Cosmetics

=The Make-Up of Cosmetics by Antoinette Tsang=

Design Rationale
In this research assignment I took a deeper look at the make-up of cosmetics. I studied the production and development in the creation of cosmetics, and then explored the manufacturing process post-production. Following this, I investigated the connotative signs and implications that cosmetics exude as a medium. With this research I categorized important information, in attempt to find relationships and connections. As a result a loose concept map was created, information was organized under the categories of ‘production and development’, ‘manufacture’, ‘consumer’ and ‘society and culture’. The design of the concept map reflected the medium. Cosmetics can be seen as an expressive art form, where individuals ‘draw’ on a ‘canvas’. This idea was taken and used in the visual appearance and style techniques of the map. Sketchy lines, lose colouring, and a vibrant palette was used to create the look of hand-drawn imagery, (representing the tools used in cosmetics). This technique was then carried into the map itself, using hand-drawn lines to connect ideas and loose colouring to create visual hierarchy and connections.

Challenges
The biggest challenge was organizing the information. During the research stage, information was collected in a particular order and put under many different categories. As a result, when transferring this, the information remained in sub-categories. Thus making relationships was difficult. Too many examples were included which produced too many sub-connections between themselves. Instead I had to go back to the beginning and remove unnecessary or additional information. Another obstacle was organizing the information within the concept map. There was a lot of information, not to mention the connective lines, thus creating a map that was readable and not cluttered was difficult. Information was shifted around many times before the final result.

Learning Outcomes
This was definitely a challenging assignment. Not only were we required to create a readable and visually appealing design, but we were also obligated to research the topic of our choice. Critical thinking was very important as it brought out new ideas and concept that were vital to a concept map. What I found interesting was the exploration of ordinary objects, such as cosmetics, as a medium and a cultural artifact. In this assignment I learned a lot about the creation of concept maps as well as my own medium.

=Process Work:=

Information Gathered from Research
This was a quick attempt at creating some relationships that I gathered during my research stage. Groups were created based on information and relationships were established.



Extensive Research
Finalizing the broader contexts of cosmetics as a medium, I further dissected those categories by taking a closer look and studying deeper within. This is all the information that was included in my final.

First Attempt at Concept Map
This was my first attempt at organizing the information within a concept map. The more I connected the lines, the more I realized that the placement of information was vital. Half-way through this I stopped and restarted again.

Another failed attempt...
This was one of my many failed attempts at incorporating some design elements to the concept map. I realized that working within a square made it very difficult to organize my information. I also realized that my information was incorrectly categorized, meaning they should not be in 'categories' to begin with. The reason for this was because I had researched my medium within categories and had left them that way. When creating my map I had failed to acknowledge this fact, which also added to the stress of reorganizing the content numerous times.



Getting Closer...
After many trials, I began to get closer to my final product. The design of this map is a reflection of what cosmetics may portray. Make-up requires many substances and tools that are applied to the face. This idea of face-painting influenced the hand-sketched, quickly coloured technique that was applied. The typeface I chose for my title comes from the Bodoni family. I felt the stylistic appearance of Bodoni emphasized the fashion trends of cosmetics. The sub-categories such as "production & development" and "manufacture" come from the Baskerville typeface. This was because it was easier to read Baskerville at smaller point sizes when compared to Bodoni.

At this stage I ran into many problems. One of which was the layout of my information. It was suggested during critique that I gave more hierarchy and separated information that did not belong to one another. "Product & Development" is very different then "Society & Culture" so why treat them the same? I also included too much unnecessary information, creating lists of examples that cluttered the overall appearance. With these extra examples, too many smaller connections and relationships existed that did not contribute to the study of cosmetics as a medium. Instead it created more dead-ends and 'webs of confusion', as I like to call them. As solution, I removed the gray text (see above) and worked with the black text first. Working with one item at a time allowed me to create more logical hierarchy.

Another suggestion made was to incorporate the feeling and technique of the border, into the actual concept map. At first I thought that this would create more clutter, however once removing the unnecessary plethora of examples, it definitely helped unify my map.



Final Product
And voila! This is my final concept map. I used colour and different type sizes, to create hierarchy and to separate ideas from one another. Overall I like the outcome of this assignment. At first I was not satisfied with what I had created, but did not understand why. However the more I analyze my design the more it grows on me. It was definitely a challenging assignment, but a lot was learned. =)

- Antoinette Tsang