This project started out as an exploration into how public perception of feminism has changed since the Suffragette period specifically in the UK. Having found myself interested in the stories of famous women who had contributed to the feminist movement, I decided to look beyond this - to famous people who have said feminist things, or acted in support of feminism, regardless of whether or not they identify as a feminist. I had really enjoyed manipulating type in earlier experimentation and decided to explore this idea further. I was looking at anyone famous with feminist viewpoints, but decided to make it more specific. The acting world has had a lot of feminist press recently with campaigns such as #TimesUp and so I felt it was more important to look at feminism within the music industry.
I decided to partner with Spotify on this project; they’re massively popular amongst young people looking for music, and the Spotify Unwrapped campaign they release every year is one of my favourite pieces of design - bold colours, fun patterns, and amazing copy. Spotify seemed like the perfect partner, not only is them running a campaign like this plausible, but they are constantly releasing and updating featured playlists by mood/genre/throwback thursdays etc. I also knew that I wanted this campaign to be able to reach as many younger people as possible and so selected two additional partners to work with to maximise it’s reach.
Gurls Talk is a relatively new online resource run by model Adowah Aboah, framed as a safe space for young girls to talk about a range of issues including mental health, feminism, sexuality, and addiction, across a number of formats such as podcasts, blog posts, interviews etc, that also get published both on the Gurls Talk webiste and instagram. It also engages a number of celebrities meaning that again it becomes very plausible that feminist musicians would be approached by the platform to share their views.
Finally, I chose to partner with Urban Outfitters. There were a couple of shops that could’ve worked within the context of the project but I decided that UO was the most relevant because it has a bit more of an edge to it than somewhere like Topshop, and is also somewhere that already joins in selling clothes as part of wider campaigns, as well as having a musical outlet. Because UO sells more than clothes, records and band merch are often part of their catalogue - their shops always have slightly indie music playing loud and they also often have sections of the shop dedicated to books and music with vinyl players and armchairs, creating a very relaxed vibe within the stores. I chose these three companies as I felt that when combined, they covered a huge range - the Spotify partnership was arguably necessary being part of a music campaign, but Gurls Talk offers the opportunity for a big online presence, as well as more detailed conversations with feminist musicians about their views, and UO provides the scope for physical spaces to become part of the campaign, and for others to more easily get involved by buying tops or visiting the stores for a more immersive experience.
