I’m Portia! A double degree student specialising in communication design and majoring in screen studies. I take a lot of inspiration from film in my design work and would love to someday work in a job that incorporates. I have also been practicing calligraphy for years and love working at that skill.
For this project I did a campaign against plastic surgery, I was really fascinated by body trends as this came up in my research and decided to create a collection of magazine posters for each decade starting at the 50s.
THE POSTERS
Using a collage style, the posters are made as if a teenager from that time went around cutting up their magazines to try and create the ideal body (which of course is dictated by the specific time). They also feature coverlines that indicate what was expected of women at the time. I went further, drawing over them to personalise the inner dialogue of someone trying to fit themselves in the body standard of ‘how they should look.’
IN ACTION
The posters in action look like this with both the ones drawn over and the ones without. The intended audience for the campaign would be teenagers and so these would be displayed at schools and shopping centres. Together the posters show how fickle body trends are, going from weight gaining methods one moment and diet pills the next. My campaign invites people to think about what they are basing their ideas of beauty on, and whether we should change our bodies depending on what’s in or not.
'THE VIDEO'
"This video was created to diversify the ideas I was exploring, focusing on commercials and how the industry advertises beauty to us. It goes through, diet fads, the evolution of the perfect face, products that promise beauty and more. Overall it is an overwhelming barrage of images that give a snapshot of how these high standards for women haven’t improved over the years, they have just adapted."
The instagram is a way for users to have a way of engaging with the posters. The poster designed for anyone to draw on can be scanned and sent through to the page so everyone can share their work and stories online.
The website is a collection of all the posters as well as the video. It is very simple and lets the work do the talking. It is where all the information from the campaign can be found.
This is the cover intended to get everyone involved, it encourages people to share their experience and stories with their bodies. It is for people to draw all over and express themselves however they like and has prompts such as:
- PICTURED: THE MEDIA GETTING IN BETWEEN YOUR ON AND OFF RELATIONSHIP WITH MR BODY - 10 BODIES YOU WERE TOLD YOU SHOULD LOOK LIKE: - *EXCLUSIVE* YOU GIVE THE INSIDE SCOOP ON YOUR DRAMA WITH BODY STANDARDS
This gif is an example of it in use, with writing from many different people sharing thoughts and stories for people to read anonymously or not.
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