Typography & UX/UI: Zero Supply

Brief summary

The ISTD Student Assessment scheme is reviewed annually to ensure that it reflects current best practices in both design education and industry. Strategy, research, target audience, concept development, typography skills, specifications, presentation and credibility are considered for this project. One of the following briefs had to be completed for this project: Lighthouses of the World, Agenda for Sustainability, Shaping the World, A Colourful Story or Typography Research Unit.

Technical specifications & deliverables

01. Journal and research

02. Strategy and specifications

03. Concept and design development

04. Final piece (in this instance an editorial piece)

05. Supporting images

Design strategy

In line with the Agenda for sustainability topic, I chose goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and delved deep into researching that specific goal. According to sustainabledevelopment.un.org, more still needs to be done to inform the choices of consumers and in doing so, change their behavior in a manner that promotes sustainable development.

South Africa has specific plans in place to reach the SCP. The two plans that I could stimulate awareness for are building capacity and developing awareness-raising programs on the importance of sustainable production and consumption patterns and promoting waste minimization. The progress that SA has made up to this point is not necessarily "grassroots" progress if I can say that. the government has developed policies and legislations for larger companies but people still need to make changes in their house holds.

Consumers are still stuck in the habit of living wastefully. My platform and project will thus focus on SA citizens' use of plastic and other harmful packaging in households. (from food packaging to soap, toiletries, and even home items). My solution that I have designed to help stimulate awareness and change for these problems is an online platform that sells sustainable products and groceries either in glass, tin, or other reusable packaging. The platform also sells other useful products that help in the fight against creating massive material footprints. The main goal is to make sustainable living accessible to everyone (cheaper products without packaging).

To reach a larger audience, Zero supply launched a campaign that promotes zero waste living. The campaign also educates people about sustainability and recycling and how they can make small changes that have a big positive impact on the planet ( like recycling e-waste, implementing reusable energy like solar power, minimizing waste with cooking by using the scraps, and keeping their food fresher for longer, etc.).

My target audience is all South African citizens who shop for groceries, food, and other products but the SA citizens must be able to shop online. Based on the fact that middle to lower class citizens may struggle to comply with the zero waste because of the fact that they don't have enough money to spend on organic and sustainable items, I may aim the platform at them, the target audience still however needs access to the internet though.

I will engage with my target audience at a grassroots level by getting them to make these changes in their household. My goal is to provide affordable zero waste solutions that people can easily implement in their homes. Zero supply always aims to help their customers in any way that they can to live a sustainable waste free lifestyle.

As part of the project improvement, much of the existing designs specifications were crafted and improved according to feedback given (the invalid values were changed, spacing and labels were fixed). Alignment and spacing issues were fixed and inconsistencies as well as strange sizes in typography and spacing were fixed. On top of the improvements based on feedback given, the brand was extended into a campaign that aims to reach a larger audience and educate people about moving to a zero waste lifestyle.

It all starts at home.

Journal and research

Initial research was focused on how I could develop a solution to the problems that South Africa is facing within the agenda for sustainability. Thorough research was conducted on how SA and its citizens are working towards solving the problem and from there, I discovered that there aren't many solutions that focus on grass roots change. The concept of a zero waste grocery store was then formulated.

Initial ideas were roughly sketched out with the goal of creating a bold typographic solution that veered away from the typical "go green" campaigns. The brand takes a different approach to change and aims to get the everyday person involved in fighting towards a zero waste society.

The sketched out wireframe (furthest left sketch on the image above) was my initial wire frame and idea for layout and typography of my home page, but I found this design to be immature and too busy. The style of the design was not communicating the concept of zero waste. From there, I began to develop more refined sketches with bold typography and white space. This style worked better to communicate zero waste due to the lack of clutter in the design)

Our palette

The chosen colours are not typical of sustainability, eco friendly products and zero waste but that is exactly why I chose them. The online store and brand itself is not an every day typical brand or online store. If ZeroSupply wanted to fit into a little box, they wouldn’t boast the vibrant use of typography that they do. My brand needs to catch attention and keep it.

Our type

The chosen type faces were chosen due to their web readability as well as their modern and energetic feel. Both typefaces are bold and loud but they can also function to be readable and neutral. Both Sora and Eina01 may function as headings but only Eina01-Regular may function as body copy.

Headings do not have set rules due to the expressive nature of the typographic layouts. The headings do however keep to the 2 typefaces mentioned. The headings may cut off of the sides of the web page, they may follow a circular shape, they may be styled however appropriate but they must remain neat.

Our Photos

The photographs are simple and neat so to showcase the products being sold. The photographs are pridominantly white, cream and brown and the background must remain neutral and simple with plenty of white space (breathing room) for the subject.

Our photographs have a sensetive use of colour due to the fact that the brands colours are so bold and eye catching. The products colours are also natural and soft. This colour treatment paired with the brands colours makes for an eye catching combination.

Our event brochure layout

Final outcome of event brochure

Our event banner layout

Final outcome of event banners

Our event ID card layouts

Final outcome of event ID cards

Website wireframes

Our online store layout

The layouts and grids of the web site are not completely traditional due to the expressive nature of the typography but there are still grids that keep the layout neat and orderly. Each section of the web site implements its own grid.

The width of the site is 1920px but the height, as with most modern web designs, is different for each section due to the different content that fills them. See the grid set up for the rest of the home page below. Click here to view the grid set up of the entire site.