The Chosen One

RATIONALE

My goal was to persuade the viewer to not shop at superstores due to the destruction that they cause. In order to do so, I used a collage style to illustrate the variety of superstores that have affected the neighbourhoods in the form of a common pest – the pigeon.

Its Ihi is a bird made of junk mail that were delivered into my mailbox within a week’s span from a variety of superstores. It is accompanied with the tagline, “DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS.” Its wehi expresses the idea that superstores are pests that destroy the neighbourhood; shopping at these stores results in small businesses getting closed down.

I used two forms of rhetoric: pathos, appealing to the viewer’s emotions using trash to signify destruction and the word ‘neighbourhood’ to give the sense of familiarity and community, as well as eyes in a graffiti style to give it an aggressive feeling. Then I used ethos to make my poster more authoritative using the font applied on roadway signs.

Poster Feedback

Got some more feedback on my poster. I am going to add one more word to my tagline, so it now says "Keep Corporate Pests Out Of Our Neighbourhood." Hopefully it makes it easier to draw the connection between pests and superstores!

More Concepts

After the feedback I got in week 5, I changed my design to bring out the brands more. Some great feedback I received included the fact that the stores could not be distinguished in the bird. To bring them out more, I brought them to full color as well as add a dark background, but I'll sleep on it:

Blogger, you POS, it shouldn't matter whether my files are CMYK or RGB. I hate this blogging platform

Pigeon Feedback

So, while the duotone idea can appear aggressive, it is quite hard to see from far away. The brands are hard to make out... What I'm going to do over the weekend is try my concept again, but on a black background with a full colour pigeon. That way, the brands are distinguishable, and perhaps, unappealing, in a good way. I will play around with the background as well. I'm going to explore ideas on how I can make a solid black background more interesting.

Evolving Again (It's a Pokemon)

Got some great feedback from spatial students as well as our class. I did agree that with my red one, it was hard to see some logos so I did up the contrast and lighten to overall piece in the red ones. Megs, you're awesome.

I also added a tagline to help make it less obscure. I think I'll sleep on it, because I'm not sure if they're successful or not? I also tried to change the composition a wee bit... but I'm unsure...

Idea Evolution

I evolved my bird idea by changing the collage to only consist of superstore brands. I did want to make it aggressive though, so I changed the colors by using reds, blacks, and yellows. I find the reds the most violent when placed onto the yellow, but I'm not really sure...

I also drew on a face to make the bird more menacing.

Collage Precedents

Decided to go with collage to make it more aggressive. Collages can look quite intimidating depending on context..
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Interim critique

After interim critique I decided to move forward with my "DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS" concept. It was well received due to it coercing the viewer to not do something (which I feel is a great contrast to most posters imploring the action of doing something). It also implied a strong message that wasn't so direct and required the viewer to think.

What I intended to say was, "Do not feed the birds, because they'll bring their mates over and poo on you." This is a metaphor that implies buying from superstores will result in more superstores being built in the neighborhood, polluting the environment, giving you poor service, and sending you junk mail.

Moving forward, I will change the image to show the store logos. Might try some other ways of portraying my idea, apart from the sign.

Appealing to the emotions

I need to find a way to appeal to the emotions somehow. My examples aren't that great yet, and they just fall flat.

So I'm going to use pathos I reckon. I have to be very careful with my word and visual choices otherwise I might give the wrong message or receive the wrong response...

Doc Signs

One of my other mockups will parody the DOC signs. Found some good references:

My tagline will be New Zealand: 100% Owned and Operated with many chain stores being crossed out underneath.

DO NOT FEED THE PIGEONS

Sign ideas - I want to explore the idea of pests in the sayings "DON'T FEED THE BIRDS." Because if you feed the birds, more will pop up, kill off other wildlife, and make a mess of the place.

The same idea can be applied to superstores. "Feeding" superstores (shopping at them) will result in more superstores popping up, in the form of competition or chains, and they kill small businesses while giving you bad service and polluting the environment with junk mail.

No more baked beans

I decided to not even go further with the baked beans ideas anymore. It wasn't working and it was looking more stupid than persuasive. The idea of glamourising baked beans seemed like a good idea for a while, but it was getting a bit troublesome for me to illustrate because sometimes I was saying that I was saying small business deliver high quality goods (which they do!)

So while arguing with myself I found my anti superstore ideas were a lot stronger, so I'll continue to evolve those concepts instead.

I *heart* NZ Parody

Got some great feedback today from my peers and lecturers. My I heart NZ one was okay, but it would be a lot stronger if I put it into its context, so I'm going to embroider it and make it look like a tag, or something...

Now to put it on some test fabric!

Baked Beans

I thought of an idea with my baked beans. To put them on a golden spoon with some nice satin texture in the background. Satin has always given me a fancy vibe, and well, the golden spoon is rich I guess? I'll try it with a normal fancy spoon too, and see how it goes...

Golden spoon does imply the best of food too, apparently: http://www.floridatrend.com/golden-spoons/awards

-Trying it without the golden spoon first (lame photoshop skills away!):