RESEARCH

TOPIC PRIMARY RESEARCH/MAIN IDEA

For my final major project, I will be doing a magazine and a poster fitting with the theme of identity we were given. I've decided to base it around people's individual hobbies and interests and what it means to them and them only. For research, i plan to look up some psychologists and look if they have anything on how they affect your identity and ask some other people myself such as friends, family, and random people.

I want to talk about how crucial it is to have a hobby in your teen years and how it can be beneficial in the long run.

A website i will be using for a small part of my research 

https://www.everydayind.com.au/support/developing-hobbies-interests-teenagers/

This is a website that focuses on the social well-being of all types of people. However, they mainly focus on the folk with disabilities. This website can still help me as I am also focusing on the social side of things.

I also asked a few of my friends about their hobbies and interests and how they make them feel.

(THESE ARE JUST RESEARCH NOTES)

• Kamil - Enjoys playing clash royale
• Dwij- enjoys magic chess tourism gym coming to college speaking to people Thorpe park trains cars nutella etc. happy relaxed and satisfied

• Leon - enjoys watching playing football making music peppa ken Carson opium batman overwatch mei and dva

TARGET AUDIENCE/BREAKDOWN

My target audience is focused towards people around the ages 15-20. I used lighter and warmer colours to reinforce this and used sports as a focus for my hobbies as younger people tend to get active and enjoy competition.

ADVERT RESEARCH

I've begun research on different outdoor gear like bike equipment, sports and climbing to suit my outdoor activity theme. The ones i've researched have a common minimalist take and are very straightforward and getting the product across. I used a biking helmet as the subject of one small ad and a pair of adidas boots for my second.

Looking through a physical magazine, i saw that between the actual contents of the magazine there were ads related to the topic which was "exploration and adventures in our edgelands" and the things that they advertised were outdoor gear like bikes, helmets, shoes and thick tough jackets. using adverts that revolve around your magazine topic can boost its production quality and relevancy.

(UPDATE)

 Ive learned that in the magazines i've read, they don't use page numbers for the advertisements featured

 Photography Documentary

Documentary photography is a way to record the forever-changing world around us and can span from days to years. For example, a building or estate that slowly vanished over the years or recalling major historical events. Some aren't that famous but still bring about history. 

During the creation of the well-known Rockefeller center in New york
(1932)

Documentary photography is important to society as it can help people understand how life can flow in different places of the world and their history of them as they change constantly over the years. They can also prove useful for teaching history in schools as they provide a greater understanding of historical events such as the World Wars etc.

CHOSEN PHOTOGRAPHER: Martin Parr

Born 23rd May 1952
70 years old

Is an English documentary photographer, Born in Epsom, Surrey, martin found interest in documentary photography from a young age. He has won a few awards in his career. Martin's photography steers away from the usual composition techniques and aims to capture a "less staged" feel for his photography for a more realistic and natural feel and that's what I like about martins photography.

It's able to capture raw photos giving them more meaning.
"This allows him to put his subjects "under the microscope" in their own environment".

This photo is of a day at the beach and I like how it's able to capture life and just everyday people all in one photo. Parr made use of natural lighting to the fullest. He gets up close to the subject enforcing the feel of realism and immersion into life

GRAPHIC DESIGNER RESEARCH

Ikko Tanaka was a Japanese graphic designer. His work mainly consisted of simple shapes that created faces that looked like geishas. He studied art at the Kyoto City University of Arts and graduated in 1950 with a degree in ancient Japanese art.

Things I like about the style

: Made up of geometrical shapes
: Varying colors
: Simple and consistent fonts.

Shows some cultural representation.

my mock-up of a poster with inspiration from Ikko

GRAPHIC DESIGNER ANALYSIS RESEARCH FOR MY MAGAZINE

Neville Brody is an English graphic designer, typographer, and art director. He has worked on numerous projects such as the face magazine (1981-1986), and the arena magazine (1987-1990).

He has also designed record covers. Overall his career in graphic design is pretty successful and has won awards and has his works known by many.

Brody's work mainly consists of type that is placed or angled differently from one another. Not a lot of his work uses photography but when it does he uses portraits of people. In this example he uses a palette of red and black with hints of grey, however, this isn't his signature theme. This simplistic style appeals to me and i've decided to take inspiration and design my own take for my magazine.

SELF-IMAGE AND IDENTITY

Our "Self-image" refers to how we perceive ourselves in all aspects whether it be body, mindset, thoughts, and so on. Our self-image can have a large effect on our mental well beings. A poor self-image can result in lower self-esteem, and a higher self-image can result in better self-esteem. People with poorer self-esteem tend to hide away more and exclude themselves from the public or certain activities.

The "online disinhibition effect" refers to this sense of security and freedom people feel in an online space. This feeling can result in the majority of people being negative in a number of ways or just saying things that they wouldn't do offline. This is called "Toxic disinhibition". On the contrary, when people act the opposite= positively, its called "benign disinhibition.

"What can people do to make their online experience more pleasant?"

Most social media sites and apps have built in privacy features and filters to keep their users out of harm's way and a toxic environment. It doesn't prevent it completely but it can certainly be a good thing to keep those privacy features on. For example - Private account, Blocking users and hiding comments.

"What issues online may make someone feel sad or worried?'

People might receive hate and nasty comments on one of their own posts or comments and the reasons may be infinite. depending on the comment and the post, it can harm peoples self esteem and may even ruin their mood for the day. Other things might be they could see a disturbing post that could worry them.

"Social networking sites have caused people to have lower self esteems.?"

I agree with this. A majority of the things that people post revolve around either themselves or something they have done and with every one of those posts comes at least 20% of hate or distasteful comments which could bring people down and maybe even make them refrain from posting again.

For example when travis scott posted his batman costume, thousands of people called him names and said he looked like a cockroach so he deactivated his account

"I have seen people stand up for others on social media?"

I agree. People in comments sections tend to defend creators everyday.

"women are the only ones that struggle with their own body image"

I disagree. I have seen countless men that have spoken up about struggling with their own body image. 
A very common topic surrounding this is resides in the gym culture and its gynecomastia which is a condition that results in extra tissue around the chest area. Many men have found this to be an insecurity and loads of creators speak on it.

ANALYSIS

 

"What caught your eye about this picture?"

The thing that caught my eye was the clear blue sky which influences the entire scene as it leaves a subtle blue hue on the person in the car, the windows and the car itself.

"How is the ad trying to persuade you to take part in or buy their product?"

Most car companies produce ads that portray a simple, streamline life and it is seen here, the clear blue sky with what looks like to be a clear space and someone wearing very abstract clothing. This can imply that if you buy these cars, your life will become easier and clearer.

"who is the target audience?"

I would say this advert is targeted towards a middle or higher end class of people as the car shown looks to be somewhat expensive. Alongside this, the whole style of the ad feels futuristic and modernized with the continuous color pallette and minimalist car.

I would say the age group falls in the 20-40. category

Any ethnicity and any gender

"Describe the model in the ad?"

The model is a slim dark skin woman with a shaved head and this can represent different ethnic cultures like africa which is very common around there but not so much in other countries.

"Does the ad make you feel like you need to fix, change or buy something to have the "right" look?"

Not really, everything is fine.

  

The womans bright dress caught my eye first as it directly contrasts with the rest of the scene. The product advertised is a Lexus car. The ad tries to persuade us by using a female model to pose in an interesting way. This could be to target a male audience (The male gaze)of any ethnicity around 25-40. 

The model in the ad is a woman around the age if 25-30.

The people in the ad did not reflect my idea about what is attractive.

What caught my eye was the big bold title "That's a man" dead centre of the screen. The ad tries to persuade us with an official looking model that appeals to the male audience around the ages 30-45. I feel like the whole "office lifestyle" vibe this ad gives off appeals to people around those ages and they're mostly middle or upper working class. The model represents a middle aged white man who looks to have a regular office lifestyle, this can appeal well to the target audience.

The thing that caught my eye was the BMW logo in the bottom right corner, from this i can tell that the product that's being advertised is a car. There isn't really much material to attract an audience or for people to be persuaded to purchase a car since there's no car present at all. It's kind of difficult to gauge the target audience but from what i can see, this audience can appeal to the male gaze so they could have a male based target audience.

The model in the ad is a white woman laying backwards.