Driven by intelligent enquiry and evaluation, the MA Graphic Branding & Identity course explores the thinking underlying brands and looks at how strategy can drive creative expression.
Exhibiting at LCC Postgraduate Shows 2017: Show 2, the show includes a range of student-initiated projects that visually translate strategy by communicating brand stories graphically: an exhibition for students to decipher, critique and challenge the field of branding.
We highlight some of the projects on show…
Elisa Basile
Sentiment insurance
Sentiment insurance by Elisa Basile
“My brand aspires to be an insurance for feelings placed into objects, with the principal aim to protect that intangible and invisible attachment in case the object itself gets lost. Beside protecting memories and feelings, the insurance also aims to open a discussion and make people reflect on the entity of the bond they have with special possessions. I believe the essence of any object will never be lost, as long as it is remembered and its story can be told. This essence thus become more tangible and we become our own special object’s insurance.”
Inês Duvergé Rodrigues
Are we remembering less as we record more?
Are we remembering less as we record more by Inês Duvergé Rodrigues
‘Forever’ is a brand movement that stands against the excessive record-keeping society we live in. It believes that recording more does not lead to a better remembrance and, therefore, we should not compromise our experiences for this purpose.
The brand is set to a series of thought-provoking strategies that trigger a reflection on the ‘dark side’ of excessive recording: it shows how a huge repository of memories can be useless because it creates the difficulty and discouragement to look back, reminisce or cherish those memories. The brand lets the audience see by themselves the contradictions of their behaviour and consequently creates reflection and change.
Marilia G. Rojas
Can our everyday spatial narrative be a museum?
Can our everyday spatial narrative be a museum? By Marilia G. Rojas
“According to Robert Venturi: “Learning from the existing landscape is a way of being revolutionary.” The following study looks at street art as a way to learn about the city and its visual culture, how people communicate through their urban environment and the potential threat of gentrification on culture. Shoreditch, East London will serve as the context of study to test how the idea of museology could enable our view of daily experience as part of shaping the visual culture of a city. The study aims to encourage people to think of how their lives contribute to a greater part of human history and empower them to have a role in curating what they seek.”
Serena Mondaini
OCTV: “open” circuit television
Serena Mondaini, OCTV: “open” circuit television
“My brand is called OCTV: “Open” circuit television. It is a new surveillance organisation that believes in transparency and operating for the benefit of the community. Surveillance is essential in our daily lives, but the way it is usually operated can be improved to better serve the community. Its first concerns are people’s privacy and their rights as citizens.
“OCTV collaborates with existing surveillance operators to provide a more community friendly model that protects but respects people freedom. It works as a franchising that suggests a new vision of existing CCTV’s activity and allows the citizen to be part of the project. This new brand doesn’t hide but it is open, visible and it operates 24/7. Its fluorescent colours and screens make this brand easily noticeable on the streets and it subverts the old surveillance structure.
“It is a “two ways” system where people are more aware of what happens behind the cameras; they can see directly what the CCTV is recording and by using a QR code it is possible to watch operators’ activity in real time. Giving a face to an object that is usually anonymous and alienating can create more trust toward these systems.”
Verena Bublak
What makes people challenge their preconceived opinion?
Verena Bublak, ‘What makes people challenge their preconceived opinion?’
“In our daily lives we are confronted with conflicting opinions and debates leading to nowhere. New information is steadily flowing in. Finally we end up not knowing what to believe or what advice to take. We create our opinion through automatically filtering the mass of information that surrounds us. However, the problem is that we aren’t aware of that process. Our social environment, the impact of mass media and our own mental shortcuts mainly influence the way we perceive the world. Most of it affects us subconsciously. Ironically the more viewpoints we are exposed to the less independent we think.
“What if we consciously filter and evaluate information instead of allowing the unconscious part of our brain to drive our judgements? Does this filtering mechanism create scope for a more open-minded and progressive way of thinking? This project explores the process of opinion formation and how to make people challenge their preconceived viewpoints and revise their beliefs.”
Yara Al-Muftah
SELF – an interactive phobia exhibition
SELF – an interactive phobia exhibition by Yara Al-Muftah
“There is a reluctance in society to confront false phobia when based on false facts, one assumes that she or he has a phobia towards a specific object or situation People should self-diagnose more accurately, as they can be self-treated easily. Scholars state that our human brain is ready to go negative more than positive. Therefore, people with false phobias may develop symptoms of a real one if they are not aware.
How could we push our brains to think positive before being pulled into a negative phenomenon, which in this case could be developing a complex phobia. How can an interactive experience allow users to self-diagnose false phobias more accurately? SELF is an interactive phobia exhibition which provides the audience with a tool to self-diagnose through and to know whether their assumptions are correct or not. Whether they fit under real or false phobia, it is all based on self-marking, self-awareness, self-reflecting, self-diagnosing and self-treating/curing.”