Digital Design: Brand Research

 For Digital Design we are creating a Brand Story for our product as we are creating Packaging Design.  Therefore I am looking at how Brand Stories are created and what the best brands do to really create customer loyalty.  Bullen writes; 'Brand stories activate emotions and communicate values'. (Bullen, 2019) and this is the crux of what I am trying to do through my own brand story, I want people to believe in me and my brand, if they feel that emotional connection they will buy and buy again!

Zendesk is a great example of anti-storytelling, this company makes customer support software, already I am yawning, so what do they do?  They get an indie band from Seattle who claims that Zendesk has stolen their name and creates a funny video which ends in them making a terrible jingle about customer support! You can check out their video here: Zendesk Alternative

I really like this anti-story telling as people buy into it because it does not feel like they are being sold to.  It is important to realise as well that big brands don't always get it right Mcdonald's had to apologise after it used child bereavement to sell its Filet o Fish Burger and this ad below is a little disturbing - it is about a new Playstation however I am not sure that consumers would warm to this...

In this advert for Chanel No 5, Wonderhatch states is great watching and listening to Brad Pitt but what he is saying is; 'almost complete and utter nonsense when you listen to it and get through to the product itself. Sorry, what? Journey’s end but we as people go on? Plans disappearing and dream taking over? Inevitable? Chanel inevitable? '(10 Examples of Storytelling for the Wrong Ad Campaign | Wonderhatch, 2021)

Why am I looking at ad campaigns that failed as this is more instructive in what not to do!  The problem with the Chanel advert is that it is incomprehensible and doesn't sell the product well at all, I don't know what the product is till the end and even then I am confused.  The stories that use other people's pain or grief, have to be very careful as this kind of marketing ploy to obtain an emotional connection is full of pitfalls and in some cases ethically unsound. Ethics and Transparency are something I would like my own brand to have - as I feel that sort of integrity is essential now in a very uncertain world.   I will be adding a more ethical mission as part of my product and I will (hopefully) Make something That really does have the power to sell!

References

Bullen, E., 2019. 11 of the Best Brand Story Examples. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/nicely-said/11-of-the-best-brand-story-examples-af098e4ea911 [Accessed 10 July 2022].

Brenner, M., 2022. 6 Examples of Genius Brand Storytelling You Have to See. [online] Marking Insider Group. Available at: https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/6-examples-genius-brand-storytelling-see/ [Accessed 10 July 2022].

Wonderhatch. 2021. 10 Examples of Storytelling for the Wrong Ad Campaign | Wonderhatch. [online] Available at: https://wonderhatch.co.uk/10-amazing-examples-of-storytelling-in-advertising-for-the-wrong-campaign/ [Accessed 10 July 2022].

Zendeskalternative.com. 2016. Zendesk.com | Customer Service Software | Support Ticket System. [online] Available at: http://zendeskalternative.com/ [Accessed 10 July 2022].

Three Amazing Ideas: Summer Term II Media

 Another term and so new ideas are imperative!  Although last term I did not complete my book project that I was hoping to add to and still want to work on this.  I also want to go back to looking at NFT's as I had started to explore this and so I would like to create some new photographic work for this purpose. 

Thinking about photography and themes I would like to investigate, here are some ideas;

Steve Pyke's Jack and Duncan series

I am still interested in memory and remembrance so above is an example of a photographer Steve Pyke from Leicester who photographed his children growing up.  Pyke states where he got his ideas;  'David Attenborough did it first, with a dead mouse that eventually had maggots in it. I thought: what an amazing thing to do with a human being, film someone on Super 8 from birth to death. When Jack was 20 minutes old, I made my first image of him, with the idea  that the death at the end of the cycle would be mine, not his.' (Morrison et al., 2013) I liked this idea as I had done something very similar with my own son. When he was young I used to take him to passport booths so I have lots and lots of sets of these passport booth images.  Obviously they became less frequent as he got older and I have just finished my last one as he has now finished school (he is 16 years old) and I am not sure he will let me do anymore.  For this project I would need to look at memory in a different way and perhaps I could think about revisitation and recreation.  Revisiting the site of old photos and recreating could be interesting.

The second idea would be to use dreams - although I often this is like going into a black hole and the work does not always come out how I expect.  Joan Fontcuberta  made a machine that was supposed to photograph people's thoughts, many have tried to create a dream machine that can record dreams.  I have tried this before and this was the result:

This used images and photoshop to create the bleeding tears in the sky with the abstract dream images.  I would like to experiment again with this as I did enjoy creating this one.

The third idea is to illustrate and interpret a poem through photography - I did something like this at university and I would not mind revisiting this idea as I could use any poem or even my own poetry.  I am more inclined to use someone else's poem as then it would be fresh and the ideas would be independent of the poem itself.  This is actually called Photopoetry and there are many examples of artists using this method.  'The term 'photopoetry' and its various alternatives - photopoème, photometry, photoverse, photo-graffiti etc. - attempt to describe an art form in which poetry and photography are equally important and, often, directly and symbiotically related. Michael Nott suggests that:

the relationship between poem and photograph has always been one of disruption and serendipity, appropriation and exchange, evocation and metaphor'  Here are a couple of examples:

So I have a few ideas now I need to make a decision on which one I would like to develop and I will follow this post with further research.

References

Morrison, B., Perry, G., O'Hagan, S., Kiss, J. and Searle, A. (2013) The power of photography: time, mortality and memory. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/interactive/2013/may/19/power-photography-time-mortality-memory [Accessed 4 July 2022].

Jefferies, S., (2014) Joan Fontcuberta: false negatives. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jul/08/joan-fontcuberta-stranger-than-fiction [Accessed 4 July 2022].

Nicholls, J., Tallis, T. and Ling, K., (2022). PhotoPoetry. [online] PhotoPedagogy. Available at: https://www.photopedagogy.com/photopoetry.html [Accessed 6 July 2022].

Digital Design Reassessment: Brand Story

My brand is a brand of 'homemade' jam called Zoe's  'Yummy Tummy'  Jam - I made a quick logo that I thought would work well with my brand above.

Zoe began making jam in her kitchen for friends and family back in 2000.  It was so good, friends encouraged her to sell it on the market and soon her business was booming. Zoe's passion for creative flavours such as Strawberry and Rhubarb, Gooseberry and Plum and Apple and Spice were all a hit with the locals. Soon Zoe could expand and bought her first little shop in 2004 which expanded her range and customer base.  Zoe soon became a popular franchise in market towns and small cities in Great Britain.  The success of the UK stores meant Zoe could begin to expand further afield and her first store opened in San Francisco, USA in 2018.  

In 2020 disaster hit as the covid pandemic spread through the world.  Zoe's stores had to close as the world shut down.  Zoe though downhearted saw that people still wanted her Yummy Tummy Jam and now it was jsut a case of getting it to people.  Zoe launched her online Yummy Tummy store in 2021 and now her beautifully packaged Jam reaches homes in all corners of the world.  Nobody misses out now as Yummy Tummy Jam to your doorstep is just one click away. 

This brand story I will use to sell my product and add to my design board once I have mocked up the product packaging.  I think this works well as it flows and follows the usual brand story guidelines.  

The trick will now be to ensure that the brand story and the product work well together.

Welcome to Summer Term II 2022

John Berger c1962, the year he moved to France. Photograph: Peter Keen/Getty Images

Here we are again at the beginning of a new term. Summer is here and it is a good time to reflect and look at work that has really inspired me and changed how I think about art and photography. With this in mind, I would like to discuss John Berger (1926-2017). I came to Berger when studying Photography at University, his book 'Ways of Seeing' is a seminal work on how we look at art and photography. 'Ways of Seeing' was a 1972 television series of 30-minute films created and presented by John Berger and produced by Mike Dibb. It was broadcast on BBC Two in January 1972 and then adapted into a book of the same name. Below is the episode on nudity:

This is very interesting on the views of women and how they are surveyed and survey themselves through art history and in life. The idea of the nude in an image is beautifully explained - I urge you to watch this and read the book!

Going forward I would like to share with you some thoughts Berger had on the self-portrait in relation to Albrecht Dürer.  'Dürer was the first painter to be obsessed by his own image'  (Berger 1985:33).  It seems in modern times people are much more obsessed with their own image with the prevalence of social media and through the constant bombardment of images on screens.  Berger states; 'Why does a man paint himself?  Among many motives, one is the same as that which prompts any man to have his portrait painted.  It is to produce evidence, which will probably outlive him, that he once existed.' (Berger 1985:33)  This is a good reason why we might wish to leave our imprint everywhere on the internet to prove we exist/existed.  The difference between the painting and the screen though is the painted must be physically visited (to see it in its original form) and would be kept in a collection by the family or museum where it might live.  The images we post are among so many and we don't know how long they actually might live in the virtual world or where they may end up.  Berger considers what Dürer is saying through the look he creates in his self-portraits such as the one below.

Self-portrait, Albrecht Dürer, 1498, 41×52 cm

Here Dürer is still young but becoming incredibly well-known and his work is being copied. 'This new self-portrait sent a message declaring that Dürer was no longer a craftsman (in his native Nuremberg, artists were still regarded as a craft class' representatives) but an artist, and therefore God’s elect.' (Arthive.com)  Here Dürer is becoming what he aspires to this his moment and here he is dressed up and 'acts the part' as Berger states.  I picked this portrait as I think there is a point in youth where you may think you are now becoming what you want to be, and how fleeting this moment is, I love the idea of it captured here.  

So we begin a new term, full of hope, let it remain until the end...

References

Arthive.com. (2022) Dürer: evolution of artistic self in 13 self-portraits. [online] Available at: https://arthive.com/publications/2426~Drer_evolution_of_artistic_self_in_13_selfportraits [Accessed 3 July 2022].

Berger J. (1985) The Sense of Sight, Vintage Books, New York.

Berger J. (1972) Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, London.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2022) John Berger | British essayist and cultural thinker. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Berger [Accessed 23 June 2022].

Inspirational research: Anselm Kiefer

 When I was a young student I wrote my dissertation on Anselm Kiefer and John Heartfield.  It was about art and media pre-World War II and post World War II.  Kiefer's work was the aftermath, the devastation both on Germany and the mental and physical impact on the people of Germany. 'As Kiefer has said in reference to this national legacy of World War II, “[A]fter the ‘misfortune,’ as we all name it so euphemistically now, people thought that in 1945 we were starting all over again. . . . . It’s nonsense. The past was put under taboo, and to dig it up again generates resistance and disgust.”' (Aklteveer, 2008).  I poured over books of his work, looked at obscure journals and watched many documentaries and films of the man and his work.  I had not actually seen any of this is real life.  After I had completed, years later there was an exhibition as the The Royal Academy where they were showing a large collection.  Kiefer's work is massive, huge the sheer size is overwhelming and also beautiful, awe-inspiring.  

Anselm Kiefer (1973) Father, Son & Holy Ghost

This image is the image that I stood in front of and tears came to my eyes.  This image of the three empty chairs had always moved me in the books that I had but seeing it in overwhelming form where every brush stroke could be felt filled me with a complete sense of the work I could really feel it inside me.  The spiritual sense of the work also moved me as I thought of mass and how this connected to the image.  I attended a Anglo-Catholic Church just prior to getting married and was married in the same church in a very traditional Catholic Mass.  I always felt there that perhaps God could hear me and within the beautiful mass and the music from the choir I could feel a sense of peace.  In an essay it is written by Brooks Riley that Kiefer's;  'Quanternity--"depicting three small fires burning on the floor of a wooden attic and a snake writhing toward them, vestiges of the artist’s Catholic upbringing in the form of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost and the Devil. Metaphor meets reality in the sacred attics of stored mythologies."' (Anselm Kiefer: Fire in the Attic, 2019). The work that Kiefer produces uses many materials and this textural quality does make you want to touch and feel these works on your flesh. Kiefer is; 'widely hailed for his remarkable sense of materiality, Kiefer uses a variety of media to create works ranging from delicate watercolors to enormous multipart paintings to monumental sculptural installations composed of lead and steel.' (Major Survey Of Anselm Kiefer's Works At SFMOMA, 2006).  It is interesting that Kiefer's earliest surviving work is 'The Heavens (1969), a small collage book containing pictures of clouds and sky cut from magazines and affixed to white pages labeled with text. The artist’s use of fragmentary, rather than whole, images evokes the notion that heaven cannot be distilled into a single image or place but is better symbolized by fleeting impressions, a theme consistent in much of his art.' (Major Survey Of Anselm Kiefer's Works At SFMOMA, 2006)  The image above uses his studio space and fire, the other work that gives me almost the same sense of deep feeling is Fire in the Attic, the vast empty space with wood and fire bring to mind my own dreams of fire and rooms they inhabit. The image below shows the scale of the work and how as a viewer you are within the work, becoming part of it which is part of the reason this moved me as with the church is it feeling as if you are safe with God.

Anselm Kiefer (1971) Fire in the Attic 

References

Aklteveer, I., 2008. Anselm Kiefer (born 1945). [online] Metmuseum.org. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kief/hd_kief.htm [Accessed 10 May 2022].

SFMOMA. 2006. Major Survey Of Anselm Kiefer's Works At SFMOMA. [online] Available at: https://www.sfmoma.org/press/release/major-survey-of-anselm-kiefers-works-at-sfmoma/ [Accessed 10 May 2022].

Borges' Library. 2019. Anselm Kiefer: Fire in the Attic. [online] Available at: https://www.borges-library.com/2019/04/anselm-kiefer-fire-in-the-attic-.html [Accessed 10 May 2022].

Free Project: Initial Ideas & Plan

 In this project I would like to explore further NFT's (Non-Fungible Tokens) I had started the research for this earlier this term and set up an account and profile on Rarible

I really would like to create a new collection of images as I was experiencing by using old images.  My concept for the new collection would explore darkness and light so I will create images reflecting my chosen name Persephone.  Using photography I will try to create a set of 6-10 images that have a high contrast of light and dark.  These will be shot in black and white using my Olympus OMD-10 Mark II. I am not sure which lens I will use yet as I have a wide 18-40mm, a telephoto 40-150mm and a fixed 35mm lens and I will need to experiment to decide what kind of images I am after.  The 35mm would be great to shoot close up intimate images, the telephoto I really want to experiment with when I visit Seville to see what I can shoot in terms of urban landscape as I staying in the middle of the city.  

After I have shot these I will curate these images and choose the most consistent set for a collection to add to my Rarible site to sell as NFT's.  

Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled (Eros Diary), 2015Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. © Nobuyoshi Araki

The shot above has the kind of contrast I am looking for with the white background offsetting the woman's dark kimono and then the white flesh of her breast accentuating the sensuality of the feminine form.  The hands are perfectly placed either side drawing attention to the cat on one side and touching her shoes pulling the viewers eye to the foot a sensual fetishistic object of desire.  

Planning

Over the next two and half weeks I will spend time creating this project.  I Ill start with a practice shoot just to experiment with the kind of shots I would like to take.  This will probably take around 2 hours.  Once I have more of a plan for the shots for the collection I will spend may 3-4 hours taking shots.  

After I completed all the shots I will create contact sheets and curate the collection I expect that this may take another 2-3 hours. I will then put each shot through Photoshop as quality control and make each shot is perfectly balanced and consistent for the final collection. I expect this to take at least 2 hours.  

The final step will be minting all the images through Metamask and adding to Rarible I expect as I am still new to this, at least 3 hours.

I will add blog posts for the process and I will add further research which I would expect will also take another 2 hours.  

The total length of this project will be 18 hours and I do think that this is possible in the time given and should be completed to upload to my website by the beginning of June.

Ideal Customer Profile & Target Market: The Story of Milk & Honey

 I have created my Ideal Customer Profile for my book The Story of Milk & Honey.  I have research book publishing statistics and the UK book publishing industry is worth 10 billion and UK's book publishing industry is one of the most thriving in the world (Martin, 2021).  Although smaller publishers suffered over the pandemic it is expected that UK book publishing industry will experience growth by at least 2% by 2023 and the pandemic actually increased book sales by 5.2% as people had time again to read (Martin, 2021).

Looking at the Yougov survey it states that 1 in 5 Britons describe themselves as an avid reader also 'Of the genders, women are also much more likely to be frequent readers than their male counterparts. Over a quarter (27%) of women read daily, compared to a sixth (13%) of men' (What are common reading habits? | YouGov, 2022).  Interesting physical books are still favoured by readers with 60% of Britons favouring physicals books and only 24% preferring an e-book.  

Also I have discover that millennials which I have used for my customer profile are the highest users of audiobooks; 'Brits aged between 25 and 39 are the most likely to be fans of the audio book, with 13% saying they use audio books to get their fix – twice the number of other age groups' (What are common reading habits? | YouGov, 2022).

In terms of my choices here for my customer profile as stated women read more than men, millennials still like to read physical books and 42% of women prefer fiction which is another reason this is my ideal user. 

Considering the facts here I might consider creating an audio book as this seems to a good seller to this market and also I would market this more heavily as a physical book that you can easily buy online or  in-store as this is what this generation wants and are more likely to spend their money and time on.  

Ideal Customer Profile- The Story of Milk & Honey 

References 

Martin, M., 2021. 21 Book Publishing Statistics and Market Insights in 2021. [online] TheCircularBoard. Available at: https://thecircularboard.com/book-publishing-statistics/ [Accessed 9 May 2022].

Yougov.co.uk. 2022. What are common reading habits? | YouGov. [online] Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/entertainment/articles-reports/2020/03/05/world-book-day-britons-reading-habits [Accessed 9 May 2022].