The Brief

Mary Anne Pennington

 

Project Brief

Brand identity to promote and connect people with other people

 

The brief

To create a strong visual identity promoting connections between people. To create alternative scenarios and habit changes that can create a more physically connected lifestyle

 

The objectives of the brand

Focus on what really makes us happy as a people

Attract the target audience with colorful and informative brand

The importance of people connecting/bonding with each other

 

What the brand will do
Attract young people and adults with a new brand that is thought provoking, engaging and friendly

Promote a more connected lifestyle
Give people tools, alternative habits and scenarios to live a more socially connected life

Show the importance of social connections in a physical environment

Show the affects that physical connections have on people verses the negative of NOT socially connecting in life

 

The target audience
English speaking men and woman ages twenty through thirty-five years of age; specifically people of the technology age who rely on modern technology as a means of communication

 

How I want the target audience to react

To be more aware of how they are living and spending their time each day

What the brand will promote

Encourage people to have a more connected lifestyle

Encourage their friends and family to think about new ways to connect

Encourage their friends and family to spend more time together in a physical setting

The Importance of Connection with other people

Alternative scenarios and alternative lifestyle changes to reconnect with other people

 

The brand personality

 The brand will be colourful, interactive, enjoyable, thought provoking and full of life and energy

It will be informative and factual in the way it promotes a more socially connected lifestyle with people

 

The tone of voice

Fun and intriguing, yet informative in regards to people and connections

 

The design elements

Name and logo

Typographic style

Colour palette

Tone of voice

Website to promote campaign

Promotional posters

Brand guidelines

 

Project plan schedule

Write project plan/brief 14 May

Research and analysis 20 June

Design concept development 11 July

Test design concepts 17 July

Design concept refinement 1 August

Final design concepts 22 August

Write critical appraisal of design concepts 26 August (2xA4)

Project deadline and submission 28 August

 

Working on my Brief, making changes and revamping!

Survey

Survey I created for collecting data on my subject matter.

Age:

Sex: Male/Female:

Location: City/State/Country:

Marital status: Married/Single/Separated/Divorced/Widowed:

Occupation:

 

How many hours do you spend on the computer (Internet, checking emails, etc.) daily/weekly?

 

How many hours do you spend watching television daily/weekly?

 

How many hours do you spend on the phone (including text messaging) daily/weekly?

 

How many hours do you spend shopping daily/weekly?

 

How many hours do you spend socializing with friends and family (does not include talking on phone or computer) daily/weekly?

 

Do you know how to cook? If so how many meals do you cook at home daily/weekly (this does NOT include prepackaged or ready-made meals)?

 

How often do you eat out or order take away?

 

Do you own a car or use public transportation?

 

Approximately, how much time do you spend commuting each week?

 

How do you spend your days off or free time?

 

How many hours do you sleep each night?

 

How many hours do you exercise or participate in sports daily/weekly? 

Do you know how to sew or do any other arts, crafts or hobbies? If so, how much time do you spend doing so daily/weekly?

 

Do you know how to grow your own garden; fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, etcetera?

 

If you could take a class to learn a new trade what would you want to learn?

 

What are you most proud of in life?

 

If you had more time in your daily schedule how would you spend it? 

 

Are you happy? (put a mark next to your answer)

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

 

As a child, did you spend more time outdoors or indoors playing?

 

What is your most prized possession?

 

Do you recycle and if so, what do you recycle, how much and how often?

 

Do you buy items like clothing, appliances and furniture brand new or do you shop in vintage (second-hand) shops?

 

If something breaks in your home like a kitchen chair or an appliance do you try to fix it first or just throw it in the bin?

 

Do you volunteer in your community?

 

Do you know your neighbors/community?

 

Are you a member of any groups or organizations?

 

Do you have close connections with friends and/or family?

 

Do you currently feel that if you were to go through hard times you have people around that will support you and can help you?

 

Add any personal information or comments here that you feel might be relevant to this subject:

 

 

 

Active social life may delay memory loss among US elderly population

One of the features of aging is memory loss, which can have devastating effects on the quality of life among older people. In a new study, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found evidence that elderly people in the U.S. who have an active social life may have a slower rate of memory decline. The study appears in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health and appears in an advance online edition on May 29, 2008. "We hope this study adds to and advances our growing understanding of the important role that social forces play in shaping health," said Karen Ertel, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at HSPH.

Previous studies have suggested that an active social life may reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline among the elderly. Memory loss is a strong risk factor for dementia, a syndrome estimated to affect up to 10% of the U.S. population 65 years and older. The researchers wanted to test whether memory loss might also be associated with social connectedness.

Ertel and her HSPH colleagues, senior author Lisa Berkman, chair of the Department of Society, Human Development and Health, and Maria Glymour, assistant professor, Department of Society, Human Development and Health, used data gathered from 1998 to 2004 from the Health and Retirement Study, a large, nationally representative population of U.S. adults 50 years and older. (Previous studies were conducted outside of the U.S. or using smaller, non-representative population samples.) Memory was assessed in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 by reading a list of ten common nouns to survey respondents, then asking them to recall as many words as possible immediately and after a five-minute delay. Social integration was assessed by marital status, volunteer activities, and contact with parents, children and neighbors.

The results showed that individuals with the highest social integration had the slowest rate of memory decline from 1998 to 2004. In fact, memory decline among the most integrated was less than half the rate among the least integrated. These findings were independent of sociodemographic factors (such as age, gender, and race) and health status in 1998. The researchers found that the protective effect of social integration was largest among individuals with fewer than 12 years of education.

The researchers found no evidence that the results could be due to reverse causation, that is, poor memory or memory decline causing social withdrawal.

"Social participation and integration have profound effects on health and well being of people during their lifetimes," said Berkman. "We know from previous studies that people with many social ties have lower mortality rates. We now have mounting evidence that strong social networks can help to prevent declines in memory. As our society ages and has more and more older people, it will be important to promote their engagement in social and community life to maintain their well being."

Memory loss and dementia pose a major public health burden among the elderly U.S. population. The results suggest that increasing social integration may help slow memory decline among older Americans and could help alleviate the public health burden, particularly because the aging population in the U.S. is expected to increase substantially. "We need to understand more about how social integration reduces the risk of memory decline in order to target interventions that can help slow the decline," said Ertel. "Future research should focus on identifying the specific aspects of social integration most important for preserving memory."

Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 15:22 in Psychology & Sociology

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/05/29/active.social.life.may.delay.memory.loss.among.us.elderly.population

 

Source: Harvard School of Public Health

Stress makes you sick

It turns out that stress taps into this very same circuit, but starting in the brain rather than the immune system. Maier and his colleagues find that if they stress animals--by socially isolating them or giving them electrical shock--they see massive increases in interleukin-1 in the hippocampus.

"Stress and infection activate overlapping neural circuits that critically involve interleukin-1 as a mediator," said Maier.

And, not only does stress produce the expected stress response, it also produces exactly the same behavioral changes--including decreased food and water intake and decreased exploration--and physiological changes, including fever, increased white blood cell count and activated macrophages seen in the "sickness response."

"These animals are physically sick after stress," said Maier. "You see everything you see with infection."

The implications of this shared neural loop are that stress and infection sensitize the body's reaction to the other. In other words, an infection primes the circuit so that it has an exaggerated response to later stress and vice versa.

"How you react to a stressor or an infectious agent depends critically on events of the other type in the past," said Maier. And, he added, the effect isn't short-lived. He's measured it out to 10 days.

And so it appears that stress enhances immunity--at least the nonspecific, first-line immunity, said Maier, which makes some evolutionary sense. If we're under stress-- about to be attacked by a wild animal, for example--we would want to prime our first-line immune response to be ready in case of injury.

"Stress is another form of infection," he said. "And the consequences of stress are mediated by the activation of circuits that actually evolved to defend against infection."

http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec01/anewtake.html

Students connecting with others