Dissertation Proposal Part 1

Dissertation Proposal Part 1

Student Name
Laura Hall
Course
Graphic Design
Supervisor name
Hamid Van Koten
Email address
L.Y.Hall@dundee.ac.uk
Date
30th November 2010


Working title (max 25 words)
The effects of celebrity culture and its influences on cosmetic surgery, and people’s drive towards the desire of perfection particularly in the youth of today.
Summary (max 250 words)
I have looked briefly into the history of cosmetic surgery and it first origins appear to be from as early as the WW1 when ‘artistic’ repairs were used to save soldiers fighting in the war. Cosmetic surgery also goes as far back as 800B.C in India when people who has their noses cut off as punishment had them restored. However, it all became much more common in the 20th century and the present day. Celebrity influence is a big part of the cosmetic surgery industry and it is all over the press and media and is brainwashing youths of today into thinking the only way to look good is to go under the knife. Although a lot of this is negative, cosmetic surgery is good for loads of people, and has its benefits in health and fitness for patients being recommended for surgery in aid to save their lives or for reconstructive reasons. However it can be a very dangerous tool if used incorrectly. Celebrity culture is a key area in the field of cosmetic surgery and it is responsible for the attitudes of woman and men of all ages about undergoing surgery all in the name of vanity. We as a economy are becoming ever more dependent on the media and this leaves us putting our own bodies and identities under scrutiny and we start to think of the possibilities of surgery to enhance our appearances.
Aims: Why are you doing this? (max 100 words)
My main reason for choosing this topic is because of a personal experience. I had a Facial Reconstruction Operation and although it wasn’t through vanity it was medically recommended I came through the operation with strong thoughts and feelings as to why people consider going through such agony purely for looks. Bad press, media and celebrity influence has alot to do with this idea of the ‘perfect body’ and as a graphic designer I would hope to help young people to understand that there is no need to go to such extremities, and make people aware of all the negatives of cosmetic surgery and how it is a life changing experience and not something to be taken lightly. 

Objectives: What will you produce? (max 100 words)
My main objective in my dissertation is to produce a thorough explanation and analysis of the direct and indirect influences of celebrity culture on our youths. Another objective is to collect information about people’s own personal experiences of surgery, and their reasonings behind it. I would also like to collect, from people who haven’t undergone surgery, opinions and point’s of view towards it and if they would ever consider going through with surgery. Finally an overview of a small experiment hopefully with children and young adults, in interviewing and asking them to complete a questionnaire, and an experiment asking them to identify which out of a select number of celebrities would they says are ‘perfect’ or the best looking. 
Keywords (min 5 and max 10)
Surgery, confidence, perfection, deformities, NHS, body image, influences, celebrity, media.
Annotated Bibliography (min of 12 books, articles, websites)
Blum, V. L., 2003. Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery. California: University of California Press.
In this book, Blum looks into and studies all aspects of our lives and culture to see how we have turned our economy into a culture of cosmetic surgery. She also looks into what drives people into cosmetic surgery in the first place and what keeps people so fixated with celebrity aspirations. 
Brooks, K. D., Henderson-King, D., 2009. Materialism, Sociocultural Appearance Messages, and Paternal Attitudes Predict College Women’s Attitudes About Cosmetic Surgery. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, pp.133-142.
This article shows the relationship between cosmetic surgery being a very female orientated industry, woman’s attitudes towards surgery and the pressures woman are under to achieve such desired attractiveness.
Elliott, A., 2008. Making the Cut How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming our Lives. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
The main purpose of this book is to allow us to understand some of the main driving forces behind our cosmetic surgical culture, and how we are on the ever increase of cosmetic surgery on our country and all around the world. 
Find a Surgeon, 2010. History of Cosmetic Surgery. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 October 2010]
This is just a brief outline of the history of cosmetic surgery, how it originated in India, then it goes on to explain its significance in World War 1.
Fraser, S., 2003. Cosmetic Surgery, Gender and Culture. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. 
This book looks at how gender and cosmetic surgery are related and how they form part of our everyday lives and not only for people who have already undergone surgery. Throughout the book Fraser has focused on 3 themes for cosmetic surgery discourse - nature, agency and vanity.
Haiken, E., 1997. Venus Envy A History of Cosmetic Surgery. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
This book focuses primarily on the history of cosmetic surgery and how it all came about. Haiken looks into the American culture in particular and how this gave rise to the growth of cosmetic surgery. 
Jones, M., 2008. Skintight: An Anatomy of Cosmetic Surgery. New York: Berg Publishers.
This book looks into the areas of celebrity, media and reality television shows and their influences of cosmetic surgery on our world. 
Plastic Surgery Axis, 2007. How Does Celebrity Plastic Surgery Influence Us. [online] Available at: < http://www.plasticsurgeryaxis.com/articles/celebrity_plastic_surgery.html> [Accessed 27 November 2010] 
This website links our obsession with celebrities to cosmetic surgery and how certain people are influenced so much that they undergo surgery in order to look like their desired celebrity.
Reuters, 2008. Celebrity obsession harming British students. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 November 2010]
This is an online article detailing an harmful obsession British students have with celebrity culture and who and why they are aspiring to be like when they grow up. Believing they can achieve this celebrity status easily through a reality TV show.
Slevec, J., Tiggemann, M., 2010. Attitudes Toward Cosmetic Surgery in Middle-Aged Women: Body Image, Aging Anxiety, and the Media. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, pp. 65-74.
This article looks into the attitudes of middle-aged woman in particular and what factors these women consider to be important in the decision making of undergoing surgery and improving their appearances. Particular focus is given the to ‘anti-aging’ cosmetic industry as this effects woman in this age group most.
The Celebrity Cafe, 2009. Is Celebrity Obsession Destroying our Society? [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 November 2010]
This website looks into how we have idolized ‘celebrities’ in today’s culture and how we have such a obsession with the famous we often have headlines containing celebrities above world events. 
The Rutherford Institute, 2003. Celebrity Culture in America Has personality finally replaced reality? [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 November 2010]
This website looks into one of our biggest countries in the world and the contribution they have made to our fascination with celebrity status. Reality TV shows are very big in America and we find out here the reasons why and how it is affecting the rest of the world.

Book and Journal Summaries

MATERIALISM, SOCIOCULTURAL APPEARANCE MESSAGES, AND PATERNAL ATTITUDES PREDICT COLLEGE WOMEN’S ATTITUDES ABOUT COSMETIC SURGERY By Donna Henderson-King, Grand Valley State University and Kelly D. Brooks George Washington University

The main purpose of this article is to show the relationship between cosmetic surgery being a very female orientated industry, woman’s attitudes towards surgery and the pressures woman are under to achieve such desired attractiveness. I believe that the key question being asked by the author’s of this journal would be ‘What specific factor’s cause woman to consider undergoing cosmetic surgery?’ and ‘What factor’s in particular effect woman most and how?’ 

Social pressures is a key area of study within this article, K.Brooks and D.Henderson-King have studied the work of feminist social scientists, philosophers, and social critics Adams & Crossman, 1978, Bartky, 1990 and Wolf, 1991, to name a few in helping to support their argument that “woman and girls are socialized to attend to and enhance their physical appearance and are evaluated by others on the basis of their attractiveness.” Woman are seen here to be “relating to their bodies as objects,” and indulging in “self-objectification” through angst over their body image, and influences and interaction with the media and others. A quote from Brumberg, 1997 “The female body becomes not only an object, but also a project, an object to be worked upon,” shows how woman are in the frame of mind of needing regular alterations, through the effects of celebrity, media and the so-called principles set for feminine beauty.

Attitudes of friends and families is another key area brought up in this article through secondary research from the author’s showing that “Negative body evaluations and attempts to lose weight to better conform to societal standards of thinness have been linked to the attitudes and actions of parents and peers in girls as young as elementary school age.” (Leung, Schwartzman, & Steiger, 1996; Smolak, Levine, & Schermer, 1999, Dohnt & Tiggeman, 2006; Jones, 2004; Jones, Vigfusdottir, & Lee, 2004). The author’s argue here that although no research has been done specifically into the area of cosmetic surgery attitudes, the attitudes of weight loss and thinness are “activities aimed at improving physical appearance” which in a nut shell is the basis of the whole cosmetic surgery industry. Media representations and information on woman and appearances is another big factor of influence on woman shown here through research obtained by the author’s, “Previous research has provided evidence that being exposed to messages emphasizing female attractiveness can result, at least for some girls and women, in lower levels of body-esteem and body satisfaction” (Clark & Tiggeman, 2006; Henderson-King, Henderson-King, & Hoffman, 2001; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 1997; Jones et al., 2004; Morry & Saska, 2001). And finally materialism and consumer culture particularly in Western countries, is shown to be an underlying aspect of the world of cosmetic surgery. With the media advertising the body as an ‘object,’ consumer culture and capitalism have encouraged woman to view their bodies as merchandise’s giving the desire to constantly alter and change their appearance through cosmetic surgery.

In order to obtain some primary research K.Brooks and D.Henderson-King surveyed and examined undergraduate woman and their attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. Not only where they focusing on inclinations towards having surgery they also wanted to focus on general acceptance based on social and intrapersonal motives. Their aim was to collate and review the combined effects of - “appearance-related attitudes of close others, sociocultural messages about appearance, and materialist aspirations.” - through questionnaires given to a group of young woman, aged 17-26, ranging from lists of available choice answers and question and answer sections including all of the above mentioned areas of particular interest.



Making the Cut How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming our LIves By Anthony Elliott

The main purpose of this book is to allow us to understand some of the main driving forces behind our cosmetic surgical culture, and how we are on the ever increase of cosmetic surgery in our country and all around the world. The key question Anthony Elliott is addressing in his novel I believe is given to us in the title, ‘How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming our Lives?’ and it is his objective to go through each of the main areas individually to understand how it is affecting our attitudes and behaviours towards cosmetic surgery. Going through each chapter in order I found each to be vital in understanding the purpose of demonstrating that there is not one single cause for our development into a cosmetic surgical culture. Elliott conduced very little primary research in this novel, he spoke with a few people asking of their experiences of surgery and some surgeons but most information was gathered from secondary sources.

Chapter one in particular focuses on ‘The Rise of Cosmetic Surgical Culture,’ and how Cosmetic Surgery is now seen as the “fastest growing beauty business in the world today.” Elliott had retrieved some secondary research sources for the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) reporting a increase of 50 per cent in 2005 and 35 per cent increase in 2006 of cosmetic surgery operations in Britain, and that in the UK the cosmetic surgery industry is estimated at being worth more than £528 million annually. The second chapter is called ‘Celebrity Obsession: Fame, Fortune and Faking It,” and a crucial quote to sum up this idea of our changing culture is “As the economy becomes cultural, ever more dependent on media, image and public relations, so personal identity comes under the spotlight and open to revision.” Today people in our world have such a desire of celebrity bodies and are prepared to go under the knife to say “Make me look like her.” And Elliott explains “Celebrity is part cultural and part devine, and to this extent a pure image of creativity.” Chapter 3. ‘Want-Now Consumerism: Immediate Transformation, Instant Obsolescence’ focuses primarily on the consumer society and what keeps people hooked especially in the industry of cosmetic surgery. Elliott quotes ‘Liquid Life’ by Zygmunt Bauman ‘‘The promise to satisfy human desires in a way no other society in the past could do or dream of doing,” whilst commenting on the excessive nature of consumer society. Elliott goes into some depth in this chapter to try and come to terms with what keeps this consumerism evolving and what has people ‘anchored’ in consumer culture. Marketing and advertising of beauty products and surgery is another dominant area of discussion allowing us to see the direct influence this has on peoples attitudes and choices. The final chapter, ‘Making the Cut: Cosmetic Surgical Culture in the Global Electronic Economy,’ centralizes around the whole idea of cosmetic surgery being an effective tool, if you like, in getting ahead in your work, getting promotions or a new job. A quote from The New York Times (2006) “Sometimes nips and tucks can be career moves” pretty much sums up Elliott’s argument of “It’s better to promote your own assets than rely on your track record, since the latter is already yesterday’s news.” This fear of disposability in our global culture is also another area Elliott looks into as he feels this is linked with people’s need to turn to cosmetic surgery as they are unhappy about their own appearance.

Dissertation Discucssion

So its dissertation time already, and now is when all the hard work begins! So in aid for us all to think of our topics we have been asked to meet with our groups to discuss what topics we are all thinking of doing.




At first I thought of continuing my Wiki topic of Consumer Culture and then Child Psychology of advertising/television programs. But after some debating and chatting with my group, fellow graphic students and my family I have decided to look into Cosmetic Surgery. I have had some personal experience in this field, as I had a Facial Reconstruction Operation just last summer, although I never had surgery as a means of vanity it was for medical reasons I am very interested as to peoples reasons behind going through with surgery just for looks. There are several branches within my topic that I have also looked into with the idea of celebrity and media influences and this over idea of 'designing the perfect body.'

Typography Project - Photographs

Our new brief is to design a 5 page spread graphic design magazine, the content has to include typography in the city, the history of type and contributions from previous designers to the evolution of typography.

We also have to include our own photography sourced in and around Dundee high street or town centre. I spent one afternoon last week taking some photo’s and editing them on photoshop and here are a few examples of my edited images.
















I have now set up my 5 page grid and have started playing around with images and type on my centre double page spread.

3D Typography

So while researching for some text to use for my magazine for our next class project I came across a man called Ebon Heath, who is a brooklyn based artist who takes typography to a different level. He creates mobiles made from collections of letters and words, and explores the endless possibilities of expressing typography in three dimensional space.








I think his work is fantastic, my favourite part of graphic design is typography and when we received our brief for a typographic project I was raring to go and have been enjoying doing draft layouts for the past few days. However, as I studied at Dundee University in first year on the general course I enjoyed being more ‘hands-on’ and creative with art, but Ebon Heath has showed here that there are no boundaries between the two and that you can merge them together and create something wonderful. As much as I see myself doing more commercial work like magazines and layouts when I leave University it is still nice to see what else is out there, what other people are creating and if anything is gives people inspiration to push your own boundaries and see what individual creations you can come up with.

Heath says, "The structures are a physical representation of our language as object. This 'visual noise' permeates all aspects of modern culture, especially urban living. From the signs, billboards, stores, and t-shirts that yell with type for attention as you walk down any high street. All the audio and verbal noise, from music we plug our ears with to the din of countless conversations, screams and whispers. With new media of texting, online, and transmitted technology there is even invisible noise silent to the eye surrounding us all. It is this cozy womb of information, data, or chorus of cacophony that my mobiles hope to represent as well as reveal: making the invisible visible." 

Wiki Entry - Consumer Culture and Design

Consumer Culture and Design

Laura Hall

Graphic Design

Summary Definition

Consumer Culture is the act of consumption, purchasing goods or services that can be personal, functional or sometimes not even necessary. The relationship between the consumer and the goods is the central focus of consumer culture and even though consumption is seen as an everyday activity it is also a vital part of social status amongst individuals (Anon., 2010) Some critics believe consumerism to be shallow and sometimes used as a way of obtaining a status symbol, with people’s only reason for purchasing expensive goods to show that they have the money available to do so, and not to meet their required needs. This is what drives consumption in our culture, people buying for no need and this idea of a through away culture as things are easily replaced, creating a circle of never ending consumption. However, supporters of consumer culture believe people are happier when their wants and needs are met and that consumption is the way to achieve this, giving consumer culture a positive view point (Ron Augustine, 2009.)

Brief History

There is a debate about when and where exactly Consumer Culture originated. The introduction of fashion in eighteenth-century England is when Neil McKendrick, author of The Birth of a Consumer Society: The Commercialization of Eighteenth Century England, and his associates believed Consumer Culture began. This introduction of fashion resulted in mass production and mass marketing of clothes through innovations in textiles and printing, because of the high demand from the consumer public. A second historian, Rosalind Williams, believes France to be the origin of Consumer Culture in the late-nineteenth-century. Williams believed The Paris exposition, otherwise known as a exhibition, that took place in France in 1889 and 1900 allowing people from all over the world to congregate and appreciate the styles from the previous century, to be the beginning of Consumer Culture. It was here at this exposition that William believes French retailers and advertisers transformed Paris into a “pilot plant of mass consumption,” and that it contributed greatly to the evolution of consumer culture through the progression of department stores (Anon., 2010)

Finally Roberta Sassatelli author of Consumer Culture; History, Theory and Politics, believes consumer culture to have originated in Great Britain at the end of the seventeenth century. Sassatelli (2007, pg35) believes at the end of the seventeenth century “the growth and diversity of objects on sale identified the start of consumption as a meaningful category, supplanting the notion of luxury in moral discourse.” However it wasn’t until the start of the eighteenth century that the commercialization of goods through means of advertising and promotion began, and at the same time consumption became a large focus in the public eye, constantly spoken about and discussed in newspapers, which coincidentally where funded by means of advertising.

Woman played a big part in the history and development of Consumer Culture, and still do today. It is seen as a natural role taken on by woman to consume or to be ‘born to shop,’ and for it to be partaken as a leisure and/or social activity. The idea of shopping being a feminine pursuit is still relevant today with men who are deemed ‘style conscious’ being linked with this idea of femininity. Woman were seen as the “chief purchasing agents” for their families come the 1910s, purchasing all household items making advertisers and manufacturers knowledgeable of who to direct their campaigns towards. According to expert advertiser Carl Naether, he advised advertiser’s to write “in woman’s own language,” using evocative words, poetic images, French phrases, and soft touches, as all these things provoke woman into thinking they need/want these products. This is because it is believed that woman focus on the social and psychological effects of a product whereas men focus on functionality, so to sell to a woman you have to get into their frame of mind, think how they are thinking and use this as an effective tool in the advertising industry (K. Peiss, 1998).

Relevance to Design

Value and sustainability of products is what is missing in today’s Consumer Culture and this is one thing designer’s have to help reinvent. We have become a part of a disposable culture, and it is a designer’s duty to end this idea by creating, inventing and promoting these products that are sustainably but still offer passion and usability to the consumer. The way products are sold through the aspirational values or ‘being successful’ values is very immoral and corruptive, however an arguable point is that if people didn’t want it, it wouldn’t sell but that is not entirely true and this is what advertising and promotion is here to do. Make people believe they do need and want these products.

Designers have an opportunity here to change this, moving our world towards products that are long lasting and have built in value; described as Artisanal products.

“Artisanal Design; it’s against the grain, and a challenge to show that the atypical is preferable to the typical. But design can and should support the creation of a world where the context of use and the personality of the creator are as important as the shape itself.” (Graham, 2008.)

The way designers, graphic and product designers in particular, can conquer this with new and improved communication and creation of these artisanal products, and the value and benefit they provide. Working towards the end of this throw-away culture we have entered into Hugh Graham believes is the job and responsibility of today designers, but will not happen over night but will whether we want it to or not, or even take part in the process. And that we are better to “engage the future rather than have it thrust upon is.”

The consumer revolution was made possible and relied greatly on the sudden availability of things, things that once were self generated or acquired but now are ready-made and accessible to everyone. These objects have had a complete makeover and ‘re-designed’ to give people the choice of novelty items which at one time only served one purpose which was to be truly functional and nothing else. The form of newly designed products was another area in which design has helped to influence the consumer culture. It gave and still gives the consumer happiness in shopping and takes away the hassle of making things for yourself, with the wide range of choice and variety (Graham, 2008.)

Bibliography

Encyclopedia, 2010, Consumer Culture - Defining, Origins of. [online] Available at: <http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6480/Consumer-Culture.html> [Accessed 27 September 2010]

AQR Consumer Culture. [onine] Available at: <http://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/index.html@term=consumerculture> [Accessed 29 September 2010]

The Journal for Multi Media History, 1998, American Woman and the Making of Modern Consumer Culture. [online] Available at: <http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/peiss-text.html> [Accessed 27 September 2010]

Graham Hugh, 2008, The End of Consumer Culture? [blog] 30 January, Available at: <http://hughgrahamcreative.com/2008/01/30/toward-a-moral-equivalent-of-consumerism/> [Accessed 30 September 2010]

Horning Rob, 2008, The Design Imperative [blog] 29 January, Available at: <http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/the-design-imperative/> [Accessed 30 September 2010]

Sassatelli, R., 2007, Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London, Sage

Group Meeting

So to get started with the new term of Design Studies we were asked to meet in our design groups to collectively choose a different topic each of us wished to study. The end result is to be a Wikipedia entry on your chosen subject. I choose to study Consumer Culture and Design. We had our first group meeting the first thursday of Semester 1 over lunch in the Canteena of the Crawford Building to discuss our first thoughts on what we would like to study. Our group then decided we should all go away work on our mind maps to research into our desired topics and to meet the following week to go over each others mind maps to see if and how we could help each other out if necessary. One girl from my group was having trouble choosing between 3 topics so she had drawn up 3 different mind maps and we all as a group had a look over and tried to help her narrow it down and pick the one she thinks she would get the most information from. We took some photographs to document our meetings and show our completed mind maps, which you can see below.

We then decided to just get on with writing our Wiki’s over the next week or so in our own time but have agreed to reconvene again a few days before hand in to help each other by reading over our Wiki’s and seeing if we can give any advice or help if needed to any other member of the group.

As promised

So my face is starting to get back to normal now, the swelling is just about all gone, apart from the lower section of my right cheek, and the feeling is nearly all back too! And I managed to get a decent enough photograph of myself last night and I have put it together with a photo of myself from before my operation to get a before and after effect, and I can't stop looking at either of the photographs in complete shock over how different I look. Over the past 10 months I have looked back over photos and thought to myself, yes I do look different but actually placing the photos side by side I can now see exactly how different I look.

Showing the photos to my mum and dad today I got the same response and my dad then asked me 'well are you happy with the result?' and I wasn't very sure of my answer (to my parents shock). Its not that I don't like my new face, because I do I am very happy with the final result, and the fantastic job the surgeons have done but nearly one year on I still sit infront of the mirror every morning to do my hair and make up and think to myself 'that's not me!' its so strange looking into the mirror and its not you, or what I class as 'me,' looking back at you. It is a very strange feeling, something that sometimes makes me think back over the operation and wonder if I did the right thing going for the op, changing the way my face looks, should I have just left it the way it was? should I have messed with what I had?! But if anything it wasn't for vanity, it was under medical advise...

Anyway, what is done is done and I am certainly not going back through it all again to change it back! So here are the photographs for you to have a wee look, I am still swaying as to adding the photoghaphs from hours after the op incase I scare people...

Braceface No More!

6 years of orthodontics, 2 years and 7 months of braces, one very long and painful 5 and a half hour facial reconstruction operation and 10 months recovery and i FINALLY have the perfect smile!!

My updated facebook status as of 3 oclock Thursday 15 April 2010.

It has been a long time coming and I haven't stop smiling since the minute I stepped out the dentist chair! I have had problems with my teeth and jaw since I was young and I had to have an operation over the summer to correct my bite. It was a 5 hour operation and I lived off liquids for months and had to sleep upright for weeks. So I have 6 metal plates and 26 screws in my face holding it all together and I am finally starting to get the feeling back and the reduction of swelling on the right hand side of my face, and about time! So today has been a big day getting the braces out and seeing the results of 6 years hard graft, and it has been worth every second. Back off to the orthodontists next week to get my permanent retainer fitted and get my before during and after photos so when I have then I will post them for everyone to see the difference.

Long Exposure

Mucking about with the long exposure on the slr camera my boyfriend and I were making the most of the warm weather over the weekend and decided to go out at night and play around with the settings and a torch and see if we could come up with anything good. These were our results after a few practice shots, and we got something not too bad....

These where done using a 15 second exposure and we used a pretty standard sized car torch but to achieve a better effect I think it would be better to maybe try and use a laser pen light, or one of the wee lights you can get for your car keys?! And then instead of trying to figure out how to write our names backwards next time i will just write it normal and flip my photo!! This way hopefully will be able to sign it and get a better and neater finish.

Homemade Presents

It was my longest friends 21st birthday just in the middle of march and I hummed and hawed for ages on what to buy her, because I wanted to make it something special, meaningful and something she could keep so for some inspiration I logged on to good old facebook on to her page and looked through the photos of the two of us and then my brilliant idea just came to me!! I had photos in a box in the loft from when we were kids and I thought of making a collage scrapbook from when we were babies right up to the present day. Combined with a nice bottle of alcohol we could get tucked into to celebrate together!

There is nothing more I love than homemade, well thought out and personal presents and my friend Lindsay is just like me so I knew this would be something she would appreciate. Apart from making it a wonderful present my main motive really was to make her cry, and this I managed successfully, and not only did I get some tears from her I got her mum reaching for the tissues too! All happy tears tho.

After a few late nights and several trips up and down to the loft, morrisons photo centre and sneaky meetings and calls with Lindsay's mum to collect some good photos my book was finally complete and in the end turned out to be a very successful present. I was so happy when I seen the look on her face as she read through all the pages laughing and reminiscing of our 20 year friendship and of course when I seen that all important tear running down her cheek! So here is a small selection of photos of the book...

Formula 1

After watching the formula 1 in Australia this weekend and seeing the Bridgestone Tire Company logo and all the other sponsorships on the cars, the race suits and the sides of the track I couldn't help but remember the fantastic Bridgestone Dog Suicide commercial I'd seen on the tv.

This is the first time I have ever watched the f1 and I really enjoyed it, to my surprise, and I will be looking forward to the next race this coming weekend in Malaysia Kuala Lumpur.

Just goes to show, that a good advert and campaign will stick in your mind no matter if you have a keen interest in the sport or general area or not!

Activity 5

Part A

After reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell I choose to study more in depth the story of Bernie Goetz and communication within family relationships and how if effects the overall running and functioning of the family, particularly that of parent-child relationships. To help aid with my studies in this specific area, I used mind mapping and brain storming within my tutorial group and I found these methods to be very effective and I would use they again. However, after completion of semester two’s assignments I believe that the technique of observation would be my next step and the most successful approach if I was to pursue my studies any further.

One of my main focuses in this topic was the idea of people seeing the family as two separate units, one ‘the parent’ and the other ‘the child,’ and not placing them together to see how they work and communicate as a whole. This particular problem I believe would benefit the most from the method of observation, it would allow for someone like myself or a professional to assess the situation and discover for themselves what they truly believe to be the problem. Because talking about and answering questions on close family relations within an interview I think people would be selective with the information they give you, and not always give the honest truth. Observations in this instance would allow for a 3rd party to monitor the situation and analyse it impartially without making assumptions relating to the pre-existing relationship.

Change is a constant thing within a family, whether it is as simple as a change of location, family home or the growing up of children, it all affects each individual member of the family differently and at different stages, sometimes causing strain on relationships resulting in break down of communication. This is another area in which the method of observations would be effective, as it not only allows for monitoring one single situation it can allow for monitoring over a period of time and gives the chance of reviewing the findings and analysing the changes. Interviews may be successful in this particular incident, because you would not need to directly ask a parent or a child what their relationship with each other is like, you could indirectly ask how things have changed around the home over the years, how they feel they have grown up and adapted to taking on responsibilities and such like, which hopefully would give you an idea of the relationship and input from each party. This would avoid the problem of getting answers directly linked to what each party believes their relationship to be like, and let the interviewer interpret their results as they see fit.

One very interesting fact I found out during my research is that not only do parenting skills differ from person to person they also differ depending on the gender of the parent, and the stereotypical roles of the mother and father. This again would be another area for successful observations, as you could assess both parents with the same child, or completely different families and see what similarities and differences occur using this for your own primary research to see if your results co-inside with recent studies. Interviewing in this instance, may possibly be an effective method, as you could give each parent, at separate interviews, a small scenario to see how each parent would handle it differently and also how their answer would change depending on elder or younger children.

More commonly in today’s society we are seeing families been torn apart through divorce, and this has been said to have a major impact on children involved, especially that of younger children. It can leave children with a bitter feeling towards either both or one parent, as they may accuse one as being responsible for the break up. It is also common for children to sometimes blame themselves. Divorce causes for relations and communication between both parents and child to be broken, and leaves the task of building of new relationships singularly with each parent. Also if step-parents and/or step-siblings are brought into the picture, then the foundation for new relationships has to be made, possibly causing more strain on existing relationship or more hopefully making things easier if all parties are to get along. For all potential outcomes I again believe the method of observation would be most favourable, as watching how each child interacts with each biological parent after the separation would help to single out what parent, if any, the child blames or is having problems communicating with on their own. Also monitoring children who have step brothers and sisters and those who don’t would allow for you to see the differences in the child’s behaviour and interaction and how this then in turn effects their relations with their parent. This particular study I think would be very interesting, to see if children moved after divorce into a family consisting of other children, handle the situation better and reignite the lost close relationship with whatever biological parent is absent with children or indeed another father or mother figure.

Visual experiments is the only technique I studied in semester two that I feel would be of no use if I was to pursue my studies further, as I feel they would offer no benefit to my desired findings. The technique itself proved to be very successful in semester two, when used on the right project, however in this particular instance the methods of observation and interviews would be most profitable in me gaining the right results to aid with my research. The preparation and construction of interview questions can take some time, and to ensure I got the right results I piloted my interview in semester two with a coursemate, so if I was to continue with this experiment I would pilot my questions on my own family giving me time for amendments. The producing and filling out of consent forms is another crucial part of undertaking interviews and has to be taking into consideration when asking people to participate. Consent is another main issue with the method of observation, and this may pose a problem because if people know they are being observed they may be unlikely to act as they would naturally, therefore corrupting the results and not giving a true reflection of the situation. This problem unfortunately cannot be overcome and has to be taking into account when writing up the final results. After putting these previously stated methods to the test in semester two, I believe if I was to use them for this particular topic I would be positive in obtaining my own successful primary information allowing me to take my results to the next level, combining them with existing findings and creating an excellent final outcome.

Bibliography

Gladwell, M (2000) The Tipping Point London:Abacus Little, Brown Book Company

Part B

A current studio brief I have been working on this semester was The Shipping Forecast and the aim of the brief was to take your allocated in or off shore location and publicise and brand it and you saw fit. I was given the off shore region of Rockall, located over 180 miles from the nearest land. After doing some research into the area I came across an interesting fact that Rockall is known as ‘The most difficult island in the world to sleep on,’ which gave me the inspiration for my final outcome. A great deal of people have tried to land and/or sleep on Rockall but no one has every tried to rock climb on it, so I thought of targeting extreme sports fans and creating the ultimate extreme outdoors sports centre. With my main attractions being the option of septathlon or octathlon of events and the one of a kind human catapult. My final output was eight posters, advertising for my extreme sports centre and all its unique selling points.

To complete this project I used some of the secondary research methods I acquired in semester one of Design Studies, such as Library Research. I looked into the area of Rockall itself, unfortunately I found little information therefore turned to the method of online research. As I am aware not all information gathered from the internet can be reliable so I was careful and selective with where I got my information from. I also looked up some old and current newspaper articles on Rockall, as I was very fortunate with my topic being in the The Press, Monday 1st March 2010, and on the BBCs Website, Tuesday 2nd March 2010, the week I started to do my research.

If I was to go back and redo this project I would definitely use this method of library research in looking into extreme sports, to understand the people deemed to be the ‘type’ connected with these sports, how would be best to attract them to my advertising campaign and to see if there is already a desired and common theme of advertising linked to this specific area. Through using cross search and the general library search I may have been able to find some examples of extreme sports magazines and posters to help me get some inspiration and a feel for the overall look of this style of advertising. After collecting all of my information I would be sure to record all my references, how, where and when I obtained the information I used and for what purpose I used them for.

From the list of primary research techniques I used in semester two I believe the method of Visual Experiments to be the most successful approach if I was to take on this project brief again. The way I think this technique would work best would be to mock up several posters all advertising the same thing, my extreme sports centre, but all to be designed in a slightly different style and ask people interested in this area of activity if they would be more inclined to go after seeing a particular poster. I would also target people not interested in this field to see if they could select the posters they believe to send out the right vibe and feel towards my target audience. I could also use the means of a visual experiment after producing my final outcome to see if people could understand the language of the poster, who it is aimed at and if they think it would work well to attract not only regulars of the sports but also those who are interested in starting such sports.

The method of observation could be another possible route to go down, as I could visit a centre, similar to mine, to examine the surroundings, merchandise, posters and means of advertising to see the specific style used and how people interact and take notice of certain announcements. There is always the issue of people acting unnatural whilst being observed, when people know they are being watched they tend to act differently and feel like they cannot go about their business as normal. In this case I would be more interested in the surroundings and the environment of the centre rather than the behaviour of the people, although it may come into it slightly. I think this technique in this instance would work quite well, as it would allow for me to get some inspiration for ideas, themes, colour schemes and also if I was to go along and observe after I had completed my posters I could compare them with others and imagine what they may look like in situation amongst other competitive posters.

Interviewing was the final primary research technique studied in semester one and I don’t think on its own it would be as an effective method for this project, unlike the previous two, as I would be looking for peoples reactions towards the aesthetics of my campaign and how they then act upon what they have seen rather than how the posters make them feel. However, interviewing could coincide with Visual Experiments and Observations and I could possibly use these combined techniques to get some insight into an area that at first I hadn’t taken much consideration into and that in the end may effect my final outcome.

Looking back over the diverse range of skills I have acquired from Design Studies I now understand how I can connect and relate them not only to my work within design studies but also my work in the studio. Although part is theory and part is practical it is all design and no matter the field of design or the production of final outcome you have to go through the same process of research and analysing information to get there. I will definitely take these skills with me into my third and fourth years studies and then on into the workplace as I know they will allow for me not only to undertake smaller studio based projects here at the University of Dundee but they will stand me in good stead for tackling any sort of design problem thrown at me when I am a part of the commercial world of Graphic Design.

Practice in Interviews

After finishing activity 3 at the Casino, we were then asked to conduct some interviews to obtain information and opinions about or on a certain area of interest to us. We fed back our results in seminars and with other friends and there seemed to besome sort of disagreement and debate amongst what people believed the atmosphere to be like. So we decided to look into how different people perceive the atmosphere within the casino environment. Ideally we would have liked to interview some more people, that we considered to be 'big gamblers' but we would have had to get permission from the G Casino to go into their premises and interview and this wasn't achievable within the given timescale. So we looked to interview around the doj and amongst students who had been to the casino before. We interviewed 4 people (3 female and 1 male) and did a pilot run on a class mate of ours, to check we were getting along the right lines with our questions.

Our main question was 'How do you feel in a Casino environment?'

Our questions were:

What kind of environment/situations make you nervous?

How do you feel when your spending money?

How much do you usually spend on a night out?

What do you usually spend you money on, on a night out?

Is there anything you feel your addicted to and what?

What are your views on gambling?

What do you participate in that could be considered as gambling, lottery, bingo, scratch cards etc?

Who do you generally go to the casino with, group of friends or alone?

What do you go to the casino for?

We weren't directly asking questions about the Casino at first we were just trying to get some insight into different environments and how they make you feel and how the involvement of money changes it.

The most common environment that people felt nervous in was in in tutorials and presentations in uni, followed by anything formal or unfamiliar. I must admit if I was the one being interviewed I think I would have come up with the same response, which started me off in good stead because I felt that we would have similar ideas and thoughts about the casino.

The views on gambling all seemed quite similar amongst the girls, with it being an easily addictive game and so long as you had enough money to spend then to go for it, but to make sure you know your limit and if its just for some fun on a night out with friends then there is no harm. Compared with the boy his short and sweet response was "go for it!" a very liberal statement. Woman are clearly just more careful with their money and know to keep it for activities such as shopping and eating chocolate! Which they all said they had an addiction to!

Again all the girls said the only thing they consider to be gambling they participate in is the lottery, because it is only £1 a week but apart from that it is occasional nights out to the bingo/casino with friends. Two of the girls said they generally go with their boyfriends and his friends to the casino and one girl in particular said this was because it is a group of guys, which makes her feel safer. This same girl said she also goes with her family because they all gamble and it is taken very seriously, especially with her grandad.

Our final question was 'What do you go to the Casino for?' and 3 out of 4 said for fun, drinks, meal, night out and enjoyment which gave off the impression of them feeling relaxed and at easy within the Casino and the final person said they preferred going to the Casino rather than night clubs because they would rather spend there money on playing than wasting it to get in and for cloakrooms etc, and she says she tries to avoid nightclubs at weekends because she doesn't feel relaxed and is constantly worried about losing people and hates waiting around to be served. This final question for me answered what I was looking for about the atmosphere within the Casino, but only the atmosphere of people who are just looking for a fun night out and nothing too serious and I understand to get a full and wide variety of answers I would need to ask people who go along with the intention to gamble big amounts of money and that take it very serious.

I think that these people would give a totally different response to what I got from my interviews but I think that would be good, because when I was at the Casino myself I seen a divide in atmospheres between the people there for fun and the people there for the money!

The Casino

For the next part of my assignment we were to go in small groups to a place/environment you have never been before, so as to put yourself out of your comfort zone and analyze the people there and the surroundings and how they all effected your experience. Myself and 3 other girls decided on going to the casino in Dundee and we had a fantastic wee night out and worked hard at the same time!

On leaving the flat with all the girls and walking down, in the pouring rain, it never really crossed my mind about how I felt about going into this strange and unusual environment until I reached the door and realised it looked quite scary with the big security guard standing at the entrance. However one of the girls I was with knew the security guard, as he used to work with her, and this certainly lightened the mood as he chatted away with us and gave us some pointers about what's what.

Before you can get in you have to join and become a member and get your little card to swipe in the barrier and the machines. To do this you needed valid proof of identification either a driving license or passport and they then double checked your details then took your photograph. This was a little scary, made me feel slightly uncomfortable and nervous because made me think of the possibilities of something untoward happening and the need for photographing everyone that entered the premises. After getting my card and checking my umbrella into the cloak room we got directed to the doors to swipe our new member cards and get in.

The decor of the Casino was all Reds, black and silvers and when I looked into the use of red within a room it is said to make you feel energized and alive which I think would provoke and influence your behaviour in an environment such as the Casino making you have the urge to gamble. There was flashing coloured lights on the ceiling that were being reflected on the glass bar and tables, making it all a very dazzling experience.

Males seemed to dominate over the females within the Casino, however if there were woman they were within a group and not alone ( a bit like the 4 of us) whereas, a lot of the men tended to be on their own. Most commonly middle aged and Chinese men. The men standing or sitting at the gambling and roulette tables seemed to be very focused, very quiet and in a slightly hunched over position as if to not let opponents get too close and to keep their distance and focus only on the game at hand. Coats where very common amongst all the players which I did not understand, because there was a free cloakroom downstairs, but it gave the impression to me as if the players weren't staying long at the table and that they were just looking to get their winnings and make for a quick exit.

The whole point of this experiment was to go somewhere you had never been before, so I had never been to the Casino so I didn't really know what to expect along the lines of dress code, but people weren't as smartly dressed as I had thought they would be. No one was scruffy but I just expected to see lots of men in shirts and ties, the classic business man look, but instead it just seemed to be suit trousers and a more casual shirt and no tie. All the woman however, where just dressed the way in which most would dress on a night out in town.

The overall experience of the Casino was definitely made easier and less uncomfortable as one of the girls knew the bouncer and he helped us with telling us where we could get info on the games (from leaflets) and he also pointed us in the direction of a man who showed us around and gave us a quick lesson on using the electronic roulette tables. Had we not spoken with this man I think we would have approached the tables without a clue what to do, and yes although there were some leaflets about I didn't think they were very helpful.

This is by far the best assessment yet in design studies and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening out and doing my bits and pieces of observation, however the only downfall was my loss of £6 but we all got free ponchos when we left which made up for it all!