Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Claire Smith 

BA [Hons] Visual Communication Design

My name is Claire Smith, I like to think outside of the box. I aim to pursue my career in User Experience Design, so much so that I plan on furthering my education by undertaking a masters in Interactive Digital Media. Design that makes a difference to the user is very important to me. I am a confident, hardworking and reliable person who has a positive outlook on all aspects of design. I enjoy photography, interaction design and branding. I have an interest in designing for social good, especially in the beauty industry which is a field that I am also interested in pursuing, along side my passion for User Centered Design.

GoodSkin

GoodSkin is an awareness campaign to inform people about the toxic chemicals that are in our everyday beauty products. GoodSkin offers a guide to safe and clean beauty and goes in depth on what chemicals you should avoid that can be lurking in your beauty products. GoodSkin should change the way you think about the cosmetic industry and how to choose cleaner brands by signing up to our monthly subscription beauty box.

By communicating the science of the chemicals in an understanding way and creating a visual language that is engaging yet empathetic towards the user I’m trying to achieve a clear understanding of the toxic chemicals that are in our everyday beauty products.

By creating a subscription service allowing people to choose safer and cleaner products the website would act as an outlet for people to learn about the harmful effects of these chemicals in their products that they use daily. This brand shows people that clean and safe beauty is the way forward.



Beauty is the Beast: Toxic beauty and the impact of social media on women’s self worth.

This dissertation examines the use of toxic chemicals that are lurking in our everyday cosmetic products. It provides context on how L’Oréal use their advertisements to sell products to consumers that are causing more harm than good over years of usage. Social media has a way of persuading us into thinking who is worthy of beauty and who is not. This research will seek to offer a critical perspective throughout the use of various advertisements, theories, lawsuit cases and my own personal thoughts on how toxic L’Oréal, Johnson & Johnson and social media can be.

The research for this dissertation has been drawn from various academic writings on advertisements, the social psychology of how people think, feel and believe these toxic ideals. EU law forbids 1,328 cosmetic chemicals which are known to cause cancer, genetic modification, reproductive damage and birth defects. Since January 2013 the FDA in the US have only banned 11 chemicals from cosmetics.

This dissertation examines how the FDA cosmetic laws are unregulated in the US. This body of research provided an in-depth analysis of the use of toxic chemicals from major manufacturers worldwide and the effect it has had on its consumers.