Visual Project: The ‘Be Conscious’ Campaign

If there’s anything that I’ve learned this semester thus far, it’s to be more conscious of my actions towards the environment. That, in turn, is what inspired me to create this series of advertisements for the visual project. Initially, I created an infographic, which included extensive information about global warming and its effects. Although that information is useful, I figured I would go an alternate route and attempt to appeal to different senses.

Originally, my infographic appealed to a more mature, educated audience. It was tailored towards people who actively want to know more about the effects of climate change, the interchangeability between ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’, and overall general tasks that should be inherited in order to ease the effects.

For the “Be Conscious” campaign, however, I decided to shift gears and tailor my attention towards the younger generation with the intent that those who are finding their way through the world (aka students, young adults, even early 30s, etc.), will essentially be responsible for how the state of the earth turns out in the future.

I chose photos with short captions as my mode of communication for a number of reasons. First, young people (myself included) are very inclined to skim through large amounts of information. They want something straight and to the point. Second, advertisements typically are successful if they appeal to the emotions. By using cute animals and puns, I attempted to appeal to the viewer’s emotions and to provide them with a space to personally connect to the messages I am trying to send.

The purpose of these ads is to make the audience think twice about their conscious decisions regarding the environment. Sometimes, we settle into our every day routine, unaware of how we’re negatively impacting the environment. With the common theme of “being conscious”, the message is supposed to really cause the viewer to think twice about how their everyday decisions affect more than they are truly aware of.

I decided to stray away from the information-heavy route that a lot of ads use to appeal to their audience. Instead, I decided to be ambiguous in an attempt to encourage the audience to be proactive and conduct research themselves rather than feeling forced to do so by an overpowering advertisement.

The process of making this series of ads was difficult, because I had to find the perfect balance of being witty while also making poignant statements. I wasn’t sure whether or not to use primarily animals as the face of my advertisements, but I figured they appeal more to people’s emotions as opposed to a pile of trash, or a generally unpleasant landscape.