Burnout - Refinement

Pinterest board

colour palette

The colour palette was developed from this image that I selected from some research into the millennial aesthetic and trends. The Pinterest millennial imagery/aesthetic was the main influence for the colour palette and I picked out the more vibrant of the collection so that the campaign would be bold and eye catching. I wanted the millennials to engage with it because it is positive and aesthetic, not as if it feels like a negative warning to them. 

Having refined the concept to be based on the switching of tabs as a means of optimum productivity when actually it goes against this completely, I wanted to think of some words that could be used throughout the campaign to subtly hint at the concept and show exactly what this technology dependence makes us feel. The words I came up with were reliant, addicted, connected and attached - which would all make someone reading them think twice about switching their phones off. The campaign aims to promote the importance of downtime and through the development of a zine and a number of different applications such as stickers and beer mats, I hope to reach a large target audience that one millennial burnout affects and two rely on their phones evening during downtime that could do with a reminder to switch off. 

The development shows the experimentation with the colour palette and how best to portray this idea of poor concentration through the means of trying to be your most productive self. The designs started by using two colours on the typeface which made the key word very bold and the main focus. This worked visually but was not 100% in line with the concept because it wasn't about making something clear, it has the aim of showing it to be unproductive and hard to concentrate when there is an overload on stimuli. The use of only one colour within the typeface creates a slight blurred effect upon quick glance which effectively enhances the message of the tabs hindering our focus.

 

As part of the refinement I wanted to print the zine, but as a more instant way of seeing how it would work in context I used Adobe Photoshop to mock up the different spreads as I think this helps when seeing if the layout is working overall. I started by mocking up the front and back cover as this will be giving the first impression of the zine and the content within. I initially liked the design when I designed it, but now that it is mocked up I want to continue with the development of this and maybe include more of the typeface design and have the back page with an outline behind the campaign/purpose. The 'millennial burnout' at the top and bottom of each of the pages will be adapted to suit the placement. I will include my name on the front and then keep the title at the top. 

- brighten images a little 

- might print a little darker if the printer isn't 100% accurately matched to my laptop

- test not cutting off the typeface on the left hand side and just align the edges of the letters with the margin

- the cropping looks quite abrupt

- add Dan's instagram handle 

- figure out what to write on this page

- how to reduce digital dependency or the dangers of digital dependency

Front/back cover experimentation
I was struggling with what to put on the front cover of the zine because the typeface itself is called 'switch', but the association to the campaign will be the phrase 'switch off' as this will be stuck onto things or be on posters to promote the importance of downtime. For the experimentation, I stuck with the current front page title and then will re-evaluate this when I get to the end of the design process. 

Figure 1 the capitalised typeface design is now on the back page and the top and bottom wording has been removed. This works well but there is little representation of what is acc inside the zine - especially as the title is not the name of the typeface. To overcome this lack of description I added the wording back in (fig. 2) and put the phrase 'switching between tabs is not productive' which I think effectively hints at the concept of the typeface. Figure 3 explores another design route that could be used for the zine, taking the 4 words that I have included within the zine that describe the digital reliance in another way. In terms of size they are the width of the margins used within the zine for the images but it then looked better a little smaller so that it wasn't so close to the writing at the top and bottom, as shown in figure 4. 

A small change on the front cover was the replacement of my name to my Instagram handle instead (fig. 5) - this is more of who I am known as as a Graphic Designer and it also links to my website. 

Upon reflection, I preferred the later developments of the front/back cover but to keep inline with the concept of it one being a type specimen and two being the fact that people loose concentration when they switch between tabs - I am only having the title as 'SWITCH'. Figure 6 shows the singular word title to be placed within the width of the margins which technically works well, however I prefer it when it is a little smaller, needing more attention and demonstrating the concept of only looking at one thing at a time. Using guides, I made the title the same size as the typeface on the back cover of the zine as shown in figure 7. 

fig. 1

fig. 2

fig. 3

fig. 4

fig. 5

fig. 6

fig. 7

Final Front/back cover
This is the final front cover with the only small extra change being the 'millennial burnout' at the top being made bold instead of regular.

Design refinement/experimentation

I tested to see if removing the crop from the typeface n the left page would improve the overall design, but it looked a little more lost and did not work any better. 

I brightened the image by increasing the exposure, removed a little saturation and then increased the blue in the photo so that it matched the blue full bleed that it has been paired with. 

before

before

after

after

The final part of the zine refinement was the decision on what content to put on the last page and how it would be presented. I used the research that I had collected and positively took the idea of a relationship break up but applied it to the person and their phone. 

The first development shows the titles and then small descriptions underneath of the way to remove the phone from that part of your life. The idea then developed to the idea that it is a break, so the descriptions were removed and the titles were changed so that they made sense when standing alone. For the title, I took the colour of the typeface on the opposite page and then used justified alignment so that it would all fit well in the column sizing that has been used throughout the whole of the zine. This idea was then applied to the paragraph on the first page of the zine so that consistency was ensured.