OUGD404 - Brief 02 - Research for Content

For this brief, I want to make a book that examines alter egos, identity and changes in personality. I want to attempt to make an accordion folded publication, using concertina techniques. Most of the content that will be used in the design will be self generated: I will be collecting quotes, information and my own self generated imagery and photography, but I will use the internet as a reference tool and to gather useful content such as definitions, quotes, historical and contextual information. In the brief, it says we must produce a minimum of 10 double page spreads, I won't have any problems with this, in fact I intend on producing more than 10. We must demonstrate awareness of editorial and layout design and I feel that the content that I am going to produce will do this well. 

I first looked for definitions on the internet to get the ball rolling with this brief. I first looked for definitions of 'alter ego's'.

An alter ego (Latin, "the other I" or "sub-conscious" ) is a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. A person who has an alter ego is said to lead a double life. The term appeared in common usage in the early 19th century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists. Cicero was the first to coin the term as part of his philosophical construct in 1st century Rome, but he described it as "a second self, a trusted friend" - for my book, I will recruit models to dress up in various forms of drag, and ask them to drastically alter their appearance. I will collect quotes, facts and memorable pieces of information from them to use as my main body of content and really push my layout and typesetting skills in this department. The photography is something that I am not really worried about as I am confident with portrait photography, I am actually really looking forward to this aspect of the project. 

Inspiration: Andy Warhol in drag: In the 1980s, as Warhol was getting older, he decided to do a series of poloroid self portraits of himself in various forms of female drag. I find these images inspiring and really entertaining to look at, as well as moving and emotional. The style of portraiture is the thing that I am concerned with in relation to this brief. I want to pay homage to Warhol within my book, and imitate his style of portraiture to create a small unique publication that tells a story about the art of drag and altering of personalities and egos. 

http://www.thelowry.com/events/andy-warhol-divas/the-divas/altered-ego/
 I know that I want my final publication to have a unique premium feel and look to it, and for this reason, I have focused the majority of my research to date on art and design magazines as well as fashion magazines. I really love and draw massive inspiration from these types of publication.  

I looked at underground gay culture magazines for layout design inspiration as well as magazines that are aimed at people of my age group and are interested in similar things. The two magazines which gave me the most inspiration for this brief are BUTT and OUT magazines. I want my publication to feel like a zine and a unique publication, almost like a fact file or booklet full of modelling head shots. One of the biggest inspirations for this brief so far for me has been BUTT magazine. BUTT is a queer magazine that has a very strong aesthetic that I find interesting. The typesetting, layout, colour use and stock choices of these publications are brilliant and provided me with plenty of food for thought when it came to designing my double page spreads. 


The typography used in these publications also influenced my typographic treatments for this brief. The header type and body copy type is beautiful and highly appropriate for the content.  

Significantly, BUTT uses all pink stock. This is something I want to experiment with when it comes to test printing my spreads. Black and white images look great when printed onto coloured stock.