“You Can Find Inspiration In Everything*

*(and if you can’t look again)” – Paul Smith

My eloquent colleagues at Bluefrog have been writing blogs on a variety of interesting subjects lately, from the direct marketing of the recent general election to World Malaria Day.

As an Art Director I’m naturally a very visual person. When I read a newspaper, my eye always goes straight to the pictures first, then any graphics and, finally, when my eyes settle down I will start to read the headlines. If for some strange reason you happened to ask me about the cafe around the corner from the Bluefrog office, I could tell you the colour of the door, the font used for their signage, the paper size of their menu... but not for the life of me could I tell you the name the street that it’s on. Funny isn’t it? 

So you can imagine my joy when Aline asked if I would like to write a post... Uh oh...  words! Lots of them.

My favourite blogs are almost all very visual, photography, design, creative based. So for those of you who are like me, I took my trusty Canon Ixus and photographed a few inspiring things on my walk to work. We are very lucky to work in an area that is overflowing with inspiring stuff.

   

A. 128–130 Shoreditch High St Please note the architectural eyesore of a small pvc window cut through the beautiful sign ‘Wells & Company Commercial Iron Works’. Honestly!

  
B. Mark Quinn A dramatic flower sculpture in Hoxton Square by the controversial artist, Mark Quinn.

C. Big brother ...is watching you, our local cctv camera. I like the threatening, but decorative guard.

 

D. Graffiti over graffiti The walls of East London are forever changing – sometimes for the better sometimes not, in this case a tagger has defaced the original piece. 

 

E. Noma Bar An exhibiton at KK Outlet. Noma is a fantastic illustrator whose simple designs use negative space to great effect.Click here to take a look.

F. Mosaic A wall designed and made by the children of the wonderfully named Keen Students School in Whitechapel.

G. Recycling bin Old Street. Someone has simply added some spray painted teeth and a sticker for a nose. Simple yet effective.

I spotted these things because they appealed to me. The way we take in information from the world around us is different for each of us. Some people like myself are very visual, others are not. In education, teachers often break down types of learning into the following general groups. 

 Visual Learners

• They use words and phrases that evoke visual images.

• They learn by seeing and visualizing.

 Auditory Learners

• They speak slowly and tend to be natural listeners.

• They think in a linear manner.

 Read-Write Learners

• They prefer for information to be displayed in writing

• They enjoy reading and writing in all forms.

 Kinesthetic Learners

• They learn by doing.

• They like hands-on approaches to things.

Ok... so why am I telling you about local graffiti and education? Well when we leave school or university, we (hopefully) don’t stop learning and when we receive communications from a charity asking us to support their work, we don’t stop being visual, auditory, read-write or kinetic people either. At Bluefrog, how do we appeal to these very different groups?

Visual Donors 

In a mail pack, to appeal to visual donors we might include images of where the money goes. In a recent Y Care International pack, we were able to show photos of Cambodian child called Nary, who was struggling with life on the streets. We showed the slum where she lived, the tiny house she lives in and now, thanks to the donors' support, the classes she attends and the meals and school equipment she receives. For visual donors, this is great... “I can see where my money will go and why it is needed”.

Auditory Donors...Not so easy in a mail pack 

This is where our digital team come in. Donors to Care International now have the opportunity at www.mycarezone.org to not only read about the people they are helping, but also watch videos and hear first hand accounts from the field.

Read-Write Donors

Copywriters at Bluefrog connect the donor directly to the individual they are helping. We recently went to meet a young family who have a wonderful little boy called Noah who was born deaf-blind. My colleague, copywriter Felix spent time talking to Noah's mum and grandparents finding out how the charity Sense had helped and supported them as a family. From this personal contact, we were able to share with donors why their ongoing support is so desperately needed. 

Kinesthetic Donors

...This is where it gets clever - how do we appeal to hands-on donors with a mail pack??? 

We add in an action to get the donor involved. In a recent Barnardo's pack, we included a blank card, donors could, if they wished write a message to a child who had been abused. Barnardos received an incredible response with 40% of respondents choosing to write a message. I was moved by some of the wonderful supportive words sent in by people who obviously cared deeply.

Thanks for reading my first Bluefrog blog or just looking at the pictures. 

My next blog instalment will be about visual inspiration in the Bluefrog office... I’ve already found lots of images, now I just have to write about them *sigh*...

Bex

PS For more inspiration, try Paul Smith's book.