goodfoodforall-blog-blog

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Just an amazing execution, with all around execution. Bravo, sir. This serves a s a real inspiration for my thesis. The designer managed to take one element of the deli, the lineup ticket, and turn it into an entire concept!!! Great job, great design thinking!!

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I love this self promotion design and I'm using it as inspiration for my spice jar design.

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A little thesis exploration/fun

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As I have mentioned before, mass media plays a major part in how society and men themselves, learn how to develop their identities. I have concentrated on commercials from fast food companies that target young men, however the influence of the message has a holistic effect. Terry O’Reilly, the resident expert on advertising at the CBC, weighed in on the subject. He explained that the majority of home purchases are made by the woman of the household, so, regardless if men watch these commercials as well, the commercials are hailing women. Men have come to simply and submissively accept their role portrayal, shrugging it off as being just funny. However, especially for young men, these portrayals play a large part on how they develop their identities.  I find it very interesting that purchasing power defines overall power in commercials. When it was perceived that men were EARNING the household income, the advertising targeted them. Commercials and advertisements portrayed them as powerful and confident, while the women were simple and demure. In the present, advertisers and companies realize that women are the household PURCHASERS, and have reversed their roles in their commercial narratives.  Perhaps the only way we can achieve real societal gender equality is through gender equality in advertising. But if advertisers create their narratives based on which gender holds the most purchasing power, then the whole issue resides in a paradox.

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Just a little lighthearted memes for my thesis...

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Just a little something to blow off the steam...

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TEDxManhattan - Mitchell Davis - Tasting Our Way to a Better Food System

Although my thesis is no longer dealing with food systems, it's always good to keep abreast of new thoughts in the general area of my thesis.

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Wow, I'm glad I didn't consider making a video game for thesis, because the experience definitely doesn't translate. But it does ask the question, " Is cooking such a sensory (touch, smell, taste) experience, that it defies being conveyed via traditional design?" I don't think so, but beyond cookbooks and food guides, it doesn't seem like much effort has been put towards working it out.

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When I listened to the news this morning, one of the more depressing headlines was the welfare freeze on social assistance. The woman they interviews was most concerned on how this would affect her ability to buy healthy produce for her family. Produce prices have risen sharply over the past couple of years, requiring those with a limited budget to either pay up or buy cheaper, less nutritious food.

My thesis is no longer focusing on the issue of the accessibility and availability of healthy food, however this remains a large concern in the greater scheme of things.

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Gender Roles in the Kitchen Revealed in the weirdest way...

Ok, so I was looking for a photo on stock websites for a section in my cookbook about "cooking for your date". My cookbook is about guys cooking, so I was specifically looking for a portrayal of that, a guy cooking for his date. After looking through several pages of photos, this is what I realized; pretty much all of the photos of couples in the kitchen had the woman doing the cooking while the man stood behind her and either was holding her or "helping" her cook, like when a guy shows a girl how to swing a golf club or something. 

Seems like media imagery supports a peculiar stereotype. Guess I'm on my own for producing that image...

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An Image type combo that will probably accompany one of the sections of my thesis cookbook. I'm most proud of making the Franklin Gothic Heavy/Baskerville mix decision, then finding out that it is a highly desirable typographic pairing. Always feels good to make decisions like that.

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Few things anger me more about my thesis than how fast food companies promote themselves. This is one of the worst offenders. Their portrayal of a man who enjoys cooking is condescending and ridiculous. They infer that real men don't cook. Instead, they they endure getting beat up by their kids (father role), putter around in the garage, laze around on the couch playing videogames, etc...

Though I understand the more traditional way of promoting fast food by tying it into familial themes, I think that attacking the concept of cooking for yourself is a low blow.

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Since changing the focus of my thesis (or rather finding one), I’ve come to question what it is to be a man in the 21st Century. I’m old enough to remember the older male icons (James Bond, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, etc…) and yet young enough to know of modern male role models. Let’s just say that I think that older generations male role models were much, much better than today’s role models. Although this is entirely subjective, I think that it’s still relevant to my thesis. My thesis IS about gender roles, and how they have changed to the point of men being excluded from cooking. I of course don’t mean all men, many men are good amateur cooks, some even great professional cooks. But the average guy, especially the younger ones who are just moving out on their own, have difficulty wanting to learn to cook for themselves. My thesis is about breaking that behaviour and getting young men to become more enthusiastic and involved in cooking for themselves. The goal of my thesis is to make people eat healthier. Many attempts have been made across a large demographic of the population, however studies have found that  that they are only starting to turn the tide against unhealthy eating. 

The incredible media power and easy availability of fast food companies make them a very seductive and convenient option.

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In researching calendar design, I stumbled across several interesting websites that showcased really spectacular and well designed calendars. Though I do not believe that I'll be able to do something along the lines of the more creative form designed calendars, but there is still plenty of inspiration to go around...