COP 3 - Project Statement

I believe my theoretical work and practical investigation link very well together and work alongside each other really nicely.

I started my essay by discussing gender and how it is portrayed in today's society. I discussed masculinity and how it can be seen to be in 'crisis' recently, especially in the media. Mark Latham, Anthony Clare and Grayson Perry all featured in my theoretical work as I discussed their views on modern masculinity. Similarly, I talked about femininity and how it has evolved over the years - and how it is now more of a stereotype of a women's role from the past. Following this I briefly discussed modern issues such as gender fluidity and queer theory, talking about how we can move away from stereotypical gender roles and break boundaries. This discussion on gender really informed my work as I was able to take lots of information away and put it into practice in a design sense. A stereotype would be that women spend more time in the kitchen than men, and men are less interested in cooking. I hinted towards this stereotype in my designs in multiple ways, one being naming the women's brand 'Lucy's Kitchen'. Adding a name gave it a personal, hand-crafted feel and the word ‘kitchen’ alluded to the idea that the food was fresh and homemade, something that research suggests women find appealing. Similarly, I added elements on the men's packaging to highlight quick cooking time and the 'no touch, no stir, no fuss' sticker highlighted the ease of cooking. 

In my theoretical work I then went on to discuss 'man foods' and talked about products such as Yorkie chocolate and HP sauce. In this section of the essay I looked at how different products can be aimed at particular genders, and mentioned how Galaxy and Cadbury's Crispello chocolate is very much marketed towards women. It was informative to look at different ways products can be branded and marketed in order to appeal to particular genders, and I took a lot from this when it came to designing my own products. I was intrigued by the way products such as Yorkie and HP Sauce focused on the 'Real Man' demographic, where everything was based on being 'real'. I used this idea when I came up with the brand name for the men's product 'Proper Grub Food Co.'. ‘Proper’ was added as an informal British term, which implies that the food is ‘genuine’ or ‘real’. ‘Realness’ is something that Grayson Perry discusses in his book The Descent of Man, where he implies authenticity, genuineness and legitimacy is the ‘pinnacle of hetero masculinity’. I also felt that having ‘Co.’ at the end of the name added an industrial element that again hinted towards a more masculine feel.

In the 'Designing for Gender' section of my essay, I looked at research into the type of design that appeals most to each gender. Research suggested that women prefer free-flowing, curved or rounded shapes whilst men typically prefer more geometric shapes such as squares or straight-lined shapes. I also talked about how men respond better to cool tones and achromatic colours such as black and grey, whilst women generally prefer lighter and warmer colours. Knowing this, I chose to use a circular plastic tray to base my women's sleeve around, which was translucent white in colour. For the men's sleeve, I chose a black, rectangular shaped tray. I followed this pattern for the actual sleeve designs themselves, using darker, more earthy colours for the men's designs and lighter ones for the women's. 

However, in my theoretical work I discussed how gender stereotypes can be taken too far, and instances such as Stonemill Bakehouse Wellbeing Bread line were mentioned. They used pink for the women's bread and a dark brown for the men's. The men's product was a hearty barley and rye bread fortified with magnesium, whilst the women's bread was a milder hemp and quinoa blend with 30% less dough used. After an angry backlash, Stonemill apologised for the products and discontinued their production. Research suggests that when gender stereotyping is taken too far, it patronises and alienates consumers. For this reason, I tried not to be too obvious with the decisions I made for my own designs, staying away from the typical 'blue for boys, pink for girls' approach. I used implicit cues in my packaging to hint at gender, rather than actually using 'for men' or 'for women'. This resulted in effective gender marketing without being sexist or stereotypical. 

Overall, I believe my practical investigation reflected everything I had learnt and discussed in my theoretical work, and put lots of points of discussion into play physically.