From the beginning, right through until the project was finished I was researching everything and anything to achieve the best possible outcome for the project.

 

This project pushed the research skills needed as a designer to have a firm understanding of the topic at hand, the project was relatively broad so initially my research was directed at all aspects of food democracy, until deciding on the specific issues I felt where most problematic, these issues were:

 

The FCR (food Conversion ratio)

Carbon Emissions (per food type)

The ECR (energy conversion rate)

 

Without going into too much detail I’d like to briefly explain the importance of each topic whilst exploring my research and concept outcomes. The Food Conversion Ratio or FCR determines how effective an animal is at converting food into produce (meat), generally speaking, the typical meats consumed in bulk normally have a bad FCR, pork, beef and in particular lamb.

 

Carbon emissions per kilo of meat are also extremely high, lamb again being the highest, followed by beef, then pork, what often isn’t considered is it’s not only the emissions the animal creates or but also the emissions which happen before hand in the production of it’s food, it’s water, the transportation of it’s food, the transportation of the animal outside of the feedlots, the slaughter of the animal, the transportation of the meat and the cooking of the meat, it isn’t as simple as ‘cows fart a lot, don’t eat cows because that is what is ruining the environment, the factors to be calculated just aren’t that simple, it all comes back to it’s efficiency to turn food into meat.

 

Energy can be seen as similar to the food conversion ratio, but it is more specific, it isn’t rated by weight but the quality of the feed. If a sheep consumes 10kg of low quality feed, there is a high chance the amount of energy stored in that food is low, and will often be lost in the transmission of energy in the form of lamb meat, so the animal can often have a higher FCR but a lower ECR, meaning it consumes much many more calories and producing only very few.

 

 

As I was researching away for this project I kept finding extremely relevant and interesting information regarding my topics, pages upon pages of supporting studies, a lot of which was inconsistent which forced me to look deeper, I’m a stickler for facts (though I don’t mind twisting them when push comes to shove) but the entire motive behind this work was not to use shock imagery, not to promote a bias vegetarian or vegan or animal rights activist perspective, but to promote a balanced fair and factual set of graphics which appeal to the viewers sense of intelligence, longevity of the planet, and to their environmental empathy, if it exists.

 

For me putting the power in the perceiver’s hands is extremely important, it means I haven’t had to force someone into thinking a certain way, they don’t have to feel pressured or tricked into a certain way of thinking, it gives the observer a sense of purpose and decision.

 

The importance and hierarchy of the design is important for those just briefly viewing it, or those observing the posters in depth. The title is a call to action, it’s big and bold and gets straight to the point, it puts the decisions in the perceivers hands immediately and gives the entire campaign a sense of urgency. The Most important graphic are the illustrations this is what lures the bystander in, it intrigues the onlooker and lures them in for a closer look to find out ‘what it’s all about’. The second heading gives a brief statement allowing the viewer to understand what the problem is if the graphic wasn’t literal enough, this also allures the eye to the short description of information at the bottom of the poster which gives even further examples and information on the major problem at hand, though this is brief it is written in the best possible way to give a good understanding to the viewer so much so that they are confident in the information and are able to pass it on. The secondary graphic is the short infographic, which really gives a solution or at least the right information on how to make the best choice or at least a conscious choice so the consumer and viewer know what they’re buying into, it allows them to know the best and the worst choices as well as many of the popular choices in between.

 

The style is highly influenced by the style of yesteryear, specifically American WWII posters which used a strong call to action urging families to ration, preserve, donate and find alternative food sources to relieve stress on the American soldier. These posters enforce a high sense of urgency, a call to action and most importantly a unique sense of patriotism among those backing the cause. On top of the stylistic purveyance of the graphic enforcing a strong sense of patriotism it also alludes to the posters of the era which already have a great level of connotation to the work, these connotations are crucial in reinforcing the ideals I am promoting in the posters.