OUGD403 - Message and Delivery - Research

Brief

Create a body of visual research in responses to a story, issue or theme found in the national press tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd October.

Background/ Considerations

The willingness and ability to formulate informed opinions about your subject matter is an essential skill for a graphic designer. 

In addition to being aware of events, concerns and the (un)popularly held opinions of the world around you, you also need to consider the tone of voice with which they are reported. It is important that you read the stories thoroughly and research issues that are raised fully committing yourself to a visual opinion.

You can be serious, humorous, questioning, bold or subtle.

Mandatory Requirements

The story, issue or theme must come from a newspaper published on Tuesday 23rd October.

Deliverables

A body of research into the story, issue or theme of your choice. 

A physical copy of the newspaper.

Studio Deadline: Friday 26th October

Module Deadline: 23rd November 2012

My Chosen article:

This article, found in 'i' is an informal report on an incident concerning a man commenting on his views about gay marriage via Facebook and having a 40% pay cut because of it.

The tone of voice in this article, although informative is quite chatty and tells the story from the viewpoint of the author. He thinks that punishment for what he considers to be free speech is not a 'reasonable use of police or legislative time' and that 'modest opinions alone are no warrant for a demotion'.

The daily mails' article on this is much more neutral in opinion but there is still an underlying voice against censorship and punishment on freedom of speech.

Using this idea of restricted opinions, i found this image on censorship:

Aside from its caption, I really like this image, as it portrays an idea that sometimes the fact that the subject has been censored/ punished for is more offensive than the actual material itself.

I found in this extract from the public and commercial services union website, that you can claim compensation of up to £50,000 for 'injury to feelings'. Could this be the reason people are so 'sensitive'? 

Posters used to shun the use of free speech. They are almost warning in tone of voice and are stern in their message. I do not agree with this kind of attitude and want to use a less serious, more jovial tone in my own work, but want to still have a serious message.

This cartoon is depicting what can happen if you say too much. But, in my work I want to question what is 'too much'? I really like the execution of this as it needs no text to justify it's meaning in a lighthearted way.

I really like this design. I'm not sure of it's intended meaning but it could be used to show how freedom (of speech in this case) is limited. The dancer is not free to dance. Again, I think the most effective way of communicating my message would be without text.

Simple typography with an unrevealing title could intrigue the reader into looking/ reading further?

The use of the asterisk is a really simple tool- a symbol of political correctness?

I really love the symbolism in this piece, I think that using simple aesthetics would be the most effective way to communicate my message, with the support of a paragraph to inlcude details / actions for the reader to take. Perhaps a petition?

• There is even a whole page on the guardian online about censorship and the constant, daily battles of offending others which could be challenged?

 

• This article, found on Wikipedia, describes how the use of the term 'Christmas' is usually avoided in marketing in the United States for fear it will offend, even when referring to Christmas related items such as Christmas trees and Christmas holidays. Here is an extract from the article about seperate incidents regarding 'Christmas controversy'. 'A controversy regarding these issues arose in 2002, when the New York City public school system banned the display of Nativity scenes, but allowed the display of supposedly less overtly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, Hanukkah menorahs, and the Muslim star and crescent.^[17] The school system successfully defended its policy in Skoros v. City of New York (2006).^[18]In December 2007, a controversy arose^[3] when a public school in Ottawa, Canada planned to have the children in its primary choir sing a version of the song "Silver Bells" with the word "Christmas" replaced by "festive"; the concert also included the songs Candles of Christmas and It's Christmas with the original lyrics. Also, in 2011, in Embrun, Ontario, near Ottawa, one school has barred the Christmas pageant and replaced it with a craft sale and winter concert scheduled for February, 2012. (Ottawa Citizen, December 2, 2011).'

• Another article, found on the BBC News website, tells of how a nursery was accused of being over politically correct by changing 'baa baa black sheep' to 'baa baa rainbow sheep' because the original was 'racist'. This was in fact untrue and the nursery changed it for other reasons, where all the colours of the rainbow were mentioned so that the children could learn about colours. Could this be because that political correctness is now expected of the public? Does offence come from ourselves/ are we looking to be offended?

• This article, found on the guardian online, shows one mans opinion on how Golliwog dolls are 'a vile throwback to a racist past'. While browsing through the comments section, about 10% agree with his statement, while the remaining 90% accuse him of being over sensitive over what they perceive to be nothing more than a Victorian doll. This hypersensitivity could be represented in bold imagery that makes the reader question why they are offended perhaps?

 Politically Incorrect cartoons: 

Steamboat Willie

There are lots of things that this original classic could be criticized for in politically correct terms. For example, the scene where Minnie doesn't get on the boat in time, and so Mickey lifts her up with a crane by her underwear to lift her aboard. Or when Mickey plays tunes on all of the animals on board, such as pulling the tails of the piglets/ strangling the goose... 

But this is an old, trusted favourite. Why should this be banned/ censored? Although it is politically incorrect, in my opinion it is harmless.

Donald Duck: In der Fuhrers Face

However, there are lots of offensive materials that Disney has produced, such as this cartoon about Donald Duck. He has a nightmare that he is a Nazi under the order of Hitler and wakes up and is thankful that he is American and against the Nazis. This kind of propaganda is really risky in terms of keeping Disney neutral and clean of opinions. And yet, harmless cartoons/ imagery is seen as offensive, and this is left un-criticized?

Stereotyping:

This passage explains some of the types of stereotyping which others may find offensive. This could be turned into images- and indicate to the reader what they are about. The reader may be offended by this, but without text or abusive language or generalization, is it really offensive?

'Common Stereotypes

African Americans

One of the more common stereotype examples is stereotypes surrounding African Americans. Saying that all African Americans are good at sports is a stereotype, because it’s grouping the race together to indicate that everyone of that race is a good athlete. Another stereotype would be that all African Americans love to eat KFC, drink purple grape juice and eat watermelon.

Men and Women

There are also some common stereotypes of men and women, such as:

• Men are strong and do all the work.
• Men are the “backbone.”
• Women aren't as smart as a man.
• Women can’t do as good of a job as a man.
• Girls are not good at sports.
• Guys are messy and unclean.
• Men who spend too much time on the computer or read are geeks.

Cultures

Stereotypes also exist about cultures an countries as a whole. Stereotype examples of this sort include the premises that:

• All white Americans are obese, lazy, and dim-witted. Homer Simpson of the TV series The Simpsons is the personification of this stereotype. 
• Mexican stereotypes suggest that all Mexicans are lazy and came into America illegally.
• All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists.
• All people who live in England have bad teeth.
• Italian or French people are the best lovers.
• All African Americans outside of the United States are poor.
• All Jews are greedy.
• All Asians are good at math. All Asians like to eat rice and drive slow.
• All Irish people are drunks and eat potatoes.
• All Americans are generally considered to be friendly, generous, and tolerant, but also arrogant, impatient, and domineering.

Groups of Individuals

A different type of stereotype also involves grouping of individuals. Skaters, Goths, Gangsters, and Preps are a few examples. Most of this stereotyping is taking place in schools. For example:

• Goths wear black clothes, black makeup, are depressed and hated by society.
• Punks wear mohawks, spikes, chains, are a menace to society and are always getting in trouble.
• All politicians are philanders and think only of personal gain and benefit.
• Girls are only concerned about physical appearance.
• All blonds are unintelligent.
• All librarians are women who are old, wear glasses, tie a high bun, and have a perpetual frown on their face.
• All teenagers are rebels.
• All children don't enjoy healthy food.
• Only anorexic women can become models.'

 JUST TO CLARIFY I DO NOT AGREE WITH STEREOTYPING, AND DO FIND IT OFFENSIVE. But does this not mean that being offended is self-induced?