The feedback I got from my hotdog books overall was positive. The people in my peer review gave some really useful feedback and helped me to make decisions about which books had potential. There were three favourites.
The first one was the set by step guide to building identity. I had left quite a lot of the mock-up blank with just subheading but it raised the question of whether I should fill these saved with words explaining each category or whether I should leave some space for someone to actually fill it in. I think its a nice idea to have a book that people can fill in and interact with, especially with a theme like identity, it would make the experience more personal to the individual in my opinion.
The second book they liked was the one with the photos of people and the fact files which you wouldn’t expect to match their exterior due to the way we instinctively stereotype people. Although I got good feedback on this idea, I don’t think this would make a very good publication. Although the concept is there, it would become very repetitive and probably uninteresting after people realised what the message was.
The final book that got a really good response was the one full of things that society never questions. I raised my concerns about it causing offence to people but the general response from my group was that if I word it as a question, I am not putting across an opinion, merely asking the reader what they think. It would take a lot more research to come up with enough material to fill a book but I think it could be manageable. I could then focus of imagery to work alongside the question on the page. I have a concern that this book would be very broad in the topics it relates to and I think I might find myself finding out a little bit about a range of topics instead of researching heavily into one topic and fully understanding it.
This was our mind map from the session task.
'What?', 'why?' and 'how?' are the key to forming the proposal.
Things to consider:Are the themes I am looking at too close/far from my essay question?
What type of book will I be producing and what is the purpose of it?
Who will my audience be and how will I target them?
With my project linking to a few topics that need to be handled sensitively, how will I ensure that my work does not offend people, will it need checking by a third party?
Will the book be predominantly image based or will the text make the most impact, supported by visuals? Which would work best to get my point across?
Draft Proposal
I intend to produce and 8-12 page publication based on the strange concepts in our world that society never seems to question. The book will highlight issues relating to race, religion and culture to make people think more about the world around them and ask themselves whether they choose to accept what they are taught or look deeper into world issues themselves. The book will stimulate thoughts and conversations getting people talking and forming their own opinions on topics, stemming from unbiased material. Identity was the prominent theme within my essay and I think this book, by making people form opinions, will help people think about their own identity and where they fit in within society. The book will combine written word and visuals to directly ask a question as well as highlighting things to consider during the process of answering it. The book needs to be impartial so it doesn't sway people's thoughts but I also want to get across the idea that as humans, we tend to shy away from tackling big issues head on and question the way the world works.
