We are a web and media company specialized in designing, managing and realizing on line publishing products. At the moment, our network has 3.5 millions of unic users and 10 millions of pages viewed per month. About ten websites addressed to a mainly young target audience and dealing with different subjects (music, ready sentences and sms, cooking, mobile phones, technology, tattoos and web directory, turism, cinema) belong to the network. The websites in the network have a vertical structure, made of a main content and of an internal magazine. These websites don’t have a particular link among one another apart from a common top bar, so that they look like separate projects.
WHAT IS IT ?
In this step you will find information about the Brand Builder, who is asking you to propose a Solution for the challenge. He introduces himself (as a Brand of course :) The more you understand about the Brand, the more chances you have to create what is wanted.
IMPORTANT: There is a possibility that the Brand Builder prefers not to disclose who he is, usually for confidentiality reasons. Such Briefs will be published in an anonymous way. In this case the Brand Builder will say as much as he feels comfortable saying.
Here are two EXAMPLES
In case there is no problem with disclosing the identity (VISIBLE):
“NMN -No More Nicotine- is a Brand that promises to counteract the damages to the skin that can be caused by smoking. NMN is distributed in pharmacies and drugstores and its price positioning is middle-high; it is mainly promoted through professional endorsement and is not massively advertised.”
In case the Brand doesn’t want to disclose his identity (ANONYMOUS):
“Brand counteracting the damages to skin caused by smoking. Its products are distributed in pharmacies and drugstores with a middle-high price positioning; they are mainly promoted through professional endorsement and are not massively advertised.”
In summary: Who is your client (in a visible or “anonymous” way :)
We intend to develop all our websites under a common idea that allows us to present each of them as a section of a portal. We want to develop a “looking out tv” where the user (the visitor of the website) watches what the other users are seeing or doing in that moment in the websites. As in a real tv, the user will be allowed to change and zap shifting from a website to another one, visiting the contents or watching what other users are watching in that moment. In this way the fruition of the contents becomes circular and centrifugal, in a mechanism between tv-zapping and navigation “on demand” (an actual example is on www.canzoni-mp3.net on the left of the homepage).
Nnetwork naming: all these aspects considered, the network will be called ZZZAPP.TV, a name evoking tv-zapping, the idea of application and TV.
Aim: a new brand identity that makes the user recognize the websites as part of a network. The style will be fresh and international.
How to do it: Through an image common to all the websites of our network, linking them at a concept level as well as at a graphic level.
The project will be developed in three subsequent steps:
- Elaboration of a Logo and of the zzzapp.tv homepage graphic (the website will consist only of a homepage. This is the step we intend to deal with here.);
- Realization of the graphic of the top bar;
- Realization of the logos.
In this phase we intend to develop only the 1st step.
zzzapp.tv will consist of a sole page, with a logo, a stylized drawing in the centre and the channels of the network:
- Logo: the drawing could represent a person with a keyboard sitting on a sofa in front of a tv and beyond the tv other users.
- Channels: these are the TVs the user can switch (pushing a red button) on to watch what happens in the websites. A tv-screen will have to be drawn, where the user will watch the content we will load (a serie of raws, as in canzoni-mp3.net).
- https://lh3.googleusercontent. com/wTFA2uLj7BDXux1WO3RQ1uEnIs y2l_WAyZH45ET-pBIntdcIjWJb2ium IGQP83IlN5LQjuCeWtg0oiNRNSDJ1e X4ANNDl9m9P5m251i0x20wPDA
- In each TV there will be a serie of raws representing what the users of that website are watching; a sketched idea follows;
- https://lh3.googleusercontent. com/oP5YDFzNjJZmve0vBMjtqCQAzc 8TUN2CKzEiOMYTmOB9Zolkv92JfpBa ctVKTB45199uawVJ0dD0NOf7jxjSuO cmoSDW0J3PVh1r-1cR0-5FGTw
At a visual level we intend to represent our idea as a little screen with five coloured aerials, representing each a website:
- canzoni-mp3.net - (red at the moment, but will be blue) - BLUE logo
- sms-pronti.com - green
- frasi-amore.it - love-red
- ricettepercucinare.com - red
- schede-cellulari.it - orange
Logo requirements:
- The logo will be stylized, simple and not too colorful. A few black lines on a white background could be enough; eg.:
- https://lh6.googleusercontent. com/yylH0FP9wCbGVJkUreUkBGMsjJ jBpesd0d-4jeMOiEYLhTx-0YAi3SlI D5perabzG_u8POzHBRH7v-tV1nY8Lr kUyDg7V6J3JTXmf2itSyJHB9I
- https://lh4.googleusercontent. com/zeM4BxLdRdsgyWk5Prn8yJRbFv J9ARt0QdzQk6y_SxMHHQ75IE0BPS6J iKdG1RTtZq-g5vZnWXtPlxQc4NVPrm TOa46Jg8GmmvYlyGIaLDc18lA
- the aerials will be in the colours of the five main websites. A general colour could be black, in which the website will be written.
- In general, the website background will be black or at least dark, as well as the logo drawing.
WHAT IS IT ?
This is the task the Brand Builder asks you to accomplish. If you don’t understand it, you are completely out of luck !
EXAMPLE
“We ask the Creators to develop a print advertising campaign in order to increase Brand’s visibility. It will be used in national magazines this spring.”
In summary: It’s the objective of the client, therefore your objective too !
Young and very young people who either spend their spare time on line or look for useful and interesting news about certain subjectsi (new mobile phones, sentences, music, etc.).
WHAT IS IT?
People that the Brand Builder wants you to entertain and persuade to think, feel or do something using your creation. Usually you will read about their age, sex, social level and behaviors. You should always keep that information in mind while creating, as the target audience is the final recipient of what you create.
EXAMPLE
“Smoking girls and women who would like to quit smoking but can’t. Usually health-conscious adults who care about their looks. They feel guilty about smoking because they know it is harmful. They read books about it. This is a real problem for them: it’s like “My brain wants something, but my body acts of its own accord”. They don’t relate to my brand, they are just waiting for a trustworthy “helping hand”.
In summary: Get under their skin !
Recognizability: the graphic will make the network immediately recognizable even if the user enters from an internal page of a website.
WHAT IS IT?
The thing that the Brand Builder wants to make the target audience think/feel/do because of your creation.
Here are some very concrete examples:
∞ Some things people can think/feel:
- There is a new Brand (or product or idea or...) out there
- This Brand is better than the alternatives or than it used to be
- This Brand is worth paying more for
∞ Some things people can do:
- Start buying the Brand’s products
- Buy the Brand more often
- Stock more products of the Brand in their outlets
The above written examples are very concrete whilst often the proposition of the Brief is emotional. That’s even better as it can be more inspiring!
EXAMPLE
“We’d like to encourage smokers to use NMN in order to minimize the damage to their health while they are keeping giving up smoking (especially if they’ve already tried and failed before).”
In summary: Get inside their brain !
Because our network is well-known and visited in the web.
WHAT IS IT?
This is the key to achieving the objective. It is what supports the proposition and makes it believable. Usually it is a rational statement.
EXAMPLE
“Every cigarette you smoke is causing damage to your appearance. A recent study took several pairs of identical twins where one twin was a lifelong smoker and the other had never smoked. The smokers’ skin was a quarter thinner than that of non-smokers, and in some cases there were differences of up to 40%. NMN contains thinning-blocking anti-oxidants which counteract the effect of nicotine on the skin.”
In summary: You are looking for arguments? You’ll find them here!
Modern, international, fresh and simple
WHAT IS IT?
It’s who the Brand is. Yes... who!
Treat the Brand as a human being, as it has its own personality. To know the personality of the “client” is fundamental in order to provide a tailor-made job. So, read carefully the listed adjectives...
EXAMPLE
“Scientific, trustworthy, result-oriented, ‘a party’ to achieve your goals.”
In summary: Imagine the live person !
Our work will appear only on the Internet.
WHAT IS IT?
A list of places (or media, or things) where the target audience will see the outcome of your creation. In this step sometimes the Brand will also acknowledge you how much he plans to invest into production. This information will give you an insight whether to create a BIG project or make it small... :)
EXAMPLE
“This campaign is going to appear in lifestyle- and health-focused women magazines of New Zealand, during the spring of 2009. We plan to invest 500,000 USD, which means approximately buying 100 single pages.”
In summary: Consider the medium !
Both page and logo will be sent in .ai, .pdf, .psd, .tif or .jpeg format
The winner will have to provide the homepage in HTML
If the Brand has preferences or technical requirements that your Solution has to match, you will find them here.
Here are some items that you may find in this section:
∞ Guidelines or mandatory inclusions (do’s and/or don’ts)
∞ Business objectives
∞ Market and competitors overview
∞ Good and bad samples
Depending on the Brief, you may also find some files attached with a logo, pictures of product(s), a template that you should use in order to submit your ideas, or any other file that the Brand wants to share with you. So, study the attachments before starting creating.
In summary: Anything else you need to know (not written in the 7 steps before) !
