WIDFP? - Final Issuu Upload

Here is my final manual upload to Issuu.

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

I am pleased with how this has turned out despite running out of time with it. I will certainly use it when I come to designing for print in the future. Also if I find I have a bit of spare time I may revisit this brief and complete it to the standard that I would have done had I prepared well enough and got on with it in time. If I do do this, I will add it to my PPD blog.

Water for the World

While I have been researching I came across this website,

I'm not entirely sure if it's linked to the previous post for Water for Africa, but there's a page called projects, and it has some interesting information on it where it says the location of a project, who has sponsored it, the date the project started, the status (whether it's completed or not), the cost of the project, depth, yield (the amount of clean water that actually comes from it) and the amount of population surrounding it that it serves.

Water For Africa

Again, the point about the black (and grey in this case) not representing pure very well is the first thing I thought when I saw the logo for Water for Africa. On the header of their page the quote 'Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime', is there, and this is something that came up during my research into Toms over the summer. Whilst I totally agree with this quote, I still thing there should be some sort of short term solutions available for in the meantime, as installing water pumps doesn't exactly happen over night, and I think that because of this is what makes my idea quite strong as it is offering both a long and a short term solution to the problem.

I'm not really feeling this website though either, it all looks a bit too formal and serious. Yes I understand how serious the problem with dirty water is, but I don't even feel engaged enough to read further into the website - I have though for this research, but I was tempted at first to just avoid it. So because of this I need to ensure I get the right balance between serious and not serious looking to ensure I still get the desired engagement something like what I am setting up will need in order to exist and survive and actually make a difference. The link to the website is http://www.waterforafrica.org.uk/ 

As with the WaterAid website, there isn't really anything on there to show their campaigns that they have run, so I searched on Google to see what came up, although when I did it didn't really come up with anything. All the usual generic photos of kids in Africa came up drinking water and what not, but no sort of advertisements or anything for this charity. While it does probably save money for them to not advertise, I do think that what Charity: Water do is a lot more effective than not at all. 

Here's a quick screenshot of what came up when I searched:

An image that did come up though, although I don't think it has anything to do with this charity is this one below, I find it really interesting.

WaterAid

'WaterAid is an international non governmental organisation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities.'

I really like the logo for WaterAid. Although it isn't really the same as what I have, it kind of is with the elements that have been used - just the text and the water drop. Seeing this now after my feedback for the packaging that we did where they had made the comment about the black not being pure, I do see where they are coming from more now, although I do get why it's used. I guess with it it all comes down to how you personally interpret it - even so, with this logo and the realisation, I feel reassured now about my decision to stick with just the blue. 

On the first page of the website, there is a section where you can 'choose a country' that they support, I had a quick look to see how big the list was, just to see what countries are in need.

I chose in the early stages of this project to focus my 'giving' on Africa, and even though the list here is quite long, I think I will stick with my decision to focus on it as it is the worst country for the problem.

There's a section of the website where they show all the celebrities involved with the charity - "WaterAid enjoys the support of a variety of TV and sporting celebrities, including those listed below." The list includes:

• Lily Cole
• James Cracknell
• Camilla Dallerup
• Adam Hart Davis
• Helen Lederer
• Cyrille Regis

I don't know if it's just me, and some people may be annoyed by this but I have no idea who any of these people are. I can see where they come from in terms of being proud of having celebrities involved, but at the end of the day I don't really think it proves anything. It definitely doesn't make me want to go out and support it just because they do. 

All over the website it's just full of images of kids and families from the countries with the water problems, some happy and some sad. This is the sort of imagery I want to avoid with what I'm doing as I don't want it to be some sort of guilt trip approach. Here's a couple from the section where you can download the images. When I clicked the link it said how they are subject to copywrite and must contact them if you want to use them for anything, so I figured I'd best make it obvious that the link I got them from is this - http://www.wateraid.org/uk/about_us/media_centre/photo_downloads/default.asp

I typed into Google 'WaterAid advertisements' to see what came up as I couldn't really find a section with them on on their actual website, here's what I found.

I didn't really come across anything too striking really. I quite like this bottom image, but couldn't see myself using it for what I want to do. Having simple, flat one colour illustrations may be a consideration to experiment with. Also, the 'proud sponsors or wateraid' thing is interesting too, and might be something I consider developing for people supporting the movement I'm developing to include with what they do.

Charity: Water

"charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects."

Looking at the designs that these use for their campaigns, it's very bold and straight to the point, presenting facts and figures in your face basically. They haven't gone for the whole guilt trip vibe with photos of kids in Africa that are dying, which I like and is something that I also want to avoid within my project as I have stated from the start that this isn't a charity it's a movement.

It's just simple, straight to the point imagery that they have used. Clicking around the website, here's what I found.

  

 

OneHundred

Looking through this websites blog, I came across a project very similar to my project where the guy has designed t shirts, and all money that is made from it (after paying fees such as the website hosting, etc) is donated to this cause. When I clicked on the link to the website it says that the cause is now closed, but he managed to raise $2500 to go towards it which is rather impressive as in the blog posts he explains how he set it up whilst at college.

Here's the stats from his cause that he set up:

And here's some of this images that accompanied the blog post:

I particularly like the info graphics that has been used to explain how it all works and where the money goes to, this may be something that I look into doing.

Shawn's Birthday

Looking through the blog, I came across this post of this guy who's made a custom tshirt, raising awareness that for his 27th Birthday he has decided that instead of getting gifts and money, he is asking people to donate to this charity to help raise money. I think this whole thing is pretty amazing, and it's so nice of Shawn to do such a selfless act. This has really got me thinking about like other sorts of ways that people can get involved with something along side the usual ways that are available - I never would have thought to do anything like this.

Here's a picture of the guy that is doing this:

On the website, he has written a few paragraphs explaining his reasoning for doing this:

He has already met his first target of $500 and has raised it to $1000, and he is already at just over $750 with another 24 days to go.

Another great aspect to this website I've found is that not only does it give people the opportunity to do their own thing with helping to raise money, but also it shows exactly what the money each person is raising will go towards once the project has finished.

The website for this charity is http://www.charitywater.org/, and the links to the blog can be found on there. This is a really great website and has made me feel really inspired to actually do more good. Whilst my project is a hypothetical business idea, it has made me want it to be more real. Whilst with the time I have left it would be somewhat impossible, I will still ensure that I do it to a standard where it could be taken straight from this project and put out into the real world.

Generation Press - D&AD Awards Tickets

(link)

I like the way that with this they have really considered how the whole thing will be received and the journey that it will go through just being opened up to find the ticket, rather than just putting it in and not really being bothered. Also, after the studio talk that they have done and got talking about the spot colour that they use for D&AD I find it a bit more interesting now knowing what goes behind that colour.