Micro-genre: Discomfort research

In response to the feedback the idea of America merging with Japan in an uncomfortable way was the direction that I am now taking this studio brief. This is likely to be through the use of food based products as these are most associated with the countries themselves and people would recognise the cuisines easily which is important when trying to visually represent a concept. 

A short about absurdity

- asthetically pleasing illustrations animated to make the viewer feel uncomfortable

- calming aesthetics contrast with the absurd animations

- slow pace to add more anticipation and suspense

- pastel colours seem popular for visuals surrounding the topic of discomfort

Unsatisfying

These illustrations explore all of the moments of frustration within life that everyone can relate to and equally get frustrated by. Once again, this artist has chosen to display these situations in a very aesthetically pleasing way, using vibrant but fairly pastel colour palettes. These are animated, but do also work as stills because if you pause at a good time it shows the moment that captures the frustrating situation. 

Unsatisfying challenge

The unsatisfing challenge was then released so that lots of creatives could submit their own designs which try to capture the moments that they see to be unsatisfying. 

The tap - Geoffroy de Crécy

You shall not pass - Bérengère Morel




The digestive that was - Raag Raisinghani

Chocolate teapot

I found this product very interesting because it is sightly absurd. It is for tea lovers but it cannot actually be used due to the effects of adding heat to chocolate, it would melt. Taking away the products purpose is interesting and creates the discomfort because the association to its purpose is removed.

Imperfection booklets

'Imperfection Booklet is a self-printed book about Risograph. From the past two years, We’d seen many different situations in printing Risograph and heard stories from customers printing with our studio that we think our printing studio as a stage for a Risograph play. And the book is to document all the process.'

The book uses graphic design techniques and well known rules to illustrate the nuances of imperfection and how this can add charm, but in an ironic way. As a Risograph studio they have witnessed a lot of different situations and stories with customers, so seeing the studio as a metaphorical stage the printing narratives unfold.

Perspective - Suzanne Saroff

Suzanne Saroff uses the liquid in glasses to distort common foods, playing with concepts of light and shadow resulting in distored still lifes that appear almost like digital glitches. To relate this to the idea of North Americas influence on Japan it may be interesting to take a Japanese glass product such as a bottle of Sake (clear bottle) and then have American food products being distorted by the bottle. As a final outcome I dont think this would cause an element of discomfort, but it would represent the influence that the country has had on Japan and the music genre of Japanoise. 

"With tools and techniques such as refraction, directional light, and bold colours, my photographs give everyday items alternate visual avenues of expression."