Carrying on from the previous post I’ve looked a bit more into the logo design.

These two images are more like what I want to go for

As geometric shapes isn’t one of my best skills i’ve taken this image from the internet as a guide and opened it up in illustrator

Viola! this is the finished product, it took me all night to produce, it’s entirely made up of lines using the line tool

Plus I used this as another guide for the heart beat used in the center.

I’ve experimented in Illustrator since my last logo prototype

I’ve found out that Illustrator has 3D tools used to change 2d imagery into images that don’t look flat. This is a really cool revelation to me as it give me options and more freedom to decide

After initial thoughts from the Motion Graphics advert, I’ve thought about other things I should produce. These are the things in a list

– A 20-30 second motion graphics advert, with narration using After Effects

– Print media in the form of posters/flyers, badges and stickers all with slightly different print designs on them using Photoshop

– A mock mobile app to go with the product that includes some feature such as a Pedometer which calculates how many steps you’ve taken and how much calories you’ve burned, how many beats your heart has done etc. This can be done in Illustrator, Photoshop and XD in collaboration

– And a 3D model of the smart band itself, two for adults showing the different colours and 2 for children showing a more vibrant colour range plus endorsed designs based off of popular children’s programs (e.g. Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol). This model will be made using free software called Blender.

I’ve also decided to call the product a HEART SMART which can also be used as the name of the campaign. It relates to the product being a smart band for the heart whilst also telling people to be smart about their hearts

A logo will have to be made too which I can do in illustrator

For the design of the logo, I’ve thought about a geometric love heart design to reflect on the smart and technological side of the product. I’ve chosen a love heart over a traditional heart design as it reflects on the idea that people should love and care for their heart which is what the product will help them do. The image in the bottom right is an example design that i’ve done in Illustrator, using the other three as an inspiration guide. I want the finalised logo to look similar but have a more 3D look to it just using lines. If the heart is off to the side slightly I think the 3D effect can be shown more.

I want the effect to look a little like this album cover above, using wave forms in the form of wire grids that also folds around to create an artificial 3D scape. If I’m clever about it I could even implement the beat of a heart pulse monitor into it using a single line

Something a bit like this image here ^^

This 3D moving heart is a good example of roughly how it would of looked if I went down a more realistic route (click on it to see it move)

So for my Smart Band I’ve got to come up with visual communications to brand and advertise it. Everything has got to resemble an NHS medical campaign but I want it to be relatively quirky in design, as a sort of personal touch. I’ve had a think about what sort of mediums that would go with this sort of campaign and the obvious one is a Television advertisement but done in Motion graphics. It would be about 20-30 seconds long with a narrative explaining the campaign in a voice that’s both informative to adults but still sensitive and simple that a child would understand.

My first visualisation of what it would look like comes from the American Express adverts:

They are all animated in a motion graphics style with a voice over/narrator giving information on top of it. But the voice is calm and smooth. Something that works for a credit card company, it expresses relaxation and problem free service.

Further more there are adverts tailor made to lots of countries, like this example above made for Australia

And this one made for the UK, with David Tennent narrating it. The London advert gave me an idea, the NHS is a fundamentally British idea so it’s only ideal that a well known British voice should narrate the advert for the campaign.

This Tropicana advert uses the voice talent of David Mitchell, who is a Bafta-winning British comedian and Sit-Com writer. He has a calm and uplifting proper English tone of voice that I think could work well.

before the workshop we had on Monday I was anticipating a large self-driven project incorporating all of the skills we had learnt last semester. For the most part I was correct, however the way we’re approaching the project is different from normal. This time we’re thinking about the idea and theme of the project. This means we can’t simply just say that we’re doing an app or an animation then develop something around that, this way we’re much more focussed on what it is we’re trying to pitch and achieve rather than what medium it’s told in. I find this way of doing things challenges us to think about our ideas in much more detail just like a real project would be developed, it also prepares us for the projects we’ll be working on in our third year as we’ll be doing things the same way but in more depth, detail and quantity.

During the workshop, we were tasked with coming up with some ideas and concepts that could be potentially life changing or benefit others and other communities. We were given a few websites to look at, I looked at The European Youth Awards website which is an annual awards show where young people can pitch their ideas and products to large crowds of people in hope that they’ll become a reality. I was especially moved by last year’s health section winner who developed an app for children on the autistic spectrum. Called DayCape it allows kids to plan out their daily schedules in a visual way whilst also offering a direct messaging service to parents whilst at school to offer them support, also allowing parents to comment on how they should be feeling or what emotions they are expressing. As someone who knows the difficulties, Autistic Children have it can be extremely hard to manage emotions and understand yourself and what you are feeling, often not being able to express these to other people such as classmates, friends and even teachers.

Admittedly I couldn’t think of a project idea at first, I thought about a smart watch that tells the user that their health is at risk by constantly checking their pulse and blood pressure. Just like modern day fitness watches do. This watch notify’s people in the immediate area if you’ve collapsed or unconscious, in desperate need of medical care. The watch will make loud sounds and even flash when it’s dark, using a fluorescent rubbery material that glows in the dark. The interface will then detail all of your medical details so people will know how to handle you, conditions, allergies and medication you are currently taking. This would be useful for medical professionals once they arrive as they will be able to automatically be able to track the condition of your heart through the watch and find out crucial information about how to treat the patient.

I received a lot of useful feedback from other people. One idea from someone was that the watch should be narrowed down to more specific people, such as those with heart problems or those who’re susceptible to having strokes. This would be a good idea as then the watch is more tailored for someone’s needs rather than being a general purpose device. Another idea was to have a feature that sends emergency messages to people you know and those who are capable of getting help as soon as possible, using GPS data to pinpoint where you are and send data about how your body is currently performing, such as heart rate, blood pressure or even brain activity. This way help is guaranteed to get to you even if there isn’t anybody around. Another interesting idea that I thought of afterwards was to increase the confidentiality of your information to the medical professionals using Bluetooth or infrared using a special device. This could then mean that the watches could be issued by the NHS and doctors to patients and have the watches tailored exactly to their needs. The watch could then remind patients when to take medication through noises and vibrations and even give out health tips and remind people what they shouldn’t do to optimise their health. Another idea someone gave me was to have a connection to a smart phone, in the form of an app. It could even work on something like the apple watch. This is good as Apple recently took away the feature to have your medical details listed on iPhones, this watch/app could then close the gap and offer more features in the process.

Other people also pitched me their project ideas, one which is a streaming service that streams religious sessions local to your area and an app that’s like Yik-Yak and a modern day version of the neighbourhood watch. The streaming service would have a direct feed from your local parish or place of worship on Sundays for example, intended for those who’re unable to leave the house and make it to church/mosque etc. I really liked this idea as it incorporates more people into their faiths, even when they can’t commune with others for prayer and reflection. The service could even be streamed on TV through a channel, type in a code and have it streamed that way. The Yik-Yak like app is a location and map based service that allows locals to review certain area’s, make comments on places and allow a way to discuss and exchange comments about their communities, turning the Neighbourhood watch into something more virtual, accessible and offers a way of spreading the information quickly. Information can then be collected by local councils and police and allow locals to have a more direct voice. My thoughts was that it’s like trip adviser, allowing people to rate areas, comment on whether or not they’re safe and even comment on whether or not some areas need maintenance.

Both idea’s were wildly different from the idea I thought of. Granted my idea was pulled out of thin air and I had little inspiration to make anything I personally would like to work on. The task now is to both develop the idea I have and come up with other ideas as well.