OUGD501 - Seminar 5: First Things First Manifesto

First Things First Manifesto - 2000
To find the key differences between this & the 1964 manifesto

Differences:
In the first manifesto there is a definite point on wanting to stop designing for consumerism and consumerist needs, and make design for more meaningful causes.
In the 2000 manifesto the point is still there showing not much has changed over 40 years.
More urgent - different tone of voice
Context - global consumer system
Aimed at a wider audience
Focuses of social effect - the dumbing down of society
Politicalisation
A challenge to the consumer system
Some of the products have an ethical problem - credit card - debt etc - SUV - fumes & environment
Design activism

First things first ( revisited) - Rick Poynor
Ken Garland - CND Campaigner
Commercial design is political
Supporting the status quo
Style over substance - people care more about the visuals than the message
Designers feel that politics is not their concern

Michael Beirut - Ten Foot Notes to a Manifesto
Criticism of the 2000 manifesto
Signatures are graphic 'cultural workers'
Designers as exploited class
Consumer culture
What do we do instead?
No clear good cause
No clear choices
Replacing manipulation for consumerism with mass manipulation of political causes

First things first 1964
Context - boom - height of consumer civil rights protest - anti-war demos
Ken Garland - designer and activist
Against design for trivial purposes
For design for society
For design with a purpose
Proposing a reversal of priorities

Task
Write a critical discussion on the First Things First Manifesto.
Triangulated discussion based on two works of design.

Unethical design - Burger King Ad:

Ethical design - Amnesty International Ad:

The way designers use their talents has been a large debate for decades now. While a designer must make a living, comments have been made on how the designer does this happily when their talents are being wasted on large scale consumerist advertising campaigns for clients who only have an interest in making money and gaining customers. Three authors who have comments on this are Garland (1964), Poynor (2000) and Beirut (2007).

With references to the two images above, what is classed as an 'unethical' advertisement is a ad campaign for fast food chain Burger King. This is because unethical design is classed as design which fuels the purpose and needs of the clients and does not help the greater good of the world or change the world in a positive way. This ad by Burger King reflects that as it is a ploy by the company to get more customers, giving them a temptation that they won't say no to, when in reality, there are millions of people in the world who are starving, and nothing is being said. This is essentially the consumerist culture; more for less, no questions asked, no meaning. Garland comments on the use of designer talent in the 'First Things First Manifesto' written in 1964. He states, "By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity".

This is further backed up by Rick Poynor in 'First Things First (Revisited)' (2000). In this he comments on how this way of life for designers and the world has become the normal. "For many young designers emerging from design schools in the 1990's, they now appear to be one and the same. Obsessed with how cool an ad looks, rather than with what it is really saying, or the meaning of the context in which it says it, these designers seriously seem to believe that formal innovations alone are somehow able to effect progressive change in the nature and content of the message communicated". The third author, Michael Beirut, comments on this from the point of view of how the designers have got to this stage; "Ad agencies have treated designers as stylists for hire, ready to put the latest gloss on the sales pitch". These three points work together cohesively to show a timeline of how the designers of today are working; advertisers see designers as someone to make something look good, designers want and need to make a living so take the jobs even if unethical, and now young designers see this work and think it is the right thing to be doing.

In contrast to this way of designing, visual communication is the simplest form of communication in the modern day and should be used for good and meaningful causes. Even if this does involve an advertising campaign, there are campaigns that are there selling meaningful messages. For example, the Amnesty International poster above is obviously something that has had a lot of money spent on it, but unlike product advertising, there is no lie, manipulation or deception in the design. It is truthful and meaningful. It connects to viewers because it sees the poster from their point of view. With the words 'It's not happening here, but it is happening now', it hits on the viewers state of mind that because it's not happening where they are, they just become consciously ignorant to it and gloss over it. 

While there is a greater demand for pointless advertising campaigns, ethical campaigns like this are the ones that designers should have the choice to do. Using their talents for something with a purpose and something that is lasting is much more of a fulfilling job. Garland comments on this, "We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible. Not do we want to take any of the fun out from life. But we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication". He states that while it is wrong to thing these advertising campaigns are good, there is a need for the designer to do them to make a living. If a designer were to just devote their entire career to doing ethical design, it would be a very hard career to be had. Beirut makes an interesting comment in "The greatest designers have always found ways to align the aims of their corporate clients with their own personal interests, and, ultimately, with the public good". In a way he is backing up what Garland is saying, and providing a sort of solution in saying that because designers get the control of the design elements in these advertisements, they can turn this in their favour and be ethical, while staying in the consumerist corporate side of the world. He is saying that while a designer may not have a choice in where the work is done, there is a chance to turn this work in their favour. This is also commented upon by Poynor, "Even now, at this late hour, in a culture of rampant commodification, with all its blindspots, distortion, pressures, obsessions , and craziness, it's possible for visual communicators to discover alternative ways of operating in design'.

In comparing the two posters, the fact that designers created both of them shows exactly how misconstrued the line between designer and advertiser has become. While designers are constantly battling to be able to design something meaningful, at the same time, they are all taking money from collaborating in a corporate campaign. Poynor says "At root, it's about democracy", meaning that there has to be a balance between ethical and unethical designs that a designer does. Without this, a designer has not got much hope of making a living if they are so against unethical design. All three authors hit on the points that while it is not what designers want to do, it is what they must do to keep surviving in the world. If they do not do it, someone else will take their place as the consumerist culture is so large now. While ethical design is a lot more meaningful and is memorable, this is only because of all of the unethical design that is around. One ethically driven poster surrounded by a hundred unethical posters is surely more powerful than if every poster was ethically driven.

OUGD501 - Seminar 4: The Gaze & The Media

• Vouyerism (Freud) - sexual desire
• Visual Culture (Art & Media)
• Looking is not neutral
• 'Men act, women appear' (Berger) - visual representation is skewed
• Men - the purpose, power
• Women - the object - objectified by men
• 'Vanity' (Membling) - you can look at the woman because she is looking at herself in the mirror. - a man is going to own this so it's a male fantasy.

• In art - most artists were men - art was brought by men - men are the ones with the power
• Economic and material power translates to power over others
• To make a man feel more confident in their sexuality & power - to own a 'woman' - fantasy - never argues back etc
• Created image for yourself and other men & called it Vanity - to laugh at women for being concerned about how they look
• 'Birth of Venus' (Cabanel) - was the most popular painting at the Napolionic Salon when displayed - fantasy piece - dog is mans best friend

• 'Olympia' (Monet) - caused scandal at the same show - more of a reality - a painting of a prostitute - challenge to the world views - black cat symbolises independence - the gaze is met showing she is a subject too, not just an object

• Venus & Olympia - Goddesses of love
• Tradition of power in art which is disguised - sleazy - objectification of women - pigeon holing women into the way they should act etc.
• Modern perfume ads - women shows as sexually available

• Process of women to exist in a consumer culture is to fulfil the typical image men have created for them and always maintaining that - the success of a woman is judged down to if she has a man and has been desired.
• Kenneth Clark - difference between naked and nude - nude is 'art'
• Berger says naked is to be yourself and to be nude is to be looked at by & not noticed subjectively
• We tend to look at other people as an object
• Women are constantly an objectification of men
• Women's sense of self becomes closer to this than their sense of self

Task: Write an analysis of an image showing woman subjectivity and the system of power relations. Use 5 quotes from 'The Look' by Coward, R. (Approx 500 words)

The image above is a poster advertisement produced for fashion and perfume retailer Paco Rabanne, advertising a fragrance for men. ‘In this culture, the look is largely controlled by men’ (Coward, 2000, p33). This is clear in this image because of the obvious subjectivity of the woman. The image of the women fits the stereotype of many women in mens fragrance advertisements. She is seen as the object, while the male is seen as the subject and the one with all the power, with the woman there for his pleasure.

As this is an advertisement aimed at men, there needs to be a reason for them to want to buy the product, and this reason is made by the position of the woman in the image. She is positioned behind him, an arm wrapped around him, and looking at him. This implies that she is literally hanging onto his every word and action and completely submissive to him. Like Coward says, ‘The saturation of society with images of women has nothing to do with men’s natural appreciation of objective beauty, their aesthetic appreciation, and everything to do with an obsessive recording and use of women’s images in ways which make men comfortable. Clearly this comfort is connected with feeling secure or powerful.’ (Coward, 2000, p34). 

In comparison to the woman’s position, the man is stood confidently, and with a hand in his pocket to even look smug. His raised hand is in the position of clicking, implying that the woman is there by a click of his finger. These subtle visuals will relate completely to the male viewer, who will subconscious see this and see that this is his desire, to have a woman there at the click of a finger. ‘Entertainment as we know it is crucially predicated on a masculine investigation of women, and a circulation of women’s images for men’ (Coward, 2000, p33). The woman is the object and in the image to show the viewer what they can ‘get’ with this fragrance. It gives a man a false sense of security in their masculinity and power over women. The way the woman is looking at the man instead of the camera implies that she is ‘his’ and won’t challenge anything he says or does. ‘The ability to scrutinise is premised on power. Indeed the look confers power; women’s inability to return such a critical and aggressive look is a sign of subordination, of being the recipients of another’s assessment’ (Coward, 2000, p33-34).

The woman is coated in gold paint, which instantly relates to the need for the finer things in life. It suggests that this woman is as good to a man as gold would be, that she would bring wealth in their confidence and masculinity like gold would in financial wealth. It is perhaps argued that this image is showing a woman as something that men worship and appreciate, however the overall use of the woman in the image does not support that view. Coward says, ‘Men defend their scrutiny of women in terms of the aesthetic appeal of women. But this so-called aesthetic appreciation of women is nothing less than a decided preference for a ‘distanced’ view of the female body’ (Coward, 2000, pg 34). This is definitely the case in this image. The man is seen as the desired life for the male viewer, with a ‘perfect’ woman in his life who will not question a thing and will let him be the leader, the one with the power. 

OUGD501 - Seminar 3: Identity

• Essentialism- Some sort of innate characteristic - some people are born a criminal etc. - A pseudo-science
• Anti-essentialism proposes that we can reinvent ourselves constantly

Identity & 'The other' in visual representations

• Creation of identities
• Concepts or 'otherness'
• Analysis of visual example

Identity Creation

What makes you, you?

• Essentialist things - physical features etc.
• Parents/socilaisation
• Money
• Environment/era
• Diet
• Education
• Relationship status
• Personality
• Lifestyle

How do we express our identity?

• Mannerisms
• Social interactions
• Hobbies
• Possessions
• Accents
• Social associations - social circles

These are are subjectivities which create a sense of self. It is arrived at by a dynamic of these two lists.

The circuit of culture - Stuart Hall

Culture is the framework within which our identities are formed, expressed and regulated.

Representation - affected by what we buy and and how we present ourselves

Identity - social stereotypes - what you are expected to have/be

Production - what you do in society - a job

Consumption - what we buy/our consumption of products

Regulations - limitations of society

Identity Formation

Psychoanalyst - Jaques Lacan

• Identity is created and solidified through childhood - 'The Mirror Stage'
• Sense of self (subjectivity) built on receiving views from others
• This subjectivity is based on an illusion of wholeness & independence - the result is own subjectivity is fragile

Constructing the 'other'

• In the same way that we create our own identities, in opposition to what we are not, so does a society.
• To solidify our identity, we remove ourselves against what we are not - in the same way that we create our own identities - in opposition to what we are not - so does society
• Problems: relies on the assumption of opposition and radical otherness
• Shares up unstable identities through the illusion of unity

Task: Analyse one image from the media that attempts to secure an identity for the reader at the expense of others and what it offers you by doing this (Approx 300 words)

The image above is one that I found from an old national newspaper. It shows two very different stories, put on a page together to balance each other out and balance out the reader. The first is a story about the riots in Egypt, the second an avert for lastminute.com, talking about last minute holiday/activity deals for friends.

Focussing on the advertisement, it has been placed on a page with a story which is something in a completely different country, but still well known about all over the world. This is placed here to give the reader a sense of normality. When the reader looks at the image and story about Egypt, anxiety and empathy for the situation will arise, however, the moment they look  to the advertisement, they know that it is worlds away and doesn’t directly affect them. This is a form of othering as it shows a reader a serious situation what is happening, but then sugarcoats it with the advertisement and shows them that currently that story is of no threat to their everyday life and well being, and that instead this advertisement is something that will benefit their life immediately.

The imagery between the two is ironic. The people in each image are doing the same poses, with the hands in the air, but for two completely contrasting reasons. In the first, it is out of fury and indignation, but in the second it is because they are having fun and enjoying themselves. It is immediately more relatable to the reader, and shows what the reader could be experiencing right now if they follow the advertisement, putting them worlds away from the situation in the article. It gives the reader the sense of security and of being in a more civilised and solidified society than the one read about.

OUGD501 - Seminar 2: Consumerism - Persuasion, Society, Brand & Culture

• Desire - false need for commodities - satisfaction, inequality - inequality disguised by the illusion of freedom
• False needs vs real needs
• Greed
• Caused by mass production in advertising and branding
• Freud - Irrational desires and animal instincts - 'pleasure principle'
• Bernays - brought the concepts together through PR
• This caused social control vs Freedom (inequality) - palliative

After discussing the above, we were put into groups of five and given sections each from chapter 7 of John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing', and were given the task to discuss these pages and get the key points of each page. Showing how it links to consumerism and find adverts where we can see this working.

Pg 131 - 135

• Publicity can't linked too strongly to the product - it needs to be seen as something that will add gain to the consumers life. Adverts can't be too far away from their grasp, but not too easy. Must be something desired.
• Publicity is based on the selfish desires of people's envy
• People work to make others envious of their possessions - advertisements play on this - gives the illusion that the product will give happiness - false sense of happiness
• Envied people have power and control over others
• By buying a product you are hoping to see yourself as the object of envy
• Oil paintings were a way of seeing affluence and so you can envy others - Berger compares this to modern advertising.

Task: Write an analysis of one advert using quotes from Berger to back up how the advert reflects the physical and mental condition of consumerism. (Approx 500 words)

This iPad advert focusses purely on the product itself which makes it an interesting advert to look at in relation to consumerism. At first glance, it seems to be a relatively straight forward advert, showing exactly what the product can do, how easily it works and how quickly things can get done on it. This doesn’t initially seem like it plays on the desires of the spectator-buyer, however when it comes to technology, envy has always been on the person with the newest, fastest and most advanced piece of software.

Referring to what Berger says; ‘The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is.’ (Berger, 1972, p142), this advert completely goes by this. It shows a piece of software which can do multiple tasks, very quickly and literally at the touch of a finger. It shows a piece of technology in a simple format which is easy to use and quick to learn, with no other attachments. It relates itself entirely to a humans desire for simplicity and a fast, working piece of technology which can hold a large amount of information, and is portable.

It shows how easy one’s life could be with the product, and how there is much less time wasted having to go on a different array of technologies to do different tasks. ‘Publicity persuades us of such a transformation by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable’ (Berger, 1972, p131). The advert shows an array of different people each using the product, all doing a different thing each to show the diversity of the product and how it can completely transform your life into something easy to manage and keep control of at all times. Making one’s life easier to manage gives the illusion that it will be a happier and simpler one, with this product playing a large part in this happiness and pleasure of having this idealogical life. ‘Publicity begins by work on a natural appetite for pleasure. But it cannot offer the real object of pleasure and there is no convincing substitute for pleasure in that pleasure’s own terms’ (Berger, 1972, p132).

It works on the illusion that this product will give that happiness, and that without it, life will be the same old life it is, with no improvement. The spectator-buyer imagines themselves with the product and what it could do to increase the ease and happiness in their life, becoming envious of the potential future-self, and seeing how having this product, and being that person in the advert will make others around envious of what they have. ‘The spectator-buyer is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product. She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an envy which will then justify her loving herself’ (Berger, 1972, p134). It is a very sly and hidden message it gives, but it does entice the spectators natural need for improvement to life.

OUGD501 - Seminar 1: The Shannon-Weaver Model

The Shannon-Weaver Model - Shannon & Weaver employed by the American Military to improve efficiency of communication, understand how and where communication was being broken down.

Did research into radio & telecommunications.
Model can be applied to all communication - visual etc. - although it is primarily designed for telecommunications & radio messaging.
To understand communication you need to know the components:

1. Information Source
2. Transmitter
3. Channel
4. Receiver 
5. Destination

Communication can be broken down and fail at any of these points

Eg. Radio Message:

• Person 1 - Radio encodes - Radio waves - Received by radio - Person 2

Can also be used to describe the process of making design:

1. Client/brief - Designer - Work - Viewer - Understood Message
2. Client - Designer - Work - Everyone - Target Audience

What could happen at these stages to stop smooth communication?

• Information Source: Brief could be vague/not well explained
• Transmitter: Wrong interpretation of brief
• Channel: Design issues - printing issues etc & wrong area/context & media
• Receiver: Not understand/ Misinterpret
• Destination: Ambiguous message/ misunderstood/ not clear/ no sense/ no interest

Noise Source: 

Interferes with the communicative act - can happen at any stage.

Eg. telephone communication - noise at the channel - can't hear everything

Relating to design - Stress from above - too much information - friends interfering etc - technical issues - other media around/fallen trees etc - other designs around - detest for product

Communication problems:

• Level A: Technical problems: How accurately can the message be transmitted?
• Level B: Semantic problems: How precisely is the message conveyed?
• Level C: Effectiveness problems: How effective does the received meaning affect behaviour?

Model is linear whereas the design process has feedback - would need a loop - consistent dialogue

Noise:

• Unintended things which cause communication breakdown
• In Zines, noise becomes a feature - noise becomes communication
• Introduction of noise is a creative act to create a new communication - hijacking - graffiti etc.

Redundancy Vs Entropy

Redundancy:

• Highly predictability, low information - social predictable e.g. offering handshake - mostly understood
• Phatic communication - Jakobson
• Path of least resistant - doesn't interfere with communication at all

Entropy:

• A shock - communicated a shocking high amount of information
• Can occur at every stage of Shannon-Weaver model
• Sometimes entropy is desired - eg. Hawaii bar with Helvetica & Bauhaus interior
• Makes people take notice

Task: Apply Shannon-Weaver model to an example of communication, using the themes discussed in the seminar.

For a piece of graphic design/communication to work well and efficiently it needs to fulfil the criteria in the Shannon-Weaver model. Analysing this advertisement against it will see how well the message is being put across and if it is successful.
There are five main components to the Shannon-Weaver model which can be applied and manipulated to fit any given piece of communication. In this advert the Information Source will have been the client, which is fashion retailer Benetton. It is clear from first glance that this advertisement is an entropic one, and was made to be that way. This means it was an advert created to shock and make people stop and take notice of it.
The second stage is the Transmitter, and that is the designer who created the images for them. As the client obviously wanted a shocking advert, there has not been any communication break down at this point.
The third stage is the Channel, which is the work itself. These are done on a large scale and at a height which is easily seen without anyone having to look up or down to see it. At eye-height these adverts will get more attention. The Receiver/Destination is the viewers of these images, but it doesn't necessarily aim itself at a particular audience, more of a general public audience with the aim to shock and make people take notice.
When analysing communication, the Shannon-Weaver model also takes distractions or disturbances into consideration. This is know as Noise. This can happen at any stage of the model and deter the successfulness of the message that is supposed to be communicated. Referring to this advertisement, a possible source of noise could be the fact that it is an advert at a lower level to others around it. When there is a large amount of people walking past, it will become harder for a viewer to successfully get the message. Other adverts around it may distract their attention as well, as they will be higher/more noticeable in this situation as well.
When looking into the levelling system of communication of this advert it becomes clear that there are perhaps Semantic problems as well as Effectiveness problems. Although this advert is entropic, it is representing a clothing brand, and putting an image like this up isn't necessarily going to make people walk into the shop and buy the clothing. In terms of an effectiveness problem, the desired effect is clearly to make viewers see world leaders put in a situation which is still shamed upon by many people, and the message is that it is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be hated for. However, Benetton is known for it's shocking adverts, and sticking to this does make the viewer take notice and then know which brand it is for, and having advertisements which are entropic and make you think is a way to gain publicity over the other redundant advertisements, which in turn, could potentially get boosted sales for the brand.