Coping with COVID... In a fun way!
RTVC te acompaña to understand and learn about the pandemic, and find interesting ways to enjoy our new normalcy.
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BACKGROUND
RTVC is the public tv and radio company of Colombia, their main function is of programming, producing and broadcasting the public channels of the national television: Señal Colombia, Canal Institucional; as well as the national public radio stations: Radio Nacional and Radiónica. They also have the archive of the tv and radio of Colombia in Señal Memoria, and the streaming service RTVCPlay.
RTVC Sistema de Medios Públicos is committed to the evolution towards a contemporary, dynamic, attractive radio, television and web to promote and strengthen the cultural and educational development of the inhabitants of the national territory.
CHALLENGE
How might we help Colombian people find all the information they need about our new normal?
SOLUTION
Our solution was creating a microsite dedicated to all the information relevant to this pandemic, it would include different categories like “To keep yourself entertained” or “What is going on?”.
ROLE
Sr. Designer
TIMELINE
4 weeks / 2020
TOOLS
Adobe XD, Photoshop, pen & paper
TEAM
Daniela Montanez (lead designer),
Fabian Perez (product owner), Cristian Anzola (product owner), Robert Castro (developer), Juan Diego Bonilla (developer), Aura Fernandez (banner designer), Julian Wren (client), Orlando Bernal (director)
THE BRIEF
A microsite that would be easy to edit, with the constraint of time
I was designated the task to create a microsite that would contain information about the pandemic. We work in an agile environment, which meant this project had to be live as fast as possible. Obviously, my other constraint was keeping it in line with RTVC main website.
A design was needed that included all of the content that RTVC created around covid and lockdown (this was on the end of march of 2020), having in mind three sections:
⟶ To keep you entertained (Para que te entretengas)
⟶ To keep you in shape (Para que te mantengas en forma)
⟶ What is going on? (¿Qué está pasando?)
Keeping this in mind, I quickly created three proposals of the design. I couldn’t take too long since the idea, at first, was to make a very simple website that could be edited easily by whoever would need it.
Three initial proposals following the short brief given, taking into account the constraints.
REVISIONS
Time was still a constraint, but it needed some more “punch”, the grids were too simple
After the first revision, it was made obvious that the design was too simple. It worked, but we needed to also create an impact, so people would be interested in clicking on the content. A few important changes were needed:
⟶ Main slider
⟶ Descriptive text for the cards
⟶ More variation to the grid
⟶ Section to show featured content
FINAL PROTOTYPE
As soon as the revisions were approved, the final prototype was finished to continue with the last step of the process
HAND-OFF
Time to let the developers do their magic by giving them the assets and instructions needed for a smooth experience
Once the project was ready in both versions, I organized the necessary assets that the developers would need to make this project come to life. We normally use Adobe XD in inspector mode, however, in this case I also made a Style Guide.
Some examples of what the style guide contained for the developer.
RECOGNITION
What? We were nominated for an award??
We did. Indeed we did. On november 12, 2020 we found out our project was nominated at the TAL Awards (Premios Televisión América Latina) in the most important category of the night: “General Strategy in times of pandemia” (Gran Premio 2020: Estrategia General en Tiempos de Pandemia).
Extract of the list of awards and nomination of the Premios TAL 2020.
Long story short, we didn’t win, but I’m still proud we managed to be nominated for a project like this. It was important to us, and we still hope it was helpful for our audience and community.
REFLECTIONS
What did I learn?
⟶ More than learned, I need to keep up the habit of asking lots of questions about a project before starting.
⟶ I need to remember to name by layers from the beginning, it would save a lot of time in the hand-off.
⟶ When doing style guides and special manuals, please future me, remember to start organizing the information from the start. It will save you a lot of headaches.
⟶ Accept good feedback, not only the constructive kind and be proud of what you do.