tutorial 4

This tutorial was heavily focussed on the practical element. The feedback on my idea so far was positive but it still needs to be thought through some more.

Practical
The current idea is to conduct primary research to see what children will be most drawn to - a pink, blue or yellow booklet. The general hypothesis is that the most popular will be the gendered approach (pink and blue), in which case it could be suitable to continue the practical with a more inclusive and gender neutral design which appeals to both boys and girls. A new activity book will be designed with techniques in mind that will be appropriate to boys and girls, rather than having extreme stereotypically gendered designs. The new design should be discussed within a focus group to see whether it is successful and appealing.

Essay
The essay feedback was good, though I thought about how the practical element was progressing and how the essay question was quite difficult to answer in general. The current question is:

"Does graphic design influence children's perception of gender?"

It was discussed that this question is very hard to prove in the limited time and methods available to me, and doesn't have much synergy with the practical element. Instead, I thought about this question:

"Does graphic design for children need to be gendered to be successful?"

This question creates room for an exploration of brands and other elements of graphic design specifically related to gender. As the practical element is based around publications a focus in the essay should also be on children's literature - a large part of chapter 3 will be dedicated to this.