Nearly a year ago, one of our oldest clients referred the department of the General Directorate of Traffic to us to help with their Social Media.
We were required to design a Social Media guideline with templates for all kinds of posts they may need.
Our team was pumped and excited! We have a great team with a mix of members from different countries which helped us identify some of the issues with the account that could very easily be missed by others.
When the project was handed to us, we took many factors into consideration before highlighting the biggest worries. We noticed what was missing, what was good, what could be improved, and lots more.
One of the first things that caught our attention was the major issue of lack of communication. Don’t get us wrong, their content was great. The information they posted for the people was extremely helpful, but it wasn’t appealing enough for viewers to understand and connect with.
Our other concern was the reflection of the department on what they were putting out there. The department has modern technology and so many advanced systems to make Bahrain safe, yet the impression from the account was old, unacknowledged, and too royal (in terms of colors and fonts) for the people to relate to.
The fact is only 46% of Bahrain’s population are Arabic speakers. Most of the road users and drivers are expatriates. All of the posts and captions were in Arabic with minimal visuals to communicate the message to Non-Arabic speakers.
One of the department’s concerns was that most people out there didn’t feel the support of Bahrain’s traffic department. Whereas the department’s highest priority was people’s safety and convenience. This message seemed to be missing from the look and feel of the designs.
The design language of the department on their profile didn’t reflect the Traffic department. This included the colors, the kind of fonts they used, the tone of language, and lots of other factors that we took into consideration.
First, we introduced the department’s new approach for the people and this was applied to our designs.
The vision of the General Directorate of traffic now was to be the best traffic police department in the GCC/Worldwide, keeping the road users safe and healthy.
They aimed to achieve this by forming a partnership with families, faculty, and staff to be aware of risks and be empowered to learn, discover and work in a manner that protects the public.
Colors play a big role in visual communication, be it painting, photography, videos, or even films. The colors we see can sway our thoughts, our feelings, our actions and can also cause a reaction. Colors can attract any individual’s attention or even change their moods.
The navy blue color is derived from the uniforms worn by the traffic policemen which also helps give a calming and authoritative feel to the design. This also helps communicate trust and support.
The red color was influenced by the traffic signals. It is assigned to be used for alerting topics such as news, announcements, warnings, etc.
The yellow was influenced by the road barriers which helps gain attention which is useful to communicate important information to the people yet not to worry them.
It takes more than just colors to communicate clearly. The design language consists of many factors that come together to send a message with emotions. When you see a design that makes you feel things or clearly shows you what the message is without having to say anything, that is considered a good design.
We noticed the environment of the roads. The movement of lights, the signs of caution, the shapes of cars, and the direction of the roads. All of these were illustrated to form a clean design language which we (as designers) call elements.
We create Social Media design guidelines like this one, we also do design and manage other brand’s social media profiles such as Grand Cinemas Bahrain, REACH Behavioral & Development Center, KKT Orthopedic Spine Center in Oman, and Saudi Arabia. See how we can help you.
Maybe you are ready to start working, or maybe you just need to clarify something. Drop us a message, and we will answer you.
