Tuesday, 31 March 2020

Primary Research and Brief

- Getting in contact with women about sport and conducting primary research to develop the practical side of this brief has been difficult 
- Need to define what exact outcome there will be through ensuring it matches the essay conclusion and primary research 





BRIEF 



Brief title / working title
Deconstructing Hegemonic Masculinity; The Role of Sport in its Perpetuation, How Sexism is Sustained Through Sport and a Look into the Solution for Making It a More Equal Playing Field.

Rationale:
Project description and purpose.
What is the problem?
How are you proposing to engage with it?
Sport is unfairly dominated by men and it is reflected and exacerbated in the media.
Sport can be made a more equal playing field through more publicity around women’s sports and fitness. Girls also need to be encouraged to engaged in sport. All of these work together to be a solution to the problem.

AIM To encourage change in the general perspective towards sport being a ‘man’s’ thing, by creating something that creates more publicity around sport being for women as well as men.  

What type of graphic design solution is being proposed? Outputs?
(1)  Publicity Items and
(2)  Sporting Event Goods
Eg.
(1)  Keychains, Posters, Canvas Bag, Mug (Extras)
(2)  Flags, Scarfs, Water Bottle, Towel (for games)

= Physical Designs which would be publicised on social media etc.
= Items themselves would promote women’s sports and a more equal perspective on sport
= Publicity around items would ensure this
References.
What other real world examples exist?
Industry / design context.
Kate Morross women’s football Nike Lionesses’ patches
Alphabet Studio Eurovolley Rebrand

Target audience?
= Everyone in changing perspectives towards sport
= All classes, genders and age ranges should be targeted to ensure this change is widespread  
= Depending on the outcome decided through primary research this could change to more specifics

Research activities?
= Interview range of women (from those who do sport to those who don’t)
= Find out how they feel towards the sport climate between the different genders
= Which different physical and digital options for this brief do they feel would be most effective?

Suggest 3 initial ideas / solutions

 1. Create outcomes for girls in schools to encourage more confidence and positivity towards engaging in sports, package given to them. Encourages involvement in younger years. 
2. Neutral Redesign of  a sporting event for both genders, or more neutral packages given to both boys and girls in schools. Encourages more equal perspective in both boys and girls at young age. 
3. Designs around an upcoming women's sporting event that promote women and sport 


Format/Production Considerations.
Techniques, processes, materials, events, campaigns etc.
- Laser cutting for keychains
- Sticker printing for water bottles 
- Lots of physical creations that won't be accessible during Covid situation 
= Mock ups of these 

- Important that the outcome gets publicity as this is the central solution to the issue discussed in the essay 
- Social Media set up, evaluation on how it could be applied in the physical real world eg. posters put up 
eg. group meetings with young people at schools to give these packages to 




Questions to Women 
CHARLIE (23 years old) - semi-interested in sport culture but very interested in fitness and sport for personal gain

ANNA (20 years old) - loves sport culture but doesn't engage with sport or fitness personally 
OLIVIA (20 years old) - semi-interested in sport culture but more interested in fitness for personal gain
SUE (50 years old) - not interested in sport culture but keeps active for personal gain 

(1) CHARLIE: 

ME: 



So I’m thinking of designing something/ a collection of things that will encourage women to engage in sport and contribute to the overall developments in sport being less of a ‘man’s’ thing
I’m thinking either some form of package with a range of things that could be given to girls at schools or uni to encourage excitement and confidence about engaging in sport and fitness. This could include a flag/towel, scarf, canvas bag, bottle, key chain, mug etc
Or if posters around the subject would be more beneficial? Or both? I don’t have loads of time so your opinion on what would be the best would be amazing x
Also I’m not sure if I should 1. Create this for girls in schools to promote involvement and publicity in younger years 2. More neutral designs for girls and boys to promote equality in sport 3. Designs around upcoming women’s football/tennis to create publicity

CHARLIE:

i think 2nd option of more neutral is more fitting with the current political climate of feminism and also gender atm

Targeting younger years with something more tangible is also important - posters are easy to miss and not pay attention to, whereas if a young person is holding something and using it the design will be longer lasting. 

You should focus on strength, both mental and physical, in whatever subject you end up doing 

I prefer the female aesthetic because it's more eye catching and rememberable. 

ME:

Is it because of the style or because it spoke to you as a woman? 

CHARLIE:

I think both. It got me more excited. I didn't understand what the neutral one was trying to show. 

CHARLIE CONCLUSION:
= Personally preferred female power aesthetic, but a less in your face female power approach would be more appropriate 
= Tangible outcome for young people to use and hold to make lasting impact 

(2) ANNA: 

Anna
I love watching sports, it’s the excitement and unpredictability of it all, anything can happen and every game is so different that you don’t really get bored of it, even if a game isn’t too exciting on the whole, the result or one players performance will stand out and mean something in the general scheme of it. It also has a large sense of community as the fans all have a common ground even if they support different teams, it provides something to talk about and debate over especially as it runs basically all year round so there’s always new developments and news. I also feel it puts you through such a range of emotions that other things like movies or music doesn’t 

The first idea of a package for younger girls is the most appealing to me.

Wait is the point to get people involved in women’s sport or women involved in participating in sport?

Mel 
The conclusion I found was that publicity around women in sport and campaigns to encourage girls and women to get involved in fitness were the solutions to ensuring sport becomes more equal between the genders 

Anna 
The third idea is most appropriate then and I like that one too. 

I’d say part of the problem is the fact there’s no money in women’s sports so they don’t see it as a career path therefore don’t pursue it 

It’s stuck in a cycle I guess because people don’t watch it as much as men’s sport because it isn’t at the same standard but that’s because they don’t get enough funding and investment which won’t come unless more people watch it 

Mel 
Which aesthetic stands out more to you, a very female orientated power aesthetic or more of a gender neutral one? 

Anna 
Female power one

ANNA CONCLUSION 
= Initially drawn to package for younger women and girls in schools 
= Following recognition that publicity is one of the most essential solutions, agreed that a product or design that celebrates and promotes upcoming womens sporting event was more appropriate 
= Female power aesthetic preferred 

(3) OLIVIA: 


Melanie:
So I’m thinking of designing something/ a collection of things that will encourage women to engage in sport and contribute to the overall developments in sport being less of a ‘man’s’ thing
I’m thinking either some form of package with a range of things that could be given to girls at schools or uni to encourage excitement and confidence about engaging in sport and fitness. This could include a flag/towel, scarf, canvas bag, bottle, key chain, mug etc
Or posters around the subject
As someone who engages in fitness and enjoys the sport culture what products or ideas do you think would be most beneficial
Olivia:
I would suggest if there’s a gym on site at unis for that to be published to people if they join some sort of team they can have some sort of special membership. As for like a good bag thing I would suggest like free socks of what ever sport there in has to wear that’s free (cus sometimes you have to buy the kit yourself will be good to get a freebie especially if it’s a new sport to them they have something for training too). Defo a bottle and maybe a towel too would be a good idea. If you was to speak to girls would be good to get a representative at the unis (women) of the sport like football and rugby to explain how it’s not unusual for girls to play etc. With a woman speaker of that particular sport
Melanie:
I think I might have communicated badly
But I’m terms of what I said, in general to improve the overall perspective of sport being a male dominated sphere, what’s the best way out of the options I’ve given that you think equality in sport could be achieved
Do you think we should tackle it in younger people at schools, and then make it specific to girls or to both boys and girls
More female orientated design with female power for girls or more neutral design for both girls and boys
Olivia:
I think to both boys and girls so boys arnt judgy to girls. But a bit more to girls
Melanie:
I see you like the idea of creating sport products that are female power vibes though like towels and bottles
Olivia:
Start at school defo. The earlier the better
Melanie:
But I could also create something to create publicity around an upcoming women’s sport event
Olivia:
That’s sounds good
Melanie:
If you were younger just getting into fitness and sport, what would make you more confident about sport being for women
Just one it’s not a big project
To see a publicity around a women’s sport event
Or to be given a package that promotes sports for women
Olivia:
Idk tbf cus I’ve always done sport since I was young. You’d have to ask that to someone who has only just got into
Okay so publicity in the schools mag let’s say of u promoting what the school has to offer with girls sport u could put in like previous girls from the school, that now are into sport you could say started from being at school
I could ask my friend who still does netball from since we was in year 5 from primary your questions see what she says
Gymshark as a brand I would say is very high on the girl branding. So if u can’t suck them in from the sport u might get a bonus with the fashion too
Gymshark is both male and female but I would say it’s a lot more popular with female
Melanie:
If I’m using fashion as a way to get women to sport that only exacerbates the problem


The notion that women will only be involved in sport if it’s about appearance

OLIVIA CONCLUSION:
= 'Female power' aesthetic over gender neutral 
= Places emphasis on the young people needing to be targeted
= Change starts from younger people, they need to be at the forefront of this project's outcome 
= Socks for a package for younger people if this is chosen as the outcome (although these aren't very visible so not sure this would be effective) 

(2) SUE:

Sport is highly competitive. 
Massive sporting events and winning in these promoted an interest in the sport in every target audience. 

Huge upsurge in interest where the nations team is winning. So creating publicity for upcoming women’s sport is more appropriate than a package to be given to students in schools. 

Eg. Olympic held in London British teams did well. Government created grass root sporting programs as a result of the success of the nations sporting people in the Olympics. 

[sees Kate Morross designs as example]

This design aesthetic doesn't appeal to me. But it is important to recognise that younger people are at the forefront of change, and so if you have to choose a specific target audience for a product, younger people is the best solution. 

Show girly power design and gender neutral design to younger women and ask what these different women prefer in a visual style. 

SUE CONLCUSION: 
= Emphasis on creating a product that creates publicity around and celebrates upcoming women's sporting event (either rugby or tennis) 
= Target audience specifically should be younger audience 

OVERALL CONCLUSION

1.  Creating something that celebrates and creates publicity and excitement around an upcoming womens sport event is the most effective and appropriate way of contributing to the development of womens sport getting more coverage = more fans = more pay = more equality 

2. Women will most likely always show a preference for female orientated design. Getting boys interested and excited about women's sport is also important, and so their opinion will need to be taken into account when deciding the aesthetic.

3. Target audience needs to be a younger audience = forefront of change 

4. WHAT IS THE OUTCOME? 

Olivia showed a dislike for the flag idea, and instead wanted products made for girls that were female powered aesthetic 
Creating a flag is an appropriate direction however as they can be placed in windows, hung up on walls in student rooms, taken to the games, and the designs could be applied onto other items. 
This makes it both tangible and an outcome that can be placed around to create more of a presence and therefore publicity. 
Badges could be made for an additional tangible element (?)




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