Final Campaign Identity (above)
Five final banners used throughout my applications (above)
Thesis Statement:
I will be spreading awareness about the lack of knowledge of boating etiquette in the boating community.
My solution is to make a campaign regarding boating etiquette and create different applications that are
unique and useful.
Banner displayed at a marina (left), banner displayed above Harbormasters office (right)
Final thesis presentation on Waves of Change (above)
Background:
I grew up in Charlevoix, MI, a tiny lake town. Along with this I also worked at the Charlevoix City Marina for three years. My grandparents have always had a boat since I was a baby, which gives me first-hand experience with my family, friends, and the marina. Since I've worked at the marina as a dockhand, my eyes opened up to the idea of boating etiquette. I noticed this younger generation coming in has no resources to gain knowledge of boating regulations, and if they don't even have these tools, how are they going to have the knowledge or resources to learn about boating etiquette? This was the question I came up with and decided to base my
thesis on from my experiences.
My marina crew (left) and the Charlevoix City Marina which is located on Round Lake (right), second photo from Northern Michigan Escapes
Goals:
My three main goals for my Waves of Change campaign were:
- Strengthen the overall boating community and bring them together as a whole
- Teach the newer generation coming in the boating etiquette they need to know
- Spreading awareness about this overall issue.
Audience:
My target audience is the age range of 25-44 because after doing research this was the highest percentage group in the boating community. This campaign can target anyone in the boating industry, but I wanted to focus mainly on the younger/newer generation coming in.
My persona family (example of the audience I am targeting), photo from Unsplash
Research:
Audience was one of my bigger areas of research, but after I nailed my audience down I started researching boating elements such as boating brands. I noticed throughout all the different boat brands they are very flashy, fast, in your face, and not what I wanted to do for my campaign.
Chart showing the difference in generations in knowledge about boating, data from an article called, Changes in the Boating Customer Impact Marine Marketing (above)
The age of boaters participating in boating, data is from an article called, Why aren't Millennials Buying Boats? (above)
Deaths, injuries, and accidents over these six years, data from an article called, Boating Fatality Facts (above)
Different types of boating brands, from a website called Boats.com (above)
Research:
I started researching WPA posters, and other campaigns that have occurred over the past few years, along with researching other boating industry elements such as the nautical alphabet. From this research, I ended up finding the aesthetic I wanted for my campaign along with the color palette I wanted to have throughout my campaign. Also throughout this research process, I was able to come up with my campaign name along with my five statements by doing different word combination exercises.
WPA and campaign research: a poster from the National Parks Partnership, a poster from the Library of Congress, a poster from the National Agricultural Library, a campaign from a Shillington London student Milly Hilton, a Pinterest brand campaign (top left to right) a book called Innovative Promotions that Work: A Quick Guide to the Essentials of Effective Design, a poster from the National Museum of American History, a campaign created from Pentagram called Neighborhoods Now, a book called Innovative Promotions that Work: A Quick Guide to the Essentials of Effective Design (bottom left to right)
Nautical alphabet, Etsy shop owned by HeartwayEmbroidery (above)
Design Process:
When it came to designing this entire campaign, my main focus was to make my campaign fun and welcoming along with a little bit of seriousness, because this issue is very serious. I started by going through a variation of different color palettes and ended up finally landing on a two-blue and a red color palette as the main three colors that go throughout my applications. From there I was able to do different variations of my campaign identity along with my final five statement banners. After all these elements were solidified, I was able to apply them to different applications such as stickers, mugs, cards, keychains, and banners.
Final color palette
Identity explorations (above)
Own Your Wake explorations (above)
Fuel and Go explorations (above)
Give a Wave explorations (above)
Respect the Ramp explorations (above)
Hail your Marina explorations (above)
Applications for my campaign: keychain, mug, stickers (top left to right), coasters, throw pillows (bottom left to right)
Reflection:
My reflections from this three-month project are don't settle with your first initial design, my brain was all over the place throughout this project and I had a really hard time settling on a design. In the end, I came up with an amazing solution to the issue I was trying to solve. Also, this is just another project, after I told myself this I felt a lot calmer and also could focus more on what I was trying to do with this project. Finally, ask for outside advice, ask for people's advice outside the design industry because you are most likely tailoring your project to the world. In this instance, I am focusing on the boating industry, so I reached out to my other dockhands and boaters and asked what they would want to see in a campaign about boating etiquette which helped my research a lot.
Accident Statistics. Accident statistic. (n.d.). https://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_statistics.php
Cox, J. (n.d.). Boating etiquette 101: From the rules of the Road to docking and more!. Dockwa Boating and Cruising Blog. https://blog.dockwa.com/boating-etiquette-safety
Safety information. SOM - State of Michigan. (n.d.). https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/boating/safety
Your ultimate boating resource. BoatingWorld. (2023, December 1). https://www.boatingworld.com/
Neighborhoods now. Pentagram. (n.d.). https://www.pentagram.com/work/neighborhoods-now?rel=search&query=covid&page=1
Boating Etiquette . (n.d.). https://www.proquest.com/docview/222806589?pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Magazin
Author links open overlay panelArnau Carreño, Highlights•This is the first holistic review of the ecological impacts of leisure boating in the Mediterranean Sea.•High impacts include anchoring on seagrass, & AbstractLeisure boating is an important economic activity which is increasing in popularity worldwide. (2021, May 22). Environmental impacts of increasing leisure boating activity in Mediterranean Coastal Waters. Ocean & Coastal Management. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569121001770
YouTube. (2017, December 30). 100 best guerilla marketing tactic examples. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTK4m040whA
CalArts Poster archive. CalArts Poster Archive. (n.d.). https://posters.calarts.edu/
Consultations with Blackmore, Barker, and Piggins
Boating fatality facts. American Boating Association. (n.d.). https://americanboating.org/boating_fatality.asp
Published by Statista Research Department, & 9, O. (2023, October 9). Boating deaths and injuries in the U.S. 2022. Statista.
Why aren’t millennials buying boats? https://www.boatus.com. (n.d.). https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/expert-advice-archive/2016/january/why-arent-millennials-buying-boats
Discover Boating. (2022, August 5). Changes in the Boating Customer Impact Marine Marketing. https://www.nmma.org/press/article/24073
Battersea. Pentagram. (n.d.). https://www.pentagram.com/work/battersea?rel=discipline&rel-id=11#22518
Cyr, L. (2006). Innovative promotions that work: A quick guide to the essentials of effective design. Rockport Publishers.
Home. Smokey Bear. (n.d.). https://smokeybear.com
Wodarck, T. (2023, July 6). Behind the burgee 🚩. Florence Marine X. https://www.florencemarinex.com/blogs/stories/behind-the-burgee-%F0%9F%9A%A9
Free to use and reuse: Work projects administration (WPA) posters : free to use and reuse sets : library of Congress. The Library of Congress. (n.d.). https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/wpa-posters/
Why do boaters wave at each other?. Boat Planet. (n.d.). https://boatplanet.com/the-captains-blog/why-do-boaters-wave-at-each-other
