Goat Collective - Disposable Society

This brief looked fun to do because it is open without many restrictions. The topic is also an interesting one because we are definitley in  a throw away society, where if something is broken you just go buy a new one. Or if there's a new version of something, you upgrade, even though nothing was wrong with what you already had.

I straight away thought about my Ipod and phone when I read this brief. I got an Ipod for christmas and smashed the screen a few weeks later while in Berlin. I was gutted but it still works fine so will not be buying a new one. I smashed my phone screen a week after that while drunk - so didn't have a good couple of weeks with technology. 

My view point on the throw away society is that if it works theres no need to buy a new one, or upgrade etc. This is just concentrating on technology. 

I looked at some art made from the problem of consumerism. But having just written my dissertation I looked at consumerism and feel like my ideas came to me without much need for research.

Researching into Barbara Kruger during dissertation gave me the idea to use that Constructivist style I like so much. 

Its a clear, direct and simple design style that gets the message of the piece across instantly. 

Use of bold colour with black and white images work really well to be striking and clear. If there is a need for a slogan it needs to make sense but be punchy. A paragraph would not be effective. 

I took a photo of my smashed Ipod and edited so it is clear that it is an Ipod. The first image was edited too dark, to fit the Constructivist style it needed to be lighter and black and white. Applying a couple of effects lightened the Ipod so it clear what it is. I applied a half tone effect onto it, so as it used as a background its not too distracting. 

I put the edited image of the Ipod into photoshop. I wanted to use the image as a background, so repeating it like this allowed for it to be obvious what it is but not overpowering. 

After repeating the image it was a case of placing the text in the best place.

The text needed a colour behind it so it was legible. The colour was chosen because it was similar to red Constructivists use. Using a muted colour allows for a calmer poster, so image and text all work together.

It is an A3 poster initially but could be blown up to a bigger size. I wanted to do a poster because I like designing them and it makes the message easily read.

I applied a white outline to the text and the boxes so it was more legible. The type works with the white outline but the outline on the box breaks the poster up a bit too much. 

I chose the slogan, 'smashed it, binned it' because it explains the throw away society we live in. Just because it's smashed doesn't mean its broken but this is how consumerism works.