2. Campaign purpose
The purpose of my campaign was to raise awareness for domestic
violence in men. This is because from my survey answers it was clear
that a lot of people didn’t know the facts and statistics of it nor did I
myself and also didn’t consider or realise it to be as bad as the abuse
towards women, but nonetheless I knew that there was not enough
support out there for male victims, because you hear and see a lot
about helping supporting women, but I never have for men. So I
decided my message was to make people realise that just because
they’re male doesn’t mean they cannot suffer.
There are also very few organisations/shelters for male victims
compared to women as I found in my research, because when
searching ‘domestic violence in women’ the lists of websites were
endless, whereas when Googling ‘domestic violence in men’ I only
found a handful of websites that included male support and only a
couple were dedicated to male victims.
4. Logo ideas
When creating my logo ideas I first of all came up with the ‘1three’ idea, which I thought was a clever way to address the fact, but
then from feedback from peers I released it actually was not clear enough what I was trying to say/tell them. So that led me onto my
next idea which was the ‘3one’ on the left, once I thought of that idea I obviously stuck with it because I knew that was the best idea
out of all of them, then I realised some slight changes needed to be made to it in order to make it look better but using the same
idea. The changes I made were; first of all the font, I decided it was too gothic and thick because it was the font ‘impact’, so I changed
it and used the font ‘Helvetica Neue’ which was a really good one to use because it had lots of different options like thin, light, ultra
light, regular, bold and italics etc. This came in useful when creating my posters because it made it easy to use typography and visual
hierarchy for my text facts. Furthermore I decided to make the colours masculine so that the message was even more obvious. I
decided not to use black because it looked quite dull and bland, when testing colours out I realised how well the dark grey worked
with blue, and by making ‘one’ blue it was emphasis on the ‘one’ being male. After this before adding the wording at the bottom, I
asked a few of my peers if they understood what the number and word was meant to say/mean, everyone understood it perfectly
but one person did not. I knew the message was quite clear but just incase others miss-interpreted I wanted to add the wording so
that it was explaining to people and giving more of an idea of what I was trying to say, also so that when my logo is seen it is
understood without needing explanation alongside.
After this for a while during production when making my merchandise, posters and typography, I thought my logo was finished and
exactly how I wanted it, but then I came up with the idea to add the stick man into my logo somewhere, so I went back onto
Photoshop and tried and tested where to put it and realised it looked best inside the ‘o’ of the ‘one’ because it was even more
emphasis on the one being male, I felt this made my logo even easier to understand because it is actually showing people it is about
men, I also went on to use the male symbol on one of my posters to replace the ‘1` in ‘1 in 3`.
5. Are each your pieces fit for your
intended purpose?
I was particularly happy with this poster because
this not only was the whole message of my
campaign but it was also my first intentions for a
poster. I would definitely say this poster is fit for
purpose because it promotes my campaign in the
exact way I wanted it to and it’s the right style and
appearance to have the right effect on someone – it
looks dull and depressing which is the message and
the whole idea, you can read as well as see that
there is one man in every three people affected by
domestic violence. This poster is very simplistic and
easy to read, also featuring my logo which is also
prominent on the poster, but at the same time as it
is making people realise about male victims and it
being possibly quite a slightly unpleasant poster to
look at in a sad way, it is still appropriate and not
too upsetting so it could be used anywhere for
anyone to see because it is not harmful.
6. Are each your pieces fit for your
intended purpose?
These two posters are very similar which I
purposefully did so that if they were used for
their intentions, there would be a similar pattern
and style but with different facts on each poster
so that people would get to know my posters
and themes and the campaign would be well
known. On both posters I made ‘male` the most
prominent word, this is because it will be the
first thing people’s eyes are drawn to when they
look at the poster, which makes the message
very clear and the purpose of my campaign easy
to understand. I also added the hash tag
underneath so that it could possibly become a
trend on twitter or some sort of social media,
this would help my campaign if it was to be used
for the intended purpose, more awareness and
help would be raised the more the word is
spread.
7. Are each your pieces fit for your
intended purpose?I am very happy with this poster because it is very simple and doesn’t
use much information but it tells a victims story very quickly and
effectively. I think if it was to be used for its purpose and the poster
was put up for example around town or at a doctors alongside a help
leaflet, it would really make people realise what victims go through,
and of course not just women, men too, which is the aim of my
campaign. I think what makes this poster so successful for its poster is
that without going into detail, the fonts emphasize the seriousness of
the situation, ‘attacks` is an aggressive and large font, ‘denies` is in
italics which I used to try and emphasize the easiness of lying for the
offenders, I reversed the word ‘reverse` because the victims are
always made to feel guilty or responsible in some way, ‘victim` is in
quite a rounded but bold font and I added a drop shadow because the
word stands out and they are the most important person in this and
the most important word on the poster. Finally I put ‘offender` in a big
blocked and outlined text so it looks dangerous and serious. I first of
all had these words on their own then I decided to add the wording
underneath to create a story in which domestic abuse usually goes so
that people are aware that the victims hide things, the offender lies
and blames the victim making them feel responsible, and usually once
they have abused the victim once and they keep quiet, they are very
likely to do it again. So this is not only raising awareness for male
victims, but it is also helping other people spot the signs and it may
help people in an abusive relationship realise and get help, which are
all aims of my campaign. I am mainly challenging dominant
representations and agendas, by telling people that males are victims
too, and they suffer just as much.
8. Are your pieces fit for your
intended purpose?
I think my merchandise is fit for purpose because not
only does the logo look really good on clothing and
other accessories like a tote bang, a phone case and a
travel mug, but I think because of the simplicity of the
design on the T-shirt people would be happy to wear
it, because often people would love to raise
awareness but a lot of people do not want to wear a
T-shirt that is in your face and too much. My
merchandise is quite subtle yet it gets the message
across whilst still looking nice. I also think this
products would be perfect for their purpose because
all these products are things you see in people the
most/all the time. I particularly think men will wear
the clothes because of the stickman and the
emphasis on the male colours, but on the other hand
women are usually more open and willing to speak
out on these sorts of things so even if it is aimed at
men In order to raise awareness some women may
wear the clothes too, particularly if they know
someone who has been a victim as did a lot of people
in my survey and it meant they felt quite strongly
about domestic abuse.
9. Are your pieces fit for your intended
purpose?
My merchandise pieces are quite a conventional
style that you would expect to see in campaign
products. The logo is very clear and good quality and
the hash tag underneath makes it very clear as to
what the campaign is and what I am trying to raise
awareness for.
As I said before about the clothing, some
merchandise material is very in your face and full of
information, but I purposefully made mine quite
plain and simple to understand, but still raising
awareness and making the subject prominent,
because of this I think for it’s purpose it would be
quite popular because people would be willing to
use/wear it with it being quite nice and simple
colours and not too in your face, because although I
want the campaign to stand out, I also want people
to be willing to wear/use my merchandise material
so they have to also look good and be subtle in a way
but still getting the message across.
10. Comparison (P)
In comparison to my posters, I would say the
style and feel of these posters are very similar to
mine. This is because they are very dark and
depressing, and the writing stands out a lot just
like mine does, making it so that it stands out the
most, but the people also stand out especially
the women because she is wearing red which
matches the writing. The main is wearing a white
shirt which slightly stands out and the white
blocked text is a slightly duller white in
comparison to the second poster, which actually
matches his shirt. They also have a few different
versions of this style poster as they are very
similar to each other just using different genders,
which is also similar to mine, I wanted to create a
pattern of style using different facts so that if
used for their purpose m style would be
recognized without even looking at my logo.
11. Comparison(TP)
This poster is very similar to my typography
poster in a way that it uses the same scenarios as
mine, it is displayed in a very similar way in
which the most important words like
‘PUNCHING’ ‘KICKING YOU’ ‘SPITTING ON YOU’
etc. which grabs your attention. But it tells a
story just like mine does and it is short and
snappy but very effective and when you read it
you imagine the situation in your head.
12. Comparison (M)
My merchandise was similar to the existing I
used for my mood boards in a way in which it
is communicating the same message, and it
has the same aims. My designs are slightly
more similar to these ones but it still gets the
message across easily and effectively. Some of
these T-shirts like the Mona Lisa one is using
creative techniques which in a way play on
people’s heart strings a little more because it
makes you imagine the violence happening to
someone.
In terms of the mug design I created a travel
mug, but these designs are mostly quite
simplistic like my design, they include simple
text of their message and logo, then an image
for their logo or message.
13. Do they communicate your message
clearly? (P&TP)
My posters definitely communicate my message clearly
because each of them has a different fact on it which are
all very easy to read and understand, and my typography
poster is particularly easy to understand whilst being
effectively done because not only are you telling people
a short story of what goes on with domestic abuse, but
because of the fonts I chose you are also making them
imagine what it must be like because it is adding
emotion/emphasis on the words.
This also communicates my message clearly and
effectively because the font shows a lot of
aggression/detail into the story because it is a visual
representation of the words and their meaning, and
what each word means for the perpetrator/victim, and
the positive/negative effects are also very clear, this
allows the reader to understand the victims situation
even more so from the attitude/style of each of the
texts.
14. Do they communicate your message
clearly? (M)In my opinion my merchandise
communicates my message very
clearly because the design is very
simple and straight forward, my logo
is clear and easy to understand
because it has a male symbol on it,
and ‘one in three’ is written at the
bottom, and on one of my designs
for my clothing I added
‘#breakthesilencestoptheviolence’
underneath the logo, so it is even
clearer to people what I am referring
to when I quote ‘one in three’. I think
it also prominently raises awareness
for male victims of domestic violence
and informs people it does also
happen to males and that they are
just as important.
15. Are they appropriate for your target
audience?
My target audience was male victims,
but I also generally aimed it at all
audiences to get the message across to
every person that it can happen to
men too, and it is just as serious and
important. They are appropriate to
male victims especially because I have
made them all look masculine so it is
clear who they are aimed at. I have
used the colour blue for my logo and
throughout my posters and
merchandise, I also used the male
symbol in my logo and on my posters.
16. Comparing and contrasting original
intentions to outcomes (L&P)
In terms of my logo, my original intention was very
much the same as my outcome, I planned to use
the one in 3 logo, I did not immediately decide on
the colours and fonts, but after finishing planning I
knew what it was going to look like, and it mostly
turned out exactly the same. The only difference
was during planning I did not think of using the
male symbol in the ‘one’, I only came up with the
idea during production, so that is the only
difference in my logo planning and the actual
outcome.
My logos also turned out very much as I planned,
my aim was to make the images used look very
dark and depressing – I achieved this. I also
planned to use facts on each poster and use text
hierarchy to make the key words stand out at
people – I also achieved this and it ended up being
a lot more effective than I expected.
17. Comparing and contrasting original
intentions to outcomes (M)
I am very happy with how my merchandise
turned out because I feel that it is a simplistic
design that still looks fashionable and I think
people would be willing to wear it in order to
raise awareness. My original intentions were to
make the T-shirts filled with text/images but I
realised it would make them very tacky once
trying the designs out and I wanted people to
take them seriously so I kept it very simple using
my logo and tagline
‘#BreakTheSilenceStopTheViolence’.
18. How effective are the techniques you have
used to get your message across?
I would say the techniques I have used are very effective because they get my message across very well
and clearly. My aim was to make male victims of domestic violence feel like they can confide in
someone without feeling embarrassed, because there is nothing to be embarrassed about. My message
was not only to male victims but to the general public too because I wanted to make them realise that
just because males are physically stronger doesn’t mean they still cannot be physically or emotionally
hurt.
In terms of my posters, I purposefully made them look dark and dull to grab people’s attention, and also
because I want people to imagine in their heads what it must be like for a victim of domestic abuse, and
I think my posters help do this. On two of my posters where I had a picture of Lee on his own, I thought
of the idea of editing him to have a black eye to add more emphasis to the situation males are in too,
not just women. All these techniques do make my campaign products look quite dull, but although my
message is to help and support male victims, I want people to look at my posters and the facts and be
taken back and shocked, because my biggest aim in this campaign is to stop people from thinking that
men cannot suffer. My survey helped me realise what message I wanted to send out in my campaign
and what I wanted my focus to be, for example the top right, it is commonly thought that men are a lot
more dangerous than women, but in my campaign I tried to show people that yes, men are physically
stronger and capable of being more dangerous, but take a man who isn’t an abuser, but is being abused
by a woman and would never or could never hit back, so who is more dangerous? It is based on the
person and the actions they are willing to take, not just their physical capabilities. 11/76 people that
answered my survey were male, which I was glad about because I wanted a males opinion too. A few of
the answers on the bottom right show that they think in a similar way to men I am campaigning to, by
saying the reason there are not as many campaigns is because “men are taught not to cry or speak out”
and they are “too embarrassed”, this shows that them themselves think the same as this which is why I
generally aimed my campaign at everyone, because I want to get the message across to everyone that
it is ok for a man to admit he is being abused and they need to get help, the same for people not
affected because if they know anyone who is they can try to help them. I think my campaign achieved
this very well because I used different facts and figures along with affective posters that displayed the
life of victims and living with domestic abuse.
I also think there needs to be more shelters for male victims which is why I made a poster which stated
‘less than 1% of domestic violence shelters are dedicated to male victims’ because a lot of people will
not know that, and I want people to see my campaign and want to help, and at the least I want to
challenge people’s dominant representations and agendas of domestic violence towards men
compared to women.
I am particularly happy with my logo and how it has turned out. I think this because it isn’t completely
telling on what it means so it makes viewers take a full look at it to realise what it means, because all
the different techniques used in my logo make the message clear to understand. I am very happy that I
came up with the idea of using the male symbol because not only did the blue make the logo look
masculine and aimed at the male audience, but the male symbol adds more context and it adds more
character to the logo and it’s more effective.
19. What effect do you think your
campaign will have on the public?
I hope that my campaign will not only inform people, but I also want it to make them realise how domestic
violence in men and women are both exactly the same – just as serious, important, and traumatizing for the
victim. I think it will also make people consider male victims more and maybe look out for them and not
disregard them like their suffering is not the same. I hope it could also possibly increase the support and
shelters available for male victims as there are very few shelters and not anywhere near as much as support
for men as there is for women, so I hope this information makes people want to help and raise awareness
themselves and try to help the male victims out there.
My campaign has not only primarily been made for male victims, because I want them to feel like they can
speak out, and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. But I also want the whole world to realise that
men need help too, I want them to learn something from my campaign and be taken back by how prominent
domestic violence towards men is. I would also like to challenge dominant representations and agendas by
arguing these stereotypes people have of the different genders. The effect I hope to have mainly is for
people to realise, just because statistically a man is physically stronger, does not mean they cannot be
abused. Your strengths and abilities to hit someone is based on you as a person, not whether you are
capable. There could be a man and a woman together and the woman for instance could be abusing him,
just because he is physically capable of hitting her back, does not mean he will, and it does not mean he
cannot be hurt, men are not invincible, they can be victims too, and I want people to realise from my
campaign that we need more shelters from men, we need more support groups dedicated to men so they
feel like they can speak out, because in my opinion, one of the main reasons why so many men do not speak
out is quite possibly because they are made to feel like they should be embarrassed, or they are not as
important or as endangered as female victims are. But although females do get a lot more help, support and
sympathy, I ensured that my campaign did not appear as if I were blaming female victims, because it is not
their fault that they get more support, I want everyone to work together to help all victims, but people need
to realise that men need the help and support to even speak out in the first place because that is the most
important thing that we need them to do.
20. Technical and aesthetic qualities
The technical qualities started when I was shooting the pictures, we
added a black backdrop in the studio, I had to adjust the studio lights
to focus on the people and I had to position them so they all fitted in
the frame.
A lot of technical work went into my posters with the darkened
pictures behind the text. This is because I used a lot of Photoshop
tools and adjustments. I started by inserting the picture into
Photoshop and adjusting the brightness/contrast. I then increased
the white balance a little because the photo was very dark, and
finally I used the curves setting to bring out the white in their clothes
finally so they stood out a little more.
In one of my posters featuring Lee on his own, I decided to edit him a
black eye using the ‘burn’ tool. I did this because I thought it was
even more of a visualization for people looking at my poster, and
instead of imagining all the injuries they can see them. I also chose
to do this because it is an easy conclusion to jump to when you see a
male with a black eye to just think they’ve been fighting, but I want
to show people that that is not always the case, there are other
more serious and dangerous reasons to look out for.
My logo involved a lot of technical work when making it all fit
together. I first of all chose a font at random to make the design and
then after it was finished chose the font ‘helvetica neue’. This is a
font that has many different settings, italic, bold, thin, light, ultra-
light etc. so it was a very useful font to use and I used that alone for
all of my posters. When fitting the ‘one’ into the 3 I used the
character settings shown on the right, this made it so that I could
distinguish the tiny details like the spacing in-between letters, the
vertical scale of the font
21. Technical and aesthetic qualities
When creating this typography poster I intended to
use text hierarchy in order to communicate my
message and male victim’s stories across very clearly
and visually. I always intended to choose fonts which
expressed emotion and details to the situation,
without showing any explicit images or using facts, I
think this is the aesthetic quality of my piece because
it uses minimal context/words but yet is clear what
the story is about, who the victim is, and is a clear
insight to the victims position and why they do not
always speak out, but as well as this the poster also
communicates that whilst the victim keeps quiet and
thinks it is possibly a one-time attack, the offender is
likely to repeat, which is informing people that the
pattern typically is this; it happens numerous times
after it has happened once, until the victim/offender
gets help. I feel I successfully achieved this by simply
using each word for each step of the situation, then
adding context underneath to make it more clear, and
to also add effect and snappiness to the poster when
reading it. In Photoshop when creating this I had to
ensure that every part of the text was centered to the
center of the page to make sure all the text was
aligned and spaced out correctly. I achieved this by
using the rulers and ensuring I had the right font sizes
for each text box.
22. Technical and aesthetic qualities
When designing my logo I wanted to make it slightly different to the ones
that gave me ideas. I used a similar idea but I wanted to make it not
completely obvious so that people would sit and think about it and
realise. The technical qualities of my logo are that I came up with the
idea to put the ‘one’ in the ‘3’ because that is what it meant so I created
a literal meaning design. I then realised after gaining peer feedback that
this message was clear, but if I was going to make it fit for it’s intended
purpose I needed to make it fully understandable, so I added the ‘one in
three’ wording at the bottom.
The aesthetic qualities of my logo I would say are; the male symbol
because it adds more meaning and explanation as well as looking good
and fitting well with my logo. Another aesthetic quality is the colour, in
decided not to make the ‘3’ black because my posters’ background were
going to be black, so I realised grey and light blue went well together and
looked aesthetically pleasing especially on posters because against the
black the blue in the logo stood out really well which grabs people’s
attention to my logo. After this I made the male symbol transparent so
that whatever merchandise/poster colour background I was going to put
it on, it would change the colour of it which I thought was more effective
and something that could be part of my style/design as most campaigns
have patterns/styles they follow and people get to know them for it.
My logo worked very successfully with my merchandise and added
technical qualities to all my T-shirts, jumpers, mug, phone cases and bag.
It also made the aesthetic qualities of my merchandise because they
looked nice and still fashionable because the logo was simplistic yet
aesthetically pleasing and the colour scheme all goes together really
well.