Abstract:
Before submitting the Final Submission of the essay, the class was assigned to complete a draft for the assignment. Down below is the draft for the Visual Essay The Silent Killer, where one can see the multiple mistakes made when writing the draft — grammatical errors, confusing structure and reflection, run-on sentences, and more. By completing drafts, it allows students to structure their work, write all of their ideas down, research, change main ideas, or completely switch topics. With that said, once the rough draft was completed, peer reviews were done allowing classmates to help revise each other’s work in hopes of successfully perfecting their Final Submission.
On the final rough draft, after writing the draft and reading peer edits, I revised and edited my piece multiple times ultimately fixing my entire reflection, re-writing all three body paragraphs, and fixing the structure of my paper which the reader can view on the “Visual Essay” section.
The intended audience for my visual essay is specifically targeted for pre-teens and young adults who aren’t familiar with the topic of Fast-Fashion and its negative effects. My visual essay is mainly aimed towards an audience who can’t afford to spend on luxury items but have enough money to spend on Fast-Fashion brands that sell affordable and trendy clothes. With this in mind, to help give them an idea as to who they’re “secretly” supporting when buying from these affordable brands, I created a meme with pre-existing photos of real-life tragic events and a cartoon. The meme is structured in a way where the audience can visualize what is perceived as amazing to many people — constant sales and affordable clothing — when in reality, they are blind-sided from all the cheap pricing and overlook the harm that Fast-Fashion is continuously causing — harm to our environment and third world country workers who produce our clothing items.
In response to my visual piece, its purpose was to provide the intended audience with enough information to help them understand the reality of Fast-Fashion. Through the meme, with one being able to catch a small glimpse of the “behind-the-scenes” of Fast-Fashion, I want their immediate reaction to feel shocked, triggered, and upset. With this issue being poorly publicized, my goal was to have them question, if there was one way I could help out, how would I be able to do it? As well as, have the audience question whether buying affordable and trendy clothes from Fast-Fashion stores — Forever 21, H&M, Zara, etc. — is worth the blood, sweat, and tears of third world country workers and risking the safety of our environment and health? Lastly, I intended for this piece to start up a conversation amongst pre-teens and young adults who come across this meme. Not only will their voices help bring attention to this issue but it can also help encourage them to look for alternative places to shop such as Thrift Stores.
Moreover, with social media –Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc — playing a huge part in our everyday lives, I purposely choose a meme because whether it’s funny, relatable, interesting, or informative, they are constantly being shared amongst friends and family throughout all media platforms. Also, considering how my target audience for this visual essay was aimed at pre-teens and young adults, the majority of them are almost always on their digital devices — phones, laptops, iPad, etc — so it’ll be easier for them to access this meme online anywhere and everywhere.
Reflection
When first starting this visual essay, I had difficulties trying to find a way to make a meme since I had no access to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. What I did have access to was a variety of options on google docs such as the table, shapes, symbols, callouts, and many more. Since Google Docs is more for writing papers, it was quite difficult to make a visual piece without any art-related tools but after multiple tries, I made it work and got my final piece.
When creating my piece, my original thought process was to have the background of the meme look like the Yin Yang. I incorporated this into my piece by making one column white and the other black. The purpose behind this was to give the audience clues as to which is the good and bad side. In the piece, in bold lettering, I included the saying “What The Majority Say and Think” and I added a pre-existing picture of the most famous Fast-Fashion brands. In front of the stores, I added a cartoon of a stylish woman with multiple shopping bags and a few callout circles around her. I label this the “good-side” mainly because the woman is representing the majority of people who believe that affordable clothing and constant sales are amazing yet don’t know how or where these affordable clothes are made and that its gradually affecting our planet. Moreover, the right side of the meme consists of pre-existing photos of tragic events that occured because of Fast-Fashion. I label this the “dark side” of the Yin Yang mainly because these photos represent the sad reality of how clothes for Fast-Fashion brands are made. The risks and sacrifices that people from third-world countries have to go through in order to support their themselves and their family are heart-breaking. Lastly, for a few words, I emphasized them by turning the font color a deep red and putting them in bold. Since I titled my meme The Silent Killer, the deep red symbolizes all of the damages that Fast-Fashion brands have brought upon to our world.
For my visual piece, I mainly used pathos to engage my audience. For instance, to attract my intended audience to my piece, I included stores –Forever 21, Zara, and H&M– where most of them shop at because it involves some of their favorite stores. By doing this, they might be curious as to why their favorite store/s is next to tragic and heartbreaking photos. Also, by naming the meme The Silent Killer, it could also leave the audience curious and concerned as to why these stores are being called the “Silent Killer”. Lastly, I provided emotion into my meme by using real-life events that occurred. For example, for all three photos, it takes place in Bangladesh where all of these garment workers are paid little to no money and work in unsafe working conditions that have either led to the death of a friend or family member. Through all these photos it shows the pain, the pleads, and the continuous damage we are constantly bringing upon these people by supporting these Fast-Fashion brands. If we continue on demanding and buying from these brands, who’s to say we aren’t part of the silent killers?
Suggestions and Questions:
- Go back to the article and include more!
- Why don’t you include these sources onto your paper?
