This is a man

Have you ever watched a movie, completely and utterly immersed in the story, infatuated with the characters and their perfect lives? Then the movie ends and your phone turns dark, and you see your reflection in the smoky mirror of your screen. Wouldn’t you want to be the person you see on those screens as well? This project visualises this pursuit and mindset vicariously, specifically the pursuit of traditional masculinity.

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From watching tons of these films, reading studies on them, my design journal was filled with toxic masculinity in classic or dated films, from that era, but also their context in current times. Together with my own interviews, it became clear why and what led to this desperate need to be ‘masculine’, or 'a man’. Eventually, it became a recognition of how absurd it was to have an idea of a 'perfect man'.

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This made me curious what a pursuit of the idea of traditional masculinity was, what would it look like. Shaped by my findings and insights from my journal, led me to create an extreme narrative or a trope. Discussing not only what I found in the films but real contributing factors that leads to a fragile form of masculinity, the archaic need to be a ‘man’.

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‘This is a man’ illustrates what it means to be ’truly masculine' in these western films. This is one of the illustrated pages of the book.

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Found Art

Using the imagery of the streets from the UK and Europe to reflect the idea that memories will either fade or be replaced with new ones. A visual metaphor as well as a capture of the visual depiction of design and thought. Begun as a personal collection of found ‘art’ from the street walls of Glasgow, its underlying meaning continued to evolve because of the beauty and story each piece tells. The novelty of this is the idea that it was a joint unintentional effort of many strangers.

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Offscreen

It’s rare to see people actually sit through the end credits of a film; it’s boring in comparison to the movie you just watched. The hard work that goes behind the screen frequently goes unappreciated. This magazine focuses on appreciating the ‘drier’ off-screen elements while creating a visually interesting tilt. This magazine aims to create a visual appeal that reflects the emotion of the film without showing stills, simultaneously sharing the different elements and techniques that make the film. For the first issue, the magazine discusses psychological thrillers.

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The magazine begins with an introduction to the genre, mentioning common conventions of psychological thriller films, such as misdirection and breaking of the film’s equilibrium. It continues niche-themed articles.

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My designs are often fueled by the need for a conclusion to a genuine problem, then exploring this route through visual means. I craft a tailored message for my target audience and often use my projects to create prompts for self-reflection; I believe everything starts from within a person. Recently my creative curiosity introduced a newfound interest in illustration. Exploring different visual ways and providing an abundance of dark and gritty images, often inspired by pop culture and my own self-reflection. You can see more of my visual experiments with different mediums and aesthetic routes on my Instagram page.

My illustrations are the result of a process that never settles, but I try to find that fine zone between art and illustration because that’s where the juice is. A large part of my process is also in keeping an open mind; to not come to a quick conclusion to anything, be it a piece of news or information. To be able to measure and estimate that data, based upon values and ethics, which is part of critical thinking, sets up my initial frame of creative thought process.