Context of Practice 3 Research Proposal Naomi Smith
Starting Point • What is good? To what extent does social responsibility impact on the role and function of illustration?
Initial Research
A Plea for Irresponsibility – Ewa Kuryluk The Heuristic Power of Art – Elizam Escobar Place, Position, Power, Politics – Martha Rosler The Velvet Revolution and Iron Necessity – Eva Hauser The Social Responsibility of the Artist – George Boas Illustration by David Shrigley
Mid-Summer Reflection • • • •
Do illustrators have a responsibility to share work with meaning? Is ‘eye candy’ useless and and just a way to make quick money? How does an illustrator’s personal morals affect their practice? What role does social responsibility play in the business side of freelancing? • Is it possible for an illustrator to keep their professional practice and personal morals totally separate? • What specific issues could I tackle with my drawing? • How can I research this topic visually?
Continued Research • Philosophy – John Wilson • Big Think Interview with Milton Glaser • Connexity – Geoff Mulgan • Designing for Social Change – William Drenttel • The Evil Genius of David Shrigley – Rick Poyner • Design Matters Podcast with Lisa Congdon – Debbie Millman • Dissed and Disconnected – Ruby Rich • Benetton’s “World Without Borders” Buying Social Change – Henry Giroux
My Question (working title) • To what extent is social responsibility used as a device/gimmick for selling products in consumer culture?
What Have I Been Researching Since? • Works of Political and Moral Motivation – Michael Bracewell • Global Contexts – Mark Wigan • Romanticism and Art – William Vaughan • The Gift – Lewis Hyde
Research Methods • Books, journals, articles, etc. • Internet, e-books, online journals, etc. • Podcast and video interviews. • Direct contact with practitioners who aim to make positive changes to society with their work. • Statistics and figures about Benetton’s sales (if accessible). • Social experiment - research through sharing the work I am making and monitoring the response.
Key Texts and Names • Lawrence Zeegen – Where is the content? Where is the comment? • Milton Glaser • Geoff Mulgan – Connexity • Consumer Culture (selected essays) – Gjoko Muratovski • Consumer Psychology – Cathrine Jansson-Boyd • Benetton: the family, the business and the brand – Jonathan Mantle
Chapters
• Introduction (maybe some of this would go in a separate chapter?) • Illustration as a form of communication. • Illustration being used to target social issues. • Social responsibility as a concept. Why is it relevant today? Why is it relevant to art? • Consumer culture. • What techniques are used to sell products? • Creating an emotional response through illustration. • What triggers an emotional response and what is the effect of this on people’s attitude towards buying? • Understanding morals. • Give and take society. • The conscience of a creative. Personal and professional morals. • Do artists have the power and status to make a difference more so than others?
Chapters
• Money. • illustration is a job. Can an illustrator afford to have strict morals? • Does money taint the act of doing something good? • Is making money or making a difference more important? • Primary research into practitioners - (does this need to be a chapter or can the information gained from this be used to feed points in other chapters?) • Ask practitioners what their motives are and whether certain work attracts more of an interest. • Who would be relevant to ask about this? • Case Study - Untied Colors of Benetton. • How did their campaigns towards social change impact on their sales figures? • Did the company itself have good corporate morals? • What was their actual motive? • Conclusion
Time Plan and Interim Deadlines • Decide whether I need to do a survey by 7th October, and send out a checked and revised survey by 14th October. • Make all necessary contact via email by 21st October. • Write first draft of introduction by 21st October. • Stop researching by 18th November. • Detailed structure for main body, with quotes, by 25th November. • Have a clear plan for final practical outcomes by 2nd December. • All referencing to be complete (and perfect) by 23rd December. • Blog Checkpoints: 28th October, 2nd December, 9th Jan.
Ideas for Practical • Concept - battle against the ‘designer dog’ and push forward the idea that there are loads of abandoned dogs (and maybe other animals too) that are in need of a loving home. • Why? I like drawing animals, I love dogs especially, and I will be able to make physical products out of my work as part of my research into the application and distribution of the imagery. • What is the motive? To raise awareness of this issue and make a change to the number of dogs being re-homed? OR to take advantage of people's better nature to profit from making pictures of cute animals. • Where is the line drawn between the two?
Thankyou for Listening Any questions or suggestions?