OUGD503 - Studio brief 02 - Research

After we set the task to individually research into two cultures, communities or countries each, we met up to show what we found. As a group we found a range of interesting topics that all have uniques qualities in which we could showcase through typography. What we found includes:

• Japanese mascot culture. Mascots have become a huge part of Japanese pop culture and are used to promote a place or region, event, organisation or business. They are characterized by their kawaii (cute) and unsophisticated designs, often incorporating motifs that represent local culture, history or produce. They may be created by local government or other organization to stimulate tourism and economic development, or created by a company to build on their corporate identity.
• Parisian youth culture. France's economy may be flailing and its politics in stasis, but its youth culture is finally catching up with the rest of the world's. Something special is happening in Paris, for example the underground electronic music scene is nearly on the same level as Berlin, London and Amsterdam, thanks to the resurgence of Parisian youth culture.
• British football casuals / hooligans. This subculture is a subsection of association football culture that is typified by football hooliganism and the wearing of expensive designer clothing. The subculture originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s when many hooligans started wearing designer clothing labels and expensive sportswear such as Stone Island, CP Company, L'alpina and Lacoste in order to avoid the attention of police and to intimidate rivals. In more recent times casuals and hooligans hit the headlines during Euro 2016 when English and Russians frequently clashed, but are all football extremists like the ones we seen during the summer of 2016 or is they're a special story behind them.
• North Korea. The most secretive country in the world defiantly sparks a conversation and potentially this brief has the chance to evoke better cultural understanding of the lives of North Korean people who live under an evil dictatorship. 
• Refugees. This is an obvious response to the brief as it mentions immigration and free movement in the opening sentences of the background of the brief. Refugees have been one of main news topics over the last two years and this brief is ideal to help express and engage refugees with the world. 
• Hypebeasts. Quote from Urban Dictionary "Sneakerheads who only rock hyped up shit to get props b/c they got no self worth or sense of style" "A Hype Beast is a kid that collect clothing, shoes, and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing others. Although the individual may not have a dime to their name they like to front like they are making far more then everybody else" 

After much discussion we seemed to sway towards Parisian youth culture, Japanese mascots and North Korea as potential ideas to take forward. But as a group we knew we could only take one culture to research further, as we could undertake more in depth research if we solely selected one. The tipping point in picking one was Ben showing myself and Joe videos on Parisian youth culture and the current underground scene in Paris, the videos opened our eyes to the potential of the culture and already we were visualizing ideas. We then made a number of notes on each video and realised it was answering questions to the brief so we finalised on Parisian youth culture. Prior to the small research task we set, I vaguely knew of the upcoming electronic music scene in the city but I never knew of the other big changes within the city. 

Above are notes Ben made on Parisian youth culture during the small research task, the notes delve into the aesthetics, traditions, tastes, places and people of Parisian youth culture but we knew at this stage that we needed to research much more into this culture to be able to evoke better cultural understanding and celebrate diversity. Then as a group we individually selected research we would like to undertake that is relevant to the brief and culture, the list is below.