Untitled

Promotional Material - flyer

I wanted to incorporate synergy from the stop motion - such as the oneise, and message from my written manifesto for the viewers to get a better understanding on my critical perspective.

On the front of the flyer:

#DesignReborn

Choose Quality, Ethics, Design, Before Brand

On the Back of the flyer:

Be a conscious consumer

Say Yes to great products

Say No to Brand Brainwashing

Choose Quality, Ethics, Design,

Further Progress

I wanted to incorporate a baby sound effect in the beginning to reinforce the image message to the viewer and establish that the onesie represented a new born.

Logo

As the voices get louder (which are representing the marketing, slogans and billboards), the hand drawn logos turn to the graphic global logos we are all familiar with. This indicated that from clever marketing these multinational corporations do create power and we as consumers do give in to this power. Above is the screenshots of the stop motion of the logos turning from hand drawn to graphic images and I will create this motion transitioning from left to right very quickly for dramatic effect.

Reference

pfly.(2006). Gurglecry01. Retrieved from https://www.freesound.org/people/pfly/sounds/14268/

For my soundtrack, I wanted to use the sound effect of more and more urging voices representing marketing slogans, commercials, and billboards that are manipulating our thoughts and seducing us into buying our brands.  I also wanted a negative sound effect on the words “consume, profit, control” to enhance the negative impact these brands are having on our society. 

References:

DigiZoo. (2013). Dubstep Simple Beat Cont. 140bpm. Retrieved from https://www.freesound.org/people/DigiZoo/sounds/182326/

Leady. (2005). Reverse fill effect. Retrieved from https://www.freesound.org/people/Leady/sounds/12742/

Reference:

Wholesale Organic. (2016). Classic Baby Bodysuit. [Online image]. Retrieved from https://wholesale.coloredorganics.com/wholesale-organic-classic-baby-bodysuit-short-sleeve#139=60&140=79.

Further Reasoning:

For my creative manifesto, I want to create a stop motion that changes the perception of these glorified multinational brands and makes the viewer be a conscious consumer that chooses quality, ethics, and innovative design before brands. I will use visual elements and words from my written manifesto along will appropriate  sound that effectively communicates my critical perspective. 

Firstly, I will draw about fifty well-known logos before I start creating any motion for the video. I will use felt pen to draw them then scan them onto the computer to edit on Adobe Photoshop. The reason why I will hand draw logos is that I want to take the power out of the brand, to show it as its original idea - merely a hand drawn concept produced by a designer; it’s origin before massive marketing campaigns made it a globally recognised brand.

I also want to incorporate a white baby onesie as the motif for my stock motion. The reason for the use of the onesie to represent new birth - like a better model for the design process that is counter to the current brands model. It represents mankind before brands came along, then they come with all their noise, then if we stop paying attention to them the noise stops and new and better ways can evolve - DESIGN REBORN. 

QUALITY + ETHICS + INNOVATIVE DESIGN = GREAT PRODUCTS

Yet as consumers, seldom are we offered this winning combination. Instead we are being controlled by the power of global corporations – the power of the BRAND.

Say NO to the implanted ‘idea’

Multinational Brands have an agenda to control our minds and therefore our credit cards. Brands have us all figured out: they generate an emotional attachment; they implant an idea and construct a wanted lifestyle from their product. They control our consumer choices by convincing us our lives will be better with their sparkly, sexy, slickly marketed products. Once seduced, we happily buy into those implanted ideas and purchase.“Companies are switching from producing products to marketing aspirations, images and lifestyles” (Zoock, Smith, 2016, p. 63). 

Say NO to being controlled by implanted ideas - look carefully at what a Brand is really selling you.

Say NO to repetitive manipulation

Brands are inescapable – broadcasted on billboards, magazines and commercials, they are omnipresent and omnipotent in contemporary society. Repetition is powerful and the recurrence of Brands is a successful way to keep that Brand active in the consumers mind.

This repetition by cleverly marketed Brands, persuasively captures our attention and creates the illusion of Brand superiority. We are being brainwashed through the “use of subliminal perception to get the desired response from the consumer” (Kaptan, 2002, p. 46).

Say NO to being manipulated by repetitive marketing – remember that exposure does not equal product superiority.

Say NO to Brand over ethics

The elite Brands are omnipresent in society due to their massive advertising budgets fueled by even larger profit margins. High profile Brands are outsourcing their products “to nameless producers kept on a tight leash”, (Bello, 2000) with the economic strategy being to save money in order to invest more into marketing the Brand. This industry model means many of our most glamorous and well known Brands are produced without ethics in poorly paid sweatshop conditions.

Say NO to unethical profit gains – refuse to support Brands who use an underpaid, over worked and abused work force to increase their empires.

 Say YES to consumer awareness

As consumers we are all guilty of making purchases based on the “brand name, its logo, design, packaging, advertising or sponsorship, image and name recognition” (Anttiroiko, 2014, p. 58). We need to take control of our consumer choices, buy with purpose and say YES to great products rather than being manipulated by influential branding. We need to educate consumers to look beyond the tinsel of advertising and to analyse the products quality, design and company ethics. We must dismiss the hierarchy of the ‘superior’ global Brands and refuse to continue making uneducated choices based solely on persuasive propaganda and a printed logo. Collectively our consumer behaviour can force change that could see ethical design reborn.

Say YES to consumer awareness - choose quality, ethics and innovative design before brands, choose DESIGN REBORN.

  References:

Anttiroiko, A. (2014). The Political Economy of City Branding. London, United kingdom: Routledge.

Bello, W. (2001). Book review: No logo. Retrieved from http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/technology-who-chooses/book-review-no-logo/

Kaptan, S. (2002). Advertising, New Concepts. New Delhi, India: Sarup & Sons.

Initial brainstorm of Manifesto:

Consumer culture:

Globalization + Design

Argument:

Globalisation is a fluid concept apparent in all areas of contemporary design. However, this process is creating a westernized homogenous society and is decreasing cultural diversity, which could ultimately have a negative impact on humanity.

Scholarly source one: Globalization, Nationalism, and Design

This source is a very good starting point for my argument of stripping cultural identity through globalisation and how this ongoing process is going to affect our surroundings and diversity. It is our role as designers to make that choice to help sustain and incorporate cultural identity through global designs. Aldersley-william states “there is no doubt that design that pays closer heed to national cultural identity is growing in importance as designers begin to voice their concern that global design is not all to the good”. Perhaps globalisation as a whole is creating the wrong mindset amongst the public and designers, as “it would seem that in stylistic terms global design is nothing more than good old-fashioned functionalism decked out in softer shapes and brighter colors”. Is this the way that future society should be heading, where the creativity and culture associated has minimal contribution to many global designs.

Scholarly source two: Globalisation: Promises and Dangers

Globalisation has become a very controversial topic over the years and has come to many designers attention whether society as a whole is benefitting or hindering our current situation and the possible future. This article supports my critical perspective of the ‘promises and the dangers’ of globalization. Jan-Erik Lane states ‘globalisation makes possible a huge increase in world output, it presents such challenges to the earth’s ecosystem that mankind may end up destroying the conditions for the survival of this biological species, if the worst environmental predictions come true” (Lane, 2004). Globalisation is creating a huge increase in supply and demand and I will talk further about this topic in my essay on whether globalisation is causing danger for the future.

References:

Aldersley-Williams, H. (2009).  Globalism, Nationalism, and Design. Design studies: a reader Clark & Brody, Ed., Oxford: Berg  

Although I used words that are part of my Haiku throughout the photo essay, I wanted to leave the full Haiku to the end.