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Natural Sunscreen Saves Coral Reefs
Project Title:
Natural Sunscreen Saves Coral Reefs
Duration:
14 weeks
Problem:
Build and design a project of your choice that has a problem that needs to be solved
Solution:
The project educates the audience on how commercial sunscreen is bad for the environment and for our skin, and provides alternatives that are more natural and reef safe. For this project I did research on the importance of coral reefs and why we should be using natural sunscreen instead. I designed mock ups of social media posts for Instagram and Facebook that provided information on alternatives for commercial sunscreen and why it is bad for the environment and our health. I also edited a video that provides the same information in a slideshow format with music and photos. I added in a voiceover as well so that the audience would not have to read the screen. The idea is to have the video be shown to people before they enter the water. It can be shown on boating or snorkeling tours, and even at marine parks or coral reef national parks.
Research:
All of my research is from secondary resources. I did research on the side effects of commercial sunscreen and why it is bad, what the natural alternatives are, what natural sunscreen is and how it works, why we should use it, how commercial sunscreen affects marine life and coral reefs, why coral reefs are important, how natural sunscreens helps preserve reefs and marine ecosystems, which places are populated with coral reefs, and why skin cancer is bad. There are natural alternatives to sunscreen such as different types of oils and sunscreens that are more safe towards the environment and more effective at protecting the skin. I want to educate people on the dangers of using commercial sunscreens over a more natural sunscreen since some of the commercial drugstore sunscreen actually increases the chance of cancer. We still do need some of the sun for its
source of Vitamin D and some commercial sunscreens block all that sunlight.
Challenges:
I had difficulty with deciding exactly what I was going to do research on. There are several negative effects caused by commercial sunscreen. I needed to narrow it down to one since focusing on all would be too big of a project. I also was not sure who the target audience was in the beginning so I needed to do some research to find out who I was targeting my informational video and social media posts towards. In the end I decided to focus on how commercial sunscreen affects coral reefs and why natural sunscreen is a better alternative. I also found out that the target audience is people who go to the beach frequently and spend a lot of time in the sun.
Learnings:
I learned that building a project from scratch is hard work. When you do it on your own with little guidance you have to stay on top of it and pay attention to deadlines. I found that I have good time
management skills and am pretty good at getting things done on time since I like to use calendars and I like to schedule my time. I have also learned that narrowing down your research to a specific topic is necessary since at times it can be an information overload. When you only have one topic to focus on then it becomes easier to create smaller projects such as posters and videos that relate to it and it makes it easier for you to explain and show it. I have also gained more experience using Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Premiere Pro since I had to use these programs to design my poster, social media mock ups and informational video. Overall I have learned that I can use my design skills to support causes that I believe in. I have the skills to create a poster or edit a video that if seen by the right audience, can make a difference in the world.
Natural Sunscreen Saves Coral Reefs
