OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Practical Element, Evaluation and Rationale

Rationale

The research topic I chose to pursue for the written element of Context of Practice module was about emotional influences in advertising, what strategies advertisers use in order to influence emotional responses in their intended audience and how effective they are. I discovered that by using tactics such as Ernest Dichter's 'Motivational Research' that advertiser are able to assign an image or a lifestyle we will gain to a product thereby increasing our emotional connection to it and encouraging us to purchase.

In my extended writing piece I focused particularly on chocolate advertising and how through advertising strategies it has become synonymous with female sexuality and pleasure, using the research I collected during the course of my extended writing on what kinds of images which are most effective, what language can be used to influence curiosity and how to further increase the subconscious relationship we make between a product and a seemingly unconnected emotion I designed and produced my own advertising campaign for an existing chocolate confectioner which I presented as a pitch which would ideally be taken to an advertising agency.

My designs for the advertising were directly informed by the conclusions I made on what effectively influenced emotions in a audience from the analysis of existing advertisements and a primary research survey I conducted during the research process.

Evaluation

As a whole I believe I did struggle initially with the Context of Practice module, over the course of the past three years I have struggled with the written element of the module but this year I also to begin with, struggled with the synthesis between the written and practical element and how I could demonstrate what I have learnt during the research process practically.

However I am pleased with the outcomes I produced for both elements of the module, although I did struggle with how to synthesise my project at the beginning, using my written element to inform my practical gave me a purpose to design rather than just for designs sake. I was also able to use the practical brief as an opportunity to work with a live client, something which I have never done before and provided me with invaluable feedback.

From the initial stages of the module I found my chosen topic really interesting which I believe shows in the research I have produced in response. Compared to previous years I have developed a more in depth approach when gathering research including producing and distributing my own survey the results of which I found particularly helpful in contributing to my argument.

Although we had a heavy work load to begin with due to a informal hand-in for the Extend Practice module, I believe I did manage my time well during the course of the module. I began the research and completed my introduction back in October which was extremely rewarding when our workload got more intense and I was not able to do as much work, particularly on the written element as I would have liked. This meant I was quite organised when it came to our hand-in and I was not in a rush to finish any design work etc.

If I was to redo the module I would perhaps put more effort in to producing primary research, although I did send out two surveys the feedback I got was invaluable and extremely helpful in terms of constructing and backing up my argument. Should I of produced more primary research or perhaps sent them out to a bigger focus group both my written and practical elements would have been more informed.

I also believe the practical element could still be developed in terms of the range of designs I produced which would have produced a more well-rounded campaign. Particularly as I was pitching a start-up campaign for Ebon Chocolates producing design for a digital as well as print platform would have been appropriate for the purpose.