Friday 29th April 2011:

Today I experimented with different poster ideas in my sketchbook. I decided to sketch out the idea which I’ve had in my mind (which was inspired by the photos I took), where the light has made the mouth ‘disappear’ and instead have words written there which say ‘lost your voice?’. This seems like it would be quite effective, but would definitely look better when produced digitally and then perhaps with the words cut out. I also tried an alternative to this idea which instead said ‘can’t speak up?’. This may be more obvious and be easier to interpret when viewed quickly, however, I feel that the ‘lost your voice?’ option is more ‘emotional’ and draws the viewer in, and so perhaps this idea would work better – I may have to ask for opinions on this.

I also thought of a few more ideas. I decided to try the idea which my tutor suggested of having lots of sentences and then picking out a sentence from these such as ‘why do you bully?’ to stand out. I have written sentences such as ‘I’m weak’, ‘they made me’, ‘envy’ and ‘they’ve bullied me’, etc, as reasons of why someone may bully someone. This is quite effective but may be hard to read because of all the writing, however, this issue would probably be minimised when produced digitally. Also, the fact that it’s not really obvious to see/read, might actually entice the viewer to see what it says. As this poster is aimed towards the bully, it’s more telling them that they can also get help, but perhaps at first glance it seems like if you bully because of one of these reasons, then it’s OK, and so it may not be giving out the right message. An idea such as the ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’ perhaps sends out a stronger message and so this may be more effective when trying to minimise bullying. However, it doesn’t emphasize the fact that the bully can also need and get help and so this may need to be included on the poster somewhere as well.

Another idea, which I tried, included a handprint shape in the stop position with lots of insults and emotions within it, and then the message above reading ‘are you the bully or the victim?’ and then at the bottom it says ‘either way, you can get help… you’re not alone’. I think that this works well and helps to show how both the victim and bully can be victims and need an equal amount of help. However, I wanted to have two separate posters – one aimed at the victim and one at the bully, and so this idea doesn’t really meet this requirement. On the other hand, another idea would be to produce two similar posters and display them next to each other, one saying ‘are you the victim?’ and the other saying ‘are you the bully?’ to help to show that they are the same underneath it all and both need help, however, I think it would be more visually appealing to have two completely different posters.

I also had the idea of having a really strong statement such as ‘Fat Pig’ (in the style of sticks and stones) to make people look and then to have a stamp like effect ‘stamped’ on top saying ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never always hurt me’. After drawing this out, it’s quite effective but isn’t really in the style which I would want it to be in, and so perhaps I should produce it digitally just to see what it could look like. Also, if someone is already, for example, self-conscious about their weight etc, and then they see this poster it may lower their self-esteem more than persuading them to get help if they’re being bullied about it, etc.

I will produce all of these ideas digitally to get more of an idea of how they would look like as final pieces.

Target for today: Continue with sketching out ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Target for tomorrow: Update annotations in sketchbook, create a handprint in response to the ‘handprint prepped page’, and complete prepping the remainder of sketchbook.