Author: DemelzaB

4004: Barbie Presentation

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In the final week of the semester, I had the slides prepared to deliver on Thursday. I used InDesign for the slides and exported it to PDF for the presentation. I included links to 2 videos within the slides, therefore needed to select ‘include hyperlinks’ when exporting the document.

I needed to ensure the presentation had a narrative arc that makes sense. I did this by opening with the mention of Barbie being controversial and their influence on me as a child, moving on to explaining other controversial elements of the dolls, then ending with the same mention of the issue with Barbie and the effect on children.

Demelza-Barbie-presentationDownload

Barbie presentation full script

Slide 1

This is me when I was 6, as you can see I loved Barbie dolls and anything with Barbie on it.

Slide 2

Barbies have always been controversial, This has mainly been because of their unrealistic body shape that has a negative influence on young girls especially. The body shape actually changed in the early 00’s. From this to this.

*Hand around the dolls so people can see the difference for themselves*

Slide 3

To demonstrate how Barbie was at the time and some of the issues I have, I want to show you this advert for Sleeping Beauty Barbie, from 1999.

Slide 4

I have an issue with how gender is portrayed in this advert. I feel like the advert re-enforces negative gender stereotypes where we see barbie as the helpless princess and Ken is the strong rescuer. And this can normalise unhealthy relationship dynamics, especially to this younger audience.

Slide 5

Another issue that  can be seen in the advert, is , as you heard at the end of the advert, the ken is sold separately. So when the child sees the advert, and sees that ken is an important part of the story, that both characters are sort of, needed, they’re gonna ask their parents for both. But because they are sold separately, this strategy gets people to pay twice the price, which can be an issue for working class families who struggle to, especially at Christmas, to afford these presents that these children are asking them for.

Slide 6

I also saw this class issue in the advert, with the actors. We have this blonde girl who’s at the front of the frame and she gets to hold Barbie, and her attitude is calm and entitled. Then we have the Asian girl who seems impressed and amazed at the doll and she never gets to hold Barbie herself, and Barbie is the one everyone wants to be. There’s a bit of inequality there and this girl physically resembles Barbie with her blonde hair.

Slide 7

What we didn’t see in the advert was the black sleeping beauty barbie, who was also sold at the time.

Slide 8

And if you look at both the dolls together, they’re the same in every way, as in they have the same dress, the same type of hair, the same body shape and the same mold was used for the head , meaning that their facial features are identical and the only difference is the colour and so this doesn’t represent much diversity and means the company is still angled towards the Eurocentric beauty standards. Mattel is the company who makes Barbies and they designed her in the 1950’s, based on a German doll, which explains why the blonde hair and the blue eyes became Barbie’s classic look.

Slide 9

If we compare the back of the box, this is the back of the box of the white sleeping beauty barbie and the back of the box of the black sleeping beauty barbie  What do you notice?

Slide 10 & 11­­

You might say ‘that was the 1990’s, that was a different time.’ But I was shocked to find this blog post from 2010, where the blogger was in the shop target in America, she walked down the toy aisle and  she took many photos, showing the same thing. What can you see in these pictures?

Slide 12

And finally, this video shows a psychological experiment that has been repeated several times in history. It addresses the issue of racial prejudice in children

Slide 13

You might say ‘It’s just a doll’, ’it’s just a plastic toy.’ but to a child these are representations of women and in a girl’s eyes, who they are expected to be as a woman. For a boy, how they can expect women to look.  Barbie’s are modelled on perfection. Something that is unachievable. This doesn’t need to be the case. Mattel have addressed this and are now producing wider representation in their designs. This is a good start.

Optional ending:

To give an example, in 1999, the same year as the advert, I remember being at school and being asked what I want to be when I grow up. Me and my friend both said ‘super lady’ since that covers all bases. We drew the same picture: a blonde woman wearing a pink suit.

The 2 videos I included, to support the presentation:

I was able to buy vintage Barbie dolls fairly cheaply on eBay. I bought 2 of each body shape (newer and older) to demonstrate the change of shape to the audience. I plan to pass the dolls around in the room. Being able to see them physically adds an interactive element to the presentation. Buying dolls from when I was a child also tied in how I relate to the topic and made the presentation more personal. I find speakers who can speak from experience, more interesting to listen to. This is why I chose to include the photo in the opening slide.

vintage barbie dolls to be used as props in the presentation.

I typed out the script into shorter notes so I could easily read them as bullet-points when presenting. I glued these onto pink card to go with the theme of Barbies.

For the slides, I included the Barbie font, downloaded from the internet, named simply ‘Barbie’. I also downloaded the ‘sparkle’ vector to add to the theme:

I included the Barbie colours in my slides also. I did this by placing the colour scheme into InDesign, then making colour swatches from the image:

On top of using pink in the slides, I added a gradient to the pink, as this was the style in the 1990’s, and looks out-dated now.

(To add to the pink theme, I wore a pink Barbie-esque jumpsuit when presenting.)

Narrative structure

My presentation has 4 main parts to it. I chose to stick the notes onto 4 cards, so that the points are grouped into their section of narrative.

  1. Introduction- What I will be discussing and why, handing around the physical example- showing the first video
  2. Discussing this video- What issues have we come across by watching the ad (mainly class and gender)
  3. Discussing race- where the company are coming from- the black sleeping beauty doll
  4. The effect on children- the evidence of racial prejudice around us – the future of the dolls

I needed to cut down the amount of slides I included in the presentation, as I needed to make sure I stayed around the 7 minute mark. I dropped the slide about the song Barbie Girl by Aqua:

I also chose to remove the mention of the video game that accompanied the sale of the sleeping beauty Barbie doll:

I only needed 1 slide when talking about gender. I therefore removed the slide with this photo:

I already included 2 photos from this blog post. I therefore removed the third photo:

Campaign Research/ group work extended project

DemelzaB Leave a comment

Today’s lecture started with a talk about the final presentation to the client. I found this interesting because I never knew how an idea is presented to a client.

21st March lecture notes:
  • The PDF for the client contains the final design and content leading up to the design.
  • We need to convince the client by showing off.
  • Putting our work into context helps to explain the idea a bit better.
  • We need to be confident that we can explain our idea behind the concept because the client will ask ‘why have you done that?’ (Have it clearly in mind).
  • We can also present images that help to support the idea.
  • The presentation needs to help validate the idea and put it into context.
  • ‘A PowerPoint slide deck is a collection of slides that are in the same presentation. You’ll hear “slide deck” used somewhat interchangeably with “presentation.”‘
from https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/what-is-a-powerpoint-slide-deck–cms-31129
  • We can present more than one animation and more than one poster if the idea is better expressed as a set of 4 ideas, do it.
  • Make a list of deliverables then write a script. Tweak list and items so it makes sense.
  • Communication skills so viewer can grasp the concept of your work.
  • Don’t just rely on big impactful visuals- the idea behind it is very important.

Presentation layout

  1. Start with the brief
  2. Aim of the concept- explain the idea supported by images or key words.
  3. Then show off the design through a series of deliverables.

(template on moodle for the basic layout. Make use of a grid for the slides)

  • Cover page: Title (tagline or different title), name of the client and your name.
  • Next slide: explain the brief, give a bit of background.
  • Aim what are the objectives of the work? (short paragraphs)
  • Concepts– what are the ideas behind your visuals? (short paragraph)
  • Slide of images to support/ give background. Why you have approached the problem.
  • Concept board– You came up with the idea because it reminded you of something, for example.
  • Place your poster on an outdoor wall, into context.
  • 1 slide with one poster on its own.
  • Mock up of instagram post. Put your post in it or twitter or facebook etc
  • Screenshots of animation on one page then play the animation to the client.
  • Then brand attack- photoshopped image or sketch. Can explain with a caption.
  • At the end = summarise
  • Tagline = explain it.
  • One page = colours.
  • Another page = type for headlines, body copy etc
  • Show your illustration
  • Summarise all the elements of your design to the client. at the end of the presentation
  • End – Thankyou

500 words of my contribution to the group. made sure we have breaks, make sure we are in agreement or not. That we get everyone’s opinion. What were my responsibilities? How did we communicate etc.

Blog- include case studies e.g. from the books, sustainable graphic design, cause and effect, design for sustainable change. Write a few posts about the case studies. If I see anything related to the extended project – blog about it.

Reading materials on moodle about individual evaluation- answer questionnaire on moodle before writing evaluation.

Submission into shared drive folder.

Feedback/ group discussion

In the second half of the lecture, we were given feedback on our initial ideas and poster work. Our group meeting was more difficult than it normally is, because we had one group member absent. This meant we couldn’t get her opinion on the direction we are going. To make up for this we need to arrange another meeting. It would be better to communicate this way rather than writing a message which is one-sided.

I started the session by printing the posters we had worked on so far (my 4 posters and 2 from 1 other group member). It was frustrating that not everyone had contributed to the poster work, as it meant we were held up on a step behind. Printing the posters on A3 size meant that we could see the designs with a fresh perspective.

3 of my posters were based around the simple composition, using a plain white space for the background. I have seen this used both in Tesco campaigns and other posters, such as the Diet Coke poster below the Tesco campaign.

https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2020/tesco-aldi-price-match/

The ‘Love What You Love’ Coke campaign uses a white background which brings the focus to the hand covered in gems. This is helped by the brightly lighting used.

When considering colour, we used Adobe Colour Palette to search for subjects and see what results come up.

This was the first colour palette we considered:

We also considered green, to reference the forests and impact on nature.

I saw this sign in the supermarket and noticed the impact of yellow and black to warn people of potential danger. Yellow can be sunny and energetic, or used like this to express caution. I felt that this eye-catching quality could make a good colour for our campaign design.

I looked at the book Less Is More by Victor Cheung. This book is a collection of projects, which use limited colour in a simplified way. The 2 designs below are from this book.

The high impact of red and green is also an appealing choice. It is normally used for a Christmas theme, but here in this image, I saw how these complementary colours can express both nature and danger in one design.

Red and blue also have a strong impact, and are coincidentally the colours of the Tesco brand.

Black and white can also create a strong image in a design and give a serious/sombre tone to the message. I like the idea of using black and white within the design, even if it’s not for the whole poster:

from Sustainable Graphic Design by Pete Claver Fine

The posters I shared with the group:

1)

I felt that this poster was maybe too simple, there being no image of trees. I could change this by having the image of trees within the blue text. I could also have used bespoke type instead of the Tesco-style font.

2)

I placed the image of raw meet within the ‘Tesco meat’ type. I felt it has a good shock factor. I drew these letters with the mouse on Illustrator, which is what gives it a ragged look. I didn’t realise that the ‘r’ in trees is lower-case. This was not intentional.

I would next time, change the line ‘Read about the campaign…’ to a different sans serif font.

3)

The simplicity of the poster works well. The bitmapped effect was good.

4)

I could keep the river red and make the forest green or greyscale. (My classmate didn’t notice at first that the background image was of the Amazon). Another option is to remove the trees all together and just keep the river.

The text doesn’t work so well, it could be black instead. I could choose to use the bespoke type as well.

These designs, from students explore the effect of motor vehicles on the planet. The illustration (bottom, left) expresses the message clearly and the tagline supports the image. The simplicity of the right-hand image makes it easy for the viewer to take in.

from Sustainable Graphic Design by Pete Claver Fine

Guerilla Marketing

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Guerilla marketing strategies are designed to work as a brand attack. Usually they subvert the meaning of a brand, hijacking the brand negatively. They are destructive to a brand because they point out that the brand is doing something bad.

Greenpeace use guerilla marketing in most of their campaigns because this strategy is so effective.

Guerilla marketing is performative. Often the action is performed in a significant place, such as a company’s HQ. The strategies aim to involve people. By taking place on the street, the consumer is engaged. The activists dress up, use props, banners or a combination of these. The street space is used in inventive ways to get the message across and amplify the message.

Direct interaction triggers emotion with the customers. The action can be entertaining, interruptive, and usually both. A buzz is created around the topic.

The term ‘guerilla marketing’ was first introduced in 1984. The word comes from guerilla warfare, where people were strategic and inventive.

guerrilla warfare, also spelled guerilla warfare, type of warfare fought by irregulars in fast-moving, small-scale actions against orthodox military and police forces and, on occasion, against rival insurgent forces, either independently or in conjunction with a larger political-military strategy. The word guerrilla (the diminutive of Spanish guerra, “war”) stems from the duke of Wellington’s campaigns during the Peninsular War (1808–14)

Regardless of terminology, the importance of guerrilla warfare has varied considerably throughout history. Traditionally, it has been a weapon of protest employed to rectify real or imagined wrongs levied on a people either by a ruling government or by a foreign invader.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/guerrilla-warfare

Physical interaction has greater power over consumer. Making the message clear to the viewer. These strategies are also used in advertising as well!

Axe Body Spray guerilla marketing strategy

The stickers subvert the original meaning of the exit sign, which is of a man running from a fire. Adding the sticker of the women running towards the man creates a playful and creative image. The familiar image adds the urgency we associate with the sign in normal use. The new image implies the women are attracted to the smell of the body spray. The use of stickers make use of the public environment around us to get the message to the audience. The unexpected appearance of the stickers makes people take notice of them.

King Kong 3D
Jeep campaign across Copenhagen demonstrates the car’s durability. This strategy is simple and cheap but effective.

John West Greenpeace campaign

A big tuna tin installation was made to point out unsustainable fishing and civil rights abuses/ child labour. Sculptures of the endangered animals that are caught as well as tuna.e.g. turtle in a net, gives the audience a visual and physical representation of the wildlife. This brings the issue to life more than photographs or words would.

Greenpeace activists showed a video on the surface of this opened tin sculpture. The video showed interviews. An activist also chained herself to the tuna tin model in front of the John West facility.

They made a tin shaped as a turtle to visually represent what the consumer is really paying for when they purchased from John West tuna. In addition to this, they also printed labels and placed them on shelves in supermarket in place of where people would normally find tuna tins. This also ensures the message gets to the right audience. The tags they left on the shelves acted as a kit to educate people. This helped to make the message word of mouth and meant that people who were in a rush could pick up the information and take it away with them, where it could essentially travel between more people between homes for example.

Nestle’s KitKat Greenpeace campaign

Nestle’s KitKat were attacked by Greenpeace for using palm oil from destroyed forests. The symbol of the Orangutan was given focus, as the forests affected are home to these animals.

The KitKat logo was subverted using the word ‘Killer’. The orangutan image was used in a big banner that Greenpeace activists used to cover the Nestle HQ building in Amsterdam, wrapping the building in the way a KitKat is wrapped.

They worked on the tagline ‘Have a break’, changing it to ‘Give me a break’.

This campaign went worldwide and different guerilla strategies took place across the globe.

Sainsbury’s ‘Live well for less’ > ‘Couldn’t care less’:

Greenpeace campaign where activists hung this sign at the front of the supermarket. It wasn’t noticed at first because of its close resemblance to the shop’s tagline ‘Every little helps’

Pigs suffer for Lidl- in Germany Lasst Scheweine Leiden! Stickers placed on packaging ‘with animal suffering’ and leaflets using graphic from Lidl.

Greenpeace’s Stuttgart Group protests against discounter supermarket Lidl’s cheap meat policy in Stuttgart. The activists cover the store’s windows with images of factory farmed pigs and display banners reading “Pigs suffer for Lidl”

I then looked at a poster and animation about the same Greenpeace campaign.

I really liked both of these designs. The questions asked in the GIF involve the consumer in the issue. I found myself nodding in response.

Designed by Bogdan Tanase-Marinescu https://www.jovoto.com/projects/cheap-meat/ideas/64979
Designed by Elod Zoltan Szasz. The play-on-words is catchy and surprising. I first didn’t notice the human because of the way the person has been placed alongside the pigs.

This Austrian group have set up physical models of pigs and placed them in on different flooring to demonstrate the conditions factory pigs live in. (below)

Campaign by the association against animal factories (VGT)

Brand attack Greenpeace brief

How can we attack Tesco brand?

As a group, we searched for images of famous Tesco campaigns.

Some are ‘Food Love Stories’, ‘Love Every mouthful’, ‘Aldi price match’, ‘Prices that take you back’.

Designed by Wieden+Kennedy London

I went into the Tesco store in Headington, Oxford. This image was in the fruit and veg section.

This is the first thing I was faced with when entering the shop: the shelf of snack foods and large yellow price tags. The prices are bold.

Clubcard price banner beside the meal deal fridge.

Since I went to a small Tesco store, there was not many banners in the shop.

Our idea for guerilla marketing is based around the clubcard prices. We had the initial idea of placing banners where banners would usually be found. These banners could tell the viewer some statistics. Instead of the price they are paying in terms of currency, we can talk about the impact the meat products are having on wildlife, farm animals, forests, indigenous communities and the planet as a whole.

We could place these in the meat section. The designs could be stuck onto the packaging as stickers, or on the shelves where we would normally see the prices.