Researching the history of the various tools would give a good base to work off to begin the essay, introducing the reader to why they were created in the first place and the intended uses. Getting the opinions of various designers would also inform me as to what they believe are the best tools and whether the tools produce different effects. ​I also believe conducting a practices-based experiment would be highly informative as it would give a working example of not only how the tools are used by different designers but also how those choices might be effected by the designers age, background, design style, and maybe even if it is influenced by the way they where taught design in school. In addition it would show the differences between them based on the outcomes of the brief; whether one method produces a better result than the other. 

Sources:
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• Bestley, R and Noble, I. Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methods in Graphic Design (pages 7-240)
• Blauvelt, A. Remaking Theory, Rethinking Practice in Heller. S. Education of a Graphic Designer (pages 71-77)

Notes:

*no notes due to being absent at the lecture

In summary, the text illustrates some examples of post-modernity. It explains how 'postmodernism can be pretty much anything you want it to be', which is both a blessing and a curse. It can be seen to be a mix of 'bits and pieces of what had gone before, from previous movements and ideas'.
​One graphic designer Gompert references to is the work of Barbara Kruger, who merged her own 'brand identity' of personal pronouns, bold lettering and halftone images with red lettering, an reference to Rodchenkos Constructivist posters, and the Bauhaus font, Futura, always in italic, to acknowledge the Futurists. She mimics the the commercial methods of advertising posters to 'question the commercial practices of the art world', suggesting themes of postmodernity such as 'authorship, authenticity, reproduction and identity'.

​I then began thinking about topics I was interested in and that would have good statistics t include in my infographic. Some of my interests I thought could work include, veganism, animal testing, space, 'Zelda', plants, Harry Potter, and mental health.
I eventually decided on researching about animal agriculture, a topic I'm passionate about. I have been following a vegan diet myself for the last five years after discovering many shocking facts about what really goes on in the world of mass animal farming; how cruel it is, and how it effects your health and the environment. 

Animal Agriculture Research

• 79 million vegans in 2021 (population of 7.9 billion) ​​

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• If the world went plant based:
• save 8 million human lives by 2050 (reduction of red meat consumption and increased fruit and vegetable intake)
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by two thirds
• lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate damages of $1.5 trillion ​(US)

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• Each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 lbs CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life​ ​
• If the UK population was killed at the rate farmed animals are killed around the world, it would end in just 11 hours
• 70 billion farmed animals are reared annually worldwide; more than 6 million animals are killed for food every hour
• Over a billion farmed animals in Britain are killed each year in slaughterhouses
• Over 10 million pigs, 15 million sheep, 14 million turkeys, 15 million ducks and geese, 982 million broiler chickens, 50 million 'spent hens', 2.6 million cattle, 4.5 billion fish and 2.6 billion shellfish are killed in the UK each year - over 8 billion animals
• Since 1970, the collective weight of free living animals has declined 82%. Instead, a small number of farmed animals (mainly cows and pigs) dominate the global biomass. They account for 60% of mammal species by mass, 36% goes to humans, and just 4% are free living animals

Effects of animal agriculture on the environment:
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• ​Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation 
• Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions
• Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years
• Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day
• A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people

 

• Animal agriculture water consumption ranges from 34-76 trillion gallons annually ​
• 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef
• 477 gallons of water are required to produce 1lb. of eggs 
• ​Almost 900 gallons of water are needed for 1lb. of cheese
• 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk

 

• 3/4 of the world’s fisheries are exploited or depleted
• We could see fishless oceans by 2048
• As many as 2.7 trillion animals are pulled from the ocean each year
• Scientists estimate as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels
• 40-50 million sharks killed in fishing lines and nets

 

• Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land
• Livestock itself covers 45% of the earth’s total land

• Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction
• 1-2 acres of rainforest are cleared every second
• 1,100 land activists have been killed in Brazil in the past 20 years

 

• We are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people (7.9 billion in the world currently)
• Worldwide, at least 50% of grain is fed to livestock
• 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and the animals are eaten by western countries

Initial Ideas

After doing some research, I began sketching some initial ideas to visually show the data I found; using related objects and cutting them up to show percentages and numbers, using illustrations to represent statistics, etc.

I then tried to sketch out some possible layouts/wireframes to explore how the data could be arranged. My idea is to have a section for each sub-topic; animals killed/percentage of meat eaters vs non meat-eaters, water usage, pollution, land usage and possibly also a section on fishing, so its easier to digest. I thought a long portrait format would help organise the sub-topics in an order but I also thought a landscape poster would work well, possibly as a double-page spread in a vegan lifestyle magazine to give it more context. For example, it could have a main illustration (maybe a map) in the centre, then little graphics and graphs surrounding, or the sections in blocks of colour.

I then looked for some inspiration, specifically for the styling of the infographics illustrations. I wanted it to be digitally drawn with a vectorised feel but look slightly more organic with more texture. I was inspired by how some of the images below were just simply hand-drawn style line art, and even the more detailed illustrations being still very minimal. 

I then thought about colour combinations that I could experiment with; lots of green, blue and orange to represent the environmental theme. I also looked into typefaces. I really like the more handwritten, organic style shown in some of the above posters, but also thought a more simple, serif font would pair nicely with the illustrations and be more eligible. I wanted the whole design to look friendly so that the theme of the infographic didn't make the viewer feel like they were being made to feel bad or being shouted at for contributing to the issues.

Development

Here I started to experiment a little with the styling, using my original sketches and recreating them digitally, first in a simple flat vector style, then trying to add some texture and shading.

I then began experimenting a little with pairing the initial illustrations with the typography to see how it could be laid out. I thought the more sketchy typeface went pretty well with the more vectorised, flat visuals but I also wanted to flip this around and do the opposite; going back to my original pen and paper sketches and pair those with a simple, sans serif font.

I then began trying to develop the whole layout of the magazine spread. Many of the illustrations I tweaked or drew from scratch as I was going so that they would fit perfectly into the spaces and make the whole page flow properly. After a lot of experimenting with type choice, I settled on 'DIN' and 'Palatino', which both had a good range of different weights for variation. I liked how the styling developed into a sort of newspaper style.

Here are the final illustrations for my infographic data visuals. I tried to keep the hand drawn feel, using a textured digital brush on Procreate and used a friendly looking colour palette.

Final Piece

Here is my final design, all mocked up as well as some close ups. Im actually quite happy with how it turned out; I think I managed to keep the charm of my original sketches with the hand drawn, contemporary vibe, even though its a lot different to how I originally envisioned. I did consider changing the bold type to a colour other than black to make it pop more but I felt like there would either be too many colours or the balance would be off so I kept it black.

The 'First Things First' 2000 manifesto is a rewrite of the 1964 FTF document, redesigned for a global/corporate age and signed up to by leading designers/artists; design as a weapon for social change. A designers ethical code expresses how responsible you feel you are for the work you put out into the world and how far you should be guided by your conscience as a creative. ​

There are many artists and designers who take a strong ethical and/or political stance in their work, one of which is Jessica Walsh, who alongside Stefan Sagmeister, illustrated 40 pins consisting of designs that protest Donald Trump and instead encourage Americans to vote for Hilary Clinton. The idea behind this project came from the popularity of pins among young people and it was thought that it could inspire them to register to vote. It was discovered that in the 2012 election, only 26% of millennial voted, meaning 48 million votes were lost. The designs 'promote love, tolerance and kindness' and encourage voters to 'wear their heart and politics on their sleeves'.

Another artist who takes a strong ethical stance in their work is Benjamin Von Wong, a Canadian artist, activist, and photographer famous for his 'environmental art installations and hyper-realist art style'. His photography 'combines everyday objects with shocking statistics'  to create awareness on plastics, electronic waste and fashion pollution.

Mens style magazines seem to be firmly heterosexual in their content, reinforcing outdated, misogynistic ideologies of a society in which men hold all the power. They tend to use unrealistic male role models such as above, suggesting a more serious tone, in conjunction with the article titles and colour palette. 
​This contrasts to women style magazines which tend to link femininity with consumerism and regularly depict different viewpoints on things such as a woman's body image. The above example depicts a posed, airbrushed celebrity; the 'feminine touch', with articles mainly related to fashion, beauty and sex, suggesting women are self-obsessed and superficial. 

Sources:

• Gauntlett, D. Media, Gender & Identity (pages 2-15)
• Mulvey, L. Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (pages 9-20)
• Neale, S. Masculinity as Spectacle (pages 833-844)

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Notes:

Sources:

• Hebdige, D. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (pages 90 - 99​)
• https://examples.yourdictionary.com/subculture-examples.html
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Age-movement/Realizing-the-New-Age
• https://www.patheos.com/library/new-agewww.patheos.com/library/new-age
• https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/New_Age
• https://hippiekushiwakinguptolife.com/new-age-hippies-global-nomads-the-trance-tribe
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Spangler

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Notes:

I decided to look into the Canadian comic book artist Fiona Staples. She's best known for the comic book series 'Saga' but is also illustrated comics such as 'North 40', 'DV8: Gods and Monsters', 'T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents' and 'Archie', from which she has won many awards. Born in Calgary, Alberta, she attended the Alberta Collage of Art and Design. 

The above scene is from the second book in the 'Saga' series and shows an alien family spending time at the beach. I annotated on the pages what transition types I think were used by Staples to illustrate the scene. I believe the anchorage is interdependent as the words and images work together whilst contributing information separately.

Sources:

• Gravett, P. Comics Art (pages 22 - 33)
• Dodds, N. AOI VaroomLab (pages 42 - 51)
• McCloud, S. Understanding Comics (pages 66 - 93)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Staples
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_(comics)
  

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Notes:

Advertising and Myth

Advertisements have currency; they are of the now and are particular to time and place. They reflect the current political/social ideals and cultural trends. Adverts reinforce particular cultural 'myths' presented as natural but represent a cultural norm or ideology.
For example, adverts showing family units, such as the shown late 50s American advertisement, represent cultural norms and ways of behaviour; typical mother, father and kids living the American dream. Other ads might show a representation of gender, class and ethnicity and reinforce attitudes towards consumerism and status. Adverts reflect a target customer and aspire to plant the 'seed of need' without showing production or economic structure.

Magazine Advertisments

​The advertising business is highly professional and competitive; a lot of money is spent on advertising and constructing brand identities in the service sector. Those who work in the industry are usually very creative and well educated, and aware of current cultural trends as well as the use of semiotics to convey messages (there is even a British advertising agency called 'Semiotic Solutions').
Magazine adverts are relatively self contained and the product is differentiated for a target audience. The use of encoding presents a constructed message to the viewer and the meaning of ads are designed to shape our experience of reality.

Barthes argues that magazine ads are a mix of linguistic and image signs that form these messages, and close analysis reveals any myths contained. These linguistic and iconic signs at first sight indicate the things the image represents but these signs also have connotations that come from our culture.

In his book 'Image, Music, Text', Barthes analysis's the French magazine ad for 'Panzani'. The ad has non-coded linguistic messages such as the labels on the produce, 'Panzani', and the tagline below, 'the luxury of Italy') in the French language. These both have a connotation of 'Italianicity', giving the message that it is a French advert for an Italian food company. The word 'luxury' also suggests it is a high quality brand and a knowledge of the French language is needed suggesting the target audience is French middle class.
​The image in the advertisement denotes a photograph of an half-opened bag of produce spilling out, with red, green and white colours. The food stuff, such as the tomatoes, denotes a non coded, literal signification of a tomato; the signifier and signified is essentially the same. The half opened bag creates connotations of abundance and a 'return from the market'; this requires an understanding of what a shopping bag represents and 'local shopping culture'. The collection of objects suggests a total culinary service and creates a link between the factory produce and the organic/natural produce. Both the types of produce and colours used signifies 'Italianicity' as they represent the Italian flag, and the composed photograph is reminiscent of a still-life painting; a work of art.
​Overall the advertisement sends the coded message that Panzani provides fresh, homemade, authentic Italian meals with an image specific/dual message anchorage and presents the cultural myth of normalising a cultural stereotype.

Another advertisement that can be analysed is the advertisement for 'SK-II' which has non-coded linguistic messages such as the quote, tagline and information at the bottom as well as the emphasis on the name of the brand, mostly in a serif font.
​The quote, 'I prefer to reveal than conceal' from the face of the advert has the connotation that it is a skincare brand made to enhance natural beauty rather than cover up. The word 'essence', as apposed to 'abstract', has the connotation that it is a high luxury brand. The stylised typography gives off connotations of luxuriousness too as its a common style used for high end brands. 
The images in the advertisement denote a black and white photograph of the celebrity, Cate Blanchett; white ethnicity, middle age, showing her head and shoulders. Image hierarchy draws you to her eyes at the top of the page, in a zig-zag motion to the quote, bottle, and more text below; it has dual message anchorage. The photograph seems to be studio lit and digitally enhanced, with the product bottle superimposed, which creates connotations that the scene is non-spontaneous. The lack of colour creates a clean look, suggesting a clean product and accents of red give impressions of a high end, professional brand as the colour is linked with power and confidence. Her posed body language and seductive gaze creates a code of intimacy and direct engagement with the viewer. The fact she is a well known celebrity creates connotations because it transfers her own qualities, such as health, polish and natural beauty, onto the product, signifying a myth of 'feminine beauty' over to the bottle.
Placing the sign of the woman and linguistic signs of the name of the product constructs a relationship between them, so to posses the product is to buy into the myth and possess some of its social value. 

Sources:

• Image-Music-Text by Roland Barthes (pages 152-163)
• Media Semiotics by Jonathan Bignell (pages 28-39)
• https://tracesofthereal.com/2009/12/21/the-rhetoric-of-the-image-roland-barthes-1977/
• https://medium.com/@llanirfreelance/roland-barthes-decoding-images-and-image-rhetoric-explained-857db3c045d3
• https://jennybond.carbonmade.com/projects/6199044

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