Visual Journal - Failed Idea, Dead End

This image was an attempt at exploring an idea, but one that was wildly unsuccessful and a dead end in regards to my visual journey through this project.

My thinking was to try and represent advertising's power and impact over public space. I wanted to try and visually present their bombardment, showing how they 'take over' more than just the physical billboards and walls they inhabit.

I went into Leeds city centre and found all of the Street Posts that I could, and standing there for a few minutes I tallied how many people walked past them, close enough to notice the adverts and so be influenced by them. By no means was this a scientific experiment which I had some contention with; I think that if I am going to explore this idea then the data needs to be accurate and that is important. Then from photos I took of the advertising and a map that I picked up from tourist information I tried to visualise this experiment and depict my findings, by taking as many shapes and outlines from the photos as people I tallied to show the concentration and scale of influence these images were having.

Needless to say it didn't work as well as I had hoped, and there were a lot of loose ends with it as an idea, such as the incorrectness of the data and the randomness of my visualising methods. However I think that the idea is interesting and there could be some value there. I think I will still just put it down to a failed experiment and carry on exploring other methods of image making and idea exploring with this journal.