The Last Drop

May 2016 - April 2017
Creative Director, Designer, Producer, Researcher, WaterColor Painter

The Last Drop is a comprehensive campaign designed to increase water conservation awareness for the state of California. Awarded University Honors with high distinction, this project served as my senior honors thesis. I explored my design skills and did a little bit of everything - you'll find digital, print and product design here. I'm not NOT a perfectionist, so I'm continually expanding and re-designing.

IDENTITY

The identity was the most difficult piece of this campaign to create. I began with a wave-based logo, moved to a highly minimalistic design that resembled a light bulb and finally ended here. The Last Drop's identity encompasses the themes of the project. Visually, it sets the standard for the heavily textural look created by the watercolor and the hand-lettering. By calling attention to "the last drop," it emphasizes the need to conserve water (or ELSE!) 

POSTER SERIES

After establishing an identity, I designed a series of three posters. These posters work to highlight the main goals of the campaign: getting the attention of the viewer, educating the viewer on ways to further conserve water and keeping the viewer up to date with the state of the drought. Each poster has five elements that are repeated throughout the series: a hand-lettered question, a blurb providing more detail, the identity of the campaign, a screenshot of the related website page and a background image shot in California that relates to the poster theme. 

WEBSITE

Homepage

To create the most continuous campaign possible, I wanted my website and posters to be mirror images. The homepage of the site reflects the "home" poster - it asks the same initial question to the targeted viewer.

Video

Each page features a video in the background intended to enhance user interest and emphasize each page's theme. I shot and edited each video whilst at home in California.

ICONS

I wanted to give my website as many layers of texture as possible. To do this, I created fifteen individual icons that would help illustrate the water conservation actions I suggested in the "Take Action" section of the website. To visually group these icons, I assigned blue watercolors to indoor conservation actions, green watercolors to outdoor conservation actions and warm watercolors to community conservation actions. I layered white vector illustrations over the watercolors to ensure the icons were visually similar. I highly value being able to step away from the screen when I'm designing and taking the time to produce 20 plus watercolor paintings was a great way to do that. 

INTERACTIVE TAGS

To develop the connection between print and digital, I created these tags. Conceptually, these tags would be located near each location where water could be conserved. For example - to remind individuals to take showers in five minutes or less, "Five Four Three Two One Done!" would be hung on the shower head. However, for the sake of producing my thesis exhibit, these tags were all produced in the same manner. I created the wire hooks for each tag and to hang on a wire line so that the tags floated above the exhibit.

Products

BILLBOARD

This billboard design is an add-on to the original project. Featuring three different textures on the type and a frightened Dorothy, this piece was a fun way to play up the dangers of golf courses, car washes and pools to water conservation efforts.

PROCESS

We're talking research, inspiration, sketches, mockups, etc.

Artist Statement

Successful persuasion is dependent upon understanding an audience. By researching a specific audience, I’ve been able to craft visual messages that are effective in persuading California residents to continue to conserve water. The Last Drop is a water conservation campaign for the state of California that serves as a representation of my abilities as an artist and as a communicator. As a resident of California myself, creating a project that is relevant to my personal life has allowed me to expand my own views of water conservation and to grow as a designer.

I hope to motivate California residents to further conserve water through imagery that is gritty and unconventional. As there are several water conservation campaigns currently present within the state of California, I’ve created a campaign that works to persuade the audience in a different manner. Like many of the other campaigns, my project incorporates tips on how to conserve water at a local level. However, this campaign also asks water consumers to think about the ways in which they utilize their water and what they would do if faced with their “last drop.” The campaign is two-fold in that it offers simple and doable methods of conserving water while also addressing larger and often alarming questions regarding the aftereffects of a lack of water conservation.

In terms of the process of creating this project, I was able to blend my fine arts background with my graphic design skills in order to create textured and multi-layered designs, specifically with the medium of watercolor. Ultimately, The Last Drop is a study into how an audience is visually persuaded to take action. By combining my design background with my communication background, I have created a water conservation campaign for the state of California that is a departure from the simplistic and conservative preexisting campaigns.