Review
Throughout the course, I have learned many knowledge and skills that prepared me to be a graphic designer. The process of doing projects was challenging and exciting at the same time. Each project allows me to experiment with various materials and pushes my limits to have a better result. For instance, one of the most challenging works is rotoscope animation. It takes technical skills and numerous amount of effort to reach the final product. However, I overcame the obstacles of unfamiliarity with animation software and got the result that I wanted. Not only it raises the level of skills of making animation, but it also enhances my interests in this area. Compared with the beginning of this course, my perspective and views of being a designer have changed significantly. At first, I mainly focus on the appearance and outlook of the project as aesthetic objects that attract attention. However, I learned critical thinking and paid attention to social issues in society. The design could also be closely related to the current events or problems in the world. Designers could be one of the members to provide solutions to the issues. I chose Graphics and Illustration as my specialism in CSVPA since I aspire to become a designer and work in the creative industry. After attending this course, I noticed there are many imperfections and flaws in being a designer. Therefore, I would try my best to challenge myself and explore more knowledge and technical skills in the graphic design field.
Project Concept
Nowadays, people are more concerned about their appearance and in the pursuit of beauty. Many social media influencers and celebrities in television have affected our perception of the ideal appearance and body image. Therefore, I investigated the first cause of forming anxiety on our outlook. After researching on the internet, I found out that consumerism has a great connection with this phenomenon. Jean Baudrillard, who was a French sociologist, wrote a book called The Consumer Society. It explains how the consumer culture has turned the human body, mentality, and values into consumption objects. The “individuation” of consumption makes people suffer from “obsessive-compulsive disorder” of purchasing products or services. People can get a sense of peace and steadiness only when they put everything into consumption. People need to realize they fell into traps of continuous consumption. They fill up the vacancy in their hearts by purchasing material objects. Besides, social media such as Facebook and Instagram has accelerated and enhanced the toxic beauty standards. People are more frustrated and anxious about their body images, particularly teenagers who are affected the most. Hence, the project aims to raise the attention of the public. It is time to stop unnecessary harsh reviews on our bodies. We should embrace who we are. Also, we should focus on the things that we good at and accomplish a sense of achievement.
This project aims to satirize the strange society phenomenon, unrealistic pursue of beauty, and how it affects our bodies. The form would be presented as a poster and demonstrate the visual idea using mixed media and photography. It would examine the causes of the problem by the overconsumption. And research the relationship between consumerism and body image issue. The visual language of the project would be present through looking into the experimenting of possible materials. For instance, the symbol of consumerism could be bills, barcodes, products, while the emotions toward our body image could be lower self-esteem, higher levels of anxiety, and depression. Making these details into visual figures, thus it could trigger the inner emotional reaction of the viewers. The project would focus on experimenting and combining composite materials. The resources that I need would be polymer clay, acrylic paints, etc. Also, it would investigate mind maps and mood boards, such as color theme, the visual forms of the project. Besides, it would achieve visualizations and send the core message through conducting several visual experiments.
Evaluation
Throughout the project development, it is critical to reflect and evaluate the working process. Therefore, I would like to write evaluations and request comments from other people nearby. The reflection should be concise and focus on the main points while avoiding lengthy passages. On the other side, to ensure that it is evaluation rather than writing a commentary of description. It would explain the effect or judge on the success and effectiveness of the process. Analyzing the points for improvement and strengths, it can not be unrealistic and ignore weakness. The evaluation reports once a week. The attitude should be rational and critical of every process in the project.
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