Brief
I don’t think this assignment could have come at a poignant time as the world battles coronavirus our small businesses have been forced to close and when they reopen will be struggling as a result. So coming up with a campaign for this will be perfect as i can use the current situation to promote us using local business rather than big companies that have profited from the outbreak.
Research
Above are some images i have found by researching ‘support small business coronavirus’ I want to create something similar to these focusing on small local business’ that will be struggling to get by without laying off staff or even worse case scenario closing.
Sketches
I started off by doing some sketches of rough ideas in my sketchbook see below. I have used various methods of promotion from posters and banners to vouchers. I want to use a variety of these in my final as i feel the more methods i use the more successful this could be for small businesses.
Final Designs
I then chose a few to develop digitally. I chose the ‘support local businesses’ poster first as the image of having empty or closed down shops is often quite striking and sad to see. So I drew out a vector image from rough memory of what small local shops look like, they are often rows together of old houses converted into shops. Added a colourful bright background with bold text and this is what i will use throughout to keep a consistent ‘brand’ or campaign image.
I then developed the ‘support local’ banner to include large striking typography and the added information of free parking passes to those who shop in local and small businesses, i feel this could work really well as currently most people are shopping online because of the pandemic and will probably continue to do so for the time being but once things get back to normal offering free parking is a great way to reel in customers. There is nothing worse than having to scramble around for change to pay for parking when you pop into town to get something.
I also developed a poster encouraging people to shop local as local and small businesses are using paper bags instead of plastic. Plastic bags are a big environmental issue and i want to encourage the use of paper over plastic. Big businesses are still using plastic excessively and by shopping local we can reduce that wastage.
Analysis
Overall the campaign looks very good the imagery is consistent and nice and clear, my favourite is probably the idea of using paper bags. The environment is such an issue and with everyone being inside as a result of the coronavirus outbreak the environment has been much better off for it. Maybe this is just what we need to kick us into action and treat our world better. The campaign mainly focusing on the support of local business works really well however re-reading through the brief i should have included a bit more information about the idea of using local produce rather than things that have been imported like in big businesses. But i wanted to focus more on the fact that after this pandemic is over our small and local businesses will be struggling and there is undoubtedly going to be a lot of business closures and a huge recession. I wanted to keep the design as simple as possible as too much information on a poster or banner can often get lost. Banners especially as we often see them while driving, small text and lots of it won’t get seen. Keeping the message brief and to the point seems like a sure way to attract attention. The posters have more artistic use but again simple and basic messaging. The closed shops for example send a negative message, if we the consumer don’t help small and local businesses they will close. It is our responsibility to keep local businesses going during this crisis and after.
GC Graphic Design 