The Truth is a campaign designed to stop smoking in teens. To that effect, it appeals mostly to a younger audience, using humor, vine celebrities, and symbols like the straightedge “x,” which can be found at concerts nationwide. Their site, thetruth.com, has an edgy, new-age look to serve this appeal as well.
thetruth.com's facts page
The website itself is mostly black, with the text in neon colors like orange, light green, and light purple. This contrast is used to both make the site visually appealing and to draw the eye to the messages written. The contrast in the text successfully draws the eye despite the graphics surrounding it. The pictures on the site are all also bright or monochromatic, using the contrast to make the readers feel at ease with pictures of bright concerts or celebrities.
The main element emphasized on The Truth’s website is text. They want readers to know the facts about smoking, and they want to draw them away. It’s hard to convey an anti-smoking sentiment, using nothing but pictures. Most of the text on the site is white, but the important chunks are colored with neon purple or green highlights. The fonts they use are also very bold and abrasive, stressing the importance of their message. Another element The Truth emphasizes is involvement. They want the website’s viewers to get involved and spread the word of their cause. All of the pages on the website are tools for user involvement, and there are multiple calls to action throughout the site.
The pages on the website are organized by purpose. The front page, The Latest, is filled with headlines and important pieces that can give the reader an idea of their message in a quick view. The rest of the site is based on taking action, hence the appropriate name of the next page: Take action, which is meant to allow the reader to easily spread their message. Next is The Facts, the purpose of The Truth’s campaign. It’s placed third on the site because the campaign needs readership and involvement to keep them afloat before they can spread their word. The last two pages are Truth Events and About Truth, two pages designated for the more invested readers who want to actively participate in the campaign.
The website’s layout is also important to its appeal. By making the pages little more than scrollable thumbnails, one after the other, it makes the website look sleek and new. Proximity is seemingly ignored in this layout, since the pictures, articles, and words overlap. This both makes the website visually appealing and conveys the message that everything on the site is linked. If you’re involved with one part of The Truth, you’re involved with the entire movement. The overlap also forces the reader’s eye to keep moving, ignoring the end of one article or image, and moving to another. Despite the overlap, though, the site is actually meticulously laid out. Images, articles, messages, and pages are all aligned in two columns and neat rows that call for scrolling.
The main element emphasized on The Truth’s website is text. They want readers to know the facts about smoking, and they want to draw them away. It’s hard to convey an anti-smoking sentiment, using nothing but pictures. Most of the text on the site is white, but the important chunks are colored with neon purple or green highlights. The fonts they use are also very bold and abrasive, stressing the importance of their message. Another element The Truth emphasizes is involvement. They want the website’s viewers to get involved and spread the word of their cause. All of the pages on the website are tools for user involvement, and there are multiple calls to action throughout the site.
The pages on the website are organized by purpose. The front page, The Latest, is filled with headlines and important pieces that can give the reader an idea of their message in a quick view. The rest of the site is based on taking action, hence the appropriate name of the next page: Take action, which is meant to allow the reader to easily spread their message. Next is The Facts, the purpose of The Truth’s campaign. It’s placed third on the site because the campaign needs readership and involvement to keep them afloat before they can spread their word. The last two pages are Truth Events and About Truth, two pages designated for the more invested readers who want to actively participate in the campaign.
The website’s layout is also important to its appeal. By making the pages little more than scrollable thumbnails, one after the other, it makes the website look sleek and new. Proximity is seemingly ignored in this layout, since the pictures, articles, and words overlap. This both makes the website visually appealing and conveys the message that everything on the site is linked. If you’re involved with one part of The Truth, you’re involved with the entire movement. The overlap also forces the reader’s eye to keep moving, ignoring the end of one article or image, and moving to another. Despite the overlap, though, the site is actually meticulously laid out. Images, articles, messages, and pages are all aligned in two columns and neat rows that call for scrolling.