Message Campaign Design - Print
HellaHappy is a social campaign targeting working millennials in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rather than creating a happiness project advising people on how to achieve maximum life fulfillment, our campaign seeks to use ironic humor and light-hearted fun to remind millennials living and working in the area to reflect on what makes them happy and to live their life.
Course:
Visual Communications: Message campaign design.
Role: Photography, graphic identity (logo, mascot illustration, color palette, business system, editorial layout)
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
Team: Adrian Ang, Chelsea Best, Belinda Huang
Timeframe: 10 weeks (Jan 2017 - Mar 2017)
TOPIC IDEATION
The class prompt was to design a message campaign based on a social issue of our choice. Previous examples included campaigns focusing on sustainable fishing, food waste, equal pay, etc. Our first topic was encouraging an older generation to become technologically-savvy, but we quickly realized we couldn't really relate to the problem. After a week and a half, we re-mapped out different issues we've encountered and highlighted points of contention, moving from end-of-life awareness to work-life-balance, eventually deciding on a mission, message, and purpose targeting the millennial demographic, of which we were a part of. This whole process took about three weeks. We did a lot of standing and thinking on our feet.
Logo
We wanted the handwritten element. Personal, playful, human touch. The speech bubble symbolizes conversation, as we believe connection is a crucial element to overall happiness and well-being.
COLOR PALETTE & FONT
Our five-color palette is a carefully curated selection. We wanted to give our campaign many splashes of color to symbolize the different sections of San Francisco-based industries that are the source of attraction for our working groups -- Light green embodies freshness, blue stands for innovation and technology, darker green is for honesty that we want our campaign to embody, pink as a robust hue that captures the endless energy of the city and the intense passions of the people who come through, and yellow is a universal color of happiness and joy.
Proxima Nova is a modern font that combines contemporary proportions with a geometric appearance that conveys a universal sense of objectivity. As one of the most popular web fonts, its versatility is well recognized and appeals to the millennial generation (our target audience.) It is easy on the eyes and is legible across multiple platforms.
Character Design
As the heart and soul of our campaign, each character represents a millennial stereotype to address the narrow categories this generation gets crammed into. These illustrations are just ambiguous enough for people to relate to, even non-millennials. This lessen the stigma by showing that it is okay to enjoy what you like and hey... there’s a little millennial in all of us.
Business System
As a made-up campaign, our business system would be used for the purpose of spreading the word of our mission.
Marketing Applications
Brochure & mailer by Chelsea Best. Rubik's cube by Adrian Ang.
EDITORIAL
An exercise in print layout design. My group collectively researched and wrote an editorial about our topic, and each group member individually laid out a four page spread for a different style of publication to present to the class. Here's my layout for a contemporary lifestyle magazine.
CONCLUSION
Our final presentation occurred in front of a panel of industry professionals that our professor brought in. Four out of five panelists loved the campaign, commenting that it was playful and lighthearted and that the characters were endearing and relatable -- they could identify at least one person in their friend group that embodied a character. One panelist wasn't having it, he didn't understand the point of the campaign since there didn't seem to be a clear call-to-action. Our professor was amused by the irony of our "work-life balance" and "just chill" mantra given that that she's never seen us so stressed before.