OUGD405 Studio brief 01 Target Audience Associations with Eras.

If I am going to pursue the idea of using images from different eras for my fade from a digital image to hand drawn I though it would be profitable to talk to someone of the age of the usual John Lewis customer. So, I talked to my mum. To start with we talked about the brand identity of John Lewis and the way that it is an established British brand and that this should be communicated by my designs.

We then went on to talk about what she associates and connects with certain eras. To start with I was looking at using the 60s, 70s and 80s, this was because these were the decades my target audience will have lived through and so would connect more closely to them. When looking at these times the images of the Sassoon bob and memphis furniture design sprang to mind for me.

 However, mum said that although she loves the Sassoon bob and agrees that it instantly links with the sixties, her generation generally feel that the 70s and 80s were tacky and unpleasant. So, possibly I could look into using the 40s 50s and 60s. These are the eras that this generation are more likely to idealise and by using them the designs will suggest the very established and British identity of John Lewis.

When talking about these new eras the images that mum connected with the 40s were surprising to me but made more sense when I looked them up. She suggested the rounded cars of the time, particularly the Chevrolet, the silhouette of  a large skirt and small waist, winged sunglasses and red lip stick. When it came to the 60s she instantly said the Mary quant mini skirt and all the imagery that came with that, although she did say that this was edging on the overly stereotypical for the 60s. For the 50s cars such as fords came up as just becoming widely available. Something that I am aware of is that I am looking dominantly at what women associate with these eras, this is intentional because women tend to consider the decor of a room slightly more than most men. Therefore slightly aiming these frame fillers at women could be more effective.