So im Running with the Lonely Hearts

I have been working with the concept of Lonely Hearts columns for my illustrated book.



I feel like I have a few options:


Trying to visualize what people in the columns look like physically and what they are looking for. OR using the "Lovestruck" section in the London Paper, try to illustrate who the people are looking for with the limited information that they provide. This could be quite a funny solution to the brief but I am worried that it is a little thin (i know the images are pretty terrible... this would never be as badly or as ugly!!)

Taking this idea further I could try to find the person that was being looked for, I could publicse the search for "love" becoming almost like a matchmaker, and document the process. I could make posters, a viral looking for them etc etc....
My next idea would be to work with the language of the lonely hearts ad.

good looking, beautiful, sexy, passionate, outgoing, funny, wealthy, educated, sensitive, nice, attractive, youthful, curvaceous, athletic, dynamic, witty, well-heeled, city, caring, warm ETC ETC ETC.
But clearly it is the abbreviations that are more interesting
WLTM, GSOH, LTR, OHAC, N/S, VGL (very good looking!) etc etc
There is obviously a language being created here, that, after researching is not applied really anywhere else, including internet dating websites, (mainly because the medium of the internet means that no longer are people restricted by space and printing costs) dissertation However, I still find them interesting. So I could explore them, and was thinking about making a spoof book where I could write it all in code and include a terribly complicated key to go with it.

My next idea is more to do with the format of the paper itself, which is part of the reason why I liked the aspect of the lonely hearts column anyway. In London the proliferation of free newspapers has brough back somewhat of a resergence in thier appeal. We sit and read them cover to cover on the tube even if, and they mostly are, filled with crap. I would like to fill them with a little bit more crap but crap that I have put in them.

I could publish my own adverts, whether they be funny/serious or not. The
act that joe bloggs can get their text put in the paper is exciting to me
(i put something in "lovestruck today"... i hope it appears!)

I could see if I could pursuade one of the papers to include a tiny little
box each day in the edition about me, as if I was looking for love or even just as a useless piece of information... eg " THURSDAY: Laura had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch"

I really would like to get some kind of interaction for the public though so I guess I have to work on that a bit.

Other ideas include, dating websites, pen palls etc. I could look for letters/emails from people who would be interested in me/so maybe they are interesting?!