COMMUNICATION DESIGN PRACTICE AND RESEARCH
Research Question
How can a visual design campaign of stopping buying Natural Mica cosmetics to reach and create an impact on Auckland residents, to reduce child labour in the north part of India?
Key Words: Child labor, Mica Cosmetic Industry, Creativity in Advertising, Complexity, Visual Impact, Visual Technics.
Sub Question
How to develop a visual campaign that highlights the conditions of child labour in north part of India, in order to raise awareness amongst the wearers of make-up?
How to connect creativity and real life to reveal the real face of India mica mine child labour?
Do ideas from text and visual methods that explore critical creative practices offer the potential to create effective advertising while assessing visual complexity during the creation of the visual advertising campaign for India mica mine child labour?
Methods
Critical and creative methods and Practice-Led research.
Use critical creative communication method as a tool for spreading awareness about Indian mica mine and cosmetic child work, as well as understanding the environment.
Includes text and visual methods for exploring creative forms, collecting and studying the mica child work of newspaper news, features, photography, film and documentaries based on Child Labour, and recording my feelings and thoughts as a result.
Certain words, expressions and images can be a source of evaluation and a way of getting into the ad creation process.
The ideas collected will be publicly transposed.
I will try many different forms of communication design here: Handmade Craft, Illustration, Photo Manipulation and Typography.
I test handmade layout formation with mica cosmetic product and illustration.
Exploring the different ways to create visual impact using the picture of children from mica mine’s.
Steps will be taken to assess visual complexity during the creation of the advertisement. It also gives you the potential to create effective advertising.
I will test the possibility that the ad will be more live by supporting the scene with an open copy
Understand the effects of advertising on attention and memory, visual comprehension, usability, visual communication, advertising and consumer behaviour theories through careful monitoring and reflective inquiry.
Positioning Statement
While waiting at a train station in Bangalore, I noticed a little boy selling tea. He was not even ten years old. I stood depressed by his dirty clothes and shabby appearance. The teapot was too heavy for his little hands. Suddenly, the heavy teapot fell from his hand, and the hot tea splashed all over his body. He began crying in discomfort and pain. Seconds later, a hideous man came from somewhere and started scolding and beating him up. The fear and pleas on his face were the worst saddening image of child labor in my mind, and that image is the morale behind my research subject. In this world, children suffer in different ways every moment. Several children are employed in different industries, sometimes in dangerous conditions. “Nearly 22,000 children work in the fastest growing and most profitable mica mines.”2 (mica is the shimmery particle used in cosmetics). The aim of my research is to educate the public, especially the users of cosmetic products, about child labor in the cosmetic industry; through various campaigns and to create an impact on Auckland residents. Contemplation of the problem before designing is crucial as the ideas emerge from a deeper understanding of the subject. In advertisements, the ideas generated from deep thoughts are reborn into visuals. My research investigation involves “Critical and Creative Methodologies,”3 exploring textual and visual methods that provide guidance on validation criteria. I was inspired by methods at the intersection of social and art-based researches. “The visual in the form of photography, film, and documentaries have regained an increasing role in the media and research communities”4. I will use creative and sensory, textual, and visual methods to promote positive and reflective research from Child Labour related newspaper articles, documentary, and photographs. To support this, I will use practice-led research that experiments communication design.
Ad and Concept
About this concept
I want people to see and know my idea of abolishing child labor from the cosmetic industry very seriously. The presentation must generate a strong visual impact in their minds and that impact should make them feel startled and offended and to annoy their inner souls. To empathize with the audience is my prime concern and in fact, there lies the success of my endeavour.
Once the public is attracted, any topic will become popular and relevant, this is the method I am trying to test and use here Initially I am planning to conduct public challenge to boycott natural mica cosmetic products that have the awful shimmer of mica in it. Throw these products into the thrashes kept in public places. To visualize this idea I have used a pitying image of small boy sculpturing a beautiful lady out of the mere rock, it is very much clear from the background that he is working in a dangerous environment without any kind of safety measures. His tiny hands, sitting position on the tall ladder, half-naked and tired took shows the pathetic condition of child labor.
Sacrifice his sweat and blood to beautify us I have added on a caption ” ugly face of beauty” to the visual, Their lives are the ugliest and shameful leftover of our cosmetic industry. A public message is written on the trash to Boycott their mica cosmetics to open the eyes of authorities that are intentionally kept closed. I wish to make this small campaign an ignition to the future endeavours to abolish child labour.
Visual and Text Experimentation
Beyond Images
When people think of advertising, they generally think of images. However, an advertisement represents more than the colors or shapes that you see. Small businesses can also employ symmetry in the words associated with images. Through text on a page or dialogue on the ad, symmetry in diction or structure attempts to appeal to the target customer of the advertisement in a similar way.
Here I am trying to use the real picture about child labor in the mica industry, I need to present powerful visual as it is real life. Visual and fonts perform good emotion, for me it is the easiest and comfortable tool work with a graphic design tool, so it easy to create visuals that I am thinking. Because my image needs to tell the story behind the cosmetics, image manipulation is the most important in my visual making, color correction, and positioning also do it in a digital platform that makes my wore more effective.
Making Process
Ad and Concept
Through this image manipulation, I try to give a direct message of child labor behind our beauty products. The beautiful woman in the image is portrayed as putting a layer on her face. Inside that layer, children working in deadly mica mines are shown. That is the beauty of the women is their sweat and blood. The hidden reality of the cosmetic industry. This ad I think more simply don’t think anything more look and feel the concept very catchy for everyone.
Experiment with Visual Impact
Now, in graphic design, image is everything, grabbing attention is everything. Creating visual impact I am aiming to get the viewer’s attention and for them to look and see more. So, think of visual impact as a form of communication – and by visually creating something that calls out and says hey there. Now, once you get their attention you have to keep it. Think in terms of dynamic, aim for the strength of the image. And think too one thing that most people don’t realize when they think of the impact. If you look at bad graphic design what will see is congestion, a lot of words, too much activity. Simple is effective, just as negative space defines and image as much as positive space does. Here I’m trying to tell to visually behind your beauty unknowingly involved the child labor.
Teaser Campaign
The idea of a teaser ad campaign. Here I am trying to experiment with retro style visual where I am trying to create a 2D visual along with a 3D object into it. The artistic tool is used here and my other ingredients are a canvas black color and real cosmetic products that have natural mica in it.
Here I visualise a crying image of a child who represents all the deprived victims of child labour, It is a hand drawing using black acrylic paint on canvas. The color black is intentionally used as it symbolizes suffering, death, evil, and aggression. Black is, in fact, the absence of color like the lives of child labour victims. Black is required for all other colors to have depth and variation of hue, it absorbs everything and can’t reflect anything. Black is the ideal colour to pictures the concept since I am visualizing the exploitation and slavery of children.
Into this image, I placed a pistol-shaped thing made out of different cosmetic products that have natural mica in it. It was a difficult time for me to purchase all these products from different shops since I don’t have any previous experience with cosmetic products. My first ever experience to buy ladies cosmetics. That pistol shape was really a task for me.
By placing a pistol into the child’s mouth I am trying to portray the fear of death, fear of uncertainty. The fearful pain is portrayed here. Mica mines kill the future of children working inside it and it destroys their childhood, their health and their tiny dreams on a bright future. Natural mica inside these products all together plays the role of a killer here. The crying children are the representative of entire children working in mica mines to add awful shimmer to our cosmetic products.
Since it is a teaser ad concept, during the first day/first week I will use only a visual with a big question mark in red colour. This idea of a visual with a question mark is to make the viewers think and feel and to make them curious to know the facts.
Out Door Teaser Campaign, First DAY
Teaser Campaign, First DAY
Later I am planning to present the complete visualization along with a copy and logo in it asking the question towards society whether every cosmetic buyer a killer, knowingly or unknowingly. Sometimes visuals speak more intensely than words. I believe that this teaser ad concept can make my campaign acceptable and successful.
Out Door Teaser Campaign, Final DAY
Teaser Campaign, Final DAY
Reflection on Practice
Art is my soul and I am, I lived all my life following the innate talents and I wish I could continue to live like that. While selecting my research question I was confused as I always wanted to use my talents in a way that would benefit society and my fellow beings. Hence finally I decided to stick on to child labor.
The concept of child labor started roaming around my mind since I started thinking about a social issue. But I was bewildered as it is a wide subject. Gradually the idea of concentrating on two specific areas where a large number of children are exploited, struck in my mind. Mica mines and fashion industries in India.
During my first week of practice, I chose three words they were raw, standardized and solid, the first week was a tough time to think about how to develop the concept. All I had with me was my idea of child labor with me. ‘how’ was the most challenging question before me, gradually I standardized all the raw factors and settled down with a solid idea. Reconstitute, Glaze, Amalgamate were the words for the second week, I spent a lot of time in making handmade artworks using hardboards, papers, pins, cotton yarns. I made a net out of cotton yarn and placed an image of a child in school uniform inside it to visualize how childhood and their future are trapped in child labor, the second one was a pit made out of paper and a child trying to come out with a head load of mica. I did all these to visualize the pitying situation of child labour in the fashion industry and cosmetic industry.
Once the presentation was over I got comments and suggestions to narrow down my idea into one particular industry either fashion or cosmetic industry, that was again a transformation stage of my project. The cosmetic industry was finally chosen. Interpret, compose, local, observe were the words for my third week. I have presented two installation models, that visualize child labour in the cosmetic industry and asking people to throw away natural mica cosmetics into trash kept beside the installations.
After a third week, all the comments forced me to focus more seriously on the subject matter. I spent more time investigating different methods to visualize child labour in the cosmetic industry especially in dangerous mica mines of India. I strongly believe that all these helped me in polishing my concept during the refining stage of my work.
Raw | Standardizede | Solid | Reconstitute | Glaze | Amalgamate
Context and Distribution channels for my creative practice this week:
Interpret : Explain, Explicate Make Clear, Illuminate
Compose: Write, Create, Make up, Produce, Formulate
Local: Community, Neighbourhood, Regional, City, Town, Village, domestic, internal
Observe: Notice, See, Remark, Spot, Detect, Discover
Conceptual Development
Once I finished my reading I got some idea , I want do some experiment with my idea because the main aim of communications to pass information so that other people may know about what you are talking off. This can be through facts or even feelings. It means to accept the message fully. In advertising industry there are lot of creative techniques, Having understood that audience are frequently driven by emotions depending on how effective an advertising campaign triggers them. Digital and conventional advertisers use certain techniques to affect audience’ perceptions. So, successful brands or service don’t just tell consumers to buy their products they encourage them to make a series of decisions based on emotions. I can use design to compose someone feel something when they see my ad and make awareness also.
I used two communication technique here Let The Image Speak and Generate An Emotional Response because I have a strong visual, one boy want go to school but he got trapped in thread net this thread try to represent fashion industry, and another one is representing cosmetic industry one child tries to climb up from mine, we can feel their pain and struggle, these idea adapt to my creatives. Here I’m going to tell Indian(Local) Child labour in cosmetic and fashion industry I wanted to collect more material to reuse so turned to internet and took some image whatever I visualised.
Creating the Artefact
Handmade graphics and craftwork
I wanted this artefact to explore in more dynamic and depth to communicate and provoke the society we have when looking at the campaign. I find out some campaign can interact more lively to get touch and feel also. This time I reconstitute the idea, visual and treatment. Combining these thread and materials I played around the canvas to make it look like spider net. T-shirt and some paper layer made the depth of mining had a bit of fun. I had made several such works that was building up I creative areas of my life that made me feel more creative. The idea of cosmetic and fashion industry opened a path were I can experiment different mediums.
I wanted this artefact to explore in more dynamic and depth to communicate and provoke the society we have when looking at the campaign. I find out some campaign can interact more lively to get touch and feel also. This time I reconstitute the idea, visual and treatment. Combining these thread and materials I played around the canvas to make it look like spider net. T-shirt and some paper layer made the depth of mining had a bit of fun. I had made several such works that was building up I creative areas of my life that made me feel more creative. The idea of cosmetic and fashion industry opened a path were I can experiment different mediums.
Scribble and Concept
I have decided to move with this craft I think almost successful in my belief these art works create illusion also, because both craft used two boys image that make more live feel so that people can feel it. I felt the emotions associated with these visual are solid, understanding the depth and life of the situation that I am trying to show.
Editing and Layout Making
After craft making I took photo along with shadow that create real impact and that with the help of photoshop. First I cleaned the images and vectorised them using adobe illustrator for layout making Then I started experimenting with glaze. I overlaid a background texture and add a copy and text together.
I had created the work on the computer, I now had to figure out how I wanted to display it. I was becoming more interested in the idea of the viewer actually feeling part of the design and looking at the ad. Something about this act is evocative to sitting in a art gallery or open public place.
This weeks workout was to choose three words that guide the generation of creative practice. There are the 3 words that resonated with me are
Reconstitute, Build up again from parts.
“An artist can lead, follow, uplift or provoke with hos works”. As a human being i have always hurt a lot to see the atrocities on children especially child labour and I really want to do something against it within my constraints, all I have with me is nothing but my creativity and god given talents.
Glaze, Overlay or cover with a smooth, shiny coating or finish.
I need to polish my idea and apply to my project. There are lot of challenge to make visual about fashion industry and cosmetic industry child labour.
Amalgamate, Combine or unite to form one organization or structure.
Here I am try to combine different layer and idea to one frame.
Being an Indian, I am really proud of my rich culture and heritage and all it’s achievements but simultaneously I am heavy hearted and ashamed on the way my country treat poor children; knowingly or unknowingly. There are many children who are forced into childlabour due to various social conditions in fact poverty. I would like to concentrate my design project on two different industries in India, where large number of children are forced to dissolve their childhood; child labour in deadly Mica mines and textile industries in India.
India is one of the largesy Mica producers in the world. Mica’s delicate shimmer is one of the pillers of modern makeup and 60% of high quality mica that goes into cosmetics from India. There are a lot of children dying in crumbling due to the forceful labour in illegal mica mines, children as young as five years are part of a opaque supply chain, their small hands are ideal to pick and sort mica. And their deaths were covered up or they were quickly cremated by the mine operators.
It is the multi national corporates that source mica from the regions of Jharkhand and neighbouring Bihar through so many legal and illegal supply chains, some of the cosmetic giants are Estee lauder, L’Oréal and Chanel
India is one of the largest producers of cotton and second largest in textile and garment manufacturing, there are several hundred thousand children working in these industries, many of them sacrificing their education, childhood and health to produce cotton for a thriving industry and others in so many garment manufacturing units, they turn cotton into yarn, fabric and cloths, most of it for western High Street shops and for many global brands.
Through my design practice I look forward to portray their situations, their fate understandable to each and every one looks into it.
Scribble and Concept
After my scribble I surfed Google vigorously to find out some images, later I visualised how to compose layout then edited in photoshop.
These are some image taken from google where I find mica and fashion.
After done with my editing part I added relevant messages in to the visuals that can covey real story of both the industries. I used balancing, rhythm and perspective respectively followed by editing. Exaggeration is a fantastic tool in advertising, when used within reason. By Implying that my message can do something that it can’t is a fine line to tread, and the one way to make sure that ad stays funny or impactful and not misleading is to introduce a little hyperbole into my design.
Finally, over the picture I added copy the message related to my visual that make to tell the real story about both industry. I really like the way that the visual interacting.
Thank You