OUGD601: Final Concept

To decide on what fits the synthesised project the best, I acquired feedback on my ideas as a whole, after explaining my conclusion from the critical report. I shared my ideas and ambitions as whole, yet wanted to see what the crit group would feel is the most appropriate avenue to go down.

I created a tally above each of the final 3 ideas, making people fill in what they thought was most appropriate.

I then did some additional research, as well as asking the crit their opinions and made a mind map of social issues I could represent through visual communication. This will be done by using Barthes' 6 principles, including pose, sequencing etc.

Titled 'The Wokening': A term inspired by @everyoutfitonsatc's 'Woke Charlotte' meme, which is a state of play the internet is moving into. Meme pages such as 'Existential Nihilist' or 'Dank Memes Melt Steel Beams' have started using the term 'woke' when discussing audience awareness of a social issues. Often referred to regarding issues of racism (Black Lives Matter Movement), white privilege, consuming habit awareness and capitalism in general , the slang word is becoming increasingly more common in popular culture.

The hashtag #StayWoke is becoming more common in Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook- a platform where hashtags are rarely used, which emphasises how common it is. The hashtag acts as a joiner between any visuals, as well as providing a platform for the audience to go and find out more information about selected issues. 

Considering primary research and feedback, most millennials, (which is my target audience), connects with fashion imagery via Instagram and digital platforms, so it is essential that the practical solution caters for the digital audience despite being editorially focused. 

The outcome will be a poster series, advertising a quarterly print magazine, which showcases creatives work which tackles contemporary social and political issues, in a lighter way than newspapers. It will be accompanied by a concept website, showcasing the editorial content online, as well as an Instagram page to allow easier interaction with the target audience.

The #StayWoke is a term used in social contemporary culture, meaning to be aware of social issues and 'woke' in the sense to form your own opinions not just based on what the media is saying. Critical academics such as Noam Chomsky have discussed how we do not live in a "free state", and we are actually being controlled by the 1% and authoritatively ruling publishing companies & newspapers to feed us their own stories and points of view, despite often being incorrect or very one-sided. By reclaiming this hashtag to #GetWoke we can suggest and ignite action, rather than just 'staying' the same level as they were before.

The critical essay investigates both advertising and editorials, with the similarities of communicative fashion images to entice the viewer and code the image in a way which gives it independent meaning (semiotics). I will represent 4 issues, all through different ways, decided on by feedback into what people think was the biggest issues of 2017 (survey, internet articles, newspaper articles and discussions with people).