of White Noise is that the users cannot control the volume of the sounds they wish to play on their devices. The app recognizes the background noise levels, and adjusts the volume of the sounds accordingly. This feature has been added because people tend to keep the volumes quite high in their white noise machines which is harmful to our ears.
Now Playing
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Icon
Notifications
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A few additional details. You can choose for the app to run in the background all the time. So it detects the change in the noise levels as you go to different places with your device in your pocket. It gives you notifications when it detects dangerously high amounts of noise. It also notifies to remind you to update the Sound Count readings for better results. Another feature is that it modifies the volume bar of the device and detects when you set the volume higher than it needs according to the background noise it reads through the microphone, and whether you are listening through your headphones or not.
Volume Modification
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The Sound Hoodie is a product that helps the users protect themselves against unwanted noises. I chose the hoodie because it is very common to wear a hoodie in the weather of the Bay Area. So the product has its utility and it has other features that make it unique.
THE SOUND HOODIE I created my deliverable three to be a product kit that people can use at their ease. The product also works better with the Soundless Echo App.
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The Hoodie comes with a booklet that contains vital information on how the hoodie works. It also acts as a guide as to how one can maximize its utility by connecting it to their smartphones.
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The fabric on the inside of the packaging is a special acoustic polyester that sound proofs the room it is in by up to 15 decibels—not letting noise in or out. They are available in different colors. So the users can put it up in their homes to sound proof it as well as make it look stylish. This is another motivating factor for people to own more than one of the product and make patterns.
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ACCESSORIES I also created a few extra accessories for the brand like t shirts, ear plugs and car bumper stickers. These will motivate people stand against unnecessary noise and help spread the word.
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While this might not seem like a project that brings world peace or feeds the hungry, it surely can make the world a better sounding place. These small ideas could create a significant impact on the environment as well as an individual’s lifestyle. This future will bring a better quality of life with less noise and lesser levels of stress.
CONCLUSION Here is what I wish to achieve through the use of these ideas of mine.
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Kush Shah Academy of Art University GR 620 Visual Thinking Instructor: Sandra Isla Semester: Fall 2016