Activity 5A
The growing trend of celebrities being used in advertising has become a multi-million pound industry over the past few years. In the last semester I explored this topic from a point of view of that used secondary research. A great amount of information was found through this method, using the library and cross-search facilities that are at our disposal. This method however like everything else has its flaws, as you are using someone else’s findings which at times can be unreliable and leave you being slightly removed from the subject. This time around I am looking into the possibility of ways that I could improve on the previous task in a way that will provide some more salient information. In order to gain a firmer grip of this topic it would prove beneficial to carry out some primary research of my own this time. I have planned some possible methods that could be applied and from experience on similar projects, carried out in such a way that would yield the most positive, well-rounded responses.
I believe that when researching this subject there could be a number of initial problems that would have to be addressed. Mainly there is, for some reason, a sort of shame that goes along with this type of topic. Although there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with admitting that we like to follow trends or dress like celebrities etc. people still don’t like to admit it when asked. I don’t believe that many people would like to think of them self as followers or sheep but instead as trendsetters, when in actuality very few people are these. Even those who try to stand as “individuals” out like Goths or Punks for example are conforming to a stereotypical group of society even if not consciously. I myself would probably act in the same was if questioned however; I do know that I would fall into a certain group of the public although probably wouldn’t admit it if asked. I will openly admit that I bought my Sharpie markers after seeing the David Beckham advert, although I don’t believe that it was him having them that drew me to them but the fact that he drew my attention to them. After seeing this I perhaps thought, “maybe I will buy some markers” but it probably wasn’t a conscious thing in direct response to the celebrity endorsement. I think that the idea of a product being brought to your attention is the more likely result of this style of advertising, as after seeing it you may see the product somewhere else and believe it was your decision to buy it, this probably more than anything relating to fashion.
Considering the previous point if I were to conduct interviews I would have to be quite careful with my wording. The best results would not come out from openly asking people if they are effected by celebs so careful wording would have to be applied as you approach the subject with caution. The likely answer would probably be negative and at that would be a yes or no. With that in mind the sort of question that should maybe be used could be:
“So tell me about your outfit, where do you get your ideas from?” From this you could derive a number of things like if they buy designer clothing that could be endorsed by celebrities for example or if they take their ideas from the ‘what are the celebrities wearing’ columns of fashion magazines. Questions that could apply to all would be such things as “name the last thing that you bought” or “last expensive thing” and ask their reasons why. Even asking what future purchases they have in mind as from this you could derive if there are any current advertising campaigns that support these products.
There is no limit to the range and amount of questions that could be asked with relation to interviews of this subject as everyone buys and everyone views this form of advertising. If I was to carry out this type of interview I feel it would be most constructive to focus on a particular age range, predominantly the 18-25 bracket as this is when I believe we are most bombarded by targeted advertisements.
For interviews it could be useful to incorporate a pictures element with blurred out products and likewise in videos. A study could be undertaken to see if participants can still name the product because of its flagship celebrity.
A study that could return varied results may be the analysis of pictures. If photos of a select age and gender group of the public were scrutinized then we can look for similarities in clothing, hairstyles etc. This wouldn’t be the most accurate way of researching, as we would just be assuming for the main part, however the analysis would produce some form of results and patterns. For example: you can tell that stripes are in this season by taking a very brief look at women from the ages of anywhere between 6 and 60. This wont simply be by chance and it is unlikely that it has only caught on through one person copying another, therefore there must be some form of media that has shown that this is what is “in” this season. In our 1st assignment when we had to analyse a person from only photos of them it wasn’t particularly difficult figuring out the type of person they are from very small amounts of information. Using this technique research could be done quickly but not wholly accurately.
I don’t believe that there are that many of the techniques that we have learned that couldn’t really be applied to the furthering of this study although this may be naive and be from the preparation side of the research. The only way that you could really be sure would be to carry out the actual processes.
Activity 5B
When asked to apply the techniques of primary and secondary research skills we have learned this year to a studio brief that could have benefitted I chose one set to us by the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI). I decided on this particular one, mainly because it was the most factual based but also because there were times during it when I feel that I hit somewhat of an information brick wall and I could have gained an advantage from having some extra knowledge other than the standard Google search results.
The brief asked us to investigate SCRI and their research into certain fields of soft fruit. My fruit was strawberries, which I soon found out that SCRI no longer produce, at this point it probably would have been useful to apply some of these skills in research.
I could of perhaps utilized the online cross-search facility a lot more as this would maybe have given me a more in depth background on the discovery of non allergic white strawberries, which I chose to base my project on. I linked this discovery to the idea of appearances after and questioned whether people would be drawn to these beneficial strawberries over the familiar red ones. I wasn’t sure if people were as much drawn to the appearance of the fruit as they were to the taste. This would have been the ideal opportunity to create an investigation of my own.
If I were to redo this project I would definitely take the opportunity to answer questions rather than just simply posing them. I think that the best course of action would be to conduct interviews on the subject of food appearance over taste. In Assignment 4 when we were asked to conduct interviews, along with two colleagues we conducted ours on this subject asking a variety of questions in attempt to get peoples perspectives. It was more on food in general but from the type of process we used I feel if this was used again but slightly altered we could have got some interesting results. Questions along the lines of, for example: “Name me your favourite food or fruit and why” this type of question could point me in the direction of foods with particular appearances or either tastes.
There are a number of other primary research methods that I feel could have added sustenance to my research for this project, even basic ones such as showing people pictures of the different coloured strawberries and seeing which ones were most preferred. Ideally if I could have acquired some white strawberries then a blind taste test would have been quite simply the fastest and easiest way to get to the crux of the issue.
At first I did originally see the methods used in design studies and the briefs that we were set in the studio as completely separate entities and couldn’t really see where they would eventually cross over. However I find that mainly because of discussions that we have held with peers those things have became more apparent as the year has progressed.
I do feel that the idea of doing research work on the computer as being beneficial in some respects such as ease, but I don’t think that anything really compares to gathering information yourself. It was perhaps a dismissive thing or because of the nature of the 1st semesters studio briefs that I couldn’t quite see where research methods would really slot in. But now that that my attention has been drawn to the fact that all these skills we have learned are interchangeable, I feel that this gives me more opportunities to create a more solid basis for my studio work in 3rd year. I have certainly found that the process of planned and unplanned discussions has played a large importance when it comes to developing ideas and helping others do the same. I found that as the year has progressed that I would notice ourselves as a group more often having what could be seen as “important” conversations regarding design issues. It has been firmly expressed that the importance of communication is key in this area and I’ll admit that I was once again sceptical of this. I now believe however that the talking element is very much as important as any other skill that we may learn during our time at university as it has the power to simplify any issue that you may have. If we were to have a planned discussion it, at times may not go as well as something that comes naturally. I think that the use of Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping techniques perhaps threw me as; as much as I tried I couldn’t link it to any projects without consciously doing it. Ironically the turning point for me was probably the Tipping Point, as the discussions we first had as a group came without trying, as we were actually interested in these issues. I feel that this is because of opinions that people have now formed and that we now have a more advanced knowledge of design as a whole.
Personally at the moment I still very firmly see myself as a Graphic Designer, this is perhaps not due to my unwillingness to become something on a much more global scale but because mainly of my affection for my chosen speciality. I think that given the chance to progress and build on the skills that I have acquired so far that there is potential for the boundaries of specialities to change and easily cross over. I think that I came in with the idea that one side of thing would be practical and the other theory but once you get over these perceptions you can see that both are neither simply one or the other.
Bibliography
Buzan, T (2003). The Mind Map Book. London: BBC Worldwide Limited
Gladwell, M (2000). The Tipping Point. London: Abacas
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