Ordering Book Study

A study I touched upon in my pilot project was ordering books and the possibilities of how you order them. Originally I’d chose to do this because not only did I feel a slight sense of irony for including a study on organizing books within a book that isn’t organized in the slightest but also because it is something most people can relate to. Everybody has some form of book within their own home and therefore that creates the connection needed for someone to get something from the study.

Initially I’d only explored the idea of colour co-ordination for its beautiful aesthetic but this can be built upon. This part of my pilot was praised during feedback and therefore I felt it important to make this a solid feature in my final piece. Instead of focusing on just one sole way of ordering, I feel it would say a lot more to include many different methods for sense making and organization. The various categories I will use are:

• Story Type
• Colour
• Genre
• Size
• Title
• Author

The importance of using different methods shows the many different possibilities of order, and hopefully the reader will find themselves identifying with one specific type. Also, this is a clear display of data organization that is involved within sense making. The meaning created by this is giving order to something that otherwise would have none within disorder.

How we do organise what we see?

Over looking at various types of photography which order the disorderly, a question that has come to mind is the way in which people have chosen to order these items. Some seem to be put in uniform by size and some by colour. This might be an interesting concept to explore within my project. Perhaps it says a lot about a person in the way in which they find order within particular set of items.

A prime example of this is something as simple as the way in which a person might order their wardrobe. I find myself ordering items by type and within that, colour. Others tend to just shove things into their wardrobe in no particular order, and yet still know where each items is – this might be their order.

Our Awareness Day

Our Awareness day would essentially be a fayre of sorts in which younger and older people can attend to learn new skills. There’d be a wide range of stalls offering things such as baked goods. There’d also be lessons in skills such as knitting – a tradition for a much older demographic – and using technology – a tradition for a much younger demographic. The whole aim of the day would be to enable people from both generations to come and learn something completely new and to, hopefully, gauge a better understanding of how the alternate generation lives. 

Inclusion of Social Networks

We decided to include a hashtag as part of our campaign, mainly down to the fact that with the growing popularity of Twitter, we thought it would appeal to – mainly – our younger demographic. We toyed around with various hash tags such as #BridgeTheGap but eventually settled on #ReachOut which also became the name of our awareness day. We chose #ReachOut as it was not only short and simple but short to type. Reach Out also promotes this idea of extending a helping hand and this idea of community.

We also chose to include a web address as well due to the thought that Twitter may not appeal to an older demographic who were not brought up with computers and technology.  A web address is a simpler medium than a social network.

Stereotypes between Demographics

As part of our research, we thought it was important to gain primary source information to gauge the opinions each demographic had of the other.

1. What’s your opinion on young people?

Positive

Angela Tucker (aged 64, Bridgend): “I think that most teenagers have rough press. There are some bad ones but mostly, in my experience, they’re good at heat. Whilst I was a teacher some teens would take the micky trying to get away with things by cheekily explaining that their social lives are more important than their schoolwork. In my opinion youths are stereotyped negatively as we only hear the bad things in the press and very rarely the good things; these days only bad stories sell though. It’s a shame that a few spoil it for the majority. I think they’re harmless, they like laughing and enjoying life without being aggressive to elders. There are exceptions but teenagers I came into contact with during my teaching years are respectful. I like being in their company and used to enjoy hearing about their antics.”

After spending time with a 24-year-old Zoe, Roy Hone (aged 83, South Hampton) said “Zoe gave me a new lease on life, I shall go back invigorated and I’m thinking of doing all sorts of things as a result”.

Aminah Smith (aged 75, Bristol): “We were young once, they aren’t doing anything wrong. They are enjoying life, as they should”.

Negative

George Turner (“They are rebellious, lazy, egocentric, irresponsible, and totally focused on trivial things like fashion, material things, socializing, etc. Also, mall rats that give in to peer pressure and all want to look & dress alike, cliquish and cruel kids who disrespect authority and make fun of the less popular kids. Then you have all the subgroups such as jocks, nerds, goths, punks, skaters, emos, cheerleader/pageant queens, etc.”

1. What’s your opinion on elderly people?

Positive

Marie Thérèse (aged 24, Bristol): “I have lots of respect for old people. I think I’m an old soul at heart. I’m always wishing I could have lived in the past; so listening to older people talk always fascinates me. I think it’s sad how our culture idolizes youth and beauty whilst shoving our old and sick out of view.”

Alice Davey (aged 19, Nottingham):“some are very wise and some are very foolish, depends on the person- just like young people; but all the same we should respect them deeply”.

Callum Moore (aged 16, Thornbury): “I like old people they’re full of wisdom, I don’t like the grumpy ones though”.

Negative

Kyle Brookes (aged 16, Leeds): “They drive slowly, can’t see, drink decaf coffee, are heath freaks, have small dogs, hate teenagers, like jazz music, adore Elvis, listen to AM radio, only watch the news on tv, call a TV a television, expect everyone to bow down to them, wear diapers, impotent, bad breath, reads the paper, crossword puzzles, wheelchairs, loves small children, can’t remember important things, gives good advice, pencils on eyebrows, doesn’t bathe, likes to bake, spoils their grandchildren, is typically rich, lives in a huge, clean looking home, likes to golf, goes on walks every morning, and is lonely.”

Rhian Meek (aged 23, Liverpool): “Lately I have been thinking that they don’t really fit in, in society anymore. In the last 100 years or so they don’t seem to adapt to the times that they are living in. all of the older people I have had conversations with end up making me angry. They all want the Internet to go away, they hate texting, pretty much everything having to do with technology. The whole wise thing doesn’t apply anymore. It used to back when technology wasn’t a factor like it is today. Elderly people have no idea how the world works anymore. They have no idea how the job market works anymore; I could go on and on. The only thing that they are good for is to hear stories about the old days and what they did.”

As you can see, the opinions vary with some people having extreme prejudices whilst others are very positive.

While researching stereotypes we found these are the most common stereotypes for elder people: 

1. Most older people live in institutions
2.  Retirement is less difficult for women than it is for men
3.  Alzheimer’s disease is to be expected with old age
4.  Older workers are less productive than younger workers
5.  Sickness and disability come with old age
6.  Older people cannot learn
7.  Older people are more fearful of death than are younger people
8. Old people are sweet and kind and at peace with the world
9. Old people are weak and helpless
10. Old people have no interest in or capacity for sexual activity.
11. Old people are boring and forgetful
12. Old people are unproductive
13. Old people are grouchy and cantankerous
14. Old women are a burden on everyone
15. Old age begins at 60
16. Old people do not have feelings
17. Old people are past being consulted about anything – even their own lives. 
18. The majority of older people are set in their ways, unable to change
19. The majority of older people view themselves as being in poor health
20. The majority of older people are lonely and are isolated from their families

While researching stereotypes we found these are the most common stereotypes for younger people: 

1. Rude
2. Ungrateful
3. Lazy
4. Known for using drugs and drinking
5. They don’t know a lot
6. Selfish
7. Fit
8. “Sex Mad”
9. Don’t like old people
10. No respect
11. “Fresh Minds”
12. Active
13. Thugs/ Chavs/ Yobs
14. Have things too easy
15. Fast Drivers
16. Can’t cook
17. Don’t care about politics
18. Free/ Strong Willed
19. Appearance Obsessed
20. Clever

Persuasive Summary Essay Plan

I created an Essay plan for my Persuasive Summary:

Hypersexuality in Advertising: Increase in Sex as Advertising

There’s a saying that sex sells. We as consumers are seduced by the appeal of lust, desire and passion. Sex is used as a form of enticing the consumer, something that is nothing new in the world of advertising. In research conducted by University of Georgia, it is shown that there has been a gargantuan increase in the amount of sex prominent in advertising:

Looking at 3,232 full-page ads published in 1983, 1993 and 2003 in popular magazines Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Esquire, Playboy, Newsweek and Time, researchers found sexual imagery in 20 percent of the ads. Using sex to sell everything from alcohol to banking services has increased over the years: 15 percent of ads used sex to sell in 1983; that percentage grew to 27 percent in 2003.

Ads were categorized based on the models’ clothing, or lack thereof, and physical contact between models.

– Tom Reichert, Researcher

 

 

Hypersexuality in Advertising: Marc Jacobs Ad Banned

In 2008, Marc Jacobs started a campaign to advertise their new perfume Oh Lola. The advert featured a then-17 Dakota Fanning sat on the floor with the perfume bottle place between her legs. Following the advert’s release, The Advertising Standards Authority received several complaints due to the unnerving nature of the advert.

Many of the complaints revolved around the sexual undertones of the advert in combination with the ambiguity of Fanning’s age. In an statement, the ASA said “We noted that the model was holding up the perfume bottle which rested in her lap between her legs and we considered that its position was sexually provocative. We understood the model was 17 years old but we considered she looked under the age of 16. We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality. Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualise a child.” Ultimately the advert was pulled from print, most likely costing the company a vast amount of money. This is a prime example of how problematic it can be when a concept oversteps the mark of acceptability.

 

Working On Our Campaign Visuals: Development

It was important to us that we created successful, visually pleasing designs. Our process for creation was that those who were creating, made a mock up and then posted it in our group Facebook for feedback. Below is the development of the visual that I created along with a few comments on what we thought didn’t work and what was to be changed.

This idea made use of Joe’s tag line along with the accompanying colours. If finished, this would have contained the logo in the corner. We felt it was a little too simplistic, lacking any vital information or explanation.

 

These two visuals once again employed the use of the tag line but also made up where the prior lacked. The images contain a small amount of information as well as the logo. We liked this concept, something that can be seen in our other two visuals as they carry a similar layout and body of text.

This concept was more of a tester in order to try out a different font and layout. The use of hands was something I did, however, continue to use. Due to the name of our day finally being decided as Reach Out, I wanted to somehow illustrate this.

 

Inspire by this poster, I thought it’d be interesting to use graphics instead of photos. The problem with using a photo can be that in the advertising industry, you need to meticulously plan and spend in order to get the photos you need for a campaign. Also, the problem with trying to appeal to a vast demographic is that you risk alienating some of your target market by using photos that don’t represent them accurately. These posters illustrated the name of our day and also contained vital text. I also employed the use of our tag line but decided to be a little more original,  creating a set of three images themed by colour and one our three c’s. Whilst a unique idea, this begs the problem that someone will only be getting a third of our tag line when looking at the advert as opposed to the whole sentence.

 

This was my final visual which used a combination of all of my past designs. I used the aesthetically pleasing design elements as shown before as well as practically placed text and relevant content. Information is put in a hierarchal importance due to the size of the text. I decided to enlarge the logo in comparison to the size on the past posters as I thought the AGE UK was an important part of the whole campaign and needed to have more of a presence on the design. I decided to put the photo in colour as I thought it would appear friendlier than black and white, but also not clash with the colours due to the neutral tones. I also thought this idea would successfully appeal to both ages due to the fact that it was easily readable but also had quite an interesting layout which differed from other posters.

 

 

Working On Our Campaign Visuals: Content

After much discussion, we decided to come up with a catchy slogan which would be memorable. A tag line would propel more meaning into our concepts and allow us a little more breathing space for adding information. Joe came up with the idea “Congregate. Communicate. Connect” which really summed up the kind of message we were trying to broadcast. The alliteration also made it more memorable as it rolls off the tongue. We also assigned each word a particular colour from the logo, mainly for design purposes.

• Congregate – In reference to the fact that our awareness day revolves around bringing two generations together.
• Communicate – In reference to the fact our day promotes a healthier, more understanding communication between two generations.
• Connect – In reference to the fact that we hope our day is successful in building bridges between two generations.

We wanted to keep content to a minimum and therefore we chose to include only the name of the day, where you could find out about it, our slogan and a few lines about what you could find. We thought it was important to create something that didn’t intimidate people with a huge chunk of text. As a group, we also toyed around with a few ideas for sentences we could possibly use on our posters that really summed up our day in little words. We came up with “Come and see through the eyes of another generation” and “Generations come and go but the youth stays the same”, both of which we thought successful presented the meaning behind our awareness day very clearly.