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Competition brief Energy Saving Trust (social media campaign)

I chose the Energy saving Trust from the YCN competitions briefs because it felt like it was the most meaningful to me and our society, indeed, climate change is something that frightens me and I felt that if I could create something that brings more awareness to the matter; I would have help my generation to a better future for us.

I started my research by going through their website which was full of information on how to save energy at home and outside of the house too. That part of the process wasn’t too hard because they gave us a tone o research in the brief packages. Then went on doing a quick brainstorming and did some sketches on how I could translate the informations I gathered from my research and rebrand their social media so it becomes more appealing to the youth.

At this point, the question was; how do I translate my message through their Facebook and Instagram? I used my templates to have the perfect scale and have a smooth transition to their channels if I win.

The biggest struggle I encountered was to stay stick with their strict brand guidelines that didn’t leave me much room for interpretation. Here is a quick peek to some o them:

By using my editing skills, I managed to get in line with the guidelines as much as possible. It was both frustrating and satisfactory, on one hand I didn’t have the freedom to express my vision exactly as I wanted but on the other hand, it forced me to work within the needs of the client which was a first for me but I feel like I did well.

Once, I had my pictures sorted I just had to combine the visual with the informations in a way that would attract a new audience.

EST Facebook campaign

- Profile Image:

- Optimal post/ Paid ad:

- Cover photo:

- Shared link thumbnail:

EST Instagram Campaign

- Regular square post:

- Portait post/ ad:

- Instagram stories:

I tied to make EST more interactive and present on social media as you can see there could be a daily story both social media so people get quick access to tips on how to save energy with a call for action at the end of it and by using the #cutyourenergycost2019 we could see the progress of the campaign and the result of thousands of people doing everything they can to save that energy.

Contextual Studies : Queer Theory

The Heteronormativity is the belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders (male and female) with natural roles in life. It assumes that heterosexuality is the norm or default sexual orientation, and that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between people of opposite sex.

it refers to a set of related cultural assumptions. It’s natural or normal to be attracted by the opposite genders. Other forms of sexuality or gender are less normal, thus people people assume everyone is heterosexual unless proven otherwise.

Structuralism & Post-structuralism

Studies & Theories

SILENCE = DEATH

The pink triangle was established as a pro-gay symbol by activists in the United States during the 1970s. Its precedent lay in World War II, when known homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear inverted pink triangle badges as identifiers, much in the same manner that Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. Wearers of the pink triangle were considered at the bottom of the camp social system and subjected to particularly harsh maltreatment and degradation. Thus, the appropriation of the symbol of the pink triangle, usually turned upright rather than inverted, was a conscious attempt to transform a symbol of humiliation into one of solidarity and resistance. By the outset of the AIDS epidemic, it was well-entrenched as a symbol of gay pride and liberation

Contextual Studies: Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is defined as:

‘A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.’

Art & Psychoanalysis:

Illustration by Elliana Esquivel

The idea of the ‘unconscious mind’ is key to psychoanalysis. The treatment itself revolved around the analysis of various things Freud believed brought it to the surface, including:-

Free association -Dreams - Parapraxis

Freud believed that unlocking the unconscious was key to curing his patients.

Id, Ego, and Superego

The id - our basic ‘animal instincts’ and primal desires - it works on the pleasure principle

The ego - this can also be thought of as ‘I’. The ego mediates between the id and the real world, working on the reality principle

The superego - this can be thought of as ‘the conscience’ and incorporates learned societal values and morals, and works on an idealistic principle

Neuroses

‘A relatively mild mental illness that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality.’ (Oxford Dictionary)

Freud believed that these were caused by repressions, both of the pleasure principle and of childhood traumas.

For Freud, an infant’s psychological development was intrinsically linked to a series of five psychosexual stages:

The oral phase (0-1 year)

The anal phase (1-3 years)

The phallic phase (3-5 or 6 years)

The latent phase (5 or 6 to puberty)

The genital phase (puberty to adult)

He believed that a trauma or a disruption during the early stages was responsible for the creation of neuroses in later life.

The Oedipus Complex

The Oedipus complex is one of Freud’s most controversial ideas, and one which many people immediately reject.

It is the idea that, during the phallic stage, a young boy (sexually) desires his mother, and therefore wants to remove the father. Irrationally, the young boy believes that should his father find out about these desires, he would remove what the boy loves the most (his penis). This is known as castration anxiety. The young boy then aims to resolve the issue by imitating his father’s masculine traits, and taking on the male gender role.

‘Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalise them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.’

- Salvador Dali

Parapraxis

John Bowlby’s attachment theory

Criticisms of Freud’s Theories

Some of his data is not credible

His patients only represented a very small demographic

There is no evidence to support his theories of child sexuality

Some of his theories can be damaging to certain groups - such as for instance his belief that homosexuality was a failure to reconcile the anal phase - and his now laughable idea of ‘penis envy’.

John Bowlby’s work

Attachement theory:

Separation Anxiety

In 1959 Bowlby wrote Separation Anxiety about what happens when there isn’t enough maternal care in a child’s life. If a child is separated for too long, they begin to think all good things will disappear at any given moment, therefore becoming anxious or volatile - or they may become detached as a way of dealing with this.

Jacques Lacan (1901 - 1981),French psychoanalyst and philosopher

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher who could be thought of as ‘the Elvis of cultural studies’. He uses media and popular culture as a vehicle for exploring psychoanalytical ideas, such as desire and how it is structured, as well as the formation of ideologies.

Abjection

Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, feminist, and psychoanalyst.

She is famous for her work on the abject - ‘subjective horror’ - in her book The Powers of Horror.

It is centred around the idea of the feeling one experience when one is confronted by their ‘corporeal reality’ and is disgusted by their own body (specifically feminine) - it is a theory which builds on the work of Freud and Lacan.

Contextual Studies : Politics of the Image by V. Gould

According to George Orwell, Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” With this quote, Vincent Gould kick off the lecture and shows us how politics and politicians can be harsh.

An ideology of having your own set of belief and morals.

“Oh Dearism” by Adam Curtis

In this documentary, Curtis talks about political control and how the work of Vladislav Surkov has allowed Putin to stay in power for over a decade. His aim is to change people’s concepts of the world so they never know what is really happening.

Political art-work

- Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope poster

- Robert Rauschenberg - Retroactive 1 (1963)

Détournement

The french word for hijacking, the idea of "turning expressions of the capitalist system and its media culture against itself”

Contextual Studies: Gender discussion

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) is a report prepared by the UN which looks at gender inequality in three aspects of human development: health, power, andeconomics.

A recent Guardian article was entitled: ‘UK gender inequality as bad as 10 years ago, EU league table shows’.

The Guardian [online] October 2017

The gender binary is being deconstructed.

Despite the fact that gender inequality still exists, many are opening their eyes to the possibility of gender being less binary than formerly accepted.

In 2014, Facebook introduced 71 gender options which users can now choose from. Users are also able to choose their preferred pronoun.

The ‘individual' self

René Descartes, a French philosopher and his idea was ‘cogito ergo sum’ - ‘I think; therefore I am’; in which the rational self is the centre of a variety of linked practices of ‘knowing’. This rational ‘self’ is what most liberal politics are based upon - with individual rights etc.

The ‘collective' self

In the 1800s, Karl Marx wrote about the ways in which humans are shaped by capitalist society. He believed that work environment would shape who you were as a person - for example, someone who worked in a factory might have a different kind of self to someone who owned a factory.

He thought the economic system was the controlling factor, and came up with the idea of the ‘collective self’ - terms such as ‘collective consciousness’ can be traced back to Marx.

The ‘subjective' self

Sigmund Freud came up with some different ideas surrounding the self, many involving the subconscious. He called the ‘self’ the ‘subject’, and he believed the process of becoming is an endless process in which the subject is torn between desires and drives on the one hand and cultural and social demands on the other.

Gender and linguistics are closely linked. In the English language, nouns which are feminine tend to have negative connotations like the word ‘sissy’ is used to describe girls, so when a boy is called that word it’s meant to be even more demanding that they’re being compared to a female. Also in many languages such as German and French nouns are directly gendered.

The Male Gaze - Laura Mulvery (1975) suggests that women are portrayed a certain way in the media to appeal to a male audience this is normally done by over sexualising women, the idea that sex sells. The male gaze theory still applies to the media today.

Gender performativity

It is based on the notion that gender is a social construct, and it’s important to note that she does not see gender as a performance (something that starts and ends) but rather as performative. Judith Butler (1990)

Differences between...

Biological sex: a label you are assigned at birth depending upon various physical factors including hormones, chromosomes, and mainly genitals.

Gender identity: the perception of someone’s own gender, which may or may not correspond with their biological sex.

Gender expression: the (culturally- specific) way in which someone expresses their gender identity.

Though it appears natural, gender (as opposed to biological sex) is a social construction. Evidence of this can be seen in:

cross-cultural and historical differences in acceptable gender norms,

social institutions such as patriarchy which reinforce gender inequality,

sexist examples of language

Contextual studies: Designing for the Anthropocene

TFred Hubble came in to talk to us about the climate change. we started finding the etymology of ‘Anthropocene’ , Anthtropos- Human / Cene- Geological Epoch.

Chthulucene And tentacular thinking

Tentacularity- Thinking with the inhabitants of the world, creatures of all kinds, human and non-human, even mushrooms, we are all wayfarers, moving from place to place.

HOW TO MAKE A CHANGE?

-The ocean clean-up operation that started 3rd October has for task to decrease the levels of plastic pollution in the pacific.

- Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Contextual studies: Consumerism

In this lecture we started talking about value, the value of things and why we value them, in a material sense, to get a better understanding of consumerism. For example in the 17th century, the British were fascinated by pineapples and the rarity of this exotic fruit (on British soil) added value to the human eye so much that they started to incorporate pineapples in their paintings, buildings, and more... At this point we can agree that rarity creates value.

Furthermore, according to Karl Marx, ‘nothing can have value without being object of utility’ and for him labour is the substance and the immanent measure of value. However, this can’t be true for everyone, there are opposing theories, such as the subjective theory of value, as proposed (independently) in the late 1800s. It works upon the idea that commodities will have different values for different people at different times.

Kids have a different sense of value than adults, they can see value in the smallest things, for example, a teddy bear is a lot more valuable than money to their eyes. Where as adults, we are a lot more conspicuous when it comes to their sense of value. But as they grow older they will loose interest in their teddy bear and its value will decrease.

Commodity Fetishism is an idea presented by Marx in the first chapter of Das Kapital. It relates to the way in which items become ascribed with almost ‘magical’ qualities, and where the human labour which went into producing the items is lost. This can mean that consumers in a capitalist society believe an item has an intrinsic value in and of itself.

Then, we started to talk about capitalism and economy growth and how it relates to consumerism.

In the early 1700s, wages began to rise - meaning families had more to spend on small luxuries. The more money families spent, the more businesses grew, the more workshops opened to manufacture the goods, the more people were employed, the more wages went up, and so on. This time has been described as ‘the first consumer revolution’.

The Fable of the Bees, Bernard Mandeville (1723). In the book, he sets out the idea that shopping for pleasure is what made countries rich - and therefore safe, honest, good, successful etc.He believed that the consumption of frivolous items was what drove the economy, and that we should ensure high demand for these unnecessary and often absurd things.

Client Brief’s and Work Process

CLientIn the first week, the module was launched. We had 6 clients coming from different graphics companies and they presented their briefs for us to choose and sign up for.

The briefs were:

- RBH Client Brief - (A name and branding for the Christmas bitter and small advertising campaign)

- BDF Client Brief - (Designing an APP for the Birmingham design festival)

- Mccann Client Brief - (Bacardi brand campaign)

- SHED Client Brief - (Logo and Packaging concept)

- Sixth Story Client Brief - (Rebrand Brit Food)

- ALIVE Client Brief - (Social Media campaign for NIKE)

I chose the ALIVE client brief and created a campaign for NIKE

Research

30 years of Controversy

- 1988 : The first ‘Just do it’ ad showcase a 80 years old man running 17 miles every morning.

- 1993 : ‘ I’m not a role model’ ad starring Charles Barkley spark controversy about whether celebrities should be held at higher standard.

- 1995 : ‘If you let me play’ ad which supported women in sports and brought up the issue of gender equality.

- 1995 : Nike featured openly gay HIV runner Rick Munoz in its ‘Just do it’ campaign.

- 2007 : ‘No excuses’ ad Nike touched on disabilities featuring Paralympic medalists Matt Scott

- 2012 : ‘Voices’ campaign on gender equality.

I knew I wanted a photo collage for my campaign so I can showcase what it’s like for the people who took part to my survey and the Nike everyday users.

To integrate the sense of inclusivity I had to think outside of the box and I came up with this geometric form I created on illustrator. It will allow me control the feel and messaging of my pictures while surrounding the diamond were the tagline will be.

Layout

Models

Connecting the dots

Bilboard

Across social media

Evaluative essay

Division, Resistance & Empowerment - Mini Task

The picture talk for itself by showing a police officer being very aggressive and trying to push down the student down with his hand. The student was protesting and in response we see the officer using force against the student who is protesting within his rights. The image shows how the police can be cruel and corrupt using their power to push down an unarmed citizen’s freedom of speech (officer covering the student’s mouth).

Furthermore,the facial expressions demonstrate two strong but still opposite feelings; on one hand we have the strength and power of the police officer and on the other hand the fear and defenseless of the student. The camera angle portraying the officer on top of the student is also very effective in making him look a lot more powerful in comparison to the student who is being crushed and so appears helpless.

This photograph was taken in Bradford during an English Defence League protest in 2010. it shows a police line against EDL supporters. Visibly there is a lot of police in that photograph which connotes that people of authority thought it was necessary for this many police to be available at the protest as EDL supporters can be aggressive and so it necessary to increase security in case the protest escalates. There are also a lot of photographers standing by to take photographs of the event this shows that this matter would potentially appeal to the media and the media consumers and that it will gain a lot of attention. Ironically there’s a banner on the building in the background that says in bold “Bradford in peace” which clearly isn’t the case in this photograph as EDL supporters have briefs that are controversial and often labelled as racist. The photograph is an slightly low angle long shot which makes the police appear powerful. A police officer is on horseback as horses allow their riders allows officers to observe a wider area and are more convenient than cars in such protests.

This picture shows that there are cameras installed around Muslim community areas and they are covered with bags to show that the cameras are not recording any footage. It feels like a cultural clash in our generation where the Islam religion isn’t appreciated and where society is still trying to manipulate the mass against it. The camera being covered by the bag shows a protest even though society/media tries to portray a religion in a negative manner. I came to ask myself the question if a church has ever been watched by cctv’s the way we’re watching Mosque.

Module 4 - ‘FIGHT THE POWER’

PERSONAL MODULE EVALUATION

Having the opportunity to create and develop our brief all the way trough the module was an excellent opportunity for us to break down an issue that we care about. It was a chance for us to expose a problematic touching us or our society. I had understood that a challenge was presented to me through every step of organisation during the process. Tackling an issue as ‘climate change and sustainability’ was not an easy task to do because of all the the element that the issue involves so it was hard to pin point the the main aspect to develop. Indeed, a lot has to do with what causes global warming but after doing my research, I felt like no one was tackling the main cause to climate change. This is why I took my chance with this creative brief by designing two posters.

After gathering all the information, it was not easy to put that in perspective and start working towards my posters design. Therefore, my first attempt into the making process started with several sketches and visualization; that I believed being perfect at the time but thanks to my ALS group I got to see that I was not really going where I needed to. I was to focused on ‘Why no one is targeting the main cause to climate change’ (which is animal agriculture) that I lost focus on the second part of my brief being the sustainability of our planet. Being in an Action Learning Sets was extremely beneficial to everyone in the group as it allowed us to gain valid input in how we could put our ideas in practice. I then made some extra research and took a new directive into the production of my first poster.

I then did some further research and came to the conclusion that the best way to put the factor of sustainability in perspective would have to enter the concept of time with is directly related to sustainability. I start looking to exiting poster and campaigns to see how designer would introduce time in their work. This is when I came across the campaign “BirdLife” that showcases hourglasses with birds trapped inside. From there, I decided not to only focus on the matter of animal extinction but to expose everything wrong that is going on with our planet such as pollution, deforestation, animal extinction, water use, human kind, … I used illustrator to create element of design specific to each problematic. And, in representation of the time passing by I chose to use water as we use 5% of it in a regular domestic household while 55% of water were used in the animal agriculture.

I needed my poster to spark even an ounce of engagement as I believe no one could stand still while our planet is going towards a dark future because of us.

In addition to the graphics of my first poster, there was still a point I hadn’t the opportunity to make. My argument being against climate change, I was chocked when, during my research, I came across statements of numerous people that stated that global warming wasn’t real. I had to do something about that hence the production of my second piece.

I strongly believe that the previous generation didn’t fight in two World War for us to not have a world afterwards. Hence, why I believe more than ever that climate change is the great battle of our generation and as designer we have an obligation to put the world out there. And what tool could we use in order to be effective in our task? I will have to say that the best tool to use would have to be Typography. I started to do research on typography and the use of it. The perspective lecture we had through the year were really helpful when I started my research but the lecture about colour played an important role in finding the International typography also known as the Swiss Style, emerged in the 1920s and was made famous by designers in Switzerland during the 1950s. The fact that the Swiss Style saw the day in times of war was a sign for me; I had to use that method in the making of my poster. The elements of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces, and flush left, ragged right text.

Besides the style it self, I saw some of the best poster I had seen so far using that typography. It was my first time coming across a Josef Müller-Brockmann leader of the Swiss Style During the mid 20th century at the Zurich School of Art. Mike Joyce, he uses a 100 years old typeface but still make it work for our generation. This is why I decided to incorporate this typography to my project since one of his personal project is related to climate change & sustainability. The origin of the style resonates with me and my project just like a throw back in time, and two, because the use of such a big bold font is crucial as in the first read of my poster there will be a message “BLUE PLANET” being the solution to my issue.

Finally, in the making of my poster I used Photoshop, I put my first element of design by using the font Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk which is proper to the Swiss Style in bold to have that big impact on the first read. Then, I used the blending option on Photoshop to change the colour of my letters to get some great colours to my poster and changed the that allowed me to put the letters on top of each and still allow the reader to see the word clearly. I believe that my attempt to manage that typography was a success and I will definitely keep trying to master it and more.

Final Outcome Poster (Swiss Style)

Blue Panet Swiss Style Poster

I used photoshop to design mine poster, on this first slide I put my first element of design by using the font Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk (proper to the Swiss Style) in bold to have that big impact on the first read.

Then, I used the blending option on photoshop and changed the colour of my letters that allowed me to put the letters on top of each and still allow the reader to see the word clearly. The guide line tool also gave me the opportunity to crop my poster accurately and to keep everything straight.

I repeated the first steps with the second read with is the word ”PLANET” still using the font Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk bold this time smaller than the first read to keep it clean. The text is still in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk , this time in regular. I decided to keep the same font to respect the Swiss Style as much as I could

Climate Change / Swiss Style

After learning more about the Swiss Style typography, I’ve decided to design a poster by using this amazing style. One, for the origin of the style that resonate to me and my project ( it’s kind of a throw back in time), and two, because the use of such a big bold font is crucial as in the first reading of my poster will be a message “BLUE PLANET” the solution to my issue.

SENSORY ADVENTURE

During this week we were given a mini task for our project, were given an audio file to listen to. Afterwards, we were sent in town with the objective to record our journey and then we had to describe it with the help of a list word (starting point) given to us by our tutors.

Perspectives 11: Language

This lecture was about the basics of semiotics and how they are communicating meaning. We learnt about the work of different philosopher one of them being Roland Barthes Perspectives a French theorist and philosopher who found semiotics very useful in his analysis of various cultural materials.

According to Barthes, signs are either ‘denoted’ or ‘connoted’

Denotation - direct meaning - ‘it is what it is’

Connotation - interpreted meaning - another layer

In this case, the detonation of this image is ‘heart’ and the connotation would be ‘love’.

We also came across Charles Sanders Peirce an American philosopher and scientist, he developed a more complex semiotic system centred around the idea of interpretation.

He stays that there are three modes of sign:

Iconic: These are signs which resemble their meaning in some way, attempting to look like an intended concept.

Indexical: These are signs which indicate what they stand for by a link or a cause.

Symbolic: These are signs in which the relationship between the signifier and the signified is totally arbitrary. Another meaning altogether is conveyed by the sign.

Moodboard

Moodboard and new directive after ALS meeting!

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