Members: Shaun, Clint

Minute taker: Clint

A list of things we need to have done by the time we meet david. late next week hopefully.

Posters:
Choose 10 – 12 posters.
Add borders.
A text paragraph describing the meaning behind each one,
(this will be used in the broadsheet)
Change to portrait?

Postcards:
Choose on or two poster designs for postcard fronts.
Text for back: When/where/map/info etc
Text for proposal

Stickers:
Logo (attached is the logo? can change text not barcode as I’ve used it on t-shirt)
Text for proposal

Website:
Couple of mock images/screen shots
Text to describe for proposal

Bag/Shirt:
I have these under control and will finish them off by monday.
Text to description for proposal.

Proposal:
Layout
Elaborate on text for proposal, add text descriptions of outcomes and definate/final exhibition information.
Printing?

Fair amount to do.

Shaun and I will finalise posters so Michael can get onto the broadsheet. Postcards will follow the posters and wont take long. 
Other than that we need to work out who is going to do what.

Baby Barcode

We barcode almost every product that is manufactured to make our lives easier to count them, trace them or identify different products in mass storage facilities. Now just image that this same system is used in the process of human birth, where a child is born, branded, identified as a number and traced throughout their lives much like the products we produce by the millions everyday. 

Fingerprint

Now that there is technology such as nano scale instruments that are able to perform surgeries past microscopic scale, and the fact that we can be identified by our fingerprints now, its possible that in the future we could be branded with barcodes, to be identified as products without even knowing. Loss of identity is inherent when all someone has to do in order to access information about you is scan your finger, much like our production systems.

 Helmet

War is like playing chess to many, just place the pawns in position to take the fire, then attack with the king when the time is right. We treat people in the manner, as if a person has only purpose in life which is to die for their country, much like a single use product, just use once and throw away. 

Homeless

War is like playing chess to many, just place the pawns in position to take the fire, then attack with the king when the time is right. We treat people in the manner, as if a person has only purpose in life which is to die for their country, much like a single use product, just use once and throw away. 

Skull

Over production can only lead to the inevitable, as of now we think that mass production is serving the human race being able to keep up with the demand of produce to feed millions, there are the downfalls along with it that most of us don’t realise. What is left from these productions is an overwhelming amount of waste that ends up destroying our precious homelands, diminishing our water supplies to eventually damage the human race itself. Although these visions may seem far away, these are realities we need to face. 

Syringe

The use of a barcode placed on a syringe is a symbol of our addiction to consume. Most of us consume far more then what we physically need to survive, in the foods and clothing that is produced at mass scale in order to reach the demand. This reaches beyond the pure instinctual needs, as now we strive for constant entertainment which requires so much more to be produced. 

Teeth (hand you handle the tooth…)

Our teeth are instruments that help us to consume, being valuable tools for most living creatures that have them. Teeth can also be used for identification when a body is needing to be identified when all else is unrecognisable through dental records. If these instruments respond directly to the products we consume such as meat to grown plants, and considering how humans have survived on this type of consumption, we may not have been able to evolve as far as we have without them. Making our teeth products themselves questions production alongside consumption and identification. 

The exhibition displaying a range of posters is to promote the barcode campaign and its intentions of exposing the underlying truths of our consumerist behaviours and what actually happens behind the closed doors of mass production.

Each and every barcode poster represents different ideas as to how consumerism links to the varying problems in society, not just within our local communities and county’s, but globally. Images used in these posters intend to create uneasiness, to shock viewers, and to create points for discussing the current issues at hand and to draw further attention to them. Showing branded bullets, gas masks, skulls, fingerprints to barcoded babies takes on future possibilities that our standard product barcode could be used for, describing horrific dystopian ideals, that may become reality if these issues are not soon noticed, cared about or addressed.

An opening night is to be announced to the public and promoted which would bring more attention to the night and existence of the exhibition. Promotional material would be given away at the exhibition such as a design activist kits featuring T-shirts, Postcards, stickers, all of which to promote the brand and what the exhibition is about, why it has been organised, and where they can go to find out more about barcoded nation. Some of this promotional merchandise such as the postcards may be left in public such as café’s, and or bars to advertise the event further.

Placing the exhibition within a small gallery such as the narrows may allow for social gathering and group experience in which knowledge can be shared around what is displayed. The possibility of organising other events within the space besides the opening night could also draw more attention to the space, spreading the ideas and messages we are trying to communicate.

(see also – Exhibition posters)

Bullets are a commensurable item for a gun. People wonder how many guns there are in the world but often forget about the amount of bullets that must be produced and that are wasted through guns. Are these going to be stocked on shelves at your local supermarket in the future?

Bombs are an item of war. Designed to cause maximum damage and maximum causalities.

“The level of gun ownership world-wide is directly related to murder and suicide rates and specifically to the level of death by gunfire.” (Professor Martin Killias, May 1993.) Guns have become a highly commensurable item of death. Guns are sold both legally and illegally and wanted for the feeling of power they can bring.

As people have now become numbers, what about human life? To some people, human life is expendable and even a consumable. These people take human identity away and give human life a number.

Gas mask:
As we destroy and pollute our planet. Will the air we breathe become a commodity. Will the gas mask become a mass produced item? This also links back to warfare will human greed and ignorance fuel a chemical warfare were the gas mask could be come a daily item or even a fashion piece?

These bags are to question peoples addicition and want for more money, this linking back to the Barcoded Nation’s messages of over consumption and over production. Also were our identity gets replaced by a dollar sign, this conforming us down to number.

The bags will hopefully create curiosity and play on peoples addiction to money and get them to question themselves to weather they should pick them up to see if they are real. Have decided to use these for a personal project so I am not using them for Barcoded Nation.

Date: 4/11/08

Members attending: Shaun

This meeting mainly concentrated on what was interpreted from the last meetings feedback from David. He had pointed us more into the direction of a visually shocking gorilla poster campaign that would draw more attention to also cause more uproar about the images and messages used.

What was shown to david was the proposal draft which contained our thoughts on the matter, background of the barcode, and our intentions with the campaign.

Images we developed contained images of war, poverty, death, to even birth and identity.
David had seemed to liked these images and concepts with only minor criticism.

Feedback 

• Barcodes on everyday products stand out allot more, as there purpose is to be easily accessed for scanning so its never hidden or subtle. Barcodes should be more clear, such as with white backdrops (like stickers). “MAKE THEM MORE IN YOUR FACE”

• Cropping of images good, maybe give them borders or cinematic lines to emphasize the image more, and create a stronger more focused effect.

• Promotional kits and items could be produced.

- postcards
- t-shirts
- take home posters
- stickers

• Small stickers could be produced, to place around in public “or in shops on products”
- could use a “catch phrase” that is simple, strong, carries the message we want to say as well as directing them to our website,  ”TURN NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE”

BARCODES ARE EVERYWHERE, ON EVERYTHING, THEY ARE A LABEL, THEY BREAK DOWN SOMETHING OR SOMEONE TO A PRODUCT OR NUMBER. BARCODES ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH MONEY, OVER PRODUCTION, CONFORMITY AND EVEN LOSS OF IDENTITY. WE ARE GOING TO USE THESE MEANINGS TO GET PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT THEMSELVES, THEIR VALUES, HABBITS AND THE PRODUCTS IN THEIR LIVES.

The idea of creating a poster that has hole in it (although not entirely original) can be applied to many different surfaces and objects to create multiple meanings. Using the words “Our view of the world – could be better” creates a narrative much like the tags, to change what is seen, questioning how we look at things. The message carried behind it talks about how our views of what we consume can become restricted as we only really want to see the desirable object, not the process behind it, eg: sweat shops where poor people are made to work for very little pay, producing shoes, toys. We only care about the object, not how its made.

Barcode placement

At this stage, we aim to utilise the barcode image by placing it around places in public that they would not normally be seen. By doing this, it can creative a narrative and a voice where there are plain ordinary spaces. In terms of our message, using the barcode through various mediums such as tags, posters, cards etc, can change when its placed on different objects, allowing the viewer to see something new in these everyday places. The main idea is to create thoughts on our consuming ways, in the context of our everyday life style patterns, using the spaces people travel.

Park/Street, SWING TAGS

Branding trees with our barcode tags could emphasize what may become of them, objectifying them as a commodity in our everyday living, which could also reflect onto nature in general.

Date: 20/10/08

Members attended: Shaun, Clint

The first meeting with david pretty much covered most of what we had done for the project (as this was a very delayed and postponed meeting) showing the vast majority of our ideas from the beginning.

The ideas that we discussed with david ranged from the original concepts of Celebrity Culture
(which he hated and was glad that we didn’t Continue with it).

To the current work of barcoded nation and its activist ideas to create a culture conscious of its consumerist ways.

Work that we had showed him
• The barcode logo and barcoded nation

• Public barcode applications: posters, tags, money bags

• Advertising mediums: T-shirts, website

• discussed the intentions of the use of the barcode and what we were trying to communicate.

Feedback

• David suggested that although the public media was good as an idea (tagging trees, walls etc),
they just lacked emotional appeal for response.

• The use of public media needed to be simplified: eg – use poster campaigns.

• Stronger image use to be used along side the barcode as the singular use of the barcode is too plain,
people already know what its used for and how it used.

• A suggested Large Format public media poster campaign could display the barcode in a better way

• Images used along side the barcode need to shock people in order to gain their attention as well as to
get a response from the barcode.
Eg: Place barcodes on items that don’t usually have them, take it out of context
- putting barcodes on guns, bullets, grenades, bombs
- putting personal touches into it such as placing barcodes on babies.

• The website may also be more aggressive, showing only a barcode, covering the whole screen, which may intrigue new viewers, as well as opening more interactivity with the site.

Conclusion:
Produce a street “gorilla” poster campaign that uses images to shock people, getting more emotional responses either through anger, fear, pain etc.