The client needed a simple animation as an introduction for a video she had to make for a congress and also for future videos she might want to produce in the future.
The first approaches were around the idea of playing with the dot of the I, which is what gives shape to the isotype of the brand. There were several ways to make it playful, but it was such a small element of the logo that this was eventually discarded for not having the wanted impact.
Reviewing the values and mission of the brand, the animation was re-interpreted to represent the flexibility of the lessons. This could be done by using the different colours of the visual identity to represent the variety and flexibility of approaches that a private tutor can have to teach something. A simple and quick transition from one colour to another would be a visual metaphor of the flexibility and adaptability needed for each situation. Also, at the end, it would smoothly appear the slogan "your spanish journey", which is a way of highlighting that customisation. The animation was made in After Effects in a resolution of 1920x1080 at 60fps, so it can be used at that frame speed in the future if needed in good resolution.
Link to animation: http://youtu.be/VFTTvKcsW24
Instagram Feed
The purpose of the Instagram feed, as it was discussed in the idea generation process, is to provide Spanish students and teachers with a source of information about Spanish idioms. #eslang would be the hashtag for these publications, as it is in Spanish (ES) Slang.
This had to be discussed thoroughly with the client, as not only the information needed to be clear in a visual way, but also in a pedagogic manner. We figured the best idea would be to use the 3 columns for each section to create a visual code so the followers know what to expect. The first image on the left would provide a context in which an idiom could be used, the middle one the idiom and the right one an example in context.
The image of the situation would describe it in Spanish and English, as well as a definition or further explanation of the context if needed.
The idiom would be shown in CAPS (as well as the situation) to be spotted straight away without the need of clicking on the picture. Once it's clicked, it provides more information in smaller text, like the literal translation and a similar idiom in English.
The third picture would use the isotype of the brand as a speech bubble to provide a context and how the idiom would be used in a real conversation.
The idea was to clearly represent the visual identity of the brand in this context. For this purpose, the colours were very defined. The combination of yellow and red is the main one and also the most noticeable, so that was the one used for the idiom. The blue also works with the red colour and provides a good surrounding for the yellow. The rectangle that goes across the 3 images provides a sense of unity and continuity so the reader knows how to read these images. Also, the rectangle only has more presence in the first two as it is what involves the proper "lesson". The final image looks more light, as the lesson is already over and that's just an example.
There's information that is repeated in every picture. Each image includes the logotype, the name of the tutor, the hashtag #eslang, the profile address (@espamundi) and a summary of what this feed is about: "Express yourself like a native Spanish speaker". This has been done because the images can be found individually and they need to point out their origin and purpose. They work independently and someone could learn something from them and they still provide where to find more information in the same platform.
The images are 1080x1080 as Instagram works best with square images.
Some drafts of the process:
Gumtree
The client has been promoting her business through Gumtree for years, and it just needed some adjustments to match the visual identity of the website with the advert.
The client wanted to keep the text on the advert to the minimum, which I agreed with. We thought the best choice would be to keep the information simple and very accessible. The platform allows the announcer to upload pictures so this would be a good opportunity to add some extra information that can be taken from the website and to highlight the most important messages.
The first image says clearly that is a one to one type of lesson and shows a quote from Alicia about her approach to the lessons and the possibility to book a free trial lesson.
These pictures also give the possibility to add more information that potential students might be interested in. In this case, a section of two images called "happy students" radically differs from the other in the colours and in the content. It's text based and it shows two opinions of other students.
There's the possibility to show more information about the lessons, which is the website. Gumtree doesn't allow to include the website in the text, so it was a good opportunity to promote it on the 4th slide. There's no point in showing it in the first slide, but if someone wants to know more it's available for them to know where to look for more information.
And at the end, as simple picture that closes the route through the images.
Facebook page is mainly going to be used to share the blog posts and the Instagram idioms (only the middle picture). For the blog posts something that can be infinitely and easily edited was needed, so it had to be as simple as possible but it should provide enough visual variety so the users don't get confused with something being spammed or posted one time after another. The dimensions of this type of image are 1200 x 627pixels, as it seems to be the most adequate for Facebook posts.
Using the research as a reference the design started to get the shape. First, the isotype was used to create a differentiation from the background, like a pop-up.
First the title, then trying to fit a category, a title and a small introduction. although, this seemed too much for a Facebook post and it's a text that can be included in the information attached to the link.
By using only the title, the problem is that if the same image is used over and over again and only the text changes, like explained before, it's going to create a sense of spam or that nothing new is really there.
A picture from a free source in the background that conceptualises the content of the blog post, a title in big and a very small introduction to it seems to be a clear and a differentiating way to present blog posts. To keep the visual identity recognisable, the photography is overlaid on the solid red colour of the brand and blended in "multiply". To make it more varied for Facebook publications, the colours of the brand can be combined in different ways to keep the visual identity easily identifiable. These different versions could also be applied to different categories of posts.
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