Thursday, October 8, 2009

Laura's Creative Inspiration - Rationale

When I read the brief for the summer project i.e. keeping this creative blog, I was not looking forward to it. Keeping a blog or any kind of diary is not something I have done for a long time, and I thought I would have to pretend to be inspired by things in order to post enough entries. However, I have actually really enjoyed the project having found it intellectually and creatively stimulating, and I can see myself continuing to add to “Laura’s Creative Inspiration”, even after the deadline has passed.

Writing this blog has made me realise how much I enjoy analysing things, especially design, and the advantageous and disadvantageous effects it can have. Looking down the ‘labels’ list for my blog posts, advertising is the category that contains more posts than any other, and I think this is strongly reflective of my interest in advertising, what makes it work, and most importantly why. One of the entries I enjoyed writing the most was the post about the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising. I visited the museum purely in the interest of this summer project, but in hindsight I’m glad I had the excuse to go as I thoroughly enjoyed my trip there, spending over two hours looking at the fantastic collection of artefacts, some of which date back to over a century ago. What really struck me, as I walked through the ‘decades’, was the extent to which packaging design and product advertising has changed in just over a century, and it fascinates me to wonder what advertising and branding will look like, say, fifty years from now.

What the future holds for advertising could be extraordinary. Another post that really got me thinking was the entry on CBS Outdoor digital advertising and the London Underground. The amount of digital information a human being must process in a day must be vast, but we are so used to it now that we don’t even think about it until we suddenly don’t have access to it, or if it springs up in a new situation, turning another aspect of our daily lives electronic. Marketing of products has come such a long way even in my lifetime; some of the ideas that companies and brands have come up with for their products – for example, the Toyota IQ typeface – are so unique and clever that I sometimes wonder how anyone managed to come up with something like that, something that just works.

I was also really inspired by the websites that I wrote about in the blog. Company websites are clearly present to provide a way of informing customers about the product(s) and/ or service(s) that they provide, but also they are a form of self-promotion in themselves. Nowadays, with programmes such as Flash which allows animation and interaction, it is not just about what a website is saying, but just as importantly how it gets the message across to potential clients and consumers. Is their message memorable? Will written information alone be enough to convince somebody to buy their product / service?

I did not write much on my blog about things that did not inspire me, but from what I did write, I think I have discovered why these things in question failed to interest me, and I have made a link between that material and the work that I really do appreciate. After my visit to the St Ives Tate, I came away feeling dissatisfied about what I had seen, but also guilty, and angry for not feeling inspired by the gallery’s contents. In my entry about the Tate, I have said that I think this is down to the fact that I did not understand much of the modern art there, and found it hard to appreciate as I did not know the meaning behind it, or why it had been created. Comparing this modern art to the advertising I have written about, there is a distinct difference. The modern art in the St Ives Tate had no explanation, no clear message, and thus I gained no understanding of the work. Good advertising however, always conveys the intended message very clearly, but also usually in a very striking, humorous or clever way. I always feel satisfied when looking at great advertising, getting the feeling: “I wish I had come up with that”, and conveying information in such a way is something that I strive to achieve. I hope that one day someone will say the same thing about my work!

Looking back on this set of creative reviews, I have come away feeling that I would like to look more into the effect that advertising can have. I want to look at how it affects people emotionally, how it affects their buying habits and to what extent it can affect brand loyalty. Take for example, iPod advertising. Have Apple ever done a bad iPod advert? Their posters are simple yet eye catching, bright and full of energy; their TV adverts always feature a contemporary pop song that leaves one in a cheerful mood; their email updates always leave one with a desperate desire for the latest product. I want to know how Apple, and other companies alike, ensure that their advertising consistently works, and how as a brand it has managed to get the world to call all mp3 players iPods, whether they are or not.

I plan to look into brand identity for my dissertation, researching how brands have developed over the last decade and what has caused them to do so. Has the purpose of brand identity changed? And if so, why? I also plan to look at advertising for my independent project, as I feel this is my main area of interest and equally where my strengths lie. I would like to create a piece of advertising to try and combat a serious world issue, for example the need to conserve energy resources and therefore recycle, as I feel that the future of upcoming generations lies in our hands, and we should be using the strength of advertising to help fight these growing problems.

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