More Than Skin-Deep

Ever look at an item in a store that had "sustainable packaging"? Did it make you want to buy it? Or was the packaging too plain or flimsy? This article at The Living Principles by, Sustainable Brands, shows us just how beautiful sustainable can be.

This article really got me thinking about how products are packaged as well as the sustainability movement. The article made a strong point in the beginning by asking "What keeps you coming back to the same brand?". Most people had to stop and think and unless if they were Eco-conscience, sustainability was not a key factor. I never really thought about something like that before, especially since sustainability is not always at the forefront of my mind when it comes to products (A habit I am still trying to work on). I usually will come back to a product if it has worked for me in the past. But now that I think about it, a lot of these products also have bright, colorful, or bold packaging, which is what drew my attention to them in the first place. Many sustainable packaging products tend to be very earthy and bland, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it makes it less noticeable. Some Eco-friendly brands have taken on this challenge and have created sustainable packaging that is elegant and beautiful. For instance, one brand that they mentioned and that I use a lot is Method. As pictured above, their newest line of soaps include a minimalist and elegant packaging that uses plastic bottles that have washed up on the beach. (To read more about it go here.)The packaging itself is just the tip of the iceberg though, as mentioned in the article, their story goes beyond stylish sustainable packaging and goes deeper with Eco-friendly and biodegradable products that have a smaller impact on the environment. With many brands looking to go Eco-friendly with their products, its easy to say that sustainability will be the name of game.

Project 3: Creative Brief

Today is the presentation of our class's project 3, which is a creative brief. A creative brief is basically a proposal of a project, in this case we were to do a mock-up proposal of a project of something that either needed change, or something that would be a call to action, in the city of San Francisco.

I chose to do a creative brief on smartphone theft prevention and safety, mainly due to the frequent postings in the news about how progressively violent these thefts are becoming and that San Francisco has the highest rate of smartphone theft in the country. In the past 6 months, over 400 thefts were reported with a majority of the victims being young women. Women tend to be targets of thieves due to the fact that, they tend to be more likely to be distracted by their phones or more likely to have it in plain view. Women are also physically weaker than men and tend to be less able to fight back. Appearances have a lot to do with too, the more well off a person looks, the more likely they are to become a target. This has mainly to do with thieves acknowledging that those individuals are more likely to be able to afford a new phone.

In my creative brief, I decided to make a call to action or make the public more aware by creating advertisements that would not only be posted on muni, but would also be broadcasted on the local news channel. Each of these would be targeted towards women, but not be exclusively for women. These advertisements would give its audience information by directing them towards a website that has helpful tips and information that would give individuals the information they need to protect themselves.

Screen Print Demo (Part 2)

Last Monday I got to be part of a massive screen printing demo with my Design and Social change class. We were asked to create a design of something that calls for change or action. This could be on any issue we chose. As you can see with my design (albeit not too clearly) I went for the phrase "Heart to Heart". I have always loved being that one person my friends could reach out to in their time of need as well as being a strong believer in having a support system.

This stemmed from not only from being surrounded by friends and family with people who struggle with depression, but also from being an individual who struggles with depression herself. It's tough to reach out when you are struggling with depression. You can feel like talking about what's bothering will either burden others, make them turn away from you (as I have experienced), make them discount your struggle (Ex. "it's only stress" or "it's only a phase"), or that no one cares. It's easy to feel stuck and alone in your struggle, but you would be amazed at how much reaching out helps. It doesn't matter if you are the one struggling or if you have a loved one who is struggling, being there for them and having a "heart to heart" can make a difference. This probably sounds like the obvious thing to do, but it's harder than it seems. Sometimes you just don't know what to say or how to start and that can make the process of reaching out more difficult. However, it's important to know that the first step will be the hardest, as it is full of uncertainty, but you can make that first step easier by slowly easing into the issue (Ex. "how are you?") From there, you can try initiate the "heart to heart".

Now, a little bit about the design. The two gold and blue "double parenthesis" are meant to be the halves of the hearts, coming together as a result of reaching out. The "to" in between the two halves is meant to be the connection between the two hearts. The "to" also has a miniature repeating gold heart pattern going through it and is meant to act as the emotions that flow and connect to help bring individuals together. 

Screen Printing Lecture and Demo

Hello! This week's entry will be on Monday's screen printing lecture and demo by Slingshot and Positive news. Screen printing is the art of creating images via stencil on a mesh screen and pulling ink across it. From graphic t-shirts to bold posters, screen printing has been used for a variety of items and purposes. The purpose of the screen printing for this demo, was to create images that would spur social change.  Both Slingshot and Positive News use screen printing to create their newspapers. The process is tedious, but results from it produce stunning and clear images.
During the lectures from both representatives, I found it interesting that they chose to stuck with a more manual method of printing rather than switch to digital, like everyone else has been doing. Granted both sites have websites and online articles, they still believed in creating something tangible. Much like Taller Tupac Amaru, they keep this older art form alive and well. It was also interesting to see the process of a screen print. Everything is done in layers (if you want more than one color anyway)and even pulling the ink across with the squeegee requires a certain technique. I'm definitely excited to try this next week! But for now...I need to think of what I'm going to sketch for a stencil. Until next time!

Taller Tupac Amaru: Talk

Hello again! The previous post talked about some readings in conjunction with activist group Taller Tupac Amaru, however this post is just to reflect on the presentation given at my school.

Taller Tupac Amaru, as mentioned in the previous post is an activist group that uses art (more specifically screen printing) to not only make a statement, but also to revive the art of printmaking. Each artist went into their backgrounds and why they chose to create the collective. Jesus and Favianna were the two out of the three artists that had an art background, however all of the artists went to UC Berkley for their studies. The only member who did not have an art background was Melanie. She learned her skill sets through her mother's sewing and her father's upcycling. I thought it was interesting that she came from a background that didn't include art school and she still managed to become part of a fascinating collective.

 Many of the political issues that are covered in the artist collective, are issues that tend to hit home with them. All of the artists came from immigrant family backgrounds so issues regarding immigration, tend to be some of the issues that resonate best. They have worked on many other issues regarding wages, safe work environments, and much more. The one thing that I really took away from this presentation was how everyone believed that artists not only had a duty to create art, but to use art to help society as well. Designers take a pledge to use their work to help society and not just use their work for profit, so to hear that pledge come from something other than a document was really enlightening for me.

Taller Tupac Amaru

At USF's Thatcher Gallery, the collective art group Taller Tupac Amaru, is showcasing a number of their political posters spanning a decade worth of work. The mission of Taller Tupac Amaru is to try and revive the medium of screen printing through the creation of political posters as well as encourage social change. The issues covered span from immigration to Women's rights and are done in various different styles of screen printing. It is the believe of Taller Tupac Amaru, that artists and designers have the ability to use their talents to influence the public opinion and hopefully spur change.
Since we are on the subject of social change, I will delve into some readings that share the ideal of artists and designers having the power to create social change. The first reading of the week is "Mind Bombs: Woodcuts, Satirical prints, flyers, photo-montage, posters, and murals". This reading discussed the various forms of art that have been used in influencing public opinions and various social and political issues throughout time. Taller Tupac Amaru uses screen printing as it's medium of choice in spreading awareness.
The next reading was "The Citizen Designer", this reading focuses on how you engage society. It is believed that the artist and designer can do more than just create images. In fact, it can even be seen as the designer's partial responsibility to try and create change. With the Taller Tupac Amaru, they aim to try and do just that. The social and political issues worked on by the artist collective, are issues that tend to be the more prominent in today's society. By creating works that are not only colorful, but bold in graphic style, the collective has succeeded in spurring movements worldwide.

Timeline

             

Time for another entry, only this time it’s going to be about the class project that is currently being worked on. I am part of a design team for the Timeline project. The Timeline project is a historical timeline of designs or significant events that have made an impact on society. One to two people are assigned a decade in which they gather information on and organize it in a fashion useable by the design team. The design team creates the timeline for the class based on what is given.

            The process? For the design our process was to start looking at other examples of timelines so that we could get a feel for what design or style we wanted to try and work toward. After that, we came up with sketches as to what we felt might work. After trying different styles we come up with what details and information will be on the timeline. Work for the timeline is then divided among the members, in which one designs the symbols, another puts together a color scheme, and another creates the structure for the timeline and takes the information and organizes it.