I started my major project knowing only that I wanted to do something about sexism because it is a subject that particularly worries me. The initial research had been very general because of that. I studied the subject: what sexism is, the current situation in UK society and abroad, its different manifestations. I also researched feminism, what some feminists and feminist’s organizations have to say and what they are doing. That leaded me to investigate the public reaction to this subject, so I created a survey that will help me to evaluate this in the areas I was most interested in. The survey helped me a lot to know firsthand what people think about all this. It had been answered by people from different countries, ethnic groups and age range. The result was similar to what I imagined from previous investigation: what feminism is, is not very well known, feminists have bad reputation and are quite stereotyped and there are many situations that some people don’t get to see as sexist because of the power of tradition or the lack of contact with them in the case of men, and they need to at least be debated. It is been surprising to see how many people, even close people, have sexist prejudices of some kind. I consider myself non-sexist at all but all that investigation had made me wonder how true that really is and how the same situation can be sexist or not depending on who looks at it.
In the
meantime, I was also looking for sexist situations to analyze in the media or
real life. I looked for anti-sexist campaigns too. My research online got me to
find several organizations that deal with this matter. There are many different
organizations dealing with different aspects of sexism like for example: rape,
prostitution, pimping, sexism within certain ethnic groups, women in business
or different professions, violence against women, the objectification of women
or the sexualisation of little girls. There are many things related happening
around the world right now, some of them really harsh that made me have few very sad and very angry moments. Considering
the magnitude and complexity of the subject and the time given to me to
complete the project I decided to base it on something that already existed,
which in this case is a human rights organization called Object. They caught my
attention because of their purpose, which is to challenge the objectification
of women in modern society. The objectification of women is something that I,
as well as them, consider to be present everywhere in everyday life, also
accentuated by the strong capitalist society we live in. We all are becoming
things to sell things to so we sell a certain image of what we are to the
others. Men are increasingly affected by it too but it still is much more pressuring
on women and it is happening from a younger age each time.
Analyzing
this organization, I realized that they are in need of a good re-design of
their current visual communication and corporate identity as it is very
confusing and is not sending the proper message. They look unorganized, young
and inexperienced and they are not promoting themselves effectively enough. My
aim had been, therefore, to do this needed re-design and help their cause by
helping them to reach other people.
I would’ve liked
to have them to collaborate with me in this project but that wasn’t possible as
they haven’t replied my contact attempts. That has been disappointing as I
wanted some real experience in dealing with customers and wanted to have the
possibility of persuading them to actually use my work. The only good thing
about that is that I had more freedom to deliver the project as I wanted.
Then I
defined the concepts that I wanted for the organization, which are: non-radical
but still activist, organized and modern, and started to work from there. I
initiated my sketches having that in mind plus some reference images related to
objects, dolls and packaging. I also had a look at some other human rights
organizations working with women problems. When I had some graphic ideas I
tested them with few people to know what they get transmitted by them, and of
course, their readability. Although there wasn’t a clear winner from the two
latest ideas that I showed them, they helped me consider things that I haven’t
seen before and to clear my thoughts.
I know I
wasted so much time at the beginning of the project because I was uncertain
about what to do. So, for next time I will consider earlier to base such a free
brief on something that is already there.
I notice
that time management is something hard for me to do as well as I wished, but I
am in the process of mastering it. I should also dedicate more time to
investigate about different printing options and techniques available to me
now.
After doing
this project and the course in general, I am happy with the improvement of my
graphic design skills and my confidence about it.
