Study Task 3- Parody and Pastiche

Each text discusses parody and pastiche in similar ways but to an extent, there are some theories which are different from Jameson and Hutcheon. Hutcheon talks more about post-modernism and how it links to parodies whereas Jameson discusses how parody replaces pastiche, giving things less of a meaning. 'The disappearance of the individual subject, along with its formal consequence, the increasingly unavailability of the personal style...what may be called pastiche'. Whereas Hutcheon is more open minded about the matter; 'post modernisms main interest might seem to be in the processes of its own production...but I want to argue that it is precisely parody'.

Example of a pastiche from the session, this design copies an original design which supports Jamesons theory:

An example of a parody that I found myself. The image relates to makeup, however the packaging, layout and design elements of it relates to Graphic Design. The image displays two different eyeshadow palettes. However, the top one is the original which is around £40, the bottom one is a dupe from this eyeshadow palette which is a lot cheaper (around £10).

Dupe on the left, original on the right

Original is the top one, the dupe is the bottom one

Identities and Consumption (Studio Work)

What is identity?
Identity is what a person or a thing is. The characteristics and personality- the general things that make someone/something, a thing.

What is consumption?
Consumption is the process by which goods and services are, at last, put to final use by people. Involve things that are used

Capitalism- Mass Production- Consumerism- Commodities

-Goods= Identity?
How are we persuaded to acquire goods or services?

10 Brands that you buy into:

-Adidas trainers
-Crunchy nut cornflakes
-Urban Outfitters clothes
-Mac makeup
-Aldi
-Macbook
-Nutella
-Dominos pizza
-Uber
-Instagram app

Chose one- why does it specifically appeal to me???

-Mac makeup; I used this one over other makeup brands because the foundation is the best I have used out of all other brands since I started wearing makeup (early teens). I specifically use Mac studio fix as it stays put all day, and is buildable which is useful if I want a more natural look (coffee date) or a more heavy look (a night out). Mac also allows the customer to get matched perfectly to the shade that that is best for them.

I have been using this foundation for 1-2 years in the shade NC 37.

We were set the task to look at a bunch of adverts and identify the audience, message, how they promote the needs and how they form an individuals identity.

Ou group was given a set of Nike adverts:

1.

-Audience: Aimed at runners

-Message: To promote them to buy the shoes, they are better than all others

-How do they meet/promote needs: Make the runners feel confident in them, that they'll run better in them
-How do they play into or form an individuals identity?: It'll make them look sporty; 'look at me im a runner!'

2.

-Still aimed at runners
-Running makes things better, you can run from everything!
-Self esteem and achievements
-Running from things to relieve stress???

3.

-Aimed at the ameture basketball players
-That anyone can wear them, you don't have to be an amazing basketball player to wear them
-Love and belonging, community
-If you wear them, you are a basketball player

4.

-People that are more rebellious? People that would need more firm shoes for certain things e.g. running from the police or something. The specific add shows a women activist
-Inclusivity
-Respect and confidence
-Make them look more rebellious and crazy

5.

-Aimed at nerdy people
-Even nerds can be cool and wear Nike shoes!!!
-Nerds can b respected
-Make the not so-cool kids, look cool?

6.

-Late 90s/2000s aesthetic, aimed at the cool kids from that era
-The message is that you can be like Michael Jordan if you wear Nike
-Belonging
-Plays into the idea of supporting Michael Jordan

7.

-Everyone, basic needs; comfort.
-Promoting the new Nike Airmax
-Safety/comfort/health
-Wear these and you'll be comfy and cool

8.

-Aimed at everyone since its about equality
-Nike believes in equality? shows that they are good people/a good brand
-Self- actualization, respecting others
-If you wear the shoes, this is what you believe in

9.

-Female tennis players
-The message is that women are just as good as men at sports
-Confidence
-That you believe in equality

10.

-Aimed at everyone, shows a middle eastern girl skateboarding
-Nike isn't aimed at just a specific type of person/ethnicity
-Esteem and belonging
-Still focuses on equality

Study Task 2: Ethical Graphic Design

In todays session the main focus was to discuss different perspectives on how Ethics impact the practice of Graphic Design. We discussed some different points in small groups and documented this through mind maps;

We were then set the homework task to write a short piece of writing (250 words) exploring articles and essays by designers - 'they read like personal opinion but you will still apply academic conventions - writing in the third person and paraphrasing'. The main article that I focused on for my 250 words was 'The Only Way is Ethics' by Tim Abrahams, the article was featured on its nice that. I chose to focus on this one as I felt I could relate to it and understand it better than the other articles that were listed.

My 250 words:

Ethics have a huge impact towards Graphic Design, the same as with any professional job. However, even though ethics do play a part in everyone’s job, it doesn’t have as much as an impact on a designers career than it would for a doctor, for example . ‘To a doctor, ethics are about keeping a patient alive.’ (Abrahams, 2016) whereas, for a Graphic designer an example of an ethic could be about being politically correct and non-offensive towards the audience.

However, catering to every single persons needs is a struggle that every Graphic designer will experience when considering ethics, as every single person has a different opinion than yourself; ‘What does the client do? Is this ethically acceptable or not? Indeed, is this politically acceptable or not?’ (Abrahams, 2016) Additionally, ethics can vary in terms of importance, according to the specific target audience for the particular brief.

For example, a brief aimed at children would be designed in a way that would be easy to understand and simple in terms of context and content. This would mean that the ethics wouldn’t play a huge part, as a brief aimed at children obviously wouldn’t mention areas such as politics or possible discrimination; the design aesthetic, concept and context would be catered to the child’s needs.

However, sometimes Graphic designers do choose to create political material purposely as it can allow the designer to be expressive, being opinionated isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. This could also help to designer to put themselves out there more, especially a young graphic designer.

Study Task 1: Writing my Question

Using the 5 five mash up titles/themes that I have created using one of each of the 3 categories, I have begun to make a mind map of possible areas that I could explore.

The 5 mash ups:

• Funky, festival branding, colour theory
• Experimental, miniature designs, aesthetics
• Illustrative, humorous design, music research
• Colourful, interactive designed, grid systems
• Cutesy miniature things, using print making

Ideas that appear in my mind map:

• Think about my hobbies/personal interests, in particular; music/festivals/gigs etc. Could base my question on this, a certain music genre, re-branding/branding a festival or combined with merchandise. Design my own line up?
• Combine the theme of print making with experimentation; combination of 3 different print methods for one concept
• The link between girly/cutesy things and miniature...a tiny book feminine book?
• Represent hobbies/music elements as miniatures 
• Feminine aesthetic for something that isn't feminine at all...e.g. pink footballs, relating to the theme of humorous design that also interests me
• Combine book binding and miniature things...with humour? A tiny book which displays photographs of large things like whales, with a massive book that displays photos of tiny things like ants
• Colour theory and aesthetics, colour plays a big part in the aesthetic of something
• Illustrative, humorous designs that represent my personal interests such as music

Furthermore, I felt that my ideas focus highly on the aesthetic of something using in different contexts; e.g. the big and small book idea- the scale gives each book a different aesthetic. Additionally, one of my ideas was to create a set of 3 zines which all focus on the same topic/brief (using the same content) but all follow an extremely different aesthetic- focusing on how each zine makes the reader feel even though the content is all the same...

• How does aesthetics affect design?
• How much impact does the aesthetic have on the design concept?
• How much impact does the aesthetic of a design have on the reader?

OUGD501 Briefing

Research project

Areas of interest could include...Typography, Advertising, Branding, Publishing/Editorial, Design for screen etc

10 words that relate to my Graphic Design practice:
Colourful
Funky
Abstract
Fun
Cutesy
Experimental
Girly
Physical
Illustrative
Printing

Deliverables: This brief is separated into two parts but assessed as a whole;

Part 1-
1. COP blog
2. 2500 word critical essay including reflective evaluation

Part 2-
3. 6 Design boards documenting your practical work including project brief/ any practical work

Deadline: 04/04/2019 by 15:00

Academic support pages:

-JSTOR

-Google scholar

-Google books

Design issues/themes that I am interested in:

-Music

-Buying things/shopping

-Socialising

-Gigs/Festivals; the design for these as well

-New places/travel

-Interactivity 

-Illustrative zines/prints/posters

-Miniature designs

-Girly things; pink, glitter, soft

-Physical printing; screen print, collagraph

-Humorous design

10 Things I read about/research last year in PPP, COP or Studio Practice:

-Print making history- from the first printed book ever to Anthony Burrill. Learnt how to screen print

-Researching things like music- 80/70s in particular for the last Studio practice brief

-Typography- how legible/illegible something can be, its still a typeface even if its slightly illegible. The type specimen brief

-Book binding, all the different techniques and how some are more suited to certain concepts

-First hand research- actually going out and visiting places in order to gather research instead of doing it all online

-Aesthetics- a certain aesthetic can make you feel a certain way

-Colour theory- contrasting boundaries, colour wheel, contrast of extension etc

-Grid Systems- Muller Brockman

-How to present yourself in the real world (PPP)

Create five mash up titles/themes using one of each of the 3 categories:

-Funky, festival branding, colour theory

-Experimental, miniature designs, aesthetics

-Illustrative, humorous design, music research

-Colourful, interactive designed, grid systems

-Cutesy miniature things, using print making