Summative Statement of Synthesis

Context of Practice

Synthesis of practical and theoretical research and understanding. 

The brief submitted in relation to the written element offers and example of gender in advertisement. The rebranding of a currently gender-neutral product (toothpaste) has been chosen to demonstrate the research taken. 

I began with pinpointing the following themes from the written outcome: gender, sexism, representation, stereotypes, persuasion, encouragement, colour association and marketing. This formulated ideas digitally with use of collage to highlight sexism and stereotypes. From this I developed a deeper understanding of representation within advertisement and how to target an emotional response. 

I felt choosing toothpaste was relevant as from my knowledge it had not been experimented with gender to the degree I wanted to explore. The rebranding of toothpaste features a male and female response. These are then marketted across collateral such as: packaging box, poster design, mock-ups on iPhone and Mac, and web design. This was to show how advertisement can influence across a number of platforms. I formed an opinion borne from my research that eventually all products will become gender specific as the advertisement of them is too successful. Brands use ‘marketing segmentation’ in order to make more money from a product, this means creating two variations of the same thing. The practical highlights ‘marketing segmentation’ not just within the product alone; but within the advertisement of it too. This is done by research into web layout and gender specific apps. The colour scheme used has been expanded from research into colour association within advertisement and explores my opinion that design (such as pattern and font) is equally as affective in advertising a particular gender. I wanted to take colour away from the product so that the focus was on the design, and then utilize colour once again within the advertisement, as advertising of the product is my main focus of the written outcome. 

Final resolutions/proposals of practical outcomes

Selected examples of Visual and Conceptual development

Time management

The problems with me

• I research too much
• I write down far too many quotes
• I have too many ideas
• I get carried away with one idea and forget about the rest
• I don't like doing development work
• I don't like using a sketchbook
• I prefer to work digitally
• I'd often rather write than draw (am I on the wrong course?)
• I am a procrastinator

How I overcome these problems

• I tell myself to stop researching and pick a certain factor I can home in on more
• I still wrote down a lot of quotes cause I think this is good but it allowed me to then go back through and be selective about which ones were relevant
• I TRY to home down my ideas, or ask people which are the best ones
• Maybe getting carried away with one idea is a good thing, as long as you become a master of it
• I have tried different techniques within the module to stand as development work and experimentation for example collage, ink, hand generated type, experimentation of font, nets, photoshop experiments etc. Usually I always draw in fine liner scan it in and digitally paint it, this module was very different for me, it was much more practical
• I still worked digitally, but I also tried some hand generated stuff which I actually enjoyed
• I think writing is good to get your ideas down but for me I like to play around and learn from my mistakes which I done a lot of with regards to the designs of the boxes. 
• I had to have a motivational speech moment with myself a few times and tell myself to just get on with it. Especially with my dissertation - literally lock myself in a room for a full day with treats and pro plus and JUST DO IT!! 

In regards to my dissertation I think I managed myself very well. However, at the time I felt I didn't have enough time to research and this was because I didn't give myself the summer to do this (very honest of me) but I hadn't come up with my question yet so I didn't know which area I was going to go down. I think if I had my title before summer it would have given me a better understanding of how to narrow down my research. I didn't want to leave things last minute so I've never felt panicked about my dissertation I think each time I had a tutorial I was prepared and had done the work at task. I think that this has allowed for me to focus a lot of time onto my practical which I am pleased about. 

At one point I was prioritising my dissertation over my practical and when Richard would ask how the practical was going I was like yeah… it's…going… but really I knew I was putting it to the back burner because at the time I was quite indulged with what I was learning and becoming passionate about it so all I wanted to do was write. 

For my practical I think I definitely should have allowed myself more time to play at the start, experiment with more media and thumbnail ideas, get different ideas other than toothpaste and look at how I could have potentially expanded the brands. 

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

In the end I didn't leave a lot of time to print the nets so I couldn't experiment more with stock which I was quite sad about I wanted to print them on glossy card but I ran out of time. JUST GIVE ME ANOTHER WEEK!? I also ran out of time to print the posters bigger to get a better idea of the context they would be in. 

Overall though, I am quite pleased with how I have managed things there have been no breakdowns, I think I have done a lot in the time given and I have done what I set out to do, there's nothing in my proposal that I haven't at least gave a try. 

Practical - Looking back, have I achieved what I set out to do?

When I look at my first post for this module and the aims I had I think it is really interesting to see how much I have learnt about the subjects, and I am able to answer each question I set out to find out about.

My idea is to look at gender biased advertisements. I think this will extend on nicely from Cop2 looking at gender equality. I would like to look at how gender influences selling products through sex, sexism, and bias. I want to consider the effect that this has on modern culture and gender equality. 

A few questions to consider :
Is this still occuring? 
What is more popular sexist advertisement or gender neutral? 
How could we advertise gender specific products without using gender? 
Why are certain products gender specific?
What lies behind the companies choice to be sexist? 
Morals of the celebrities being the face of these products


Yes it's still occurring, sexist advertisement is unfortunately more popular, we could advertise these products without gender but it is more successful to use it. They are gender specific because of marketing segmentation i.e making more money off the same product. There are many reasons why companies chose these techniques but the core is that consumers have a need for it somehow and it makes them money. With regards to the morals of the celebrities though, I am not too sure yet. 

What is also interesting is how all along I knew I wanted to play with this idea and turn it on it's head a little bit, make something humorous. I knew I wanted a product that was going to be exaggerated, that was going to mock these techniques and I believe I have achieved that. Quite early on I decided on toothpaste. Usually in other modules I come up with the idea first, then the actual product comes last. The good thing about this module was that I knew I wanted to do toothpaste and so it was a case of becoming a toothpaste master, learning nets, learning what goes on toothpaste and learning how to market it. That really benefitted me I think and is something I will certainly take away in the future which is to decide on the outcome first and then become a master of it because its enabled me to create something much more professional than I would if i decided oh lets do a box last minute. 

Written - Additional images added to dissertation

I'd mentioned certain images within my dissertation that I hadn't actually included and perhaps this could mean that the dissertation is not properly cited

1950s campbell soup ad

burger king oral sex image

Ruby Rose for Ralph Lauren

Jaden Smith for Louis Vuitton

Practical - Feedback from peer reviews and final crit

FINAL CRIT

My dissertation concluded that it is imperative consumers begin to question messages given to them in advertising with regards to gender. The products I created were intended to show that if as consumers we lie back and let this happen, eventually all products will be gender segregated because of its success. 

It was interesting for me to analyse peoples reaction to my work in the group crit because this would show me whether I have completed my aim of making these products sarcastic and humorous. The last thing I wanted was for people to think that this product was serious and could stand alone as an actual real product that would sell. 

Luckily, I had a lot of responses that found the products funny, especially with regards to the tag lines in the posters and the descriptions on the boxes. Despite looking professional with mocked up professional boards, the product itself is intended to mock the advertisement industry, so I really wanted this to come across. ---- SYNTHESIS

From the group

From Sophie Wright

I thought this was really nice feedback but also constructive and helpful with regards to how much text I currently have on my blog so that needs cutting down. I know I need to ISSUU my blog images still too so this would explain all of the posts being long.
I think more importantly this is achievable within the time left.

2ND PEER REVIEW

1st individual peer feedback from Kane

2nd individual peer feedback from Rowena

What I got from that feedback overall

It was nice to get a male and female perspective for this as well. The feedback Kane gave me into barbershop ideas and Lad culture was really helpful. 

Barber Barber

Paul & Joe

1ST PEER REVIEW

First individual feedback

Second individual feedback