This week, we had Dragon Dan. On Monday, my tutor, Cynthia, helped us to prepare the pith. She mentions the pitch has diverse audiences, purposes and commercial value. So we need to clearly and quick point out our idea and the marketing value is essential. So the three mins pitches, can include :
- Introduction: Name and where I am from.
- Research question: I am looking at…
- Why this is a problem: Presentation of data.
- Expert: Public interest organisations and institutions.
The dragons of the Wednesday Dragon Dan are Dominic Stone and Emily Zak. Dominic is an academic coordinator at Central Saint Martins. And Emily is a Founder of Consultancy. It’s a mix of academic and commercial.
So, on the presentation day, I printed my work as a zine for Dominic and Emily and described the project to them in the following structure-“introduction, research question, why this is a problem in China, and what experts I cooperate with.”
I prepared a PDF for the presentation, but it didn’t show on that day due to a technical issue.
My speech was still overdue, but the central part has been stated. According to my project, Dominic and Emily give serval suggestions:
- At the moment, my zines look like two separate and distinct pieces of content that could be combined in the next step.
- The content seems too broad. It could be more specific and targeted, more suited to the eating disorder group.
- A daily schedule can become a weekly schedule, and it can go on forever.
- It’s important to think about how the voices of more people with eating disorders can be heard, such as platforms, associations, and other avenues. And, if you’re building a platform, think about why people should trust your platform.
The day after Dragon Don, I had an online meeting with Qinwen, founder of the nonprofit eating disorder organisation “ED HEALER” in China. I showed her the draft zine. She suggested that I focus on the eating-disordered person’s own emotions first. So, I decided to reduce the “external connection” part and first concentrate on the patient’s positive thinking. We decided to enter into a partnership to place my zine in international schools in Shanghai, signalling the attention currently being paid to the issue of teenage eating anxiety.
The Draft Zine
UK eating disorder statistics
- Between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder
- Around 25% of those affected by an eating disorder are male
- Most eating disorders develop during adolescence, although there are cases of eating disorders developing in children as young as 6 and in adults in their 70’s.
- Eating disorder are most common in individuals between the ages of 16 and 40 years old
- Around 10% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from anorexia nervosa
- The average age of onset for anorexia nervosa is 16-17 years old
- 40% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from bulimia nervosa
- The average age of onset for bulimia nervosa is 18-19 years old
- The rest of sufferers fall into the BED or OSFED categories of eating disorders
- Research suggests that individuals who have family members with eating disorders are more likely to develop eating disorders themselves when compared to individuals who have no family history of these illnesses
- Eating disorders have the highest mortality rates among psychiatric disorders
- Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder in adolescence
- The earlier that eating disorder treatment is sought, the better the sufferer’s chance of recovery