Creer es | Process Doc.

Corcoran College of Art & Design | Junior Studio 2012

Corcoran College of Art + Design Spring Semester 2012

Travis Poffenberger Process


1. Introduction

2. Research

3. Strategy and Tactics

4. Role in Branding

5. Website

6. Problems

7. Solutions

Table of Contents


page 4

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


page 5

ResearchProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 6

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.


page 7

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.


page 8

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.


page 9

Strategies & TacticsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 10

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.


page 11

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.


page 12

Role in BrandingProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 13

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 .


page 14

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.


page 15

WebsiteProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 16

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


page 17

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.


page 18

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.


page 19

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.


page 20

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.


page 21

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”.


page 22

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.


page 23

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.


page 24

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.


page 25

ProblemsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 26

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.


page 27

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


page 28

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.


page 29

SolutionsProcess Book : Travis Poffenberger


page 30

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

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