Unit 3.0: The Major Project - Report

Gabriel Soto Unit 3.0 - The Major Project Report MA Graphic Branding and Identity London College of Communication University of the Arts London 2011.

THE DREAM MARKET 路 Report

Unit 3.0 - The Major Project Report MA Graphic Branding and Identity London College of Communication University of the Arts London 2011.

Gabriel Soto hola@gabrielsoto.co g.soto1@lcc.arts.ac.uk +44 (0)7580 326 680 www.gabrielsoto.co

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Contents - THE DREAM MARKET

04 INTRODUCTION 05 Term Disambiguation 06 Objectives 08 Background 09 Research Methodology

10 CONTEXT 11 The Study Of Dreams 12 When Do Dreams Happen?

14 Why Do We Dream What We Dream?

16 Dream Incubation 17 Branded Dreams 20 Visual Representations Of Dreams 24 Science Fiction Films Narrative 28 The Organic Trend

30 PROJECT - THE DREAM MARKET 32 Definition 36 Brand Personality 38 Naming 40 Visual Elements

48 50 51 54 55

CONCLUSION LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY

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THE DREAM MARKET · Introduction

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INTRODUCTION This report supports my Major Project output, which consists on the conceptualization and development of a brand identity for a hypothetical company that commercializes dream experiences as products: “The Dream Market”

This branding development is presented in the form of a brand book, which includes the thinking behind the brand, the brand narrative, the creative style and the main visual elements that configure the brand.

The project explores dream incubation from real life and science fiction perspectives, and proposes a response to the science fiction mainstream narratives regarding this subject.

The general field of study for the research was dreams, approached from the psychological, physiological, historical, cultural and artistic points of view. The focus was on the causes of dreams and dream incubation.

Introduction·THE DREAM MARKET

TERM DISAMBIGUATION It is key to this report to disambiguate the meaning of the concept “dreams”.

Firstly, dreams can be understood as aspirations, wishes, hopes or ideals. A process of consciously imagining something that is not happening in the present and is aspired to happen in the future. In other words, daydreaming.

Secondly, the understanding of the term dreams as successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations, occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep, and ranging from very realistic to fantastic and surreal experiences. In other words, the dreams we have when we sleep.

The latter definition is the one that will be utilized in this report.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Introduction

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OBJECTIVES

Visually explore dreams in order to conceptualize and design a brand identity based on the idea of dream incubation.

Explore the field of dreams for branding to embrace so as to deliver new kinds of experiences to consumers.

Investigate to what extent dream experiences about products or brands could influence consumer’s behaviour and perception towards that product or brand, and how that affects decision-making in reality.

Get better understanding on how brand associations are built in the consumer’s mind, how all sorts of brand-related experiences are kept in the memory and how it affects behaviours, beliefs and attitudes.

Introduction 路 THE DREAM MARKET

Sanity is a madness put to good uses;

WAKING LIFE IS A DREAM CONTROLLED. George Santanaya, Interpretations Of Poetry And Religion.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Introduction

DREAMS

DREAMTELLING

STORIES

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STORYTELLING

BRANDING

BACKGROUND My initial research question was “Can dream incubation be applied to brands?”

Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations, ranging from very realistic to fantastic and surreal experiences, occurring in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Branding defines a set of images, ideas, emotions and sensations to be associated to a specific brand through experiences.

What if brands manage to make those images, ideas, emotions and sensations that configure dreams be the ones related to the brand? Could brands create and deliver close to reality experiences through dreams? Could dreams influence consumers’

behaviour in the real world?

Are brands able to create such strong connections in the consumers’ mind so that interactions with the brand in reality could trigger dreams related to it?

As the research went forward I found myself to be stuck with the ambition of actually developing a way to apply dream incubation techniques to brand communications, until I realized I kept getting to a death end.

I decided to change my approach but to keep the focus on dream incubation, and moved on to a hypothetical level in which I was able to develop ideas that could be conceptualized and brought to life in a practical and visual way.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Stage 1: Overview (Secondary research) Dream psychology, physiology, history, culture and art.

Dream incubation. Dream recalling.

Experiential branding. Brand memory.

Brand associative networks.

Stage 2: Focus (Secondary research) Visual representation of dreams in art, movies and television.

Science fiction narratives related to dream incubation and dream control.

Stage 3: Primary research Visual experiments.

Survey.

Stage 4: Project definition Brand conceptualizing.

Visual development.

Stage 5: Final Brand book development.

Writing. Designing.

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THE DREAM MARKET 路 Context

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Every night when we dream, we enter a world of magic where the rules of physics, propriety and logic no longer reign: a world where one night we can dine with royalty, converse with famous poets or sportsmen, or walk naked down the street, and on another, we might have the ability to fly or talk with animals.

Joseph Griffin. The Origin of Dreams.

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THE STUDY OF DREAMS

Oneirology is the scientific study of dreams. It can be divided in two main areas, the study of the causes and nature of dreams, and the study of the content of dreams.

matters – memories, fantasies, desires, anxieties, stray associations, acts of censorship and substitution.

This may distort the dream reports, and the results of the experiments as well.

Like dream memories themselves, I found the study of dreams to be quite a “blurry” subject. Many theories from numerous fields of knowledge coexist within a general feel of uncertainty. Except from the scientific studies that can deliver factual findings thanks to technological advances (eg. neuroscience) most of the studies rely on dream reports and surveys.

Other method for gathering information is the researcher experimenting on himself to use his own dream experiences as first hand material for the studies, like Freud and Jung, two of the most relevant dream theorists.

Sorlin (2003) states that when a person tries to report a dream, his or her mind is awash with other

Consequently, my sources for information about dream experiences were dream reports found in the main research books and studies, reports found in dream related websites, reports gathered by myself trough surveys and directly

asking people informally, as well as my own dream experiences.

During the research, dream interpretation - such as Freud’s (1913) free association theory - was not taken under consideration as it adds an immense layer to the subject, and the focus of the research was the causes of dreams and the causes of the content of dreams.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Context

STAGE 1

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STAGE 2

WHEN DO DREAMS HAPPEN? In the 1950’s Professor Kleitman and Dr. Aserinsky from the University of Chicago noticed that their patients rapidly moved their eyes while sleeping during short periods of time, and when that happened their brain activity increased and was similar to when they where awake, so they found out that sleep was divided into two stages: REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement).

Dreams occur mainly during the REM stage of sleep.

In an average person’s lifetime, around six years are spent dreaming; about 90 minutes every night (Sorlin, 2003, p10). Which is a considerable amount of time in which we keep having experiences without being fully aware.

STAGE 3

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STAGE 4

REM

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AWAKE

Fig 1. Visual exploration. My graphic reinterpretation of the brain activity readings of an electroencephalography during the sleep cycle.

THE DREAM MARKET · Context

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WHY DO WE DREAM WHAT WE DREAM? There is not a proven theory that clarifies what defines the content of dreams and what is their function, all of them are highly speculative and difficult to refute in a definitive way, and they therefore linger despite a lack of evidence for any of them (Domhoff, 2004). But it is mostly accepted amongst theorists that it depends on the person’s memory and experiences.

affinity with the waking experience, and which uses these images, and others from memory, to gain a degree of expression (Griffin, 1997, p11.)

Sigmund Freud believed that the day’s residue of problems, worries, unsatisfied wishes or purely indifferent material may act as the “entrepreneur” for a dream. The images from waking experiences that are usually contained in the manifest content of dreams come from a repressed infantile wish that sees an

Therefore, recent events, thoughts, concerns, repeated exposure to a determined topic or many other factors of waking life can potentially appear in dreams as such, affect them or trigger a complex and personal association network in the person’s mind.

According to the cognitive theory of Calvin M. Hall (1953), dreams are a continuation of normal thinking processes carried on through the medium of visual images or pictures.

To give an example on how waking life situations can produce dreams, during the Great World War (1914 – 1918) soldiers from both sides of the trenches, who were under constant threaten of sudden death because of being on the front of battle, reported experiencing exactly the same kinds of dreams (Sorin, 2003).

In addition, certain stimuli in the physical context of the dreamer, like sounds or smells, can influence the experiential. “Smell is the only sense that doesn’t sleep” said Professor Tim Jacob from Cardiff University. Its evoking power can produce emotions in dreams.

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Fig 2.

In my personal experience, and as I started to pay close attention to my dreams and relate them directly (without interpretation) to my waking experiences, I found some elements that where regularly part of my dreams: characters and locations from the television series I watched before sleep appeared in my dreams. The “television series world” and my own world blended. It is my belief that this happens because audiovisual content is are able to get across a very clear idea of the characters’ personalities and locations, adding that the viewer has a positive memory of the series and has developed emotional connections with its characters. It is also due to the moment of contact, which was during the

process of falling asleep, and the repetition of the contact, about an hour every day during several weeks.

Also, I started having dreams related to this very project, because of the constant contact with the same topic, contents and materials. Maybe it is the way in which memory processes all the daily input of information during sleep.

And there was also an emotional level: relentless anxiety of knowing what to do next and how would the project come together at the end. Many times I dreamed about being late for the hand-in, or not being able to deliver.

From that I was able to get a first hand prove of how some of the waking experiences directly influence dreams.

In conclusion to this chapter, pretty much anything can potentially cause dreams or become part of their content. Hence, as this project moved on to a hypothetical level, this stage provided a series of ideas for imagining a way of producing dreams.

Fig 2. Visual explorations. A graphic representation of dreams and “digital memory”, made by overlapping all my Facebook profile pictures.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Context

Fig 3.

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DREAM INCUBATION Dream incubation is “planting the seed” in the mind for a specific topic to occur in dreams. Most of the investigations and bibliography about dream incubation addresses it as a problem solving technique, and in most cases it is found to be effective. The Committee of Sleep study (Barret, 2003) in which subjects incubated dreams addressing problems chosen by the dreamer nightly for one week, proved that approximately half recalled a dream which they judged to be related to their problem; a majority of these believed their dream contained a solution.

There are many artists, inventors and scientists who claim that the idea for their most relevant work came up

in a dream, such as Paul McCartney who dreamed the melody of “Yesterday” and the writer Mary Shelley who dreamed about “Frankenstein”.

Dream incubation is self-induced. In the majority of dream incubation techniques, the individual has to follow a set of instructions for a period of time at certain moments of the day and night, in order to set his mind and focus on the topic or problem intended to dream about. Exposure to visual, audible and audiovisual content related to the topic is recommended as part of the process because it can create “fresh memories” and associations in the mind, making it easier to unconsciously trigger them while dreaming.

The notion of “planting the seed in the mind” found in the definition of dream incubation, became a key element for the conceptualization of the hypothetical product and brand of “The Dream Market.”

Fig 3. Still from the movie “Inception” (2010).

Shows the main character’s totem, an object used to test to himself if he is in his own reality (dream or non-dream) and not in another person's dream.

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Fig 4.

Fig 5.

BRANDED DREAMS From a very general perspective, branding could be defined as a two-stage process, one internal and controlled by the creators of the brand and one external in which consumers are involved. The first stage is the creation of the “brand world” and the definition of the elements that configure it. The second stage has to do with the communication of that “brand world” in order to create memory of the brand in the consumers’ mind and generate a brand associative network, which is the overall aim of branding as “a brand only exists in the memory of people” (Franzen and Bowman, 2001).

So gaining a position in the consumers’ mind becomes an asset that branding has

to embrace and stimulate, in order to create the right connections that could result in positive attitudes, emotions and possibly in devotion towards the brand.

That is the reason why consumers are constantly exposed to brand stimuli presented in all sorts of media, from the moment they wake up until they go to bed. Then, what happens when they sleep?

During sleep the physical context of the consumer is not the experiential; therefore brands cannot deliver direct stimuli at that moment. Anyhow, when sleeping, people are still having experiences in the form of dreams.

Most of the dream experiences are forgotten, although the information is kept in the unconscious mind. It is said that the unconscious mind defines impulses, impressions, thoughts and many other characteristics of human behaviour. So following this train of thought, if consumers dream about a brand or product, it could somehow influence their behaviour when awake.

Fig 4, 5. Futuristic animated series show their vision of the influence that technology could have on dreams.

In Futurama’s “A fishful of money” episode (1999) commercials are broadcasted into peoples dreams via gamma radiation.

In The Jetsons’ “Elroy meets Orbity” episode (1984) there’s a machine called the Dream-o-matic, that provides pre-programmed dreams.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Context

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These days, consumers are approaching brands in an on-demand basis. The most desirable brands are the less intrusive, but are the ones that offer engaging and interesting content for the consumer to interact with.

The “brand experience” goes way beyond the mere product, and constantly evolves into new forms, getting the consumer deeply involved and turning him into a brand fanatic, in some cases.

If dreams could be one of those brand experiences, a consumer that has emotional connections with the brand, and a strong memory of it, would be the ideal candidate for branded dreams incubation in an on-demand basis (the consumer wanting to have dreams related to the brand and following the instructions for the incubation process).

There has been a large discussion about pre-programmed dreams and direct manipulation of the mind although it is not possible at this moment. But if it was possible in the future, and taking the ethical issues aside, dream programming would be the ultimate stage for brand storytelling because dream experiences feel real in terms of sensations and emotions while also being fantastic and impossible. It is the next step to the virtual world.

In this scenario, a wide range of influence levels could be taken under consideration, from the idea of simple dream product placement, in which a product or brand appears in the dream, but does not affect, alter or have any relevance (eg. the dreamer wearing Nike trainers), to a complete configuration of

brand dream worlds in which the whole context is created and programmed (eg. The 2010 Hollywood movie “Inception”: architects create and program complete worlds in which the characters are immersed).

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I conducted an online survey (See Appendix 1 for full information, pages 55-58) to recollect dream reports about brands and products. I wanted to find out what kind of products do people have dream experiences about.

Although only a quarter of the respondents claimed to have dreamed about brands or products, that quarter provided valuable information.

Four main market categories were identified from the brands mentioned by respondents: drinks and food, clothes and fashion, transport, and technology.

The products and brands within these four categories are the ones that a consumer is in contact with on a daily basis. This may be a reason why they are the ones that appear more regularly in dreams.

The most mentioned brand was Coca-cola. Apple was second and Chanel was third.

On the dream reports about Coca-Cola, respondents claim to recall being very thirsty and having “a nice, cool Coke”, as one said. Even tough, others recall being very thirsty and drinking Coke over and over, but it would not satisfy their thirst. So without going into dream interpretation, there are two clear scenarios related with the brand, one positive and one negative. It would be interesting to see if this experience becomes manifest in the behaviour of the respondent with the brand in reality, but it goes beyond the means of this particular study.

Furthermore, this tendency is evidence of the strong association in the respondents’ unconscious mind between the concept

of thirst and the Coca-Cola product.

I also wanted to find out to what extent people believe that dream experiences can influence their waking life.

In this case 72,7% of the respondents believe there is a level of influence. When asked if they believe that dream experiences about a brand or product can influence their attitude or opinion towards it when awake, 69,7% of the responses were affirmative.

This is evidence for saying that dream experiences, regardless of their fantastic nature, are considered by a majority of people to be relevant in waking life. In the case of brands, it proves that if dream incubation were possible, it would be a significant opportunity for brands to produce positive memories that could even define a purchasing decision.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Context

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VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF DREAMS

Dreams have served as inspiration to artists throughout history due to their fascinating and mysterious nature. From religious art to surrealism, there have been several visual representations of dreams produced in a variety of styles, techniques and contexts.

person is dreaming, visual dream reports will always be filtered by consciousness, reworked to fit certain creative standards or objectives. So the result is the “unconscious imagination” of the artist while having the dream, plus the “conscious imagination” while actually working on the piece. However, regardless of the process of creation, a visual piece that is intended to communicate dreamlike scenarios can be easily identified by an audience, given that the audience is able to tell the difference between what is earthly possible and fantasy.

They have experienced themselves reality in opposition to dreams.

Since it is impossible to visually record what a

For that reason, I put myself in the task of identifying

It is said that all of our senses can be active during dreams, as the mind is able to turn thoughts into sensorial stimuli. Even though, vision is the one through which we have the most vivid dream experiences, as Hall (1953) states, “A dream is a succession of images, predominantly visual in quality.”

common characteristics in a representative selection of visual pieces based on dreams, from different eras, techniques and styles. This would serve as basis for the visual development of the brand.

Fig 6. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” (1944) by Salvador Dalí.

Fig 7. “Study for the Dream Sequence in Spellbound” (1945) by Salvador Dalí.

Fig 8. Still from the movie “The Science of Sleep” (2006) directed by Michel Gondry.

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路 Nonsensical situations.

Fig 6.

Fig 7.

路 Altered proportions.

Fig 8.

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THE DREAM MARKET 路 Context

路 Merging and altering forms.

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Fig 9.

Fig 10.

Fig 11.

Fig 12.

路 Rules of physics do not apply.

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· Heavenly scenarios.

Fig 13.

Fig 14.

· Blurs as a representation of dream recalling.

Fig 9. “Elephant of Celebes” (1921) by Max Ernst.

Fig 10. “Siesta” (1925) by Joan Miró.

Fig 11. Still from the movie “Inception” (2010) directed by Christopher Nolan.

Fig 12. “Boys flying” (1971) by Arthur Tress.

Fig 13. Poster of “What Dreams May Come” (1998) directed by Vincent Ward.

Fig 14. Poster of “The Science of Sleep” (2006) directed by Michel Gondry.

Fig 15.

Fig 15. Still from the movie “Waking life” (2001) directed by Richard Linklater.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Context

Fig 16.

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SCIENCE FICTION FILMS NARRATIVE It is a usual narrative in science fiction films that dream control or dream incubation is possible.

As reference, I focused specially in Total Recall (1990), Total Recall 2070 series (1999), Abre los ojos (1997) and Vanilla Sky (2001), because they present companies that offer dream experiences as a commercial service and do advertise it.

Also I looked to other dream related films in which some kind of influence in the mind or memory is made possible through a machine, like Inception (2010), Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004) or Dreamscape (1984).

I started to identify recurrent elements in these

films so as to undersand what configures the mainstream “dream experiences as products” futuristic narrative from the aesthetic and conceptual points of view.

-Big corporate company offering the service in large modern offices.

- The person who has contact with the character looks and acts in an intimidating manner.

- Complex electronic devices are connected to the character’s head or body.

That is the medium through which the “information” is transferred from the machines to the character’s mind.

- The process is executed and supervised by inexpressive scientist-like persons in a lab coat.

- Something goes wrong. The character wants to be wakened but he is not able to get out of the dream world.

- The character cannot difference between reality and fantasy.

From this analysis, I was able to find opportunities to be disruptive in the process of defining the product and brand. It showed me the way to go forward.

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Fig 17.

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Fig 18.

Fig 16, 17, 18. Stills from the movie “Total Recall” (1990) directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Fig 19. Logotype of the company that offers preprogramed experiences in the movie Total Recall.

Fig 19.

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Fig 20.

Fig 20. Stills from the movie “Vanilla Sky” (2001), directed by Cameron Crowe, from the scenes that show “Life Extension” brochures and commercials.

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Fig 21.

Fig 22.

Fig 23.

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Fig 24.

Fig 21. Still from the movie “Inception”.

Fig 22. Still from the movie “Futureworld” (1976) directed by Richard T. Heffron.

Fig 23. Still from the movie “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” (2004) directed by Michel Gondry .

Fig 24. Still from the movie “Dreamscape” (1984) directed by Joseph Ruben.

THE DREAM MARKET 路 Context

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THE ORGANIC TREND Dreams are a very personal matter. The idea of a third party influencing them is rather unsettling for many people, even if it was done with consent of the dreamer.

If it was possible in real life, how could dream programming be turned into something desirable without seeming that intrusive, risky and unnatural?

I thought the first step was to create a response, differing to the science fiction aesthetics and narratives, by looking at existing cases that could apply to this particular design problem.

The case study that best fitted what I was looking for was the organic food trend that arose as a response to the unhealthy,

mass-produced food, full of preservatives and chemical additives, in the past decade.

I saw the science fiction dream programming corporations as analogs to the McDonalds and KFCs of the food industry, who earned a bad reputation for deceptive practices on food production. Consequently, the analog to my brand was going to be that countryside farmer that produces organic products and brings them fresh every day to the market.

Getting to that analogy was a key point for the project.

The next step was to undertake visual research on the organic trends, which threw the following conclusions:

- Sensible.

- Nostalgic.

- Healthy.

- Sincere.

- Fresh.

- Simple colour palettes.

- Hand crafted.

- Raw materials and print techniques.

Fig 25. Cuines Santa Caterina. An organic gourmet restaurant located in Santa Caterina market (Fig 26.) in Barcelona.

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Analogy: Food category

are to

“Dream incubation” category

as

are to

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Fig 27, 28. Brand applications for Cuines Santa Caterina and Bar Lobo, designed by Mario Eskenazi Fig 29. The Rabot Estate - Cacao Grower & Chocolatier, shop located near Borough Market in London.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Project

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DEFINITION

“The Dream Market” is a hypothetical company that commercializes dream experiences as products in the form of dream seeds. It is key to always have in mind that it is hypothetical.

“The Dream Market” is a natural and organic response to the mainstream technological and corporate dream control narratives. It is much more sensible and humane.

As my research was focused on dream incubation, and looked at it from many angles (from scientific studies and experiments to fantastic narratives) I decided to create a brand that would be in an ambiguous state; a fictional and intangible product that would be brought to life and made tangible through branding.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Project

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In “The Dream Market”, the customer can choose from four different dream seed selections: actions, locations, emotions and characters.

These seeds will make the selected dream topic or element appear in dreams during sleep, leaving the dreamer’s own mind to “grow the dream” with his or her own memories. For that reason there will not be two identical dreams, even if the same dream seed is selected.

It is not about absolute dream control, it is just planting a seed. Just a slight help for the dreamer to experience what he or she wants to during sleep.

“The Dream Market” does not know how the dream will turn up, that is up to the dreamer’s mind.

“The Dream Market” does not ignore the nature of dreams, yet it has not deciphered them. It does not promise total dream recall.

Just like any other dream, the grown dream from the selected dream seed may or may not be recalled. No refunds.

Dream seeds are natural and handpicked. There will be no side effects to their use because they contain no chemical additives and there is no need for electric impulses or machines with thousands of buttons, straps and wires.

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Since it is a fictional product, defining the actual form of it and the way it was to be “consumed” by the customer seemed to impair the whole narrative. Ideas based on the research like smell bags, pills and even audible material were considered, but this would give a degree of reality to the entire feel of the brand, and it felt wrong, which led to the decision of going as far as designing the packaging for the “dream seeds”, without giving them a tangible form.

“We’ve created this thing called dreams. And we want to share our creation”

In the brand book, the definition of the brand was communicated through a series of brand statements that give an idea of the tone of voice.

“Naturally growm dreams.

No electric impulses, no chemical additives, no buttony machines”.

“Dreams are fantastic experiences, literally” “What is fantasy if you can’t experience it?”

“Reality limits” “Fresh dreams every day for every night” “Dream seeds carefully selected, prepared and packaged by hand”

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BRAND PERSONALITY

As part of the branding strategy, brands are given a certain set of values or characteristics that define internal and external aspects of their existence, specially their communications.

A big challenge was to develop a brand personality for an inexistent product category although it is highly associated to science fiction and futuristic narratives. So despite of its inexistence, there still is a starting point with many clichés and preconceptions on the potential consumer’s mind.

Even though the idea of a company that sells dreams is futuristic, one of the first

design decisions was not to make the brand look as such, as mentioned before.

The decision was actually to go the other way.

The following characteristics describe “The Dream Market’s” brand personality, which will set the tone of voice of its communications:

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WEIRD

1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of the preternatural or supernatural.** 2. Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange.**

LAID BACK

1. Relaxed and easy-going. Does not take itself too serious. **

CHILDLIKE

1. Having the good qualities, such as innocence, associated with a child.*

MYSTERIOUS

1. Exciting wonder, curiosity, or surprise while baffling efforts to comprehend or identify. ***

MAGICAL

1. Having seemingly supernatural qualities or powers.*** 2. Giving a feeling of enchantment.*** 3. Beautiful or delightful in a way that seems removed from everyday life. *

INSPIRING

1. Having an animating or exalting effect.***

INSIGHTFUL

1. Having or showing an accurate and deep understanding; perceptive.*

NATURAL

1. Existing in or derived from nature.* 2. Having had a minimum of processing or preservative treatment.*

*Oxford dictionaries, online. **The free dictionary by Farlex, online. ***Merriam-Webster Dictionary, online

COLLECTABLE

1. Worth collecting; of interest to a collector.*

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NAMING

A basic goal was defined: to find a “generic” name that communicates either the product and brand personality. After evaluating many options, “The Dreamers’ Market” was chosen, and was simplified afterwards to “The Dream Market”.

This was based on the trend of using generic names for brands based on fantasy and imagination such as “Hoxton Street Monster Supply”, “Bigfoot Research Institute Greater Boston”, “The Echo Park Time Travel Mart”, “Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair”, “Brooklyn Superhero Supply”, “Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co”, “826 Valencia Pirate Supply Store” (Fig 30 - 38).

The decision of using the word “market” was taken because it implies the idea of a location, with colourful yet raw aesthetics. It is associated with freshness, and commercialization of natural products and goods, which were concepts that the brand needed to be related to, according to the brand definition.

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Fig 30 - 38. Top to bottom, left to right.

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VISUAL ELEMENTS At this point, the brand was defined in a conceptual level; the brand narrative and personality were clear and in my opinion had accomplished the aim of being disruptive to the mainstream science fiction conception of the “dream experiences as products” narrative.

The visual elements had to express the concept of the brand, therefore a definition of dreams that could be visually interpreted was produced to guide and inspire the design process: “Dreams are interestingly confusing and amusingly nonsensical. Memories and experiences mix together and appear in a fantastic and

impossible way, with no logic or order, and without an apparent reason. That’s how our brand should look” In addition, the aim of every design for “The Dream Market” was set as: “We want people to squint when they look at our brand visuals; we want them to be both fascinated and confused.”

Visually, the brand is configured by two main elements that will identify it. One of them is dynamic and changes from application to application, and the other is consistent throughout all of the communications: the brand visual and the word mark.

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THE DREAM MARKET · Project

BRAND VISUAL “The Dream Market” does not use just one specific symbol, icon or logo. The reason for this is that the brand is based on visual representations of dreams, and dreams are always different, always changing, hence the brand is an expression of it.

A visual style was developed with the aim of creating unexpected compositions by putting together imagery that can be randomly or thoroughly selected, as long as the result looks and feels like “The Dream Market”.

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The above can be done by cutting, cropping, pasting, replacing, altering, resizing and transforming photography, illustration, digital images, technical drawings, shapes, paintings, textures… Almost anything can be part of the brand visuals.

Initial Brandmark ideas (dropped)

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WORD MARK

It consists on the typography that reads “The Dream Market”, and accompanies the “brand visual” when necessary.

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Typography explorations

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THE DREAM MARKET · Conclusion

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CONCLUSION Nowadays brands constitute or have presence in a considerable part of our daily experiences. There is a constant contact with products and their communication. The product is in many occasions the medium through which the experience is made possible, from the most insignificant to very meaningful and memorable. Therefore it can be said that products and brands can appear in people’s dreams just because they are a part of life, like any other thing.

Nevertheless, It is still not possible to create communication strategies that can deliver the correct messages and content at the specific time and points of contact, to generate the

mind-setting for a dream experience to occur, even if it happens on an on-demand basis by the consumer.

Regarding “The Dream Market”, it is possible to create a branding response to an inexistent and hypothetical product, by reinterpreting a mainstream fictional narrative and giving it a new look and feel. Visual research can lead to producing the ideas for visual and conceptual solutions that, in this case, were found in unexpected contexts.

In my opinion, the research and project development processes were successful.

Although the field of study of dreams is very wide and sometimes confusing, I was

able to focus the research and set the ground for testing ideas and visual explorations, to finally come up with a practical project that was successfully executed.

The stage I found most enjoyable was the process of developing The Dream Market’s brand story, narrative and personality, where I believe the real value of a brand is created.

Having that settled, the process of visually conceiving the brand went through plenty of experimentation, until I got to a visual response that felt right for the brand’s concept.

When I see the whole body of work, I feel that I have evolved in my conceptual and graphic executions.

Conclusion· THE DREAM MARKET

Having the opportunity and time to test different ideas by actually developing them was an interesting process, and slightly frustrating at times. One of the most valuable lessons that I got is that there is a big difference between telling ideas and showing ideas. When an idea is developed and made tangible it speaks for itself, it communicates solidly what words may not be able to, therefore it’s easier to elaborate on it, get valuable feedback and find a clear direction.

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THE DREAM MARKET · List of Illustrations

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig 1, 2. Visual explorations.

Soruce: Produced during my research.

Fig 10. “Siesta” (1925) by Joan Miró.

Source: www.abcgallery.com/

Fig 3, 11, 21. Stills from the movie “Inception” (2010) directed by Christopher Nolan.

Source: www.nolanfans.com www.imdb.com www.cuevana.tv

Fig 4. Still from Futurama’s “A fishful of money” episode (1999).

Source: www.youtube.com

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Fig 5. Still from The Jetsons’ “Elroy meets Orbity” episode (1984) Source: www.youtube.com

Fig 6. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” (1944) by Salvador Dalí.

Fig 12. “Boys flying” (1971) by Arthur Tress.

Source: Tress, A (1972) The dream collector. Richmond, VA: Webster Publishing Co.

Source: www.imdb.com

Fig 15. Still from “Waking life” (2001) directed by Richard Linklater.

Source: www.metroactive.com

Fig 16, 17, 18, 20. Stills from “Total Recall” (1990) directed

by Paul Verhoeven.

Source: www.cuevana.tv

Source: www.imdb.com www.youtube.com

Fig 9. “Elephant of Celebes” (1921) by Max Ernst.

Source: www.abcgallery.com/

Fig 27, 28. Cuines Santa Caterina. Bar Lobo y Mario Eskenazi.

Fig 29. The Rabot Estate Cacao Grower & Chocolatier.

Source: www.rabotestate.com

Fig 30, 31. Hoxston Street Monster Supplies.

Source: www.ministryofstories.org

Fig 32. Greenwood Space Trave Suppy Co. Source: www.826national.org

Fig 33. 826 Valencia Pirate Supply Source: www.826national.org

Fig 19. Rekall logotype.

Source: www.lastexittonowhere.com

Fig 22. Still from “Futureworld” (1976) directed by Richard T. Heffron.

Source: www.youtube.com

Fig 34. Brooklyn Syperhero Supply Co. Source: www.826national.org

Fig 35. BigFoot Research Institute Greater Boston.

Source: www.826national.org

Source: arthistory.about.com

Fig 8, 14. Still and poster of “The Science of Sleep” (2006) directed by Michel Gondry.

Source: saffron-strands.blogspot.com

Source: www.m-eskenazi.com

Fig 13. Poster of “What Dreams May Come” (1998) directed by Vincent Ward.

Source: www.abcgallery.com/

Fig 7. “Study for the Dream Sequence in Spellbound” (1945)

by Salvador Dalí.

Fig 25, 26. Cuines Santa Caterina. Mercat Santa Caterina.

Fig 23. Still from the movie “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” (2004) directed by Michel Gondry.

Source:www.imdb.com

Fig 24. Still from “Dreamscape” (1984) directed

by Joseph Ruben.

Source: saffron-strands.blogspot.com

Fig 36. Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair.

Source: www.826national.org

Fig 37. The Echo Park Time Trave Mart.

Source: www.826national.org

Fig 38. Museum of Unnatural History.

Source: www.826national.org

Bibliography 路 THE DREAM MARKET

BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS AND ARTICLES Franzen, Giep. Bowman, Margot (2001).

The Mental World of Brands. Mind, memory and brand success.

Henley-on-Thames : World Advertising Research Center.

Gob茅, M (2001) Emotional Branding. The new paradigm for connecting brands to people. New York: Allworth.

Griffin, J. (1997) The origin of dreams. How and why we evolved to dream. Trowbridge: The Therapist.

Sorlin, P. (2003) Dreamtelling. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. Mageo, J. (2003) Dreaming and the self: new perspectives on subjectivity, identity and emotion.

Albany, NY: State University of New York.

Jung, C.(1961) Dreams. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Freud, S. (1913) The interpretation of dreams.

Oxford: Oxford Press.

Barrett, D. (1993).

The "committee of sleep": A study of dream incubation for problem-solving.

Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams.

Dement, W. Vaughan, C. (1999) The promise of Sleep. Macmillan.

Tress, A (1972) The dream collector. Richmond, VA: Webster Publishing Co. Noble, I. Bestley, R. (2005) Visual research: an introduction to research methodologies in graphic design.

Worthing, UK; AVA Academy.

Laurel, B (ed)(2003) Design Research Methods and perspectives. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Hall, C. S. (1953).

A cognitive theory of dreams. The Journal of General Psychology, 49, 273-282. Abridged version in M. F. DeMartino (Ed.). (1959).

Dreams and Personality Dynamics (pp.

123-134). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Domhoff, G. W. (2003).

The Case Against the Problem-Solving Theory of Dreaming. Retrieved from the internet: http://dreamresearch.net/Library/domhoff_ 2004b.html BBC News. (September 22, 2008) Sweet smells foster sweet dreams.

Retrieved from the internet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7628744.s tm

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THE DREAM MARKET 路 Bibliography

WEBSITES http://www.asdreams.org http://www.dreamresearch.net http://www.realityshifter.com http://www.here-be-dreams.com/ http://www.dreamtechniques.com http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/ http://robinwhitmoredreamdiary.blogspot.c om/

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http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-he alth/sleep/dreams http://www.iep.utm.edu/ http://io9.com/ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com http://www.merriam-webster.com http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Bibliography· THE DREAM MARKET

FILM AND TELEVISION Vanilla Sky (2001) Total Recall (1990) Abre los ojos (1997) The Science Of Sleep (2006) Inception (2010) What Dreams May Come (1998) Waking Life (2001) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2010) Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004) Mr. Margorium Wonder Emporium (2007) Alice In Wonderland (2010) Finding Neverland (2004) The Good Night (2007) Dreamscape (1984) Total Recall 2070 (1999) Futurama: A fishful of dollars (Ep 6 – S1) The Jetsons – Elroy meets orbity (Ep3 – S2)

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THE DREAM MARKET 路 Acknowledgements

54

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to my tutors John Bateson, Eugenie Dodd and Andrew Monk for their guidance and feedback.

To my unofficial tutor, the Colombian designer Isabel Pradilla for her wise words, guidance, support and infinite patience.

To all my peers from the course, especially to Paulo, Buba, Joana, Thanapong and Marta for their sincere opinions and helpful advice.

And to my family and friends for keeping me motivated from the other side of the world.

隆Muchas gracias!

Appendices ¡ THE DREAM MARKET

APPENDIX 1 An online survey about dreams and brands was conducted.

Responses: 68 Questions: 5 Languages: English/Spanish.

Medium: SurveyMonkey.com Sourcing: survey link posted in personal account of social networks Facebook and Twitter.

Respondents were not requested to identify themselves or give any personal information.

Objectives: 1. Recollect dream reports related to brands for analysis and evidence for the research.

2. Find out what percentage of the respondents recall having dreams about brands or products.

3. To find out which brands or products appear in the respondents’ dreams.

55

4.To find out if the respondents believe that dream experiences influence waking behaviour.

5. To find out if the respondents believe that if they dream about a brand or product it may influences their attitude or opinion towards it.

THE DREAM MARKET · Acknowledgements

1.

Have you ever had a dream about a brand / product?

Understand "dreams" as the experiences happening in the mind during sleep, not as aspirations or hopes.

% 23,5%

Yes No

45,6%

Not sure

2.

If so, what brands or products have appeared in your dreams?

The number of mentions of each brand is shown.

56

Respondents we allowed multiple answers.

Transport

30,9%

Clothes and fashion

Drinks and food Coca-Cola

Chanel

6

2

Mountain Dew

1

Prada

1

Redbull

1

Nike

1

Pepsi

1

Adidas

1

Postobon

1

Zara

1

Converse

1

Ray-Ban

1

Technology

BMW

1

Apple

Vespa

1

Sony

Jeep

1

Microsoft

Harley Davidson

1

“Airlines”

1

Other 3

Dove

1

1

Real Madrid

1

1

“Hotel”

1

Appendices · THE DREAM MARKET

3.

Do you remember what happened in the dream related to the brand / product? Can you tell me?

Respondents were allowed multiple answers.

Drinks and food

Transport

Clothes and fashion

“In one of my dreams I was very thirsty, I tried to drink Coca-Cola but nothing took calmed my thirst. I had the last bit of Coca-Cola of many cups but nothing worked. Until I woke up had a glass of water.

With Mountain Dew it was similar, but it had to do with the flavour, I had never tasted it before, but in my dream it didn’t have taste at all. The next day I bought a bottle to know how it really tastes”.

“Many times I dream of driving a black Jeep on the streets of Bogota, but it doesn’t have any brakes”.

“I was sponsored by Nike”

“During my dream I became very thirsty and the first thing I associated to cure my thirst was a cold Coke.”

“I was drinking a nice, cool Coke” “I was at a party and there were lots of Redbull boxes and signs!”

“I sold Postobon (Colombian drinks brand) products all over the world and I became a millionaire”.

“Michael Jackson was dancing and I was standing and watching his dance. I think it was inspired by the Pepsi video.”

“I was driving a Vespa, then I don’t remember much, but I’m sure it was a Vespa.”

“I was driving a Harley-Davidson in the streets of Lisbon.”

“Was driving a car, oh wait I remember playing Nascar... that should be a brand.”

Other “I bought the dove shower bath from the supermarket but then that shower bath seemed to be a walkie talkie. That's Weird, isnt it?”

“I don't remember exactly which products/brands have come in my dreams but i'm pretty sure that I have dreamt of looking for or buying something specific (probably something I was consciously wanting at the time). I think I vaguely remember dreams with running shoes and perfumes but I don't remember the exact details - how/why etc.”

“I was looking at some photos and everyone had sunglasses on, and all of them were Ray-Ban.” “I’ve dreamed about going shopping to Zara with a credit card with unlimited funds, and I could pick clothes that I wanted but I didn’t really need.”

“I have dreamed that I was a designer for Chanel. In the dream I designed clothes, packaging, purses, perfumes, jewellery, etc” “I had a pair of red sequined Converse, and I wore them for the first time”

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THE DREAM MARKET 路 Acknowledgements

4.

Do you think dream experiences affect your waking life? Let's say if you had a good dream, you will be happier the next day? Or the other way with a nightmare?

Yes No Not sure

72,7% 18,2% 9,1%

5.

Do you think if you dream about a brand / product it will affect your attitude towards it? Let's say, if you had a positive dream about a brand / product, do you think you will like it more when you are awake?

58

69,7%

Yes No Not sure

12,1% 18,2%