OUGD601 - Evaluation

OUGD601 has been the most self driven and independent project throughout my whole learning experience at Leeds Arts University. Having started reading and researching at the end of level 5 and throughout the summer, it has also been the longest project worked on to date. It has been surprising how long this brief has actually taken to complete, I underestimated the amount of time that would be spent simply reading books and gathering research. This however, has not been a pointless exercise, I feel like I have learnt so much in regards to the theoretical side of graphic design. Movements and metanarratives such as Marxism, Dadaism, Postmodernism, Modernism, Capitalism and Consumerism are now second nature to me, I feel confident enough to thoroughly explain all of these elements and how they link into my theoretical piece of writing and practical investigation. This knowledge will help me to expand upon my design practice in both the PPP and Extended Practice modules. I have already found myself discussing this knowledge and these terms when visiting exhibitions and galleries. Technology and sociology has also been explored greatly throughout, a continuing understanding of them will help to inform future projects. In particular, technology, postmodernism and popular culture are vital areas which resonate specifically with my personal practice, I hope to continue building upon my understanding of these even after the degree has finished.

In regards to my final essay and resolutions, I am extremely pleased and proud of my outcomes. I believe that the amount of hours put into the project is reflected greatly through the final resolutions. The project could not have been completed to this level without an extensive amount of planning and preparation, the research portion of the project alone took longer than both the writing of the paper and production of the practical investigation combined.

The practical piece was heavily informed by the essay, sharing much of the same initial research. All design decisions were informed and influenced by the concept and context of the brief. Grasping an understanding of the demographic audience was key to decide upon the digital direction of the project. With the essay being based around 'internet memes' it was crucial that the project focused on digital mediums and their effect on a consumerist society. The repurposing characteristics of memes was also a core idea to embed within the final piece.

All together, I am happy with my final outcomes and I believe that the concept is portrayed successfully through the use of visual and written aids. It would have been helpful to create the final advertising video for Nike however, with it needing footage from; skydiving, bungee jumping, mountain climbing, skiing, diving and other sports, it was not feasible to produce given my timescale and budget. The manifesto alone is successful at explaining the final concept.

OUGD601 - Practical & Theory Synthesis

Having started out with the main basic subheadings of memes, image recontextualisation, postmodern principles and the consumer industry of graphic design. My theoretical and practical investigations simultaneously began to grow as the body of research grew. Building on the knowledge gained over the last two years, I started to be able to triangulate sources, theory and statistics into a more well rounded and informed argument. With my book of content and research 3/4 full, I was able to start establishing a direction for my praxis. This allowed both the practical and written element of the project to evolve alongside each other resulting in a synthesised response to my brief.

The research analysed in the written body of the essay allowed me to draw parallels between artistic movements, commercial economy and consumerist technological advancements in visual communication (memes). This allowed me to propose possible advancements and future avenues for meme production within the practice of contemporary graphic design. The practical investigation was an opportunity for me to test my hypothesis of memes being utilised within a commercial advertising campaign, this aimed to give evidence to the ideas discussed within the written element. By drawing on quotes and research from the written piece, I was able to experiment with existing successful memes in a more serious and polished manor. Conceptualising an advertising campaign which combines both a commercial brand, and a repurposed internet meme not only argues the commercial applications of memes, but also provides evidence to support the claim.

Both projects support each other in order to form an argument and theorise an answer to the original question 'How do 'Memes' relate to contemporary Graphic Design?'. This is not to say that they provide a solid solution to the question, their are pros and cons of utilising memes within Graphic Design. Their limited reliability with an audience of an older age bracket, and their specific targeting of a Westernised culture are limitations however, the investigation does shine a light on their potential as a creative tool within the field of Graphic Design. It also refers back to movements throughout history (Postmodernism and Fanzines for example), drawing similarities to propose the future direction of memes as an artistic platform.

OUGD601 - Online Articles Research - JSTOR

With the majority of quotes from books and articles being triangulated in the research book. There was not enough room to print off and include the research also conducted online using articles and PDF documents. Therefore, I have succinctly gathered all of the main sources read online into one list, all of these sources helped to define and inform the final theoretical and practical outcomes with some quotes being used in the final written paper.

‘Dougherty, S. (2001). Culture in the Disk Drive: Computationalism, Memetics, and the Rise of Posthumanism. Diacritics, 31(4), 85-102. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566430’

‘Bourrier, K. (2016). Victorian Memes. Victorian Studies, 58(2), 272-282. doi:10.2979/victorianstudies.58.2.08’

‘Dennett, D. (1990). Memes and the Exploitation of Imagination. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 48(2), 127-135. doi:10.2307/430902’

‘Borenstein, E. (2004). Survival of the Catchiest: Memes and Postmodern Russia. The Slavic and East European Journal,48(3), 462-483. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3220071’

‘Leahey, E. (2008). Methodological Memes and Mores: Toward a Sociology of Social Research. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 33-53. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29737781’

‘Rossolatos, G. (2015). The Ice-Bucket Challenge: The Legitimacy of the Memetic Mode of Cultural Reproduction Is the Message. Signs and Society, 3(1), 132-152. doi:10.1086/679520’

‘Pimple, K. (1996). The Meme-Ing of Folklore. Journal of Folklore Research, 33(3), 236-240. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3814680’

‘Mullin, J. (2009). APPROPRIATION, HOMAGE, AND PASTICHE: Using Artistic Tradition to Reconsider and Redefine Plagiarism. In HAVILAND C. & MULLIN J. (Eds.), Who Owns This Text?: Plagiarism, Authorship, and Disciplinary Cultures (pp. 105-128). University Press of Colorado. doi:10.2307/j.ctt4cgn56.7’

‘Crapanzano, V. (1991). The Postmodern Crisis: Discourse, Parody, Memory. Cultural Anthropology, 6(4), 431-446. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/656163’

‘Stephanson, A., & Jameson, F. (1989). Regarding Postmodernism--A Conversation with Fredric Jameson. Social Text, (21), 3-30. doi:10.2307/827806’

OUGD601 - #JustDoIt Campaign - Slogan & Manifesto

Manifesto

A short piece of film would be put together by Nike showing a compilation 

of diverse people from all over the world achieving their dreams or 

accomplishing a self set task. The first one would be a short clip of 

Shia LaBeouf, to give the video some context. This would range from:

- Achieving their personal best at an athletic activity

- Climbing to the peak of a mountain

- Skydiving

- Bungee jumping

- Base-jumping

- Skateboarding

- Skiing

And any other sports and events related with the Nike brand

At the end of their accomplishment, the subject being recorded would shout ‘JUST DO IT’ towards the camera whilst pulling the Shia LaBeouf motivational speech pose. At the end of the whole advert, a challenge would come up on the screen which says ‘ #JUST DO IT SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO’. This advert would be shown on television, but most importantly, shared across social media and online platforms. This would then spark a viral fad in which the public would record themselves fulfilling personal achievements and would post a response video online with the hashtag ‘#Just Do It’. This would be re-contextualised again and again much like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Planking and the Harlem Shake.

OUGD601 - #JustDoIt Campaign - Social Media Fad Example

An example of the social media fad has been mocked up to further portray the concept of the campaign.  User created online distribution would be key to the success of the campaign. Statistics from similar viral fads have shown the potential of this technique; the consumers themselves become the distributors which is extremely reminiscent of Toffier’s (1980) portmanteau terminology, the ‘prosumer’ - ‘neither producers nor consumers in the usual sense’ (Toffler 1980 p.226). With the campaigns simplicity and its unlimited easy re-purposing possibilities, it instantly abides to Dawkins three principles of high survival rate amongst meme replicators: ‘longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity’ (Dawkins 1976 p.194).

OUGD601 - #JustDoIt Campaign - Snapchat Filter

Taking influence from modern marketing techniques, it seemed appropriate to create a Snapchat filter specific to the campaign. This will further extend the reach of social media involvement and the publicity of the campaign.

OUGD601 - Colour Choice - RGB/CMYK

The green nike tick ambiguously takes reference from the original green screen in the video. The colour scheme used for the campaign utilises a CMYK pallet to be transferible across a large array of mediums and platforms. The colour psychology of green embodies the natural world and self growth; it also 'encourages social joining of clubs and other groups'.

http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-green.html

OUGD601 - #JustDoIt Campaign - Public Distribution Development

Along with the interface designs and social media campaigns, it also seemed appropriate to apply the concept onto printed mediums. As is stated in the written element of the project, online culture is now distributed via offline platforms. This expands the campaign to a wider audience; with the introduction of digital billboards, some of the posts from social media could also be live-streamed onto billboards within city centres with posts being showcased from people all over the world.

The billboard represented below is a static variation, it uses large simplicity and a large typeface in order to catch the viewers attention. Much of the audience may be driving past only giving them a couple of seconds to view the billboard. Therefore it seemed appropriate to leave any small type off the advertisement.

OUGD601 - #Just Do It Campaign - Printed Mediums

OUGD601 - Tutorial Session 6 - Practical Project Analysis & Reflection

Proposed questions to discuss -

• What are appendices?
• How can I submit my research?
• Go through paragraphing

Notes -

Jamie Reids 'appropriation' is used in the wrong context, use Hutcheon instead of Jameson as a refute. If his work did not have political values, then it could be referred to as pastiche as it takes collage influence from stylistic aesthetics from movements such as Dada and Cubism. Instead his work mocks and reappropriates political figures giving his work more involvement with parody.

Also compress Reids work

Address the characterisation of humour inside memes, all aspects must me considered and explained. Look at what it has evolved into (humour sharing, cultural negotiations, humorous interjections), use some well known examples of memes to demonstrate that. Also the typography (Impact Typeface), the associations with memes and how it has been chosen. The accessibility of the font, it being a web safe font. Address this font and why it is chosen instead of Helvetica etc...

Crude line drawings of faces

OUGD601 - #Just Do It Campaign - Interface Designs

OUGD601 - #Just Do It Campaign Concept & Manifesto

Building on from the 'Just Do It' meme advertising campaign using the clip of Shia LaBeouf’s intense motivational speech, I have decided to propose a viral fad concept (taking influence from the Ice Bucket Challenge, Planking and the Harlem Shake) which will further increase the publicity and spread of the campaign. Statistics from similar viral fads have shown the potential of this technique; the consumers themselves become the distributors which is extremely reminiscent of Toffier’s (1980) portmanteau terminology, the ‘prosumer’ – ‘neither producers nor consumers in the usual sense’ (Toffler 1980 p.226). The concept is simple but easily replicable, abiding to Dawkins three principles of high survival rate amongst meme replicators: 'longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity' (Dawkins 1976 p.194). The proposed concept is as follows:

Manifesto

A short piece of film would be put together by Nike showing a variety of diverse people achieving their dreams or accomplishing a self set task (achieving their personal best at an athletic activity etc...). At the end of their accomplishment, the subject would shout 'JUST DO IT' towards the camera whilst pulling the Shia LaBeouf motivational speech pose. At the end of the advert, a challenge would come up on the screen saying 'SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO #JUST DO IT CHALLENGE'. This advert would be shown on television, billboards and most importantly, shared across social media and online platforms. This would then spark a viral fad in which the public would record themselves fulfilling personal achievements and post their video online with the hashtag 'Just Do It'. This would be recontextualised again and again much like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Planking and the Harlem Shake.


Examples could be as follows:

• Achieving their personal best running time on a track
• Lifting their max weight at the gym
• Graduating university
• Someone thats just climbed to the top of mount everest
• Skydiving
• Bungee jump

The repercussions of such a viral fad taking off could have huge implications for the publicity and profits of the Nike brand. The concept shows the power memes could have in a commercial sense and how they could be adopted into the practice of graphic design.

OUGD601 - Social 'Viral Fad' Influence

An interesting point to consider is that not all memes are physical tangible artefacts;

• 'Planking'
• 'The Ice Bucket Challenge'
• 'The Harlem Shake
• The Cinnamon Challenge
• Egg Nominations
• Dabbing

For example are all expressions or challenges which are spread throughout popular culture using the internet to spread the concept globally. The statistics reveal that these 'fads' have a short lifespan however, their impact on society can be detrimental with huge revenue being made in the case of 'The Ice Bucket Challenge' raising millions of pounds for charity. It is also important to note that no commercial companies have yet utilised this technique within their advertising campaigns. After the feedback critique session in the blog post OUGD601- Practical Project Critique Session & Feedback, a similar idea was discussed based on my 'Just Do It' meme campaign for Nike. This has given my practical project influence in the form of a Nike '#Just Do It' advertising campaign further expanded upon in the blog post OUGD601 - #Just Do It Campaign Concept & Manifesto

The Harlem Shake

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/harlem-shake

Planking

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/planking

2014 Ice Bucket Challenge

Two summers ago, the challenge, designed to raise money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, took the internet by storm. Supporters ended up raising over $115 million for the A.L.S. Association.

Over two years, money from the challenge has helped fund the research and development of treatment drugs and has been used as prize money to entice people to design technology for people living with the disease, which causes a rapid breakdown in a person’s ability to control muscle movement.

The association released a chart last year showing where the funds went:

• $77 million, or 67 percent, went to research.

• $23 million, or 20 percent, went to patient and community services.

• $10 million, or 9 percent, went to public and professional education.

• $3 million, or 2 percent, went to fund-raising.

• And $2 million, roughly another 2 percent, went to payment processing fees.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/health/the-ice-bucket-challenge-helped-scientists-discover-a-new-gene-tied-to-als.html

http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ibc-infographic.html