A Call to Action

This was the last week of the Macro Unit! What seemed like a long time still had us with a few things to get done inclusive of editing the video, finishing the website, designing and printing the posters and setting up social media accounts.

Film prop making

Realising the need for real plants and soil for the miniature garden, we had a weed-uprooting tour around London College of Communication sourcing for different for different kinds of plants. We made sure not to destroy any vital plants or take without permission any vegetation while on our quest.

The uprooted plants was later re-planted into the different containers we had collected for this purpose with composite soil that we acquired from a garden store .

Finished prop designs

Here is a bird’s eye view of the props that we made in all of their glory. Along with the plants were placed vegetables to complete the flourishing garden look.

Revisiting the storyboard

With guidance from a tutorial with our tutors, we aimed towards having the film interlinked togther with the rest of the items on our design menu. We achieved this for example; by having the animated lady-bug (our story character of choice) fly in just after the model’s hands dig out the vegetable from the container with atoms of carbondioxide trickling down into the soil, then we have it re-appear yet again as a user scrolls through content on our interactive website.

Lighting and camera movement practice

Without enough time to borrow professtional-grade film equipement in addition to learning how to it is best used, we opted for the best camera ever - the one you have on you. With our smartphones and a mini-light source we borrowed from the Kit Lab, we took turns practicing how the camera movements and lighting sequence would go once filming commenced at our target location.

Location siting and filming

Romit offered to scout for a convinient grocery store location and called us in once he found one located along a bustling street. With consent from the owner, and the golden hour in sight, we started filming on location with scenes that included fruit and vegetable shelves, our props, the supermarket and its surrounding buildings, and passers-by going about their daily routine.

With moments to go, we divided all the remaining tasks amonsgt ourselves which included editing the Video, getting the website ready and polished to come as close as possible to perfection, designing and printing the posters, preparing the social media account and getting the mini-garden ready, all for smooth running on presentaion day.

Website redesign

Using Figma, we revisited the previous website designs and made design improvements which we later implemented as a scroll-interactive website using Webflow, a drag and drop website creation tool.

After five-long weeks, presentation day was upon us. In addition to our classmates and tutors were visitors from Takram, Creative Conscience, Axa Insurance and Southwark Council who were invited for our delightful User Experience showcase.

Food display carriers

These carried both our plants and vegetables to create a miniature garden that mimicked the experience of harvesting fresh food from the garden. We anticipated critism that would arise from use of plastic containers and soiled the sides to drive a message of plastic use and their inability to decompose in the soil.

A short video

Here is a video we made and posted on YouTube for public consumption and soil health awareness.

Poster designs

These showcased the beauty of our food carriers, tag-lines spreading the message of our project and a QR code that led you to the Soil story website.

Website design

We’ve created an engaging website featuring an interactive animation of characters guiding you through the content, accompanied by icons that explain the composition of organic soil and data highlighting the crucial role of soil health. As a call to action, we linked visitos to online organic food stores to promote better soil health while increasing sales of these organic products and a link to Creative Conscience, our project partners

Click hereto visit the Soil Story website.

Social media

We signed up for a social account on Instagram on which we posted our posters, website link and videos that we made. Click hereto visit the Soil Story Instagram account.

Here was the feedback was from the final day of presentation:

• Our designs achieved their goal of triggering thoughts about where food comes from.
• We could have explored more ways to encompass the transmedia experience.
• Our website was well made.
• We could have considered use of another material for containers like wood than plastic.
• Our design aligned well with the Takram project about Bee attraction and we could share ideas into combining the two projects.

Here were the key take-away points from the Call to Action project:

• Always stick to your brief, it has everything you need!
• Research is amazing, but too much of it will slow you down without a clear direction.
• Every single detail matters especially when you have different elements working interchangeably for example how you transition from one to the other.
• Larger groups in number may be least effective both in time management and actual output depending on the circumstance.