Subversive Design: Coca Cola

Fig. 1 Coca-Cola poster I (author's own)

Fig. 2 Coca-Cola poster II (author's own)

Fig. 3 Coca-Cola poster III (author's own)

Fig. 4 Coca-Cola poster at bus stop (author's own)

Above are four posters I have created for this project. The first two I kept quite traditional to the Coca-Cola brand, except I changed the colour of the type for the second one to orange, to represent rusting. Figure 3 is also quite traditional, but figure 4 has a comparison in the poster, and Coca-Cola adverts never have that, they probably don't feel the need to, unlike the Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons adverts that we see on TV, or the Dove, Persil and moisturising cream ads. But of course my comparison does not do the brand any favours, as it says, 'Coca-Cola does a better job at cleaning your toilet than Cif. Do you still wanna drink it?'

Subversive Design: Controversial Brands

Fig. 1 Controversial brands (author's own)

Fig. 2 Coca Cola slogans (author's own)

I wanted to use controversial brands for this project because it was all about irony and making fun of issues/companies etc. I focused on Coca Cola and started to look at their slogans and played around with them, for example, I turned 'Have a Coke and a smile' to 'Have a Coke and a rotten smile', 'Coca-Cola. Enjoy' to 'Coca-Cola. If your engine gets rusty', and 'The great national temperature beverage' to 'The great national serial killer.' As we all know, Coca-Cola is a very unhealthy choice of drink, yet such a high percentage of the population still drinks it, it's the same with smoking I suppose, people know it's bad, yet they still do it. We have heard about a few people who have died just because they've been drinking too much Coca-Cola. I watched a video once, a guy placed a tooth into a glass of Coca-Cola and left it there for 24 hours, when he took it out, the tooth was black. If you drink coke once a day, and that coke touches your teeth for 5 minutes in total a day, that's 35 minutes a week, 140 minutes a month, 1,680 minutes a year, that makes it 28 hours a year... may not sound like a lot, but remember it only took 24 hours for that tooth to rot. 

Data Translation: Final Outcome

Fig. 1 Raisin data outcome (author's own)

I created a poster as my final outcome with a pie chart style data translation. I am not fulfilled with this outcome because I do not find it exciting. I don't believe it complements the interesting and random question in hand. Although this poster looks simple, it was actually quite time consuming because of the shaping of the raisin on Photoshop, and I had some trouble with the key's box at the bottom. But I believe this could just be kept as an idea which can later be improved. So we could see it as a good start.

Data Translation: Results- photos

Fig. 1 Raisin photography (author's own)

I took photographs of raisins, I shaped them into words, numbers and graphs. I used 100 raisins to represent the 100 people I questioned. A very simple and literal way to portray my findings.

Data Translation: Results- illustration

Fig. 1 % of people that know raisins are grapes (author's own)

Fig. 2 % of people that don't know raisins are grapes (author's own)

Fig. 3 % of people that think raisins come from another fruit (author's own)

My findings presented on double pages in my sketchbook through raisin illustrations.

Data Translation: Findings

Fig. 1 Tally (author's own)

Fig. 2 Bar graph (author's own)

For the Data Translation project, I chose to ask people a question... One which I thought everyone knew the answer to, because I thought it was common knowledge... But I was mistaken. As surprising as it may be to those who know this fact to hear that a lot of people actually don't know it, it is even more surprising for those who didn't know this fact to find out about it! The question was, "Where do raisins come from?" and as a clarification question, I asked, "What fruit is a raisin?" just in case my first question was misinterpreted. Surprisingly, 32% of people didn't know a raisin was a grape! 31% of people thought a raisin was just a raisin fruit, 68% knew it was a grape, and 1% thought raisins came from another fruit.

Mapping & Way Finding: Final Outcome

Fig. 1 The Unhelpful Guide to Angel, Islington (author's own)

This is the front cover of my final outcome, it is filled with 40 pages of interesting and fun quotes and images. To keep the rough scrapbook guide style going, I did it all in black ink, the only colour will be in the photos. I have also added an author's note which read, 'I would like to thank all the objects, vehicles, buildings, trees, animals and people who have unknowingly taken part in this project.'
This, for me, was one of the funnest projects I have taken part in, probably because the outcome I decided on was more "me", it gave me a chance to express myself through writing, which I have not been able to do a lot within my art work over the years.

Mapping & Way Finding: Scamps

Fig. 1 Mapping and Way Finding scamps (author's own)

Here are some of my sketches of potential ideas. At first I thought to do a few posters but then I decided to create 'The Unhelpful Guide to Angel, Islington'. The book is going to be a scrapbook guide which is unhelpful, therefore not even a guide at all. I am going to fill it with my own random quotes, linking each quote to an image, a few serious ones, but mainly funny. The best part of it is, everything I say is going to be irrelevant to the area.

Mapping & Way Finding: Graffiti

Fig. 1 Graffiti- sketchbook (author's own)

Fig. 2 Graffiti info- sketchbook (author's own)

Fig. 3 Bansky newspaper article (author's own)

Fig. 4 Bansky info- sketchbook (author's own)

Fig. 5 Basquiat info- sketchbook (author's own)

I have been taking photographs on the streets. Photography equals to art, therefore photography on the street equals to street art. The street art that comes to mind is graffiti... So I decided to research graffiti.

Graffiti is scribbled, scratched or sprayed, it could be presented in the form of writing or drawing. It is usually on a surface in a public space and is an art of expression. Expression of territory, of social and political views and of Hip Hop culture. Usually the expression of this art is done with no consent, therefore making it a crime as it is considered as vandalism. If only all vandalism looked like this.

I researched into two graffiti artists, Bansky and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Bansky is a graffiti artist which we know nothing about, yet love so much. It is good to know you are being appreciated purely on the basis of your works rather than your life, its history and how you decide to live it. Bansky has always been quite bold and confident within his work. Not afraid to speak out politically, he is what graffiti is all about.

Basquiat was an artist that was keen on colour, orange, red yellow, blue and black, these colours were almost always used in his work. He was a part of the neo-expressionist and primitivist movement. I have noticed that a lot of the heads in his work have a similar shape to Africa, I wonder if this was purposely done. 

Mapping & Way Finding: Angel- sketches

Fig. 1 Sketches of Angel I (author's own)

Fig. 2 Sketches of Angel II (author's own)

I did quick small sketches of a few things I saw in the area, I also created colour swatches (bottom left of figure 2). Angel is the perfect place for an artist who likes to study the city, it has so much to offer.

Mapping & Way Finding: Angel- photos

Fig. 1 Photos in Angel I- sketchbook (author's own)

Fig. 2 Photos in Angel II- sketchbook (author's own)

Fig. 3 Photos in Angel III- sketchbook (author's own)

So I started by taking photos around Angel, Islington. I couldn't help but notice how it is filled with colour and culture. There is a great variety of food, and I am a big lover of food. 

Filled with shops and restaurants, you will never fail to find what you're looking for. Both your body and mind wanders when in the area.

Starting the Mapping & Way Finding Project

Fig. 1 Mapping brainstorm (author's own)

Fig. 2 Underground (author's own)

For the Mapping and Way Finding project we had to somehow map a place or a journey. I first thought of the underground as I use it so often, I have realised that the underground map is a map I use everyday but without actually using it! I have become used to taking the routes I take, it has almost become automatic, I, just like many others unconsciously make my journeys because I have now programmed myself to do so. For two years, I have been making my way to my college in Angel, Islington, and it has now become one of my favourite areas in London. Because of this, I decided to focus on this area.