UNICEF is a non-profit organization which provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. UNICEF receives it's funding from the government and private donors. I am examining the New Zealand website, www.unicef.org.nz. This website is designed to convince the public that it is a cause worthy of donation. UNICEF use colours, images and video to convey a trustworthy and appealing image.
Colour
Blue and white are the predominate colours used on the website's homepage. The background of the page is white, with blue used for the accents and most headlines. There is also some pink text.
Blue and white are both cool colours, which give the impression authority and trustworthiness. Blue is a colour often associated with stability and dependency ( Noack, 2010). This is important for UNICEF as they need to exude an image of reliability so people will trust them. Blue also has a slightly sombre feel, which is appropriate because of the seriousness of the issues being dealt with. White is commonly associated with cleanliness and purity. Together these two colours give the website a clean and relaxing feel. The pink creates contrast and adds liveliness.
There are five links near the top of page which the viewer can click on to donate money and help the cause. These are all bright colours, green, pink, blue and purple. The bright colours are used to draw attention to these buttons, as they are the part of the website UNICEF wants the viewer to notice. Throughout the page there are many different hues, all the colours of the rainbow are featured somewhere. Maybe so the viewer will sub-consciously put all the colours together and see a rainbow, which is a common symbol of hope.
Images
On the top right hand side of the page, there are four different images which alternately flash up on the screen, for about ten seconds each. The first image I see is titled "Help the children of Syria" and depicts a cute little girl, who looks like she has been crying. The girl is standing against a dark background, although her face is well lit. This picture looks like it was taken by a professional photographer, as only the girl's face is in focus (a common photography technique).
The little girl has blonde hair and relatively pale skin, she is not particularly African looking. This may be so European viewers, who are probably the target audience, will be able to relate more to her. If she happens to resemble the child of a middle class New Zealand-er they may be more likely to empathize with her. However, the cuteness of the girl and the quality of the photograph make it lack candidness.
This image is definitely designed to conjure up feelings of empathy. The girl is staring straight down at the camera with her big, 'puppy-dog' eyes, as if she is asking the viewer to help her . Children are often used in advertising as they are seen as being symbolic of innocence or purity. They can also represent hope and new life ( Huang, 2010), which ties into the image UNICEF are promoting. Images are particularly useful in advertising as people tend to be lazy when it comes to reading big blocks of text. Photographs are a fast and easy way to convey knowledge.
Also, visual elements form longer-laster memories
Video
Further down the page, there is a video which tells the story of a little boy called Aden.
References
Huang, A. (2010). 75 Advertisements Featuring Cute Children and Adorable Babies. Retrieved from
www.onextrapixel.com/2010/05/04/75-advertisements-featuring-cute-children-and-adorable-babies/.
Noack, S. (2010). A Look into Color Theory in Web Design. Retrieved from
http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/a-look-into-color-theory-in-web-design/.
Rossiter, J. (1982). Visual imagery: Applications to advertising. In Advances in Consumer Research, 9,
101-6. Retrieved from www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=5909.
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