Outcome and Ambition | Podcast Videos
The podcast interviews this week made it very clear what the differences were between self initiated projects and commercial ones. One of the points I found the most interesting was the idea that you have far more room to explore the things you are passionate about. I think this is the one of the main reasons I am enjoying my masters so much, I am passionate about social issues and political issues and this has given me the room to explore that so I totally get what they are saying in the podcast. I also liked Christoph Miller's point about self initiated projects being free of boundaries, this makes them so exciting and allows you to push your practice to its limits. This to me makes self initiated projects exciting and I really want to find a way in my career to monetise them.
It seems like the reason people such as Sam Bompas and Veronica Fuerte take commercial projects is to make money and to practice craft. From this podcast it does seem like self initiated projects are the goal for most designers and commercial projects are a way to get there. Self initiated projects build your identity as a designer and can also be a great way of showing potential clients what you can do. Although James Stringer points out that while clients can be attracted because of self initiated projects they are also limited by their brand image and this can be seen as limiting the creativity of a designer.
One of the most valuable pieces of advice I will take from this lecture is from Vince Frost - he suggests that you should treat your self initiated projects like a client brief - set deadlines, work to a brief and set a budget. This will help with the everlasting problem of procrastination and keep you on track to achieve things.
The Wayback
[3] I thought the Wayback was a really inspiring project! The fact that the creators of this project did this alongside their full time jobs is even more impressive. [1] I love side projects that have helping people at their core and I really think this is the best way design can be used in the modern world - connecting technology with people who need it. It is such an innovative way to connect people suffering wit the dementia with the past in the hope of stirring up memories and bringing them back, even if it's just for a few minutes to spend with their family. [2]
Crowdfunding is one of the best inventions on the internet for design - it allows projects that may never have got off the ground to be fully realised, and The Wayback is the perfect example of this. People believed in the project and supported it, and for this reason, people with dementia have a chance to remember. Often with social issue projects like this one, it is kicked off by someone who has been directly affected by the issue, in this case, Dan Cole's dad suffered with dementia. This makes the project so personal that pushing it forward was the only thing Dan wanted to do and it worked! I hope this becomes even more wide spread and more people can be helped with the bank of films.
Further Research
Theories of Reflection
Donald Schon
After Ben told us about the Schon model for reflection in lasts weeks lecture I thought it sounded like an interesting concept. I also think it would fit in well with this project because it asks questions that will really relate to my social action project. The questions are;
Who are the intended audience?
What did you do? (50 words)
Why did you do it? (50 words)
What happened? (50 words)
What do the results mean in theory? (50 words)
What do the results mean in practice? (50 words)
What are the key benefits for your audience? (25 words)
What remains unsolved? (unlimited)
I think this would be an extremely useful model to use because it forces me to think about tough questions that are vital to a social action project.
Gibbs Reflective Model
I really like the format of the Gibbs reflective model [4] and I think it would be a good way to evaluate the success of my period poverty project. I think this is really in tune with the way my brain works and would be a god basis for evaluation. I would want to make sure I answered some of the questions from the Schon method too as I think they are also important, such as the audience and what the results mean.
I think this will be the reflective model I use going forward as I think it includes everything I will need to discuss and also make me really think about what I would like to improve going forward.
Workshop Challenge
This week you will finalise your self-initiated project and produce a presentation video to evaluate its success and gain a fresh insight.
Finalise the design of your self-initiated project.
Write short notes to evaluate the success (or failure) of your self-initiated project and ensure you articulate the project’s relationship to your own personal practice, interests and creative identity.
Gather feedback from your target audience and reflect on what worked, what didn’t work and what you would do differently. Engage in discussion on the Ideas Wall and add your reflective notes to your blog.
Record a five minute video presentation to evaluate the success (or failure) of your self-initiated project. We want you to reflect on the different stages, from concept development to final outcome, and demonstrate how your project has evolved over the last four weeks. We want you to evaluate your project and gain a fresh insight.
Record your presentation in the format of your choice (for example, a voice recorded Keynote or Powerpoint slide presentation, video recording or podcast).
Final Design
Poster - Guerilla marketing campaign putting posters of Boris Johnson with a tampon and moon cup up his nose and blood splattered on. Each poster would be lino printed with different blood splatters. They would be put up all over London at tube stations and on the street.
Installation - Nelsons column would be turned into a giant bloody tampon and the fountains in Trafalgar square would be turned red.
Direct Mail Out - An envelope containing a bag of fake blood and a paper towel would be dropped on every MPs desk, with the idea of challenging them to spill the blood (same amount as a woman loses in a period) and try and wipe it up with the paper towel (something commonly used by people who can't afford sanitary products).
This campaign would all happen overnight and would encourage people to take photos, share their thoughts online and gain momentum to take the issue to parliament.
Reflection
For my reflection I will be using the Gibbs reflective cycle (left).
Description
My research question is Why should we pay for tampons? Period poverty is something I am very passionate about so wanted to address this question in my self initiated project. My question sent me down the political route, taking the question to the feel of those who can do something to change it - the government. I want people to interact with the campaign, sign petitions and joining the fight against period poverty in England.
My final concept was to create a guerilla marketing campaign with posters all over the city, a direct mail out to MPs and an installation making Nelson's column into a giant tampon and making the fountains run blood red.
Feelings
I was thinking how immense this project was and that I needed to narrow my focus. Instead of having the aim of stopping period poverty, my aim became starting the conversation and taking the issue to the government. I feel like the project went well and I was happy with my final outcome, although I know there is a lot more to do.
I felt initially quite overwhelmed at the scale of the project and thought I had bitten off more than I could chew. However, I broke it down further and thought about the three main elements I wanted to focus on - posters, installations and direct mail. At this point it started to feel more doable. I think as this was the first self initiated project I had done in a long time I felt an incredible amount of pressure to make it say far too much. Once I had narrowed it down an realised I couldn't change the world with a four week project I was happier.
I also felt the need to perfect each drawing at first, however when I got a bit looser and freer with what I was doing, the ideas became easier to put on the page. I think this is a valuable lesson that I will definitely take forward. I have learnt so much in this project and feel like I am already improving as a designer.
Evaluation
Things that went well:
Overall look and feel of the campaign - I like the black white and red theme and think it stands out as a street campaign.
Core ideas - I think the core of the project is strong and will make people talk about it.
Trinity - I think all three ideas work well together to make a social action campaign about period poverty. The posters, installation and mail out mean that the maximum audience is being addressed, including the people with the power to change things.
Shock factor - I think the campaign toes the line between shocking and too much. I think the presence of blood is important and really drives the issue home.
Research - I think the research I did on things such as London Satire and the Guerilla Girls really pushed the project forward and made me think outside my comfort zone. I think I have used the research well to inform the campaign.
Lino cut - I think using the lino cut technique for the posters helps to route my project in it's place and time. The nod to women's suffrage posters I think is very important and adds to the success of the project.
Things that didn't go well:
Posters - I think the image I created in lino cut wasn't clear enough. You can't really tell there is a moon cup and tampon sticking out of Boris' nose. This was because my lino was too small to add more detail.
Mail out - I ran out of time to do everything I really wanted to with this. I didn't come up with enough alternative ideas for this to really check the one I went with was robust and the best I could think of.
Legality - Although this is a concept rather than a plan, a lot of this would be highly illegal. But then again so was protesting women's rights so we shouldn't really let that stop us! But in reality the mail out would not lear Westminster security...
Analysis
I think the research I put into this project was extremely valuable and helped me to think outside the box and the usual campaign tropes. Instead of just doing a poster, or just doing an installation research suggested that a multiple pronged approach was better and I think this made my project more successful.
I think sketching ideas really helped me with this project too, being free and loose with it meant that I wasn't always focussed on perfection and instead focussed on development. This is incredibly valuable going forward and I think it really added to the final outcome of this.
I feel like time was against me in this, by setting such a big goal I think I was almost paralysed at the beginning. This hindered me and made my progress not as rapid as it needed to be for a four week project. Given more weeks I think I could really hone this idea and push it even more.
Conclusion
I learnt so much from this project. One of the main things was that when setting a research question, it is best to think about how long you have for the project and plan accordingly. By setting a question that was far too large, I think it took valuable time out of my development to narrow it down further. Time planning is definitely something I will take forward from this and also in the same vain, knowing when to stop with ideas and focus on what you already have and develop that.
I learnt that when I put my mind to it I can really think outside of the box and break stereotypes usually associated with campaigns. One of the first big choices I made was to go for something shocking and stark; completely against the baby blue and pink colours and themes of almost every other design about periods. I am so glad I went against this now because I think my final outcome is all the better for this.
I also learnt the value of research - this helped my development of the campaign so much, seeing what was already out there and being able to spot a big gap that no one else has; in this case it was directing the campaigns at the people that should be held accountable.
I am really proud of the project and although there are some things that need to be addressed and improved i think overall it was successful.
Action Plan
If I was to continue this project and push it forward there are definitely some things I would want to change:
Posters:
Make the image clearer, possibly by making it all an outline rather than filled in.
Add a hashtag and a QR code so there is a direct action that can be done when people have seen it. This will also give people more information on the campaign and what they should do next.
Have the original tag line back "It's time to Ovary-Act" (the only reason it wasn't there was space on the lino)
Include other politicians in a poster series. All in the same style with the blood splatter and different tag lines. For example, Priti Patel and "Deport period poverty not refugees".
Installation:
Develop the idea further and experiment with what I turn Nelson's Column into - for example covering it in things children use instead of pads or making the fountains giant moon cups.
Direct Mail:
Experiment more with the format it takes
Look into the legality of sending things to MPs
Consider making the bags easy to break so it goes all over them covering them in fake blood
Look into making viral videos of people opening them and trying them out.
Possibly send them to more people than just MPs.
I would like to develop the visual I have made and make it 3D.
Overall:
I am happy with my outcome however I would love more time to really push this to its limits. I am not short of ideas so given another few weeks I think I could have a viable period poverty campaign project.
Gathering Feedback
The first thing I did was utilise my team at work. I have a complete comms team at my disposal and thought this would be a great resource for this project. I presented the full project to them and asked for feedback. They are specialists in charity campaigns as we all work for Catch22, here are the notes I took during this meeting:
It was really useful to her what they had to say about my period poverty project. It was also interesting because they are professionals. The people I spoke to were Melissa (head of comms), Beth (head of social media), Josie (manager of public relations), Cathryn (manager of policy) and Miranda (head of educational comms). The overall reaction was extremely positive, they thought it was an innovative idea that would get the attention needed to push the campaign forward. I found it interesting that Beth, the head of social media, said it was just the kind of thing she would take a photo of and share on social media which I think is a massive compliment.
The criticisms of the project centred around the tone - whether ridiculing the people in a position of power will encourage them to make change or just piss them off. However, I see it more as laying the blame at their feet which is exactly where it should be and gaining public support through recognisable imaged becoming a bit shocking. However, I was grateful for the feedback and this is definitely something I would seriously conside when pushing the project forward.
Overall I am really pleased with the feedback and I learned some really interesting things about my project by creating this focus group.
References
[1] Restoring Lost Memories for Those Living with Dementia: The WAYBACK Project (2017) Available from: https://www.elder.org/the-elder/restoring-lost-memories-for-those-living-with-dementia-the-wayback-project/ [2] Side Hustle (2019) Available from: https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2019/side-hustle/229956/the-wayback-2019/ [3] The Wayback VR (2017) The Wayback (Full Film): Coronation Day Street Party 1953. Available at: The Wayback (Full Film): Coronation Day Street Party 1953 [4] Gibbs G (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.
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