Jamie Thoms designs

This is the latest Bupa advert with the key piece of information being to tell the users about the services that Bupa offer. I saw this and thought it was an interesting but subtle change of direction from their previous adverts (below). Although I’d say the idea and story framework are the same the way they are presented shows a different level of importance around the key messages.

It’s clear that Bupa want to present themselves as a people company and the new version shows this, I mean how much more human and personal can you get than having an senior citizen recalling his life and telling you about the impact Bupa has on that now. Both are very people centred and both are about a persons life and how Bupa can fit into that. However as stated there is a difference between them.

The first story is told by the user and presented from a personal and human point of view, the use of an actor allows you to connect with the person and see this company as all about individual people. The visual illustrations allow you to again connect with the person’s story but also because they are vague and open it allows the user to imagine themselves in these situation and see how these stories can link to them. Which in turns shows how Bupa and their services can link to them. The order of  the message presented  in this advert seems to be that, First – Bupa are about people and then Bupa are about quality services.

The older version is presented in a different format with the story being told through a basic shape styled animation. This format allows the viewer to focus on the story and not the images which helps the message but detracts from the human element of the story. It is also told through a narrator which further detaches the story from the viewer resulting in different perception being presented about Bupa. In this version of the advert it seems to be all about the services and their quality, the story is just there to help ad some realism to the services. It’s not a big difference but in my opinion it shows how a change or presentation format even slightly can change what message get priority.

Why get bogged down in diagrams? for year as human we have been communicating without them we have been communicating through actions so why not tell a story through dance? John Bohannon & Black Label Movement present a talk with a difference “Dance Your Ph.D.” is fantastic talk demonstrating how the art of dance can be used to help explain the complex world of science. And if it works for science why not for other difficult subjects?

This method is extremely effective in demonstrating movement and function which is something images and graphs struggle with. However equally I find it hard to see how this method could be used to show statistical data therefore this method resides more in the storytelling side of the infographic spectrum.

One of the key issues addressed in this talk is about how bad power-points and I assume by extension infographics are costing the country ridiculous amounts of money. It is far too common to see a person trying to dazzle the audience with images rather than relevant facts or data. This needs to change but is dance the way forward? or will this method become as mislead as traditional visual infographics?

Advancing on the idea of interactive infographics here is a TEDtalk about the next generation of digital books with games and graphic you and display and interact with. This lets the data in the books be viewed by the reader on a number of levels of detail depending on the areas which interest them.

Also interactive game infographics allow the user to see how process such as wind energy work. The freedom and opportunity of involvement allows readers to get to grips with the research in their own way in their own time.

In my view this could be the future of infographics, creating ways (not just visually) which makes the information easily accessible to the public. However we have to be careful with the evolution of this new format there are a lot of pitfalls. I can see a huge amount of people getting tangled up in the interaction or detail and forgetting the key point…. What’s the story you want to tell the audience?

The Scale of the Universe infographic is an interactive diagram which does exactly what it says on the tin. It allows the user to view the different scale of object in the known universe. This idea has stripped down the a hugely complex system like the universe and managed to present a wealth of knowledge in a simple and effective manner.  By just focusing on size and placing them in order it makes for a story that everyone can understand. The creators have focused on one thing and done it to a very high quality.

The aspect which makes this infographic memorable is the fact it is interactive, allowing the user to have a degree of control over the way they use the graphic makes it easier to understand and lets the viewer engage with the data in their own way. This way get the story of the scale of the universe but specifically they get detailed stories (e.g. how big a Human is to a Japanese Spider Crab) The biggest problem is that your only limit is what objects the creators chose and that you are limited to the scope of your screen.

Have a play and see what you think.

Here a wonderful video all about “growing up” and helping to tell kids about the issue they may be sacred of. The short film shifts more to the storytelling side on graphic allowing a format where information can be communicated but it feels like you are enjoying a story tale.

The video draws the audience in with some lovely visuals, the animated stories allow them to seem real but keep them just out of reality. This allows the viewers to relate with the stories but not get too involved. The narration in this video is the best bit for me though the fat that it is narrated by a young child again allows for a degree of re-pore with their audience but also helps reduce the seriousness of the topics included. The fact that the narration is from a child helps near the end to emphasize the positivity and the fact that they can be happy and it isn’t the end of the world.

The animated style which is very colourful and energetic allows the audience to subtly keep hold of the fact that there is always a chance of a happy ending. This video reaches a wide audience with grown-ups and kids being able to relate to the visual stores and narration.

A World Without Facebook is a short video by oBizMedia which seems to be about showng the impact facebook has had on our lives, how big it is and generally all the stats to explain where facebook sits in our society today. As I’ve mentioned previously the fact the infographic is a video is very engaging for the reader adn allows them to fit a huge amount of information into a few minutes.

The downside to this video is I don’t actuallt think it fits the title, it spends 2/3rds of  the time giving you a very visual overview of statisics about facebook (such as age groups, business and country usage) but ultimatly it then rushes through a comparison of situations which show how facebook makes these task simpler. But if this is the key message the video wants to promote why the suden change for a very visual and engaging intro to a text heavy conclusion which has little impact. It is a shame cause the theme of the video and the data it represents is a very interesting topic but the key message is lost due to loss of focus.

The History of an iPhone, where to begin? This is a fantastic animated infographic video which manages to squeeze the breakdown and evolution of the iPhone, not just who create it but what inspired it and who laid the foundation for it. I think you’ll agree, that is a lot of information. However this is the wonder of video you can cram so much information into a short space of time but not only that, it allows the reader to just focus on one spot rather than have to fight their way through a huge poster filled with information. On the other hand, a video reduces the freedom of the reader to pick out and read the points they are interested in while ignoring the rest.

Granted it’s not all positive, as stated the video is still rather full of information so much so that it is easy to miss something. It could be stripped down to the core message but I suppose the extra information is for people who want to know more. The visual style of the animation reduces the seriousness of the message which makes viewing the information easier and more enjoyable than having someone ramble on about it. This brings me to my next point that again this information is all presented without any explanation, which emphasizes how well visualized the story is.

Great watch, fantastic to see years of product development and evolution, explained and  presented in under 4 minutes.

Something that I seem to always be going on about to other designers is the context. I always try to ask people “What is the context?” to get a better understanding of their idea. The problem is that even though I am asking this question it is a vague area and everyone has their own interpretation of what they mean by it. Some people class this as branding or environment and others the stakeholders problems. There are many other things that could contribute to the phrase, however in my view the context is a combination of all these different aspects. It is all about the BIG picture, the whole surroundings and setting for an idea including all the aspects involved in it.

Therefore as designers we have to always be conscious of what is the context? The slightest change in a setting of your concept could make it a huge success or a massive failure. In the words of my classmate Steph Fukle “You can’t put a goldfish in the ocean!”. Meaning your idea may survive in a home environment but when it is transported to a bigger wilder waterhole, it might get eaten. Much like your idea could be, if you don’t take the correct action to adapt to your environment.

I think my little cartoon friends Conker and Birdy (video above) couldn’t put it any better. We as designers need to always be context sensitive to the world around us so that our ideas can fit the environment and give the users what they need at that moment in time.

While browsing Youtube for some music, I discovered these amusing videos(above and below). I won’t talk too much about them but these are a great way to show how science is engaging with pop-culture in ways to get a message across in a fun way (and I suppose it is a real way to show how scientists get bored very easily). Since I am hoping to do my Masters project on engaging the public in science, the question I got out of this is what way can popular culture start to embrace science and why? Enjoy the videos.

After today’s meeting with Mike Press the team identified that people’s shopping habits within communities have changed and broke down in some people’s eyes. A recent scheme that was shown on Channel 4 was The People’s Supermarket where a samll local supermarket was created in London by the community and for the community. The project had it’s problems but it was really interesting to see an urban community come together against the BIG SUPERMARKETS.

Worth a watch if you have time – Enjoy!