DESIGN PRINCIPLES - FINAL PROJECT

Dk Nur Reem Rashah Pg Mohammad Apri (0336605)
Design Principles
Final project

INSTRUCTIONS:


Final project:

For our final project, we were instructed to explore and perceive a variety of Malaysian billboards and take inspiration from the content presented within a preferred billboard. I chose to do my final project based on a Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) billboard that was located in KL.  

Fig 1.0 Chosen billboard - YSL advert

Before anything, I decided to do some research on YSL as a brand. It is a French, luxury fashion house that was founded by Yves Saint Laurent. Although they sell fashion items, they also sell cosmetics which include makeup, fragrance and many more. The billboard I chose to do this project on was focused on advertising the new makeup collection YSL has launched. Hence, I decided to do further research on their makeup line. 

I found that YSL did not state whether they are cruelty-free in terms of animal testing. After researching, I found out that YSL products are sold in mainland China. This automatically means that are not cruelty-free as it is known that any products that are sold in mainland China have to go through animal testing.

Based on my foundings, I wanted to present a message within my piece that encourages the cruelty-free movement. 

Fig 1.1 Closer look on the image of the advert seen on YSL billboard

I decided to go online and try to look for the image seen on the billboard so that I can get a closer and clearer look of the advert. Thankfully, I found the same image, as seen in Fig. 1.2. I decided that I wanted my final piece to be quite similar to the advert in terms of the colour scheme as well as the model.

Fig 1.2 Sketch of initial idea on representing an anti-cruelty message

My initial idea was to have specific kinds of animals (rabbits, mice, and guinea pigs) that are usually used for animal testing surround themselves around the model. I wanted to make eyes an important motif within the piece because it is usually the animal's eyes that will be severely affected by the testings done to them. So, I wanted to place animal eyes within an oozing liquid that resembles both blood and melting red lipstick. Though, I decided against it because I thought it might look too crowded with the multiple eyes included. Instead, I made the red melting liquid a recurring image which will be seen in the background, on the animals as well as the model.

Fig. 1.3 Final outcome for the final project

Description:

For this piece, I wanted to portray a red melting liquid as a motif in order to represent both blood and melted lipstick (in the production of a lipstick, lipsticks are usually melted and mixed with hot wax and this liquid mixture is then poured into containers) as it implies that in the process of making the lipstick, blood was shed.  This is the reason why you can see red liquid oozing off the animals' eyes, the model's lips as well as the background. The overall message of the piece is to encourage the cruelty-free movement by showcasing the dark side of the beauty industry.