World Hunger Research

The issue is more about poverty as a whole. Maybe I could tackle the issue of poverty through visuals of food to tie in about starvation. 

Child Soldiers Research

Ageing Population Research

Social Issues Ideas

Torture.

'Liking' isn't helping. World issues and social media.

Child soldiers.

Poverty and starvation. 

Homelessness.

Treatment of women.

Exotic animal products. 

LGBT adoption rights, marital rape, euthanasia, abortion, GMO foods, mandatory military service, animal cruelty, immigration, syrian refugees, obesity, species extinction, climate change, education fees, government spending, welfare benefits, air pollution, ageing population, mental health stigma, the sugar crisis.

Something to think about...

Individual Tutorial 2

Notes from tutorial: 

• Maybe find a focus for chapter two that all my other sources can be pitched against. 
• Use smaller pieces of information (not from main theorists) to support the theories. 
• Be rigorous with referencing, don't leave anything to chance of being misunderstood as my own words.
• Use a few different social issues for visual experimentation.

Response
It was good to get some feedback on my 1000 word draft of my context and themes chapter. I know a lot of it needs rewording but I now know that I need to make sure that the points I am making about different theories and theorists need to relate back to my essay question clearly. I need to try and use the wording of my question in my text to make these connections clear. I have to add a few more theorists including Klein and Geoff Mulgan. When I have done this I need to go back and start focussing on how I am writing and making sure that all my sentences make sense and flow well. 

I need to find some more examples, they are easy to find because there is so many but I need to select a few good ones that there is enough information about to write about. Pete clarified that it is not necessary for me to go into loads of detail about each case I find, they can be used to support or oppose other more in depth case studies or in my context and themes chapter as examples. 

I mainly had research to show for my practical work, not my own drawings which is starting to panic me a bit. I need to decide on some social issues to give me some subject matter to work with. I raised the issue of how many social issues I should be looking at, I felt that only focussing on one issue would mean that issue would become the focus of my project, when really I want the deceptive ideas behind it that I am finding out in my essay to be the focus, if that makes sense. Pete suggested that starting with around three to five issues would be good for experimentation but this will probably need to be narrowed down as the project progresses. We also spoke about how I could look at how the responsibility could be shifted from company to consumer or vice versa depending on how the issue is tackled. 

Naomi Klein - No Logo (2)

Chapter Twelve: Culture Jamming

p294

• Speaking of newer generations in this way implies that we are immune to the techniques advertising uses because we have been brought up with it all our lives. 

p303

• They want specific groups of people to be a part of certain campaigns because it shows inclusivity and an awareness of current social issues. 

p306

• This tells us that the public did start to catch on to what advertisers were doing to sell products to them and to continue the battle to still keep the consumers on their side, they took to 'self-parody'. To do this, they must have been in a pretty sad state. 

Chapter Sixteen: A Tale of Three Logos

p368

• People start to question that gestures of brands that seem positive. It is only when you look back to their actual company ethics that you can see that they are allowing child factory workers to suffer for the benefit of children in the city. Consumers start to see through the process and choose to go with their own morals rather than the ones being sold to them. This is not always the case though.

p369

• Brand ambassadors and people on the promotion end of the brand often don't know/care/understand the full story of the brand. 
• Michael Jordan in this case says that its not his job to 'play politics' - does this draw a parallel to the practice of an illustrator who is only brought into the frame at this point in the journey as well. If they are given a brief for an advertising campaign or similar, is it their responsibility to 'play politics'?

p378

• The system doesn't always seem to work both ways, as when Nike is faced with questions about sweatshops, its claims that they are 'not political activists', they are 'a footwear manufacturer'. This is because this is what suits at the time to get out of trouble. However, when the sales are in their favour, they are more than happy to claim to be all about the meaning of sport rather than the makers and sellers of trainers. 

p379

• "Don't look at us, we just make shoes" pretty much sums up the lack of backbone these brands have. To quickly throw away everything they have campaigned for to hide behind their products shows that the brand image was just a gimmick. If they truly believed that this is what the brand stood for, there would have been no sweatshop scandal in the first place as it would not fit in with their morals. 

Naomi Klein - No Logo (1)

Introduction: A Web of Brands

p xviii

• People don't take much time to look past the brands themselves and look at what they are actually doing. Does this match to the image they put out to their consumers?

Chapter One: New Branded World

p4

• The idea of marketing isn't about the actual object for sale, it is about the image of the brand. It is almost as if the product itself is taking second place. 
• The company still wants to make profits but can see that there is alternative way to doing this than just distributing their products. 

p7

• "brand essence" and "corporate consciousness" suggests that the brand has human-like feelings and actually cares about the world. 
• By making the brand more humanlike, so to speak, it is easier to infiltrate people's lives as it connects with them emotionally and has the same cultural concerns as them. 

p9

• The world of advertising is a continuous competition about who can get the most attention so they are always thinking of new ways to get to the top. As advertising progresses it becomes more 'intrusive' which suggests it is forcing itself into people's lives. 
• The idea of people becoming immune to advertising is interesting, its all about making something more and more powerful to get through to the consumers. When you have to push to do something like this, this is often where morals no longer take a priority.

p21

• "Brands not products!" speaks for itself. 
• Changing the idea of what was being sold meant that people are buying into a lifestyle or experience rather than a physical thing. 

p23

• 'a way of life, an attitude, a set of values, a look, an idea' 
• It is almost as if people feel they need to buy into these brands to prove that these are their own morals and values. 
• I find the swatch statement is ridiculous, how can a company put a price on the idea of time and still manage to sell products from this. Do people actually believe this?

Chapter 2 Progress (Context and Themes)

This is the progress I have made on 'Chapter Two: Context and Themes' so far, I still have a few more theorists to add before I go back through and make sure it is all written and referenced properly. At the moment this is just what has come out of my head and I understand it can and will be written a lot better.

George Boas takes the fair approach that although people may have the same label of profession or practice, their intentions, moral and attitudes can differ greatly and they can present very different problems to society on a range of levels (1947 : 270). In relation to responsibility, Boas uses the analogy that it is not that one person is making sounds and another is making pictures, it is about the ‘kinds’ of sounds and pictures that they presented to society. This moves the focus away from the media and tools of the creative process and leaves the focus on the intentions of the individual, inherently making the sense of social responsibility a very personal thing.  Another issue raised in ‘The Social Responsibility of the Artist’ is that the purpose of an artwork does not remain the same forever. It is also possible that it will be appreciated for a different purpose or reason entirely, for example appreciating artwork for its pure aesthetic and not for its deeper message is totally understandable. It is unknown whether this shift in judgement will be positive or a negative but one thing is for sure, that the artist is not in control of the interpretations of his work: ‘as soon as one lives, breathes, speaks, acts, one runs the risk of being misunderstood.’ [RELATE TO BARTHES?]

However, Boas goes on to describe the concept of the interpretation being entirely dependent on the thoughts of the interpreter as being ‘sheer nonsense’ because the physical contents image itself limits the concepts that a viewer can draw from it. This leads to the belief that the responsibility for artwork lies somewhere between the creator and the receiver, and where the mark lies on this scale is dependent on the thoughts and actions of both parties.

This is where Milton Glaser’s ‘Road to Hell’ becomes relevant. The Road to Hell is a list of eleven questions which ask designers to what levels they would go to to deceive their audience. The questions become increasingly difficult with the first being about making a package seem bigger than it actually is and the last being designing an ad for a product which could eventually cause the user’s death. It forces creatives to think about their morals in relation to their practice and the various stages of difficulty in answering the questions shows that a sense of social responsibility is not a black and white concept. It is a scale which creatives have their place within. 

Milton Glaser’s approach to this topic is that being lied to is an all too common occurrence in today’s consumer society (    ). We are lied to so often that we are becoming immune to it and are starting to accept it as normality. In his essay ‘Ambiguity and Truth’ he gives examples and analogies of how we are deceived by advertising and states that as a society ‘we can no longer recognise them as lies’ and ‘the assault has changed our brains and our view of reality and truth.’ In relation to social responsibility, it is clear that the people running these campaigns either do not feel a sense of responsibility to their audience or they are not acting on it. It gives the impression that there are heroes and villains of design, those who care and those who don’t, but the truth is that there is no distinctive line between the two. 

Glaser advises in this interview not to ‘get stuck in your own belief system’ (2009) which suggests that you have to venture outside what you believe in to explore other viewpoints. This could be taken in two ways, either going against your beliefs and actively seeking the opposing viewpoint or it could just mean venturing into new and unknown territories. In relation to social responsibility, only working for causes within your belief system can provide you with a strong moral grounding, but maybe it results in missing out on exploring your full creative potential. 

Tibor Kalman’s manifesto (1998) takes the approach that creative people nowadays are working to serve the corporate committees and as a result are creating work void of passion or real thought. 'Our culture is corporate culture.' It used to be the opposite of this, but the commercial potential of culture was recognised and taken advantage of. He does provide some hope that there are some entrepreneurs who 'understand that culture and design are not about fatter wallets, but about creating a future.' These individuals are described as lunatics which tells us that this a very small minority of people who are willing to go against the standard procedures of corporate committees. The manifesto advises to 'use their money to change the world' which implies that creatives need to make the most of the situation they are in by still still working for corporations but using the projects to create the best possible outcome for society. In comparison to similar manifestos by Ken Garland (1964) and Adbusters (2000), this seems to be the most realistic and reasonable proposal of a solution.

‘First Things First’ (Garland, 1964) does not seem to acknowledge that contributing to society through their work can be as much of a gimmick for selling products as generic advertising and it gives the impression that a wholly ethical and moral practice is achievable in the industry. 

Adbusters’ renewed manifesto seems to say that as soon as you tackle a social issue rather than directly using your skills just to sell a product, your moral conscious as a creative is somehow clearer and your skills are being put to better use. The manifesto lists 'cultural interventions and social marketing campaigns' as examples of 'more worthy' uses for their skills, yet there is no mention of the potential moral controversy of producing work for these causes. 'Commercial work has always paid the bills' tells us that this is the main source of work for creatives and advertising is one of the more stable areas of the creative industries to be involved in. It also suggests that at the end of the day, the priority for individuals is to make money which is understandable as this is a job. However, as they want the focus to shift, the question needs to be asked whether they would be willing to compromise profit for stronger moral grounding. 

1,053 words

Milton Glaser - Ambiguity and Truth (and The Road to Hell)

'Pablo Picasso, spent many years depicting subjects from several different points of view at once, understanding that any single point of view was a misrepresentation.’

• Things can be interpreted in many different ways so offering one viewpoint is effectively a lie in itself as not everyone will agree on the same thing. 
• Applying the same approach to an idea that Picasso applied to a physical subject can potentially create a more honest understanding of a topic. 

‘Purgatory is where most of us are right now. In any event, awareness of what we actually do in life seems worth thinking about.’

• Purgatory is supposedly a place where people can cleanse themselves of their sins before going to heaven. It is an alternative to the concept of hell where people have no chance of going to heaven. In relation to social responsibility, it tells us that people are aware of the good and bad they are putting to their audience through their work and they can make conscious decisions about it. 

‘...idealistic young people as yet seemingly uncorrupted by money or professional life.’

• This suggests that these 'idealistic young people' will probably become corrupted as their career in the industry continues. It gives the impression that the value they hold for money will eventually surpass how much they value their own morals. This raises the argument of whether social responsibility is only a priority to certain types of people and still only to a certain extent. 

‘…but the truth is we are subjected to a thousand of such misrepresentations every day of our lives.’ 

• We are being lied to all the time. Advertising is not a truthful industry. 

‘we can no longer recognise them as lies’

• As a society we are becoming immune to the lies we are fed everyday. This could lead on to the idea that when an advert comes around claiming to care about social issues, we buy into it because we are glad something positive is happening. However, we don't look into the concept deep enough to understand whether it is actually genuine or not. 

‘the assault has changed our brains and our view of reality and truth.’ 

• We struggle to understand and trust brands because they have warped our idea of what to believe. If you are lied to often enough, you struggle to complete trust anything, it spark cynicism. 

'Most of us here today are in the transmission business. While we don’t often originate the content of what we transmit, we are an essential part of communicating ideas to a public that it affected by what we say. Should telling the truth be a rudimental requirement of this role? Is there a difference between lying to your wife and friends and lying to people you don’t know?’

• This quote starts me thinking about how the nature of this industry and the structure of the way we work. When we are working for a client, are we actually working for them or are we working for their audience? 
• 'Don't shoot the messenger' comes to mind here. Does the responsibility lie with the company funding the work or does it lie with the person who actually pieces together how this is going to be communicated to society?

‘…the greater the psychic distance the easier it is to persuade people to act against their own self interest.’

• This links back to what I was saying before. Maybe the companies who fund the work find it easier to propose a deceptive campaign because they are not the ones making it. As a creative (or the messenger in this case) you are one step closer to the audience so potentially will find it harder to go against your personal morals on the subject. 

‘...lying has become acceptable in our public life.’

‘I’m not sure when the word “spin” replaced “lie”’ 

‘Marketing can be shameless.’

‘…a lie repeated often enough, becomes the truth.’

• People's ideas of truth and lies are being played with but it is going united in society. Although there is an awakening to excessive consumerism, much of society cannot see through the false facade they are presented with. Is it unfair to blame consumers on the ground of naïvety and/or ignorance when this has been ingrained in their brains all their lives?

Summary of approach to include in context and themes chapter...

Milton Glaser’s approach to this topic is that being lied to is an all too common occurrence in today’s consumer society. We are lied to so often that we are becoming immune to it and are starting to accept it as normality. In his essay ‘Ambiguity and Truth’ he gives examples and analogies of how we are deceived by advertising and states that as a society ‘we can no longer recognise them as lies’ and ‘the assault has changed our brains and our view of reality and truth.’ In relation to social responsibility, it is clear that the people running these campaigns either do not feel a sense of responsibility to their audience or they are not acting on it. It gives the impression that there are goodies and baddies of design, those who care and those who don’t, but the truth is that there is no distinctive line between the two.

This is where Milton Glaser’s ‘Road to Hell’ becomes relevant. The Road to Hell is a list of eleven questions which ask designers to what levels they would go to to deceive their audience. The questions become increasingly difficult with the first being about making a package seem bigger than it actually is and the last being designing an ad for a product which could eventually cause the user’s death. It forces creatives to think about their morals in relation to their practice and the various stages of difficulty in answering the questions shows that a sense of social responsibility is not a black and white concept. It is a scale which creatives have their place within.

Authenticity - Medium or Morals

This is a post I wrote on my Linkedin profile for PPP but the topic is related to my dissertation. The theme is authenticity and the ideas in it summarise at how personal and professional morals provide the grounding to an authentic piece of work. 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/authenticity-medium-morals-naomi-smith?trk=prof-post

Practical Research Workshop

I came into this session feeling really stressed about cop and about the whole course to be honest. I really wanted to utilise this time wisely to clarify some things about my practical work and force myself to make some decisions to get things straight in my head. 

Feedback from peer crit

Maybe choose an issue I don’t actually care about to satire the whole concept of social responsibility and trying to make a change to something you are passionate about - I am concerned I am not good at satire! 

Consider it a realistic brief that I have been given and I have to pretend to care about it in order to make the work. 

Research Proposal for Practical Response

Overarching Theme: Social Responsibility

Specific Subject: How a sense of social responsibility is used as a gimmick to sell products in consumer culture. 

Products: A set of prints or series of imagery to be applied onto products. 

Proposed outcomes: A range of products that are commercially viable for the mass market. 

Media and processes: Analogue processes to give a sense of personality and trust but combined with digital reproduction processes to show the process of making something commercial. 

Questions

Is there an issue I don’t know about yet that I can use to base my project on with no pre-existing thoughts on the topic?

Could I choose a social issue I don’t have much interest in and use this to clearly show how people can use social issues they don’t really care about to make money?

What processes do I want to use and how can I link these into my project?

Questions raised about my brief…

How many images do I intend to produce?

At the moment I don’t really know because I don’t exactly know what these images are going to be like and how long they are going to take to produce. At the moment I am thinking around ten designs would be s good number. However, as my intentions are to apply these to products, I may choose between four and six images to take through to this because if I am exploring how they can be applied to products I think I will end up with too many end outcomes for the product range to look professional and concise. I will need to be selective at this point. 

What the of home products do I want to apply my images to?

It is really important that I narrow down my topic soon and choose an issue that will supply me with some subject matter to work with, I think when I have decided on this information I will be able to choose specific products that are appropriate for the subject. For example, I have been thinking back to my book project from first year where I worked with the issue of human trafficking in the tea trade. If I had used this imagery to apply to products I would have focussed on the kitchen and products relating to tea specifically. 

What specific techniques do I want to use within analogue and digital media?

I do want to explore screen print this year and I think exploring the idea of analogue media maybe appearing more trustworthy to consumers is interesting. I wouldn’t want this to take over my whole project but I do want to look at the different ways of applying imagery to products and analysing which comes across as the most genuine. When it comes to the initial image making though, I will be sticking to analogue media and exploring different processes and tools. 

Digitally, I do want to develop my Photoshop skills especially when editing my analogue imagery to retain the authenticity of the handmade process. I also want to improve my pattern making skills which will come after my images have been made and I am looking at applying them onto products. I also want to become more proficient in making professional looking mockups, I would like to photograph my own set ups this year that I can apply my images to instead of relying on online versions.  

A question to myself...

What issues am I interested in that also has relating imagery that I would want to work with?

Healthy diet - fruit and vegetables, natural foods. 

Sweatshops/young factory workers - literally relates to the idea that people care more about products than people. 

The environment - natural forms, land, animals

Organisation Reflection

Looking back at my time plan, I seem to be on track. My practical work hasn't really got anywhere yet but I feel like I am still laying the groundwork for the whole project with my research. This week was dedicated to a survey but I don't think I am going to do this anymore. I think I can gain more relevant information from theorists and use my practical work more as primary research. 

After my issues with organising my work earlier this week, I bought a ring binder and now have all of my printed research and written notes filed neatly in the order that they appear on my blog. This will make it a lot easier to keep my research in order and find what I am looking for at tutorials.