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Project 1 
Problem statement 

Unrealistic beauty standards made people unconfident with themselves, having them change their appearance due to the standards. 

Research

The digital world, which is social media, has set some beauty standards and a highly unrealistic lifestyle. And to keep up with such standards has made people unconfident, have low self-esteem, and think if they don't look like the current trend, they are not beautiful just because someone sets a certain stander or direction.  This problem has led to mental health issues due to trying to achieve standards that are impossible for someone to keep up with. Women especially are expected to match such standers from a very young age, like to be slim, hairless, have glass skin, and look like a barbie doll all the time. This is unrealistic; at the end of the day, we are humans. We don't all look the same and don't have 
 

to.People have set many unrealistic standards when it comes to beauty, and if you are not meeting those specifications they have in mind, you are not considered beautiful. Each person has a standard, and they rate others based on that. Firstly, the shape of the body is a significant factor that people focus on. For example, the body should be slim, the skin color should be light, and no stretch marks. Secondly, the face should be clear with no pimples or scars, the eyes should be broad, the lashes must belong, the nose must be sharp, and the hair must belong. However, not all people can meet those standards no matter how hard they try, as it is difficult and depends on the nature of their body and genes. 

One of the plague societies nowadays is the Unrealistic beauty standards. Women in general nowadays view this as an important topic because they always want to follow the trend in every sector. These expectations are detrimental to a woman's self-esteem and can push them to make questionable decisions regarding their unique selves. Nowadays, these topics can affect more the young generation because they get affected easily, and they can follow them. These beauty standards can affect them in the future. 
For most of us, the first thing we do when we wake is checked our phones, social media and go through our page. We feed our brains with all this information and visuals that are not probably photoshopped or paid advertisements. And those celebrities and influencers set such standers that are unhealthy, and their looks should not judge an individual as they do not define the identity or personality of a person. 
Many social media accounts promote these toxic standers in perfect bodies and specific "Trendy" features. For example, women hid their dark circles and fine lines for the longest time, whereas last year, it was trendy to have dark circles, which led to people who don't have them adding eyeshadow to have this trend. And this became trendy on Tik-Tok, to be specific. The meaning of beauty to people changes over time, and these standers we should not take them seriously; instead, we should love and embrace our features. 
Another example of this topic is brows. Before, thin brows were considered beautiful, while now big, bushy eyebrows are in.
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These kinds of messages can harm people mentally and physically as well. Some models or influencers promote diet pills and unhealthy detox or weight loss methods, and the audience is the youth. The young people or the audience start purchasing such products and practicing these unhealthy diets to get "The Look." Let alone the mental harm they are exposed to, not being beautiful enough, having low self-esteem, and not accepting their true beauty. 
 
Many researchers have shown the relation of mental health with body image. It is correct that body image problems are not mental health problems, but they can risk other mental health issues such as eating disorders, distress, and low life quality. Women are always expected to be slim, young, and flawless. When in reality and nature, no one could always match such expectations for others. And even though people are aware that not everything presented in the media is considered real, this topic still influences us one way or another. Youth worry about their body image and compare it to. Photos on social media some also experienced suicidal feelings and ideas, according to the Mental Health Foundation study.  

Unrealistic beauty standers made people unconfident with themselves, having them change their appearance due to the standers. 

Graphic Design Trends in 2021  

1. Retro futurism: bright colors, sci-fi-style, typography inspired by computer fonts, and curves with different stroke widths. This kind of visual style is currently trendy due to the solid and bold imagination of the future. This trend has made a comeback to give us a retro feel of the old days and the days of the future that is yet to come.

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2. Elements of nature: This year, incorporating natural elements like leaves and green life is trendy. I believe this graphic design style became a trend because we were in lockdown in 2020. So, people were missing nature, and this green life can bring calmness in such times.  â€‹

3. Gradients with Blur & Grain effect: In illustration design, adding gradients as a color transition is smooth. In 2021 we have seen a lot of gradient design this year, and we still do. This trend is still going on, and designers are getting creative with it. Even though I have seen other designers who hate this trend because a lot are just following it instead of thinking of their design's purpose, this is genuinely the most popular trend we have witnessed online with the application of blur and grain effect. ​

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4. Chaotic Typography Design: This trend allows designers to play around with typography. This adds a movement feel.  This has more chaos than readability and legibility. This is a trend in 2021, and it is because we express and relate to our environment or what is going on in life. And since 2020 was chaotic designs in 2021, especially typography is at a point where it's not readable.   ​

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5. Fill & Stroke: This has been trending with a minimal color scheme.  

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Our Survey 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TBT8NWW 

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We conducted a survey regarding our topic to gain knowledge and send it to some HCT students. ​

The survey contains four questions. ​

     - Have you ever felt bad about your appearance after seeing a perfect picture of a celebrity? ​

  • Do you think beauty standards are becoming more and more toxic? ​

  • Is there any sort of pressure to always look beautiful?​

  • What are your beauty standards? ​

We got over 29 responses. ​

51% have answered that they did feel bad about their appearance after seeing celebrity pictures. In comparison, 93% admitted that beauty standards are getting more toxic, and 55% said there is pressure always to look beautiful. ​

For the beauty standards question, multiple answers have been repeated, like having nice hair, healthy skin, and such, while others answered that beauty comes from the soul and the attitude.

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Target audience

The target audience for our project is women from around the world from age 12 to 25 because this age is too sensitive, and they get affected by the trends easily. Also, this age is the age that the women stand to build the future for here live. So believing in here self is an essential step in here life.

Your beauty is based on your personality

" Your beauty is based on your  personality, not on unrealistic beauty standards"

Slogan

Message 

Alya Saeed

Work

Final Poster 

Mariam Ali

work

Mock Up

Maryam Nassar 

work

Shama Ibrahim work

Word Document 

Powerpoint presentation

Our references 

  1. 10, R. C., Cherry, R., Cherry, R., & 10, F. (n.d.). People On TikTok Are Drawing On Dark Under-Eye Circles Now. Retrieved from https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/beauty-style/under-eye-circles-tiktok-trend 

  2. Beauty [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://boujeebarshome.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/beauty.jpg?w=550 

  3. Beauty [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/564x/13/8e/76/138e76a40f62740e9896c0926018502e.jpg 

  4. Beauty [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6f/94/fd/6f94fd8c112acf6fb182dd58c1cc1f8a.jpg 

  5. Beauty MakeUp Makeup - Shonagh Scott ShowMe MakeUp Photography - Martin Higgs Model - Zarah Retoucher - St...: Makeup photography, Beauty standards, Plastic surgery. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/474355773245706657/ 

  6. Best Online Color Tools for Graphic Designers. (2021, March 29). Retrieved from https://www.zekagraphic.com/22-modern-color-gradient-ideas-for-2021/ 

  7. Bishi, D. (2019, October 15). Unrealistic Beauty Standards And The Rise of "Catfish Culture". Retrieved from https://denisebishi.medium.com/unrealistic-beauty-standards-and-the-rise-of-catfish-culture-c24c5a0cadc 

  8. Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://fireart.studio/blog/ 

  9. Chaotic Typography Design [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://empretus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/image-6.png 

  10. Color palette [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/564x/da/03/02/da0302a45a4176b419f2ce4223ce8bfe.jpg 

  11. Color palette [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/564x/67/75/01/677501cc0bfe89c4d58f9bbf55d22e8a.jpg 

  12. Fake beauty [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mollyannphotography.weebly.com/uploads/9/3/1/2/93128300/published/fullsizerender_3.jpg?1523223437 

  13. Jones, J. (n.d.). The beauty standards placed on women are unrealistically unachievable. Retrieved from https://meteamedia.org/20179/opinions/the-beauty-standards-placed-on-women-are-unrealistically-unachievable/ 

  14. Old fashion beauty [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://imagesvc.meredithcorp.io/v3/mm/image?q=85&c=sc&poi=face&w=1000&h=500&url=https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2016/03/25/032516-before-and-after-brows-lead.jpg 

  15. Podcast_uploaded_episode [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/production/podcast_uploaded_episode400/8476871/8476871-1607395451839-f50553b4dd035.jpg 

  16. Team, 9. (2020, December 09). 11 Inspiring Graphic Design Trends for 2021. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/trends/graphic-design-trends/ 

  17. The Convolution of Life Imitating Art Imitating Life: Body image art, Beauty standards, Beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/385480049347652279/ 

  18. The dark side of social media: How unrealistic beauty standards are causing identity issues. (2021, May 10). Retrieved from https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/beauty-health/the-dark-side-of-social-media-how-unrealistic-beauty-standards-are-causing-identity/hv4tffb 

  19. The influence of body image on mental health. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bps.org.uk/blogs/guest/influence-body-image-mental-health 

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