Researching your audience

This is a learning activity we were asked to do for Open Colleges.  Its relevance is to advertising, and the article, Typography Speaks Louder Than Words' is an example of how advertising can be offensive to people, even when no graphics are present.

Learning Activity 02

For the list of people below, write a down three things that can be visualised that might become offensive to each one.

• Person of a different gender

• Person of a different sexual orientation

• Person of a different religious belief

• Person of a different personal interest

• Person of a different culture

Example 1

Some may be offended of representations of women being portrayed as sex objects.

Example 2

People who are animals lovers may be offended by the representations of animals being treated cruelly.

Answer

People of different genders

ü      LGBT Persons: Trans-gendered people being portrayed as ‘sick’ or perverted.

ü      Women who like heavy metal music – often portrayed in a certain way (usually as highly ‘sexualised’, like a groupie, wearing leather and being into S&M).

ü      Women who choose to remain single and/or childless – many people still think there is something ‘wrong’ with that.

For anyone with a particular interest in Gender Studies (or anyone generally interested in the visual and verbal meaning of designs), the article ‘Typography Speaks Louder than Words’[1] by Carolyn Knight and Jessica Glasser (in Smashing Magazine) makes for some very compelling reading.

You can see the following examples from pages 7-9 in this article, and below is a paragraph by the authors:

Type Tarts is a UK initiative established to raise awareness of the plight of workers trafficked into the sex industry. Contributing designers are asked to send type-oriented ‘Tart cards’ for exhibition. Many London prostitutes advertise their services by displaying promotional cards in phone boxes. Even in the age of the Internet and mobile phones and in the face of police crackdowns, these cards have achieved a cult following, being highly praised and collected as art.

Both examples below use expressive typefaces and type manipulation to visually reinforce the meanings of the provocative text. In the context of the campaign, figuring out the meaning of the cards is easy enough.

'Nice and Tight' by Duncan Bancroft

With this one, the letterforms are packed tightly together and ‘geometric’/minimalistic it their appearance.  The colours used also do much of the talking – the red and white text is set against a black background, which gives it a stark appearance.

What interests me is how the letterforms are densely-packed against each other and there is particular emphasis on the ‘c’ and the ‘e’ (in ‘nice’) – these are highlighted in red and the rest of the text is white.  Furthermore, the ‘e’ is facing backwards towards the ‘c’, which can make the ‘c’ look either like it is engulfing the ‘e’ or being ‘penetrated’ by it.

There are many ‘sexual’ connotation attached this image – one can see an efficient businesswoman or sports girl, or a bit of a tomboy – who is trim, physically fit and therefore, ‘tight’.  The starkness of the colours can also represent ‘adventure’ and a ‘challenge for some men (who happen to like their women ‘nice and tight’).   There is a ‘caveat’, however, in that such seemingly mundane images can become sexualised – being ‘nice and tight’ can represent the image of being ‘young and innocent’, a ‘good girl’, even as a ‘virgin’ (to be ‘deflowered’ or conquered) – which is not good for women who don’t want men to see them as ‘sexual’ in anyway.

Big and Bouncy by Peter Fletcher

This image, on the other hand, is in pastel colours - In combination with the retro-70’s, decorative and rounded typeface, you have the letterforms also tightly packed against each other (to the point, but these forms are ‘squishy’ and thick-set in appearance.  

Hence, the image of the text conjures up images of women that are ‘hyper feminine’, have curves in the right places (and presumably, large breasts) and are therefore, ‘built for comfort’ (i.e. cuddly).  The seemingly ‘calm’ pastel colours (of pink and ‘baby blue’) usually connote ‘motherhood’, but this is offset by very bold outlines, which makes the words almost ‘sing out’ at you (which they otherwise wouldn’t do so had they not had those outlines).  Those in the Freudian school of psychoanalysis would be having a field day of this. 

Different sexual orientations

ü    LGBT Persons: Bi-sexual people being stereotyped as confused, wanting to ‘have their cake and eat it.

ü  Asexual people: regarded as having a ‘condition’, as ‘broken’, ‘cold’, ‘unloving’ or ‘unfeeling’, and no one has considered that it may be simply possible that some people can enjoy a lifestyle where they can go without sex and still be happy.

ü      LGBT Persons: gays and lesbians – while cis-gendered gay people are being included more in mainstream society, there are some people who still consider it as ‘sick’.

Different religious beliefs

ü      Muslims might resent being portrayed as terrorists and as misogynists, in the news.

ü      Catholics, Anglicans and other ‘mainstream’ churches – the recent news articles portray them as paedophiles (and while it may be true, we have to consider that they may have done a lot of ‘good work’ for people in need as well).

ü   Pagans – e.g. Wiccans, regarded as sacrificing animals and virgins: many that I know of personally are the opposite and love animals.

Different personal interests

ü      Heavy metal fans: portrayed as taking drugs, committing crimes, devil-worshipping etc (ditto for rap fans, punks, skinheads and Rastafarians – minus the devil worship, however)

ü  Trade unions – seen as ‘bludgers’, thugs, having connections to the ‘mafia’, even, as a disruption to (and drain on) productivity – yet, where would we workers be without them?

ü    Fans of sci-fi (science fiction) and gaming – portrayed as anti-social, as nerds or ‘emo’, as someone who lives in their parents’ basement, playing video games at all hours and eating junk food.

Different cultures

ü  The ‘sexualisation’ and/or romanticisation of people from different cultures e.g. Native Americans (this is a prime example, where even the men are sexualised – i.e. shown as wearing little, if any, clothing and often are shown with their shirts off); another example includes Hispanic/Latina women.

ü   Portraying other cultures as the opposite of ‘sexy’ – where they are amusing e.g. Chinese, Irish, Scottish people.

ü      Australian Aboriginals: often do not like to see images and hear voices of deceased people on TV or the radio.

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[1]Knight, C, and Glasser, J (2012): When Typography Speaks Louder Than Words, in Smashing Magazine,  https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/when-typography-speaks-louder-than-words/; last updated on the 13^th of April, 2012.