OUGD401 - COP Practical Development

To get started I started  mind mapping possible messages I could put across in my posters. 

One thing that I have looked at in my essay is the symbolic associations that are given to products, and the images that are created around brands and products to make them cool, sophisticated, successful, glamorous etc.. So I thought about trying to put this idea across somehow by incorporating different brands and their logo but changing the brand name to the quality that they represent for example Calvin Klein and Youth. 

I also really liked the message by adbusters ‘I shop therefore I am’ so thought about maybe using ‘I consume therefore I am’ putting across the message that people buy products by brands with symbolic associations so they can be perceived this way by others. This could also convey the idea that ‘You are what you buy’ and that brands don’t only sell products, they sell lifestyle, goals and values and consequently these values and goals have become those of the consumer self. 

Another idea I had for a message is ‘When will you be full?’ which is similar to ‘Fill the void’ and also explores the idea that we are never satisfied with what we have and are always wanting something more.

 Another message I thought about using was ‘Happiness, for a limited time only’ this also came from the idea that we are never satisfied with what we have and when we buy something more, it may make us happy but only for a short time as soon there will be something else that we feel like we need to make us happy.

After thinking about the message I wanted to convey I thought about how I could convey these messages in a poster and took to Illustrator to start drawing out some ideas. I had the idea to incoporate different brands but changing the brand names to qualities that they represent, I tried this idea with shopping bags so I drew some shopping bags to look like those of some well known designer brands, for example Calvin Klein and Gucci. I decided to use the tagline ‘You can’t buy everything’ as I think this tagline makes the message very clear. I don't think this is the strongest message that I had come up with so have explored some other ideas rather than developing this idea further. 

I wanted to use the message ‘When will you be full?’ within my designs and came up with the idea of somebody eating different products, I then thought that I could make a pacman themed poster with pacman eating the products using that message so started to experiment with this idea. 

I explored the ‘When will you be full" idea further by drawing a plate with a knife and fork and the products on the plate I tried it with the message You are what you consume however I am not too keen on this message as I don’t think it sounds quite right and is not as powerful as some of the other messages. 

I experimented further with my pacman designs, I tried drawing out the whole pacman game layout and dotted different products around the game. I prefer it with the black background as it stands out more however I don’t think this design conveys the message as well as I want it to. 

I experimented further with my pacman designs, I tried drawing out the whole pacman game layout and dotted different products around the game. I prefer it with the black background as it stands out more however I don’t think this design conveys the message as well as I want it to. 

To make the message clearer I felt there needed to be more products to show that it’s one thing after the other and that there’s always something more. I decided to get rid of the pacman game layout as I think it’s clear that it’s pacman without the layout and I don’t feel the message is clear enough with the game layout. Instead I put the products in rows with a different layout but am not completely happy with this one. 

I simplified this design a little and tried having it diagonally on the page and I feel this looks a lot cleaner and clearer than the previous designs. However I still thought it may look better on a black background as the background is black on a pacman game so tried it with a black background. I think it stands out a lot more on a black background, I also experimented with some different pixelated style typefaces as these fit in well with the pacman theme. I am a lot happier with this design now as I feel it conveys the message in a much clearer way and it also stands out a lot better. 

OUGD401 - COP Practical Research

What is the relationship between branding and the consumer self?’

In my essay I have explored how branding works to create an image around a product, selling us not only a product but a lifestyle, goals and values. I also looked at how they often aim to make us unhappy with what we have and convince us that we will be happier and our lives will improve if we buy something more, however we are never truly satisfied and therefore we consume more.

I have found this topic really interesting as some of the things I have learnt are things I had never really considered before or thought about. For my practical work I would like to create some ad busters style posters with the aim of getting young people like my self to start thinking more about the issue of consumerism. For my research I will look at ad busters work and other similar work. I will create my posters digitally and test them by asking people’s thoughts and opinions when they look at the posters.

Adbusters

The Nike spoof ads are probably my favourite ones by adbusters.  I like the use of humour within the ‘Just Douche It’ ads by changing Nike's famous strapline 'Just do it' to something humorous.

The sheep ad is also amusing as it is telling you to stop being a sheep and following the herd and to ‘rethink the cool’ and it’s not cool to look the same as everyone else. I think this one rings true as Nike is one of the biggest sports brand and everywhere you go you see people wearing Nike trainers. The ‘I’m sick of Just doing it’ is also humourous and effective as they are mocking Nike’s famous tagline again and the image of sheep again signifies following the crowd. 

I think these ads are effective and thought provoking as they are honest and it's a sad truth that most people don't think about when buying their Nike trainers and I think it's important to make people more aware and to think about these issues.

I think the 'Reality for men' ad is quite amusing as it is mocking Clavin Klein's ad's and the images of models with perfect bodies that have been photoshopped, when in reality people don't look like that. The 'Escape from Calvin Klein' ad is also effective as you can imagine them having a fragrance called Escape.

I find this one particularly amusing as again it is mocking Calvin Klein ads and the images of perfect models used within them. The fact that it says 'Fresh Young Chicken' could also be a reference to the fact that they use very fresh faced young looking models and I think Calvin Klein as a brand reflects a youthful, cool image.

I think this ad is particularly effective and the messages that they are putting across does make you stop and think . It is effective as it is done in the style of an Apple advert, so you can recognise what it is instantly even without the Apple logo.

I like the messages put accross in the above ads, these are similar to the message that I would like to put across within my own work as I think they are quite thought provoking.

I found these images on pinterest, I really like the style of this and the way they have turned corporate logos into anti consumerism messages is really effective.