Week 12 - Promote & Test

This week, I am going to look at how design studios have evolved globally and analyse methods used to communicate to local audiences.

RESEARCH //

Lecture

Landor

One of the world's largest brand consultancies and design studios, which is one of the merged studios in super-union. Created a waste and recycling project for the Central Park in New York, which inspires the bin designs from the iconic park benches. I like his project because it takes inspiration from another designer and makes the bins feel like they are part of the landscape.

The video didn't have much moving image in it, however, it's nice to see the design process and uses infographics to create a clear narrative on the issue it solves.

Superunion

A design studio that has globalised through the merging of 5 studios. They created a gender equality project called ' Rewriting the Code'. This project reminds me of my own remarks about language being a cultural code at the start of this module. I feel that my own project can relate to this one because my project aims to denormalise (or change the code) are attitudes towards sex assault. I really enjoy how they have taken a marking that is often overlooked in the visual side of design and turned it into a universal hand gesture, however, it would be very easy to confuse it for the 'hand flat frame cropping' gesture.

This video is a lot more fast pace, however, I don't think it provides enough examples of how this campaign is going to look in the real world - is it something on social media that encourages discussion? I'm also interested to know whether there is any information involved to change this 'code'?

Other Notes

• Wunderman and J Walter Thompson merged to create Wunderman Thompson, which are both originally a traditional advertising agency that have turned into one creative data and technology agency - maybe this is a way for them to change how they approach the business world and demonstrate their ability to adapt their creative process. This also gives consumers access to two different cultures. What encouraged them to merge together is the huge overlap in clients - so the collaboration was a way to make communication easier and more transparent for the client?

• WPP is a multinational advertising and media agency that owns Superunion and Wunderman Thompson. It's interesting to see how one agency can be part of a series of chains.

Interview with Grant Hunter

An executive creative director for Europe and Iris WORLDWIDE, a global advertising agency with 18 countries around the world.

• London was the first studio, which expanded to Amsterdam and Munich. The Iris story is based on a group of six people in an agency where the founder of Iris took one of the clients with them when they broke away. The decision to go global was based one client and wherever their needs were- this sounds similar to how agencies merge together to make life easier for the client, which shows that the design world is very client driven.

• When they were creating characters for the London Olympics, the idea of customisation came about through playstation avatars came about, which inspired how they used heritage to create a character to represent each nation. I like how they associated the Olympic Games to a playstation, which acknowledges the expanding technology and the need to communicate with young adults. And to further expand this communication with the youth, children from different nations were asked to design a mascot - this definitely takes the project to a new place where there is no second guessing in the design process.

• He mentions how going global requires an acknowledgment in different cultural attitudes. Thai advertising and film work would be seen as over emotional to the British public. They would usually create focus groups to gain local knowledge and understand what people are looking for in terms of tone of voice. And if celebrities are being used as brand ambassadors, they need to act as an international icon but also resonate with a specific region. Backtracking to the focus groups, this reminds me of how the Mexico Olympics was designed in isolation - even though the designer was in Mexico, there was no focus groups or exploration of current politics.

Dumb Ways to Die (2013)

This campaign was manly aimed at railway safety because many people don't listen to it. I like how they have managed to make a serious topic seem childlike and charming- it's made me think of my own brief and how I could use this style to educate children. Maybe, using my comparisons with food and grabbing, maybe I could create characters that would appeal to both children and university students. Would need to be catchy and something that sticks in your head.

I think this definitely shows how powerful one YouTube video can be and how it could develop into something impactful, which I think is what this week's workshop is all about - perhaps the extension was created to measure the reactions of our projects?

John Mescall McCann Melbourne. Did it on Flash created simplicity. Humour.

Looking at this project intrigued me to search for other projects that talked about difficult topics, just to get a better idea on my own tone of voice.

Moth: Falmouth University

In the Face of Death is a collaborative project between Falmouth and Augsburg University, which is a graphic system of symbols based on the ideas and beliefs associated with the end of life.

This project interested me in particular because it made me consider the language behind death and the indirect associations being used, which I thought I should be doing to help me get started on the visual aspect of my campaign.

According to the journal 'Tailor and Francis Online', getting a tattoo can be a healing experience for those who have experienced a sexual assault, which supports my idea last week (with the play dough) of using a physical mark to represent an emotional one. 'A tattoo is a way of regaining control on your own body', which suggests that haircuts, style changes and piercings might have the same effect. 'It is a way of shedding the identity as a victim and being a survivor' - this makes me think of how a crab moves from one shell to the next or a snake shedding its skin which would be interesting to see visually.

For someone that has no tattoos, there is this idea of purity behind not having any marks on the skin, and I think tattoos are a significant way of telling people that you have a story to tell - kind of makes me feel that I should get a tattoo to symbolise my university experience.

After Lady Gaga revealed her own experience of sexual assault, she branded her skin (tattoo) with a geometric rose as her 'healing ink', which many people copied and turned into a symbol of surviving a sexual assault.

"This tattoo signifies me losing a piece of myself but also a reminder that 'you will always survive if the flame inside burns brighter than the fire around you'."

This is a song Lady Gaga created to share her experience, but also acts as an example of how sexual assault has been visualised via video. I think is very powerful, especially when it has been created by someone well known in the music industry; the music industry has a habit of promoting perceptions of women and indirectly creating this rape culture. When people purchase this song, the proceeds go towards a sexual assault charity.

Another form of symbolism is the teal ribbon for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is used to show support for victims since 2000. Teal represents trust, devotion and healing.

WEBINAR //

• Sub-title 'final outcome' just to make it clear. Week 1-4 and 9-12. Need to include Harvard referencing at the back, but the references need to be relevant to your PDF (not just a list of everything you've read).

• Essay weeks 5,6,8. Layed out like pdf: Research, anaylis, design development, design process and final outcome. WeeK 7 was about the draft of the essay, which doesn't need to be included but can include mood-board or research. The 3,000 words need to be legible in the PDF. Talk about production techniques.

• No assessment of blog but will be cross referenced. Reference blog but make sure it is linked to context of the PDF: 'if you want to see more pieces of experimentation, click here'.

• Assessment period 17th to 28th May. Grades released on 27th with feedback only on sheets. No more tutorials or teaching from now.

• Next module releases Friday 28th May, which is Studio and Entrepreneurship. Tutors Harriet, Paul and Ben. Setting up your own company and writing a business plan for a creative project.

WORKSHOP CHALLENGE //

For this week's workshop challenge, I am going to produce a short video to outline how I will solve the brief I created in Week 10.

• Voice-over needs to be included in the video. Script it before-hand.

RESOURCES //

Research

• DUMB WAYS TO DIE - case study. June 2013. Brand News. https://youtu.be/IxZ_ZznO2ek

• London International Awards, (2013) John Mescall McCann Melbourne talks about "Dumb Ways to Die" the 2013 Grand LIA. https://youtu.be/RrGWwSJL0yI

• In the face of death. Moth. https://moth.org.uk/In-the-Face-of-Death

• These Stunning Tattoos Are Helping Sexual Assault Survivors Deal With Their Trauma. Sam Silverma, March 2019. Health. https://www.health.com/condition/sexual-assault/sexual-assault-tattoos