SB2 - Visual Investigation initial ideas

Based on and extending from our chosen quote for Studio Brief 1, I am going to produce a visual investigation exploring and applying the uses of one of the following graphic practices:

Typography and type design
Advertising and public awareness
Branding and Logo Design
Editorial Design
Design for screen
Print making

As my Studio Brief 1 essays focused on consumerism and brands, I will be focusing on the 3rd option; branding and logo design.

For this project I already had an idea in mind. 

One of my favourite make up brands 'Morphe Brushes' brings out high quality products at an affordable price. However I feel that the logo for this company does not reflect the brand well at all. 

I created a small survey of my peers to further reinforce or refute my opinion.

1. On first glance, what type of company would you think this logo belongs to?

- 'A bank'
- 'A solicitors'
- 'An estate agent'

2. If I told you it was for a cosmetics brand would you be surprised?

- 'Very!' 
- 'Yes, it doesn't look at all like a cosmetics brand'
- 'Oh yeah, I've heard of Morphe! Is that their logo? It really doesn't look like a make up brand.'

3. After showing you the logo in context (on website, on products) do you still hold your previous opinion?

       

- 'the logo looks better in black or white placed on the make up brushes, but not on the gold brushes or other make up products, so yes and no'
-  'yes, if I saw that concealer on sale I wouldn't buy it, the logo on the packaging puts me off'
- 'yes, it looks cheap and really out of place'

lecture 7 - what is research?

"History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction."

Chronology has its limitations

research is fundamental
COP - research about practice
PPP - research into practice (relating to professional context)
SP - research as practice (idea generation & development)

activity as well as Analysis, reflection and evaluation

knowledge, analysis, comprehension, application, evaluation, synthesis

process > outcome
exploring possibilities

Martin Venezky - doesn't straighten and clarify world, it reflects world as we venture beyond problem solving into process, experiment and discovery

Success comes from having brighter ideas closer together

failure is important

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research would it? - Albert Einstein

rethinking information that is already there

Werner Gaede - Vom Wort zum Bild
Stimulated approach = conscious/ subconscious search for info from external repertoire - surroundings, media, library, discussion etc

systematic = collection and modification of components, characteristics and means of expression

intuitive approach= development of thought process, internal perceptions and knowledge

primary - collection of data that doesn't exist yet. for a specific end use, to help solve a problem

secondary - collected at an earlier time, published/recorded

quantitative - facts and figures, collecting through measure

qualitative - observation/opinion, interacting with people

what is information?
result of processing, manipulating ad organising data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it. processed to add/create meaning. output of info systems

should be sufficient, competent, relevant, and useful


assimilation, general study, communication, development

start anywhere

research is what i'm doing when i don't know what i'm doing

Study Task 1: Finding Research Sources

BA (hons ) Graphic Design

Context of Practice 1

Finding research sources

CoP Theme: Society

Search terms/key words: Consumerism, branding, capitalism, consumer society, brand value, brand loyalty, design and capitalism

LCA               Library	1: A consumer society.  /  Firth, Lisa (ed.)  (2002) 2: Branding / Vaid, Helen (2003) 3: The conquest of cool: business culture, counterculture and the rise of hip consumerism.  /  Frank, Thomas  (1997)
Google Books (preview)	1: Creating Brand Loyalty: The Management of Power Positioning and Really Great Advertising - Richard D. Czerniawski, Michael W. Maloney 2: Brand Culture - Jonathan E. Schroeder, Miriam Salzer-Mörling, Søren Askegaard 3: Visual Art and Education in an Era of Designer Capitalism: Deconstructing the Oral Eye - jan jagodzinski
Google Scholar	1: How is manifest branding strategy related to the intangible value of a corporation? VR Rao, MK Agarwal, D Dahlhoff - Journal of Marketing, 2004 - journals.ama.org 2: Consumerism, 4th Ed. By David A. Aaker, George S. Day 3: The Conspicious Body: Capitalism, Consumerism, Class and Consumption : Michael S. Carolan  Source: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, Volume 9, Issue 1, pages 82, 2005
Websites	1: Consumerism and Branding - UK Essays 2: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/driving.aspx 3: http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/how-branding-is-shaping-teenagers/ 4. http://truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/83374:commodifying-kids-the-forgotten-crisis
JStor	1: Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of the Doppelgänger Brand Image Craig J. Thompson, Aric Rindfleisch and Zeynep Arsel Journal of Marketing 2: Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding Douglas B. Holt 3: Consumer Learning, Brand Loyalty, and Competition J. Miguel Villas-Boas Marketing Science Vol. 23, No. 1 (Winter, 2004), pp. 134-145

COP Lecture 1 - Visual Literacy (5/10/16)

Visual Literacy - the language of design

Why is this not an apple?

Visual literacy aims to solve problems of communication through type/image/motion
interested in words, language, message or meaning.

Visual communication is the process of sending and receiving messages using type and images. It is affected by audience, context, media and method of distribution.

Visual literacy is the ability to construct meaning from visual images and type.

Visual literacy...

1. ...is the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image.

The sign for toilets is perfect for an example. The signs are universally recognised without the need for any words - which helps with language barriers.

 

2. ...is based on the idea that pictures can be read.

For example, the picture on the left is taken from a medicine bottle. The diagrams need to be easily readable, as medicine can be dangerous if administered/ taken incorrectly. The symbols/ pictures on the left are easily identifiable to prevent any mishandling, and to prevent any children or babies from having the medicine.



3. ...is made up of presentational symbols whose meaning results from their existence in particular contexts. The conventions of visual communication are a combination of universal and cultural symbols.

Affected by context eg
+ sign could mean pharmacy/first aid, and, plus, church
+ = x : + means plus now as it is in a mathematical context

4. All that is necessary for any language to exist is an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing will stand for another.

The cross on the left is the symbol for the Red Cross, the humanitarian charity. The cross on the right is the symbol for first aid. Just by changing the colours the meaning of the symbol changes completely. The same can be said for things such as flags, where the same symbol is used, in different colours, or with slight alterations to represent different countries.


5. Being visually literate requires an awareness of the relationship between Visual Syntax and Visual Semantics.

6. Visual Syntax: The SYNTAX of an image refers to the pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements. it represents the basic building blocks of an image that affect the way we ‘read’ it. These elements include: framing - format - scale - colour - font - stroke - weight - shape

7. Visual Semantics: The SEMANTICS of an image refers to the way an image fits into a cultural process of communication. It includes the relationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created through: These elements include: cultural references - social ideals - religious beliefs - political ideas

8. Semiotics: is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which studies the structure and meaning of language. Semiotics also studies non-linguistic sign systems, visual language and visual literacy. Visual elements of semiotics include:

SYMBOL - of an apple (logo)

SIGN - for apple products (identity)

SIGNIFIER - quality, innovation (brand)




SYNECDOCHE - is the term applied when a part is used to represent the whole, or vice versa. this only works if the image is universally recognisable.
eg. Statue of Liberty for New York, or London Eye for London.

METONYM is a symbolic image that is used to make reference to something with a more literal meaning.
eg. yellow taxi cab for New York

METAPHOR is used to transfer the meaning from one image to another.

9. ‘Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.’ Incomplete Manifesto for Growth - Bruce Mau.

Context of Practice - Quotes Introduction

Part of our context of practice section of the course requires a piece of writing responding to a one of 12 quotes on politics/society/culture/history/technology or aesthetics.

On the 4th October we had an introduction to the quotes we would be using to write our essays, in which we briefly analysed each quote to give us a basic knowledge in order to begin constructing our writing.

After reading them through, some of the quotes I was immediately drawn to.

SOCIETY

'Many studies have found that both women and men do not believe that their current body form is attractive... Research has repeatedly found that physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable than those that are perceived as being unattractive, something that is likely to have been reinforced by consumer societies...'
Jansson - Boyd, C. (2010) Consumer Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill Education

Physical attractiveness is subjective
Gender & gender representations & relations
media/ advertising/ branding


'Although on the surface the nature of design may appear to be relatively inconsequential, it might well be said to play a formative role in the history of capitalism and, in turn, in the social expression of capitalist practices.'
Miles, S. (1998) Consumerism: As a way of life. London: SAGE Publishing.

Social expression
Brands/logos/subcultures/music scene/ communication

TECHNOLOGY

'What I find very interesting is the movement of people who are savvy in digital design but are genuinely interested in analog techniques. It is now more than a passing trend; there must be a deeper motive why we are newly interested in the hand-made and the haptic, material and three-dimensional aspects of type and design.'
Erik Spiekermann - Interview in Creative Characters Dec 2014.

Embracing traditional media and techniques (letter press/screen print)
Relationship between traditional and CONTEMPORARY techniques and processes
Mass made
3d aspects - ornamental design, typography as decoration, poster and print making

'Take Amazon and Google, both large digital businesses that live almost entirely as interfaces. While these organisations may feel like they have a face and a personality, they are the sum total of graphics, symbols, colour, type, language and layout. They communicate through a new palette of symbols, scrolls, swipes, taps, motion and auditory cues. Which means their design needs to be invested with thought, craft and care.'
Coomber, L. (2016) Pictograms and symbols: how branding and visual language has to adapt in a digital age. It's Nice That [Online].

Non traditional aspects
condensed information
ios v Microsoft
new logos are taken on quickly
adopted digital/ visual language
"digital age"

AESTHETICS

'I was raised to believe that, as a designer, I have the responsibility to improve the world around us, to make it a better place to live, to fight and oppose trivia, kitsch and all norms of subculture that are visually polluting our world.'
Vignelli, M. - "Long Live Modernism: Massimo Vignelli Reaffirms His Faith in Form and Function", AIGA

aesthetics vs form/function/communication
modernism
anything that doesn't communicate most effectively is pointless
graphic designers have a responsibility
get rid of bad graphic design
timeless


The quote I have chosen to go with is Steven Miles' quote on capitalism under the Society section.