Initial and developing research

I have gathered a fair amount of research in terms of 'offbeat design' - design which isn't the considered the 'norm'. It's become apparent that this element is necessary for me to feel excited by the project. After all of the preliminary research, I have narrowed the areas of interest to Fast Food and Fashion (and all the things to do with those categories).

I like the work of Asile Paris and the way issues are highlighted through digital manipulation such as their work to do with Aids. Two pictures below show a terrible visual of how aids can affect you - through sex. Illustrating that you don't necessarily know who you are sleeping with. I like the shock factor these pictures have to them and would like to do a project in a similar way.



Here is an ad highlighting the poverty issue, taking something we use everyday and take for granted. Then playing with digital manipulation and scale to get the message across:





















Focusing more on the Fashion category, I decided to do some more research and found a wide variety of images, the first of which are from a website called Carousel, and the article I'm focusing on is called Blablabla... The article says:

 "In their BLABLABLA-collection the objects have been placed a little bit out of context, and in that way it becomes the perfect accessorise with a little bit of a social comment."

Here are some images I particularly like, please look at the Carousel link for the picture explanations:

1. There is an attachment to the belt (the gold plate) which says size zero - questioning how women perceive themselves and the pressure women are under to stay thin.


2. A business card holder to be used as a fashion accessory, for those who are workaholics and cannot put their mind at ease. Highlighting an issue that we are increasingly becoming work-obsessed.




3. And my personal favorite, the gold plate which reads 'max 20 kg'. This is an impossibly low weight for any woman, and this shows just how ridiculous women's obsession with weight is; even though we still obsess over it.



Having done this preliminary research on advertising and fashion, I will stick with the absurd and impossible issues surrounding it, hopefully finding a shocking / interesting way to highlight the issue in question.