Study Task 06 - COP3 Proposal

Practical: Final Adverts

Below shows the final printed adverts, they were printed on glossy paper to make them look high end and represent the company well. The concept behind the advert was to explore the idea of everyday objects and parents having an impact on children's gender choices. The colours in the advert are gender neutral, straying away from blue and pink. The typeface used is arial rounded bold, which is a friendly and approachable typeface, it also goes alongside the lines and style of the illustration well. 

Practical: Final Packaging

The photographs below show the final design for the packaging, it couldn't have been produced at real life size as it wouldn't have been possible to print at such a large size. However this prototype show how the design will look. Using the same colours which focuses on being gender free and not implying any specific gender. The similar concept to the adverts explores the skills which are important for children to learn, getting all children at the same skill level and focusing on imaginative and learning through play. It also gives something for parents to relate to, again their role in their child's development. 

Study Task 07: Project Statement

The title of the essay is ‘To what extent does design within advertising/media have an effect on children’s gender choices and stereotypes?’. It explores the different theories of gender and how children develop, whilst also analysing in depth existing examples of advertising, toys and packaging and how these show examples of stereotyping.

A number of different texts were explored in order to gather different opinions and statements on the topic. One of these was David Gauntlet’s Media, Gender and Identity, where he shares other theorists ideas, such as gender chaos theory, the differences between biological determination and social constructionism. It also discusses the different opinions on the ‘Nature vs Nurture’ debate. Gidden’s self identity theory, insinuating that people are in control of their own lives and decisions. Modern male and female identities are explored, reviewing how much they have changed overtime. Overall Gauntlett’s opinion is that advertising affects people’s perceptions and media also has control over this.

Another text which was explored throughout the essay was Pink and Blue by Paoletti, where she explores the idea that sex ‘denotes the biological differences’ and gender refers to the ‘cultural differences’. The programme on BBC presented by Dr Javid Abdelmoneim which discusses that the stereotypes caused by society will cause differences in boy and girls which will define their lives as adults. 

Sheehan’s text, ‘Controversy in Contemporary Advertising’ looks at cultivation theory, social identity theory and expectancy theory. Sheehan’s opinion is that advertising world beneath the conscious levels of individuals. She believes that exposure to advertising imagery creates misinformation on gender roles.

When writing the brief for the practical component of the project, it was important to explore designing for gender neutral project. The choice of the Little Tikes kitchen draws upon the different theories as it is an everyday object which both genders use and learn skills from. It also shows the stereotype of women in the kitchen as old fashioned and brings the product into the 21st century. It also allows to look at social constructionism and how children look at adults as role models of how to act and behave, which is especially important when looking at the relationship between parent and child. The project also allowed exploration into the use of colours, typography and packaging in terms of gender and communicating to two different audiences. 

The concepts explored in No More Gender informed the design, by focusing on skills and the importance of both boys and girls having the same skillsets and opportunities. The overwhelming divide between pink and blue was important to consider and avoid, and also looking at the role of parents in enforcing these stereotypes by giving them the option of gender specific toys.  It also explores the concepts discussed by Gauntlett of social constructionism and the nature vs nurture debate, looking at how other people and media can cause people to adapt or change. Therefore designing for a product which gives children a chance to learn new real world skills and interact gives way for exploration into these theories and how best to communicate to each audience without using stereotypes. 

The research and opinions of academics have influenced the design, an example of this is the idea that toys should be advertised and designed to both genders, as a result they have the same skill sets and as discussed in ‘No more gender’, that ‘these skill differences can be levelled out through play. Cas Holman’s design of Rigamagig also influenced the design of the project, focusing on the importance of learning and using gender neutral colours and everyday objects. Also as Sheehan discussed in Controversy in Contemporary Advertising, the fact that advertising and packaging can misinform children and adults on gender roles, therefore designing for the importance of learning and play rather than consumerism, also focusing on gender neutral colour schemes and designs helps to achieve this. 

Practical: Mock Up 03

• Right amount of white space.
• Gives good balance between the illustrations, shapes and typography.
• The colours are even and balanced throughout the packaging.

Practical: Mock Up 02

• Shapes aren't in proportion.
• Illustrations need to be evenly spread out.
• Too cluttered.
• Type may be too small.

Practical: Mock Up 01

• Design is too busy and repetitive.
• Needs more white space.
• More even layout of illustrations.

• Too much white space.
• The front of the packaging needs to be the most informative, eye catching and engaging.
• Different typeface to be experimented with. 

• Layout was not right, needs to be placed the right way around.
• Reduce the amount of text.
• Too much white space around the edges of the designs.
• Need to think about proportions. 

• Final adverts.
• Using vector illustrations.
• Bright vibrant and contrasting colours.
• Large geometric shapes

Practical: Layout Developments

Practical: Further Colour Choices

Practical: Colour Choices

• Gender neutral colour scheme.
• Most successful colour schemes found from existing gender neutral toys and adverts. 

• This layout and choice of colours works best, as accentuates the different shapes better and is easier on the eye. 
• The vector illustrations are more appropriate for adults, as they are the main consumers, rather than the hand drawn approach.