#learning agreement

updated learning agreement:

following further research and struggling to come up with a strong concept thus far, i have decided to rewrite my learning agreement to allow this project to continue in a way that is more suitable to me, what i want to do in the future as well as be able to produce a strong piece by the end of the unit.

Week 5

Synopsis of study

Within this last unit, I intend to address the intrinsic link of alcohol and social life within the context of university life in the UK. Research shows that binge drinking and a heavy reliance on alcohol is built into the social lifestyles of students within the UK, with 81% of students believing getting drunk is part of university culture (SOS, 2022). For instance, the ‘Freshers fair’, the introduction of university life, has been identified as influencing binge drinking, establishing the foundation for persistent drinking (Fuller et al., 2017). With a particular focus on nightlife, this expectation to drink is prevalent for not only students but is symptomatic of a wider UK drinking culture.

Studies have highlighted that non-drinking youth feel the most social pressure to drink, resulting in avoidance of late-night drinking occasions (Katainen, Härkönen and Mäkelä, 2021). Due to this, there is a lack of opportunities available for non-drinking students to enjoy the nightlife surrounding university life. My aim is to provide sober and non-drinking university students with an equivalent ‘university experience’ that challenges social norms, providing a more inclusive social life.

Contextually, the rise of sobriety is currently apparent in young generations, causing a growing demand for alcohol alternatives. With research insights indicating an expectation for students to drink, this offers a unique proposition to address this within a university setting. This project aims to not only provide a safe and healthier opportunity for UK students to socialise, but to address the wider issue embedded in drinking culture, and beliefs surrounding sobriety and wellbeing.

This project will be embedded in research, delving into wider, systematic social beliefs and expectations, to underpin and subvert unhealthy drinking motives. I will utilise university experiences to highlight the touch points that ignite social beliefs or enable alcoholic expectations. By delving into student’s social lifestyles, I can use this information to inform my critical thinking. This may be explored through a series of personal interviews and explorations, combining research insights with more personal findings.

Week 5

Within this last unit, I intend to create a non-alcoholic brand in order to aid and address the intrinsic link of alcohol and social life within the context of a university setting. My aim is to provide sober university students with a more inclusive social life, with the subtraction of alcohol encouraging healthier attitudes towards social wellbeing. As research highlights the university experience to encourage binge-drinking, a heavy reliance on alcohol is built into the social lifestyles of students within the UK. Due to this, there is a lack of opportunities available for non-drinking students to enjoy the nightlife surrounding university life.

Contextually, the rise of sobriety is apparent in young generations, causing the growing demand of alcohol alternatives to be critical. With research insights indicating an expectation for students to drink, this offers a unique proposition to address this within a university setting. This project aims to not only provide a safe and healthier opportunity for UK students to socialise, but to address the wider issue embedded in drinking culture, and beliefs surrounding sobriety and wellbeing.

This project will be embedded in research, delving into social beliefs and societal expectations, to underpin and subvert unhealthy motives. I will utilise the experience of students to highlight the touch points that ignite misconceptions, or enable alcoholic expectations. By delving into their social lifestyles, I can use this information to inform my critical thinking. Inspired by the pre-existing market of both no/low alcohol brands, I intend to utilise their successful marketing as a platform to inform my designs.

Week 5

Synopsis of study Draft:

Within this last unit, I intend to address the intrinsic link of alcohol and social life within the context of a university setting. As research highlights the university experience to encourage binge-drinking, a heavy reliance on alcohol is built into the social lifestyles of students within the UK. With a particular focus on nightlife, this expectation to conform is prevalent for not only students, but is embedded within UK drinking culture. Due to this, there is a lack of opportunities available for non-drinking students to enjoy the nightlife surrounding university life. My aim is to provide sober and non-drinking university students with a more inclusive social night-life, with the subtraction of alcohol encouraging healthier attitudes towards social wellbeing.

Contextually, the rise of sobriety is currently apparent in young generations, causing the growing demand of alcohol alternatives to be critical. With research insights indicating an expectation for students to drink, this offers a unique proposition to address this within a university setting. This project aims to not only provide a safe and healthier opportunity for UK students to socialise, but to address the wider issue embedded in drinking culture, and beliefs surrounding sobriety and wellbeing.

This project will be embedded in research, delving into wider, systematic social beliefs and expectations, to underpin and subvert unhealthy drinking motives. I will utilise the experience of students to highlight the touch points that ignite misconceptions, or enable alcoholic expectations. By delving into their social lifestyles, I can use this information to inform my critical thinking. This will be explored through a series of personal interviews and explorations, combining national insights with more personal findings.

For my ‘Final Major Project’, I will identify how gender stereotypes and being applied to everyday products and the damaging effects this has on modern society which is becoming even more diverse and open minded. I will create a brand which addresses this issue in alcoholic beverages and works on removing the gender stereotypes in a contemporary and loud way. This brand will be based in the UK and will need a brand identity, logo, packaging, and other relevant assets to promote their brand.

        I wish to approach this project with sensitivity, because gender and identification is a subject which can be very personal to some people, and I should be careful to do extensive and reliable research so that I do not make assumptions or generalisations on the topic. I will explore this topic on a deep and considered manner so that when I am making design decisions, they will be backed up by research. For example, I might investigate the gender assumptions within colour choice, but also colour association with more broad topics and use my findings to experiment with how I can make the outcomes ‘feel’ and how they speak to the user.

        There are already campaigns which challenge gender norms in society, for example ‘method’ studio has created a campaign using drag queens to promote cleaning products to challenge the ‘toxic gender stereotypes in cleaning’. As well as that, there are products like ‘liquid death’ which is typically ‘manly’ in term of illustrations and packaging design choices which make it look beer-like, but it is just water. This helps me to see that there is space in the market for a brand which plays on gender norms and expectations and that it is relevant to be making comments on it.

        I want to do this because it ties in well to what I want to do in the future as I want to work in visual identity and packaging, so it would be another good and relevant project to have in my portfolio. Not only that but it is addressing a topic which is relevant now in society and something that is being increasingly talked about, so I think there is a gap ion the market in terms of addressing gender stereotypes in products. This project will help me to develop as a designer because I will be able to practice being able to speak to an audience which I don’t see myself reflected in, as well as giving me the chance to develop my subject knowledge in packaging because I have only done one other packaging project to date.

this is my first draft of my learning agreement synopsis. I need to be less specific in defining the outcome as a brand because i must do more research to define whether that would be an appropriate solution to the issue, so if my research leads me in a different direction, the agreement will allow space for that to happen.

i need to consider what must happen for the outcome to allow chnage to happen to solve the issue.

why else is this topic relevent?

i also need to include ethics in my learning agreement, if i am to do questionnaires, i will need consent forms and if i am focusing on aloholic drinks i need to consider the ethical implications with advertising for alcohol safely and legally.

following my tutorial on forming my learning agreement, in think i have been getting ahead of myself in terms of jumping to a conclusion before having solid research to help me overcome the problem i have identified.

i think that in general, genderisation of everyday objects being damaging by forcing people to conform to outdated gender norms, will be an interesting place to start exploring, but i shouldn't be tying myself down to only exploring the alcoholic beverage industry, i should begin by looking more broadly at what is being unnecessarily gendered and the impact that this has.