OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Anti-Social Media Campaign

Practical Work 
Research

I started by coming up with various ideas or practical work which covered my topic of technology and social media. 

As my project was based around social media. I wanted to create a social and ethically driven poster campaign to convince people around the ages of 8 - 28 to spend less time on technology such as iPhones and laptops and on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as it can have negative effects on health and also make you miss opportunities in life you don't even see/realise. I started noticing that as I became around the age of 12, that I was using social media more and more. iPhones make the sites easily accessible to children of all ages and it has become increasingly more popular and a way of life. I, myself have been a social media addict and some people don't even realise that they are. I wanted people to become more aware of their attraction and attempt to use creative imagery and messages to create negative connotations to brand social media for exactly what it is, ANTI social media.

Therefore I named my campaign Anti-Social Media and started to think about where my campaign posters would be located to target my main audience and consumers. The posters would be located on the back of toiliet doors and corridor walls in high schools, universities, children's hospitals, youth hostels etc. I wanted to use a shock factor advertising approach or commonly known as "shockvertising'.

Shock advertising or Shockvertising is a type of advertising that deliberately, rather than inadvertently, startles and offends its audience by violating norms for social values and personal ideals. It is the employment in advertising or public relations of "graphic imagery and blunt slogans to highlight a public policy issue, goods, or services. Shock advertising is designed principally to break through the advertising “clutter” to capture attention and create buzz, and also to attract an audience to a certain brand or bring awareness to a certain public service issue, health issue, or cause (e.g., seen in urging drivers to use their seatbelts, promoting STD prevention, bringing awareness of racism and other injustices, or discouraging smoking among teens).

This form of advertising is often controversial, disturbing, explicit and crass, and may entail bold and provocative political messages that challenge the public’s conventional understanding of the social order. This form of advertising may not only offend but can also frighten as well, using scare tactics and elements of fear to sell a product or deliver a public service message, making a high impact. I looked on Pinterest to see if there were any existing images/posters following the same theme to gain some inspiration. 

I then noted down various ideas for my poster campaign.

Poster 1

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Face a book 

My first poster design was extremely simplistic. I started by analysing and picking apart the Facebook logo to see if I could change it slightly. The Facebook font is a custom font created  by a font designer named Joe Krall. It appears to have been designed based on the letterforms of  Klavika Bold. 

I came up with the idea to separate the logo and make the text "Face a book" instead. I decided to do this to create connotations of lack of intelligence by using the site and promote ideologies of education via literature for young children/adults to get off the site and educate themselves. I stubbled to find the font itself, so I created one which was as similar as possible. 

The uppercase A seemed too harsh against the existing logo and became the central point to the image which I didn't want.

Final Design 

I wanted the poster design to be as similar as the logo as possible so therefore I changed it to lower case and added spaces to make the sentence flow a small r was added on the end to create a final finish identical to the Facebook logo. The poster was landscape as this enabled the logo to be as central to the page as possible to create focus and structure. 

Poster 2

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Addicted to Facebook

This poster followed poster number one and could potentially be used as a set alongside each other in the various locations, however also worked individually due to its strong imagery. I started by thinking of a few things people can be addicted to, such as alcohol, smoking, drugs etc. I created an illustration of a hand smoking on adobe illustrator and added the f from the Facebook logo. I thought about how I could add the f into the illustration somehow. I slimed the f down to make it as similar to the cigarette as possible. 

Next I coloured the design in and made the f into a cigarette shape. To ensure it was more vibrant and eye catching. I created it in a pop art/cartoon style to appeal to a younger audience instead of a hand sketched design. 

I then added the famous blue background to make more evident that the cigarette was the f out of the Facebook logo. This design is a direct shocking portrayal that Facebook/social media is an actually an addiction just as much as smoking and that it can have serious negative health effects. This poster used the shockvertising advertising strategy to help young kids understand the serious negative side effects of excessive social media usage. 

Poster 3

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Feed Your Ego

This poster design was based upon Instagram likes and how gaining more can make you feel better about yourself, which is what young kids are striving to achieve however this also has a negative impact on self-esteem as if an individual doesn't gain as many likes as they wanted it can actually have the complete opposite effect. I came up with the message of "feeding your ego" by putting a picture up that gains likes to create connotations of hunger for acceptance in an increasing self-obsessed and self concious society. I brain stormed a few ideas to communicate this. My first initial idea was to have the Instagram logo with teeth eating likes up however I found it quite challenging to illustrate this so I started to focus on another way to portray this message. I then came up with a cereal box. So I illustrated this using black and yellow to make it vibrant to attract a younger audience again the colour themes throughout the poster adopted this strategy too. 

Final Design

I deveopled this further by added a bright orange and a table with a bowl on it branded the "ego" bowl. The cereal box poured out instagram likes. I wanted this poster to make young children/adults be aware that it isn't all about gaining likes and acceptance and that you don't need Instagram likes to make you feel better about yourself. As in reality Instagram likes don't give you the sufficient nutrients and calories to feed your hunger to keep you alive. 

Poster 4

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Sorry The Lifestyle You Ordered Is Currently Out Of Stock

This poster design was also based around Instagram. I Initially wanted a dull background and an iPhone screen to show how filters make something to appear to be something it isn't. I came across something which inspired me in a great deal. Ironically, it was a Facebook post of a famous super model, Kendal Jenner. The post basically showed the difference between a real life picture and an edited instagram filtered picture. The post stated; 

"To any young girl or any woman - please please don't be fooled by a filter. I feel like Instagram can be such a damaging and unrealistic idea of what beauty is and what 'perfection' is. We all have spots and blemishes. No one walks around with a permanent ring light to make you look flawless. Enjoy using makeup but don't ever feel like you have to compare yourself or try be like kenny on the right because she's not reall !! Embrace makeup and wear it for you. Don't wear makeup to look like someone else because realistically they don't look like that ether."

After reading this I came up with a clear concept for this poster. I started by making an illustration of a hand holding an iPhone, similar to poster 2. 

Next, I found the typeface that is used for the Instagram logo to make the consumer easily associate the poster to Instagram as quickly as possible. Just in case they didn't i made the screen on the phone look similar to that of the Instagram homepage. 

Final Design

I coloured the background brown as it was one of the colours used on the Instagram app logo which would again link the target audience back to the app. The poster attempts to define that Instagram is actually an unrealistic virtual reality where people are able to portray themselves and their lifestyles in the best possible light, with the use of filters etc. I wanted my target audience to understand that none of it is real and it is all based around how people want other people to view other peoples lifestyles not how they actually are. 

Poster 5

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Technological Relationships

Initial Designs/Design choices

When researching this topic, I looked at quite a lot of Banksy's work as it had the desired effects on the public through strong imagery. 

This artwork was named mobile lovers. Banksy shows the common trend in society with smart phones and relationships. Mobile lovers is an extremely popular piece which is ironically received massive exposure on social media.

The story about the peice is pretty interesting as Banksy painted it outside of a boys blub in Bristol and the piece was sold shortly there after. Talk about having a good day when Banksy stops by to drop some work on your front door. The work sold to a private collector for the incredible sum of £403,000. Banksy never seems to amaze, the “Mobile Lovers” work is no different.

I loved this artwork along with the connotations it bring with it and I attempted to create something similar on illustrator however, it just didn't work as effectively. 

Final Design

So therefore I decided to take this image and add a meaningful message overlaid over the top of it. 

The message was to make people sound as stupid as possible for using their mobile phones in social situations such as when your with the person you love. Find someone who makes you forget to look at your phone. 

Poster 6

Initial Design/Design Choices 

Enjoy Your Life/Like

After looking at Bankys work, I wanted to create a similar style design using typography which looked almost graffiti like. I started by finding a wall background and adding text on it to make it look realistic as possible like I had gone and painted it on myself. However, most of the wall backgrounds and the typography choices i used weren't realistic enough. 

Final Design

I therefore found a different wall texture to eliminate this. The message was to encourage people to enjoy the life around them instead of constantly  having to capture moments on their iPhones to share/please people on social media sites. When intact you can ruin the moment by getting your phone out as you miss it with your own eyes.