MOTH: Design and Death.
An Extra Place At The Table: Food and Funeral Feasting.
Background
Food and feasting is very important and can nourish us physically, emotionally, can draw on cultural, historical and traditional sources. Food can express our social relationships and give a sense of identity.
For this brief we have developed a concept of Instagram Colonisation. Nowadays in the age of increasing social media influence, food has been affected too.
Food has been becoming more and more about taking a good photo for Instagram rather than the experience and authenticity. It’s all about what your plate looks like, how colourful it is and how many likes it gets. In contrast to that, many traditional foods of the world don’t necessarily look good enough for a photo but they hold within them a nation’s tradition, beliefs and authenticity.
The Instagram phenomenon is not only about food anymore, it has developed to making the whole eating experience ‘instagrammable’. For example, Teddy Robinson, a creative director for London cafe-bar chain Grind, has spent 5 years making the company as instagram-worthy as possible.
Our collaborative project communicates the idea of Instagram taking over cultures and traditions. In our MOTH publication we have presented funeral foods from various countries and made them ‘Instagram-worthy’, showing the destruction of culture and traditions being ‘colonised’ by Instagram.
Publication
We have created a publication that contains recipes of some Funeral Foods of the world. One spread contains the name of the dish and its history and cultural significance regarding funerals. The ingredients for each recipe contain the components of a good photo editing for Instagram. The method gives directions on how to take a good Instagram shot.
For example:
Ingredients
Filter DOG3
Saturation +0.3
Contrast -0.2
Exposure +0.6
Clarity +0.6
Shadows Tint +2.0
Method
1. Set the scene for your perfect photograph. Lightning is the foundation of a good photo. For a richer and brighter photo make sure there is a lot of natural light.
2. Follow the rule of thirds. Balance your image into a 3×3 grid, and align the subjects or objects in a photo along the grid lines to create balance.
3. Don’t forget to get creative. You want to stand out from other brands on Instagram, so always challenge yourself to find a fresh angle on a common subject.
4. Time to prepare your camera. You can use either your smartphone or a digital camera.
5. After you have taken your photographs, select the best options. Time to start editing.
6. Upload your photos into VSCO app and mix all the ingredients.
7. Bear in mind how your Instagram feed looks as a whole, because this is what people first see when deciding whether to follow you - if the images don’t flow nicely together it can look a bit of a mess.
8. Your photo is ready for Instagram! Don't forget the hashtags.