Week 2

Ahseek Naseeb
Apr 23, 2022
5 min read

Independent Brief 2

Context

As previously mentioned in the statement of intent, this project also aims to create opportunities to impact social inequality in the world using design as a communication tool. This project will dive into gender inequality which was a subject that was inspired by the first Independent Project. However, gender inequality is broad on its own, this project will be more focused on the gender pay gap which is something that is happening all over the world where women are getting paid less than men. In 2017, The WEF estimated the gap to be closed in 217 years (Neate, R., 2017.), And Amy Nelson, founder, and CEO of The Riveter states that having equal pay for women will add $512 billion to the world’s economy according to a 2017 report issued by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (Nelson, A., n.d). The report also had data that this change could halve the poverty rate for working mothers. And now due to the covid pandemic, the number of years to close the gender gap has increased from 99.5 years to 135.6 years (World Economic Forum, 2021.). Liina Puustinen also conducted research and proved that women are the most targeted by advertisers to make purchases (Puustinen, L., 2006.). How can women be paid less and are expected to spend more?

Brief

In Malaysia men the pay gap is such that men get a median monthly salary of RM2,342 as compared to women who get RM2,227 (Lim, I., 2020.). It was also proven that in certain industries such as in IT businesses women are less to get promoted or pay raise if they are to conceive a child as mothers are perceived to be less motivated due obligation and they are forced to choose between career and motherhood (Perumal, J. and Dastane, O., 2017.). This is called the motherhood wage penalty and there is no such thing for men who are to become fathers. This project aims to find out how visual communication in the form of a campaign could be used to convey messages that will educate people and inspire change.

A research will be conducted interviewing several working women about the subject matter to further understand the context and the target audience. A campaign along with its logo, brand identity and a few collaterals will then be developed based on the research that have been conducted which will aim to educate the target audience about the gender pay gap and what they can do to close the gap. A website will also be included for the campaign with more detailed information and a feedback section to gather more data about the people who got involved with the campaign. A small initiative, like sharing pamphlet or selling drink with discount for women, may also be designed to promote the campaigns website in places in Subang to better inform people and gather data.

Target Audience

The main target audience will be working Malaysian adults of age 25 to 35 with a focus on females as primary audience. Males of the same age will work as secondary audience as their opinion also matters to create a change in the gender pay gap. People from other age group that may be associated with the campaign and the research will also be accounted for as a tertiary target audience.

Deliverables

The final product will be a campaign with a brand identity involving corporate brand colors and fonts with a logo alongside the possibility of having a brand graphic as well. The campaign will have some collaterals such as pamphlets and flyers that works together with a website that is meant to better inform the targeted audience about the issue of gender pay gap in Malaysia and how to close it and gather data about the people who got involved with this information. An exhibition will then be design with the possibility of having more banners and poster together with a showcase of the brand and an infographic from the information gathered during the mini campaign from the website.

Timeline

Week 1

Exploring Ideas
Work on Proposal

Week 2

Secondary Research
Exploring Ideas
Work on Proposal

Week 3

Primary Research
Look for Design References for the Campaign
Finalize Proposal

Week 4

Finalize Primary Research
Start to Design the Brand Identity and Website
Work on Initiative to Bring Create Awareness and Gather Data Idea

Week 5

Work on Brand Identity and Initiative Idea and Website
Design Collaterals for Initiative

Week 6

Work on Brand Identity and Initiative Idea and Website
Design Collaterals for Initiative

Week 7

Finalize Brand Identity and Collaterals and Website
Try to launch Initiative
(Have space to do another initiative if one is not working to get data)

Week 8

Continue Initiative to Gather Data and Share Awareness

Week 9

Continue Initiative to Gather Data and Share Awareness

Week 10

Continue Initiative to Gather Data and Share Awareness
Work on Idea for Exhibition

Week 11

Work on Ideas for Exhibition

Week 12

Finalize Ideas for Exhibition

Resources

Lim, I., 2020. Do Malaysians think men and women receive different pay? Two out of five polled say ‘yes’ | Malay Mail. [online] Malaymail.com. Available at: <https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/13/do-malaysians-think-men-and-women-receive-different-pay-two-out-of-five-pol/> [Accessed 21 April 2022].

Neate, R., 2017. Global pay gap will take 202 years to close, says World Economic Forum. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/18/global-gender-pay-gap-will-take-202-years-to-close-says-world-economic-forum> [Accessed 22 April 2022].

Nelson, A., n.d. Attention, Men: You Need to Start Making Noise About the Gender Pay Gap. [online] Inc.com. Available at: <https://www.inc.com/amy-nelson/equal-pay-day-women-gender-wage-salary-equality.html> [Accessed 19 April 2022].

Perumal, J. and Dastane, O., 2017. Challenges to Break Corporate Glass Ceiling: What Malaysian IT Women Employees Perceive?. Vol. 6. Issue 2. The International Journal of Management, p.40.

Puustinen, L., 2006. THE MOST DESIRABLE TARGET GROUP. [online] Available at: <https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/41370463/> [Accessed 19 April 2022].

World Economic Forum, 2021. Global Gender Gap Report 2021. [online] Cologny/Geneva. Available at: <https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021> [Accessed 22 April 2022].

GradShow Identity

Here is the update to the GradShow Identity where I add some more design element which is very chaotic and all over the place to relate to how ideas come into our minds and enhance the relation the ideas with the name sparks. The other aspect of the brand identity remained the same.

Poster for Tomorrow

I had to get the help of my fellow classmates to take the picture. Adeeb helped with the camera and Dhanehsa acted with me. I also used a wig to hide my long hair just for it to relate to "casual men" in a way.

Raw Images

Process

The biggest challenges I faced were with Dhanesha's hair which was covered by the bed and the pillow. I had to use other shots of her with the pillow and re-draw some of her hair strands by hand.

The third poster was the hardest I had to merge a couple of different pictures together to get Dhanesha's pose right. I also had to hand paint some details to cover some spots which would have been left blank.

And lastly, still, for the third idea, I had to hand paint the ocean as I had to follow the shape of my body curving the bed from the picture I took.