~ COP 3 proposal ~

Possible questions - 

Question 1: What is Good? - To what extent does Social Responsibility impact on the role 
and function of Graphic Design?

Question 2: To what extent do the individual politics of professional practitioners impact 
on the role and function of Graphic Design

Question 3: In an era of globalization, to what extent do contemporary Graphic Design
practices reflect core British Values?

Question 4: To what extent do Technological developments in production and distribution 
impact on Graphic Design ?

Question 5: To what extent does Aesthetic ‘Style’ reflect the context, audience and/or 
function of contemporary Graphic Design?

Question 6: To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view 
of historical events and perceptions of truth?

I know that my biggest interest based upon these questions is number 1. I have a great interest and also current knowledge on Social Responsibility so this will be my chosen avenue of research. 

Possible avenues of more specific research within this category include -

- Gender politics
- Representation of minorities
- Keeping a clean planet - nature, recycling etc.

The topic of social responsibility can be split into 3 main categories; economical responsibility, ethical responsibility and ecological responsibility. Out of these I am most interested in the ethical issues and their impact on the role and function of graphic design. My main avenue of research within this will be representation of social minorities within visual culture. My personal interest in this topic is due to the lack of representation of transgender and homosexual people within film, TV and popular media; it lacks role models, positive ideas of relationships and mental stability for young individuals. It also means general society are not fully exposed to the idea of non cis and heterosexual people; creating a less accepting and understanding environment. I aim to not just explore this topic but also look into the representation of ethnic minorities and disabled people also as they are just as much affected by the issue. I want my question to be direct in its approach to the issues I will tackle within the dissertation. Possible wording for this could be...

To what extent does representation of social minorities effect the role and function of visual culture?

The initial aim of it is more direct but I have chosen to use ‘visual culture’ as my essay will address advertising, film and TV alongside graphic design.

The lack of representation of social minorities is important to graphic designers as when creating work it must be a consideration; who to photograph, who to illustrate, whats the target audience? 

I want to show the negative effects this lack of current representation has on society as a whole. The young impressionable members of the minority groups who feel they have nobody on TV who looks or thinks the way they do. But also the impact is has on the rest of society in their opinion of these minority social groups as a result of lack of information.

The recent addition of multiple skin colour choices in Apples emoji keyboard will be in interesting case study within this essay. It’s a big step for Apple as they are the first to do so and its concerning that it’s an afterthought rather than a conscious initial design decision; it’s most likely this lack in representation is down to the graphic designer behind them.

It’s fair to say my interest in this topic began with the recently trending hashtag ‘wedeservebetter’. The current public discussion about the issue means my sources of information for the essay will be contemporary and still relevant giving me a much more accurate sense of the problem. 

The hashtag arised after a character from the TV show ‘The 100’ was killed and the LGBT community rised against the director in the name of lack of representation. The fan art, online campaigns and even websites (wedeservebetter.com) will all be a brilliant starting point for the essay and practical body of work produced alongside it.

http://issuu.com/izzieglazzard/docs/cop_3_proposal