Using the site to create an reaction is something that is important, of course, I would want people to visit exhibition, but if I could make it into a worthwhile cause that people could fight for, it would not only mean it would not only have a deeper purpose but it would also mean the exhibition would be able to capitalise on something great. Like I stated in my exhibition post, turning a viewer of the page into a visiter of the exhibition, which would carry on after they’ve visited the exhibition so they could start a ‘revolution’ to make more people aware of the exhibition would make really help because it would make the whole exhibition much more successful, and that’s the purpose of the site. Understanding how to create such a revolution will help me improve reactions to the immersive experience that I am designing. A major part of this is playing on the viewers emotions to get a reaction relative to the situation.
The new Russell Brand’s new book Revolution does exactly this, he discusses the flaws of modern society backed up with facts from credible sources and then with the launch of his book has created a ‘credible news source’ called “The Trews”;
where he depicts what is really going on in the world. With this he is obviously in the public eye already so that helps, but he has also been able go on multiple talk shows and discuss the issues with modern day culture and get the media discussing him in good or bad light, this all creates attention around the book, I would say this is basic PR for a celebrity. Russell goes further though, he releases a daily video on his YouTube channel discussing a variety of issues that range from government, press, consumerism to war. A story that has captured mainstream medias attention is the one where Russell helped “93 ordinary families stand up to corporations and lazy government and won”. So not only has he released a book and done the normal PR stuff, but he has chosen to help the people of a London community, and raise awareness of the pressing issues covered in his book, not only does this help raise awareness but it also helps sell more copies of his book.
Another great example is this website (http://www.amnesty.org.uk/) which is designed to raise awareness of the woman who is serving a 35 year jail sentence for whistleblowing on the torture carried out by US Army and the CIA. It firstly has call to action button for people to sign a petition for the release of the woman, then when you scroll there are more articles about torture. This site uses flat colours which helps the user focus on the content and I think this is something that I will use in my design.
Greenpeace also make very emotion tugging video to pull on the heartstrings of the viewer. In the space of three minutes they show the devastating effects that global warming is having on the environment, along with other issues such as over fishing the sea and destruction of rainforests. It then goes on to show the support of communities and the actions that the Greenpeace community are taking to prevent these travesties from happening.
I have learnt that not only creating an experience but also creating involvement so people are motivated not only to buy tickets to the exhibition but also do something about the issues covered in the exhibition. I’ve learnt that should this exhibition be real I would need to create other events and ways of marketing the site to make the exhibition not just an exhibition but a ‘revolutionary experience’ for everyone involved.
References:
http://www.russellbrand.com/tag/new-era-estate/
akbrodie.wordpress.com 