Week 4: The Self and Identity

RESEARCH //

I know how easy it is to create an idealisation of yourself without outside input, which is why I asked friends and family to help me with this project. Although, the lectures have led me to question whether this list of adjectives are my social identity or my personal identity because we have multiple selves according to the environment we are in; Robert Cialdini says people are constantly looking for 'social proof' to guide their own behaviour (Christie Manning, 2009).

This week's lecture had an interesting question as to whether we are rooted through nature or nurture (Martin Hosken, 2020). Based on my 22 years, self identity is almost like an onion, the core being the principles/values learnt from family and then the build up of layers comes from nature (experience and lots of self reflection). Anthony Giddens' book on 'Trajectory of the self' talks about how the making of the self-identity and body occurs through risk culture, and being in Falmouth has allowed me to take risks and explore myself as a person. However, being in Falmouth has also influenced my lifestyle choice of being vegan, and possibly my passion for social good. Dr. Joe Dispenza explores how we as humans crave the feeling of belonging to something familiar, whether its to a brand, lifestyle or community, in fact, throughout history it has been seen has a danger to not belong to a community. The unconscious mind confuses familiarity with what is described as 'desire' in the context of brands or products rather than wanting to belong or connect

Anna Fraud introduced the concept of creating rules in order to restrain unconscious behaviour, however, I think this has made us question what acceptable behaviour is and more reliant on following others (Christie Manning, 2009). Anthony Giddens' description of a women's anorexia compulsion made me empathise with how strongly society controls the way you look and act, however, Chris Do's instagram post made me consider how much of your self-identity goes as you try to 'blend-in' with everyone else because the moment you start asking for social approval is the moment you are no longer you.

To fit in, I became invisible.

In the process I lost my voice, identity and self-esteem.

WORKSHOP //

I've found through this exercise how much my personality sounds like the way I would describe my own work.

This piece was inspired by another student's work because I liked how each of his mood-boards has influenced the letters in his surname. The 'B' was inspired by the Art Deco in my 'thoughtful' mood-board. I regard this typeface as 'thoughtful' due to the intricate details and craft involved. The 'E' was inspired by my 'individual' mood-board, using handwritten typeface to demonstrate uniqueness and the bubble takes being in my own bubble literally. The angle 'R' was inspired by the honest brand in my 'steadfast' mood-board. The other 'R' is a cutout of a newspaper to show resourcefulness. And the 'Y' is a rustic typeface to show my sincerity.

For this idea, I tried combining the Art Deco typeface with the barcode. I like the idea of creating a barcode to describe individualism, although it may also be confused for mass production, which is why I've altered the aesthetics.

To make use of the remaining three words, I've added my brand onto a loyalty card, which was inspired by my 'steadfast' mood-board. If I were a loyalty card, it would be for a small knitting business because I think the craft is a very thoughtful craft that involves a lot of dedication and giving. And small businesses have individual atmospheres with a strong sense of community.

In reflection of this project I think I should change the brand so it looks more like a knitting brand, and explore more concepts.

DISCUSSION & FEEDBACK //

• I like the mix of textures used – makes it feel really tactile. The fonts have been given a nice treatment making them pop from the background but think that ‘BERRY’ is a little tricky to read. I wonder whether you could make your own ISBN and just add that to the bottom as a separate piece rather than layering it with the existing text. There are online services that do this for you if you wanted a ‘real’ one.

• Love the chunky knit! I think the font and colour on the top version work really well together and also like the shapes in the “Berry” not as sure about the bottom option, possibly the darker colour from the top for the pink lettering would work better?

• Nice incorporation of their 5 words along with the letters of their name, really nice designs.

• The loyalty card is a lovely creative idea; however, when you were explaining your process and reasoning behind the design one of your main points was that you looked at what other people were doing and took some of that as inspiration for ideas which is great but you could also look at other non graphic design or even design related ideas around the number five as your name is five letters such as the mores code for the number 5 and how that could be visually represented or what’s the symbolic meaning of five and how you could combine that with the meaning of your name and your five chosen words. These are just ideas of the top of my head but 5 is actually my lucky number so when you said that you were looking at the 5 letters in your name and we had five words to choose about ourselves this is just what I thought of. All in all, I think you’ve got some nice consistent work and I loved your letters on the week 4 project. It sounds like she might want to not look at other people’s work and have her own way of creating a take on designs.

REFERENCES //

• Psychology of Sustainable Behaviour by Christie Manning, Ph.D. 2009. MinnesotaPollutionControl Agency

• Lecture by Martin Hosken, 2020

• Modernity and self-identity; self and society in the late modern age (The Trajectory of the Self). Chris Do's and Anthony Giddens' description of an episode of anorexic compulsion.

• The Futur's instagram post by Chris Do, October 2020.

• Dr.JoeDispenza documentary, be conscious of our unconscious

• Why do we do the things we do? Dan Ariely, James B Duke professor of psychology and behavior economics

• Century of the Self Documentary by David Lessig, July 2015.