Alaa’s production (pictogram) analysis:

This poster is targeting the same audience: AUI students from 17-25 years old. There are several reasons why we decide to choose this specific poster among other ones. First, the symmetry being used clearly shows the opposition aspect between junk food and healthy food. In addition to the symmetry, the choice of colors is very appropriate. Indeed, while brownish colors are assigned to junk food : oil, sugar, and fat; blue colors which provide a feeling of freshness and purity are used to represent healthy food which contains: fibers, proteins, and vitamins. Although pictograms are not used in their traditional format, the approach consisting in using a ‘dégradé’ of colors is relevant since it allows an easier understanding of the meaning being conveyed. An interesting element is the fact that most of the food pictures are real ones. Hence, it is very representative of the food that really exists in Sodexo. Besides, the white background allows the overall image to be more attractive. Finally, the fact that Sodexo Slogan and logo is placed at the top of the poster emphasizes even more on the brand.

Design Analysis

The design I choose to analyze is from Telquel magazine’s cover number 511. Telquel is a weekly independent Moroccan magazine written in French. It is well-known for discussing issues which are considered as taboos in Morocco, such as the royal family, politics, sex, and religion. In order to analyze the design of Telquel’s cover, four aspects will be discussed: the space being used, the attractiveness and orientation of the design, the Gestalt psychology, and the four design principles.

In order to strengthen the message, the designer has to effectively use the space. Telquel’s cover is a portrait, that is to say a vertical rectangular space. The fact that this space is narrower than the landscape format, makes it easier for the receiver to grasp the main message and ideas being conveyed by the designer since the receiver will probably move rapidly his or her eyes from up to down and from down to up. Hence, this kind of space is the most appropriate to express tension or energy. The format of this portrait is a standard format since it belongs to the A-series. This format is particularly appropriate for magazines as it allows the designer to have more space for images since the text will be organized in the form of columns. As for the type area, one can say that there is more space dedicated to the image than to the text, and that the designer is looking for a compact and dense impression rather than an airy one. This impression of density is balanced thanks to the margins in red which allow the receiver to feel some kind of order. For that purpose, those margins are larger than the white ones. Generally speaking, there is one single basic design for all Telquel magazines’ covers. It basically consists of large red margins, the magazine’s title “Telquel” which is generally in white or black bold depending on the background’s color, telquel’s website link vertically inclined at the bottom left corner in a small typography, the publication director’s name also vertically inclined at the bottom right corner, and the edition number and week of publication and price both in dirhams, euro, and Tunisian dinar. The basic design of Telquel magazine fits the message conveyed since it is a denouncing message which needs to be straightforward as it is the case with the design.

For a design to be considered as attractive, it has to be powerful and unique. For this cover page, the receiver is directly attracted by the central image showing the king of Morocco Mohamed the VI in a large size, and the new Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane in a much smaller one. Hence, suggesting the imbalance of power between the two. Although, as promulgated in the new constitution Benkirane is supposed to have more powers as head of the Moroccan government, the image clearly makes an allusion to reality where the King is still the one having all powers. As for the orientation of the design, one can argue that the receiver can easily be guided since the information is displayed in such a way that suggests reinforcement and emphasis on the main issue that will be discussed further. For the composition of the design, it looks like an asymmetrical one since there is no symmetrical axe and there are lots of color and size contrasts, which create both dynamism and tension regarding the sensitive issue being dealt with. Also, this design might be referred to as a closed design since the red margins kind of delimitate the space and hence this closed design conveys a feeling of claustrophobia and dramatic atmosphere. Besides, since the design has a powerful and disturbing effect on the receiver, it is called a “takete”. Finally, all these aspects of attractiveness and orientation all together participate in creating this design which can be considered as an obvious and good design since all the elements included have a justification and the message being conveyed is clear.

As for the psychological gestalt, it is composed of three tools: law of proximity, similarity, and closedness. The law of proximity is used by the designer in the sense that he or she makes all the elements of the magazine cover look close to each other while at the same time using white space, hence creating a sentiment of a unified whole. The law of similarity is the most stressed for this design. Indeed, the designer uses a uniform typography and above all colors in order to help the receiver easily find the links between the different ideas. The most apparent example is the use of the yellow color for sentences and words which refer to the same thing: “le roi a tout et le chef de gouvernement presque rien”, “partage des pouvoirs”, “illusion”, “les spheres d’influence”. The law of closedness is used for the magazine price, the website link, and the publishing director’s name. These three elements are placed on a background of a different color: red, different typography, and within the margins so that they can be differentiated from the other information. Thus, the result is a more structured one.

Four design principles have been applied to this Telquel magazine’s cover: contrast, balance, alignment, and rhythm. The contrast in size is the most important one used for this design. It is primarly used to indicate to the receiver that the size contrast is the first thing to look at. In order, to create this size contrasting effect, the designer used a dominant image where king Mohamed the VI is made bigger in size in such an invasive way which partially hide the letters ‘E’ and ‘L’ of “ TELQUEL”. In contrast, the head of government Benkirane is made way much smaller, to the extent that he looks almost ridiculous. Indeed, the designer applied the rule of thirds in such a way that king Mohamed the VI occupies half of the entire image, while Benkirane only occupies one third of the image. In addition to size contrast, color contrast is relied upon by the designer as well. Indeed, when contrasting colors such as black and yellow, or white and red, the dramatic atmosphere is reinforced further, and the eye directly attracted to read the printed words. Also, the fact that the heading and sub headings are never in the same color accentuates this feeling. As it was discussed in the previous section, the asymmetrical composition is also reflected in the balance between the different elements. Although shapes and colors are contrasting the designer managed to create a certain balance which makes the target audience wants to know more about the issue. As contrasting as they can appear, all the contrasting elements finally came into balance. Concerning the alignment used by the designer, it is the same one used for all cover pages of Telquel magazine. This kind of template allows the receivers to be familiar with the brand magazine and recognize it each time it is published no matter the new issue dealt with. Telquel magazine has been known for taking a rhythm of wide variety concerning different Moroccan issues, and a shocking way to deal with them that makes the audience very surprised each time. This rhythm concerns the content as well as the design which generally use shocking images, contrasting colors and shapes.

To conclude, one might qualify Telquel magazine design as a content-based design, in which the content is orienting the global layout: images, typography… This design is clear, straightforward, and unambiguous. The target audience being educated Moroccans from the age of 18 to 60, living in urban areas, can easily understand the message and that it is the ultimate goal of any successful designer.

Image Analysis

The image I choose to analyze is a print advertising from Economie Entreprises magazine. It has been published in January 2012, and it is the edition number 144. Economie Entreprises is a monthly Moroccan magazine written in French. It is famous for discussing major Moroccan economic issues and events. Since 2006, it has been known as the most influential communication support which targets opinion leaders in Morocco, mainly economic deciders and head of companies. The advertising is on page 65 of the magazine, which is approximately half of the magazine pages. The service being advertised is Alfa Air, which is a company of private jets. The sender is the company itself which is the first private jet company in Morocco. Since its creation in 2007, its turnover is in constant augmentation of 20%. The purpose of this ad is to inform about the service, and to ultimately sell it to a specific category of the Moroccan population: business men and influent personalities. The anticipated audience of this ad is clearly Moroccan business men whose age is between 25 and 50 years old, who look for luxury, rapidity, and high quality service. In order to analyze this image, four major aspects will be looked at: the client’s perspective, the photographer’s perspective, the composition of the image, and the receiver’s perspective.

For the client’s perspective to be understood, one has to look at the goal, the message, and the context. As briefly explained in the introduction, the goal of the client is to sell the service of private jet. The client wants the ad to accomplish an informative, illustrative and commercial aim. Since the target audience is composed of powerful Moroccan elite and rich business men who have specific needs: feel unique, secure, and travel in the most convenient and even luxurious way possible, the client had to find the most efficient support. Indeed, Economies Entreprises is the best choice for this client, since all the target audience will read the magazine , it will have all the chances to come across the ad. The message being conveyed is definitely a directive one. Indeed, both the sender and the message are visible. The logo of Alfa Air is clearly put next to the image of a private jet welcoming a small number of suited passengers. The image is also considered to be directive since the client obviously wants its target audience to be influenced by the image and to encourage it to have a specific opinion. In this case, the target audience will probably think that this private jet is the most appropriate travel solution. This image can be considered as a rhetorical one as well, since it has a persuasive function. Showing the functional aspect of the service, which is how it works in practice, has a very powerful convincing effect on the audience. Indeed, when looking at the image of those business men in their way to enter the private jet, any other business men will recognize himself and thus, will be tempted to do the same. A synecdoche is used in order to prove that the service being advertised is relevant. In this case, the landscape provides a dramatic impression of business men getting ready for a serious mission on the latest model of a private plane. The context used by the client plays an important role too. Indeed, the external context used for this image is a totally empty and clean space, which reinforces the sentiment of being a VIP. Hence, the context transforms the image in the sense that it adds to the image more value and persuasive input.

Now that the client’s perspective has been analyzed, the photographer’s perspective will be looked at closely. If this image has to be categorized, it would be probably categorized as mirrors. Indeed, when looking at the image, one can feel the directive approach of the photographer, who chooses a specific angle where the front of the plane looks at the receiver appealing to him directly, while business men and private jet staff seems to be too busy to look at the photographer. Also, by looking at the image, one can notice that the photographer choose to cut the image in a horizontal rectangular format. This specific format offers a panoramic view and seems to invite the receiver to discover the message being conveyed. Indeed, this landscape format allows the audience to see all the important elements: the plane, business men, the sky…

In order to fully analyze this image, its composition has to be carefully examined. To begin with, one has to look at the structure of the image. In this case, the photographer chooses an asymmetrical composition. Indeed, neither the plane nor the subjects are placed at the center. The plane is placed slightly to the left, while the subjects are slightly placed to the right. This organizing approach creates more dynamism and emphasizes a sort of contrast between large areas (occupied by the plane) and relatively small ones (human beings). The second element is contrast. The fact that there is contrast between the extremely white sky and the dark take-off runaway immediately attracts the eye. Indeed, one has the impression that these are two different worlds, as if the passengers were going to be transported into another world. The fact that the image is composed of two opposites, manages the tension between order and chaos. Indeed, the chaos which one might translate as the stressful daily life of companies’ big heads is opposed to an enlightened sky where these VIP passengers will enjoy a peaceful moment. The third element has to do with the balancing act achieved by the photographer. In this case, one might assume that the photographer imbalanced the lighting so that there is more emphasis on one part (the sky and the plane) and less on the other (the take-off runaway and the passengers). The fourth element concerns the different areas of the image space. When looking at this image, one can notice that dark elements create the image’s depth. That is to say, the photographer consciously darken the foreground of the image, while starting to lessen the darkness of the middle ground and totally put light in the background so that to reinforce the image’s depth. Another crucial aspect of the image’s composition is light. In this advertising, light conveys feelings of security and hope for a more comfortable life. It seems from the image, that the picture has been taken during the day, hence it is natural light coming from the sun. However, the photographer may also had combined with it artificial light so that a more effective atmosphere is created. The direction of the light in this particular image is closer to side lightening, since the light is clearly coming from the side and it is changing the volume of the plane making it look bigger. The analysis of the image’s composition makes one think about its orientation. This is a horizontally oriented image, reinforced even further thanks to the landscape format as discussed earlier. This orientation conveys positive and peaceful energy stressing the calm that the passengers will enjoy once within the private jet. Moreover, motion is suggested through the motion blur which probably happened naturally while business men were heading towards the private jet. While looking at the image, there is an appealing direction that suggests that the direction of the movement is from right to left. According to photographers, this specific motion direction is called ‘home side’, suggesting a movement towards home. The photographer has thus perfectly chosen the direction of the movement, since the impression that will be given for the target audience composed of influent elite will be that of finding the same security and comfort they have at home. Besides, the distance and angle from which the photographer took the image is a long shot which gives more space for the intended atmosphere to be created. As for the image processing, one can say that the technique of dramatizing has probably being used by the photographer. Indeed, the contrast has being clearly exploited. Also, the technique of removing some parts of the background has been used in order to create a clear focus on the private jet and the business men. The last aspect of the image’s composition being the meaning conveyed, reinforcement is the main technique used for this advertising. Indeed, in order to be sure of convincing the audience, the client has used a stronger language. This language being the textual material added at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of the ad, as well as three other small photos of the private jet both from the inside and the outside. The pictorial matter is reinforced by textual one in order to emphasize that these are going to be unforgettable moments, by using metaphors which suggest that business men would become time masters, and by directly appealing to the target audience thanks to telephone, fax numbers, and e-mail address provided at the bottom of the advertising.

Finally, the receiver’s perspective is essential to understand the effectiveness of the ad. Indeed, since the image is a simple one, the receiver would probably have no problem identifying it, and making sense of the whole message conveyed by both the client and the photographer. Hence, one can speak here of good gestalts which are synonym of simplicity and continuity and which instantaneously catch the eye. While looking at the image, both laws of proximity and similarity are used. In one hand, the figures (the plane, human beings) are both very close from each other. On the other hand, the subjects all look the same since they are all wearing suits. Now that the perception has been identified, the experience is another important aspect of the receiver’s perspective. The space which helps the client conveys the message in the take-off runaway. Hence, this is what is experienced first by the receiver. The focal point for the audience consists of business men who are in their way to get on the plane. The last element while considering the receiver’s perspective is his or her interpretation of the image. In this ad, the interpretation is unambiguous since most people will interpret it in the same way. Thus, both the client and the photographers succeeded in their visual communication.

To conclude, I think that this advertising campaign has definitely reached its objectives since the message of Alfa Air private jet company is clear and straightforward and the target audience is easily reached through a specialized magazine: Economie Entreprises. Thus, the chances of success for such an advertising campaign are very high, especially if we acknowledge the fact that this private jet agency is already the most famous one in Morocco.

Do typefaces really matter?

Altough typefaces might seem insignificant for some people, for others they are not. Most important institutions in the world devote money and time to come up with the best letterform design.

Indeed, choosing the right typeface is comparable with choosing the right dress. For big companies, typeface is very powerful in the sense that it creates a feeling of trust or it adds a personal touch. Among institutions such as the Foreign and Commonwealth office, banks are also paying a lot of attention to typeface in order to inspire a sentiment of security to the clients.

Personally, I believe that all these institutions are very clever to devote so much money to typeface, because subliminal messages will reach the consumers simply by looking at the logo of the brand for example. Just by looking at a design, it can inspire a sentiment of elegance or something expensive and of good quality, or at the contrary it can be too simple and does not appeal to the consumer. In other cases, it can be too ugly ( subtitles used for avatar) and consumers will feel outraged by it.

To conclude, more attention should be devoted to typeface in Morocco because too often there are no original attempts to improve the design or the typeface. It is true that it is an investement of money and of qualified designers, but the result will last for a good period of time.


The article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10689931

Self-introductory video

Adidas Creative Brief

Here is the link for it : http://guillermoxf.blogspot.com/2010/02/creative-brief-adidas.html

Online Learning,Personalized

Online Leaning has know a great success during the five past years. However, something needed to be done in order to make it more popular. That is what Salman Khan, a young math teacher did.

This article discusses the idea brought up by this professor who created the Khan Academy site. It is basically a website that offers a lot of instructional videos and practices exercises in math. Teachers can follow the progress of their students through this website and students are able to practice and to watch the learning material online. The Youtube lessons attracted up to 3.5 million viewers.

I found the concept very interesting since personally I had a lot of issues with Maths when I was in school. I think that this kind of interactive exercises and online explanations would have been helpful at the time. What I found very interesting as well is the fact that even if it is still a small group, the Khan Academy site benefits actually from the support of famous donors such as Bill Gates, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation...

I believe also that this e-learning software will make a real difference in learning, especially when it comes to a course such as math. Indeed, this is a new generation. The ability of students to concentrate is becoming more and more weak. They get easily bored with lectures, especially if the professor does not interact a lot with them.

I really hope this kind of ideas will very soon reach the Moroccan education, because there is a lack of creativity and students are bored with lectures and professors who are just trying to make them learn things by heart.

However, one has to be clear. Computers will never replace teachers. Going to class is the first key element for success. E-learning must be used as an additional element in order to practice or to provide an explanation that the professor has not been able to transmit to the student in the right way.

To conclude, this software remains a great one because it helps the professor to know exactly the weaknesses and strengths of his or her students and to follow their overall progress. This is very important since it allows for both professors and students to be more effective.

The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/technology/khan-academy-blends-its-youtube-approach-with-classrooms.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology