DSDN171 Blog Assignment 9 (Week 12)

What kinds of political or ideological messages inform design or the branding of design today? Identify one example and describe in what ways it expresses larger cultural, political, or ideological beliefs.

It was during the Cold War, fought peacefully between the Capitalist USA and the Communist Europe, that the ‘Kitchen Debate’ arose. The USA was all about ‘the good life’, and claimed it was the better party because it provided the very best for its people, making them happy. The Kitchen Debate was based on America’s aim for a consumerist culture, which they hoped would help rebuild the country’s economy after WWII. America also “offered a bright vision of material abundance to assuage the privations of Europe”, (Pavitt, 2008, p. 75) in an effort to convince [Europe] that a consumerist society was the way to rebuild the economy.

American corporations sold not only products to the people, but firstly and foremostly the idea that their products were necessary, would make one happier, and would improve one’s quality of life. They used “American models of modern domesticity”, that is, females who the consumers of the time, to whom the women of the household would relate, to “’[conflate] democratic freedom with rising private consumption.’” (Pavitt, 2008, p. 75) The most successful advertisements for products, both then and now, push this ideology, that better living comes from being a consumer, to the limit. If the branding makes the consumer believe that they need the product to be better off, it will sell.

An example of this is the branding of renowned chocolate company, ‘Cadbury’. The company’s latest sales pitch is ‘Share the Joy’, a campaign aligning Cadbury with happiness. The logo below is the central point of the campaign, which is a collection of many videos, songs and images all reflecting back to the joy that Cadbury products will supposedly bring you. Although this message is never outrightly stated, by aligning their brand with happiness, Cadbury has cleverly convinced consumers to buy their product. If Cadbury equals happiness, and happiness satisfies consumers’ desires, Cadbury can convince people buy their product by persuading them that it is necessary in order to be happy.

This ideology that a particular product is necessary for happiness stems back to America’s push for a consumerist culture in the wake of WWII. Their plan to boost the economy worked, because consumers were convinced that they needed the products. However, how can one be truly happy when companies constantly refuel the ideology that craves constant consumption of their products? The economy boost may have succeeded, but the ideologies involved in this give rise to the prospect of an insatiable appetite for the material.

'Share the Joy' logo by Cadbury
http://amillionpagesofinspiration.com/category/branding/page/2/

Citations:

Pavitt, J. (2008). Design and the Deomocratic Ideal, Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970 (pp. 72-91) London: V&A Publishing.

DSDN171 Blog Assignment 8 (Week 11)

In our reading this week, “The first machine age in Europe” by David Raizman, we learned that Hannes Meyer, the Swiss-born architect appointed director of the Bauhaus in 1928, argued that design is a product of “function x economy”, aligning design with a scientific model driven by new technologies and manufacturing potential. Considering this week’s lecture and readings respond to the following question (approximately 150-300 words, as needed):

Do you agree or disagree with the position that design is a result of “function x economy”? Do you think design today an ‘art’ or a ‘science’? Should it be one or the other, or can it be both?

I do not agree that design in a result of “function x economy”. Granted, a company must sell products, and these need to be functional to sell, so they can be financially sustainable and have the capacity to keep designing new products, but by the same reasoning, a company must give its designers freedom to create, just as Gropius “supported artistic freedom and individuality rather than the imposition of typical, standardized forms,” (Raizman, 2004, p. 181) because without innovation, a product will not sell anyway.

Designers are the visionaries who push the boundaries and pave the way to new possibilities of design. Without this vision, design would grind to a halt and there would never be new innovations because the focus will be on sheer practicality. Designer Reitveld, whose “Schroder House fulfilled many of the esthetic principles embraced in [the journal] De Stijl, in particular the attempt to create a “living” work of non-objective art, to extend the experience of non-objectivity to a built environment,” (Raizman, 2004, p. 171) believed that design went beyond pure bare minimum functionality, and with this I agree. I think that design is an ‘art’ and should be treated as so. I also think that there is a distinction between designers and manufacturers - the mechanical process of building these ideas into mass produced products is the ‘science’ component.

We have come a long way from the designs of a century ago with designs that function better not because they are simply practical, but because they create joy within the user. The first Apple Macintosh computer (fig. 1) looks to us today an ugly piece of technology – it satisfies its function well enough - you can type and use the mouse - but by today’s standards, it wouldn’t be enjoyable to use at all. In contrast, the Apple iMac currently on the market (fig. 2) also performs its function, but, more than this, it makes the user want to use it because it is sleek and attractive and has a finely tuned user interface that makes it a pleasure to use. Consumers, when given the choice, will buy products that they will enjoy using – hence, a company must accommodate for this by designing products that are not just ‘science-based’ and functional at that moment in time. Instead, they must allow for designers to think creatively, using design as an ‘art’ to respond to the requirements set by the interactivity involved between the user and the design.

Raizman, D. (2004). The First Machine Age in Europe, in History of Modern Design (pp. 166-191) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

Fig 1. 

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/first-apple-mac-plus-goes-up-for-auction-18-09-2009/


Fig 2.

http://tinacolada.net/zrrltsy/Imac

DSDN171 Blog Assignment 7 (Week 10)

In this week’s lecture we discussed the concept of the “symbolic universe” as a cultural “structure of legitimation” capable of organizing the social world as comprehensible and connected. The structure of the symbolic universe then, places the individual in a known and knowable space. Such social structures are critical for societies in transition. Can you identify the creation of any “symbolic universe” today (or in recent years)? How might media and design be implicated in the construction of these social universes today?

One of the most popular areas for the creation of “symbolic universes” today is in advertising. Everywhere we look, companies are creating idyllic situations in their advertisements to make us believe we will be better off by buying their product. This utopian ideal is “a good, beneficent place, better in all ways than that in which its creators live,” (Kihlstedt, 1986, p. 97). One such example of this influence is an ad by well-known surfwear and general clothing label, Billabong. In this ad below, they create a utopia for female teens. Everything the ad, from the joyous expressions on the girls’ faces, to the body language they’re using, to the very choice of gorgeous models, is portraying that the consumer will become these upon purchasing the brand. Of course, it is a ridiculous theory – buying labeled clothes is not guaranteed to make you happier, more attractive, or get you more friends, but something on a subconscious level is targeted by this type of advertising. As with “symbolic universes” created within world fairs of the 20^th century, those created in advertising today “equate[…] happiness with the fulfillment of material needs and wants,” (Kihlstedt, 1986, p. 97).

Media and design are heavily implicated in the construction of “symbolic universes” today, especially in those created in advertising. It is the design of an advertisement that alludes to a utopian ideal that needs to sell the idea to the consumer, so it revolves around the consumers’ ideals. The design aesthetics of this particular poster are light and airy, expressing happiness and carefreeness, because that is what potential buyers want to be shown. Media is implicated because the media forms that will best penetrate the niche market, in this case, print forms, like posters and magazine ad, for the label will be used.

Kihlstedt, F. (1986). Utopia Realized: The World’s Fairs of the 1930s in Imagining Tomorrow: History Technology, and the American Future (pp.97-118). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

http://valenbarbero.blogspot.com/2009/11/chapter-15-billabong-ads.html

DSDN171 Blog Assignment 6 (Week 6)

In this week’s reading Benjamin argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.” Do you agree or disagree? Do you think there is a role for the ‘authentic’ in an age of digital design and manufacture?

I agree with this statement – the development of how artwork is produced today has affected its original form – more and more often, it is purely digital. Benjamin talks about how designs were previously created by an “incision on a block of wood or […] etching on a copperplate” (Benjamin, 1992, p. 219), these methods contrasting with more progressive, readily reproducible ones. These methods did allow for reproduction of the artwork, but involved a clear original in the first place – one that society holds with more value than a copy. As the demand for easily reproducible art has grown, like Benjamin says, art has become “designed for reproducibility” – the photographic negative allows for infinite reproductions of the work, however, the uniqueness surrounding an original print, as with an original painting that may be sought after by a collector as an authentic alternative to the many copies available, has been lost.

This poses the question as to whether the original of an artwork has a place in today’s society. With everything moving to a digital form, the physicality of a work of art, being able to hold and smell a crisp, brand new book in one’s hands, rather than reading the pages off a computer screen, is being lost. The problem is, there is something special about an original - “[e]ven the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element; its presence in time and space, its unique existence,” (Benjamin, 1992, p. 220). But, as the very form in which the artwork is produced moves with the digital age, more and more often skipping the stage where an exclusive original is created, sadly, the ‘authentic’ print is losing its place in society. I don’t think that there could be a place for the ‘authentic’ when technology is moving as fast as it is today.

Benjamin, W. (1992). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (pp. 211-244) in Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn. London: Fontana.