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Your journey as a new Canadian

Case study bySalim Hassan

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ForwardIndex

Over the last year I have seen my sister adjust to life in Vancouver as a new skilled immigrant. On a day to day basis I would witness the struggles a person would face as a skilled immigrant in Canada, considering all the knowledge and experience they bring with them to this country.

At a digital design assembly put on by Vancouver Film School, I was introduced to the world of interactive web documentaries, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Most of the projects were related to a social cause, and the style very much appealed to me. I felt here was an opportunity to display a story that was near and dear to me, through an interactive web documentary, and showcase the lives and struggles that skilled immigrants face in Canada.

Looking at my own skills I realized this is not a one-man project, but in fact a team project. The skills that were missing were clearly the interactive component and the cinematography. I first reached out to J.L. Lum with the idea, and I was fortunate to get him onboard. One day over lunch I was discussing the project with my close friend Arcelia, she offered her skills as the director of the short films, and I was fortunate at that moment to have found my dream team.

- Salim HassanCreative Director

IntroductionResearchProject developmentName and font exploration Logo designPersona Website assets Summary

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Initially the idea was to showcase the stories of skilled immigrants, those that have failed and those who have succeeded, in order to show employers the unutilized talent pool that is going to waste. After meeting with subject matter experts such as Nick Noorani, we realized we were diluting our messaging by focusing on too many target markets. After several meetings, the conclusion was to focus on the perspectives of people already living in Canada, with target in mind being prospective skilled immigrants.

We realized early on that the project had to be broken down into three areas, Project Management and Communications, Motion Design and Cinematography, and Interactivity and Coding.

The initial idea

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Mindmap

Focusing on a particular topic to do with skilled immigrants is quite challenging, a mind map exploration was an important task for this project. After this was completed, it provided a much clearer of areas we could focus on.

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Research

– Learned as much as possible about the subject matter through immigration statistics available online– Promoted the project at every opportunity that was available, in order to locate characters, and find collaborators – Cold called individuals and approached acquiantances for support with the project and to locate characters. – Attended conferences and seminars on immigration issues.– Conducted a focus group with skilled immigrants.

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Focus group

The objective is to understand the underlying concerns of skilled immigrants, and their struggles with finding employment, and mak-ing Canada their new home. Doing a focus group was a great way to understand the underlying issues skilled immigrants face when they are in Canada. The following are the questions we asked.

Questions

1. What are your names, where you come from, what attracted each of you to come to Canada?2. What do you feel are some of the challenges you face being here?4. When it comes to getting work in your field, what are some of the challenges you face in that area?5. Where do you consider home, and what defines home for you? What is it you miss most about home?6. What have been your experiences creating social circles here?7. If you were given the opportunity to give advice to new immigrants, what is it you would tell them? 8. Tactile approach: Imagine you could write a letter , but its just one wish, what would that wish be?

Ground Rules

It’s critical that all members participate as much as possible, yet the session move along while generating useful information. Because the session is often a one-time occurrence, it’s useful to have a few, short ground rules that sustain participation, yet do so with focus. Consider the following three ground rules: a) keep focused, b) maintain momentum and c) get closure on questions.

Facilitating the Session

1. Major goal of facilitation is collecting useful information to meet goal of meeting. 2. Introduce yourself and the co-facilitator, if used. 3. Explain the means to record the session.4. Carefully word each question before that question is addressed by the group. Allow the group a few minutes for each member to carefully record their answers. Then, facilitate discussion around the answers to each question, one at a time.5. After each question is answered, carefully reflect back a summary of what you heard 6. Ensure even participation. – Round table approach, and reverse

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ourselves as an honest, & reliable resource to prospective immigrants.

unique perspectives on the situation of skilled immigrants in Canada.

and covey the stories in a web format which connects the characters with prospective immigrants.

a trusted project which enables us to grow the project across al the major cosmopolitan areas in Canada.

our skills in the areas of Interactivity, Motion design, and Branding.

PositionOfferDevelopBecomeShowcase

What do we want?

After this we needed a project plan, the following pages is a snap shot of the project charter.

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Project Goals and Objective

Objective:

To create an interactive web documentary in 10 weeks, which will become a major resourcefor prospective skilled immigrants. The success of the project will be measured by the reviewof the external examiner, and the design awards the project wins or gets nominated for.

Goals:

1. Increase awareness of people about skilled immigrants and the role they play in Canada2. Be a major resource for prospective skilled immigrants3. Get skilled immigrants to integrate sooner into the city they land in & into the labour force4. To break down myths and calrify assumptions prospective immigrants have about Canada

Personal Goals:

1. Each of us land jobs in our respective areas2. Project is entered into 3 interactive design awards in 20113. Project attracts funding from NFA or other institution to complete the project for the rest of Canada4. This becomes a resource for prospective immigrants

Project conditions

Assumptions

1. New immigrants will be readily available to be profiled in the documentary.2. The videos and assets will load just as quickly as the documentaries on the National Film Board website.

Issues 1. Insufficient experience making an interactive web documentary.2. The website will be fully coded in flash to mimic the interactivity of the National Film Board projects. 3. Managing time with other project deliverablses

Risks

1. Locating talent that can be profiled in the documentary.2. The rainy weather in Vancouver, and since many shots will be taken outdoors. 3. Equipment rental, there is a limited supply of equipment, and it could be rented out.4. Sound design is a major component; it will carry the entire mood and feel of the project.5. Asking the right questions to the interviewees and the direction of each story.6. Project management and ensuring all the elements are completed on time within a tight deadline.

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Inspiration and moodboard

The inspiration was drawn mostly from National Film Board interactive web documentaries. I wanted the stories to relate with the audience, and for the subject matter to be presented in a unique way.

The moodboard was inspired by the style of documentaries on the National Film Board website.

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The name of the project

The project went through several names, At the beginning starting with a literal name, The Story of Skilled immigrants, and later on, becoming even longer. Welcome to Canada - The Story of Skilled Immigrants. It went through several other renditions, and after a major brainstorm, considering the values of the project, and taking into consideration our target audience, the name came to be Square One.

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The project is targeted towards skilled immigrants that are plan-ning to come to Canada. The project starts in Vancouver, and plans to capture similar perspectives for the other major cosmopolitan areas in Canada. The name of the project needed to be one that captures the essence of the work we are doing, and also have the appeal of being a project that can be taken nationally.

Square One, working with the old english saying, “Back to square one”. The phrase is coined in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1952 as being from Snakes and Ladders, and Hopscotch. We feel this metaphor reflects perfectly for skilled immigrants and the struggles they go through of moving from their home country. In essence they would be starting from the beginning. They wil be searching for new friends, a new home, a new beginning.

The name of the project

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The font and exploration of taglines

At this stage I wanted to see the different types of fonts that would work, and also a corresponding body type face. I tried a variation of fonts, but the most ideal one being Rockwell and Mrs. Eaves as heading fonts, and Frutiger as the body type face. I wanted the font to reflect the values of the company which were honest, reliable, relevant information. The geometric shapes of Rockwell, paired quite well with the brand values,of being trustworthy, and reliable.

The tagline was a work in progress all the way through the project. Initially it was long winded, and even though it ex-plained clearly what the project was about, it was not an attrac-tive tagline. The tagline was not finalized until two weeks be-fore delivery date. Until that very last minute it was “Stepping into Canada”. Even though it was short and sweet, it was still missing the element of what this project was really all about. I finally came up with “Your journey as a new Canadian”. This was perfect because it captured the essence of the project, and that it is a journey that each skilled immigrant goes through, and finally the tag line removes the negative connotation of be-ing classed an immigrant, and starts calling new immigrants as new Canadians.

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Name Shaina Hasan11720 KMs

United Arab Emirates

IndianMarch 1, 2010

Miles travelledCountry of originCitizenship

Landing date

Heading

“Rockwell”ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Body

“Frutiger 55 Roman”ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

was chosen as a serif type face for all headings. The geometric shapes fits well with our brand value of being reliable, and honest. It also gives a sense of legitamacy, again ensuring the audience that the material they are viewing is trustworthy.

for the body we needed a font that is equally trustworthy, but also easy to read on a website. The geometric shapes of Fruitger pairs well with Rockwell, and provides a comfortable balance.

Rockwell

Frutiger

The font and exploration of taglines

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Logo design

After deciding on the name as Square One, I went and looked at a bunch of different logos that were related to squares. I was looking for inspiration, and something natural and simple with regards to the logo. With it being an immigration related website, I felt it would be too direct to have something related to immigrants, whether it be passport stamps, or something passport related. Instead I wanted something that would not only relate to the project name, but also have an international appeal to it.

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Logo design

The selection was narrowing, and so was the font, it was down to Rockwell and Mrs Eaves. Exploring the different ways to use the softer squares was now the challenge. The softer squares were beginning to look more and more like an old tv monitor, and the metaphor being looking into someone’s life and their past. I played with having different type faces within the squares, but I realized from this consis-tency later on would become and issue, and it also was not looking professional.

The colours chosen were mostly skin tones, to depict the different races that come into Canada. This was a celever way to communicate that this is a website that relates to different races, and people from different cultural backgrounds. The unity in the font type depicts that we are all the same deep down, even though our skin tones are different.

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Logo design

The logo was finalized, so was the shape, and the letter placement, however the skin tones needed refinement. The initial colours chosen were quite pale, and even though represented very real skin tones, it wasn’t popping from the page, and would get lost. After brightening the colours slightly, and maintaining the skin tone palette, the final logo was much brigther, and would stand out much more.

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Softer squares depict a more friendly feeling. The squares also resemble a tv monitor, and mimics the idea of looking into someones life and story.

We wanted the logo of the project to depict the interactivity and design of the website. Each video will be displayed in these squares.

The squares stack up similar to block toys for kids, metaphoring building blocks for someones life. Our project in a sense are building blocks.

The change in colour is to seperate the two words. “Square” is in white and “One” in black, to make it easier to read.

Rockwell uppercase, worked perfectly to make each character stand out. The geometric shape worked perfectly with the squares.

The colours are skin tones, to depict the different races that make up the cultural mix in Canada.

Logo design

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– Delhi, India– 33 years old– Recently married– B.S. in Engineering from IIT in India– Working as a Senior Engineer in Delhi– $50K annual household income– Considering Vancouver for the good climate– Has been in the immigration process for the past 2 years– Has the impression he will be getting into a similar position in Vancouver, based on his qualifications, and support himself and his wife. Both him and his wife speak English well, however with a heavy accent.

Raj Khanna– Beijing, China– 40 years old– Married with two kids– Practicing pediatric doctor in Shanghai– $80K annual household income– Considering Vancouver for the community of Asians– Has been in the immigration process for the past 3 years– Is briefly aware from talking to his friends about the difficulty of getting work as a doctor in Canada, however he is hopeful. He speaks English, but cannot communicate quickly, and doesnt understand English idioms.

Tsui (Anthony) Chen– Kiev, Ukraine– 32 years old– Single– Human Resources professional in Kiev for a MNC– $55K annual household income– Looking for a change, and wants to move to Canada, enjoyed Vancouver during her visit on a vacation.– Recently received her confirmation for permanent residency– Is hoping to get work in the services sector, and is open to getting recertified, but unaware of how long the process is. She speaks English with a fairly heavy accent.

Maria Poleski

Persona

The personas were selected carefully, and were referred to constantly during the course of the project. We ensured that each element of the projectwould be understood by our persona, and each extra element added to the project would serve the target audience which is represented by these personas.

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Website

The website needed an element that would be visually appealing, but also serve as a function to our target audience. On the right is a screenshot of razorfish.com, and the LED background is a look we decided to incorporate into theproject. Instead we show short video clips of Vancouver, giv-ing a glimpse to our audience of what the city looks like that they are considering moving to. Over that I created assets that would compliment the background look and feel.

Also instead of the LED, I created a pattern with the square shape of our logo and suggested we place it over all the images and video backgrounds.

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The transition of the website

The following 10 transitions, show the website go through changes related to placement of the logo, the social media icons, placement of text, and the size of the buttons.

The last page shows what assets appear on the website, and the look and feel of the remaining pages. The background changes based on the content placed in front of it, in order to ensure proper contrast.

The website design also went through major revisions in terms of user experience.

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Social media icons & the background information icon is 20 x 20px. The upstate is 80% opacity and completely desaturated, & the hover state brings the button to full colour.

Movie chapters are 75x 75px. The upstate is 80% opacity and completely desatu-rated, & the hover state brings the button to full colour.

Main navigation for the videos are 140x140px. The upstate is completely desaturated, & the hover state brings the button to full colour. The button remains that colours once the user clicks on it once.

up state

up state

hover state

hover state

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75px

140px

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140p

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Final elements of the website

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Challenges

– Managing this multimedia project along with other projects.– Establishing the direction of the project within the time frame allotted to us as a team– Creating a brand that would be carried through consistently through out the project.– Locating the characters that would best suit the project and have the most impact on our target audience. – Finding the right project partners to collaborate with.

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Post-mortem

– Understand the intricacies of creating a documentary.– Have a clear vision from the first day, and ensure everyone is fully understands their roles and responsibilities. – Know when it important to be a leader and when it is important to be a team member. – Learn to place your trust in those around you. – Learn to let go.– Maintain a healthy balance between the project and your personal life.– Have daily scrums instead of weekly scrums.– Remember that this is a digital design project, and that as much as it is wonderful to this big picture, there needs to be a visual deliverable at the end.

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Summary

This website was designed for prospective skilled immigrants. This project has served as a pilot, and it will be used to apply for grants to further develop the project, and take it across Canada.

Every member in this group has learned significant lessons, each of which will help us in our individual careers. To date I have spent approximately 500 hours developing this project, and between the three of us, it has been over 1500 hours of work.

As for next steps we look forward to raising funding through goverment grants, and look forward to partnering with the NFB.

Your journey as a new Canadian