D. Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts · Composing Complex Texts: Research, Story, Argument, Analysis and Media

Media Texts: Designing a Multimodal Campaign

D2.1 D3.1 A2.1 A2.2 A2.4 A2.5 A2.6 A2.7About 55 minutes

Learning goals

I can use a design process to propose and create a media campaign that responds to a real-world problem.
I can adapt one message to several media forms, using each form's conventions and techniques.
I can plan for intended and unintended audiences and the context in which my texts will be seen.
I can create and share media safely, respectfully and inclusively, protecting privacy and building a positive digital identity.

Words to know

campaign
A planned series of texts in different media that share one message and goal.

multimodal
Using more than one mode (words, images, sound, movement) to communicate.

conventions
The expected features of a form, such as a hook in the first seconds of a video.

techniques
Choices a creator makes for effect, such as camera angle, music, colour or font.

intended audience
The people a text is designed for.

unintended audience
Other people who end up seeing a text, who might read it differently.

design process
A cycle of steps for solving problems: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test and refine.

digital identity
The picture of who you are that others form from what you post and do online.

Remember from Grade 7

In Grade 7 you created PSAs, podcast segments and social media posts, chose media techniques for effect, used a design process, and created media responsibly: getting permission, protecting privacy, adding alt text and crediting creators (including Creative Commons).

In Grade 8 you'll design a whole campaign: one message carried across several media, each using its own conventions. You'll also plan for unintended audiences and think about your digital identity as a creator.

The design process for a real problem

Empathize: talk to the people affected. What do they experience?
Define: write a clear problem statement.
Ideate: brainstorm many solutions. Wild ideas are welcome at first.
Prototype: make quick, rough versions: sketches, a storyboard, a test recording.
Test: show the prototypes to people from your audience and listen.
Refine: improve, then test again if you can.

One message, many forms

A campaign keeps one message and one look (colours, logo, slogan) so people recognize it everywhere, but adapts to each form's conventions.

The six-step design process. The dashed arrow shows that refining often sends you back to test again.

A campaign: one message adapted to several media.

Worked example

Let's design a campaign with the design process

Problem area: a lot of food is thrown out at lunch at a pretend school, Maple Ridge.

Empathize: the student team weighs the lunch-room garbage for a week (about 4 kg of food a day, a pretend figure) and talks to students and lunch supervisors. Students say: I get a full serving at the hot-lunch table and can't finish it. I don't have time to eat because recess starts.
Define: Students at Maple Ridge throw away about 4 kg of food a day because portions don't match appetites and lunch feels rushed.
Ideate: a "small or regular" choice at the hot-lunch table; a share table for unopened items; a 5-minute quiet-eating time before recess; a campaign to explain these changes.
Prototype: a poster sketch, a storyboard for a 30-second video, and a script for a morning announcement, all with the slogan Take What You'll Eat.
Test: show prototypes to 10 students and two lunch supervisors. Feedback: the first poster showed a pile of wasted food that one student said made me feel bad about my own lunch.
Refine: switch to a positive image: a student choosing a small portion and the share table, with the result: Less waste, more time to eat.

A campaign grounded in real people's experiences, tested, and changed because of feedback. The solution is the changes to lunch; the media campaign helps people use them.

Form	Conventions to use	How Take What You'll Eat adapts
Poster	Big headline, one strong image, few words, read in 3 seconds	Slogan, a photo of the share table (no faces without permission), Start: Monday
30-second video	Hook in the first 3 seconds, captions, one message, call to action, end card	Opens on a full tray going in the bin, then shows the new choices; captions; ends with the slogan
Morning announcement	Spoken only; short sentences; repeat the key line; under 45 seconds	Small or regular: you choose. Take what you'll eat. said twice
School web post	Headline, short paragraphs, image with alt text, link for more	Explains the changes for families, in plain language

Adapting one message to the conventions of four forms.

Time	Visuals	Audio and captions
0 to 3 s	Close-up: a nearly full lunch tray tipping toward a bin	Sound of the bin lid. Caption: 4 kg a day.
3 to 12 s	A student at the hot-lunch table points to the small portion	Narrator: Not that hungry? Choose small.
12 to 20 s	Hands placing an unopened yogurt on the share table	Narrator: Didn't open it? Share it.
20 to 26 s	Students eating calmly; a clock shows 5 minutes of quiet eating	Soft music. Narrator: More time to eat.
26 to 30 s	End card: slogan, school logo	Narrator: Take what you'll eat.

Storyboard for the 30-second video. Shots only show hands and backs unless students and families have given permission.

Intended and unintended audiences

The intended audience is students. But families will see the web post, lunch supervisors will see the posters, and a video posted publicly could be seen by anyone. Ask: Who else will see this, and how might they read it?

A student whose family relies on a food program might feel judged by images of wasted food. That's one reason the team switched to a positive image.
Cafeteria staff might feel blamed for portion sizes. The team asks them for ideas and thanks them in the web post.
Families who speak other languages at home: with help from students and staff who are fluent, the team makes versions of the poster in the languages most spoken at the school, rather than relying only on machine translation, which can get meaning or tone wrong.

Create safely and build a positive digital identity

Permission: get written permission (from the person and a parent or guardian) before filming or posting anyone's face, voice or name.
Privacy: don't show addresses, schedules, school uniforms with names, or anything that reveals where someone will be.
Settings: post through school-approved accounts, not personal ones, and check who can see and comment.
Respectful collaboration: in shared documents, comment on ideas, not people (This shot might be hard to read; could we add a caption?).
Digital identity: everything you create and post becomes part of how others see you. A thoughtful, credited, kind campaign is something you'll be proud of later.

Just for fun

Imagine a campaign with fifteen slogans: Take what you'll eat! Also recycle! Also push in your chair! Also return library books! By slogan four, everyone has wandered off to recess. One message wins.

Hands-on activity

Prototype a home campaign

You need: paper, coloured pencils or markers, a phone or tablet with a camera (with a grown-up's permission), and household members to test with.

Empathize: find a small problem at home (lights left on, recycling in the wrong bin, boots piled at the door). Ask each household member about it.
Define the problem in one sentence and choose a slogan.
Prototype two forms: a poster sketch and a 15-second video storyboard (or a 20-second spoken announcement for dinner time).
Test: show them to your household. Ask: What's the message? Would this make you change anything? Did anything feel unfair?
Refine one thing based on feedback, then make the final poster.
Write two sentences: Who is my intended audience? Who else might see this, and how did I plan for them?

Safety: film only people who agree, and don't post anything online without a grown-up's permission.

Your turn

What is a media campaign?

Name the six steps of the design process in this lesson.

Give one convention of a 30-second video and one of a poster.

What is an unintended audience? Give an example from the lesson.

Why did the team change the poster image?

Whose permission do you need before posting a video of a classmate?

What is your digital identity?

More practice: warm-up

What does multimodal mean?

What is a prototype?

Why does a campaign repeat the same slogan and colours?

Name one thing you shouldn't show in a video posted online.

What should a comment in a shared document focus on?

More practice: on your own

Write a 15-second morning announcement script for Take What You'll Eat.

Adapt the campaign message into alt text for the poster image.

A team's video for a recycling campaign jokes that people who don't recycle are "lazy slobs." Explain how unintended audiences might respond, and suggest a fix.

Explain how testing prototypes is different from just asking Do you like it?

Why might a translation by a fluent speaker be better than machine translation alone for a campaign poster?

Challenge

Use the design process to propose a campaign for a real problem in your community (for example, dog waste on sidewalks after snowmelt). Write one sentence for each step.

Choose a form not used in the lesson (for example, a podcast episode, a short comic or a sticker) and explain how Take What You'll Eat would adapt to its conventions.

Explain how the same campaign video could build a positive or a negative digital identity for its creators, depending on choices they make.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What keeps a media campaign recognizable across forms?

In the design process, what comes right after prototype?

Which is a convention of a short video?

Which is an unintended audience for a school lunch campaign aimed at students?

Before posting a video showing a classmate's face, you need…

Why change an image of wasted food to a positive image?

For parents and teachers

Big ideas (D2.1, D3.1, A2): Grade 8 students create media texts with appropriate techniques and tools. Strand A asks them to use digital and media tools in a design process to propose innovative solutions to real-world problems (A2.6), evaluate forms, conventions and techniques (A2.4), explain how a text's form, message and context relate to intended and unintended audiences (A2.5), manage online privacy and safety (A2.2), build a positive digital identity (A2.1), and collaborate respectfully and inclusively with diverse communities (A2.7).

How to help at home:

Be a test audience. Give honest, specific feedback.
Look at a real campaign together (a public health or safety campaign) and find the same message in different forms.
Discuss what is and isn't okay to post, and use family-approved accounts only.

Common difficulties:

Treating the campaign as the whole solution. Good campaigns support real changes.
Too many messages in one text.
Forgetting permission and privacy when filming friends.

The school, weights and campaign are pretend examples.