Study Task 1 - Presentation

The presentation was a way to present your ideas to our tutors and peers in a way that would visually represent our research as of yet, in order to create a broader image of how the project could be further developed and changed if need be.

Within my presentation I began to speak about the concept behind my book, the idea being that it would be a quirky visual representation of typical LGBTQ+ culture and ‘lifestyle’. Explaining and capturing 50 years since the partial decimalisation of homosexuality within the UK and the influence it has had on today’s LGBTQ+ community. (See my brief for more details).

Within the presentation itself I began to show my primary research as of yet, I began talking about my visit to the Tate Britain, discussing queer British artwork between the late 19^th century till 1967 (the year of legalisation). I think it was essential to go to this event to give me a visual reference of the impact that the creative world had on the change and development of LGBTQ+ culture. It was also useful to be able to evaluate what these artists could get away with under their creative license without arousing suspicious interest from the governing bodies.

The second exhibition I visited to further gain an idea of visual references of the changing world, towards LGBTQ+ attitudes, was the Coming Out Exhibition; at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool. This, after the last exhibition, gave me the opportunity to figure out how the changing of the laws effected creatives; and how openly they were now able to explore and portray LGBTQ+ culture. The exhibition was an important part of my study as majority of it consisted of photography giving me the chance to see exact recording of visual developments within the community.

Within the third slide I wanted to show some other avenues I have explored within my research, rather than just artistic ways, such as the exhibitions. Whilst in London I visited Philip Normal a shop which designs clothing and accessories based on current LGBTQ+ culture. This is something that is unique and shows how the community is becoming mainstreamed, as this shop is not just something that is purely focused towards that demographic; it has been sold on shops such as BooHoo and ASOS; showing how much of an open broad market this type of product has. This is something I have discussed more within my previous blogs.

I completed the presentation by discussing my steps I need to begin to take now, these actions must be completed before I can move onto the steps of designing and scamping my designs up.

After discussing all of this information the advice I was given to continue to develop was as follows:

·      Consider if you were to have interviews does it take away the fact the book could be read by and interpreted by anyone as an informative piece and give it to much of a personal gist.

·      Consider the way in which political content is bought into the book, would it be better to leave out the political facts and just let them naturally come in throughout the other content sections.

·      Begin to take into consideration the design of the book itself, how is the content going to affect the design process/format of the book.