Initial Concept Ideas

One of the activities we were assigned during class was to produce a visual idea/ concept for our visual brief. Since we had two clearly distinct possibilities to approach the fair trade rebrand we quickly put together two computer generated thumbnails. 

Target audience 1 (Do- gooders)

We came up with the idea of using bright vibrant colours to associate with the positive aspects of buying fair trade through the analysis of the existing fair trade website. We noticed that even though fair trade was conveying the positives around their product the colours and overall tone of the website spoke very differently. At first glance the page seemed dreary and almost upsetting, this contrasting aesthetic greatly decreases the message of fair trade.

We decided to use the parrot as a metaphor for the fair trade movement. The flight of the bird over and across the hands as it brings colour to the image represents the freedom and equality that comes with providing those in less privilege world countries opportunities to work in environments that should be expected and their earnings are directly reflect their efforts.

Feedback

The hands in the air that have been coloured, therefor effected by the fair trade parrot, are still have the same gesture as the grey hands which could could confuse our message. This is because it seems as if they are still reaching out and seeking help.

Target audience 2 (Hipsters)

Our second idea was to portray fair trade coffee as a leading trend in social popular culture. We wanted to capture and entice those who hold social status in high regards which is commonly known as 'hipster' in this day and age and is a constantly growing subculture of the community. We thought this would be a good place to position fair trade coffee because it will get the most response from consumers. 

The young liberal adults of this target audience tend to focus more on the direct benefits to themselves rather than the bigger picture which can be hard to convince them to take responsibility for their actions. To overcome this we reposition the focus of fair trade and their do good actions to increasing popularity through buying fair trade coffee. We felt the phrase "Be the Movement" was a strong symbol and motivator for this idea.

The aesthetic we chose to be coupled with this phrase needed to mimic current design craze of edgy filters and distressed type etc. We randomly choose an image as a placeholder due to the fact we were strict on time.

Feedback

It was mentioned that our target audience is very specific but this could be good for us in terms of having a distinct direction for our design. This way we don't need to accommodate everyone which can be very difficult. It is more effective to communicated to a defined target audience rather than trying to mass communicate a large scale ineffectively.

Conclusion

We have decided that our second target audience would be the most successful if put out in todays market. This design solution also has many opportunities for different paths to explore.