jarlinwu

[jarlinwu]

Final Reflections: What I Learned Through This Project

Looking back on this project, I realize how much I’ve learned about communicating ideas through different forms of media. Starting with posters allowed me to focus on visual design and simplicity, while the video project helped me develop skills in scripting, voiceover recording, and video editing.

One key lesson was the importance of balancing creativity with clarity. It’s easy to overcomplicate visuals or scripts, but simplicity often has a stronger impact. For the video, I made the decision not to add background music to keep the focus entirely on the narration and visuals. This choice helped maintain a clean and direct presentation style, which worked well for the serious topic.

If I were to do this project again, I would allow more time for recording and editing, as these phases took longer than expected. Overall, I’m proud of the final products and feel more confident in my ability to deliver professional, well-organized media projects.

[jarlinwu]

Voiceover and Video Editing: Bringing It All Together

Recording the voiceover was one of the more technical parts of the project. I used Canva’s built-in recording tool, which made it convenient to match my narration to each slide. I aimed for a clear, steady tone throughout the video, ensuring that the voiceover was easy to follow and matched the timing of the visuals.

Editing the video focused on setting the correct duration for each slide and syncing the voiceover smoothly. I paid special attention to pacing so that the information was not rushed or too slow. Since I decided not to add background music, I made sure the voiceover carried the flow of the video on its own. This choice helped maintain focus on the content without any distractions.

This phase of the project taught me a lot about basic video production and the importance of clear audio delivery. It also showed me how small adjustments in timing and narration style can make a big difference in how professional the final product feels.

[jarlinwu]

Scripting the Video: Turning Ideas into Storyboards

Once the posters were finalized, I began planning the structure of the video. My objective was to turn the same key ideas into a cohesive narrative. I started by writing a script that outlined the problem of declining birth rates, introduced three policy solutions, and included real-world examples from countries like Sweden and France.

The biggest challenge was condensing the information into short, clear paragraphs that would fit within a 5-minute video. I created a basic storyboard, mapping each section of the script to specific visuals or poster images. Canva proved to be a helpful tool for this stage, allowing me to organize slides, visuals, and timing easily. Overall, scripting helped me shape the flow of the video and maintain a balance between informative content and visual simplicity.

[jarlinwu]

Finalising Poster Designs

Finalising Poster Designs: From Concept to Completion

As I approached the final stages of my poster design, I focused on refining the visuals to ensure clarity and impact. The goal was to communicate policy ideas around increasing birth rates in a way that was simple yet persuasive. I chose a minimalistic design style, using neutral tones and bold sans-serif fonts to keep the posters clean and professional. Each poster highlighted a single policy solution, such as paid parental leave or childcare subsidies, ensuring that the message remained clear and uncluttered.

One of the challenges was simplifying complex social issues without losing meaning. I experimented with different layouts, color combinations, and text hierarchies before settling on the final designs. I avoided overwhelming viewers with too much information and instead focused on creating a strong focal point in each poster. Overall, this process helped me better understand the balance between creativity and communication in visual design.

[jarlinwu]

Final Reflection – Lessons from the Population Crisis Project

✅ What Worked

Tone Exploration

Poster 1 (Shock): Used raw data (like "0.78") to jolt viewers.

Poster 2 (Emotion): Highlighted personal struggles (e.g., "68% face discrimination").

Poster 3 (Solutions): Stole policies from Sweden/France to show it’s fixable.

Research → Design

Turned dry UN stats into visual punches (e.g., crashing fertility rate chart).

Cited real policies (480-day leave, free preschools) to ground solutions in reality.

Feedback Loop

Classmates hated my first "corporate-looking" drafts → pivoted to bold, confrontational style.

Prof. Lee said "Add QR codes" → now they link to petitions.

❗ Challenges

Visual Clarity

Early drafts were too crowded (e.g., tiny footnotes). Final versions used:

One big number (Poster 1)

Two stats max per section (Poster 2)

Green checkmarks for solutions (Poster 3)

Tone Balance

Poster 2 almost felt too angry → added dark humor ("Same but not equal").

Poster 3 risked being preachy → framed policies as "Why not us?" instead of "You’re failing."

🌱 What I’ve Learned

Design Serves the Message

Aesthetic choices (like red for crisis, green for hope) must amplify the content.

Test Early, Fail Fast

My worst designs (e.g., Comic Sans draft) taught me the most.

Media as a Megaphone

Seeing strangers argue about my posters proved: good design sparks action.

Final Thought

"This wasn’t just about posters—it was about learning to make ideas unignorable ."

[jarlinwu]

The process of how I made the 3 posters

The first poster

"Spent 4 hours staring at fertility rate data. Four. Hours. Then I realized: nobody cares about spreadsheets. They care about panic-inducing numbers in their face.

The Process:

First Try: Made a fancy infographic. Looked like a boring textbook.

Breakdown: Deleted everything. Just typed "0.78" in giant red letters.

Final: Added the year-by-year crash (1990 → 2022) like a horror movie countdown.

The second Poster

"Made Poster 2 after seeing another news story about moms getting fired. Spoiler: I rage-designed this one in one night."

The Ugly Process:

First Try: Pretty infographic about gender pay gaps.

Problem: Looked like a corporate diversity pamphlet.

Breakdown Moment:

Screenshotted a real "Promotion Denied After Maternity Leave" Reddit post.

Made it the entire background.

Final Version:

Overlaid your "68% face discrimination" stat in brutal white text.

Added the $1.8M childcare cost like a punchline.

The last poster

"Poster 3 was just me stealing from smarter countries and pretending it’s my idea."

The Shameless Process:

First Try: Wrote a balanced "pros/cons" list of policies.

Problem: Boring as hell.

Breakthrough:

Googled "countries that fixed birth rates" → Sweden/France/Germany kept popping up.

Copy-pasted their policies verbatim. No shame.

Final Version:

Big green "✓" stamps on what works.

Tiny "Why Aren’t We Doing This??" at the bottom.

[jarlinwu]

Media output: 3 posters

Poster 1

Poster 2

Poster 3

The Next blog, I will talk about how I made them!

[jarlinwu]

Case studies

Case 1: Japan’s "Childless Society" Crisis

Case 2: The Birth Gap" Podcast

[jarlinwu]

Global population crisis due to aging population and shifting societal structure.

WHY THIS ISN'T JUST ABOUT BIRTH RATES

1. Economic Timebomb

Italy spends 16% of GDP on pensions (OECD 2023)

Empty factory in Turni

2. Demographics and disease structures have a great influence on medical service delivery systems and their finances

Japan has a rapidly aging population, with those aged 65 or over accounting for 27.4% of the population. Total Fertility Rate was 1.44 in 2016 and these combined factors, fertility rate and aging population, have seen the total population fall since 2006.

Consequently, there is an increase in users of social and health services and a decrease in tax payers. This requires the Japanese government to reorganize its social security system.

3. Cultural Shift

AgingWorld #DemographicCrisis #EconomicCollapse

[jarlinwu]

Japan has the world’s most rapidly declining population. Last year less than 800,000 babies were born, resulting in a rapid decline that experts hadn’t predicted until 2030.

[jarlinwu]

Low birth rate is one of the reasons lead to Population crisis.

[jarlinwu]

"Why We’re Investigating Population Collapse"

How does Japan’s "super-aged society" foreshadow our future?

Can automation replace shrinking workforces?

Why are millennials choosing pets over children?

DemographicCrisis #UniversityProject #MediaStudies

[jarlinwu]

Topic chosen: Vanishing Generations – The Global Population Decline Crisis

Hi, folks. Hope you guys doing great!

Here is a mind map of my chosen topic:

[jarlinwu]

Topics Brainstorm for Media220 project

Discrimination based on Gender

Sexual Harrassment in workplace

The Population Shrinks

Stress of University students

Climate Change affect on Earth ecosystem

The irregular eating and sleeping patterns of teenagers