For anyone interested in socially responsive design

I think she's a student at LCC:

http://kateandrews.wordpress.com/

Extract from the website:

DESIGN THINKING:

Communication Design and all of its designers have the ability, intelligence and mindset to make the greatest impact to social challenges. With an enthusiasm for creative intelligence, education and research-led design, this website is heavily influenced by the growing recognition for ethically responsible and socially responsive design. It aims to integrate predictions of our future societies, with design research and observational comment. In conversation with the future of Communication Design, I hope to share my research in an accessible and thought-provoking method, with a critical (yet ever optimistic) outlook.

“For the designer to become a producer, she must have the skills to begin directing content, by critically navigating the social, aesthetic, and technological systems across which communications flow.” (Ellen Lupton, 1998)

Finished

Well done everyone - we got there. Everybody handed in. Now Catherine and I will assess them. The exam board will be on Tuesday afternoon. We'll try and let you know how you got on as soon as possible. Have a nice rest now!

drn

Happiness in Graphic Design - Final version (Doug)

Any comments are welcome (right-click on the link to save):

http://www.mineidoug.com/report/DM_Proposal.pdf

Thanks!

Doug

The Awesome Dossier - Adam Grant [FINAL]

Open publication - Free publishing - More meme

Hand-in of proposals Friday 17th July

Don't forget to hand in your proposal before 1pm today (Friday 17th July).

You can email is to Darren or Catherine directly (try and keep the file size under 5MB) or hand it into Darren who will be in the FdA office till 1pm.

We'd really like a PDF (or other easily open-able format) as well as any physical proposals you may hand in so send one in anyway.

Thanks for all your hard work - Bridging Studies was fun and educational!

You shoudl receive an email after the 21st July with your feedback assessment sheet and your grade. You need to get over 40% to pass Bridging Studies.

Cheerio,

drn

--
Darren Raven
Course Director
FdA & BA(Hons) Design for Graphic Communication
School of Graphic Design
London College of Communication
020 7514 8515
d.raven@lcc.arts.ac.uk

‘An investigation into drawing as a tool in the graphic design process’

Abstract

Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it come into existence.

(Oscar Wilde, 1891)

 

Our experiences, knowledge and imagination directly affect the perception of what we see. Creating and developing a perception of what we have seen is a key role in our learning process.

 

Introduction

This report is about how graphic designers and students in the 21^st century use drawing in the graphic design process. This project shall focus on designers, who have put drawing at the centre of their practice exploring the meaning and purpose of this in their work. Using this knowledge this report strives to inspire  and instruct a new generation of design students to use drawing within their design to enhance their practice.

 

While drawing is a symbolic, expressive tool, some design professionals and students are intimidated from using this fundamental skill in their design.  Mostly, people use skills they are confident with and design towards their strengths. It is common for designers to become reliant on electronical technological advances in graphic design at the expense of drawing as a skill and as an aesthetic tool in the design process. This is ironic when you consider that after observation, drawing is the next fundamental step in the learning process; a process in which all designers began their interest in aesthetics. While it is important to identify ones strengths it is just as vital to develop new skills and tools to enhance our creative thinking. Returning to drawing as an aesthetic tool within design is a way to improve our creative thinking, which can be used as a vehicle to develop new products, new methods of marketing and new projects.

 

This report will identify selected very interesting process studies of well-known designers and artists. The chosen designers who embody their visions to their own or new practices.  This report shall use such studies as a vehicle to improve student’s design practice. Through studying and practicing this appropriate creative skill students will gain a better understanding of this visual language and become motivated and confident enough to use it in their own design practice.

Relevance

The aim of this project is to remit to the thinking tool – drawing in education. This report will look into detail about the characterization of drawings – why and how people draw? , what abilities students should develop? , and what purpose they should be able to identify drawing for? Also it aims to look at methods of research and characterization - How people research? , what tools should be used? , and what is the best way to apply this skill?

 

Initial Plan

To begin with, this report will explain the definition of drawing. As Hazel Harrison claims ‘drawing is a process or learning how to see well’. Following this it is necessary to briefly mention the biological principles of vision; essentially how the human eye focuses on an image or an object.

 

Subsequently, the project will focus more on selected designers and artists who use drawing in their practice. Understanding the explored meanings of expression in their work will be an inspiration for the following steps of this project. The designers and artists are: Paul Klee, Lucienne Day, David Hockney and Claude Heath.

 

Before undertaking any experiments with professionals and students the report will confront and evaluate the research and reconsider the best application to this practice. From there, it will move onto the experiment that will be carried out with students and professionals. This experiment will be based on evaluation of research up to this point into consideration and consequently may be adapted accordingly.

 

In this experiment students will first identify 3 drawings. Secondly they will identify 3 objects. Drawings and objects will be chosen from a selection, which will be provided. The report shall also explain in detail why we perceive these objects and drawings to be relevant in this report. Thirdly they will have to think about an object or an idea that inspires them from those two exercises. They should draw only to express themselves rather than impress an audience. At the end, they will have to complete a survey designed for these tasks. 

 

While the students work I will observe, record and document how they see from different perspectives and how their ideas progress. The purpose of this experimentation is to find out how people use their drawing skills. It also will be very interesting to see their differing applications while they work on the tasks. I will design a short questionnaire to find out their impressions and feelings from the task given.

 

Regarding this point this report will try to answer the following questions:

How designers/students sketch and document ideas?

Are they more familiar with paper based or digital thinking?

What is the best way to see?

How do they approach design problems?

 

Chapter headings

Chapter headings might be changed according to better understanding of the topic. As I research I shall gain a more thorough understanding of my topic and shall adapt my report accordingly.

 

Introduction

An overview of the report’s aim

Definition of drawing

A brief explanation of drawing and its usage

How do we see?

An introduction to biological principles of vision

Methods, research and characterization

Identifying types of methods, research.

Creative thinking?

Application of useful methods inspired by designers and artists

Strategy for experiment and analysis

An outlining of my plan for my experiment and its results

How drawing is useful for designers?

Reconsidering creative thinking usage

Conclusion

A summary and reflection of my report

 

 The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of relevant evidence, suggest possible improvements and areas in which this study could be developed further.

 

Action Plan

In preparation for the report,

·      Gather a lot more information from different resources during the summer holiday.

·      Decide on who I want to interview. Consider how I will arrange these interviews.

·      Choose appropriate drawings and objects for the exercise and justify their selection.

·      Make a plan and time schedule for the experiment.

·      Design a relevant questionnaire.

·      Discuss your ideas with other design students and professionals.

·      Consider how I shall receive feedback from, during my research and write up.

·      Decide on effective strategy.

 

 

Bibliography

Books:

Merleau – Ponty (2002) The world of Perception

Bruno Munari (2000) Design as Art

Kimberly Elam (1980) Geometry of design

Paul Klee (1961) The thinking eye; Volume 1.

Martin Kemp (2006) Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, experiment and design

Bo Bergstrom (2008) Essentials of Visual Communication

Dolf Rieser (1972) Art and Science

Mark Wigan (2006) Thinking Visually

Robin Landa (1998) Thinking creatively

Paul Laseau (2000) Graphic Thinking for Architects & Designers

Charles Darwent; Kate MacFarlane; Katharine Stout and Tania Kovats (2007) The Drawing Book

 

Electronic resources:

http://visualthinkingart.blogspot.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_language#Gestalt_psychology (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.drawing.org.uk/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://blog.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/vision_background.php (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20of%20art/wildetext.htm (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://idratherbewriting.com/2009/05/19/drawing-as-a-tool-for-thinking/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/oct/01/schools.artsfeatures (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/sep/30/artsinschools.schools (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/may/11/contemporary-art-drawing
(accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Graphic_Design/Drawing (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030420/ai_n12582469/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://depts.washington.edu/dmachine/PAPER/DTRS99-I/intention.html (accessed on 14.07.2009) http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/VisThinkTools/start.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/aad/research/ccdp.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

 

Reports:

P. Schenk (2005) Developing a taxonomy on drawing for design; School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

C. Stones, T. Cassidy (2007) Comparing synthesis strategies of novice graphic designers using digital and traditional design tools; Design Studies Vol 28 No. 1 January (2007)

M. Resnick, B. Myers, K. Nakakoji, B. Shneiderman, R. Pausch, T. Selker, M. Eisenberg (2005) Design Principles for Tools to Support Creative Thinking; October 30, 2005

 

 

           

 

 

 

The Subconcious Consumer (almost there)

Title: The Subconscious Consumer
Target Audience: YouTube users

Aim

This report aims to explore and expose the subject of subliminal and emotional advertising that plays on the consumer’s subconscious (emotional) mind, to affect them to make snap and instinctive decisions without even being aware of them.


Overview
A recent three year, $ 7million neuromarketing study that measured the brain activity of over 2000 volunteers from around the world resulted in many startling findings concerning marketing tactics and to what extent did they work and also revealed that many conventional advertising strategies proved to be expensively ineffective. The many discoveries of this study include the findings that product placement on the TV and in movies are generally useless, sex does not really sell, warning labels on cigarette packs actually causes smokers to smoke more rather than deter them and most importantly, the topic which this report will discuss, subliminal advertising and that it is still being used today. The study done by New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling author and marketing guru, Martin Lindstrom, is recorded and explored in his book Buy-ology.

The power of somatic markers
We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them. … companies plant instant shortcuts—or brand bookmarks—in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.

Summary of Chapter 7, Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

As most books that are written about this topic are written for marketers and advertisers, this report intends to raise awareness amongst consumers. The report is not aimed at alarming, changing behaviour or raising any arguments, but instead, it will approach the subject in an informational, ‘Did you know?’ way.

The reason this report aims only at raising consumer awareness rather than creating an argument or trying to change consumer behaviour is because it is more likely not possible. Subliminal advertising plays specifically on the consumer’s subconscious mind and therefore, being conscious about advertising tactics will only affect the conscious and rational aspect of the consumer’s decision making process. On the other hand, according to a recent research, (Lindstrom, 2008) experts agree that 85% of everything we do takes place in our subconscious minds and roughly 90% of our consumer buying behaviour is unconscious and that we can’t actually rationally explain our preferences in our buying decisions.

Format
This report might take the form of a short animation or film that could be uploaded onto YouTube.com under the website’s ‘Film & Animation’ or ‘Education’ category and could also be entered into relevant short animation competitions.
The purpose of making the report in this format is so that it can be more attractive, engaging and accessible to its target audience than a magazine or newspaper article. On top of that, as a YouTube video, it will have the potential of virally spreading very quickly to an even larger audience.

Possible chapters
1) Introduction – This will be an overview of what the report will aim to address

2) Subliminal advertising, what is it? – This chapter will present the idea of subliminal advertising and will briefly mention the many opinions (publications) of how and whether it works and exists. There will also be a very concise accounts of subliminal advertising being employed and its effects on the viewers. This chapter will not make any conclusions about the matter yet, but instead, will serve to give credibility to the subject at hand in the hopes of sparking a curiosity and interest in the audience.

3) The subconscious mind – This next chapter will begin to explore in detail how subliminal advertising works by firstly looking at the human conscious and subconscious mind. This will be approached by studying the science and psychology behind the roles of the two minds in the decision making process (in the context of a consumer).

4) Marketing tactics – This chapter is a continuation from the previous chapter exploring how subliminal advertising works by examining and revealing certain strategies that advertisers and marketers employ to persuade consumers in their decisions, and how these tactics go unnoticed.

5) Recognize this? – This chapter will smoothly link from the last by looking at case studies of actual companies and the tactics they have employed.

6) Conclusion - The report may conclude by asking the viewer a cynical question of whether or not what they now know will affect their next shopping decision.


Action plan
- Find out how informed the target audience already is about this topic, so that the report will still be informative and interesting. I plan to do this by asking people from of the target audience simple questions such as, “What do you know about subliminal advertising?” “Do you think it exists?” and “Do you think it works?” This simple questionnaire would most likely be done online to reach a wider range of people and could take on the form of a survey on surveymonkey.com.

- I will begin by reading Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom, and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to gain an understanding of the scientific and psychological aspect in the roles of the conscious and subconscious mind in the consumer’s decision-making process.

- I will be taking an in depth look at subliminal advertising, examining what it is, how and whether it works and instances of it being used in the past. I intend to do this by reading several books and magazine articles on the issue such as Subliminal Persuasion by Dave Lakhani and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

- I will look at various magazine and newspaper articles and TV and news programs where Martin Lindstrom explains the findings of his study.

- From the case studies made in Buy-ology, I plan to do research on them online to see if other sources have also made similar observations, or if companies and advertisers have admitted to employing subliminal advertising tactics in their work.

- I will also be looking at various short animations that have been produce to be informative, to look for different animation methods and styles that I can learn from. One particular animation I like is I Met The Walrus, that I found on YouTube by Jerry Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite. I plan to use the software Adobe After Effects to create my animation, and so I will be learning how to use it through the help of friends and online tutorials.

Bibliography

Books

Lindstrom, M. (2008) Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York, Doubleday.

Heath, R. (2001) Hidden Power of Advertising. Oxfordshire, Admap Publications.

Shrum, L. J. (2004) The Psychology of Entertainment Media. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Packard, V. () The Hidden Persuaders.

Gladwell, M. (2005) Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. London, Penguin Group.

Langton, R. L. ( ) Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing.

Norman, D. A. (2004) Emotional Design. New York, Basic Books.

Ariely, D. (2008) Predictable Irrational. New York, Harper Collins Publishers.

Brafman, O., Brafman, R. ( ) Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behaviour

Lakhani, D. (2008) Subliminal Persuasion. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons Inc


Magazine
Parade Magazine: How Subliminal Advertising Works, Martin Lindstrom, 4th Jan 2009

Parade Magazine: Buyer Beware, Martin Lindstrom, 30th Nov 2009

WIRED Magazine June 2009


Films
Czech Dream

New aim and target audience

Since considering more who I want to aim my report at I have refocused my aim and added format ideas. Advice please!

The aim of the report is to raise awareness of the contrasting characteristics of printed and online magazines and consider the implications of the reader’s relationship with these formats. A further aim is to discuss new and future magazine format options and consider their impact on publishers and consumers. This would be of interest to magazine industry professionals (editors, designers, marketers, publishers etc.) and avid magazine readers or collectors.

The report will be produced as a magazine article in both a printed and digital format, therefore design features will be applied appropriately in reaction to my research on the two formats’ contrasting features.

Maybe the last draft need to go over the grammer

Abstract

This report will cover over a few chapters that would hopefully answer the question on: Do we need sexuailed images to be interested in a product. “ Do the sexualised images put us under pressure?”. This is a very big topic to cover, so the report is going to break it down by focusing on the advertising and editorial content they use in lifestyle magazines. In the report, when it talks about the term “ sexualised” It refers to “the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature or a person to become aware of sexuality”. Some of the areas that the report is going to try to cover are:

• Who are these sexualized images aimed at (who are their target audience),
• Does the use of sexualised image have a different effect on men than it has on woman?
• If the designer didn’t use a sexualised image would the reader still be interested?
• Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

This report will be based upon many experiments and interviews that will be carried out with people from various age groups and with different interests to provide a more substantial base of knowledge. The answers and thoughts provided by people participating will be very useful when trying to come up with the conclusion to the question.

Chapters

LOOKING BACK AT THE HISTORY OF MAGAZINES

This chapter will look through the history on when the emerge of sexualised imagery in magazines first came about, and sets the context of feminism and post-feminism opinions.

The report will look back in history on when sexualised images become such an everyday thing and look at a time if it was not ok to look at sexualised images in magazines. The report look at the opinions of different people who worked in the magazine industry on the views on magazines contents.

Interesting people to look at :

Betty Friedan, female American writer, activist and feminist who wrote for a magazine company call Mc Calls. Friedan work looks for the social definition of women’s role in the pages of women’s magazines, she saw the portrayals of women both editorial and advertising.

Courtney and Lockerets were another two people who analyze how people looked at women, they believed that there are four general stereotypes of women being shown in the 70’s in print advertisement:

Quotations

“ A women’s place is in the home; women do not make important decisions or do important things; women are dependent and need men’s protection; and men regard women primarily as sexual objects” (sex stereotyping in advertising p.10)

¬¬ Pingree, Hawkins, Butler and Paisley developed a scale for sexism and tested it against advertisements during the 1973-1974.

Quotations

“ The most stereotypical level, level one, shows women as sex objects. Level two keeps women in their places by showing them in traditional activities. Level three shows professional women whose first place is in the home. Level four shows the sexes as fully equal and level five shows men and women in individual, nonstereotyed roles”. ” (sex stereotyping in advertising p.10)


Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer’s attention, doesn’t really generate positive feelings among viewers but that was not the case 40’s year ago. The media has changed so much over the years, in the late 60’s women in magazine weren’t used as sexual objects but instead their lifestyle of motherhood and the care of the home and husband were splashed over the magazine covers. The report will go through different resources picking out key elements in history, which made an impact of the way magazines portray images of people. Maybe doing a timeline to break down these events down would be easier way to understand all the information.


WHY DO MAGAZINES USE SEXUALISED IMAGES

Advertisers tried to understand and explore the deep unconscious and subconscious factors that motivate people to buy products. Advertisers try to use word triggers and picture trigger to evoke desired responses. The report is going to explore why and if sexualised Images makes people buy things?

Quotations

“The business man’s hunt for sale boosters is leading him into a strange wilderness: the sub-conscious mind.” (Wall street Journal, page 1)

Do magazines use sexualised images as one of their tactics to attract men and to twist their minds into purchasing a particular product. Companies are implementing the same tactics in the advertisements that target women by sending out the message of "Buy (this product) and he will notice you".

COSMOPOLITAN VS NUTS

In this report it will have different comparative analysis of sexualised imagery of both women and men in youth lifestyle magazines. It will then go on to visually deconstruct and comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines

Experiments
(The period of three issues)

• How many editorial about sexualised topic does cosmopolitan have compare to nuts?
• How many sexualised images do they both use?
• Who are the target audience for these magazine?
• If a designer changed the sexualised image to something different would it have the same affect on the reader?
• Do men and female have different points of views when they look at this sexualised images
• The numbers of men/women featured in each magazine?

ARE WE UNDER PRESSURE?

Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image? People in advertising say that all they do is hold a mirror up to society, reflecting who we are. So is it a surprise that most of the advert we see has a sexualised nature about them? Sexualised images in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. In the report it tries is to see if majority of magazines reflect reality and that the image of women in advertisements is significant in influencing women’s perception of themselves. Great advertisers consider not only the attention- getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers.

MAGAZINES FIGHTS BACK

The report will possibly conclude with a series of considerations for magazine editors.

Here are some questions that might be asked them:

• Do you think there is a lot of sexualised imagery in lifestyle magazines?
• Do you think an editorial with a sexualised images will sell better then an editorial without? And why?
• Do you think sexualised imagery put the reader under pressure?

Magazine’s choose carefully when picking images for magazine because for a man some images does not provoke the kind of anxiety that it may do in many women. Does the use of sexualised image have an different effect on men than it has on woman?

Action Plan

• Researching on the history of sexualised images used in lifestyle magazines. Resources: Books, journals, the Internet and magazines. It will be used as a general background and back-up to support my theories.
• Create a timeline of important events that influenced magazines
• Research the demographic of lifestyle magazine
• Research about lifestyle magazines are trying to achieve
• Comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines. Resources primary research: Experiments, surveys/ questionnaires
• Pure pressure that lifestyle magazines have on society
• Contact Designers who are working in the magazine industry. Possible interviewing methods – face-to-face interview, phone interview and email questionnaire.
• Gathering and analyzing the information.
• Design my report looking at influences like “ creative review, id magazine


Bibliography:

Books

• Designing Pornotopia – Rick Poynor (2006)
• Picture of women sexuality written by Jane Root (1984)
• Channels of Desire written by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen
• Sex stereotyping in Advertising - Alice E Courtney/ Thomas W. Whipple (1984)
• Female Fetishism – Lorraine Gamman & Merja Makinen (1994)
• Was it good for you, too? 30 years of Cosmopolitan" - Linda Kelsey (Robson Books, 2003)
• Marie Claire
• Nuts
• Cosmopolitan
• Editorial Design – Yolanda Zappaterra (2007)
• Design writing Researching – Ellen Lupton & Abbott Miller (1996)
• The will to knowledge – Michel Foucault (1976)


Websites

• www.google.co.uk/search?q=history+of+sexualised+images+in+magazines&hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G&tbs=tl:1&tbo=1&ei=4x5eStv7B96rjAfhgOXdDQ&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sexualisation 'harms' young girls http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm

• http://www.idsgn.org/posts/now-and-then-sex-still-sells/

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/upload/article_sexualized_images.pdf

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27595678/

What title shall I have?

 Colours and Colour Combinations - When you want your design to communicate through colour.

or:

Communicating Through Colour - What do we associate with certain colour combinations?

What do you think?

Hopefully, the final proposal Texxt

Cover

Abstract

Synopsis

Design so far:

Ethics In Graphic Design

 

Abstract:

 

“Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse.”

-       Paragraph from the First Things First Manifesto, 2000

 

“Our discussion on the ethics of designers always gets impaled on the issue of whether a client’s desire for profit can be reconciled with our ethical desire to do no harm or, put another way, can we serve a client and the public at the same time. The difficulty of these questions explains why the AIGA and other design based organizations have found it so difficult to define a designers obligations to the public.”

-       Since Then, Milton Glaser

 

 

This report shall deal with the subject of ethics and their role in the graphic design industry. In the course of the report topics relating to how designers feel about the nature of the business – if they feel it is too commercially driven and if they feel it produces enough socially aware work – and it’s relation to ethical practice will be discussed. In order to do this individual designers and design studios would be contacted to find out their feelings on ethics and opinions on how (if at all) they incorporate them into their professional practice. 

The report will also aim to find out how different designers feel about the role of ethics in their commercial work and also if they undertake pro bono work or actively seek ways to use their design skills to produce work for social benefit. Personally, I believe that ethics are important to design companies in the form of an ethos on which they run their business. Generally a design company will have a set philosophy that becomes emblematic of the spirit of the studio. This would provide another angle from which to investigate the topic of ethics in graphic design practice.

Further to this, the report would also look into how clients and companies feel about the ethical positioning of graphic designers – does it bear relevance to their selection, do clients actively seek designers that have an ethical standpoint?

 

Chapter Headings

 1: Ethics today 

The report would aim to, in this section, use the information from gathered research to establish how different designers feel ethics feed into their practices. This section would aim to show just how important companies feel their philosophies/ethics are to their business. 

It would be interesting to show if they feel ethics are relevant to clients and can how hard/easy it is to stay true to your ethics in industry and maintain a successful profession. This section would also like to investigate how clients and the commissioning companies feel about the role of ethics for graphic designers. Do clients consider a designers ethical standpoint when they commission him/her, do they look for someone to fit in with their own corporate ideology. A possible topic could be do Unilever (who are actively promoting how they have become more green and sustainable) want to associate themselves with green and sustainable designers? Or do charities like Oxfam and Concern look for designers with a track record of socially relevant projects?

 

2: Historical Context

 

This section would give a brief over view of previous art and design movements (Modernism, the Arts and Crafts movement) that had ethical pursuits at the core of the philosophy. A historical context showing the relationship between consumerism, globalization and the role of graphic design in society could also be shown in this section (possibly through use of info graphics). This section would be brief but informative, showing how ethics have been applied in the past and the way they have changed over time.

  

3: Pro Bono/Socially Aware work

 

This section would focus on Pro Bono/Socially Aware work to see if designers undertake any jobs outside of their commercial practices. Stefan Sagmeister made the graphics for a Ben and Jerry’s campaign to lower military spending; he also began a charity for homeless people in New York. Milton Glaser produced the “I LOVE NEW YORK MORE THAN EVER” symbol post 9/11 to give New Yorkers something to take pride in. It would be interesting to see what unknown designers are undertaking similar work. 

This section could also include opinions from designers on ethics, if they feel elated by the consumerism that drives their work or do they feel slightly depressed that their skill set is used mainly to produce high quality work for low quality ephemeral products.

 

4: Conclusion

 

In the conclusion, the report shall go back over the information in the body of the report and summarize what was said. Based on the feedback from designers and clients, the conclusion would either express just how relevant ethics are in industry.

Personally, I believe that ethics are very important to lots of people, especially with the green campaign and sustainability issues and also how people are becoming more aware of the dark side of globalization, indicated I think by the rise in popularity of Fair Trade food stuffs and ethically sourced products.

 

Action Plan:

 

Primary research would be gathered by getting in contact with graphic design companies/designers and asking them questions about their ethics and company philosophies, their feelings about graphic design and it's social relevance. The aim would be to contact as many as possible so as to assure that there would be a significant body of information to work with. 

Questionnaires would be developed for students who may give feedback on how they feel about what ethics means to the graphic design industry. These questionnaires may also be relevant to non-designers, to see how they feel ethics should effect how designers work and assess their work.  

Research in books would provide a solid bedrock of research for the project – books like Citizen Designer by Steven Heller or books on professional conduct and practice may help. For the cultural/historical context there would be a need to research books on various disciplines that were ʻsocially awareʼ. Essays by designers such as Milton Glaser or Stefan Sagmeister would also be relevant research.

 

The philosophies/purported ethics of designers/studios could be analyzed through a website such as wordle.com. This website creates a graphic based on inputted text (via the user). Popular words are displayed in large typefaces whilst less repeated words are shown as smaller – effectively showing the most prominent themes across a variety of philosophies. 

Relevant images may be the use of examples of widely acknowledged socially aware design, or even widely accepted examples of graphic design that has no social relevance at (if even possible). Or the pro bono projects of designers could also be shown.

 

Bibliography:

 

Below are a selection of books and website links that I have encountered so far which cover the areas of ethics, social responsibility, pro bono work and essays on “good” or “ethical” design. As I encounter more articles/essays these will also be added to the bibliography.

 

Heller, S. (2003) Citizen designer. New York: Allworth Press

 

Shaugnessy, A. (2005) How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul. London: Laurence King

 

Lucienne, R. (2006) Good: an introduction to ethics in graphic design. Lausanne: Ava Academia

 

Hall, P. (2001) Made you look, New York : Harry N. Abrams

Glaser, M. (2006) Design of dissent. Gloucester, Mass: Rockport

 

http://miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/mg_index.html

 

http://www.typotheque.com/articles/how_good_is_good.html

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/philippe_starck_thinks_deep_on_design.html

 

Some images to cheer up!

(And of you can't, look again) by Paul Smith

Colours!

Quite a nice way to quote, huh?
(all from ffffound.com plus the top one is a photo at the Design Museum)
Ana R.

Design

These are design try outs for the proposal. For the actual report I was thinking of making a website, as my subject is related to digitalisation, internet etc. So for the proposal I was thinking of creating a pdf file that reflects a website layouts.

Proposal - Final Draft - Adam Grant

Open publication - Free publishing - More meme

Saskay Bennett 2 draft please help

Abstract

By the end of this report I would have cover over few chapters that would hopefully answer my question on: “ Are we to blame designers on why we see so many sexualised imagery around use?”. Do we need sexuailed images to be interested in a product. This is a very big topic to cover so I am going to break it down by focusing on the advertising and editorial content they use in lifestyle magazines. When I talk about the term “ sexualised I refers “to the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature or a person to become aware of sexuality”. Some of the areas that I am going to try to cover are:
• Who are the sexualized images aimed at (who are their target audience),
• Does the use of sexualised image have a different effect on men than it has on woman?
• If the designer didn’t use a sexualised image would the reader still be interested?
• Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

I have based this questions on the fact a lot of lifestyle magazines have a lot of sexualised images, so I what to know is this to appeal to increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer’s attention.

This report will be based upon many experiments and interviews that I will carry out with people from various age groups and with different interests to provide a more substantial base of knowledge. The answers and thoughts provided by people participating will be very useful when I come to the conclusion to my question.

Chapters

1. I will look through history on when the emergance of sexualised imagery in magazines first came about, and sets the context of feminism and post-feminism opinions.

I want to look back in history on when sexualised images become an everyday and look at a time when it was not ok to look at sexual images.
I will look at an female American writer, activist and feminist who wrote for a magazine company call Mc Calls called Betty Friedan, which in the late thirties portrayed women as autonomous heroines seeking to fulfill their own goals but as the forties progressed, the self-sufficient heroine gave way to the glorified housewife, praised. The magazine was aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now". Friedan work looks for the social definition of women’s role in the pages of women’s magazines, she saw the portrayals of women both editorial and advertising.

Courtney and Lockerets were another two people who analyze how people looked at women, they believed that there are four general stereotypes of women being shown in the 70’s in print advertisement:

Quotations

“ A women’s place is in the home; women do not make important decisions or do important things; women are dependent and need men’s protection; and men regard women primarily as sexual objects”

¬¬ Pingree, Hawkins, Butler and Paisley developed a scale for sexism and tested it against advertisements during the 1973-1974.

“ The most stereotypical level, level one, shows women as sex objects. Level two keeps women in their places by showing them in traditional activities. Level three shows professional women whose first place is in the home. Level four shows the sexes as fully equal and level five shows men and women in individual, nonstereotyed roles”.

Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer’s attention, doesn’t really generate positive feelings among viewers but that was not the case 40’s year ago. The media has changed so much over the years, in the late 60’s women in magazine weren’t used as sexual objects but instead their lifestyle of motherhood and the care of the home and husband were splashed over the magazine covers.


2. Advertisers tried to understand and explore the deep unconscious and subconscious factors that motivate people to buy products. Advertisers try to use word triggers and picture trigger to evoke desired responses. I am going to explore why and if sexualised Images makes people buy things?

Quotations

“The business man’s hunt for sale boosters is leading him into a strange wilderness: the sub-conscious mind.” (Wall street Journal, page 1)

Designers use sexualised images as one of their tactics to attract men and to twist their minds into purchasing a particular product. Companies are implementing the same tactics in the advertisements that target women by sending out the message of "Buy (this product) and he will notice you".

3. I am going to do different comparative analysis of sexualised imagery of both women and men in youth lifestyle magazines. I will then go on to visually deconstruct and comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines

Experiments
(The period of three issues)

• How many editorial about sexualised topic does cosmopolitan have compare to nuts?
• How many sexualised images do they both use ?
• Who are the target audience for these magazine ?
• If I change the sexualised image to something different would it have the same affect on the reader?
• Do men and female have different points of views when they look at this sexualised images
• The numbers of men/women featured in each magazine?


4. Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

Is it human nature to be curious about sex? People in advertising say that all they do is hold a mirror up to society, reflecting who we are. So is it a surprise that most of the advert we see has a sexualised nature about them? Sexualised images in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. They concluded that majority of advertisements does not reflect reality and that the image of women in advertisements is significant in influencing women’s perception of themselves. Great advertisers consider not only the attention- getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers.

5. The report will possibly conclude with a series of considerations for magazine editors.

Here are some questions I might ask them:

• Do you think there is a lot of sexualised imagery in lifestyle magazines?
• Do you think an editorial with a sexualised images will sell better the and editorial without? And why
• Do you think sexualised imagery put the reader under pressure?

Magazine’s choose carefully when picking images for magazine because for a man some images does not provoke the kind of anxiety that it may do in many women. Is the media is guilty of sexism in their coverage of celebrities? You will see more advert and cover of women then men. Does the use of sexualised image have an different effect on men than it has on woman?

Action Plan

• Researching on the history of sexualised images used in lifestyle magazines. Resources: Books, journals, the Internet and magazines. It will be used as a general background and back-up to support my theories.
• Research the demographic of lifestyle magazine
• Research about lifestyle magazines are trying to achieve
• Comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines. Resources primary research: Experiments, surveys/ questionnaires
• Pure pressure that lifestyle magazines have on society
• Contact Designers who are working in the magazine industry. Possible interviewing methods – face-to-face interview, phone interview and email questionnaire.
• Gathering and analyzing the information.
• Design my report looking at influences like “ creative review, id magazine


Bibliography:

Books

• Designing Pornotopia – Rick Poynor (2006)
• Picture of women sexuality written by Jane Root (1984)
• Channels of Desire written by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen
• Sex stereotyping in Advertising - Alice E Courtney/ Thomas W. Whipple (1984)
• Female Fetishism – Lorraine Gamman & Merja Makinen (1994)
• Was it good for you, too? 30 years of Cosmopolitan" - Linda Kelsey (Robson Books, 2003)
• Marie Claire
• Nuts
• Cosmopolitan
• Editorial Design – Yolanda Zappaterra (2007)
• Design writing Researching – Ellen Lupton & Abbott Miller (1996)
• The will to knowledge – Michel Foucault (1976)
•

Websites

• www.google.co.uk/search?q=history+of+sexualised+images+in+magazines&hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G&tbs=tl:1&tbo=1&ei=4x5eStv7B96rjAfhgOXdDQ&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sexualisation 'harms' young girls http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm

• http://www.idsgn.org/posts/now-and-then-sex-still-sells/

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/upload/article_sexualized_images.pdf

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27595678/

Cover design

Hello,

could any one help me to move on with the design of my cover please? My proposal is about 'how is drawing used in design process today'. Any suggestions or comment would help! Thank you!

Something like this...?

Changing Magazine Formats

How are the formats in which people read and receive magazines changing and how does this affect the magazines’ environmental impact?

The aim of my project is to research and evaluate different magazine formats, consider the future developments of magazine formats and consider their environmental implications.
I will research the differences between printed and online magazines in terms of the publisher and reader’s relationship with the medium. “No screen in the world can replace the feeling one gets when sitting comfortably in an armchair enjoying the Sunday paper” (Patrick Burgoyne, MagCulture, 2003 p.18) I want to look at the influence of new technology on production and distribution methods of magazines and how this is changing the way we read and receive publications. I also would like to consider the environmental impact of the printing industry and question the benefits of using electronic alternatives “a medium-sized server has roughly the same annual carbon footprint as an SUV vehicle doing fifteen miles per gallon”(Nat Hunter, Grafik Jul 2009). As my research develops I am likely to refine my report to focus more specifically on either the future of magazine publishing or the environmental impacts and briefly touch on the submissive topic. However, I feel they are both worthy topics of interest and so would like to initially investigate both.

Printed verses Online Publications
In this chapter I intend to discuss the benefits and downfalls of both formats. Articles such as New-Style Entertainment: Online Magazines from international design magazine Novum (June 2005, p.76-81) and Download Me... (MagCulture, 2003) outline in detail the printed verses online debate, “quote to be added”.

Magazine Case Study
I intend to do a case study of a magazine which has both a printed and online version. I will interview industry professionals on topics such as; how do the readership statistics compare between both formats? How do they make their online revenue? What contrasting design features do they apply for each format? Do their reader profiles vary between formats? How do they advertise their online publications? etc. The title I am considering choosing for my case study is Dazed & Confused Magazine. I think this would be suitable because it is a popular fashion and lifestyle magazine which is likely to be both brought on opportunity and have a collectors market. I have industry contacts through the mentorship scheme in both the printed and online design departments which I feel would be ideal for me to interview on my subject.

Survey
In this chapter I shall discuss and analyse the results of my survey I wish to conduct based on people’s consumption on online and printed magazine. From this primary research I hope to gain quantitive results on areas such as the average number of printed and online magazines people buy/read a month? I also would like to obtain qualitive results such as why readers prefer a particular format and how they feel about future format options. Using my research I shall compare my findings to notions proposed in articles such as Download Me… (2003).

The Future of Publishing
Looking at how new technology such as eBooks and eReaders are changing the way we can read publications. Also the implications new web services such as http://www.zinepal.com/ where you can “create your own printable magazines and eBooks from online content” and the Blackwell’s Espresso Book Machine which “could herald the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented his printing press more than 500 years ago.” (The Guardian). The book We the Media (DanGilmor, 2004) explains how the development on online mediums such as blogs and forums has changed the way we consime information “add quote”.

The Environmental Impact
I’m really interested in the relationship between graphic design and climate change and would like to have a section evaluating the environmental impact of printed publications and discuss the what alternatives and improvements can be made. From this I would see how the online alternatives compare and discuss issues such as are website like zinepal.com progressive because they allow the reader to print only selected material or are they just allowing us another opportunity to an unnecessary paper and glue to landfill? I will use books such as Cradle to Cradle (Braungart and McDonough, 2008) and online resource www.lovelyasatree.com to gather information on environmental impacts of the printing industry.

Action Plan
· Read and seek out more books/articles about the readers relationship with a printed publication(magazine) and how it changes when reproduced digitally
· Research facts and statistics on how many people are reading online publications.
· Interview people from publishing industries (publishing houses/magazines) about their opinions on the different mediums and find out about how they make their online revenue (Case Study?).
· Talk to people/companies actively conscious about the environmental impact of printing and get their opinions, e.g. Three Trees, Amelia’s Magazine, Sublime (get more)
· Research survey techniques and do a survey of how people dispose of their publications/magazines
· Set up course magazine sharing system
· Research in more detail energy and waste in printed and online publications and make comparative diagrams.


Bibliography
Books
Cradle to Cradle
MagCulture
Inside Magzines
Paper Trails
We the Media

Magazines/Journals
Grafik Articles by Nat Hunter on ‘How to be Green’
Novum Mag article on online mags
The Future of Printing
Seven steps to online publishing success.

Websites
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-blackwell
http://www.dolectures.co.uk/brainfood/?tag=481
http://www.threetreesdontmakeaforest.org/facts/digital.html
http://www.shrinkpaper.org/
http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/amelias_blog/2009/06/beyond_the_green_machine_1.php
http://www.recyclenow.com/why_recycling_matters/how_is_it_recycled/paper/paper_the.html
http://www.pdf-mags.com/
www.thisisamagzine.com
www.dazeddigital.com