Project Statement

Within my essay i explored the ways in which mainstream advertising present unrealistic ideas of femininity, through this research my main findings included gaining an understanding in to the way in which society impacts the way women and their bodies are viewed and therefore influences the ways products are advertised, with one of the main areas of research within my essay revolving around female sanitary brands, looking at leading brands and the ideas of femininity they present.
As noted in my essay, Whistnant and Zegans argue that menstruation is viewed as a hygienic rather than maturational crisis, when looking at Bodyform's Bloodnormal video advertisement, it did not appear that menstruation was being treated as a hygienic issue, rather the focus was on young women, learning who they are and dealing with menstruation throughout it all. 
When this taboo breaking advertisement was compared to their current sanitary product packaging, it was clear that the two weren't visually cohesive, nor did the two communicate the same message.
Bodyform is an example of a brand who present realistic ideas of femininity through their advertisements and online presence, however their packaging communicated ideas that supported Whistant and Zegans' previous argument through the emphasis on cleanliness within the language on the current packaging and in result present unrealistic ideas of femininity, it was felt that in order for the band to appear sincere and visually cohesive with their online persona that the packaging should be redesigned. 
Throughout my essay i gained an awareness of how all design can be considered an advertisement, with sanitary products on the shelves of supermarkets acting as advertisements for the brand, this influenced the decision to redesign Bodyform inspired by their Bloodnormal advertisement, so that the brands message is clear and can be spread throughout across all available platforms. 
Although i do feel as if the decisions throughout this design have been appropriate and in result my final outcome effectively communicates the empowering & taboo breaking attitude Bodyform present, my issues with the outcome lie with the overall production, i feel that if more consideration was given to the materials then the final outcome would have been produced in a much more sustainable and clean way. Although, with this being said the overall design achieves all the criteria i set out out the beginning of the brief; the colour pallet straight away addresses the stigma around period blood by using colours which women can personally identify as they're the colours they experience whilst menstruating, further to this the language is very direct, encouraging; encourages women to start conversations about periods. The feature illustration is a very successful element of the design due to the way it utilises otherwise wasted space, it's empowering, eye catching and directly links to the Bloodnormal advertisement. 
Overall i believe the practical outcome addresses and challenges the unrealistic ideas of femininity presented within mainstream advertising through the stigma breaking, realistic, modern and informed final outcome which has the ability to lead way for other leading brands to change the stigma surrounding menstruation. 

Evaluation

Throughout all of the cop modules over the past 3 years this one has been the most rewarding for myself as i finally focused on a topic i'm interested in, and i feel this really helped be continue to be engaged in both the research and writing part of the brief as well as the practical.
I feel as if i enjoyed this module due to the fact that the issue of gender in advertising is something which effects myself, as well as it being such a contemporary issue which meant that there was plenty of relevant information available to explore.

The essay was engaging due to the fact that i was constantly finding out new information around the ways in which female products are advertised, until this module i never really paid much attention to how sanitary products are packaged and advertised, but i've realised, through my essay, that this is due to the fact that these are norms of society which are engrained in girls from such an early age.
When it came to actually looking in to the packaging of the sanitary products i was quite surprised that i hadn't realised the issues with it sooner as they were so obvious once i really paid attention to each element. I believe the fact that i had personal experience with being a menstruating woman, and growing up in today's society with periods always being a secret that you shouldn't talk about, it helped me redesign Bodyform as a brand in to something that i, a young woman would be proud to buy and would want to show other women and star discussions about menstruation.

What was interesting was the fact that whilst in the classroom writing my essay or analysing female products, my male friends would comment on how unrealistic women's products are, it gave me confirmation that what i was researching and designing was a contemporary issue that really mattered, and even from just using rd on the packaging, it's more progressive, current and taboo breaking than any other mainstream brand on the shelves of supermarkets.
This module and the findings within my essay have inspired by to create more practical solutions to the issues i raised within my essay, such as advertising pregnancy tests to women who want the reassurance that they're not pregnant, perhaps a 'just because i buy the test doesn't mean i want a yes' kind of campaign to help break down the stigma around women having sex for pleasure not procreation.

Further Considerations

If this redesign was to be used by Bodyform, i think having different versions of the box, depicting women of different ethnicities and body sizes would be a good way of ensuring the brand is a brand for all women. Above is an example of how the same concept as the ones used on the my redesign could be used to show a different type of woman, to ensure very woman feels represented.

Photoshoot

I decided to take photos of the sanitary pad box to capture the whole design, i used a pink fluffy backdrop (using a section of a carpet). I chose to use such a stereotypical feminine backdrop to contrast with the actual design, which redefines the use of pink within sanitary packaging design; using the colour as a representative of period blood. I believe the choice of backdrop is appropriate as it works in contrast to a design which redefines femininity.

I didn't have access to a photography studio and so i used a light-box which i already had to light the box correctly, i really like the overtly feminine look of the final images as i feel they really fit not only the colour pallet of the design but the also help to further the message.

When it came to constructing the sanitary box, due to the fact it was digitally printed on o white card, the white paper began to come through after binding the box together; however i touched up the final images on photoshop in order to more accurately depict how they would appear if they were to be manufactured by Bodyform and mass produced. 

Production

Given i had organised my time better i would have had the opportunity to attend a digital print session where i could get my net printed in double side; having an appropriate colour on the reverse/inside of the box, however i had to use the digital print drop off service which only allowed one side printing and so i have layered pink card no the inside of the net to have colour consistency with the exterior of the design.

I printed 3 copies of the net just to be safe incase i made any errors, using a knife i cut out the net and serrated the flaps of the design, i then applied double sided tape to stick the box together with the lid movingly freely so the box can be resealed.

Upon reflection, it would of been wiser to use a paper stock which was already coloured, as when it came to assembling the box, parts of the white stock began to come through after bending certain parts for sticking together, however if this was actually for Bodyform, then i doubt people would be binding the box by hand, and so this wouldn’t be an issue.

Social Relevance

After completing my final design and having bound my essay, i went on twitter in the evening and one of the top news stories can be seen on the right, stating that Gender stereotyping is to be banned in UK advertising.

As my essay centres around unrealistic portrayals of femininity within mainstream advertising, i feel my essay and whole project is now even more socially relevant. 



As seen in the tweet below, advertisements will no longer be able to suggest that transforming your body will make you romantically successful; i actually touched upon this subject within my essay in terms of the ways women's razors are advertised. I pointed out how over sexualised these advertisements were, and often centred around a narrative of men touching women's hairless legs in a romantic setting; suggesting that being hairless will make you more attractive to men.


I'm really glad that change is beginning to happen within female specific advertising, and this new rule has made me hopeful that more of the issues i pointed out within my essay may begin to change in the future, even if it isn't immediate; this is a step in the right direction.

Final Design (net)

Above is the final net design for the Bodyform sanitary pack redesign, when i set out to design this, the initial criteria i set for myself was the following: 

the design should be inspired by the blood normal campaign, be uplifting and encouraging, be modern and stylish, be real and above all break the taboos surrounding menstruation. 

Inspired by the blood normal campaign: the design has been heavily influenced by the blood normal video advertisement, language and imagery have both been used throughout the design in order to communicate the strong message that no blood should hold us (women) back. 

Uplifting and encouraging: I believe the uplifting and encouraging elements have been communicated through the brands overall colour pallet which makes blood normal, and not something that should be hidden.

Modern and Stylish: when comparing this redesign to the current bodyform design it's objectively more modern and stylish through the use of a minimal but relevant colour pallet, the use of bold sans serif type and contrasting tones. 

Break taboos: My main aim throughout this design was to break the taboos surrounding mensuration, from my essay i found that society as a whole has an issue and preconception with menstrual blood; referring to it as dirty, and telling women and girls that it's something they should be ashamed of and hide. This design however  does the opposite, red has been used everywhere, although it's such a simple decision to include red, the fact that no other mainstream brands use red means that it's treated as a taboo. By using tones women can associate with menstruation, along with the relevant illustration inspired from the advert, and the use of bold 'break the taboo' text placed throughout the design i believe that with this design the taboo surrounding period blood has been addressed and hopefully broken.