Emotions

At times, textual content is inadequate to pass on desired emotion-based information. Since the development of digitalisation – in addition to spoken and written language – we have also started to communicate via emoticons and more recently emojis, and still and animated stickers - the communicational icons of the present era.

But what are icons? Scott McCloud – the author of the book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art – divides them into three categories. First, he lays out symbols, such as the peace sign or the swastika. These symbols are usually used to present ideologies, concepts and ideas. Another category is icons of the practical use, meaning communicational and scientific icons such as alphabets and mathematical icons. Last, he lays out pictorial icons – pictures - which are made to actually present the matter they are, like a drawing of an apple. The main difference between these icons is the feeling which they provoke or do not. For example, alphabets being visually abstract do not provoke a feeling by just being seen, since their meaning is absolute. A picture can define a matter in many ways, which all can provoke a different feeling about the portrayed matter.

(McCloud 1994, 27-28)

The thing about emoticons, emojis and stickers is that they are pictures simplified to enhance their meaning. During conversation on a personal messaging app, it would be a very different thing to send the person you are talking to an emoji symbolizing a smiling face, than to send them a picture of the Mona Lisa.

Regardless of both images portraying a smiling face, they evoke very different emotions due to there being more personal factors resonating. The same would happen if Mona Lisa would be replaced with a smiling keyboard emoticon. The more simplified the smiling face gets, the more universal the emotion behind it is to understand, but when simplified even further it can become abstract and lose some of its emotional impact. However, this is dependent on the conversation at hand, since – contradictorily – in some cases, sending a GIF of the smiling Mona Lisa can also bring more depth to the conversation, than an emoji.

5 THE BRAND

The concept of branding was first presented in the United States in the late 19^th century. A brand can be a service, a person or a product. Technically a brand is the product or service combined with the mental image that it rises. According to Lisa Sounio, in her book Brändikäs, she tells that a brand is meant to show what is best in the product or service and its provider. (Sounio 2010, 24) When examining Pikku Kakkonen’s brand’s visual look, such keywords as clear, insightful and happy are officially used (Pikku Kakkonen info n.d.).

So, what makes a brand successful? In many brand creation manuals specific attributes are often mentioned. For example, a successful brand spawns from knowing its target audience on a group level (Gregory 2019). In Pikku Kakkonen’s case this is carried out by following Yleisradios’s children’s program principles, which state that Yle must provide programs to all children, beginning from 3-year- olds (Yle n.d.). As part of Yle’s programming, Pikku Kakkonen is also set to create, provide and develop domestic culture and wholesome content for children of all ages, simultaneously supporting the child’s development (Yle n.d.). The second attribute is to determine the meaning for the brand and what its aim is (Gregory 2019). According to Pikku Kakkonen’s info, this is to provide safe content for 3 to 6-year-olds for television, internet and for the mobile application (Pikku Kakkonen info n.d.). In more detail - when following Yle’s principles – their programs are set to support children’s positive outlook on themselves and the surrounding world, and offer a positive, safe and encouraging media experience (Yle n.d.). Yle also wants to encourage children to think independently, learn new things and acknowledge and accept their own feelings (Yle n.d.).

The third attribute is to spot the operatives competing with the brand and follow what they are doing (Gregory 2019). A good brand also echoes the owner’s values and voice (Gregory 2019). In addition to a good logo and visual outlook of the brand, it is also encouraged to develop the benefits and positive occurrences of it (Gregory 2019). Following trends and the ability to stay relevant is what is important in the long term, which Pikku Kakkonen checks by being able to stay in Yle’s repertoire for over 40 years. By addressing the nature of Pikku Kakkonen

brand, I hope to help comprehend its importance considering the project, nature of its production and final products.

6 THE PROJECT

After my internship at Pikku Kakkonen – at Yle Children’s Programs public office – in Autumn of 2018, I got an opportunity to do my thesis project for the program.

The program’s art director – Elli Murtonen – commissioned me to create a set of animated GIFs, which would be used as stickers on Instagram. An idea was also offered about animated Season’s Greetings styled cards, which could be used as Instagram and Facebook updates. The stickers were set to be used in Instagram Stories, and the animated cards were set to be used as advertisement for the stickers, both in Instagram and Facebook.

Pikku Kakkonen has a variety of brand-based imagery in forms of vector graphics and photographs. These images are used in all Pikku Kakkonen’s contents, which consist of television programs, a mobile application, internet, and publicity and marketing purposes. The look of the vector graphics varies a lot and they are modifiable to some extent. The target audience of Pikku Kakkonen is children from three to six-year-olds, so visually the graphics are made to look appealing to a child audience, by displaying bright colours and cute and calm features like animals, everyday objects, nature and shapes. The animation in my thesis project was executed by using a set of these visual brand elements.

PICTURE 27. Examples of Pikku Kakkonen’s mobile application’s brad-based imagery, screenshot.

In addition to daily shows, Pikku Kakkonen has been active on Facebook since 2006. From the beginning of 2015 Pikku Kakkonen became active on Instagram.

All Pikku Kakkonen’s social media updates are in the hands of the program’s art director. Murtonen had an idea that Pikku Kakkonen could have use for brand- committed animated GIFs using the programs brand-based imagery, as well as the Finnish language. This was an idea for adding elements to Pikku Kakkonen as a brand, and so created a reason for the project. The stickers were targeted towards the followers of Pikku Kakkonen’s Instagram account, which consist of mainly parents and guardians of children who enjoy the program, and of other adults who are interested in the program possibly for nostalgic reasons. The products of the project were directed to follow the program’s visual look and values, although the program’s target audience was not intended to use them.

However, despite of providing safe content for its target audience, Pikku Kakkonen does not strictly limit its supply only for children (Pikku Kakkonen info n.d.).

The project was split in two parts. The first part consisted of a set of different bouncing arrows and animated texts, and a set of Valentine’s Day themed stickers. During the first part I got also commissioned to create an animated short used as a digital Valentine’s Day card, which was published to Pikku Kakkonen’s Instagram and Facebook feed. The other GIFs were used as stickers in Instagram’s Stories feature and were set to be accessible for anyone using the application. Some of the GIFs were made purely for Pikku Kakkonen’s public offices use as decorative elements, and info graphics for Instagram Stories. In the second part of the project I got commissioned a set of Easter -themed stickers, and another animated short to be used as a digital greetings card featuring the holiday in question. I also edited an audio for both animated shorts using formerly existing royalty free music and sound effects, which were provided by Pikku Kakkonen.

PICTURE 28. Screenshot of Instagram Stories’ GIF menu, featuring some of the project’s stickers