For our final year project, we were given an open brief to tackle. We needed to create a client, a multi-discipline project and include a certain amount of social responsibility. It was the obvious choice for me to go with a motoring based project, but rather than create a new tuning company, I chose to do a re-brand of the Road Safety Authority. More after the jump …
There are a few reasons why I chose the RSA. Being from a motorsport background, an emphasis on road safety is important; this is my social responsibility as photographer and designer. The other reason was the frustration I felt as being a young male, who was constantly being targeted as the main cause of deaths on Irish roads. It is of my opinion that by their constant implication that it’s always the ‘young lads’ fault, that other motorists out side of the 18-25 male group were being put in a place where they believed that because they were not part of this group, they were impervious from the dangers of the road.
The idea behind this campaign was not to target any stereotypes. Through analysis of what was causing these accidents to create a media campaign that would be of benefit to all motorists. The first step was a subtle logo re-brand. The original logo is on the left with the revised version on the right. Subtlety was key here as I wanted to retain the brand identity but make some small changes to show the new approach that would be adopted by my RSA. Gone are the sharp edges and cautionary orange and in with a friendlier softer shape with a small tail on the lower left. The tail creates a sort of speech bubble of the logo, emphasizing my RSA’s more open platform and its willingness to engage with the public, rather than lecturing to the people.
Next on the list was a series of print campaign adverts. This one, entitled ‘367’ was based on the number of road deaths in 2007. The shading on the ‘3’ is a repeat pattern of the names of those who passed away that year on the roads. acquired from RTE. In today’s society, we are constantly bombarded with facts and figures telling us what is and isn’t good for us, that this many people have died in that war, that so many people died on the roads this last bank holiday weekend. I wanted to remind people, that the people perishing on our roads are not numbers or statistics, but are human beings with families and jobs and stories like you and me. They just happened to make a journey one day, like the journeys we make everyday, but they never reached where they were going.
This second poster was created on the fact that forty one percent of fatal two vehicle collisions involved one car crossing onto the wrong side of the road. It’s purpose is to raise the awareness of the simple things that a lot of drivers seem to forget or just completely disregard which can easily lead to them becoming one of the names on the list above.
The result of this storyboard is below …
[vimeo width=”800″ height=”600″]http://www.vimeo.com/4607981[/vimeo]
Final Video – Shot on Canon EOS 40D – Edited in Final Cut Pro
The last part of this project was to create a TV advertisement. Having no previous experience with video, let alone a video camera, I set about what I knew it had to be. Road safety adverts predominantly rely on shock imagery to frighten people to action or to shock them out of bad habits whilst driving. The video is based on American statistic that 76% of road traffic accidents are due to driver error (I couldn’t find a similar Irish statistic)
The idea was to lull the viewer into a false sense of security (as most drivers are at any given stage of a journey) I wanted to distract them by the small details, how the oncoming traffic moves, the changing of the lights, the beauty in the mundane and how easy it is to lose your concentration at the wheel. The statistic given at the end is then intended to bring them back to reality, to perhaps make them feel a sort of guilt for not paying attention and losing concentration. I at least hope it works and that in an attempt to try something different that it may have changed the attitude of even one person who has seen it.
I’d like to thank my lecturers for their help and my fellow graduates who had to listen to me all year droning on about different ideas !
– Paddy