MA Graphic Design and Illustration degree show

Good Game! is a campaign that was formed as a development from a previous self-directed zine project based around the encouragement of female empowerment within the male-dominated community of online and competitive gaming. I am focusing on using the research skills I have gained through my time on the Graphic Design MA surrounding the topic of social activism to positively inform this campaign. 

The research I have partaken in consists of mapping out the terrain of the subject matter, which enabled me to try to seek out the root cause of the toxicity within the industry/community in order to make an informed decision on how to most effectively approach the campaign and how to ultimately help to encourage a fully inclusive gaming environment for future generations. The campaign exists solely online via a website, along with an Instagram account. I chose these platforms because a strong online voice is an effective way to reach a wider audience within this predominately digital subject matter. 

One of my aims for this project was to create a campaign that has the potential to expand beyond the MA course, this isdue to my career aspirations which lie within the field of designing for social activism. By using the Final Major Project as a catalyst for GG! I now have the base of a strong campaign close to my heart which I am excited to see expand.

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‘In Recognition of:’ documents a personal history, discovered through archived paper records. It explores the life of Roy Goodwin in 1958. Roy was my Grandad.

It’s difficult not to be fascinated by archives. A physical collection of documents from a certain time period hold more information than Google could ever show you. You can definitely smell the history, but you can also feel it by holding the paper, you know what it feels like, the size of it, the weight of it. I wanted to be able to experience this, by recreating the documents as true to life as I could make them. It felt important for me to make them because I could begin to appreciate the craft and the time period they came from. 

I sourced the right paper, set the text on the page, bought a typewriter, made my own stamps on a laser cutter, hand wrote all of the penmanship, singularly hole punched the pages and aged the documents myself. Creating Graphic Props for film and TV has been the focus of my Masters, and it seemed only fitting that my last project explores the effort that goes into the research and the creating of any printed document that is placed on a set.

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English Influx

My final project was firstly initiated through a key reading from my Research and Practice 2 writing, “A History of Everyday Things in England” by Marjorie and C.H.B Quennell. These are four volumes of books from 1918 to 1934 which each illustrate and comment upon the social histories of England including the environments, artefacts and everyday lives of people from different eras for children’s education.

This key reading led me into the idea of exploring British culture and illustrating ‘everyday British things’ in the 21^st century, which directed me to look into British culture existing outside of Britain and how Englishness has adapted itself in the sunny location of Benidorm in Spain. I chose to explore Benidorm as a terrain for my project as it is well-known for being an attractive holiday destination for British people to visit without feeling too alienated from their own familiarities and culture. In response to my research, I created a publication which features photographs of Benidorm alongside brightly coloured illustrations drawn in the style of faux-naïve which reflects the personality of Benidorm and it’s general attitude.

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My Final Project is based on an exploration of my home town of Skelmersdale. I’m from Skelmersdale, and growing up I feel like I’ve always had a sort of small insecurity about telling people where I’m from. In this project, I wanted to address that, and explore the roots of where this could come from, and if it is seen throughout the UK today in different small towns. I started by researching the history of Skelmersdale, and then went on to research about social stratification, class and culture, and social hierarchies. Knowing all this, I put together 3 books I’ve called ‘Knickers but No Fur Coat, part 1, 2 and 3’.

These books are a narrative exploring these issues, and then ends on looking at Skelmersdale for all the positives. I also created a Survey to ask people about their views on the town, and in response to this have created the Survey Book, badges, and a ‘Skem Panther Print’. I riso-graphed the majority of this project to keep it upbeat and attractive with the bright colours, and as I’m predominantly an Illustrator, most of the books have been completely hand drawn.

The Worst Mother in the World

My eldest son has ADHD: a chronic condition that affects a person’s ability to control their actions, impulses and attention.

Around the time he turned one, I began to notice that my son wasn’t behaving the way other children his age did: he was prone to fits of anger, was restless and defiant. Having no other frame of reference, I put this down to something I was doing; perhaps I hadn’t quite got the hang of this parenting thing yet.

For seven years I believed my son’s disruptive and often violent behaviour was a product of my parenting. This project tells the story of those years and the self-doubt and guilt that accompanied them. I explore my multiple attempts to regain control in a situation where nothing I did made any difference; looking at the professionals who failed to notice and the people who, like me, thought I was to blame.

I go on to explore how life has changed since receiving the ADHD diagnosis. I question whether there are failings in the education and health systems that allow children like my son to fall through the net? Are we in the UK doing all we can to identify and support children with ADHD?

This project is for me seven years ago - for the parent who is struggling and who needs to know someone else understands. It is also to give healthcare and education professionals a personal insight into ADHD, in the hopes that it could help them recognise similar behaviours and struggles in other families.

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Not stereotyped

Being considered ‘’not the usual’’ Arab woman living in a Western country, I have always been questioned about my right, education, and freedom. However, not being a stereotype was always accompanied with being westernised or exceptional even though I am not, but it can only be explained that way. It is understandable that these stereotypes are formed and reflected through Western media and art. For example, in the past Arabs were largely recognized in the West as “erotic”, “primitive”, “ignorant”, “slave traders” among other many derogatory terms. Lately, the terms such as “terrorist”, “fundamentalist” and “blood-thirsty” are the terms that are over-generally ascribed to the Arabs.

As a feminist Arab Designer, I want to use illustrations and graphical narration as a way of knowing, and a way of constructing a new narrative about being an Arab woman that goes beyond the reduction committed by global media stereotypes.

The fuel of the project is narratives gathered by Arabs mainly women, as well as situated knowledge and personal experiences. These narratives were gathered through research, questionnaires, personal situations as well as scenes from media.

The project aims to shift the knowledge produced about Arab women from its historically Orientalist discourse towards an open-ended inquiry.

Always

When one experiences grief (be it of any kind), does it somehow makes us live in the past to grow in the present with the intention to make it to the future?

Does one seek for ways to retain the connection by making our decisions/ adapting preferences and even hold on to mundane objects that reminds us of the people in the best possible way?

Grief and Loss, the way we deal with it differs from person to person, so does the impact differs based on the relation, bond, and so on. And personally for me, I've had death anxiety that starts with the basic what if's? but then when those what if's became a reality for me, I knew I wasn't ready for it. I know everyone has their own way of dealing with personal matters. But honestly, I think we all need help sometimes, and I did too! And this project is my journey of how I used poetry to weave my way to travel the road of change…

My name is Andrew and my project is called Food Adventure.

The concept of this project is to highlight three key messages related to healthy nutrition, provided by both Eastern and Western nutritionists. My target audience is teenagers, no matter what country. I think it’s crucial to learn at this particular age about the importance of healthy eating. I got the inspiration for my project from my past experiences of being ill as a child. My mother was extremely helpful and supportive during this time, and would often research healthy recipes and ingredients that would help boost my immune system. Because of this, I’ve now grown up to be very health conscious - particularly when it comes to nutrition. Although I still suffer from health issues, maintaining a balanced diet continues to help me stay as healthy as possible. It’s this same message that I’d like other young people to take on board today.