I began by working from the public information video that I watched called 'Charley says don't talk to strangers'. The message was clear and easy to understand and it targeted small children in light/comic tone with a stark, serious message. The cartoon style will appeal to a young audience so that they engage with it more. The use of the cat character 'Charley' is a friendly and trustworthy figure which children are more likely to connect with. It has a very simple story line and it is explained in a way that children will understand and it won't scare them too much.
Research into this public information video helped inform my own stranger safety leaflet for kids. I moved on to look at online resources on how kids are taught to stay away from strangers and what to do in certain scenarios. I identified that it is important to give children possible scenarios and it is important to make them understand the difference between a 'good' stranger and a 'bad' stranger.
Considerations:
- Many children don't understand the concept of a stranger.
- Sometimes children need to turn to a stranger for help - lost children.
- Most children are abducted by someone they know.
- Children under 7 need constant adult supervision so target audience could be between 5 and 8?
- Target audience could also be adults on how to teach their children the dangers.
- Don't make it to scary but don't make the message too soft - need to find the right balance between the two.
I then did some brief research on what makes a good children's leaflet and I found that:
- Bright colours were used to engage
- High interaction - filling bits in, worsheets
- Pictures over text
- Text kept short and to the point
- Friendly
Inspiration taken from Do Good Advertising Agency
The Little Book of Loss
Initial ideas:
After presenting my ideas to a small group the leaflet design idea they liked the most and thought could be made really effectively was number 3. They liked the doodle, hand drawn elements and the strong visual focus it would have for young children. After a discussion the best direction for the leaflet was to do 'The Do's and Don't of Stranger Safety' as the easy directions would be clear enough for a young child to understand. I was also told to consider a tear off section for parents containing facts and a guide on how to check their child has understood the information. I need to consider how it could form the rest of a campaign and how the children will receive the leaflet.
I began to look at different ways I could fold the leaflet. If my design is going to be very image focused then I want to have sides with a greater surface area to work with so that the image really stand out. I chose a square design rather than a rectangle as it is more compact and produces a more even looking design. I experimented with the 'Z' fold and the 'Accordion' fold. After drawing the net out for the 'Z' fold I noticed that to fit all of the necessary information on it would be quite cramped and that is not the effect that I want to go for. Therefore I am going to go for the accordion fold as it allows me more faces to apply my design.
I then decided to take the doodle idea forward as suggested as I believe it was one of the stronger concepts for the leaflet. This character approach is used frequently within children's information leaflets to help explain the message more clearly and so that children will engage with it more. Children are more likely to remember the information if it is done in a nice way rather than being 'told off' by a serious adult voice. A character will give the child a better connection with the message making them feel more comfortable. The doodle idea is an idea that I thought would work well because it looks like it was done by a child giving that sense of familiarity - children are more likely to listen to each other if they believe that is what other children are doing.
I kept the character designs rounded so that they are not as harsh and using simple shapes that they recognise to give that softer approach. I wanted to keep the idea of them being 'stick men' because that is how children start off drawing - it is relatable. I wanted the stranger character to not be defined by age or gender as the message is that a stranger can look like anyone and I think it is necessary to make that clear, as children associate a stranger to be men with beards and hats - scary looking characters.
Considerations:
- Message/Content - The Do's and Don't of Stranger Safety. What is a stranger? Possibly have a tear off info/facts for parents. Very simple language and strong image focus for children to understand.
- Purpose - To inform young children so that they can recognise what to do in certain situations regarding strangers.
- Delivery - Mailed letter to parents so that they give the leaflet to their children.
- Target Audience - Primary school children (5-8 years), if I have a tear off part it needs to be appealing to parents to make them want to give it to their child.
- Tone of voice - Direct but friendly with a serious undertone to express not to take the message too lightly.
Mock-up:
Crayon / hand rendered style, enlarged 'DO' and 'DON'T' with smaller information.
Coloured in, sketchy, child like, with simple colours to relate.
Plain white background to give the image a strong focus.
I briefly did some colour research and found that blue and pink are calming colours for children which would make them feel more at ease with the characters. Red excites and would capture the child's attention as a warning.
As I am using doodles (illustrations) as the main focus within my leaflet I needed to sketch out what was going on the other pages within the leaflet. I also decided on the dimensions of my leaflet (10x10cm). I wanted it to be small so that it could fit into a pocket and would easily be held by a child.
I decided where each illustration would go on a mock up:
I researched typography when using it for children and found that it is better to pick a typeface which is clear and has a larger x-height. I tested out two different typefaces DK Cool Crayon Regular (top) and Sassoon Primary Roman Italics (bottom).
After testing the type sizes within the 10x10cm dimensions I found that a 34pt type worked better for the titles and a 12pt type worked for the body text, this is due to the small nature of the leaflet. Overall I am going to go with DK Cool Crayon Regular as I think it will appeal more to a younger audience, also as its a bolder type it will provide a higher contrast.
Final designs:
After a consideration of stock I tested out 4 different papers and chose Antalis Olin Digital Regular High White 200gsm. This had a nice feel to it that wasn't too heavy and would be easy to fold yet it is still durable enough to be handled by children. The white also provided a high contrast with the image and text.
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