Overview of Research

1.0 Selected Question

•  Break down of the research domain 

2.0 What is Selfie? The History of Selfie.

• Definitions
• Changes in purpose through the years
• What gave rise to selfie

 3.0 The Characteristics of Selfie Among Different Cultures

• Selfies in Asia
• Selfies and Advertisements in the west
• Gendered selfie

 4.0 Asian Selfie Culture 

• Selfie popularity in Asia
• Asians selfie gesture

 5.0 Why do Asians Love Taking Selfies? 

• Lifestyle: long working hour
•  Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions View

 6.0 Designers and The Selfie Culture

• Conclusions on findings
• How selfie can be significant to designers

1) Essay choice (/)
2) Identification of keywords and experts (/)
3) Breakdown of the research domain and subtopics (/)
4) Generation of related questions and short answers (/)
5) Identification of some assumptions and biases (/)
6) Reviewing of the research literature (/)
7) Experimental /creative exploration of the question ( )
8) Relate the question to other lecture topics or courses (/)
9) Exploring possible thesis statements ( )
10) Strategizing the essay structure or outline (/)
11) Work schedule ( )
12) Reflections on or tutorial sessions, etc. (/)
13) Summary of blog entries (/)

6.0 Designers and The Selfie Culture

Why should designers be sensitive about selfie culture?

As a graphic design student, I think creating aesthetically pleasing artwork is not the only scope to be taken care of. Graphic design is a form of visual communication that can be so useful and functional in bringing messages and invoking new ideas. In order to do this effectively, capturing the attention of audience is crucial. By being aware of current affairs and vigilant about new trends or culture that set foot in the society, designers can understand better on what they can provide for people. There are always some reasons behind these trends and designers should identify the factor that appeals to people to follow suit. Otherwise, designers can also observe what people favour more in certain cultures and come up with ideas that they do not even know they want- ideas that add in new perspective!

From my previous findings on selfie culture, a distinctive difference on beauty standards can be seen in Western and Asian societies. The individualism and collectivism culture is probably what makes them so different. Although the notion of not conforming to normal beauty standards more or less exist in both societies, it is more prominent in the west. Many celebrities such as Keira Knightley, Brad Pitt, Beyonce Knowles, and Lady Gaga have openly spoke out against photoshop to avoid the public having unreal expectations about their self image. The Dove for Real Beauty Campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather Düsseldorf and London is a great advertising campaign example of going against traditional value and trend. It celebrates the natural physical variation embodied by all women to encourage them be comfortable with themselves. This campaign is extremely well-received because it provides and promotes the exclusive autonomy perspective individualism society prefers.

However, I do not negate that individualistic ideas do not work in Asian society. I think it is more appropriate to say that it would be harder for new perspective to tap into existing perspective for Asians because they are used to being comfortable by sticking to the norm. Which is why editing software remains extremely popular and many advertising campaigns in China choose to go along with the current selfie trend. For example, Sofy developed an application for scanning the back of a Sofy “Pocket Magic” sanitary pad and Sofy's brand mascots Su and Fei in animated form can be downloaded for selfie decorations. The number of brand mentions of Sofy online has jumped 21%, to 5.74 million times after the app launched. Huawei's Honor 3C campaign done by Saatchi & Saatchi Thailand also adopted the selfie trend to promote the specifications of its front camera. The campaign encourages people to share their own ultimate selfies, as creative as possible- a girl having sex, a man putting his head in a crocodile etc, aiming to create user generated social currency for Huawei. In short, individualistic and collectivist idea can work in both environments, probably with varied degree of acceptableness.

In conclusion, how is selfie culture significant to designers? I say it is what behind the culture that designers can grasp and observe to help them create a successful advertising campaign.



Reference:

Miller, H.(2014). Celebrities Speak Out Against Photoshop. [online] The Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/10/celebrities-photoshop_n_4576398.html [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Bahadur, N. (2014). Dove 'Real Beauty' Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty. [online] The Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html
[Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Doland, A. (2015). Is Asia Setting the Trends on Selfies?. AdvertisingAge, [online]. Available at: http://adage.com/article/global-news/asia-world-s-trend-setter-selfies/296191/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.]

5.0 Why do Asians love taking selfie?

As to why Asians love taking selfie, I believe longer working hours compared to westerners plays an influential role. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) data shows that Asian countries tend to work the longest hours, they also have the highest proportion of workers that are working excessively long hours of more than 48 hours a week. It tends to be normal for developing countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka to have longer working hours. European countries like UK, Germany and Netherlands occupy the bottom of the list. This is due the reason that developed countries have stricter labour laws to make sure employees are not exploited. However, The United States is the only developed country that has no legal or statutory requirement to administer any minimum amount of annual leave. That is why a British worker work averagely 150 fewer hours than an American.

The database of cities where selfies are most popular by TIME magazine(mentioned in previous post) somehow corresponds to the working hours in different countries. Among the top 10 cities, American cities where no labour law on working hours is implemented took the second, third and forth place. Developing country- Philippines, crowned the first and also ninth place, the other two cities from Malaysia occupied the fifth and tenth place. While developed countries England and Italy with tight labour laws took the seventh and eighth place each. Israel, also a developed country considered by OEDC took the sixth place. Briefly speaking, this list proves that countries with longer working hours contributes to the higher popularity of selfies. The long working hours in Asians diminishes the time for them to have fun and explore things outside of work. Their lives are probably too mundane to the point that either any little things become moments worth recording, or anything new become something big worth taking selfie with to show off.

Another theory that is apt to explain why Asians love selfie more would be the Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions View mentioned in class. This is a theory that examines self in relations to individualism and collectivism. Generally speaking, individualism emphasizes on personal accomplishment, independence and autonomy. Collectivism focuses more on interdependence, group harmony and belonging to certain groups. In Hofstede's Individualism Index, scores are listed for 76 countries; individualism tends to prevail in developed and Western countries, while collectivism prevail in less developed and Eastern countries (Hofstede, 2011). The collectivism culture is probably why selfie is so recognized among Asians. They have the tendency to do the same as others or follow trends to feel belonged to a group. This theory also rationalize the findings by TIME (mentioned in previous post) where most young Asians who make the V-sign in photos do so without thinking and are confounded when asked why they do it.




References:

Stephenson, W. (2012). Who works the longest hours?. BBC News, [online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18144319 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Wilson, C.(2014). The Selfiest Cities in the World: TIME’s Definitive Ranking. TIME [online]. Available at: http://time.com/selfies-cities-world-rankings/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].


Hofstede, G.(2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures. The Hofstede's Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. p.12 [pdf] Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

4.0 Asian Selfie Culture

To know whether Asians do love taking selfie more than people from other part of the world, I found this research done by TIME that investigates the geography of selfie-taking. TIME ranked a total of 459 cities by downloading the Instagram photos in two sets of five days: from Jan. 28-Feb.2, 2014 and Mar. 3-7, 2014. In total, there were 402,197 Instagram photos tagged “selfie” that included geographic coordinates. Each yellow dot in the map represents one selfie taken recently over the course of a ten-day period. The results:

1. Makati City and Pasig, Philippines. 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
   
    
2. Manhattan, N.Y. 202 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
3. Miami, Fla. 155 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
4. Anaheim and Santa Ana, Calif. 147 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
5. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. 141 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
6. Tel Aviv, Israel. 139 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
7. Manchester, England. 114 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
8.  Milan, Italy. 108 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
9.  Cebu City, Philippines. 99 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
10.  George Town, Malaysia. 95 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
    

 (Wilson, C.2014)

From the top 10 list, half of them are Asian countries, with Philippines topping the list. I guess it is safe to say that Asians are slightly more obsessed with taking selfies. Two cities from Malaysia took the fifth and tenth place which I am quite surprised of considering our population is lesser compared the other countries. Selfie culture is pretty hyped in Malaysia too.



The V-Sign:

I also found that Asians are more inclined to make V-sign in photos. According to TIME, most young Asians who make the gesture in photos said it comes naturally to them and are baffled when asked why they do it. They might be imitating celebrities, or another way to explain is that it becomes an idiosyncrasy that mitigates the awkwardness when posing.

Laura Miller, a professor of Japanese studies and anthropology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis,: “Like so much else in Japanese culture, the creative agents in Japan are often young women, but they are rarely recognized for their cultural innovations,” (Burnett. S. 2014)

I agree with her saying because the V-sign is said to began with Janet Lynn an American figure skater who was expected to win gold in the 1972 Olympics in Japan but she fell during her performance. Instead of grimacing she smiled and habitually flashed the V-sign during media tours around Japan in the years following the Olympics. Her reaction appealed to the Japanese norm of saving face and this cultural phenomenon was born. However, Japanese media attributed the biggest role of spreading V-sign culture to Jun Inoue, singer with the popular band was a celebrity ambassador for Konica cameras, and supposedly flashed a spontaneous V-sign during the filming of a Konica commercial. With the mass production of cameras afterwards and a sudden upsurge in female's magazines in the 1980s, kawaii - a visual culture superficially based on cuteness hit the trail. V-sign was extremely popular in the kawaii visual culture. When Japanese pop culture began to spread around East Asia in the 1980s, the fashionable V-sign found itself invading mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. This reminds me of the term mentioned in class- consumer of culture. By looking at the origin and widespread of the V-sign from Japan to other parts of Asia, media can really be a powerful mean to spread or propagate practices. Perhaps it is also justifiable to say that Asian tend to be more blindly adhering to trends and also less culturally innovative.



References:

Wilson, C.(2014). The Selfiest Cities in the World: TIME’s Definitive Ranking. TIME [online]. Available at: http://time.com/selfies-cities-world-rankings/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Wilson, C.(2014). Makati. [image]. Available at: http://time.com/selfies-cities-world-rankings/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Wilson, C.(2014). Georgetown. [image]. Available at: http://time.com/selfies-cities-world-rankings/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].

Burnett, S.(2014). Have You Ever Wondered Why East Asians Spontaneously Make V-Signs in Photos?.
TIME [online].Available at: http://time.com/2980357/asia-photos-peace-sign-v-janet-lynn-konica-jun-inoue/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016].