Practical breakdown

The reasonings behind each page of my practical book - illustrations and writings:
The book is influenced by the two theories from my essay:

1) The uncanny - blow up dolls are similar to us in human likeness, not being able to distinguish whether it's a human or not feels us with dread - this sensation is the uncanny
2) Hybrid Consumption - The amount of activities that shopping centres provide to make you consume.

> Use of space - each illustration of the blow up doll was made smaller to emphasise on the idea of space. Seeing as space is the main focus of my essay, I thought i'd miss a trick if I didn't include it in the practical piece. 

> Single person - Susan stands alone in each image, this represents what is said in Buchanan's analysis of Marc Auge's writings of the self/individualism (SUPERMODERNITY - Ego). "Anthropology now chants the lonely song of the self" (Buchanan) - everything is now about us and it's like this now than ever before. 

>Non-places deal only with individuals, alone but one of many (Augé 1995). The figures in these drawing are usually singular. They are alluded to in shadows. Even when these figures are observed in groups they seem silent. There is no engagement. There is no eye contact. - Rachel Gannon on non places

> The writing - "Susan has no specific motive whilst at the mall." - this piece of writing comes from my case study. In my findings I saw that most of my participants would go to the shopping centre without having any motive 

"Susan just wants to look popular." - this again comes from my case study, as one of my participants said that she would share her location so people she knows can see that she's there. It's also from Walter's concept of the flaneur, the idea that we just want to be seen shopping. 

> The writing - ‘one alluring shop after another’ - Ritzer 1998 quote - backs up that shopping centres are laid out with a purpose (this being to spend the most money as possible) nothing is done at random.

> The writing - "towards a familiar chain" - familiarity is something that needed to be included in the practical. Says in Buchanan's writing about familiarity - "and as every overseas traveller knows, the familiarity of even so soulless a generic space as an airport can be comforting." This is something that people search for, as unfamiliarity is something that scares us. I found this in my case study, as some participants said that they visit the same shops when at the shopping centre because they like to stick to what they know.  So I also included a brand that is universally known in the illustration as well as the writing. 

> Use of food stalls - that people spend more money if they’re not feeling overcrowded (Bryman, 2004).

> Familiarity - in writing and image - tango ice blast - brand familiarity (reasoning same as above for familiarity) 

> Just another element of hybrid consumption that may not seem as obvious to that of a restaurant or a cinema. 

> The writing - importance of layout - nothing is put in a shopping centre at random, it is put in place to insure that the consumer stays there for as long as possible - stay longer theory. Thus having more opportunities for consumption near exits to entice you before you leave. This was seen first hand in Bluewater shopping centre, as they have a mini arcade by the exit to the carpark. 

> The writing - reference to the excess of time - supermodernity 

> The writing - Themed restaurants - from my case study, a participant said that they would rather go to the Trafford Centre restaurants because they are themed because it makes it a more fun and enjoyable experience. - “when people feel good they tend to want to stay longer” (Bryman, 2004).

>where the book gets more serious<

> The writing - Again, reference to excess of time - supermodernity. 

> The writing - relates to my introduction of my essay - "Clouded within the milieu of the signs and symbols of the realities that the consumer must decipher, the hyper-real is often overlooked, illustrating the success of hyperreality and the difficulty that consumer citizens encounter in differentiating between the two (Koutsobinas, 2015)."

> The writing - "susan doesn't need to spend this much time..." - the message I want to get across/the purpose of my practical - to make people realise their spending habits and how they don't need to be swept under all these different consumption 'opportunities'.

Cited from essay - Cities have been built with consumerism at the forefront, making it completely unavoidable, even if one has no interest, you consume (Buchanan, 1999).

Cited from essay - "But by combining different elements of consumption, hybrid consumption changes the way in which you perceive your surroundings, that being something ‘spectacular’ (Bryman, 2004). As Bryman discloses, by doing this they ‘create extraordinaries where otherwise ordinariness reigns.’"

>Single sentence at the end reiterates point of the book - you don't need to spend all your money and time in a shopping centre. 

Clothes made from used blow up dolls

http://www.boredpanda.com/clothes-made-from-used-blow-up-dolls/

I found this on bored panda when looking to see if there was any illustrations of blow up dolls, I thought it would be a bit of a stab in the dark but went looking anyway. I didn't find illustrations, but found a dutch artist called Sander Reijgers who made a fashion collection using used blow up dolls donated by a 'sender'... 

“These dolls are so ugly and vulgar that turning them into something beautiful has become a challenge for me. The doll is a means to convey something else… it’s near-incomprehensible that people could have sex with something as ugly and lifeless as a blow-up doll. However much air you pump into it, it remains an object that can’t reciprocate the feelings of lust…” - Sander

I really like what the artist has said about his work. It is quite relevant to what I've been talking about in my essay, about transformation of one thing to another, but overall it's still just quite a mundane thing. I really like this concept contextually, like how you can dress something up as much as you want, but it still can't do what you want it to do. This is something I want to think about in the future.

COP3 Practical - completed

Completed book practical

Practical printed - but...

Although I have a print slot booked for the 10th Jan, I had already finished my book so I wanted to just go to drop in and get it printed so it didn't have to hang over me during christmas. I printed two books, because I knew I was going to mess one up. 

Mistake 1 - I accidentally wrote Sandra Bollock instead of Sandra Bullock... an easy mistake I suppose, and I could say that it's meant to add to the humour... but I can't have this in my final book. 

Mistake 2 - I attempted to staple one of the books and it just made an absolute mess of the spine, so that's definitely not getting submitted as my final book.

Mistake 3 - The other book should have been put together perfectly in theory, but that would make my life far too easy. I accidentally folded my front cover way off the mark, so there's a crease on the front cover. So that's definitely not getting submitted as my final book. 

Instead of getting annoyed at the £6 I've lost in the printing and the time that I've also now lost... I need to think of this as a positive, because now I know what to avoid and what I need to be more careful of when putting my book together when I have my print slot. But I'm really glad I've allowed myself this time to mess up so when it comes to the final thing I've sorted them already so I don't have to say in my evaluation 'i wish this was different if i had more time' but actually because i did a run through i can redo my mistakes now so hopefully my final product will be better. 

PROTOTYPE

Before I print off my final book, I just did a quick black and white test to make it clearly to me what I need to change in terms of layout - especially how the text looks on the page. I'm really glad I did because I feel like I had rushed the writing and could be formatted better, as well as some lazy wording and grammatical errors... This has made me realise the importance of reading and re reading my work to make sure it's perfect for the final stage of printing and not to rush anything!!

Excess of Space - Illustration layout rethink

  

Thinking about applying Marc Auge's concept of supermodernity into my practical, and for this experimentation specifically the excess of space. I wanted space to be something that is highlighted in my practical, as my essay is all about the use of space so makes sense. I think by making Susan smaller, this comes across a lot more, making Susan look like she's in a space instead of taking over the whole composition.  

I'll have to change all my images now, but it didn't take me that long to do so should be no problem as I've allowed myself time for alterations. 

After adjusting all my images to the new format and putting them into InDesign, I think they work far better as compositions. All the space makes the small spot image more impactful which I didn't think would be the case. The feel of space is definitely clearer and comes to your attention a lot more than the doll being larger. I am glad I changed my images and had time to change them!!

Book text - what to say?

Pete made me think in my tutorial today that maybe the text should be serious as the images are satirical, opposite to the ladybird book which has a serious image and satirical text. Also the purpose of my book is to raise awareness of the devices that shopping centres use to make you consume and to not be blinded by them. So i think my book does need to have an element of seriousness, to show that isn't just a joke.

Susan and Marc Auge's Supermodernity - Explained

excess of time, excess of space and excess of ego. 

These are the three characteristic of supermodernity stated by Marc Auge. This can so easily be related to my practical! The amount of different consumption elements that Susan comes across shows the unnecessary excess of time that she spends at the shopping centre enjoying these activities. Excess of space can we shown if I give my images more space, making Susan slightly smaller - this is something I should experiment with. Excess of ego being Susan herself and how she is made in our human likeness. These three characteristic are repetitive and standardized. This is also shown in my book by having every image in the same composition and colour, showing the standardisation of shopping centres, linking to what Underhill says in my essay - ‘Which specific mall we’ll be visiting doesn’t really matter, since the things we’ll see and the lessons we’ll learn apply to all.’ (Underhill, 2004)

Rachel Gannons Reading of Auge - Illustrative reponse

http://www.varoom-mag.com/?p=4817

It's great to actually see someone else's visual representations of the theory that I've been researching, as it has been quite hard to source so far. Her illustrations were a study from Luton airport in London which was interesting for me, (being from London myself) and her interpretation of the place.

Why did I choose this place, this airport? It was because of this very paradox, a place that is both strange and familiar. I was not particularly drawn to the aesthetics of such a place although I have become so. I was interested in documenting these strange yet familiar spaces in which we spend ever increasing amounts of time; shopping malls, hotels, stations and airports. In this sense, the airport was an understandable choice. I hadn’t anticipated the opinions that I am going to present to you today.

I liked this paragraph as it is the same reasoning behind my choice of the study of shopping centres -  a place that is both strange and familiar. Although she isn't drawn to the aesthetics like my essay does, as I discuss the layout and design of the places and how that encourages consumption. Strange yet familiar is what she keeps repeating in this paragraph and within her writings, which reminds me of the uncanny - something I can put in my essay? 

"If a space can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical or concerned with identity will be a non place (Augé 1995)

Augé argues that these non-places don’t integrate with those that have come before. Instead, they promote these existing places to the status of spectacle or ‘places of memory’. He states that non-spaces are defined by their over-abundance of space and contain excessive information. The way we as travellers or visitors relate to non-spaces are through these instructions for use. The space of a non-place creates neither singular identity nor relations; only solitude and similitude. This definition of non-place gives a reason for those feelings I had when visiting the airport; had I ever been there?"

Good interpretation of Auge's Non-places - easy to comprehend

Marc Augé states that Non-places are a product of supermodernity. He defines supermodernity as an intensification of modernity and an emphasis on the ability of biology and technology to overcome all natural limitations. A profound lack of integration between past and present is caused by an outright repudiation of historical knowledge. The three characteristics of supermodernity as described by Augé are excess of time, excess of space and excess of ego. (Augé 1995)

Marc Auge's Supermodernity

The use of space in this imagery is very well executed. It's made me think of my own practical and composition that I need to consider. I need to think about the space around my image - negative space? Make my main image smaller? I should have an experiment on photoshop and see if this would work for my images.  

Extra Ephemera

I was going to do two books for my final outcome, but now as I've changed the amount of pages to twenty, I feel like that this a reasonable amount for just one book and that I should do something else instead to go with the book. From the feedback group session on Monday, I was told to do a dress up doll activity pack that could go with the book. I think that this is will work well with my book, adding another element for consumer opportunity - JUST like what my essay is all about.

So I'm going to make a dress up doll to go with the book using the same elements from the book to match.

Back Cover

I had already decided that I was going to put my other fictional books from my series on the back to make it look more like they're part of a set, with the joke at the end of the series that Susan has no more money because she's spent it all at the mall, theme park and casino. 

I then thought it might be a good link to use two of my key theorists as the reviewers of my book, giving enthusiastic responses. This humour will be similar to the text inside of the book, tying everything together.  

Cover designs

      

I struggled a little with the choice of type for my cover. I really wanted it to look professional like it actually could be in a shop display. I didn't want to use the same type as I did for my book last year because I'm not producing the same thing. I also wanted to explore my knowledge for type, which is a bit of a frustrating process because in the real world it would be a graphic designer that would do this for me, but I suppose it's good to get at least a grasp for it. I went for quite simple type faces, and knew that I wanted it to be in all caps to be more impactful. 

The choice of having the same image on the cover is not due to laziness. Because all the pages are also the same it adds to the dull repetitive nature of the shopping centre. Having the blow up doll on the front is also intriguing for the audience, making them want to see what the book is all about. 

I think I'm going to go with the cover with my name on it, I think my name at the bottom balances out the composition, otherwise I think it's a bit top heavy. 

(Typeface: Kohinoor Devanagari)

Page decisions

This was my initial idea for the page layout of my book, but when I put it on InDesign I thought it looked too crowded and messy. So I've had to expand my book from a 12 page to a 20 page, which sounds like a huge jump but it's just more spread out. So instead of having text squeezed in at the bottom, it will be nicely spaced out next to the image. I think it'll look better as a double page spread too, with the full illustration and then the white background with text, the contrast will work together nicely. 

Now I just need to work out what I want to say then the book will be complete! Hopefully I will be able to go to drop in next week and get it printed off before Christmas so I can relax a little. 

Type?

I found this book cover when looking at satirical front covers beforehand and I think this type would work well for my front cover. This is because I want it clear and simple - no distractions, nothing fancy. But I can't find this specific typeface so I'm going to have to find as close as I can to this. 

Book front cover?

I did a general google search to see what satire book covers there are and the usual approach for them. I've now realised that they usually go for a realistic style, using irony as satire. This worked great for my book last year, but it really won't work with my illustrations I've done now. I suppose this isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I'd rather my book cover stand out against the rest in it's genre instead of just doing the same as everyone else...

...But I've had a thought of just doing a close up of Susan's face, a bit like Joan Cornella's covers. I initially was thinking the shopping centre should be at the front, but now I'm thinking that people would be more inclined to open the book if they see a close up of a blow up doll and be intrigued to see what's inside. I'm also thinking of having the type quite large on the front, so it should be easy enough to see what's inside. 

'Susan Goes to the Mall' - Illustrations

Tom Wesselmann.. Again

Although I have already looked at Tom Wesselmann, I needed inspiration for the pages of my book. I know I wanted to have a massive space around my subject matter but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or if it was even really done by that many people. 

But i remembered before when I looked at Tom Wesselmann's work that he plays with composition a lot in his work, so I went back on google images to see if anything would jump out at me.

Obviously this image jumps out for very obvious reasons... But I really like how it's just an image in the middle of the page. This has inspired me for the pages and composition for my own book, and now i think i have a bit more confidence in the plain background! 

Book Mock Up/2

I made a slightly better mock up of my book with my final images to give myself a clearer idea of what it will look like when it's properly done. The illustrations will be full page with text in a white box at the bottom, but I wasn't sure on what size was appropriate when printing so the images are a lot smaller than what they should be. 

I'm happy with how my page layout will be, but I still need to sort out the front and back cover and experiment with type and what I'm going to write. But I feel like I'm nicely on track and this book will be completed by the weekend so I think I will go to print drop in and print it off early so I can feel relaxed for christmas. I have a print slot for the 10th Jan, but I don't like how close it is to the hand in, so if I have everything ready for next week I might as well try my luck in the drop ins and can create something else extra for my print slot like stickers?? 

Bad little children's books - Bob Staake

When looking satirical books to be inspired by, I found this! Bob Staake recreated a twisted series of 60 children book covers, and called the series 'Bad little children's books'. I really love this, as I have a secrete hatred for classic children illustration, so the juxtaposition of the imagery with the joke text is brilliant. This is more like what i did for my cop practical last year, using the watercolour styled imagery. 

But by seeing this it has made me think that seeing as he's done 60 of these that they are pretty popular in the market, otherwise he wouldn't have done so many, that it has made me hopeful for my future, as this is something that I would like to get into.

REVISIT 6/1/17

I've just found this article about the Bob Staake series, and now it's not looking too great for my future...

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/03/us/satirical-book-outrage/

"Satirical children's book cover illustrations draw criticism"

It talks about having a fine line between satire and bigotry and how these series have really upset some people because he took it too far.. Although to be fair some one the titles are a bit much like 'happy burkaday timmy' and I would never do anything that I think would offend someone's race or religion. But this has made me think that I do need to be careful in the future for my work, as I don't really want to get slammed by the press.

Tom Wesselmann - Artist Inspo

I've never heard of Tom Wesselmann, but was written on my sheet as someone to look at for artist inspo. I'm intrigued by his use of colour in his work, working similarly to me with the bold flat colour which I love. Although his work is a lot more abstract compared to my own, I still think it's something that I can think about - how he uses negative space and large colour palette. His naked women remind me of my 'Susan', a bit more vulgarly depicted, but interesting to see his own interpretation of the human form.  

Joan Cornella - Artist Inspo

I personally find being inspired by other illustrators work quite difficult. I'm not sure what's wrong with me but I don't get excited by many other illustrator's work, which makes me sound a bit like an arrogant idiot but it's true. However Joan Cornella is someone who's work I really do enjoy. Similar to my own, the combination of solid colour and line work to depict satirical scenarios. Although Cornella's scenarios are a bit more vulgar than my own, he is someone that inspires my work. It's healthy to not take things too seriously and to just have fun with what you create, not being tied down by what you can and can't show. 

Trafford Centre visit

I finally got around to visiting the Trafford Centre in Manchester! It's such a weird shopping centre. When you first walk in you're greeted with an enormous lavish marble looking (but I highly doubt it is) staircase with pillars and a chandelier. It actually made me laugh out loud, it's just ridiculously and unnecessary over the top. The decor instantly reminded of me Vegas, it's like the whole place has been made to look like Cesar's Palace. I didn't feel like I was in a shopping centre at all. I suppose this links to destination theory, I felt transported into a completely different world, linking to Zizek's concept:

"The practicality of having memories installed in us of the perfect holiday is far better than having to go through all the commotion that comes with physically experiencing holidays, as well as being cost effective."

(Quoted from my essay)

The Trafford Centre is bombarded with theming, you can't walk for 2 minutes without bumping into an Egyptian pillar or a stone fountain. It's quite bizarre to be honest. But when I interviewed my participant about the Trafford Centre, they were saying how much they loved the theming and that it makes them enjoy going there. So I suppose it must work for some people. 

Peer Review 28/11/12

Todays feedback session wasn't as helpful as I was expecting it to be. I did get some useful pieces of feedback, as I really do need some more contextual references and illustrator inspiration. But I think that my theories aren't the easiest for everyone to understand so my ideas for my practical aren't comprehended properly, which is quite frustrating. I know that the uncanny is quite a hard concept to grasp, as it took me a while to fully get it myself, but I've explained it the best I can on my blog so I don't really know what else I can do.

I've also had my idea with a mock up and page layouts so I already had a clear idea of what to do, so I just wanted to crack on with it really.

But I understand how it was helpful for everyone or people who had hit a bit of a wall, and it was good to put my idea in front of people that had never seen any of my cop work. It's also made me think about extra products that could go with my books, like a dress up blow up doll with attachable paper items from my book.  

Enid Blyton & Ladybird satirical books

It seems there is a trend forming in the publication industry... Satirical books based on children classics. Although children books is not to my interest, satire most definitely is! Apart from this obviously inspiring me for my practical, it's also made me think about my practice as a whole. It's made me think that the satirical book sector is now trending and this is something that I should jump on. As much as I love editorial, I think it's healthy for me as an illustrator to also work in different disciplines. 

Adult ladybird books, the same as the above and previously looked at in COP2

Design Boards for COP3 Practical Workshop

Page layout

I did a quick sketch of what I want my pages to look like. Each illustration will be the same image of 'Susan' and will have a different commodity, reflecting hybrid consumption. Then underneath the illustration there will be a small piece of text linking to the illustration, the writing will add to the satire of the image. Similar to the ladybird and Enid Blyton adult books. I think the text will work great with the images, as otherwise they may look a bit out of place.  

I also need to work out what to do for the front and back cover. I think for the front I need to make sure it's clear that she's in a super market, so you can tell before reading the title. 

Book mock up

I thought I should do a book mock up to see how many pages were necessary and just to see the overall aesthetic. I decided to go with 12 pages, because that's the amount of devices that I could think of that I could illustrate with the doll, Susan. The pages will be A5, any bigger and the illustrations will look too small and any smaller the detail in the illustrations will be lost. I've already done two pages, so I'm thinking that I'm at a good pace to get this done before I get back from Christmas! 

It's made me think that making two books is a bit optimistic... So I think instead I'll propose other books and have them on the back of the book I'm going to make like they're part of a series.

Susan goes to the theme park

Susan goes to a casino

and

Susan now has no money

Practical - Page One

I added in my first object to my image to see how well it worked - and I think it was a success! I was worried that it would look obviously stuck on top of the original image, but I think it blends in pretty well! This has raised my spirits for the other illustrations, hopefully they will work just as well.

Practical - putting ideas into action

After finally coming up with an idea that I'm happy with, I thought I should test it out to see if it would work with my style and was worth delving into it. Surprisingly the image didn't take me that long to paint, which I'm hoping means that I'm getting quicker at painting! Which is great! I'm also pretty pleased with how it turned out, the eyes are a bit off but blow up dolls are a bit wonky away as they're cheaply manufactured so I'm not too bothered about it. 

I think it being a spot illustration works well, as I think if there was loads going on in the background then you'd lose focus on what I want the audience to look at. It should be pretty easy to add different items to the doll as I've got lots of space to work in. 

Overall I'm really excited for this idea, I think it will be successful and link to my essay! Which is the most important thing. I'm hoping that it will work satirically too, or I'd feel like my illustration isn't a success. But the text should help with that and work hand in hand. 

Bluewater Visit

I managed to take a trip to Bluewater shopping centre in Kent whilst I was at home for the day. It was weird going after doing all this research on shopping centres and the devices they used to make us consume. It made me over think everything and to be honest made me enjoy the experience a little less... But! This was a good opportunity for me to take some photos of what I've been reading.

The thing with Bluewater is that I don't find the decor necessarily draws in shoppers or is based off a model of anything else. But the shape definitely does, as all my participants brought up the triangular layout of Bluewater being the reason for it's popularity:

Desire path! Each participant said that the triangle shape makes it far easier to navigate around the shopping centre opposed to a square or rectangle. This is like the desire path, these being new paths that form when people realise that it's quicker to cut corners. They usually form triangles and right angles, which happens to be the same design as Bluewater Shopping centre. I don't think this is a coincidence... I know that the triangles are also used because it wastes the least amount of space, as squares have a lot of wasted space in the middle opposed to triangles. But I think it is also because of the idea of the desire path, making the shopping experience more pleasant, in turn making people want to stay longer. 

Hybrid Consumption was spotted by the entrance, a small arcade with overpriced games that you probably aren't going to win at! No relation to shopping, but of course improve the experience of going to Bluewater. 

Satires of children's board books boom

Author Adam Mansbach and the illustrator Ricardo Cortes creating another adult version of children's book, which led me to this link...

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/children-board-books-ripe-satire-article-1.1602345

"One of the biggest trends in book publishing is satires of children's board books"

This is great for me, even though I'm not specifically interested in children's books, it means that there is an interest for satirical books! Although this link is from 2014, I think it may be actually more of the case now than it was three years ago, as the adult ladybird books boomed this christmas.

Practical Brief Form

I also revisited the practical brief form that we did a few weeks ago and amended it to my new concept. 

Taku Bannai - Use of space

When thinking about space for my illustrations, Taku Bannai is a great representation of how space can be used and the atmosphere it creates. The simple construction of shape and colour to show quite mundane experiences, but still gives off such emotion. This has made me think that I need to make sure that I use a limited colour palette and simple shape when creating my illustrations, as this makes the use of space more apparent. 

Practical Response Proposal Revisit

Seeing as my initial practical proposal has changed quite drastically, i thought it would be helpful to redo it to help with my process and give myself a clear understanding of what I am doing.

The three end questions are important for my practical. It's essential that I keep in mind the time that I have left and give myself deadlines to work with. So when I book my print slot I can make sure I will work to that deadline so I have plenty of time to prepare for my actual hand in on the 12th. I'm usually pretty good at time management, so I'm not too worried about hitting the targets that I've given myself. 

I'm a lot happier with this practical proposal than my initial one, as this seems more relevant to my essay and isn't an obvious solution of drawing Disney characters. It's also far suited to my way of working, as satire is what I'm best at so would be silly not to capitalise on that. Now I just need to get on with making which I'm really excited for!

Hipster Handbook Documentry

Hipster Handbook Documentry notes:

>Love for the real
>keen on food
>make things in an artisan way
>everything comes with a backstory, authentic and real but is meticulously designed(like shabby chic)
>business has jumped in on this
>used to be a place, now a state of mind
>constant theme park - shoreditch
>post post modern world
>borrow from the past, very retro
>use irony in a way it ables them to consume anything - cereal killer cafe
>authenticity against the fake
> refusal to conform, do things your own way
> Wiliamsberg - hipster area in america - used to be poor latino, working class, industrial
> it’s now middle-class, no longer cool.
>‘Counter culture has mutated into a self obsessed aesthetic vacuum stripped of its subversion and originality’ - Adbusters
>authentic - getting to truly know yourself - be your real self
> bare brick, industrial tiles - theme park reminder of what these buildings used to be for
> showing your individual taste - findings things from vintage stores - collaging, layering, promiscuous magpie - expressing individuality- don’t invent, they curate
>all about coffee - writing and being creative - each shop has a different strategy, but it’s all about backstory - has to be environmental, sustainable
>creativity applied to selling
>demonstrate commitment to an ethical framework (when you buy from these edgy places, as if to say I am a good person)
>how can i show my superior taste - luxury goods - micro-connoisseur
>mainstream coopted hipster looks - pret a manger with bare brick wall, ‘mismatched’ furniture thats actually massed produced
>everything revolves around products

Pink - What I can relate to my research - consumerism and design of businesses 

Individual Tutorial 22/11/16

Essay:
After the feedback I'm feeling quite confident with my essay as it seems to be going in the right direction, I just need to remember to keep linking it back to my questions and tying the theories together a little more.

Practical:
The practical is where I'm definitely struggling. I keep having ideas that turn out to be right offs and I feel like I'm just going round in circles. But the idea I currently have does seem to have potential, with using blow up dolls as my spokesperson to create a social campaign.
BUT
After my tutorial I need to link it with shopping, although it links to the uncanny it still needs to make sense to people. I told my idea to my sister and she said 'yeah but how's that got to do with shopping', and annoyingly she's right. What's the point in doing something that has no relation to shopping or theme parks? I think I need to be more direct with what I want to say instead of trying to be really out of the box but ending up being surrounded by pointless cardboard boxes with no meaning.

So

When I was walking home after my tutorial I had a thought. I really enjoyed my practical last year, it was different but did link to my essay and was easy to comprehend, you didn't need to be that guy that Benedict Cumberbatch plays in the Imitation game to decode it. So why don't I do something pretty similar? 

I thought of making a satirical book again, not giving it exactly the same as the Ladybird book, but pretty similar. I'll use the same full body illustration of the blow up doll, same position same vacant expression, and have her holding different commodities/ be in different scenarios that relate to hybrid consumption. I.e. Wearing cowboy outfit because of theming.

I could make two books - "Susan goes to the Mall" and "Susan goes to the Theme Park", exploring the different devices used in both theme parks and shopping centres.