Final Project: New Zealand

There are several design choices that I made when creating this poster to appeal to the New Zealand market. The first and by far most critical choice in creating this poster is the image I used from the film. Going into this process I knew that the photo had to both showcase the New Zealand landscape as well as showcase the individual in which the film is named after. Through my research of New Zealand websites as well as print advertisements I have found that natural landscapes and images of nature are heavily valued in the cultural aesthetic. The other aspect of the cultural aesthetic that I was attempting to appeal to is individualistic aspect to most of the images on the websites and advertisements. Although there is a mix of images of people in groups and individual people, I’ve found that the majority of images contain one person. This film in particular is focused on the main character with the title Boy (the nickname of the main character). With these two elements taken into consideration I chose an image of Boy waiting to welcome home his father from prison.
The second design choice I made was with the text along the bottom of the poster. One of the most reoccurring images that I have seen in my research of the New Zealand cultural aesthetic is utilizing wooden paneling as a background image. So to fit with that theme I chose an image that was similar to the color of Boy’s house as a background for the title text. Along with this background I decided to choose a simple sans serif font with two colors that are heavily valued in the cultural aesthetic which are black and red ochre. I decided to but a filter on the text to make it seem as though it was painted on to the wooden paneling rather than adding a drop shadow which would separate it from the wooden background.

Picture This p.422-423

Based on the New Zealand culture I have chosen the holiday of Waitangi Day to focus a holiday greeting card on. Waitangi Day, celebrated on February 6th, is New Zealand’s national day and focuses on the day in which the Treaty of Waitangi. The photo that I chose is of a Maori family with a beautiful New Zealand landscape in the background. After doing some basic research on the holiday I found that this particular image would work best for a greeting card in that it showcased a rather large Maori family, with the holiday heavily valuing the indigenous culture.

When I think about the practice of sending holiday cards I mainly tie it with the holidays of Christmas/New Year and don’t associate it with holidays such as Independence day. However I feel that by looking at holiday cards through this lens it is easier to imaging what a Waitangi Day card would look like.

I feel that this photo in particular perfectly captures what a Waitangi Day card would look like for various reasons. Aside from the fact that it is a Maori family in the photo, the background as well as the family’s attire play a role in this photo being perfect for a Waitangi Day holiday greeting card. The back drop for the photo showcases the beautiful landscape of New Zealand as well as the distant cities beyond the open land. From my research it is evident that nature and beautiful natural landscapes are a key part of the cultural aesthetic and because of that it is imperative that it would be part of the majority of Maori holiday cards.

Another key element to the photo in terms of being a holiday greeting card for a New Zealand specific culture is the attire. Often in holiday photos in our culture the attire is coordinated and often times uniform. For finding a family photo of a Maori family I feel that the colors in their attire is nearly identical and contains colors that are very important to the culture’s aesthetic. Most of the family is wearing black, silver or white, which are the countries national colors. Another common color worn in this photo is red / red ochre, which is a recurring color in the cultural aesthetic. Not only is this color a secondary national color, but it also is a common color used in websites as well as print ads in the New Zealand culture.

Overall it is interesting to take something that feels very American and apply it to a different culture. I’ve never really thought about holiday greeting cards outside the smaller context of myself and my family. It has always been something that we did around Christmas time and it has been something that we have done less often as my siblings and I have gotten older. From what I understand this holiday of Waitangi Day isn’t something that New Zealander’s find the need to send holiday greeting cards to friends/family, however this photo would be perfectly fit for the occasion.

Snapshot p.247

The picture I chose is of my buddy Mark while we were on our summer vacation last year. From the photo it is obvious that we were tailgating prior to a Jimmy Buffett concert.Going to this concert has been sort of a family tradition for me. This year was different in that we somehow acquired one extra ticket which we gave to Mark because he is pretty much part of the family.

I felt that this photo alone was able to convey his ridiculous personality. Donning glorious handcut jean shorts, a red pineapple covered Hawaiian shirt, and a white fedora, it is apparent that Mark is a character. This particular moment captures him relaxing sipping on a Narragansett Summer beer behind his Nissan Pathfinder letting the grill heat up. Unlike most of the photos taken that day this one wasn’t posed, which I think contributes to the laid back and natural feel of the image.

If I were to see this image without any context I’m not sure what I’d think. The only thing that indicates that it must be a concert are the couple younger people on the left as well as the 5 o clock somewhere sign hanging from the rear of the truck. If the image was framed in a way where all that was seen was Mark in his chair as well as the grill in front it would be assumed that he was in more of a camping scenario. It would be interesting to crop the image and see what different people thought of the image.

I feel that aside from showcasing Mark’s loud personality, this picture showcases his relaxed attitude as well as his attitude towards not really caring what others think. I make these assumptions based off of his body language and facial expression along with his attire.

Another aspect of this photo that could (from my point of view as well as others) go unnoticed is that he is alone. To me I know what the scenario was with me and my brothers behind the camera and the rest of my family in front of his red truck, however with us being left out others could make a completely different interpretation of the scene. With that in mind someone outside of this setting could possibly assume that this ridiculous looking fellow is by himself tailgating, which completely changes the mood of the image. When looking through it with that lens the image goes from a happy, relaxed, fun image to a seemingly sad, lonely and almost depressing image of someone who is tailgating by himself.

Overall it is interesting to take a more critical look at an image, which at the time was a complete after thought. To be honest I don’t even remember taking this photo or the reasons why I did it (I assume it was because of Mark’s ridiculous attire). By doing that it is interesting to see what others could interpret from the image without having any context of the setting or the situation where it is taking place.

2 Films

Boy is New Zealand film about a young Maori boy named Alamein, his coming of age story, and his distant relationship with his father.

Eagle vs. Shark is a quirky romantic comedy following the awkward relationship of Lily Mckinnon (oddly enough) and Jarrod.
____________________________________________________________________

These two films, both directed by Taika Waititi, offer an excellent insight into the cultural aesthetic of New Zealand. The three main findings I have discovered from critically viewing these films are the Western influence on New Zealand culture, the emphasis on nature and vast natural landscapes and the connection to the Maori culture.

Western influence is very apparent throughout the film Boy, and fairly more subtle in Eagle vs. Shark. Boy opens with Alamein introducing himself and some of his interests, which reveals that aside from his father his main idol in life is Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson and scenes and images from his Thriller album are recreated and constantly reoccur throughout the film. There is an interesting hybridity between the American pop culture and the Maori culture at the end of the film, where the members of the cast dressed in similar clothes to Michael Jackson in Thriller mix the Michael Jackson dance style with the traditional Maori war dance. Along with this particular hybridization, there are multiple references to Western culture in both films including references to McDonalds, and other popular music in the US such as Megadeth. This is an interesting piece of information in that it reveals that Western culture has an influence even on those who identify with the Maori culture.

The other finding from viewing these films which I have come across in multiple other forms (journals, print ads, etc.) is the value of nature and natural elements. Both films showcased the vast New Zealand landscapes, especially Boy, which was set in Waihau Bay. I would say over 75% of the film took place outdoors. It is very apparent from viewing both of these films that the landscapes and natural elements of New Zealand are heavily valued and extremely important to the cultural aesthetic.

The last aspect of the cultural aesthetic that was apparent from these films is the inherent connection to the Maori culture. For the film Boy it was very obvious the connection with the Maori culture, with the main characters identifying with the Maori culture. Eagle vs. Shark however had a cast that was primarily of European descent. However throughout the film there were sparse examples of Maori imagery and symbols.

Overall these two films are a great insight into what the New Zealand audience finds appealing. Without the images of the vast landscapes, mountains and oceans the films just wouldn’t appeal to a New Zealand audience because nature is a strong part of their identity. Along the images of nature, a strong source of cultural identity is the connection to the Maori culture, which both films showcase in their own way. Both of these aspects of New Zealand cultural identity along with the Western influence are strongly showcased in these films and are a definite part of the cultural aesthetic of New Zealand.

5 Print Ads

Below I have chosen 5 print advertisements directly from New Zealand, which I feel showcase aspects of New Zealand’s cultural aesthetic. The first common theme that I found across the board when it comes to New Zealand advertising is the usage of humor as an attention grabber. The vast majority of the New Zealand print ads that I looked through had some element of humor relating to the product or different aspects of the culture. The first advertisement, although it is targeted at tourists, has this element of humor that reflects what New Zealanders tend to favor in advertisements. The ad features a prominent statement of ‘Best Supporting Country in a Motion Picture’ which of course is a nod to New Zealand being the filming location of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The ad showcases their breathtaking landscape as well as featuring their national colors of black and white / silver.

The second ad, and my personal favorite, is an advertisement for a New Zealand beer company called Tui. This company has a plethora of billboard advertisements that showcase their humor by juxtaposing a common statement on the left side in black and white and on the right is their logo and the words “Yeah Right.” Along with these at times hilarious billboards is their print ads which also prominently feature a comedic element. The company’s main colors used are red ochre, gold and black, all of which are favored in their cultural aesthetic. Although beer companies in the United States such as Bud Light are also known for having an element of humor in their advertising, Tui seems to entirely on humor to get their message across.

The third ad for Arano orange juice also has a slightly more subtle approach to humor by showing the original and new packaging of their orange juice. The ad uses prominent black text for the ad and the name of their company on the label of their juice. One interesting element to this advertisement is the rustic feel with the green wooden board at the bottom which provides a banner background image for the text. This is very similar to the style of the last advertisement, which uses wooden boards to cover the background of the image.

The fourth advertisement is slightly different in that it focuses more on the image to provide the humor rather than the text supporting it. The child in the photo making the angry face is meant to be an over exaggerated expression takes up nearly the entire image. By looking at these five adverts I would say that the New Zealand cultural aesthetic has more of a visual modality. Although the ads mainly showcase visuals they still rely on the verbal text to contribute to the humor and the advertisements would not work without the supporting text.

Overall by looking at these different print ads it is evident that the New Zealand culture values elements of humor as well as natural settings and colors. It will be interesting to look back at multinational companies to see if any of their localized advertising fits into this model.

Picture this

The postcard that I chose to make is for my home town of Sudbury, Massachusetts. I chose a photo of one of the most iconic locations in Sudbury, which is the Wayside Inn Gristmill. I then chose to simply add text of the town and the saying “The Biggest Small Town.” This saying I chose for a couple of reasons, both of which would be understood by the audience that surrounds the town as well as those who live within the town.

I have lived in Sudbury for my whole life, which has resulted in a mix of love and hate for my home town and those who populate it. The town has a rich history and holds a lot of personal memories for myself. From living in Sudbury my whole life I have always felt that it has a small town feel but isn’t physically that large and at the same time there are still many people who live in Sudbury that I have never seen/known. Aside from this denotative meaning I have used the slogan to refer to some citizens of the town’s skewed outlook on the town and themselves. I have encountered incredibly egotistical and conceited people and I have also encountered those who are extremely thoughtful and selfless. However I feel that the stereotype of people who live in Sudbury is unfortunately the former. Because of this the slogan adds an element of humor that otherwise wouldn’t be picked up by others outside of target audience.

Thirds Grid

The thirds grid is a great tool when analyzing each website in terms of modality, function, and density. When analyzing each of my major ten websites I found a a few interesting patterns. The first being the difference between the multinational websites and the national/local websites in terms of density and modality. The multinational websites that I have chosen have clearly localized their brand toward New Zealander’s especially with Coke and McDonald’s, with Coke’s Summer advertisements and McDonald’s mentioning of ‘The Kiwi Legend.’ This localization however has not taken into account the density and modality of most of the local and national New Zealand websites. Most of the sites I looked at in the montage contained a moderate density and most contained a 1:1 ratio of verbal/visual content. The multinational sites that I researched however were mostly very dense and relied heavily on visuals rather than text.

Another interesting pattern that I have found thus far is the locations which are dense and those which are less dense. The majority of the local websites that I have found have a large amount of white space by the borders of the website thus giving it the feel of a moderately dense website. However if these sites were cropped they would then possess a very high density.

An interesting trend that I have come across is with modality of certain categories of websites. So far in my research I have found that certain categories such as news websites and classifieds have a very high text modality and heavily value text. However when it comes to websites such as the local shops and local services, the top half of the websites have a very high visual modality and very rarely rely strictly on verbal messages.

New Zealand Web Hunt Presentation

Local:

The first local site that I chose is for a local shop in Auckland called Best Ugly Bagels. The homepage is fairly muted, utilizing red ochre for the text that the site wants to draw attention to. The main page utilizes roughly 50% visuals and 50% text until you scroll down, then it becomes much more text heavy. The large banner image transitions to other images at a moderate rate, a speed that I am used to, however seems to be slower than other NZ sites. The navigation of the site isn’t very intuitive, you have to click the bottom left of the page to navigate to the next page and then back to the home page. Links to their social media pages and menus are placed on the top two corners of the site.

The next local site is a site for a performing arts center called The Edge. Cool green and cool blue are the dominant colors of the site, of the two colors the cool blue seems to be the primary color and one that is used in other NZ sites. The site is very image heavy and has a high density. The slideshow of images is slightly faster than I am used to for most websites leaving about 2-3 seconds for each image to be displayed. The images seem very centered on the individual, and mainly shows images of the faces of the performers rather than any logo or other feature.

The last local site that I chose is for a local coffee shop called Mojo Coffee. This site has a warm blue-green background with a cool red border. The website features a large image slideshow which transitions significantly slower than other NZ sites leaving about 6 seconds between transitions. The homepage is more image heavy, however once you navigate the site it becomes more text heavy and has a higher density than the homepage. This site in particular is one of very few websites to have a completely colored background as opposed to the white background that I’ve seen on nearly every site.

National:

The first national site I chose is ASB which is a Bank in New Zealand. The home page features a large image of to young women taking a ‘selfie’ outside of what I would assume to be their new flat. The site utilizes a saturated yellow to draw attention to the most important aspects of the site. The other main colors used are black and white, New Zealand’s national colors (which are used in many other sites). This site in particular is extremely image heavy with the image taking up around 90% of the homepage with 3 small boxes of text overlaid on the main image. Like the sites before I feel that this website has a high density in that there is not much blank space on the site.

The next national site is somewhat unique in that it is one of the only sites to use various shades of green as the main source of color. The home page features mainly text however has a fairly low density compared to other NZ sites. What is interesting to look at is how this varies across the different pages of the website. Most that I have encountered so far have remained fairly uniform, however it seems as though the Personal banking page is very text heavy, the business page is about 50/50 and the Join Kiwibank page is very image heavy (in similar fashion to ASB). The pacing of the large banner slideshow is quite slow compared to what I as a user am accustomed to and features images of faces of people from different walks of life.

The final national website and probably my personal favorite is a site called TradeMe. One of the highest ranking sites in New Zealand, TradeMe is akin to Craigslist in the US. The site is text heavy and utilizes saturated yellow and blue for both the logo and the navigation bars. The site is fairly dense when browsing through various categories and showcases posts in a simple list format. Although Craigslist has a section for New Zealanders this site is directly targeted towards Kiwis and it is evident through their logo and slogan (Where Kiwis Buy and Sell), as well as their usage of images on their homepage, which isn’t much but more than their Craigslist counterpart

Multinational:
US VERSION

NZ VERSION

The first multinational website targeted towards the New Zealand audience is EB Games. When looking at their US counterpart it is clear that the site has made some changes in order to capture aspects that are accepted by the culture. The main difference is the color of the navigation bar, which is black on the US version and a cool blue on the NZ version. This change fits with what I have observed in other sites in that some sites for kiwis utilize a cooler color palette. The other noticeable change in the NZ site is the usage of images and the higher density of the site. Images are overlaid on top of one another and are seemingly larger in the NZ site which appeals to what I have seen in other sites in being ‘image first, text second.’

US VERSION

NZ VERSION

The next multinational site that I chose is McDonald’s. Like EB Games McDonald’s has changed their website in that they have gone with a more image heavy homepage and left less space around giving the site a higher density. The navigation bar is changed to be horizontal across the top of the screen which is similar to many of the local and national sites. McDonald’s also uses the term Kiwis, which is the nickname for New Zealanders, directly on their homepage to further identify with the people of this culture. The slideshow on the main page however is quite fast, which goes against what I have found in most websites in terms of timing. Aside from the signature red and yellow used the site utilizes cool and warm blues along the bottom images.

US VERSION

NZ VERSION

Like the above Multinational examples, Coca Cola’s NZ website is changed in a few ways to better target the NZ audience. The NZ site has a higher percentage of images on the homepage and has a higher density than the US counterpart. The US site has great amount of free space between images/text and the top is also fairly blank (maybe I don’t have updated flash). Because it is currently Summer in NZ most of the images are targeted toward enjoying Coke on beaches, warm weather etc. Overall the site hasn’t change much in terms of color however the difference in density and modality is quite noticeable.

Wildcard:

This wildcard site could fit within the category of Local, however I feel it belongs in this category for various reasons. The first is that I stumbled upon this website through the aforementioned site TradeMe under the services tab. I was attempting to find a local, not very popular service that I could use in this research that would support and go against what I found previously. This site is for “Psychic, Intuitive Life Coach and Healer” Jade Kyles. One of the main aspects that stuck out from this site is the use of purple on the site, which is the only site that I have come across to use that as their main source of color. This site like others uses a larger banner slideshow image and further down on the homepage becomes quite text heavy and dense.

__________

Overall from the websites that I visited (below) I found that their are a few distinguishing characteristics of these websites targeted at New Zealanders of European descent (Kiwis, Pakeha) which make up the majority of New Zealand’s population. One of the key aspects of New Zealand culture is the nickname of Kiwi and how it is seen as a term of endearment amongst the people and then used by companies/websites. It was evident in the McDonald’s site as well as more national sites such as TradeMe that this term is something that New Zealanders say with pride. A common theme in terms of the websites that I viewed was the high density and the ‘image first, text second’ style that many of these sites possessed. In terms of color I found that the websites I chose had somewhat a variety of colors with the main reoccurring colors being red, yellow and a cool blue. Many sites that I found also had a strong usage of the countries national colors of black, white and silver.

New Zealand Web Hunt Presentation

The thirty New Zealand websites that I researched included localized multinational, national, and local sites. I have researched these sites with the European New Zealand culture in mind as opposed to the indigenous Maori culture. I broke down the sites by row in their usage of color and space. The first row features websites with vibrant colors and high density. The second row highlights the usage of yellow as both a means of drawing attention and as a soft background. The third row exemplifies the high modality of images as opposed to text which is evident in most of these New Zealand websites. The fourth row is of sites that feature muted and cool colors. The last row is mainly news sites that go against the very visual culture that I have thus far observed.

Self-proposed project

For my self proposed project I would like to make a short film based off of a story told on the popular social news and entertainment site reddit. I’ve been inspired to do this since I viewed this video which also was inspired by a story told on reddit.

The story that I want to base my short film off of is basically about a kid who gets chased and shot at by a policeman over graffiti. They key parts of the story that I would like to include in the film are the fact that he hid in plain sight to avoid being caught and also his line about sirens being a form of as he/she calls it “psychological torture.” I feel that I can incorporate these elements by having the main character hide in a barrel traffic cone to avoid being caught and while in that cone I would attempt to show his inner thoughts as he hears the sirens.