Thursday, 20 October 2016

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

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