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Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
Corcoran College of Art + Design Spring Semester 2012
Travis Poffenberger Process
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Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
1. Introduction
2. Research
3. Strategy and Tactics
4. Role in Branding
5. Website
6. Problems
7. Solutions
Table of Contents
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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The Task
We were instructed to pick a minority group in the United States and get their voting
rates up. At first I was excited about the task, thinking that everyone should vote,
why not? The more research that I did the more I realized how important it is to be
educated, and inclusive when assigned with targeting a certain group. So there were
now two goals. First of all, make sure the campaign never stereotypes or “others” the
Hispanic demographic we were trying to reach. Secondly, to get the voting rates up,
and how to do so. As the problem became more complex, more interesting solutions
were reached, and I feel in the end a thorough and inclusive campaign was created. So,
what did it take to get there?
Introduction
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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ResearchProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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BooksI read a fair deal of books. The more
nonfiction I read the more I realize that
everything can relate to design somehow.
The main texts I referenced for strategies
were, “Understanding Media” by Marshall
Mcluhan,”Takin’ Over by Imposing the Positive”
by Brandon McCartney,”In Defense of Food:
An Eater’s Manifesto” by Michael Pollan, an
essay by Lee Weng Choy in “Contemporary
Art Since 1985” as well as the graphic novel
“Watchmen” written by Alan Moore. Each
book offered it’s own unique insight into the
task at hand. Voting or not voting is more of a
psychological issue than one of pure “graphic
design”. We needed to design an experience,
design a mind set, and then make graphics
which spoke to the way we wanted folks to
think, and react. I read a lot. Then I started
writing myself, to more fully understand
my thoughts, and ended up developing some
strategies by doing so. When trying to reach
a culture, one must research everything
that every culture has. Food, vernacular
vocabulary, and traditions.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Books Continued“Change by Design” written by Tim Brown
assured me that the best “designs” were those
of experience. The book had a lot to offer but
I wanted more real world situations than
what was provided in the text. So I looked
elsewhere for grand undertakings, good
and bad, then looked at it through a design
perspective. Examination is really the key to
everything. When I understood the fact that
literally everything around us in the city is
made by humans, it becomes apparent how
powerful design can be when implemented
correctly. The graphics are a part, but much
less important than the “experience” or
“vibes” the project as a whole gives off. This
“experience” influences the visuals that will
represent it truthfully. This book really
hammered home the concept that the concept
is what is most important. Choosing how you
want the audience to feel or interact with
whatever is designed should be considered
first, after research is done, only then can
visuals be created to echo the intangible idea.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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On “Busy”
“I’m just too busy”, The leading misinformation of a vague phrase. How
many times have you made that excuse about something you really did not
want to do?
Example A: “Hey man can you help me move my really heavy couch
Saturday?” “Sorry dude, I’m really busy Saturday” “Whatever, man.” People
make time for things that are important to them. How many times honestly
have you skipped some classes or called in sick to an appointment in order
to make time for something you deemed more important? People get the
stuff done that they believe is the MOST IMPORTANT. Putting this question
on the questionnaire which was widely circulated by the census seems to
have leading results. “Too Busy” may be one of the most highly subjective
phrases to exist in the English language. Even if people are not “too busy” by
one’s standards, the unpleasant nature of voting may further deter people
who have little else to do that day, but see voting as such a low priority that
even walking a dog will exceed the importance of such.
Example B: “Hey why didn’t you vote? You do know that voting is the
root system on which democracy is based and It’s really important. There
must have been a good reason.” “Uhh, I was really busy, Official Looking
Government Survey.” “Business is a good excuse, you must be a very
productive person, I am not judging you at all”
Have you ever been summoned to an event, say your favorite band is in
town, but you are “really busy”? Did you make time for your friends birth-
day party? Even if you had several other commitments? If not, what was
MOST important to you? People don’t vote because they see the political
process not as a glimmering fractal of eagles and stars. They see it as a
grey rainy day, standing in line in a stinking community center only to cast
their worthless opinion into the swallowing abyss which is the political
spectrum. But maybe, that’s just it. Maybe it’s not that people are “too busy”
but the unpleasant nature of the voting process itself. Perhaps the actual
voting process works against itself in getting people to vote, maybe it in
itself is competition for our campaign. It is not an “organization” per se, but
it is in itself an institution.
Writings People Vote all of the Time, everyday. People vote when they choose how
to get to work, what they eat at lunch. Casting a singular opinion into the
greater scale of things is a human theme, we have been doing it for millions
of years. I am sure you can think of several things you do every day which is
“voting” in nature. It can go down to the route you take home, to the brand
of bottled water you consume.
Imagine if no one bought any gas today, in the USA. What actions
would that promote? What would it look like on sales graph’s for the oil
companies? What would people spend their money on instead?
People who don’t vote because they see the political system as crooked.
Most people drive cars, or use some kind of transportation which is based
on fossil fuels, which we all know are not sustainable. It is COMMON
KNOWLEDGE that these technologies are bad for the environment, are the
cause of several fatal crashes, and not to mention stink up the environment
and deplete the ozone, but we do it anyway- because we have to, or we like
to, or we feel comfortable with it. Even though macro-voting has far less
negative affects, or far greater reaching positive ones than the micro-votes
do, we see it as alien, and are hesitant to participate in this circus.
Even though we vote in our “rulers” we do not see this as essential, which
is insane. We need to figure out how to people to view voting as a normal
behavior, such as eating lunch meat or riding the bus. People need to see it
as a learning experience, even if it means making an uneducated vote for
the “wrong” candidate. Perhaps they will learn from their experience and
put more emphasis in educating themselves in the future.
Politics and the sentiment of “idealism” are too closely related. We seem
to think of these people as creating something closer to being “ideal” than
other aspects in our lives, linking back to the fossil fuels idea. We all buy
stuff we know isn’t IDEAL for the environment, yet we want our candidates
to be?
I think we can emphasize political participation as the first step to
becoming more educated about the political process, even becoming so
involved to designate one’s self as the “ideal” candidate.
We are competing with everyday choices, but we need to partner with
them. We need people to see that the things they do everyday are votes, and
that way the “real deal” will be less weird, and more welcoming.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Strategies & TacticsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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DevelopmentI did a lot of research in the research phase.
Competitive analysis, and other things that I
saw relevant,I would take notes. These notes
started to take up much real estate in my
sketchbooks. These are samples of the notes
that led to our core strategies.
I participated in surveying folks along with
other group members. We tried at a church,
no success. People don’t like to be bugged
at Church, especially in the parking lot.
We got some good insight from a group of
young men and women drinking away their
hangovers, eating, and celebrating. They were
chatty, open, and most importantly honest.
The best information we received was
at Hispanic grocery stores. People were
relaxed, sober, and talkative. Strangely
they really wanted to talk about voting. If
someone approached me with a clipboard I
would humor them, but they seemed angry,
or hopeless, or passionate about it. Obama
inspired hope in a lot of people. Studying
his strategies became a top priority after the
Grocery Store Survey.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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RefinementI did a lot of thinking in the research phase:
Competitive analysis, was the root of the
research. I wanted this campaign to be able to
“compete” with the LIVESTRONG and Obama
campaigns. I did not want to study rinky dink
operations for their tactics, only for their
failures. and other things that I saw relevant,I
would take notes. These notes started to
take up much real estate in my sketchbooks.
These are samples of the notes that led to
our core strategies. Shown are the original
slides from the first presentation. Strategy
4 is exclusively from Brandon McCartney’s
“Takin’ Over by Imposing the Positive”. He
regularly re purposes words in order to toy
with the connotations and meanings as a
whole, it proves to be successful. The other
two strategies are derived from a mixture
of the LIVESTRONG Campaign, the Obama
Campaign, and Michael Pollan’s “An Eaters
Manifesto”, with guidance from “Change by
Design”.The same is true for the ones not
shown, I just found these the most interesting.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Role in BrandingProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Role in BrandingBranding the project was largely a group
process. We all pitched in during the
divergent, and convergent stages. We
brainstormed with stickies, with words,
grouped them, so on and so fourth. I
contributed several failed logos as the rest
of the group did . This was a long and rough
journey before we found the perfect mark .
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Logo ProcessWe knew the logo had to be organic or pattern
based. Here are the early stages of the logo,
from my exploration. None of these were
even really considered, but it was interesting
that all of our explorations had the same type
of “vibe”. Meaning that we all understood the
research and concept of the project the same
way. My favorite is the photograph of the
human hand.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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WebsiteProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Not all websites are the same. Obviously, But what is different about the
websites that people look at? For www.CreerEs,org I chose to model the site
after those which sharing and visual culture play a main role. I wanted the
website to be friendly, fun, and put viewers in the right “mood” ; it needed
to be inspirational. As designers we know all about mood boarding, Just
because there is a specific word for the concept does not meant that it is an
ineffective tactic for those unfamiliar with the idea.
Looking at a grid display or scroll feed of images is currently recognized as
“truthful”. Look at Facebook, they use a scroll feed, Tumblr, uses the same
concept. Google images is a premier source now a days for information. Let
us say that one has never seen a Dragon fruit, plug it into Google images
and there it is! A whole bunch of Dragon fruit. We trust this image display
format because it is associated with a giant search engine we trust as
well. The semiotics of Google Images were utilized to create the home page of
the website, to provide a legitimate appearance.
Coming back to the mood boards, what if instead of someone typing
“Dragon fruit” into Google images, a grid of pictures comes up with
someone’s motive behind the content and arrangement? My goal was to
inspire people, to make them feel good, to feel like participating. Using hand
selected content and a trusty structure the home page of the website is a
mood board for inspiration, for involvement.
The other pages contain pictures from the community. The local feel was
pivotal in this site concept as well. I want folks to be able to visit the site
and immediately recognize a face, or location, as well as to be inspired
by something. Mixing this with the approachable vibe of the branding
one creates an accessible, yet professional platform for community
engagement. A hub for our social media outlets, and a place one knows they
will always find something good. People like good sites, they will tell their
friends. 1+1 =2 ,
Concept
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Example AHere you can see the “Dragon Fruit” search
compared with the “inspiration” search. The
Dragon Fruit results are more or less the
same. Dragon Fruit cut open, dragon fruit
trees, etc. The results for inspiration are
much more interesting though. Everything
from text art, to photography, to fractals.
What does this mean? It means that a tangible
object is much easier defined as “one thing”,
naturally, but I can assure you that no matter
what link is clicked on that page it will bring
you to “Dragon Fruit”. In order to find out
what “inspires” people to vote, they have to
find their own way in. Some people vote
because they are excited about the candidates,
others feel it their civic duty. Do they click on
the picture of the sunrise over the desert?
The psychedelic fractal? Maybe even the
heart shaped globe. Essentially there is no
one agreed upon method to get people to
vote, so letting individuals choose their own
by providing a similar styled “mood board”
seemed the best idea, based on my research.
The motivation lies within themselves. On
the Creer Es website, every bit of media has
a description under it which loosely relates
it to voting, and links to the “speak up” page.
When people begin to associate what inspires
them with the voting process, they are more
likely to feel connected to it.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Example BIf one is to search “Washington DC on Google
Images this is what shows up. Take notice
of the related searches, and the images
that show up. Many of them are of the
skyline or monuments, no real shots of the
actual city, peoples homes, businesses. The
related searches are “Washington DC map,
Washington DC city, Washington DC skyline,
Washington DC monuments, Washington
DC at night.”There is nothing in the visual
dialogue about the lack of congressional
representation of the city, because people do
not seem to be interested in it. It would be
interesting to see what would happen should
Google Images put a pro DC vote image on
the first page of image results for Washington
DC. I believe it would change the perceptions
of the populous , as one strong image in a
mood board would change the direction of a
design project. This “mood board” is almost as
linear as the Dragon Fruit one. DC is seen as
only monuments to many people.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Proof A1Today (Thursday May 3rd) a friend was
showing me an interaction design website
and we stumbled upon this redesign of the
Mott’s product website, via codeandtheory.
com . I noticed many similarities between my
design strategy and theirs. It felt good to see
a professional re-design of a large company’s
website, which follows similar interaction
principles and concepts as one of my own.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Proof A2The site is the mirror image of the Creer
Es site, in some regards. The concept of
the Creer Es site is to create a moodboard
to inspire in general, with the backbone of
voting. This site is to give choices as well, but
also re-inforce brand strategy. Eitehr way
they are emotional approaches. The Creer
Es site has share buttons when one mouses
over a bit of media. This site has specific
images to share on specific networks, the
next step in the solution. On the bottom of
the page (not pictured) there is an image to be
shared specifically on Pinterest, (marketing to
moms) while the rest of the items are almost
exclusively to be shared via facebook.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Proof A3The Mott’s website features a recent
activity bar (at the bottom of the page rather
than at the top , like CreerEs,org. The site
also has a featured “window” on the main
page, connected to Facebook, for ease of
management. When a giant company needs
to reach out to the public it uses social media
exclusively, usually, with a bit of “real” human
interaction, like the Red Bull Girls or the
occassional handout of a new coconut water
drink by the Metro station. The Creeres.
org page contains a whole “featured” page,
with hand curated content, to emphasize the
“local” feel , which Mott’s does not have. It
feels friendly, but it still has the vibe of being
a huge corporation, and does not speak any
specific civic duty or inspiration: just “happy”.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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NotesI find writing stuff down is a great way to
understand it more thoroughly. These are
notes about the site as I was building it.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Site MapHere is the conceptual site map showing how
the website will function. The “submit” page
was eventually replaced by a “featured” page,
with a submit option within it. The “submit”
link at the top was taking up too much real
estate that could be used for a better purpose,
such as a “featured” page.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Up and RunningThe screen shot higher on the page shows the
home page of the website. Notice the visible
branding and mild color palette to provide a
rest for the eyes in the media heavy page.
A Twitter stream is present on the left side
of the page, so one can see that we are in fact
an active organization. This encourages
quick sharing of the site as well. Above the
Twitter stream there is a filter option. Such
filter options include: NOVA, VIDEO,
INSPIRATIONAL, EVENT, SUBMISSION. This
makes the task of browsing a snap.
The social media presence is reiterated on the
top right of the screen. Three custom social
media icons, designed by Allison Nambo are
present. This shows the visitor that we are on
Facebook, Twitter, and we have an RSS feed
that one could subscribe to.
The bottom screen shows the “about” page.
Participants at an event can be seen on
the right sidebar, while other even photos
populate the main page. The page closes with
a “Creer Es” to vote image. Reinforcing our
message to the visitor.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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ProblemsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Some SmallI helped create content for the Twitter page.
I noticed that our tweets were not reading
as human, more news articles and stuff that
went along with our research was tweeted
than questions or stuff that sounded like
“people”. The human element was key to
the whole idea, so I started using hashtags
and asking followers human questions.
The amount of followers we gained was
substantial after the change was made in
the dialogue of the Twitter page, proving
the importance of human involvement or
presence in the design plan. I made a hashtag
strategy, consisting of #inspiration #NOVA
#DMV #believe, and of course #CreerEs.
these were the main one’s utilized. I also
began asking the people what they “vote”
to do for the weekend, or the evening etc. I
used “The Vernacular” strategy frequently
on Twitter. When I talked about voting, I
used terms like “speaking up” or “expressing”,
When I talked about
Later I also noticed none of the tweets
were in Spanish, so I asked the only native
Spanish speaker in our group to translate
some phrases and hashtags for us to use with
Twitter. This was a bit late in the game to
gauge any results, but I believe given time this
tactic will draw more followers.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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Ethics in DesignI ended up in the midst of a moral crisis during this campaign. I began to
feel uneasy about the fact that we had to “pick a race” and change the way
they behaved. This seemed colonial, racist, and morally reprehensible.
Working on a campaign to encourage “voting” while ignoring the greater
socioeconomic constructs effecting people in the United States began to
seem unimportant. Thanks to this crisis though I learned more than I may
have ever during this semester. I thought that myself and my group were
doing something wrong, but I realized that it is mainstream advertising
who are walking on questionable ground when it comes to targeting a
“group”. This helped wrap up any loose ends in the Creer Es campaign, and
reinforce our main concepts.
Some Large
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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I Wrote My Thoughts Down... Again
I feel that honesty is first and foremost crucial in any righteous venture,
granted ventures are not always righteous, but I believe this to be one;
ideally. Get folks out to vote! What could be wrong with that? At first,
nothing came to mind. Embracing the liberties and rights one has as an
American is an ideal close to my heart, and I believe everyone should
truly embrace their liberty. Somewhat ironically, in the same vein I believe
people have every right to decline involvement, in any sense of the word.
The Founding Fathers of America created a place where weighty agenda’s
weren’t forced down the throats of the citizens, a place where people could
be free to do as they chose, and fear not of being oppressed.
I have a strange feeling referring to “our community” or “us” when it comes
to the campaign as I myself am not in the 1st tier of the target demographic,
“Hispanic Americans”. Why not all Americans? One of our campaign goals
was to get “Hispanic Americans” to feel more like “Americans”. I believe
this will never be accomplished when greatly diverse groups of people
are all labeled under the giant umbrellas of “race” (which has a negative
connotation) and as “Americans” (which has a positive connotation…
sometimes; at least in this situation it does.) I believe that fragmenting
our audience via race was a setback from the beginning, at least in hind
sight. The US census data gathering system is old. It is based on racial
lines that mean nothing more than a pebble in a stream. Mushing totally
different groups of people into one big mass to make them easier to label is
disgusting. Most people think the government doesn’t care about them.
Some wanted to vote, but were felons and could not.
Some had a pessimistic view on society, and saw voting as pointless.
Many people expressed excitement involving President Obama.
One guy even said he voted for random candidates he was so unattached
to the whole process. I don’t want to make these people vote. I want to
provide them with deeper inspiration to get involved in community first,
and government second. I feel right about putting up a website, social
media, literature etc. , Which encourages social participation as a whole,
but nothing specific. I think the specific nature of the voting process is one
that is already flawed to an extent (not being a holiday, on a weekend, more
More Writing than one day etc.) and it is difficult to support a basic right put into context
of biased circumstances. What if one can’t get a few hours off to make it to
the polls? That essentially erases one’s right to participate based on class
or circumstance. I feel that the fact that this campaign had to be “non-
partisan” is contradictory to the entire concept of it. To me, at least, being
“non partisan” is defined as not taking either side, or encouraging others to
do so. Whether it be in politics, sports, or literally any other activity. Today,
on a national television network, I saw reporters discussing Axl Rose’s
declination letter to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This
struck a chord with me in my present examination of the country. Why
should everyone care when this one guy declines a ceremonial honor, and
no one really gives a damn when ton’s of people aren’t voting? There is no
better way to show a group of people that you don’t care about them than
to ignore their strange behavior, even if it could help you win a campaign.
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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SolutionsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger
Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012
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A New Method
Moving past all of the issues I found with the government, and the project,
I started to realize something I had previously forgotten. Creer Es was
drastically different from all of the other campaigns, it was started with
good intentions, is not imposing, but is enriching. It’s like a library of
information in some aspects. The main problem I had with addressing
a ‘race” of people was the notion that it is wrong to dictate them to do
something based on their race, but we are not dictating, we are asking.
Creer Es means “to believe in” we allow the audience to influence the
meaning. We are not telling them what they believe in, they are telling us.
Providing a vessel for self expression is key in making campaigns that speak
directly to the community. Interaction is everything now a days. Computers
are being used more and more, so interaction is expected in everything,
even campaigns. I feel glad to have this knowledge now.
The Future
I hope to be able to share my knowledge of problem solving with the
world. I watched severally racially biased advertisements and read
articles about them over the course of this project. If someone is trying
to reach a group of people, it is essential to have their input. Not only
surveying and research, but having them directly influence whatever
the campaign is themselves. Allowing the group one is trying to reach to
physically influence the narrative of the campaign is the only way to make
it unbiased. That is the beauty of Creer Es. Physically putting one’s mark
on the logo shows that one owns it. It belongs to the person who spoke up,
who expressed themselves, who voted to change the campaign the way
they wanted it to be. This is the only way to “target” without “stereotype”.
Provide a platform, and let the people express themselves.
The Answers