OUGD505: Product, Range & Distribution//Evaluation

With this brief I deliberately choose a research topic which is hard hitting as I tend to sway with more “wooly” subject areas, so I feel I have really stepped out of my comfort zone with this brief. Researching into human right campaigns and trafficking made me feel incredibly naïve as I had no idea just how bad and disgusting a crime it is, but it also made me very passionate, aware and awake. Today, there are an estimated 35.7 million ‘modern day slaves’ and every 30 seconds another person is a victim of trafficking. There are more slaves today than in any other time in history. I narrowed my research down into sex trafficking this is something I am interested in finding out about as well as being a feminist and passionately against the exploitation of women. This years and previous years COP essays have been largely focused on misogyny and women in advertising/exploitation of women/feminine ideals etc. 

Visiting the Disobedient Objects exhibition in London really demonstrated to me how political activism can drive a wealth of design ingenuity and creativity that defy standard definitions of art and design. I found the exhibition enjoyable and very engrossing. Seeing the banners, and badges up close, rather than seeing them in photographs in the media made it a lot more real, it also sparked inspiration into what I could produce for this campaign.

The concept behind my campaign, ‘We are Humans’ is to raise awareness and educate people directly about the disgusting nature of sex trafficking and its mental and physical effects on women as well as raising awareness on gender equality. Due to the serious nature of my topic area it wouldn’t be appropriate to use comical/tongue in cheek language. I have used serious, matter-of-fact, informative and no-nonsense language. The content is easy to read and understand to educate a broad range of people. I felt this was the best way to fight Human Trafficking on an individual to educate and raise awareness on the subject by drumming in the fact that trafficking is not a problem away from home but happens right here in the UK.

I have used a broad range of skills and techniques within this project, this includes; screen-printing, badge-making, stickers, digital work and colour pantone matching.

Once I had my logo, I found it easy to begin applying it in different ways. The logo has been kept simple, contemporary so it will be easily recognisable and iconic of the campaign. The circle represents putting a full stop on trafficking. Although initially, I did have some concerns about using the colour pink however, this is a campaign about raising awareness about trafficking, a disgusting and unseen crime, and its physical and mental effects on women so it needs to be a somewhat feminine sensitive colour due to the nature of the issue. As well as this in colour psychology, pink is a sign of hope and compassion. Colours have been kept to a minimum to keep down the print cost and produce more work cheaply to reach more people across the UK.

I have managed to apply my logo and products appropriately, instead of just designing things on just one platform I have created a range of products for my campaign including tote bags, badges, stickers, leaflets, social media pages, website and a poster to be distributed across the UK. The campaign pack will be available to buy online for people to show their support. The main base for my campaign will be in London as that is where I have organised a theoretical march.

The campaign also has a digital platform which will be active on all social media sites with the hashtag #wearehumans as nearly one in four people worldwide use social media sites the campaign could have the potential to grow huge.

If I were to have more time on the project, I would have liked to have created a poster series perhaps screen-printed, as I am not 100% happy with my poster or a5 leaflet, admittedly I left the poster to last as I was really struggling what to do for it. I feel some of the finishes on my work could be better and look more professional.

Overall, I am pleased with how the project has gone and what I have produced. I feel I have answered the brief well, by choosing a topic I am passionate about and producing a range of products to be distributed. I feel I have managed my time well by setting myself personal targets to get things completed by for example, booking print/photography slots early. I have managed to step outside of my comfort zone, by choosing a hard topic and creating a range of products I've never done before. I feel I have taken my topic of 'sex trafficking' but have produced a powerful campaign which is tasteful and sensitive about the issue as well as being educational in raising awareness. 

OUGD505: Study Task 04/Vote!/Presentation

OUGD505: Study Task 04/Vote!/Idea Generation

After combining all of our research, as a group we began listing down issues and potential design solutions for our voting problem.

The main issues we found was a lack of trust/empty promises and a feeling of not being heard felt by the younger generation of voters. As well as this we felt  18-22 year olds as well as not being informed enough about politic policies, party views and issues. We also felt that our generation are rather lazy, discovering that most 18-22 year olds are easily distracted. We would need to create something no nonsense.


Idea

We came up with the idea that revolves around the tagline 'Because it matters'
We want to create a campaign that engages in a no nonsense non patronising way to inform 18-22 year olds that taking part in a vote does truly matter. Focussing on issues that will effect the target audience (such as housing, tuition fees, student debt) as well as issues of the nhs and immigration. 

Theoretically speaking, we'll be creating a pack that can be handed out at uni's and sent to student accommodation filled with basic information on each party, highlighting political policies/manifestos and issues the generation faces and a guide on how to vote. The pack will include: 

• Voter Registration Form
• Party Policies/Manifestos
• Key Rings 
• Badges 
• Bottle Opener

There would also be a digital platform for the campaign including twitter and facebook and perhaps an app.

The whole idea of the campaign is to try and make it personal for young voters, to connect them to politics by discussing the policies they care about and that directly affect them. They should take part in it because it matters.

I spent twenty minutes over the weekend coming up with possible design solutions. 

Hotdog fold leaflet, colour coded for each party

OUGD505: Study Task 04/Vote!/Research

A YouGov survey published in May 2014 stated that less than half of eligible young people planned to vote in the general election.

How could graphic design be used to ensure that more than 41% of 18-22 year-olds actually participate in the election process?

To complete this task you will first have to research examples of elections that have successfully enticed voters (including Barack Obama's use of social media within his campaigns and the Scottish referendum's engagement of first-time voters) alongside the wants and needs of your target audience. Just by way of a comparison, three quarters of YouGov's surveyed over-60s planned to vote.

I was asssigned the task of looking at possible avenues of creative 

Scottish Independence Referendum

Guardian Article 

  
Back in September, a record number of people registered to vote in the Scottish independence referendum, with 97% of the adult population ready to take part in the vote which is astonishing. A total of 4,285,323 makes this the largest electorate the country has ever known for any election or referendum. The figure includes 118,640 voters who have registered in the august alone, as well as 789,024 postal voters. It marks an increase of over 300,000 since the last Westminster election in 2012 and includes 16- and 17-year-olds who have had the vote extended to them for the first time. 

Bite The Ballot

I have been looking at Bite The Ballot a party-neutral movement on a mission to empower young voters. They use twitter which BTB promoted a trend (#RegisterToVote) for 24 hours and alongside this, #NVRD and National Voter Registration Day organically trended for over 12 hours

Bite The Ballot’s aim is to inspire the biggest turnout of 18-24 year old voters in history (approx. 71.%) for the 2015 General Election ‘Register to vote’ reminder appearing at the top of the Facebook news feeds of 35 million UK users (which encouraged 28,000 people to register)

Verto

Verto is a voter advice tool which aims to help potential voters compare their views and values with the political parties on a variety of issues. This can be accessed on any browser on your smart phone, tablet or desktop. At the front-end, a user simply agrees or disagrees with a set of statements (for example, ‘should the UK leave the EU?’). It’s politics, made easy.

The methodology of the web application in the back-end contains weighted data on parties’ policy stances. As you agree or disagree with statements, Verto crunches this data and formulates your results. Verto then informs you of how the main parties’ values and policies align with them hoping they will be able to make an informed decision at the ballot box.

Verto has been designed and built with the overlooked demographic of young voters in mind. It translates jargon into plain English, and aims to help 16-24s re-engage with UK democracy, register to vote – and turnout.

Alternative Elections Posters 

Election campaign posters have generated some of the most defining political images of the modern age. I found these alternative election posters on the guardian, they really capture a striking insight into what younger voters think, as well as a dead-accurate view of this election and its probable outcome. 

OUGD505: Covered/GF Smith Samples

OUGD505: Covered: Initial Ideas/Crit Feedback

Initial thoughts and ideas on the book cover brief. For such a philosophical classic written in 380BC I would like to create a contemporary cover for it. From the crit it was suggested that I look further into the theory of forms for inspiration. Overall, my peers liked my book choice and the theorys within it. I would love to do some illustration for this project.

Workshop: My Methodology

Methodology- a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

My Methodology 

My methodology needs to be improved before entering third year. I do tend research a lot (I am constantly looking at design) but very loosely, hoping what I take in eventually re-surfaces itself at a later, more appropriate date. I do analysis images and but I don't critical analysis my work critically or in depth. However, this method does often work but I know its not the most ideal method of producing informed and critically, efficient work. This was clear from my responsive submission I got a 55% for research/blogging yet 70%'s for my outcomes and idea generation. If I wasn't so stubborn about research/blogging and just got on with it I know I could be aiming for a first. However, I have a real attitude towards blogging with the thought of 'I am at an art college to create, not blog step by step about my thoughts and feelings' it tends to frustrates me as this is not how it works in the real design world. Before third year I need a real attitude change towards blogging, and just get on with it, but I find it so dry. 

I have always been a visual learner. I prefer using images, pictures, colours, and maps to organise information and communicate with others. I find creating mind maps incredibly useful. 

Sketching to me is essential, I am always sketching down my first initial ideas. I always use pen and paper before moving onto the screen.

Time management is something I seriously need to improve on, I tend to leave work until the last minute and I feel this is something which is clear in m execution and finishing processes. I have found myself rushing and doing things for the sake of them rather than enjoying the process from start to finish. I need to develop the perfect balance between work and play. I have started to treat my degree like a 9 - 5 job , working an extra couple hours in the day and a day on the weekend , I have found that I am a lot less stressed and I am able to relax.  

I find crits incredibly useful, getting honest feedback on my work helps me produce stronger outcomes. Overall, I feel I have made a vast improvement on my methodology from last year, I find my designs are a lot more conceptual. 

Aspects of your feedback/ assessment that you wish to develop and identify.

critically informed work involves significant research and contextualisation which seems to be the area lacking in your submission.

I need to actually blog the research I do, which I do do, but not all of it or in depth. When I am blogging I tend to think will other people find what I am writing interesting? or is this necessary? or will the tutors even read this. 

A greater level of focus on specific areas of Graphic Design would help inform your design decisions more consistently.

I would like to investigate further into different aspects of design in the future such as coding/design for the web as this is something I am interested in and I feel would develop my design. I need to experiment further with my ideas. 

The body of work that you have presented demonstrates an excellent understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a contemporary Graphic Designer. You have shown a consistently high level of project management, organisation and documentation of individual and collaborative projects. Your opinions, reflections and solutions are communicated clearly, professionally and effectively through a
range of appropriate methods.

I was really pleased with this piece of feedback, it made me feel a lot more confident in my abilities and clarified to me that I am on the right track.