JESSICA JOHNSON
MODULE 603 / BRIEF 4
DISPOSABLE SOCIETY
RESEARCH
Research began into anti consumerism within the creative industry, it seemed to be quite a dominant topic and many artists have made it the sole focus of their work. Works by Barbara Kruger were of great inspiration, bold punchy text with hard-hitting and interesting images used to back these up. A limited colour palette is also used within her work, this allows for the message to come through and for the audience
to focus on the content. Adbusters have also created many campaigns against consumerism, one being their ‘Buy Nothing’ campaign which was started in 1992 in an effort to stop people buying anything for 24 hours on Black Friday, with the aim to boycott Black Friday and everything it stands for. They firmly believe that buying materialistic possessions is not a way to increase our happiness for the long term.
JESSICA JOHNSON
MODULE 603 / BRIEF 4
DISPOSABLE SOCIETY
INITIAL IDEAS
In terms of how a ‘disposable society’ could be perceived this could lead to how we waste millions of pounds of food per week or how the majority of the country doesn’t recycled their waste. Eventually it was decided that consumerism portrayed through illusion would be the most interesting way to go with the design and concept. After coming up with some sketches of how the two colours could be blended into the type
these four designs were the initial process. Although to have a sturdy grid is something that is often the base of a good design, this poster needs to have the opposite, to tie in with the illusion it was easier to become more free with the design. The spiral shows connotations of our society spiralling out of control, being led by manufacturers and advertisements to believing we can purchase happiness through goods.
JESSICA JOHNSON
MODULE 603 / BRIEF 4
DISPOSABLE SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT
The development part of this project called for a typeface that fit perfectly with the theme, as the poster is very minimal the type would be the key focus of the whole image so it needed to stand out well but have certain traits that fir with consumerism. As the theme is along the lines of illusion and misleading directions the typeface chosen was called ‘nervous’. This is a typeface that is difficult to read straight away, it has lines
running off each glyph creating a distorted look of each of the letters. The background was chosen and made into a spiral that gives depth to the image on the whole, it almost draws the audience in. Pathfinder was used to incorporate the text and the spiral image as one, this achieves the lack of being able to distinguish between the figure and gund, this being the illusion part of the design, accurately reflecting consumerism.
JESSICA JOHNSON
MODULE 603 / BRIEF 4
DISPOSABLE SOCIETY FINAL / CONTEXT
The first design was on a handmade stock dyed with a blue and turquoise ink, the stock had small receipt pieces throughout, the receipts had been torn up and blended with the rest of the paper pulp, this allowed for them to show in the dried piece, small numbers and words or phrases showed through and were readable upon close inspection. This adds a quirky feature to the design and allows the audience to see
more details the closer they look. The blue ink was poured into the corner and allowed to run higher up the page, this represents the ever increasing and looming demand of greed and hunger for possessions by the consumer. The type stands out clearly from the white stock and is an interesting characteristic with itself, it creates a blurry overall effect and draws the audience in after making them confused by the distortion.
JESSICA JOHNSON
MODULE 603 / BRIEF 4
DISPOSABLE SOCIETY FINAL / CONTEXT
The second final piece upon completion was successful and interesting to look at. The target audience was fairly wide as we are all consumers in some form or another, the use of just typography and a pattern surrounding this allows for minimal decoration and distraction from the content and message. The spiral was formed to allow more depth to the design and the type has been merged with this to create the figure and
ground confusion that was planned. The colours worked particularly well together, being so contrasting it lead to the audience being able to easily distinguish between the two as it was already a challenge to read the words quickly. The stock chosen fro this one was a handmade pale grey stock and a darker grey recycled piece of paper, the colours could stand out easily on both of these reinforcing the need to recycle simultaneously.