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Dissertation Design
Editorial Design
An editorial piece presenting my dissertation.
Date
April 2023
The Brief:
Design the contents of the second half of my dissertation, which involved analysing statistics and graphical data, as well as a case study, including advert deconstructions.
The Challenge:
Focusing on the apparent paradox between consumer attitudes towards ethical consumption and their contradictory consumer behaviour, my dissertation explored themes such as agnotology, fast fashion and conspicuous consumption. After completing the written side of this project, I was challenged with designing, printing and presenting a piece of editorial design based off of the thesis. I explored overprinting and using insets to achieve this.
Presentation:
As my dissertation included strong themes of both consumer and shopping culture, as well as ethical and environmentally conscious consumer attitudes, I felt it would be visually jarring to combine these two conflicting themes. I achieved this by printing and binding the book by hand on recycled paper, whilst presenting it in a shopping bag made from acetate.
The Solution
My Affirmative design solution highlighted how existing suggestions to solve the issue around plastic microfibre pollution mainly involved capturing these fibres, either in sewage processing or at the source in household laundry. In contrast to this, I wanted to explore the possibility of engaging with the materiality of the clothing itself. My research highlighted the enormous levels of synthetic textiles used in current garment production, compared to our historic use of natural fibres like cotton, linen and wool.
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Researching this line of enquiry further, I discovered just how neglected the Welsh woollen industry is. This connection between materials, environment and culture lead to the development of a proposed initiative between the British Wool Board and the Welsh Government, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will incentivise the production of renewable wool, as well as connecting them with welsh woollen mills to reinvigorate and incentivise the production and market of woollen garments.
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As this affirmative solution to the issue of microplastics involved the promotion of the woollen industry in Wales, communicating the heritage feeling through the visual language was key. This included taking motifs from Welsh textile designs, maintaining a clean, monochromatic colour pallet to emphasis the connection to the Welsh landscapes and implementing a cross-stitch display type, relating the visual language back to craft and materials.
To effectively contextualise the concept for the affirmative design solution, I developed a logo and visual identity concept.
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Taking inspiration and shape motifs from Welsh textile and heritage crafts, the logo takes the form of a sheep and farmer, indicating the benefit for both human and non human communities. The logotype uses a sophisticated, vintage feeling serif type to communicate the return to more traditional methods of textile production and its benefit for people and the planet.