Design Context: Love - The Aftermath

With love brings pain. I would like to look at the opposite side of love, when things go wrong. The break up, the aftermath.

After looking at colours and what they can represent in love, I have found there are many negative things:

Green - envy
Blue - cold and calm.

Reasons why people may break up

Desire to be independent.
Getting attracted to another person.
Infidelity.
Physical incompatibility.
Less attracted to the person in a sexual way.
Lack of proper body maintenance, like becoming too fat.
Conflict in tastes and desires.
Continuous nagging.
Comparing the man or woman to others constantly
Imparting unsolicited advice all the time
Addiction to alcohol or drugs
Deterioration in the health of one spouse or suffering from incurable ailments like HIV
Physical and mental abuse and exhibiting sadistic tendencies
Ignoring or showing disrespect to friends and relatives of one spouse Impotency or inability to bear children.

Love is a very emotional thing, so obviously breaking up with a loved one for whatever reason will be very emotionally draining. Break ups are notoriously bad, some people can react irrationally because of the mix of emotions going on.

Glamour magazine ran a competition for readers to send in their shocking break up stories. There is something about people which attracts them to other peoples losses. People want to hear interesting stories and hearing a bad story about someone else helps with one's own self esteem. It helps people to see their life 'isn't that bad' and that people are worse off them them.

THE WINNER

My boyfriend of three years proposed with the same ring he’d given his ex-fiancée, without resizing it. I should have said no! Eventually I saw the writing on the wall, but before I could dump him, he dumped me in a note he left at my office. He didn’t even waste a stamp. —K.E.

THE RUNNER-UP

Oh, where to begin in my sad past of crappy boyfriends? I’ll sum up the first one simply with his breakup line: “I don’t have time for a relationship right now. I’ll call you back after deer season.” —Jennifer

Another reason to never date a guy that smokes!

My ex and I were engaged, we lived together, and my children were very close to him. One late night after a party, he left the apartment to get a pack of cigarettes. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for him to do, but when he wasn’t back by 4:00 A.M., I got worried and called. His phone was off. The next day he called to tell me it was over. He left everything he owned in our house and never came back again. —Michelle

He made me a practical joke!

My ex-boyfriend and I had been dating for six months. One day, out of nowhere, he told me he had a girlfriend. When I started to cry, he told me I was overreacting. I was furious! Then he told me he was just kidding and he really loved me. I believed him. The next week I went to visit him at his house. When I rang the doorbell he opened the door and gave me a kiss. There was a girl sitting on the couch that I’d never seen before. He walked over to her, gave her a kiss, and said “Hi, Julie. Meet my girlfriend.” They both started laughing. I found out later from him that he wanted just to do that for fun to twist my heart and play with it. I was really upset, but don’t worry, I found out a way to get him back. —Julie

He married someone else—before he broke up with me!

I met Adam online. When we finally met in person a few months later, I fell in love with him. We dated for nine months. He was even my first. I thought things were going quite well, when he announced, out of the blue, that he was moving back to his hometown. I was sad, but I didn’t think we needed to break up because the town was only two hours away. When I said so, he confessed that he was moving home to get back with his ex. Then I found their wedding announcement online. The wedding date had already passed. He’d been married a month before he broke up with me! —Victoria

Domestic Violence

1 in 4 women have been subject to domestic violence. Many people suffer in silence, however there are campaigns out there to help persuade women to speak out.

This campaign uses celebrities faces to create more of a shock tactic and attract more attention. The celebrities are shown beaten and bruised due to domestic violence. The images are shocking and may help those suffering in silence to realise that what is happening to them is really bad and that they can speak out.

Statistics help people to understand better to reality of what is being said. Saying every four women falls victim to domestic violence speaks directly to the audience. Who ever is reading this advertisement most likely will be around 4 or more women. And to look at these people as a group at least one of those women has or will be domestically abused.