Evaluation - The Vagina Guide - External Collaboration Brief

The purpose of this publication was to create an educational guide for teenagers aged 16-18. The guide is clearly educational as it uses strict text layouts, diagrams and numbered sections. This is punctuated with illustrations, text experiments and changes in stock to appeal to teenagers and encourage them to buy the guide rather than go on the internet. Important words and statistics have been highlighted in each section, which makes them easy to find and emphasises their importance – but also acts as a style choice to make the text less 'flat'. It is important when designing for young people there are constant additions to retain interest, since they could easily find the information online. To keep readers engaged the guide uses different stocks, stickers and a perforated print section, this also create points of difference and interest and will be elements which readers can post about on social media – creating further traction. The publication also features designer Instagram handles and a publication email. This is again to give the design digital features to ensure it keeps up with the changing nature of digital 4^th wave feminism.

The illustrations of vaginas and other sexual scenes are designed to make the reader more accepting and comfortable with their own appearance and sexuality. They have been placed in mature, simple, easy to read formats and are not likely to overwhelm or offend the viewer. The guide uses a mix of brighter tones with more muted colours such as white and soft pink, this is again to ensure the viewer is given “breathers” throughout the publication and not overwhelmed by information.

The aesthetic is highly researched as something which young people will find appealing. The design uses bold and bright colour and utilises layered stock with a variety of styles to link to the collage aesthetic seen in similar publications such as the 'Rubbish Famzine'. The feminist content is indicated by the use of pinks and reds yet it is not overtly feminine because blacks and yellows have also been used. It was important that the design was not too typically 'feminine' as this could potentially put off readers who don't see themselves as feminine and find it uncomfortable.

Finally, the collaboration aspect of this brief went well. There was lots of discussion and communication between the two of us and we both had a very similar vision of how the publication would look. It was useful to bounce ideas off another person and make work that specifically corresponds to another persons style of design. We were both comfortable with the work we were producing and approached the sensitive topics in a very mature way.