OUGD401 - Practical Project Concept

I stated in my essay that if it can be determined that propaganda has been used throughout history to deceive the people and deliberately put forth the corrupt ideologies of a small cohort, to work in that cohorts favour, these deceiving components can be isolated and prevented to ensure a more democratic society. This led me to form the hypothesis that if the state uses propaganda to enforce its own ideologies then they will deceive the people because they present biased and subjective representations of the subject matter.    

From my essay  I can determine that there are substantial propagandist techniques evident within both examples of propaganda I analysed. There are subliminal examples of racism, fascism and militarism that are all encoded within the iconography presented to the people by the state. As a result of this, it can be determined that the state has used biased and subjective representations of their enemies in order to evoke a conditioned response from the people. 

Having identified these propagandist techniques and applied them to real life historical examples I planned to see if similar techniques that I have clearly identified as racist propaganda are still visible within todays contemporary society. I feel in modern day society news corporations have more influence than the state in influencing the people  due to increased political correctness. This is why I want to identify if any contemporary news corporations can be seen to use the propagandist techniques I have identified to present subjective representations of the subject matter in order to deceive the people.  It is my belief that looking back to the examples of world war 2 propaganda we can label it as racist whereas similar propagandist techniques are being used in contemporary news that goes relatively un-noticed. 

The aim for my practical work is to demonstrate to the people how we are being deceived by modern day news corporations yet are blind to it, as we can see the propagandist and  racial injustice of examples throughout history (WW2) and cannot link the connections between the two. I plan to create a range of posters highlighting this to show how similar the two are in the hope of making the people aware of how these propagandist features are still relevant in contemporary society. The target audience of my practical project will be the general public however will target this more specifically at a younger generation who will want to understand and hopefully inspire change. I feel an older generation have grown up listening to these messages and have learnt to accept them whereas a younger demographic could respond different questioning why this is appropriate, where the same techniques used in WW2 are openly labeled as racist. 

OUGD401 - Turn It In Feedback

As an interim submission for our extended Context of Practise essay I was required to submit a draft of my essay using the turn it in software, this meant that the tutors could easily asses my progress so far and give quicker summative feedback. This gave me a clear target to work to as the module was spread over the course of the year, I could then plan my time appropriately to ensure I had a completed first draft to submit before the interim deadline. 

I completed the first draft of my essay in time achieving the minimum word count, I felt my essay was of a relatively good quality as I had thought about the argument I was presenting and backed it up with a range of sources. I unfortunately did not have to construct my bibliography for the interim submission however I felt I should have prioritised submitting a finished fist draft over submitting 3/4 of an essay that included a bibliography. I was extremely with the feedback  I received from this interim submission, Tutors considered this first draft 'a very good essay' and considered my image analysis 'Excellent'. This is extremely encouraging as acting upon the changed suggested here I feel I have  the opportunity to create an extremely strong analytical piece of writing. 

Following this Turn It In feedback I was given a scheduled tutorial with the module leader to discuss the feedback in more depth. He was very encouraging and stated that the essay is around a 2:1 standard and has the potential to be a first if I correct all the necessary suggestions. He explained these changed in more detail and I agree with the suggestions he ha make for example not using bullet points as this can look amateur and relating certain parts of the essay back to the initial question to further evidence my point. I will make the nessacrry changed and include my full bibliography before the final submission to improve the overall quality of my essay. 

OUGD401 - Dissertation Analysis

As a small study task I was required to collect a range of dissertations and analyse their written form in order to learn more about an academic style of writing which I could then apply to my own works. I was tasked to look particularly at the written form including punctuation, grammar, referencing and tone of voice. I selected a range of dissertations randomly these included; Design for the tourism industry in Uganda by Andrea Cooper,  An investigation into the branding Techniques, Marketing Strategies and business structure of Nazi Germany in comparison to those of McDonalds by Sam Lane, and How the mission insignia of the US space programme reflected on idealised notions of American Nationhood, culture and identity during the Cold War era 'Space Race' by Luke Rossiter. I will look at each of these dissertations individually to learn more about their individual written form and see if I can apply these techniques to examples of my own works. 

Design for the tourism industry in Uganda by Andrea Cooper

I feel this dissertation is well structured with a clear contents at the from and left aligned chapters throughout, The introduction is objective and provides a succinct overview of the hypothesis and suggested research topics. There is clear use of appropriate data sources within the dissertation using numerical percentages that clearly cited in text adding to the vanity of the data. I feel the images that are referenced within the dissertation could be more logically compiled towards the end as they are a vast amount of images to support the arguments made within the text however they are separated half way though by the bibliography, I feel it would have been more affective to place all of the images before the bibliography as this is often the final thing in within the structure of academic writing. 

An investigation into the branding Techniques, Marketing Strategies and business structure of Nazi Germany in comparison to those of McDonalds by Sam Lane

this dissertation is finished to a good standard, similarly to the previous example it includes a contents page with clearly labeled page numbers, this dissertation includes centrally aligned titles and sub headings which I feel works better as it instantly attracts the eye and separates this from the main body of text. there is double spacing between the main body of text and a notable quote in the introduction presumably to draw attention to the quote however I felt this could have been achieved more professionally with use of subtle italics The dissertation has a consistently higher lexical field making the body of text flow smoothly. I prefer this style of image referencing as there are multiple sources per page I feel this is more effective as they do not look oversized and gives the referencing an efficient feel. 

How the mission insignia of the US space programme reflected on idealised notions of American Nationhood, culture and identity during the Cold War era 'Space Race' by Luke Rossiter

The final dissertation continues the convention of a contents page however the page numbers are placed at the top of the page which I feel is harder to reference looking at the contents page. This dissertation is not structured as well as the previous examples as there is a noticeable lack of paragraphing present within the body of text. This makes the dissertation look less inviting and harder to follow as ideas of often not clearly separated. In text citation is good and consistent within this dissertation which I feel aids the validation of statistics and data presented within the central arguments. Finally similarly to the second dissertation this example uses multiple images per page for the image referencing which I feel is more appropriate as it looks clean and efficient. 

From analysing these dissertation I have observed that a well labeled contents page is an essential generic convention of dissertation writing however I feel page numbers should be placed at the bottom right of each page as this makes the whole process of reading the text far easier. Overall I felt the structure of the these examples was good however could still be improved this has highlighted to me just how important both the physical structure and the structure of the text can impact the ease of processing the body of text. Finally I have observed that referencing images typically comes after the bibliography which I would have not previously have conformed to with my own works, I have also determined that I personally feel multiple images per page for referencing looks cleaner and more efficient as when referring simplistic image such as logos. From this I can now look at applying these key features to my own works in order to improve the overall quality of my final submissions. 

OUGD401 - Practical Project Introduction

Having submitted the first draft of my research essay I was then briefed about the practical element of the module. I was firstly asked to consider the techniques I could implement within the practical body of work, the content of this work and what I would like to communicate within my practical body of work. 

Technique; I am strongly considering screen printing my resolutions because they are bold and cheap to produce, this replicates processes relating to the content as propaganda and protests typically screen print graphics due to its cheap production cost. I will include key techniques of propaganda within my practical body of work, this includes loaded, emotive language which I could also look at using to imply sloganeering, I will also consider the use of rhetoric and persuasive language to replicate techniques used throughout the war. I will use a bold colour palette that is eye-catching and conveys the mood of the piece.  Will avoid the use of photography as this is inappropriate in trying to re-create propaganda in a similar style to that used thought out the period of world war 2. 

Content; I will consider the content of my research project carefully for example I will likely use illustrations packed with semiotics, connotations and representations that I will attempt to subtly imbed within the designs. I will use the an approbate range of semiotics to convey a specifically intended message this will replicate examples of WW2 propaganda I have analysed through my research essay. I will experiment with the finish of my designs for example I will experiment with a professional and well designed finished with high quality stock and good quality prints I will then compare this to a handmade finish using cheaper stock and looking at other printing methods more typical of WW2 for example screen printing. 

Communication; I will have to have established a clear message that I want to communicate before I start designing as I will need to include relevant semiotics and embed these within my designs in order to connote these messages I am attempting to communicate. I will carefully select the colour scheme to suggest a particular mood and evoke this to an audience. I will use the illustrations to affect the audiences response to my designs through specific propagandist features this will enable me to communicate a pre-determined message to adhere to my intended ideologies, similarly to how governments used these technique during the war. 

I was then asked to consider how I would go about planning for my practical body of work, I was asked to consider what research would need to be undertaken, I would then need to analyse aspects of this before exploring and testing this research forming a range of designs which I would evaluate against my hypothesis to ensure my outcomes are relevant and appropriate resolutions to the brief. 

Research; I will research a range of governments and news corporations to see if the way they promote their views adheres to propagandist techniques identified in my research essay and how these views are subjective (with reference to specific theorists). I will research more of Noam Chomsky's works to inform my content and will analyse relevant graphic designers such as David Gentleman whose contemporary works on the Iraq war may influence my designs.

Analysis; I will identify a range of propaganda techniques that I applied to my research essay and see if these techniques can be applied to how any modern corporations promote their views.  I will attempt to identify if any of Gentleman's works conform to examples of traditional propaganda with the intention of extrapolating a range of genetic conventions that I can then reference when designing. 

Exploration; I will explore a range of delivery methods for example, posters, placards and social media, I will then explore the appropriate materials I can use to produce my outcomes these include screen printing, cost and thickness of different stocks, explore if limited colour is more successful and determine if photography is relevant within propaganda. The aim of my outcomes is to be bold and easily understood so my exploration should reflect this. 

Testing; For the texting of my ideas will trial a range of paper stocks including coated and un-coated paper, I will experiment with my colour-pallette for example identifying if a limited colour palette is more successful in articulating the message effectively. I will also trial a range of delivery methods identified within my exploration and ultimately conduct a range of primary research to determine which is the most successful in relation to a range of public responses. 

Evaluate; I will evaluate these designs based on a sizeable criteria, including; how appropriate my resolutions are to the context, if the delivery method is appropriate, how well the general public and target audience react to my resolutions, If my designs are relevant to the topic and if my outcomes are consistent with other forms of propaganda. 

I now feel confident in formulating a structured plan based on this initial introduction to the practical project. I think I have made a good start in indenting a range of questions that I will aim to answer through intensive research, experimentation and analysis.