BeautyStandards& Video Clips

I conducted Focus Group to get with a conclusion about how we as youth are affected by the video clips that shape our views or ideas about how beauty standards should be.

The questions I have raised were all about one singer who is well known in Morocco, the lebanies Nanci Ajram, and here are the questions:

Questions:

1)      Do you have any idea who is this singer? Where is she from? Is she married or not? When did she start singing?

2)      If to say that this singer is beautiful, what are the beauty features in her face, body, hair and so?

3)      Are you interested in her look\style?  Are you inspired by the way she dress up and the way she apply her make up? Can you apply her taste line to yours ?

4)      How does this singer affect your choice regarding the  brands, bags, sunglasses, shoes, dresses, and so?

5)      Do you wish to look like her in term of the face or body features? Are you ready to get some slight operations to look like her? Or would like to have a wife who looks like her and exhibt her beauty like her?

6)      if you are having this singer as your beauty idol, is there something in your culture which is abandon or not accepted and  you may change your mind about it at the time this singer apply it or do it?

7)      Do you think the skin color has a role regarding being beautiful or not? How?

8)      What makes one beautiful in your country?

The answers were very long so I would upload some participants answers

F.Z  (female, 20 years, doing Communication studies)

Yes I know this singer and I  like her to extant that I know all of her songs and video clips, I know also that she is having two daughters. She is the most beautiful woman in the Middle East I am sure I am not the only one who is telling you . What I like in this singer is that she is not like the other stars who change their look often, she  is having her simple cute look since she started singing so we can say that it was for 7 years, and if she is changing something on her look she would do that slightly like just changing the hair color and keeping it long as she used to. I like her body though she gave birth twice but still her body is slim and healthier,  I like also  how she takes care of her baby skin, she is awesome. Since I am wearing scarf, I am not inspired by her look 100% but I am trying to do so with some features like the way she applies the eyeliner and the smooth rich lipstick color and since I saw her ad for some cosmetic product I couldn’t resist, I have bought that product hoping I can get the result she pointed at. But speaking about the plastic surgery, I am trying to get as same as Nancy’s look but not face I cant see myself undergoing this kind of “craziness.”  In my point of view, skin is the most important elements for beauty, and by this I mean the color of the skin which is white as Nancy’s color is beautiful even in Morocco we do consider white woman to be beautiful rather than the fair or the black. If the girls in Morocco are similar to Nancy, definitely they will be conceived as beautiful.

H. A. (Male 23years, Human Resources Development):

Nancy Ajram  as I believe symbolize the real beauty, she is simple but beautiful I would like to have a wife or a girlfriend as her beauty, in Morocco we do believe that white skin girl with long  straight hair is beautiful and I agree with that but for nowadays we can forget about the long hair because it doesn’t  highly affect the girl beauty. Nancy’s hair is dark and short but more attractive than the long hair, I can’t stop look at her skinny fully body. I am not addicted or inspired by the ads she is presenting since almost all of them are related to females, still I can realize the products she is presents. In morocco, we do have  beauty standers as same as Lebanon especially regarding the fully attractive body, but we might not do so with the skin as they prefer the fair or tan skins which I don’t find it attractive. I also may say that Nancy personality fits with her physical beauty and those two elements are complementary to each other, and I am sure that I won’t have beautiful girl with a poor or ugly personality. I have no problem to ask my wife to undergo plastic surgery to be beautiful as Nancy especially if she is aging, nowadays everything is possible so I won’t bother myself being with a girl whose nose or lips doesn’t attract me.

Ashraf B. (Male 19 years, Finance):

I don’t find Nancy Ajram beautiful as other thinks, being white with long hair aren’t the beauty standers, I might have different opinion about the standards because I am originally from the sub sahara in Morocco and their the way we see beauty completely differs than in other Moroccans cities, I do not want to have a wife that looks like Nancy, she has nothing to do with beauty. I mean Nancy as singer is popular and I like to listen to her, I think her personality is what makes her beautiful in people’s eyes. Beauty as I see is having huge body, yellow or brown skin, big eyes and short hair, this is how we see beauty in Sahara. Nancy’s are very small you hardly can see them, in addition to that she underwent various surgeries you cannot know her if you have seen her before. Beauty differs from one to one but here in Morocco (exclude my region) people and especially boys would be attracted more to tall girls with white skin, dark hair, not skinny body, and full lips.

-          L. B.  (Female, 18 year, Business Administration)

I know who is Nancy Ajram and I used to go to see her in the festivals she comes in Morocco, though I cant understand all of her songs still I like the rhythm and her music. I find Nancy acceptable not that beautiful, I mean I can give you some other singers who are more beautiful and attractive more than her. So personally, Nancy is having normal beauty that any girl can have. I am listening to her I like to watch her interviews and I find her personality is full of fun and maturity at the same time. Regarding her new looks they are all same I don’t find myself in her. I won’t deny that she is  for  guys attractive and sexy, may be because of her big breast no more than that.

Here is my conclusion & analysis:

All of the participants differ from each other; there are ages above twenty and below, they are from different schools and majors, different way of dressing up and applying makeup, and kind of different way of thinking. Regarding girls opinions, since they are quite different from each other’s ( Some were wearing scarf, others bit conservative, and other free), they had different way of expressing beauty and different way of being influenced by the popular singer style, still those girls had some common points about the beauty standards like having white clear skin, full body, dark hair, and simple way of having make up. However, boys also had different idea about the beauty standards regarding girls, and they all differ in one clear point which is the hair in term of the color and the length. Some of them preferred to have a girl friend or wife who is beautiful as same as the singer as she is attractive, and they all shared one point about the beauty which is the full body (big breasts and noticeable hips). So again beauty standards differ from person to other, but there are some common characteristics that form the beauty in a specific area.  For the participants, they were ten (5 girls and 5 boys) I had collected their answers and there were some same ideas that’s why I have combined them through the answers. I have been choosing the common famous singer, I was planning to have more singers but they were not as known as Nancy among the participants, and introduced her four clips in which she had different new look. The last point I have noticed through this focus group is that girls and boys are open to change their minds about the beauty standards thanks to the media and stars, I had also told from all of them that their parents and old members in their family used to resist and stick to specific opinion about the beauty standards in Morocco but now with the series and TV shows, they can give up if not all some perception about this topic

  

Image analysis

For the first time looking at the picture, one might wonder; who are those children? Why they are crying? Whey they are alone? Where is their family? Where is this picture taken? What caused all of the mass around them? what is going on? Most of these questions I have started with when looked at the picture first time. I have found this picture online, and I was thinking if those children are orphans whose adoption center wants to attract us for an ad or it might be a picture taken from the news that I stopped watching. While I was trying to analyze the picture by myself, it was so simple and easy analysis, yet I found it more professional to analyze any picture I find after reading the chapter in my book related to image analysis. In this paper, I will be trying to use the techniques the book provides to analyze and understand the photo using three perspectives; clients who can be editors, photographers, and receiver who in this case is myself.

                   

I will start the analysis by the client perspective that deals with the goal of taking this picture, the message the client want to deliver, and the context. Goal is the first element in the client perspective, and it deals mostly with the want or the purpose of taking and publishing this picture. As I said previously, the picture is published on a personal blog that the owner of the blog is adding this photo to his poet about orphans and children who are war victims. So, the blogger wanted to show and express the pain of being without mother or father who take care after you, being at the middle of the city watching or running away from the soldiers who invaded their city, and being the child and at the same time the parents for your younger brothers and sister. By these three descriptions, the blogger introduced himself, he is also trying to convey a powerful emotions not toward him, he already lived that life and grew up, but about those children who have lost everything and the most valuable persons in their life thanks to the war and bomb attack are taking place in their country. The way the girl sets and holding her brother who is laying on her lab shows and evokes our sentiments and let us immediately change our facial expression to feel how painful and sad she is which reflects the blogger intention to present it. Also, the blogger might target specific audience, who would be other bloggers to share with him this feeling and comment on it, or those who have the potential resources to offer help for such children in such situations and countries. In fact, the first time I looked at the blogger post and saw the picture, I thought that while I am reading my eyes would read a line in which the blogger asks us as viewers to donate and help those children. He wanted those who do care about their children to think about the orphans, he wanted us as youth to think how our life would be without having our parents around us, and by that I appreciated his goal behind this post and picture. Apart of the purpose of publishing this picture and targeting a group of receivers, the way the blogger reached us the viewers was through the internet and through the blog which can be accessed by

everyone, and I think it is an easy and smart way to get to different people from different ages, different social background, different economic and educational level, and different way of being emotionally triggered. Since the blogger chose the internet as medium to convey these emotions, surely he would reach more people than if he used other medium as the magazine or a newspaper since they will be viewed by specific people in specific area.

After getting the client goal and intention of publishing this picture, it would be interesting to move to the message he is sending to us. The message can serve as an informative, explicative, directive, and expressive function; nevertheless, the message in this case is more related to be an expressive message which can be indicated by the closer look (shoot) that create a dramatic story and let the viewer be more curious about the content of the picture. Looking at the picture would let you ask and look for the reason of having these two children in this way and position, it will also let you look for the whole story and why it could be one of your concerns. The picture in here expresses itself in a problem solving way, why the boy is with the sister not the mother? Why the girl is crying? Why they are setting alone? Why they are not clean? What is behind them? Seems like dead bodies are behind? Many questions that will create the story (or report) and be developed to easy understand the problem and may energize you to have an action over it. In addition to be expressive message, this picture can be an informative picture as well that can be presented in the news or a TV program that inform us about the event, location, time, and consequences. An example can be the same picture but different children are reported to lose their parents in a bombed attack in Iraq. The picture speaks, the girl is crying over her parents and she with her brother need our help in such ways. Add to that, if I have seen the picture without reading the post, I would have certainly thought about watching an advertising for the Red Cross association that tell us “donate with little to save these children,” and that would be by thinking how pictures nowadays are rhetorically presented. In fact, it would be a synecdoche proves that is a technique to prove to the receiver that this children do need the help by having the picture in the place and in their poor looking that illustrates that the picture doesn’t say the opposite.

The third element after the goal and the message in the client perspective is the context which determines where this picture should be belonged to. In this picture, I cannot say that it is about the internal context which can include a lot of elements in the picture that do not fit with each other. This picture has been taken in the immediate environment; I cannot see any conflict or contrast surrounding the image. The messy area that is full of dead bodies, big plastic bag that can be a trash or a bag full of rice or wheat or rice that is brought by any helping association, the cut cloth of the boy whose feet are bare, his sister hair that is as well not combed, and the dust that is covering almost their body and face are all in one domain and they all indicate to a dramatic action has been occurred either war or a natural disaster; Therefore, I can see clearly that the context in this picture if external.

                                                                         

  If to analysis the picture form the client perspective, photographer perspective also should be mentioned since it plays great role in understanding the picture. The way this picture is taken indicates that the photography used the square format tool, and that is obvious because there is nothing more to focus on or to exhibit more than the children. In fact, if someone looks at the picture rapidly he or she would say that the picture has only three elements; the girl, the boy, and the white plastic bag they are sitting on. This format (square format) main purpose is to focus on fewer objects than other formats, it also represents that there is no change is happening in the scene which reflects the truth: if we have not helps those children, nothing will change they will stay poor, sad, and no support. Another element regarding the photographer perspective is where to place the object?  In this picture the main object is centralize, it is the first thing attracts the eyes  and creates an idea about what is the photographer aiming for, and these all gather to form what is called symmetry composition. There is no contrast used in this picture in term of the color, the size, the distance, and the light. The space can be divided into two levels the foreground which is the children and the background which is the waste or the dead bodies behind them, and I think that the picture can be flat rather than deep. Furthermore, the element in the background are hidden and difficult to identify what is behind them is it really dead bodies or waste, scrap results of buildings deconstruction? The background is less important than the foreground that is why the colors are darker and faded and blurred.

Another element related to the photographer perspective is the usage of the light in the photo; it helps to build our understanding about the message and the story in the picture. The light in this picture enable us to know that the picture was taken in the day not noon or night, it was outdoor, and the dark light has created the dramatic atmosphere. Also, no shadows were used in here which won’t add anything to the picture or the message. I think the photo was bigger than this, but as I said since the focus should be on the main object the photographer cropped the picture to be closer and to get rid of the senseless elements around them (to reduce).

      

    In addition to the client and photographer perspective, receiver perspective is the third element in analysis this picture. The receiver analyzes the picture he or she looks at based on three methods; perception, experience, and interpretation. Perception implies on the image components, since this picture is taken by digital camera it would be a result of colored dots. Clearly, it wasn’t written on the picture that those children could be war victims, natural disaster refugees but we assume that it would be similar if not exact to that because we are having experience. Our experiences have shaped our perceptions, so the sadness and the loneness that is accompanied these children would be a result of the war, loss of parents, loss of home, and so. Finally, Something else the receiver may get from the picture which is the point of pain, this picture is painful when the sister as we can see cry over her family whom are dead or lost and it is also painful when she holding her brother who has no idea why is the sister crying and what would happen to them after.

      

  To conclude, image analysis is much more than just looking at a photo or painting, it is a message sent to you and as a receiver, you should have the methods and techniques to illustrate the photo and receive the message clearly. The picture in this paper as a client would publish shows his intention to express and convey orphans children who lost their parents (not mentioned how or why) and the medium the client used is the internet as a blogger. He wanted to inform and express how those children would live after the loss of their parents, the way the client chose the internet to send his or her message is interesting since the message would reach different people from different areas. After the client we moved to how photographer would take this picture to be with the client in the same track, photographer here chose the object to be centralized, being in a square format, being flat, having two grounds, having no shadows, and cropping to succeed in creating the dramatic atmosphere and emphasize only on the children. Then, the receiver who is the viewer of the picture tries to understand the picture by visualization which is the process of seeing and creating a perception, associates the picture with his or her experiences that results in evoking the feelings and create the impression, and finally tires to interpret and express the meanings the picture has which is in this case the need of help and the feeling of being alone with no parents and no safety.

Design Analysis (Catalogue Page)

I have chosen a design page from Avon catalogue which is well known cosmetic product company in the United States.  The page is related to an aging skin treatment that help looks younger; it is for ladies at age 40 and above. The space used in this page is closer to be landscape which is a horizontal rectangular that is stretching out to the sides. The reading in this page is easy since it starts from left attracting the eyes to move further to the right, this way of designing the page gives an impression of having a wide page which is comfortable to the eyes as well. This page also can be seen as  standard format because it is in reality a half page of A4,  and this format is common in printed ads  that let the designer feel free to arrange the picture, words, and color in the way that satisfies the designer. Since there is no more pictures or words to make the page crowded, the designer in this page can freely arrange the columns in a way that he or she can combine the picture and the words in one column; for example, if to divide this page into three columns, the first column would be the one on the left in which the picture of the old woman, second column would be the on the middle next to the woman picture in which we have the heading and below it the picture of the product, and the third column would be the one on the right in which we face the logo, below it the discount price and at the very bottom is the old price. The columns are divided in a way that one column can be exhibiting a single picture, the second column shows the picture of the product accompanied with a description about it, and the third column is exhibiting words which are the logo and the price.

Same thing with the margin format, there is the footer which is at the bottom of the page, the header which is the logo, and the inner margin which is the price. Talking about the picture used in this printed ad, the old woman picture is not big covering the page, but that doesn’t mean that it is not attractive; in fact, the picture of the old woman gives more impression about the expertise and professionalism as if it shows the credibility of both the product and the company, so no need to have huge picture to prove to you that this product is effective.  However the emphasis in this page is not only on the old women picture, it could be more on the price and the picture of the product; the new discount made should be attractive and that the woman doesn’t forget it that is why the price $20 is in a big font and is shown in a white flashy background to attract the woman looking at it, similar to the font is the product picture that is presented in a big size for the same purpose. Clearly, there is nothing centralized in this page and that creates asymmetry which also creates dynamism and tension and that is why also there is no limits for the colors used in the background. Regarding the optical level in this page, the picture as shown is at the same level with the words and that creates a normal easy path for the eyes, but if the picture of the old woman was in the center, it would create an odd feeling since the product picture would be somewhere in the edges which let the eyes move forth and back which in more cases is seen as nonprofessional. The designer used the contrast technique in here between the size of the pictures presented and that is again for having a dynamic and interesting perception on the receiver, the colors themselves do have some contrast too.

 Moreover, I would say that the designer in here is not fully skilled because the page is not 1005 balanced nor is it spread out; I mean there is a balance in this page but it doesn’t comply its function which is to make the page allegiant and harmonious. If to look at Avon catalogue, you would find that the pictures and the words are introduced in almost close or same alignment which is from left to right for both elements. Flipping over the catalogue pages, you would feel that you want to see what is coming on the next page; you cannot feel how quickly you have reached to the last page of it without recognizing that, simply because the rhythm the catalogue follows is spontaneous and easy. The pictures are found in the catalogue seem to be carefully chosen to work as the client and the designer aimed at, the picture can stimulate the receiver; in this picture, a great number of aged women would like to try the product not only for the affordable price but also for the shiny young and attractive skin the aged woman do have in the picture, and so the picture is psychologically affecting receiver choice and business work so.           



Galaxy (simple Typography analysis)

Typography can be found mostly in the ads and websites, I have attached a picture of my favourite chocolate that its cover contains typography.

if to describe the typography that is on the cover, I would say that the typeface in this case does not belong to the  Sans Serifs family that is characterized to be simple and lacks serifs (which is the opposite on the cover). It can be specifically from Script family that has this design which is acceptable to be read only in ads, menus, cards and some magazines. It looks like connected handwriting which is kind far from the academic limited typefaces and it creates a fun and easy bond with the consumer (I can as a consumer recognize it)

on the cover, and as a way to make it more readable, the upper case is used only for the first letter G and the rest since it is one word they are lower case. The size used for the word "Galaxy" is not small it could be around 20pt which is also not that big, it is so easy to read (even on the chocolate bar itself, though they are typing only the letter G it is also noticable and readable)

One last thing regarding the typeface in the cover that I find it attractive is that if you noticed at the edges of the cover you can find that there are words ("New shape Smoother Tste") typed in there but not in the same family type( it is normal and nothing special on it) and that would be to attract attention and let you to recognize only the name Galaxy.

suad second video.wmv

my visual communication video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7b4NIrPZZ4&feature=youtu.be