The first is that of focus groups, which were held with the target group (adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17) of the loveLife campaign. A semiotic analysis of the qualitative data showed that both designers and advertisers should be involved in the research process.
Introduction
Despite the proliferation of HIV/Aids awareness campaigns such as loveLife, HIV infections in South Africa have increased at an alarming rate. In light of the above, Cape Town was chosen as the location of the research.
Background to the research problem
In particular, budget and social stigma played an important role in the design of billboards. Developments in the use of mass media at the national level for HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa.
Problem statement
Research question and sub-questions
How visual cues on advertising platforms such as billboards are (mis)interpreted by their target audience.
Aims and objectives
Rationale and significance
Scope and limitations
Theoretical framework
Hall argues that signs cannot be interpreted by simply observing them; you have to know what they mean or be taught what they mean in advance to understand them.
Research design and methodology
Ethical considerations
Chapter overview
Thesis structure
This chapter also explores visual rhetoric, which is a new field of research that recognizes that visuals communicate more than aesthetic value or emotion. This chapter concludes with recommendations for future campaigns, which include different types of research methods as well as objectives for information campaigns that can minimize the risk of misinterpretation.
Introduction
The argument is on the one hand that billboards are an unwanted intrusion into one's field of vision and on the other (pro-billboard) that billboards are a useful means of communicating to a mass audience.
HIV/Aids in South Africa
According to Leclerc-Madlala, the only long-term sustainable solution to the recent HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa is to change gender norms and behaviour. The controversial nature of South Africa's history regarding HIV/AIDS policy could influence people's attitudes.
Political influence on Aids policy in South Africa
The purpose of this information is not to establish the cause of denial, but to reflect on how these political views affected people in South Africa, and that included stigmatizing people who had the disease, and that it raised awareness of how HIV/AIDS advertising campaigns was designed. One of the effects of the political views was that it increased the stigma associated with the disease.
Market research
Participatory design
In South Africa, the government and the donor community are investing more in mass media campaigns for HIV/Aids prevention than ever before, as its potential to reach South Africans is widely recognized according to (Coulson 2004:1). In 2001, the Department of Health tendered an HIV/Aids prevention and care and support campaign amounting to almost R 100 million (Coulson, 2004:1).
Design principles
Bauhaus Manifesto” by Germany outlining the program and objectives of the new school (Droste, 2002: 37). Gestalt theory offers the designer a 'scientific validation' of the principles of composition and page layout (Behrens, 1998: 301).
Colour theory
Gestalt theory, originally described in 1910, attempts to explain the way humans perceive and recognize patterns” (Chang et al., 2007). Gestalt created the principles of 'similarity', 'proximity', 'visual' and 'haptic grouping' to explain the way humans identify and distinguish patterns (Chang et al., 2007).
Colour symbolism
However, according to Breidenbach, the "Nakabah people" of Ghana or otherwise known as the "Church of the Twelve Apostles" use different color symbols as illustrated in the following table. Inside * Red to White Life and health are assured The work is finished Inside Black to * Red.
Cultural influence on design
Likewise, "The South African 'public' can easily be conceptualized as 'public', with differences in language, age, education level and taste" (Tomaselli, 2005:14). According to her thesis, Diko argues, “the messages of the loveLife billboards have caused considerable discussion in the media and among communication experts in South Africa.
Summary
Along with this is sensitivity around topics like HIV/Aids on a public platform like a billboard in South Africa, which has a controversial political history. This kind of trust and empathy led to the widespread stigma attached to the disease, as a result, empathy was needed when designing HIV/Aids advertising campaigns in South Africa.
Introduction
Semiotics
Signs
Umberto Eco argued that semiotics is practiced with all things that can be used as signs. Eco argued that the definition of the "theory of a lie" can be used as a general basic comprehensive semiotic sign.
Codes
For example, symbols used when the meaning is related to the nature of the object;. Therefore, what Peirce calls a sign, says Eco, can be used in "my simple use of a representative to refer to a fictitious state of the world" (Eco.
Chapter summary
Advertising research must therefore take into account the cultural diversity of the viewer and if possible include viewer participation in the actual design process, especially when the design is intended for a large or mass audience. This can be implemented by incorporating the Participant design techniques into the research and design process of the ad.
Introduction
Research Design and Methodology
- Design type
- Selection of participants
- Focus groups participants
- Interview participants
The selection of the participants was different for the focus groups and the interview participants and therefore the study included different sampling methods. The focus of the interviews was to try to address any design issues raised by the focus groups and the interview participants were asked to explain their day-to-day design processes and research methods.
Aspects of Delineation
The key informant said the campaign was "about having dreams and ambitions for the future and realizing them". The key informant designed a series of children's drawings together with a photograph of a young person doing what was depicted in the child's drawing.
Methodology
According to the key informant, a number of companies were asked to do the creative work on the same assignment at the time. Interviews were then held with design professionals and a key informant; a creative director, who worked on the loveLife campaigns.
Data collection
These interviews were used to obtain the designers' perspective on the creative process and to ensure the credibility of this study. According to Patton, to ensure the reliability and validity of a research study, high-quality data from more than one source and different data collection techniques are needed.
Data analysis
Thematic coding
Once the data is collected, the next step will be to sort the information into categories. The aim of the categorization will be to identify all the patterns representing the concepts that the participants have labeled during the data collection phase.
Explanation-building
A compilation (codebook), with some of the different phrases used to identify message elements to analyze the complexity of semiotic meanings, is compiled. It contains a complication of phrases and is used to note, explain and describe their meanings.
Transcription
The modern study of how people interpret meaning and how to symbolize actuality becomes part of semiotic sign systems (Chandler, 2007:2).
Issues of validity and reliability
The first step is to read the transcript, followed by highlighting the information relevant to the questions. According to Brink (1993), validity is increased by establishing that the participants completely understand the nature of the research, in this study which was done when the researcher explained what the purpose of the research was and how the research would be constructed to the participants. .
Ethical considerations
Confidentiality
On the day of the discussions, participants were made aware that the session was being recorded and that the transcripts would be kept for five years. Participants were made aware that participation was voluntary and confidential and that their identity would remain confidential.
Chapter summary
The first point of contact with the focus group participants was a phone call to their teacher, parents or social worker. In order to keep their identities confidential, focus group participants refrained from revealing their names during the survey unless they were comfortable doing so.
Introduction
The loveLife campaign
As a result of the disease, orphaned youth had specific problems, such as being traumatized by the loss of relatives, parents and siblings to HIV/AIDS. He continued that the lack of consistency in the meaning of the images led to multiple interpretations of the intended message (Delate, 2012).
Visual Cues
As a result, conceptual design has been described as "the art of seeing the design situation in multiple ways" (Lawson & Dorst, 2013: 26). The key informant explained that in the case of the loveLife billboard campaign, they used stock photos due to budget constraints.
Noise creation (interference of message transmission)
When a campaign uses graphics instead of photographs, the graphics should be very much in line with current youth trends. Sometimes a design process that started with the use of real people ended up with the use of graphics.”
The design process
Design constraints
According to interviewee 3, the taboos referred to included the use of stereotypical images or text. However, the key informant argued that due to the nature of the loveLife campaigns, the design process had many limitations.
Emerging themes: implications of misinterpretation
Colour use: interpretation hidden in plain sight
However, in this focus group discussion, the use of color seemed to influence respondents' interpretation of the message. This is because the copy (text) and color of the billboard were interpreted separately and differently.
Colour stereotypes
Colour Stereotypes and assumptions: more than what meets the eye
In this case, the groups were convinced that the billboard messages were about pressure, but they were unclear about the meaning of the pressure. In this billboard, the participants had the opposite interpretation of the meaning the billboard intended to convey.
Insufficient information creates multiple interpretations
However, the focus of the groups seemed not to be on what was said, but where the wording was placed on the boards. One group pointed out that the signs needed more information to make the message clearer, especially in the case of these signs.
Gender stereotypes
The Too smart for just any body billboard was perceived by the target audience sample, entirely from a stereotypical point of view, "women concerned with physical attractiveness" due to the sharp design the main emphasis was placed on the image and the intended message fell . away. The response "when you have a child" indicates that one of the participants had the impression that the imagined child of the woman in the picture created the drawing and therefore the participant interpreted the billboard as "live your dream as a mother".
Cultural stereotypes
According to the key informant, there was a "race issue" involved in creating the billboard ads. The focus groups hinted at adding more information to the ads and one of the designers deduced.
Racial stereotypes
HIV/Aids stigma
The findings showed that "the stigma of orphaned HIV/AIDS youth is maintained over long periods of time". According to Kalichman et al. 2005), HIV/AIDS stigma is an obstacle to prevention and treatment of the disease.
The message
No, we took that seven million and gave it to an organization or charity. Participant 2 (Group B): So you just need to have a summary or something to explain to people how it's supposed to work.
Social responsibility
Ethical visuals
Golden Mean: Visuals should not be oriented to one extreme (for example, favoring one political party over another). Veil of ignorance: Since everyone is equal, images should not express prejudice or discrimination (i.e. be ignorant).
Visual rhetoric
Implications
This could mean that the target audience found the boards confusing in general or that not enough emphasis was placed on the visibility of the contact number. Another implication of the campaign was the multiple interpretation of the colors used in the signs.
Chapter summary
The text in the ads was short, intended according to the designers to attract the viewer's attention. Both focus groups and designers expressed a feeling that the campaign could be improved and less ambiguous.
Overview
Message
Implications of visual cues
Interruption of the first step in the design process occurred when loveLife rejected the design pitch of the professional design firms (Robbins, 2000). Robbins (2000) explains that the professional design firms wanted to use the familiar visual cue of the red ribbon, which has become synonymous with HIV/AIDS, but loveLife wanted a fresh new approach.
Social responsibility
However, this study revealed that the reason for the multiple interpretations was complex and that the designers of the loveLife campaigns faced many limitations regarding their design process. In the design process, the designer is responsible for designing the visual cues and this is done according to experience and expertise, but in this case loveLife wanted to bear that responsibility.
Recommendations
Advertising campaigns of this nature should make use of ethical images intended for specific groups, and for this to happen, appropriate research techniques must be incorporated into mainstream target market research as part of the design process to ensure that the final product fits its context produced for. The introduction of different methods of researching the target group should be part of the design process.
Limitations
One of the observations from the research was that the participants didn't realize there was a phone number they could call, and if they did notice the number, they weren't sure what it was for. The principles of participatory design and co-design can be used to involve the target audience in the design process and thereby create the missing context that was emphasized in existing billboard campaigns.
Conclusion
African Americans and HIV/AIDS - The Epidemic Continues: An Intervention to Address the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in the Black Community. The purpose of the research as well as the risks and benefits are explained.
