Campaign logo, banner visuals

These are quick renditions of visuals for our HLN initiative, which will be reworked after thorough studying of the HLN style guide in the next 2 weeks.

HLN Creative Brief

Client: HLN: WHERE PEOPLE TALK.™

Overview:

SPECTRUM | 2011: The Year in Colors

We will create an interactive, online tool that organizes news stories of 2011 based on both their physical colors and the emotions evoked by certain colors (as outlined by psychological institutions). Users will be able to select a color from a spectrum and browse stories associated with their choice. (ie: Stories about health are green/blue).

Content:

MUST-SEE

We are presenting a unique way for people to revisit stories of the year based primarily on their colors. By allowing people to discover stories based on a single color choice, users will enjoy browsing news headlines more, while simultaneously finding more unique stories of interest they would not have found otherwise. Since color is one of the first things a person recognizes when seeing something, this allows people to remember things more vividly. To add an extra dimension, the stories within each color category will be arranged by popularity, with varying levels of color vibrancy based on interest on the subject.

When selecting the way the viewer would like to search by color (physical color or psychological color), a link will appear for readers to see how HLN organizes the stories. (ie- “How does HLN determine what stories are psychological ‘blue’ stories?”) The answer will contain links to reputable organizations showing data and research on certain colors and the evoked emotions.

To direct viewers to the campaign on HLNtv.com, we will also incorporate web banner ads asking people, “What is the color of your news?” using a spot color visual with the HLN icon and directing them to the Spectrum | 2011 section of the HLNtv.com website.

This web initiative is made stronger by the alignment of the week-long program that HLN will adopt on-air, focusing on a different color of news each night of the week.

MUST-SHARE

Social networking will be integrated into this application, allowing users to “share their color” with their friends and followers. We will also create Twitter “hashtags” to help spread their discoveries; eg. “My news is orange! #HLNspectrum.” There wil also be opportunities to link readers’ facebook accounts to the site so they can easily share interesting stories, and tweets may appear on-air during the week-long special featured on HLN.

Connecting their Twitter or Facebook account will allow users to add their current profile picture to the “HLN Spectrum Mosaic” — a large HLN icon comprised of all the photos people add. The HLN icon will retain its characteristic shape, but will now be made up of a spectrum, which will be derived from the photos added. Based on the color the reader selected before, their photo will be overlayed with a slight tint of that color and put into the corresponding area of the Mosaic. Colors can be shared on HLNtv.com using their already-established blog format.

MUST-WATCH

This campaign will also be a week-long program near the end of the year, where each night focuses on a different color of news. For example, all stories that fall under the “red” category might be discussed by anchors on Monday, and the color blue for Tuesday, etc. Anchors will devote a certain amount of time to the color of the day as it relates to their individual show.

TV advertising will show a black and white world that slowly gets taken over by spot colors, where people will see one to three selected objects in color. The viewer gets asked, “What‘s the color of your news?” This will spark their interest, resulting in their visitation to the program or website.

MUST-BUY

The intended sponsors would be companies such as Crayola, Epson, Sony, Kodak, HP, Toshiba, Samsung, or any company where color is the primary focus of their business. “Liking”, “following,” or “tweeting” about the Spectrum | 2011 campaign may result in daily giveaways (chosen at random) from the selected sponsors, such as gift cards, shopping sprees, or free cameras and TVs.

Target Audience:

People interested in looking back at 2011 in a new way; based on the color of the stories they found interesting. This can be any range of ages, though the current majority of HLN viewers tend to be women interested in popular culture.

What an amazing ad.

This ad was on the side of my Pandora radio player tonight, advertising the new Ryan Gosling/George Clooney movie, The Ides of March. Not sure what the movie is really about, but this ad is absolutely seamless in its design and storytelling:

9/11 Revisited: 10 Years of Memories [poster]

9/11 poster in progress

A customer of mine at the pub introduced me to a poem written in 1914 during the first world war and is mostly known to the people of England, but has come to represent any fallen soldiers or casualties of any war. Though 9/11 was technically before the War on Terror, I felt the poem spoke just as strongly, and the last line in particular is the most well known part of the entire poem.

I am choosing to use the last stanza of this poem on my poster, in addition to a pastel drawing of the twin towers at sunrise and sunset (as the poem states).

The poem is as follows:

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

-Laurence Binyon, "Ode of Remembrance" 1914