Category: FMP

From the tutorial with Carol, she suggested that I look into social design, preventative design and changing behavior methods to further understand what I am trying to do within this project.

This has definitely helped me further understand what design method I want to use for my project to convey my message across to my target market as this is where I want to push my message to. Increasing the elements of social design and behaviour change to ensure rugby players are diligent when playing rugby and educating the younger generation I think is very important as they are the next generation to play rugby and they need to be educated more on concussions and the effect is has on your brain and this can therefor lead to Motor Neurone Disease. This needs to be done in an informational manner but further more to educate the younger generation to ensure that they are more careful especially in the domestic level as this isn’t taken as seriously as professional level.

I want to push and design out this protect as this subject needs to be pushed to the public and most certainly the Mini’s, this topic needs to be taken more seriously as it effects the person but also the public as it needs to be pushed and the mentality of players – such as some players don’t care about the later effects of concussion as player who have had a concussions in previous matches are more likely to get concussed more frequently, an example of this is George North, Patrick Lambie etc these players are an example of players who have had multiple concussions are more likely to have an increased risk of MND and ALS.

My aim is to create a prevention time design to ensure that occupational injuries are reduced by implementing safety measures, informational packs etc but without players questioning whether or not they should play rugby but more so to educate them on it.

Before I start to carry on with further research, I created a questionnaire to ask current and retired rugby players there views on concussions and MND to rugby and to see what they would like to see done to showcase this an educate people. I asked a series of questions such as:

Have you experienced these symptoms?

Do you think there is a link between rugby, having multiple concussion to Motor Neuron Disease? If yes, please state why

• Yes as rugby is a contact sport and your head if I’m wrong position or the tackle technique is wrong you can easily get concussed. And if constantly bashing your head is just not good which could cause motor neurone disease.
• Potentially, it would depend on how often you participate and how often you end up with head collisions or head injuries. However, I think the comparative is slight and rugby governing bodies (I believe) are trying to improve the contact area to reduce head injuries, so hopefully there will be less reason to connect the sport to brain damaging diseases.
• Yes, repeated head trauma which impacts the brain.
• Yes I believe so. Constant knocks on the head can cause a number of different long term brain injuries with MND being one
• Yes, brain controls your body keep damaging it will surely cause long term effects
• I think any contact sport that is highly aggressive could lead to it
• Maybe, just because the amount of athletes that have got MND

• Yes. The amount of contact with the head in a match must constitute towards long term injury
• Yes, the head collisions must be linked
• Yes, repeated head injuries/collisions due to rugby must impact the brain.Yes, there must be a link between blows to the head and MND but it’s the nature of the beast, we can only prevent head collision so much with out the sport being ruined, every person who puts on a jersey and crosses that white line understand the risk that comes with it but they wouldn’t change it for the world
• I don’t know enough to give a good response
• Because there’s evidence to show brain trauma links with rugby and other contact sports
• I think it can yes but not always
• To my understanding MND is has genetic causes.Yes, Joost Van and Dodddie
• Yes, have seen some research on it
• Yes, concussion is essentially damage to the head/brain so increased amounts of this could have mainly unseen or even unfelt effects.It’s funny, I played rugby and basketball from a young age up until I was 18. Never had a concussion playing rugby (that I knew of) but had multiple playing basketball. I haven’t done much research into the topic but there has to be some fact to it.Yes due to the repeated blows to the head

• I think it’s luck of the draw/ chance
• Possibly Yes, because there are studies which prove this.Yes, I have seen scientific research provided by Bennet Omalu. He also suggests that there is strong link between multiple concussions and CTE.Potentially Inconclusive Motor neurones I’ve not heard about. Vascular dementia possibly
• Yes, but i believe there are multiple factors
• Medicine hasn’t been asking these questions for long enough although there is most certainly a link
• I’m not sure, I feel high level contact yes maybe but also genuine fit individuals are generally physically healthier so it could be the luck of the draw.Yes, any knock to the head that causes a concussion is bound to leave damage
• Yes – concussions are bound to happen in rugby and if this happens multiple times without proper recovery I imagine this would not be good for the brain.Yes, too many bumps to your head must have a link between the two
• Possibly but further research would be requiredNot just specifically rugby but common trauma to the head can cause it yes.Not that I know off
• Yes – multiple head collisions leading to an increased chance

• Potentially so, due to the impact you incur to your head

Do you think there should be more information on this matter? If yes, please state how and why

• Yes as this is a fairly new topic in the sport which in the future could affect someone health
• I think yes in the case that players may be more cautious when attempting to tackle opposition players and when engaging in training circumstances to ensure they are technically correct in their tackling and safe. On the other hand I think people should be aware, but not to the extent that it would push them away from playing the game, because they may construe it as unsafe.
• Adverts through social media players and doctors touring local clubs at all levels.
• Yes as it’s important to keep players as protected and informed as possible
• Yes because then people will know to look out for early signs and symptoms
• Yes should be given at the start of a season so people can spot signs and symptoms
• Yes, just more information on the risks of head injuries in rugby. It’s not really spoke about throughout the clubsSafety of children
• Yes, more support from World Rugby
• No everyone should know risks of heavy repeated blows to the head by now.Yes, information and discussions at wry and club level believe there should be more information on this topic but there’s only so much prevention we can do to such a physical sport, good technique can only play the role so much it’s the after care which needs to be put in place if you can’t prevent you must provide a service!Yes, there should be an academic study to look at all the information to see if there is any correlation
• Yes for safety and welfarenoI think we need to learn more about it and it’s affects on sports where concussion is a part of the game, we should test more professional athletes.If info was relevant it should be shared to coaches to ass onto grass roots players
• No there is a lot of information now
• Yes, think it should be more publicly mentioned
• Yes – greater research into concussion/head trauma and MND
• Improving safety and knowledge is always beneficial
• Yeh for sure. I think explaining concussions and the long term effects are important. It wouldn’t have stopped me playing any of my sports but it might have stopped someone else. Atleast the option would be there for them.Yes as it’s stopping some people from playing rugbyMore in the lower level league but the top end of the game is good
• Depends on what level of rugby is being played. Top level semi pro, pro there is a lot of information given regarding this natter
• Yes, players and governing bodies must put an emphasis on educating those involved in sport (especially contact sports) on the dangers of concussion.Yes, research is always helpful in understanding the impacts of certain things and how they effect people
• Yes, research emailed to every registered player through the WRU. Ensure player safety and that players understand they are at risk at their own free will.Yes- concussion even in medical centres is poorly dealt with- the the concept of CTE is normally ignored
• Yes, teaching our minies (under 15)Yes, could be helpful for others suffering with this issue
• Yes, to grow awareness of the implications that the game can have and to introduce new rules and laws
• Yes, any information is beneficial to a sports person to aid the protection of themselves. Delivered through presentations at club level and in grass routes, or a compulsory ‘lecture’ to take on the WRU website
• I think for coaches definitely to ensure precautions are taken
• Yes, only because of health and safety. At the end of the day if you go into any contact sports the is a risk of injury.Yes – the better knowledge players have of symptoms of concussions the better protected they will be
• Yes to educate one self
• Yes. further research. Players are getting bigger and stronger and the contact area is now a key part of the game. We may not see the consequences of this for years to come so a greater understanding is required now to prevent those who participate from being unsafe
• Yes, more player information and ability to self diagnose. HIA protocol to be shared at a local level.

• Yes – apart from the usual WRU handouts, there should be WRU representatives having meeting with teams of all importance to stress the importance
• Yes. Information should be given at school level to make people more aware of the problem.I’d like it to be included in all ages of rugby
• Yes. I feel this should be communicated through school and rugby clubs

There was a total of 69 responses, and doing this survey has been extremely helpful to understand what rugby would like to see something done on this matter. As a graphic designer, sometimes you need to ask the public what they would want and like to see done for a particular topic which is always extremely helpful to a graphic designer. The client is basically the public and designing something for them which is basically the whole purpose for this project.

I had to create a creative brief to further explain what I set out to do for the Final Major Project. This further explains my objectives, my target audience, deliverables and phases of development for the client to get more knowledge on what my project is based on.

To get a better understanding of rugby and the possible link between the increased amount of concussions that happen in a rugby game to Motor Neurone Disease.

LEGAL ISSUES

• Several players have launched a legal cases in December against rugby authorities for negligence.
• Steve Thompson – England world cup winner is one of many players who launched a lawsuit,m left with permanent brain damage – all have been diagnosed with early signs of dementia.
• More than 100 players have come forward etc.

MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE

• Problems with cells in the brain and nerves.
• Significantly shortens life expectancy – leads to death.
• Spin surgeon, Mike Hutton had said ‘As far as we can see, there is a link’ between MND and rugby.

PLAYERS

• Rob Burrow – 38, retired Leeds Rhinos rugby league player, diagnosed with MND on the 19th December 2019.
• Joost van der Westhiuzen – Retired South African union rugby player who passed away in 2017 at the age of 45 from MND.
• Doddie Weir – 50, retires Scottish rugby union player. In June 2017, he was diagnosed with MND.

FOUNDATION

• Darby Rimmer Foundation
• MND Association
• J9 Foundation
• My Name’5 Doddie Foundation

All these aspects are summarized from the mind map I created to put all my research about rugby, concussions and Motor Neurone Disease. Doing research is very helpful and useful when it comes to understand what I am looking into and basing my project on as I understand more about the condition – Motor Neurone Disease and how it affects a persons abilities and how the constant knocks to the head (concussion) is linked to Motor Neurone Disease, as when I was researching there are rugby players such as Joost van der Westhiuzen, Doddie Weir etc, which shows there is a link between these aspects which is quite concerning.

We had a tutorial today about Design methods and methodologies. There are many different types of design methods and methodologies to take into account and consider.

SPECULATIVE/CRITICAL – takes a critical theory based approach to design. This kind of design uses design fiction and speculative design proposals to challenge assumptions and conceptions about the role objects play in everyday life

Speculative design may be understood as a new design approach- an open set of tools, techniques and methods; ready to be used and adapted to various contexts in which we live and act.

TYPOGRAPHIC SYSTEM

1. Semantic hierarchy – Audit product for semantic hierarchy using WAVE chrome plugin.
2. Visual Hierarchy – Inspect all type styles in descending order and check if you really need these many number of type styles.
3. Body Font Size – Choose a font size that works for body.
4. Body Line Height – Using Goldilocks approach, determine what line height looks best for the body font size.
5. Tim Brown’s Modular Scale – Start with body line height ratio for scale.
6. H1 Definition – Choose an H1 value that works first header level across all pages of your product.
7. Other Header Levels – Just go 1 level lower in your chosen typographic scale to determine each subsequent header level.
8. Line – Heights for all Headers – Derive line-height by using the same body line height ratio. Adjust the derived line-height values to a multiple of your baseline grid number to ensure vertical rhythm.
9. Font-Weights – Compare stroke thickness of each header with subsequent and preceding headers and ensure that parent headers don’t look too thin or children headers don’t look too thick.
10. Apply rules top-down – Use the concept of DOM outline – start with assigning h1’s followed by h2 followed by h3 and so on to ensure consistent application of type styles across product.

IDEO METHOD CARDS

SOCIAL DESIGN METHOD

1. Interrogate the functionality.
2. Start with the system.
3. Look at systemic full life cycle impacts.
4. Check relationships.
5. Hold yourself accountable.

SERVICE DESIGN

Disruptive designers learn to love big messy problems and identify their own agency in impacting the world around them with more purpose and intent.

BRANDING

1. Create a framework
2. Question your customers
3. Review your web analytics
4. Review social data
5. Review sales data
6. Look at your competitors
7. Take action and monitor results

USER JOURNEY

1. A timescale
2. A clear understanding of customer touch points
3. A clear understanding of the channels in which actions occur
4. An understanding of any other factors who might alter the customer experience
5. A plan for “moments of truth”
6. Review objectives
7. Review current user research
8. Review touch points and channels
9. Create an empathy map
10. Build an affinity diagram
11. Sketch the customer journey
12. Iterate and produce
13. Distribute and utilize

USER PERSONA

A persona, in user centered design, marketing, and branding is a character created through researching to represent a user, or a person that represents your target market. Designers may not use persona together with market segmentation, where the qualitative personas are constructed to be representative of specific segments.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

1. Demographic – THE WHO – Age, gender, ethnicity, income, religion, level of education, profession/role in company.
2. Psychographic – THE WHY – Personality traits, values, lifestyle, hobbies, life goals, beliefs.
3. Geographic – THE WHERE – Country, religion, postal codes, cities.
4. Behavioral – THE HOW – Spending habits, purchasing habits, interactions with brands, loyalty.

Having this lecture with Carol was really useful and beneficial to know what different types of design methods and methodologies a graphic designer can use and take further into there work. There are many different approaches we can take as a graphic designer to solve problems but also for designing. This will definitely be useful when identifying what route I want my final major project to take place.

Taking the advice from David in my previous tutorial, I decided to do further mind mapping from current mind map to enable me to think even further to expand my ideas even further to link my interests to one another to create more in depth ideas.

I expanded on my ideas even further to get a better understanding of the possible ideas I could possibly go down in and research even further in.

From what I have done, I decided to go with the link between rugby, concussion and Motor Neurone Disease as I am really interested in rugby as I use to play it and being South African it is in our culture as rugby is a big thing in our country,

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to base my Final Major on, so the tutorial I had today with David really helped me decide what possible route I wanted to go down in in terms of a Final Major Project theme. So I showed my mind map and David to do further mind mapping to get a better sense of what I wanted to do, but I had some feedback from my peers about which topic I should choose, a lot of them said to go with the rugby and how there is a link between rugby, concussions and Motor Neurone disease. I found this really helpful as it helped me narrow down a possible topic I want to choose.

Starting off, I created a mind map with the topics I am interested in. This is a great way to generate a good amount of information and ideas very quickly.

1. RUGBY – Concussion, MND and how it relates to one another. As a South African, I absolutely have a huge passion for rugby and watch whenever there is matches on but I noticed that players are coming out with lawsuits against the Rugby Federation for the brain damage caused by playing and how certain procedures were not followed to prevent these. Also how some rugby players are coming out with being diagnosed with MND as a result of repeated head knocks from a rugby, some players who have had and do have MND are Joost van der Westhezuin who sadly passed away and Doddie Weir is fighting this terrible disease currently.
2. BRANDING – Ever since I was in high school, I always wanted to create my own brand preferably to do with clothing and for my dissertation, I based it on creating a brand and a business plan, and from doing the research for my dissertation, I found that having a niche is what sets a brand apart from other brands.
3. MAKE UP – Every girl loves make up, I am slightly obsessed with make up and have a passion for doing it and creating a variety of looks. But make up is so much broader than just the products and looks itself. Many more males are getting into make up and when thinking about this I thought about Drag make up and the culture behind it and how they paint there faces to portray characters, send a political message, fighting for a variety of rights etc. Another idea was to re brand an existing make up brand and making that more modern and contemporary.
4. FASHION – Ever since being in high school, my interest for fashion grew and I took Textiles in GCSE and AS/A Level, I was always designing garments with messages behind them. Fashion is for making a statement.
5. SOUTH AFRICA – Not everyone knows that I am originally from South Africa, and I am a proud South African but when growing up I always noticed how may racist remarks I had towards me for being from South Africa. Another possible idea was to show my Afrikaans heritage.