For the critical context module as a group we have decided to investigate the power that brands have on us and whether people are aware of the ethical proceedures behind the brands that we cannot fail to avoid in everyday life. For the group effort I am in charge of looking after the website and as such have created a CMS which allows everybody within the groups to have a section of the website dedicated to their own project therefore being able to show their project in the way they want with picture uploading and multiple blog posts. This was quite a feat but I feel that it allows the users the flexibility to do what they want it to with scheduling available to only reveal posts as and when that person wants. I am also responsible for creating the website from a design done by someone else within the group.

For my individual piece i am looking into the feelings people have of brands and to do this i am creating an interactive piece which will allow the user to text in their feelings about a brand and directly effect how that brands logo appears. I have now also incorporated the ability for the user to send in an mms message containing a new logo to send in. I hope to present the findings of the day in a presentation within the after show party. This investigates what people are thinking rather than highlighting issues with a particular brand or saying what one is better than the other as I feel it is only when we truly understand which brands are the most popular that we can then start to concieve ways to open peoples eyes to what those companies are truly doing. This will hopefully be live by the end of the week and I intend to show it both within the arena of the show and also on the plasma screen within Portland square as I feel the graphics used will also provide good advertising for the project.

All the efforts of the group will come together the wednesday after May day in the Levinsky building followed by an after show party with the location to be confirmed.