The inspiration for this module wasn’t constructed around a complex answer to problem but an ambition to create a translucent and thought-provoking message. This wasn’t an egotistical journey to break new ground but provide the audience with the beginnings of considered reflection. As cited by Fletcher (2001: P.165), 'the terms "Show me", or "I see what you mean" indicate a connection between sight and subject which is very real'. Using a medium that associates with the key subject will strengthen the legitimacy of the piece and most importantly reinforce the message.
The brief was simply to create our own proposition and respond to it in a creative way. However, developing my own brief was one of the hardest tasks on this module, as I explained in the first post on my blog, ‘The depressing truth is that my creative thoughts have been choked in the name of the green stuff, diluted by the white value printer paper, otherwise know as my client brief’ (2011). After 3 years of working within the graphic design industry I was now established with the tight boundaries given to me by my clients. The reality of the creative industry is very much determined by a budget, which in the current economic recession is minimal.
Opening my eyes to the things that I love awakened my creative senses. No longer stuck with a short deadline I was able to explore mediums that really speak to me. On observation I found that these mediums tended to skim on the edge of reality. Reading and watching films allows my mind to escape into exciting worlds of fantasy.
American Beauty (1999), a film written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes, is packed full of complex themes and fascinating characters that will consume you with a constant message to ‘look closer’. Many Critics have heavily debated the meanings of this film, for example Berardinalli (1999) believes that it is about suburban imprisonment. ‘For many, the suburban life is the American dream. For others, however, it can turn into a twisted nightmare of unfulfilled desires, repressed needs, and shattered hopes’. In these terms, the film illustrates the perfection of life through the isolation of owning a big expensive house and pressures of a high-powered career. I interpret the film by its message to ‘look closer’, see past the smiles and material success and find the real people inside. I felt that my interpretation was reinforced by the strong motif in the story, the American Rose. Beautiful on the surface, the rose appears to be pure and healthy however, the roots underground are prone to rotting. It is this idea of 'life not being as it seems' that I wanted to explore further.
When we consider that life isn’t as it seems, it allows us to look closer so that we can observe everything in a new light and examine the details. This lead me to the realisation that life leaves marks on everything whether material or emotional, a concept captured by Henk Van Rensbergen. Born in 1968, Rensbergen documents the abandoned state of architecture.
Fig 1. Insane Asylum, Abandoned Places 1 by Henk Van Rensbergen - Winter 2001. Image from
As I explained in my post ‘Markings’ (2011), ‘I was truly captivated by the texture in the image above and of the paper that is still falling from the wall like leaves in autumn (fig 1). It is as if the building is dismantling itself, moving back to the bare materials it was once built with, or removing the remnants of the human intervention of decoration. The littered chaos of debris conflicts with the neatly coiled cables and lighter area of untouched wall opposite. The chaired area is a reminder of the people that once occupied this room, a mark of their presence here and how they once used it. Left to deteriorate the room is unloved, cold and surplus to requirement, the pealing door is now shut, the finality of it's fate to abandonment’ (2011). Untouched for many years these places are a real treasure and an essence of our history. Rensbergen (2010) states in an interview that a dream place would be, 'any location that is untouched so it can tell a story'. His work is about capturing a narrative, a mark of human life within an extraordinary image from the past.
I covered a few pathways within the exploration of my proposal and found myself to be wondering. This is something that happens from time to time in my own professional practice. To manage this problem I move away from the creative issue and come back to it with new eyes. Interestingly enough I found that Edward De Bono (1996) cited by McIntosh (2010: P.100), talks about need for the ‘creative pause’. He states that, ‘the creative pause is an interruption in the smooth flow of routine in order to pay deliberate attention at some point’. Breaking the regular creative flow allows ideas that would otherwise be overlooked, to be examined again.
To reexamine my ideas I went back to American Beauty film and identified the ‘white picket fence’ concept, which is apparent from the very first opening scene. The white picket fence theory is a term that is predominately rooted in the USA and apart of their 'American Dream' ideology. American Beauty illustrates this dream through the lives of a married couple, Lester and Carolyn Burham. They both have well paid jobs allowing them to live in their beautiful white house, nevertheless it is these ideals of the American dream, that brings misery to their lives. The dream is a promise of success and prosperity, masking the reality of a nation obsessed with materialism and idealism.
This problem isn’t just apart of American culture but England’s too. Our own nations dream of the white picket fence can be found in the 1980’s when Margaret Thatcher created the Right to Buy scheme. As I explained in my post ‘Does Britain have it’s own American Dream’ (2011), ‘the 'Right to Buy' scheme published in 1979 allowed freedom to it's tenants who became property owners over night and abolished the rules which stopped them from decorating and changing their homes to suit their own needs’. People who couldn’t afford to own a home were now given the chance to buy their rented homes at a vastly reduced rate.
The effect, as the result of the scheme can still be felt today. Statistics written in an article by McVeigh (2009) were that, 'council houses sold off passed the 2 million mark', which lead to the impact that, 'people across Britain on waiting lists for a council house, up almost 10% in a year'. The government failed to rebuild the social housing that they sold and with the added pressure of the recession, building new homes has ground to a halt. With a limited supply of housing for the families that need them, the state now rely on relatives or places in B&Bs, costing the taxpayer every year. The dream to own a little piece of freedom has now affected the lives of the next generation and almost abolished our children’s chance of living in their own homes. The white picket fence has cast its long dark shadow on its occupants. Strange it may seem then that the Right to Buy scheme will be used again.
An article released on the 19th of November 2011 in the Mail explained that up to 2 million tenants could buy their homes at a huge discounted rate just as they did in the 1980's. The money will be put back into the development of new housing, as reported by Groves (2011), 'The Government hopes that the new drive could result in another 100,000 homes being built, creating 200,000 jobs'. The government promises to replace the houses that are sold, but do people understand the consequences if they don’t?
I felt that my proposal of ‘life not being as it seems’ was truly apparent in this issue. The lack of housing is problem close to my heart, while studying for my degree I lived in a B&B with my 9 month old daughter because there was no where to live. At first I wanted to shout and develop a poster that clearly communicated the devastation that the scheme had caused this country.
However, while producing the sketches I found that the poster idea lacked impact and originality (Fig 2). Despite this the advert concept sparked my interest in producing something specifically in a newspaper format. As I expressed in my blog post ‘I See What You Mean’ (2012), ‘the cheap quality of the newsprint paper and throwaway attitude of the medium creates an interesting parallel with the low price housing and potential loss of our future homes’. The medium will assist to emphasise the delicate situation the social housing sector is now in.
Fig 2. Poster Concept – Rough Visual
I developed the advert in Illustrator as it allows great flexibility with type and colour. Following the newspaper format, I have composed the text in Helvetica. Currently a typeface used in newspapers for its simplicity and legibility even at smaller points (Fig 3). The area below the photograph reveals the true ownership of the home and the cost of buying the property, the core message of the piece.
Fig 3. Advert Design for Newspaper
Researching into other design layouts for property I found a lot of them to be very cluttered. I was alerted to issue that the message of my creative piece could potentially get lost amongst the other articles, so determined that I would redesign the whole page produce another 3 adverts.
Constancy through the design layout was crucial to continue the newspaper style. Evans (1973: P.5) explains, a graphic designer for a newspaper‘…ought to be continuously on guard against the wish to “express himself” aesthetically at the expense of that message”. Similarly, any form of graphic design where there’s a massage to convey, needs to be kept appropriate to the need of the brief rather than the need of the designer.
The final adverts were printed on Newsprint paper, a low quality paper used primary for newspaper printing, which match the existing newspaper effectively. Normal copy paper is too white and softened the gritty nature of the images during the test printing. The change of paper did have a dull reaction to the colours, consequently the contrast settings had to heighten in Photoshop. The adverts were printed and taped onto the paper.
Fig 4. Three Additional Advert Designs for Newspaper
The next task was to develop a simple brand for the newspaper in order to create a visual cue for the subject of the graphic piece (fig 5). Following the same creative process practiced in my own profession, I devised keywords that reflected the key qualities of the people at the centre of the issue.
Fig 5. Logo Design for Newspaper
‘Cold and ‘harsh’ are two words which are associated with Thatcher, aka The Iron Lady. Blue is a colder colour and relates to the Conservative brand, the cool grey emphasies the tone. As I described in my blog post Selling Communities (2012), ‘The concept for the brand is based on the fact that the Right to Buy scheme was put forward by Thatcher. Cameron is merely regurgitating what she did before. Thatcher, sitting on top, is harsh and bold in appearance to illustrate the originator of scheme. Cameron sitting below in small caps, with a semi transparent grey colour, emphasises the age and repetition of the Right to Buy event. The typeface is a 1980's favourite, 'Century Old Style', a serif based type to represent the upper classes of the politicians’. Using the different positions I was able to create a graphic that reflects the situation as I view it. Finally, the slogan, ‘selling communities’ illustrates the fact that the scheme was responsible for a divide in the community. Not everyone could afford to buy their homes, leaving a 'that one's private, that one is not' situation.
Submitting in a digital format gave me the opportunity to take my concept another step further. Photographing a series of images enabled me to create the suspense needed for my proposal. The images created a dramatic finish where both the subject of the newspaper and presentation illustrates ‘life not being as it seems’.
The final images are set to together in a documentary style connecting back to the house portraits. The story of the images invites the viewer to look closer. The first photo is warm and appealing with the alluring tea steaming in the dreamy glow of the low depth of field. The next images however, are instantly cooled by the Conservative blue colouring and threatening appearance of the Thatcher name. The bear creeps into the side of the aperture illustrating the strong family connection and then ripped back out to reveal the full meaning of the subject in the last photo. Clearly representing that the dream of material successes can have a costly effect if history repeats itself, but most importantly providing the audience with the beginnings of considered reflection.
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References
Books
Evan. H (1973) Editing and Design: A Five-Volume Manual of English, Typography and Layout. Heinemann, London.
Fletcher. A (2001) The Art of Looking Sideways. Phaidon.
McIntosh. P (2010) Action Research and Reflective Practise: Creative and visual methods to facilitate reflection and learning. Routledge, London.
Web Pages
Berardinalli, J. (1999) Reelviews - American Beauty, A Movie Review by James Berardinalli (Online). Available from http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=339
(Accessed 16/10/2011).
Groves. J (2011) Mail Online: Half price council home: 2 million properties to be sold off as Government revive Thatcher's 'Right to Buy' scheme (online). Available from
(Accessed on 25/11/2011)
McVeigh. T (2009) The Guardian, 30 years on, the right to buy revolution that still divides Britain's housing estates. (Online) Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/dec/06/right-to-buy-housing-thatcher
(Accessed on 25/11/2011)
(Accessed on 25/11/2011)
(2010) Talk Urbex, Exploring decay abandoned architecture..., Guest of the Month, Henk Van Rensbergen gives us his view on urban exploration. (Online) Available from
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Other
Hill. S (2011/2012) Digital Media Blog - Anything Off the Trolley? (Online). Available from http://sarahilldmp1.blogspot.com/
