OUGD601 Design Boards

OUGD601 Evaluation

Overall, this module has been incredibly successful. I chose to answer the question 'to what extent is there a relationship between gender and visual culture?' and I believe I have answered this question thoroughly and to a high standard within both the written element and practical element of this module. This was a very interesting topic for me to research, which is one of the reasons I chose this question as I really enjoyed researching into the relationship between sex and visual culture for COP2. 

A strength of this project was definitely my own time management for the written element of the module, as I had a very tight project plan to work towards every week, which meant I was never overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to do to complete it. I also gave myself a lot of time over summer and in September to research before beginning the essay which was definitely beneficial as I had a very detailed outline of the content that my essay would involve.

However, a weakness of this project was the practical element, and this was due to poor time management. I thought I was really going to struggle to reach the word count of the essay, so for this reason I solely focused on the written element for most of the module, however it turned out that the written element was actually a lot easier than the practical.

Having said that, I am really proud of the publication that I created as it's very informed by the research within the written element, something which is key to the time management of the written element, as I had a range of ideas and I had undertaken a lot of research.

A strength of this project was definitely my participating within the group critiques, and also making sure to ask for feedback off my own back instead of waiting for a group critique. I tried to really engage with them as it was something that I fell down on last year, and I believe it really helped me with both elements of my module. I also tried to give as much feedback as I could to other people to better their projects. 

Along with this, another strength of the module was engaging in tutorials and making sure that I had certain things ready to ask and discuss. This was very helpful and I think it definitely helped with both the written and practical element of the module. 

Another strength of the project was the printing method. As my time management of the practical work wasn’t quite as good as the written element, I didn’t have time to experiment with some of the things I had originally planned, such as scanning in the publication and printing it as a photocopy. This would’ve been really interesting to see, however it wouldn’t have had the overall affect that the final publication currently does, so for this reason I’m still very proud of the final publication, manifesto and posters.

A weakness of the module was definitely the printing of the publication. It really frustrated me that the publication wasn’t perfect as I was hoping it would be a design that would feature in my portfolio. However, I think it still can be, I will just have to reprint the publication in my own time, as the print room was too busy to get it reprinted in time for submission.

Overall, however, this module has been very successful and I have truly enjoyed engaging and researching into gender and visual culture. I think this is something I am going to start following more closely in my own time, as I couldn’t quite believe the statistics about sexual objectification, and I am definitely going to be on the look out for advertisements that don’t use the method of selling products through sex.

OUGD601 Synthesis

The written element of the module was explored to discover whether there was a relationship between gender and visual culture. The essay discussed different types of visual culture, such as the media and advertisements in relation to gender. This was then backed up by primary research about the advetisements that exist today. The conclusion of the dissertation was that there is a relationship between gender and visual culture, however it varies within the kind of visual culture. For example, ladies magazines are ladies magazines have a constantly conflicting ideology, however this ‘does not mean that there may not also be spaces for progessive ideas or cultural contestation’ (Gill, 2007, p.204). 

However, within advertising it was found that there is a huge relationship between visual culture and gender, as most advertisements that have existed in the past and exist in this day and age rely on gender to sell products, often by sexually objectifying women or dehumanisaton.

The aim of the practical element was to produce a publication that would aid graphic designers when creating advertisements to avoid sexual objectification by following six steps. The publication was aimed at graphic designers of all ages, and it was crucial that the publication was designed to appeal to all genders. The research into colour theory was hugely helpful when designing the publication as the concept was strengthened by appealing to both genders by contrasting the usual ideology that boys like blue and girls like pink. 

The overall aesthetic was also an important factor of the publication, as it was inspired by Riot Grrrl zines, and therefore followed a particular style of postmodern design. The typefaces also played a huge part in the aesthetic of the publication, as the bodycopy typeface used was incredibly similar to that used by Riot Grrrls in the 1990s.

Both the written and practical elements correlate to each other due to the content, as both elements explored both advertising and gender neutral advertising and both came to the same conclusion; that advertisements haven’t changed their ideology in around 50 years, and something has to be done about that. It was originally thought that the consumers ideology has to change in order for advertising to progress past using gender, however the first hand research undertaken discovered that many people’s attitudes have already changed, and therefore it’s down to designers and advertisers to attend to that.

To conclude, both the written and practical elements aimed to answer the question ‘is there a relationship between gender and visual culture?’. The answer is yes and the overall belief is that something needs to change so that all genders are included.

OUGD601 Mock Up of Gender Neutral Advertisements

As Simon has suggested that I should make some gender neutral advertisements as evidence that the publication would work and that advertisements don't necessarily need sex to sell, I have decided to create a advertisement for Bic razors, which was one of the first ideas I had on how to tackle the practical side of this project. 

As I have already done a lot of research into this, this should be quite simple to do as I already have a range of ideas. Below are some images taken of both a girl and a boy (I won't mention which is the boy and which is the girl!) 

To make it into an advertisement is very simple, as I already have the concept of 'No Nonsense'. Below is the final advertisement image. This was edited by getting rid of the background of the image and also making sure that there were no very obvious signs that point to which person is the boy and which person is the girl. I then found a stock image of a razor (I did try to take a photograph myself however the image quality was poor) and then adding the slogan and the logo.

OUGD601 Commercial Printing (Hypothetical)

The printing of the publication was successful due to the planning and digital print resource at university, however, if the publication was to be mass produced the publication would definitely be most cost effective if lithoprinting was used. Lithoprinting is a plate often made of aluminium that holds the image, and once the ink is applied only the image is printed. This would be a very cost effective method as only two colours were used through-out the making of this publication, posters and manifesto due to duotone. The stock was already very affordable, at less than 10p per sheet of A3, and the publication could also fit onto an A4 sheet without compromising the size of the publication, meaning the publication could be printed around 8 times a go using lithoprinting.

However, if this publication were to go to commercial printing, there would definitely have to be some changes made due to the faults that occurred when digital printing it.

OUGD601 Stock Choice for Publication, Posters & Manifesto

Originally I had planned to go to Fred Aldous and get some stock to print the publication, posters and manifesto onto, however after some consideration I have decided that this is a bad idea, as I want all of the practical work to be as close to how it would look mass produced as it possibly can be.

For this reason, I am going to use newsprint that is already available at university in digital print. The front cover of the publication is going to be pink stock that will be bought from the library, again keeping costs very low as it is very affordable stock. The only slightly expensive thing that will be used is for the other front covers; these will be clear acetate and coloured acetate.

Ideally, the square would be printed onto the blue acetate, however the acetate doesn't allow for printing onto and so for this reason the clear acetate beneath will give an idea of how the publication would look if the idea was possible.

As for the posters and manifesto, these will also be printed onto newsprint, however instead of using 100gsm stock, these will be printed onto 200gsm stock. This will keep the feel of the practical as a whole a constant and consistent.

OUGD601 Binding Method of Publication

a concertina booklet wouldn't be appropriate as the pagination is very different to the content that I have created. It also limits the number of pages and after a certain amount of pages can become very difficult to read easily.

This binding method wouldn't be appropriate either, as (I think) it's a Chinese stab bind and the pages don't open out fully - it wouldn't be appropriate as a few of the imagery that I have used is full bleed.

This binding method is a pamphlet stitch and would be a very appropriate binding method to use for this project as it is quick and easy to reproduce.

This is a perfect bind. This would also be an appropriate binding method, however the publication would lose the sense of magazine feel and would become a book. It would also mean that I couldn't use the cover that I plan to, so It won't be this binding method chosen.

As the publication is based on the Riot Grrrl zines, the most appropriate method of binding my own publication would be to staple bind it. However, as this won't be possible due to the thickness of the spine and number of pages, I think the most appropriate method of binding will have to be the next best thing, which is a pamphlet stitch. This is a good binding method as it's very easy to do and therefore if the publication were to be mass produced it would be possible to bind the publication a lot quicker than stitching any other kind of binding.