OUGD501 - SB02 - Study Task 05 - Research

For this study task, I will show that I am able to identify the required information and subject matter to write my essay.

(Task 01)

First I will begin with outlining my subject areas. 

The main subject of my essay will be heavily linked to society and the effects of modern day pollution levels. 

Within this subject area, I can now define the main sub-areas which I will write about

The first being:

• Sustainable design, examples of which I may use are design by Italian architect Stefano Boeri and also, Project Ara created by Google.
• The effect of pollution on the planet using posts and stories from the media and then backing these statements with facts and figures.
• How this will impact society, the positives and negatives of modern day pollution levels and the effort needed to change the issues.
• How this discussion can be translated into design. Possibly poster designs or even a newspaper design.

(Task 02)

Target Audience Research

The geographic of my Target Auidence

(Country) - Would be all countries that contribute to global warming and pollution, Region is not really important regarding my subject choice

The demographic of my Target Audience

(Age) - I believe that that the ages to consider are probably when people become old enough to make concious decisions whilst being fully aware that their decisions/choices/actions have a damaging effect on the planet.

Any other demographic is not really important when it comes to my choice in subject.

The Pychographic of my Target Audience

(Interests) - I think definitely people who care about the planet, but also I think it is important to target those who are not so interested about sustainability.

(Lifestyle) - I would say that people with a more comfortable lifestyle are more likely to contribite to pollution. Also people who are uneducated and do not have respect for the planet or anything apart from themselves are also people that would contribute most to pollution. 

Below are 3 types of personas (Target Audience examples)

(Task 03)

Below are 4 visual examples of design that is relevant to my project

OUGD501 - Study Task 06 - Consumer idnetities

Reading the text I have built a large collection of small extracts and notes which I have been able to use to summarize the text and the subject that it is discussing.

To start, Research suggests that people not only buy products for their functions but also because it somehow represents who they are, and can also be used to identify how people judge other people by their material possessions, (consumption and identity). - Reinforcing their identity and where people belong socially. - self-recognition begins around the age of 2 - As we grow older recognition and concept of self, becomes more complex. - Identities can also be molded/changed by lots of variables such as other people such as friends and family, the same goes for beliefs and religion. - Humans categorize other people in relation to themselves. - Brands and products can be used to identify a person and what they are like.

(These notes show that there is a strong bond between brand and buyer. That there is a lot more meaning in the materialistic items that people buy).

Continuously comparing ourselves to others helps to build positive self-esteem, meaning we can feel better or worse compared to what other people own.

The text then starts a new section called with the heading (symbolic meaning of products).

Categorizing and comparing ourselves clearly shows that material goods have some meaning. - Individuals learn from a young age that material possessions mean certain things. - Children learn that other people respond to them depending on the kind of things that they own. - There are also people that do not like the idea of being represented by the products that they buy and therefore will actively not buy certain products to 'not become a certain person'. - It is clear that people consume to represent who they are, but does consumption actually alter who a person is? - Assumptions about the person effects how we respect them.

So reading all of my notes collectively, the text explains that people have the conscious and subconscious ability to build their personality and control the way that they are perceived by the products that they buy.

Completing this study task makes me think about my own target audience and what my designs mean to them. Fortunately for me, my research has the entirety of the earth population in mind, because my research is all about the sustainability of the planet. 

OUGD501 - SB01 - ST01 - Triangulation

After reading all three texts it is very clear that they all discuss a very similar subject which is the cinema and sexual desire and representation and how it is perceived. 

To start with the first extract of text from the book 'Cultural Theory and Popular Culture' written by J. Storey.

The text seems to be based on sexual desire and how these subjects link wit the subconscious mind. The text also relates to the cinema quite a few a times. The text starts off by discussing reality, reality being the symbol of what is real. Then the text mentions that symbolic order confirms who we are 'as in' (I think I am this and I think I am that) but unless it is recognized by myself and others then it is not true. The text labels this discussion as the 2nd stage of development. 

The next section of the text is labeled as the 3rd stage of development and focuses on the Oedipus complex. 'The encounter of sexual difference' the text goes onto talking about identifying the fact that as we grow we transition and begin to realize that our connection with our mother be the same at is it was when we were children. 

Then onto the idea that 'romantic love' is the solution to all problems.

That love makes us whole and has the ability to complete our being.

The text makes a point about 'love promises to return us to the 'real' the real being being the moment that we were inseparable from our mother's body' - This then explained through the use of a film storyline explanation - which ends with the main character falling in his search.

The text then moves onto a new subject called 'cine - psychoanalysis' - This moves onto talking about sexual attraction through sight and our ability of vision. - Looking at a person as an object and subjecting them to a controlling gaze. - A similar point is then made about using sight of something that we find sexually attractive to stimulate our sexual feelings.'

After collecting all of these points from the first text it is clear that the author is discussing the psychology of sexual attraction but also how cinema portrays this is a certain way, A certain way being a that the subject is made to seem a lot more innocent than it actually is.

Moving onto the 2nd extraction of text.

Which starts off by discussing (psychoanalysis) to discover how film reflects, reveals and plays on the interpretation of sexual difference. - The text the goes on to talk about cinema or something similar, then moving g onto talking about the sexual image of a woman. - That this subject has interests when it is also combined with the subject of feminism. 

The extract then starts a new point discussing how the unconscious mind structures the ways seeing and pleasure in looking. (which is also a subject which is mentioned in the first text). Then the text speaks about cinema and Hollywood having one important aspect. That it has a skilled and satisfying manipulation of visual pleasure. (then again talking about cinema) - which offers a number of possible pleasures, such as the pleasure of looking and at the same time there is pleasure in being looked at. - Mentions Freud and (scopophilia, which also mentioned in the first text). - the text moves onto talking about scopophilia being the ability to take people as sexual objects and (subjecting the to a controlling gaze, also mentioned in the first text). Then goes on to talking about the subject being much more secretive and elusive than how it is portrayed in cinema and film. (the same topic discussed in the first text). CCinema builds the subject of the beauty of the human form. - The text then moves onto explaining this in more detail. Using the fact that when a child recognizes it's own reflection in a mirror (is crucial for the development of the ego).

After collecting all of these points from the second text it is clear that there are many differences between this text and the first. like the fact that both are based on the subject of sexual attraction and understanding it more and also how the popular cinema and film portrays the subject. There are a lot of similar phrases in each of the texts also. 

Now moving onto the 3rd and final text. 

This text speaks a lot about how cinema produces the sexual image. The text references a movie as an example of how a man who is physically fit and woman is portrayed. The text goes on to explain how the male looks (his features, expression, and what not.. compared to the woman who is staring at him (the controlled gaze which was mentioned in both of the previous texts).

The text explains that this represents a sadistic pleasure and also compares this subject to the theories of Freud. 

After collecting these notes in the third text it is very clear that this is more based on how cinema portrays sexual deviance and image. It is actually quite an elusive and subconscious subject compared to how cinema and film make it look.

All three of the texts are definitely linked, as each discusses the same subject points, constantly referring to Freud and subconscious behavior and the sexual imagery that is produced by cinema.

OUGD501 - SB02 - ST03 - Defining the brief

OUGD501 - Study Task 02 - Parody and Pastiche

For this task I am to take the words Parody and Pastiche into mind and read Fredric Jameson concept of 'pastiche' and a text from Linda Hutcheons Parody.

I will also read commentaries for both texts so I have a better understanding.

By doing this I will be able to write a definition on parody and pastiche taking into account both authors explanation into these two ideas.

Jameson's text talks about how 'pastiche' has become the new 'parody'. He tries to get the idea across that modernist styles have now and are still becoming modernist codes. 

Pastiche is where authors of any type of work imitate a previous style.. and by doing this we take something that was once a modern style and turn it into something that is classed as post modernistic.

Jameson talks about how this is when we loose out connection to history, because history is being turned into a set or series of styles and things we suspect will happen if we put it into our own words. We can no longer understand events in history or era's in the past apart from what we get from texts. All we can understand and become used to are styles and codes ready for changing or commodification.

Jameson relates pastiche to postmodernism in several ways. The first being postmodern architecture, the architects of today that have used styles and ideas from architecture in the  past.

Secondly was the subject and idea of nostalgic films that paint the past and historic events but create it and cover it with a glossy fresh image, how Jameson says replaces 'real' history with fake or aesthetic styles.

Thirdly, post modern historic novels can hardly represent the past but instead only has the ability to give ideas and stereotypes about the past until this style of historic portray becomes some sort of 'pop history'. 

This is how different types of media was used to explain how the pastiche works. How we constantly turn modern facts and historic events into postmodern styles and codes ready to be folded into the present day image.

Jamesons tone of voice in his text was quite conversational and informative whilst formal at the same time. Using explanatory English which gave the formal vibe of this description into the connection between history, media and pastiche.

Below are quotes from Jameson's text which I found useful into helping me understand how he used and explained the pastiche.

I could now read the text written by Linda Hutcheon. 

Hutcheon talks about post modernism being a contradictory enterprise and how artists self consciously point their own findings, realisations and work to art work in the past.

She also states that post modernism signals it's contradictory dependence and independence from the ideas that claim to be modernistic that have now passed. Basically Hutcheon wants to get the idea across that postmodernism is just a contradictory of modernism.

Hutcheon uses media as an example to describe this, "even the most self-conscious and parodic of contemporary works do not try to escape, but indeed foreground, the historical, social, ideological contexts in which they have existed and continue to exist. This is as true of music as of painting; it is as valid for literature as it is for architecture".

So after reading the text it is clear that there is a theme of postmodernism being an overall contradiction of life and past art.


I then read the introduction into this text so I can understand what Hutcheon is saying in her own words.

A main feature that distinguishes post modernism from modernism is that it takes the form of self consciousness, self contradictory and self undermining statements. 
Hutcheon says how by using irony and installing parody shows how present examples or representations link to past ones.

After reading this the final point of summary is that post modernism is just a lesser history filled quotation of past forms. 

Hutcheon relates parody to post modernism by saying describing how post modern art is just a contradictory to past modern styles.
Hutcheon's tone of voice seems much more argumentative that Jameson's, in a way that the author is trying to really get her view cross into the readers mind. So in a way the explanation and description comes across much more forceful yet informal at the same time because I feel more at one with the author. 

Below are a fe quotes which were useful in helping me to put together this explanation.

OUGD501 - Context of Practice 03 - Proposal - ISSUU

Below is the link to my COP 03 proposal

http://issuu.com/billyfairclough/docs/billy_fairclough_____cop_03_proposa?workerAddress=ec2-54-208-97-9.compute-1.amazonaws.com

OUGD501 - Practical Work - Final Designs

After some experimentation and research I have managed to design a set of posters which express the subject of subconscious advertisements for my essay.

Below are my final designs

My first design is definitely my favourite, I am really happy with how my experimentation of colour has worked out. I really wanted to achieve something bold with this these designs and I think I have. My idea of using the image of a barcode and then turning that into something symbolic seems to have worked in my favour. For this design I really wanted to express the subject of my essay, when talking about advertising and subliminal advertising, the idea of confusion seems to work well. The feedback i received for this design was quite positive. I got a lot of nice comments for my colour and choice of image use.

Fot my second design I relied heavily on my research to express the idea of individuality and conformity. For this piece I wanted to express the meaning of today's society and what it seems to be like living in a consumerist world. The use of the symbolic bar code to represent individual people, and the use of colour to make the conformity subject and obvious one.

For my final design, again sticking with a similar subject but using the ability of image manipulation to design something that expresses the idea that in some way, in our consumerist world we are trapped by the symbol of the bar code and what it means to individual people. placing importance on materialistic items.