OUGD501 / STUDY TASK 06

Market Research

What do you want to know?

Questionnaires

Can establish the needs of the target audience or assess the effectiveness of design work. 

• population/sample
• concise title 
• easy to understand questions
• open or closed questions
• multiple choice
• consider hypothesis
• honest answers
• general to particular
• factual to abstract
• leave demographic and personal questions until last. 

Focus Groups

Small group of people engaged in conversation about a certain research topic

• population 
• sample 
• size
• nature of the questions

Group conversation can influence other members 

Can’t generalise data if it is a small sample 

Interviews

In depth and focused discussion with members of the target audience or professionals, builds a rapport, pre-defined and impromptu questions, qualitative not quantitative. 

User / Audience testing

In order to assess the effectiveness of your design work it may be pertinent to test your work on members of the specified target market.

Consider testing perception readability, aesthetic appreciation, perception of quality etc.

Ethics

Ethical considerations should be made when dealing with members of the public especially if the topic is ‘sensitive’. Should data be kept anonymous? Should participants be made aware of the research focus? Should participants have the right to withdraw?

OUGD501 / STUDY TASK 03 / ESTABLISHING RESEARCH QUESTION

Suggested research question?

Themed around the inequality between the social classes, the roles of the bourgeoisie/proletariat, the different ways brands/advertisements are marketed towards the separate classes.

Which of the module resources does the question relate to?

Branding, advertising, new media resources relate back to my question.

Which academic sources are available on the topic?
D'amato, P, 2006, The Meaning of Marxism.

Packard, V, The Hidden Persuaders 1957

Berger, J (1973). Ways Of Seeing. Penguin Books. p45-64.

How could the research question be investigated through practice? 

Perhaps through a form of advertisement; either branding identity or a poster series. Rebranding a company/brand to appeal to the complete opposite social class, investigating why certain brands use different methods to appeal to specific classes. Looking into the way publications are designed to cater to various classes.

Peer Feedback: How could this be refined/developed?

A good concept, however in order to be more specific, it would be beneficial to determine a particular focus point such as a definite category/product for example a product that has differentiating advertisements depending on the class it is directed at, or the store it originates from; e.g Waitrose compared to Aldi. 

OUGD504 / STUDY TASK 02

By general definition a parody is a derisive imitation whereas pastiche is a complimentary emulation of visual art, literature, theatre or music. 

Hutcheon suggests that a parody reinstates a dialogue with the past, working towards a public discourse that will overtly shun modernist aestheticism/hermeticism. Hutcheon rejects patently critical authors and would suggest that they are unfair. In the way Hutcheon writes, she is clearly positive about parody. "The past as referent is not bracketed or effaced, as Jameson would like to believe: it is incorporated and modified, given new and different life and meaning." Hutcheon, L, 1989, The Politics of Postmodernism: Parody and History, Page 182.

Linguistically speaking Jameson’s tone of voice is formal, executed by alienating lexis and semantics. According to Jameson, pastiche, like parody, is the imitation of a peculiar or unique idiosyncratic style. As Jameson is a Marxist, he is obviously critical of pastiche as an author. "The producers of culture have nowhere to turn but to the past: the imitation of dead styles, speech through all the masks and voices stored up in the imaginary museum of a now global culture." Jameson, F, 1991, Postmodernism, or, The Culture Logic of Late Capitalism, Page 17-18. 

An example of these definitions in a design slant is Stranger & Stranger’s work. It is reminiscent of victorianesque wood cut, also exercising Americana style art and partly mythological. These features are a display of cultural appropriation; symptomatic of what Jameson refers to as pastiche; self conscious appropriation of symbols and signs embedded in a culture in order to be aesthetically pleasing. 

OUGD401 | EVALUATION

For me personally, I would say this module has been the most challenging for me. As a person who is more inclined towards the creative side of graphic design, I knew I would find it difficult to excel as much in the academic side. Although I have had experience with essay writing from doing Sociology and English at A Level, these skills had not been exercised in months over Summer before coming to Leeds College of Art. If I'm honest, I did not engage with Context of Practice as much as I have with Studio Practice for example. This is simply because it is much more of a formal, academic module. For me, my interest in this module arrived a little too late when I really delved into it. At the beginning I am not pleased to say that although I did try and keep up to date, Context of Practice was brushed under the rug too much. This is definitely something to work on for next year as I have especially learned this does not do any good and it is just as important as the other modules.

Writing an essay initially was challenging and it did take me a while to get into it, however as I went along I became increasingly more interested in what I was writing which proved useful and beneficial. I chose the gender question for this module as I am very interested in gender issues and inequality, and I am very passionate about feminism. The passion I had for this topic allowed me to have a quite specific writing style, according to some peers who read over my written piece to give me feedback. I had never used Harvard referencing before this brief so it was tricky to get used to using. I feel overall I produced a good essay that gave me an in depth understanding of the Gaze theory. I think I put forward some good points that later linked well to my practical work.

The practical side of this module was probably a lot more enjoyable for me. It was fun yet difficult and challenging. It did take me a while to decide on a firm idea that linked back to my essay however I do think that what I produced had a strong message that was an appropriate response to the themes in my written piece. It would have been beneficial to try and go down a few more different avenues with this and experimented with various ideas digitally, but I feel pleased with what I produced.

 I feel Context of Practice has helped me academically and analytically, as previously I would not go as in depth with analysis. I now feel a lot more confident with this and I feel I have developed a lot as a designer along the way.

OUGD401 | BODY OF WORK | RATIONALE

For my body of practical work, I decided to design a set of 3 posters, each sustaining the same style, but each poster being different; therefore they can work together or separately. The focus here was the way women's bodies are able to freely be sexualised and plastered on the front of a magazine or all over the internet, yet rejected when the nudity is not in a sexual manner. I wanted to engage with both sexes for this campaign, and challenge the stance on female nudity. These posters felt very relevant to me as they link very appropriately to my essay as I have discussed in depth the double standards we face in our society. 

I wanted to avoid the over-done "#freethenipple" vibe and try and create something that has more meaning and conveys the message to my audience. That message is simple; women should not have to be shunned away whilst breastfeeding their children, or it deemed 'inappropriate' in public when there are countless companies making solid cash from the female form. 

I created a text only poster which contains the raw quote from Violet Rose:

“It is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine of a woman without her top on at any 7-11 store. So, you can sell breasts, but you cannot wear breasts, in America.”

I chose to work with Helvetica for all these posters as this font is iconically used in American Apparel's branding, a company which uses highly sexualised imagery for selling their products.

I wanted to use two images, one of a high fashion model who is topless, representing that women are there to be gazed at for male enjoyment and to sell a product, the second image being a woman in a very maternal position feeding her child. The message in each of my posters is that the female body is not just for sale. As I am fairly liberal on female nudity and enjoying the female form, I feel that in some cases it can benefit women, not all cases. I did not want to discredit the line of work that some women choose, but encourage the idea that breasts should be viewed and appreciated for their maternal purpose also. I chose the phrase "#notjustforsale" to convey that nudity for pleasure is not the sole purpose of breasts.

OUGD401 | BODY OF WORK | FINAL PIECES

My first piece is a n image and type poster. I wanted to use a provocative image of a high fashion model, baring her breasts. This image would typically be used for selling products such as clothing or perfume, or could reinforce the male gaze theory as I have elaborated on in my essay, being solely for viewing pleasure. I scribbled out the model's eyes in order to convey the way women can be dehumanized in the advertising world;  in other words, their bodies being the main focus. Scribbles and hand rendered elements also match my style of working.

I found the tagline "can you believe there are legal nipples and there are illegal nipples" on pinterest and found it very powerful as it confirms that female nudity is only accepted when it is in a sexual nature. You cannot walk down the street topless as a male can, yet anyone can walk into a store and buy a Nuts magazine without a thought. 

As I am fairly liberal on female nudity and enjoying the female form, I feel that in some cases it can benefit women, not all cases. I did not want to discredit the line of work that some women choose, but encourage the idea that breasts should be viewed and appreciated for their maternal purpose also. I chose the phrase "#notjustforsale" to convey that nudity for pleasure is not the sole purpose of breasts.

 For this poster I kept it strictly type, I wanted all the focus to be on the impactful quote I found by Violet Rose. The quote supports a lot of what I included in my article, being that women's breasts are there for the enjoyment of males, for example as John Berger's concept of the Gaze theory. The notion that the female breast is for babies is not what they are predominantly viewed as in our society today, because of the sexualisation of the female body. I worked with Helvetica as I spoke about the methods of advertising American Apparel use to sell their clothing in my essay, and felt it was relevant and appropriate for my posters. It is also very legible and neat.

Finally this is my poster depicting a woman breastfeeding, which as I spoke about previously is literally the purpose of having breasts. I wanted to use an image of a woman in a very maternal pose to promote the idea of breasts being non-sexual objects too. "That's their purpose" seemed the only suitable tagline for this poster, simple, powerful and to the point.

OUGD401 | BODY OF WORK | DEVELOPMENT

These are the first rough designs I came up with for my body of work. I chose to obstruct their eyes in order to reflect the dehumanization directed at females in our society. I added a pink tone as that is the colour that has been shoved onto us from assigned gender stereotypes.

I also tried these designs in black and white as the pink colour could be seen as too much on the eye and these are more neutral. I also wanted to start experimenting with text. Helvetica seemed to be the most appropriate choice for this work as I have discussed American Apparel and their advertising strategies in my essay. American Apparel use this typeface for all of their branding.

The quote "you can sell breasts but not wear breasts" is taken from a powerful statement by Violet Rose. This quote sums up what I was attempting to explain in my essay and I feel it concisely articulates the exact message I want to communicate.

I then tried the same message with a different image which I felt added more of a context - that breasts seem to be acceptable only when they are a sexual object. Breastfeeding in public from what I have gathered is quite unacceptable and is not encouraged, rather, women sometimes have to resort to a toilet or private area to perform a natural act, and I felt as though I wanted to create a campaign that challenges these norms.

This poster features the whole quote from Violet Rose. I wanted to include it all as I feel it is an excellent statement, and previously I have shortened it in my other designs. Since this has no imagery, the audience is able to connect with what the message is communicating without any distractions. The plain white/black backgrounds represent some form of 'silence' as it is such a powerful quote, and give a lot of negative space.

These images then pair the whole quote with the imagery I have used previously. I chose to use the quote to obstruct the breasts but allow the audience to see that she is topless. I felt this went well with my message of concealing women however doing this also conflicts with my ideology as I am trying to say that women should not have to hide their bodies. 

These last three designs also link back to the advertisement for American Apparel - "Made in Bangladesh" as I have put text over the breasts in the same fashion. However I did not want to create the same semantics, yet just use the technique to communicate my own message.

I now have a solid development for my body of work and plan to create 3 posters each conveying this same message, that will work as a campaign. I aim to have these posters work as a set or even individually. 

OUGD401 | RESEARCH

 

This image caused a lot of controversy when it was released by American Apparel. This woman is called Maks, a former muslim model. As traditional muslims may find the content of this advertisement as it links this topless model to a location which Islam is a dominant religion and frowns upon nudity. On the other hand some women may find this image over sexualised, and some may find it liberating. Either way, I will be taking some inspiration from it for my own design work.

These images really do correspond with the themes I was discussing in my essay. The women are shunned away in a toilet cubical to feed their children because of the way breastfeeding in public is viewed. They are effective because of the way they create the dismal tone, almost dirty - not somewhere where you would want to be feeding your baby. The taglines "bon appitite", "table for two" and "private dining" relate to eating and are associated with clean, quality restaurants which is not the case here. Overall they are very effective and get the message across clearly.

This piece of work is not an advertisement however I found it on pinterest when searching on the Feminist tag and found it very interesting. This quote basically sums up my essay. There are in fact legal and illegal nipples! You can walk into any store and purchase a pornographic magazine, yet you cannot walk down the street topless. Of course this is all to do with years of hypersexualisation and viewing breasts as a sexual organ when that simply isn't their original purpose. I will easily be able to include something similar to this in my body of work as I feel it is extremely relevant and concise.

OUGD401 | BODY OF WORK | SKETCHES

These are some really rough sketches that I began to do to get a basic feel of what I wanted to create once I started designing. 

The main message I was trying to communicate was the fact that female nudity is consumed and sold, yet you cannot just walk down the street without a top on as a male could.

I think these ideas could be better developed when I start designing, as it is hard to draw the exact way you want something to look when it is finished.

OUGD401 | PRIMARY RESEARCH

I constructed this piece of research to see if people could tell the difference between a male or a female nipple. I put one image of a male (left) nipple and one image of a female (right) and asked people in the class to put a letter "M" or "F" underneath which they thought it was.

My research showed what I expected, that when it comes down to it, it is questionable on the sex of the person from their nipple. This proves that male nipples and female nipples aren't very different from each other. If males can walk around with their nipples out why can't females? 

This research links back to themes in my essay as it is ultimately due to the sexualisation that women have been subjected to in society, in that a normal nipple is rejected and shunned unless it's presence is wanted. e.g in pornographic material.

OUGD401 | RESEARCH | CAMPAIGNS

I began to research into some feminist campaigns that I felt I could gather some inspiration from. These were more general campaigns for gender equality.

This is an ad by the Guerrilla Girls which provides statistics about female artists. I have referenced this campaign in my own essay as I feel it conveys a very important message - that women are only appreciated for their naked form and not their artistic skill. The bright colours used for this ad work very well to grab attention, the entire style of the Guerrilla girls is very 'in your face' which I think is a big positive. 

 I did some research into the HeForShe campaign which was quite popular recently as Emma Watson had done some influential speeches for the cause. HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality that brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of humanity, for the benefit of all. In design terms, I feel the campaign has been designed brilliantly. Combining black with pink, a colour that has been stereotypically associated with females not only looks great but has a good concept. The main aim for the campaign is to persuade males to be more involved with feminism. I'm unsure how successful this is in terms of addressing actual issues men face in terms of sexism, but the way it has been designed is strong and I will be able to take a lot of inspiration from it for my own campaign when I begin designing. 

 These adverts had a very strong reception when they hit social media. They depict a woman with an auto complete bar from a search engine across their mouths, which is powerful as I believe this represents the silence some females across the globe face. The content in the search bar is shocking, and is designed to raise awareness for the problems women still face, politically, socially and economically. These adverts work as they are extremely powerful and shocking to some who may not be as aware of the gender inequalities that exist. The focus on just the women's faces is very unnerving and effective, and also the way this campaign has included women of all ethnicity.

OUGD401 | BODY OF WORK | CRIT

The practical side of this module is to design a body of work that links back to our essay effectively, and today we had a crit on this to explain our ideas and directions we would be taking this. 
Since I have chosen the Gender/advertising question for this module I must create some form of campaign or advertisement that will be relevant to my essay. Coming into the crit I only had a few ideas and it was quite useful to gather some other opinions from the rest of my group. Since my essay is about the sexualisation of females in our society, I wanted to create an ad/campaign that would communicate the message, and I mainly wanted to focus on breasts. 
After the crit I felt more clear and directed in the way I wanted to complete this body of work however I still hadn't decided firmly on a set idea.

OUGD401 | STUDY TASK 6 | HOW TO WRITE CORRECTLY

For this study task we must take at least 2 dissertations from upstairs in the library and observe the form, punctuation, grammar, tone-of-voice, referencing, vocabulary. In performing this task we will be able to explore different writing styles, and although each dissertation will not be perfect, it will be beneficial when writing our own piece.

I chose two dissertations that were relevant to my own Context of Practice essay; relating to gender.

The first was by Ceara Elliot, titled "The function of female representation in British World War One and Two propaganda" (2011/12). The introduction is immediately very clear, demonstrating use of declarative structures and modal verbs e.g "I will". This sets a formal discourse for the piece from the beginning. The introduction is separated into paragraphs describing what will be discussed in each chapter, showing organization.

Each chapter also begins with a selection of declarative sentences, sustaining the formal tone and organization. Throughout the dissertation the use of references are lengthy but seem essential in order to support findings. They seem to be referenced relatively well.

The grammar and punctuation used does successfully convey a formal discourse, as there are no use of contractions within the chapters which would demonstrate a conversational discourse, which could be interpreted as informal. In my opinion, a dissertation should possibly maintain a formal tone throughout. 

The second dissertation I picked out was by Claudia Griffin, titled "Can women's magazines, focusin on Cosmopolitan (UK edition), ever be considered feminist?" (2012/13) This dissertation caught my eye as it contains some similar themes to my own Context of Practice essay. 

The introduction is interesting and challenges the subjectivity of feminism, suggesting that there could be different types of feminism as apparently it does not have an objective meaning. I am unsure if I agree with what is said in the introduction, but using different points of views and opinions is a successful method to draw a reader in. Again, like the first piece I explored, there are clear use of declaratives which establish the correct formal tone.

The referencing is short and to the point throughout the dissertation. It stays relevant to the subject whilst not being too long, as perhaps the first piece was. Each reference seems to be labelled correctly and supports her evidence and findings. It adds depth to the piece.

The three things I have learned from observing other dissertations is to always use a formal discourse, as this is something that can sometimes accidentally slip. It is important that the dissertation remains in a formal tone, in order to be consistent. I have also learned that the introduction is a vital part of the dissertation. It is extremely important to structure it correctly and introduce different sentence structures to convey a 'matter-of-fact' tone of voice. I have finally learned that research plays a huge role in the quality of a written piece, without any material to back up your findings, it could be said to make the entire piece weak. A strong dissertation is filled with references and research that can successfully support your own words.

OUGD401 | STUDY TASK 5 | PRACTICE BASED RESEARCH

TECHNIQUE 

Photography/Illustration:
Although illustration has obviously been used in advertising, photography is more likely to be used for modern day advertisements. Images are more likely to be manipulated in order to make the target audience feel a certain way. Photoshop is often a main technique within advertising in order to 'improve' flaws and set a certain standard of beauty etc.


CONTENT 

Advertisements obviously feature the products heavily but will often use men/women/beings as objects in order to sell and promote said products. When there is products involved they are usually central in terms of layout, and the main focus.

Perhaps this is not as relevant in our society today, colours in advertising would advocate gender stereotypes and roles such as toys for girls being predominantly pink and the boys toys being much darker colours along with blues, with much different themes. For example Barbie for girls and Action Man for boys. As previously stated this is still the case but now there are much more gender neutral toys for children and as the target audience becomes older, these colours seem to become more irrelevant.

COMMUNICATION

Perfume advertisements are possibly aimed at higher class individuals as they look more indulgent and expensive.

In contrast, most supermarket brands pursue more lower class people, usually mothers by adding conversational discourse and quite often featuring 'mums' that others similar can relate to. For example the Iceland advertisement's slogan; "That's why mums go to Iceland."

Advertisements like John Lewis create different feelings to those previously mentioned, the Christmas ads are very well known for provoking heart warming emotions.



RESEARCH

Feminist protests in general but also more specifically surrounding sexualisation and objectification.

Why magazines such as Nuts magazine exists and is perfectly fine being sold easily to the public, whereas women must conceal breast-feeding and any non-sexual nudity.

Existing campaigns.

Products that have nudity in the advertisements in both a sexual and non-sexual manner.

Other Existing Advertisements.

ANALYSIS

Gain inspiration from said research.

Find out if this difference in nudity is treated in a certain way.

Explore the reasons why this is.

EXPLORATION

Experiment with different mediums, for example will illustration or realistic photography work more successfully for this brief?

This will enable me to decide which works best and create variations.

EVALUATION

Discussions with peers in order to get ideas and improvements, also to find out if this idea will work efficiently.

Talk to people on the street as it could offer a range of different responses that I would not receive in the studio.

Is it effective?

TESTING

See if it works!