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Final(ish) presentation

Made a bit more refined info graph but still so much text. Painful to read on screen. Can’t just figure out what to leave out. This is as squeezed it can be. The presentation should contain the basic info (name, school, year etc.) final illustrations, research questions, methods and case, summary of the narrative, results and conclusion. Well, for now I think this is the best I can do.

I hate how blurry the text appears. Some crazy downsizing going on thanks to the blog template I’m using.

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Subject: Illustrations for Microstock Image Banks

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The subjects of the case study are illustrations of West African characters made for microstock image banks, which are commercial collections of photography and illustrations sourced trough wide range of contributors online. These copyrighted images are licenced for multiple users for a small fee.

In the image content industry images are treated as commodities or promotional items of other commodities rather than editorial images or fine art and the viewers are treated primarily as consumers of commodities (Frosh, 2003, 3). The usual immediate customers of microstock agencies are advertising companies, marketing divisions and graphic designers (Frosh, 2003, 4). The end user is virtually unknown at the initial production stage and the target group is usually very wide or undefined.

To gain maximum sales the image must be alterable and open for interpretation and the end use should be somewhat undefined (Frosh, 2003, 72.) The illustrations for microstocks are mostly done without a design brief or the brief is very loose. This does not mean that the illustrator or photographer is free to express him or herself. He or she is restricted by the context and practises of the stock image industry within the framework of capitalist commodity production (Frosh, 2003, 5).

The goals (targeting maximum sales instead of creative expression, for example) and practises (promoting through catalogues certain kind of images that sell well, which encouraged photographers and illustrators to produce imitations of best selling images) of stock image industry have traditionally encouraged conservatism in terms of image style and content leading to constant reproduction of formulaic, generic images that create and reflect cultural stereotypes.

From 1990 onward gradual shifts in marketing practises (the shift from use of printed catalogues to online collections and acknowledgement of growing black, Asian and Hispanic middle class) have led to more frequent appearance of images that are less stereotypical and more diverse in style and content, including more images of ethnic and minority subjects. (Frosh, 2003, 5, 80.)

Infographics

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Summary of the results of the study.

Awareness of racial bias acted as a filter through which influencing factors passed. The result was disposal of concepts with racial stereotypes and hindering interference with the creative process. This led to the resolution to postpone critique and to tolerate some racial stereotypes in the design.