Interim Presentation

Initially we presented our four concepts that we made for independent study in a group of four. I used my suit one from last week as well as three new ones:

In a group we decided which one was the strongest: they liked the suit one the most, and thought it was the clearest.

Then we went around everyone's work and wrote on the critique sheets.

People recognised that my poster is about "LGBT inequality", "homophobia/transphobia etc", and said that the central issue was recognisable "after a slight bit", and another person said that it was with the text but otherwise not sure.
They said the jackets helped show the message that it's about the workplace, and also have connotations about the closet. The rainbow is an obvious indicator of LGBTQ pride. Someone mentioned "the purple one" was  not as clear: it's the bisexual flag so I guess people don't know that as well. The other ones are the asexual, aromantic and trans pride flags which I doubt most people recognise as well either, but I feel like if they're by the rainbow flag people can assume they're other pride flags.

People thought my specific issue was: fear of coming out because of homophobia, being closeted because of discrimination etc, and someone also thought I was saying it's harder for trans people to come out (because the trans flag is the one being hidden), which is true - I put the trans flag as the closeted one because trans people face more discrimination, though I am commenting on general lgbq discrimination in the workplace as well. Considering both of the comments, I guess that works well? for people who don't know much about lgbtq issues, they see that it's about general discrimination and get that message, and someone who knows more about lgbtq issues will see that it's about those who are more marginalised within the lgbtq community as well.
Someone also commented that the text (1/3 of lgbtq new zealanders remain closeted at work, which I mostly erased so that people will not just look at it first instead of the image) helped make obvious the specific issue and that I should keep it. I wonder if I can make it more succint, or something that doesn't just specify what the image already says.

discussion and rapid ideation

Critique/Ideate/Make

In class we critiqued our poster ideas from independant study - I had two (below). They thought the suit one worked well, though there are a variety of ways I could make it simpler or more succinct/subtle. The butterfly one is more ambiguous - they weren't sure if it was good or bad. My intentions behind it were: the rainbow is a subtle shadow/rainbow reflection thing & it's about not assuming people are straight just because straight is considered 'default' or they 'look like it' (the caterpillar part being b&w). I like this idea still, but maybe it needs something else added? maybe it the other butterflies were pointier? We discussed forms of rhetoric and how to use them in our concepts.
We also did some rapid ideation, which helped get a few starting points for some concepts, and worked on developing ideas a bit more.

Ideation

Understand/Ideate

For independent I continued researching my topic (I've decided to stay with LGBTQ) and various related symbols.
In class we did some more brainstorming in groups, then used random input to make some quick poster concepts. I'm not sure about mine yet, I will need to do a lot more concepts before I get something I'm happy with, but it's definitely a helpful way to get lots of different ideas for the posters.

Debate and Brainstorming

Understand/Define/Ideate

We held our debate, which went quite well. It was easier being on the against side since most people agree that NZ is not inherently equal. We then made brainstorms in groups about different aspects of inequality, with visual aspects too, to help decide on a direction for our work. Then we split into pairs to make two posters of an idea. Evie and I decided to choose the wage gap (gender wise). They get the point across, but aren't particularly interesting, or NZ specific.

Introduction

Understand/Define

We were introduced to the topic, and looked at some poster examples and discussed them in groups.
Then we got into our debate groups, and sorted out what we are going to research. Our group is doing against (aka NZ is not equal) and I am going to focus my research on LGBTQ issues (gender identity and sexuality, etc) because I spend a lot of time in lgbtq oriented online spaces, follow lots of lgbtq activists/organisations on social media, and am pretty much the president of massey wellington UniQ and not straight myself - aka I already have a lot of knowledge about the topic(s).