OUGD401 - Summary of research. ST4

Consumerism as a way of life - Miles. S (1998)

This is a book, by Steven Miles, which gives an introduction to the historical and theoretical foundations of Consumerism. Miles gives a critical view of this broad subject, quoting designers and experts in consumerism theory, which gives a good balanced view on the subject matter.

The tone of voice within the book is very critical and cynical at times, a lot of his findings and quotes are quite negative towards designs roles in consumerism as he believes that the second half of the 19th century was a boom period in the history of consumption and design became a legitimate means of sustaining markets, in this he thinks that design controlled the markets through creating products which need to be renewed often as a way of generating more profits for themselves. He writes this clearly by saying that there new policy was aimed at continuos stylistic change in order to stimulate sales and profits, Miles outlines the changes which came about in design which soon played a fundamental role in the desirability and saleability of products in the 20th century. 

Yet with this negative spin which Miles writes, the quotes he includes have a more positive view of design in consumerism, which gives the feeling that Miles and other designers wants to see design as a playing a positive role, one quote he uses is ''Design can offer something beyond the chink of coins in the till or the rising curve of a sales graph. As well as promoting turn over, good design can be a progressive force, creating a momentum of confidence and a 'feel good' factor, which bolsters a societies, or companies, image of itself.' (Conran - 1996: 21) Conran believes design in consumerism is much more than profits and that it moves society forward and changes perspectives and can alter social classes, giving the consumer more than a product. 

Miles writes that promotion of consumerism and desire divides our society by the wants of the public and the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Consumerism creates desires that individuals cannot have without finding themselves in some dire economic circumstance. This again creates a negative feel in the sense that design is temptation and it is causing people to want to be higher in the social classes than they can be, which is not a bad thing but it feels Miles blames consumerism for setting these social classes through the greed to generate more profits from those who cannot afford it.

study task 3 - reading and understanding a text - 20/10/15

Consumerism as a way of life - Miles. S (1998)

Tone-of-voice - 

Miles has a very questionable tone of voice about the topics he picks up on within this piece of text, he at points sounds cynical when he writes 'Compulsory Obsolescence is the foundation stone of the modern design industry and involves the intentional design of products for short term use. In other words designs ensure a constant demand for new products by intentionally designing products with limited life san' Miles suggests that design now a days is mainly done for profit and that designers are taking advantage of the consumer lifestyle and controlling it in a way with the way they dictate the product design so that there will always be a need for such products. 

5 Key points the text makes - 

• Miles writes that the second half of the 19th century was a boom period in the history of consumption and design became a legitimate means of sustaining markets. 
• The 1920's, most notably in the USA, represented a turning point in the emergence of design. It was at this point which the industrial stratergy of aiming for gradual and constant improvement towards technical perfection gave way to a more thorough going and arguably cynical policy aimed at continuos stylistic change in order to stimulate sales and profits.
• While early developments in industrial production were more concerned with utility than design, during the 20th century design gradually came to play a more fundamental role in the desirability and saleability of a product.
• Miles believes that the success of Design is fundamental to the success of the product, which is crucial to the reproduction of consumerism as a way of life. 
• Miles believes that the values in well designed goods and products can be socially divisive, and that design its self is symbolic of the socially divisive nature of consumption. The promotion of the consumerism and desire divides the society through the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Consumerism creates desires that individuals cannot without finding themselves in some dire economic circumstance.

5 Key Quotes Within the text - 

• 'Jeans are no longer, if they ever were, a generic denim garment. Like all commodities, they are given brand names that compete among each other for specific segments of the market. Manufactures try to identify social differences and then try to construct equivalent differences in the product so that social differentiation and product differentiation become mapped onto each other' (Fiske 1989: 6)
• 'Design can offer something beyond the chink of coins in the till or the rising curve of a sales graph. As well as promoting turn over, good design can be a progressive force, creating a momentum of confidence and a 'feel good' factor, which bolsters a societies, or companies, image of itself.' (Conran - 1996: 21)
• 'Every product, to be successful, must incorporate the ideas that make it marketable, and the particular task of design is to bring about the conjunction between such ideas and the available means of production. The result of this process is that manufactured goods embody innumerable myths about the world, myths which in time come to seem as real as the products in which they are embedded.' (Forty 1986: 9)
• 'In modern societies cultural domination has been affected through the already emptied out abstract ideologies of liberalism, equality, progress, science and so on. Domination in post-modern capitalism is effected through a symbolic violence that has been even further emptied out, even further Deterritorialization, whose minimal foundations have been swept aside.' (Lash and Urry 1994: 15-16)
• 'Just as uncontrolled economic expansion can lead to a loss of equilibrium, in our ecological system, so an incessant supply of graphics, cinematic, televisual and musical images, unanswered by an equivalent response on the part of the consumer, may lead to sterilisation of the imaginative quality of the individual ... Even the most prestigious object of 'good design' may become unsatisfactory if it does not permit the user to develop his own imagination.' (Dorfles 1979: 12)  

OUGD401 - Study Task One - Critical Comparison.

Image one is an advertisement by Schumacher and Ettlinger of New York, it is advertising 'The Uncle Sam Range' By the Abendroth Bros. The advertisement was published in 1876, the imagery used is very patriotic with there being many references to the American flag, through the colour scheme of red, white and blue is very clear and the use other icons related to America such as a golden eagle and uncle sam being the centre focus of this ad campaign, Uncle Sam is America personified, freedom and the American dream. Even the typography used is an American western style type, similar to letter press style of the time in America.

The clock holds a key message in this image with one of the hands on its face pointing to 1876 and the other pointing at the date 1776, 100 years previous, which was the date that America became an independent state following the American revolution, this advert was trying to signify the centenary anniversary of Americas independence Schumacher and Ettlinger using the excitement of the time to make their advert popular. The advert is advertising a cooker from 'The Uncle Sam range', though this is not clear at first view as it is not the clear focus within the image, Schumacher and Ettlinger try to make patriotism and America as the centre focus to draw in the intended audience, it attempts to show America superiority through mockery of other countries, in the way that, the list that the earth which is personified is holding, lists a menu of different different foods from cultures but plays on it and mocks european and asian culture. The cooker is aimed at an upperclass market as of the advertised slavery which is still very apparent in America at this time, again trying to show American superiority.

Image 2 is an advertisement created by Adrian Allison and commissioned by the Empire marketing board from 1927 until 1933 it is an advert which shows African natives transporting goods by foot on a long journey (which represents the old style) and then by boat and road in the second (Which represents the current times of 1927). These posters were created to promote an understanding between the countries under the Empire, yet the images show a racial divide that was apparent at the times. The second image is meant to represent a better way of like in being the antithesis of the old hard ways in the first image, the second image represents the impact western culture has had on the land since colonisation, it shows a modern way of doing things and to try to promote western culture as something that progresses people forward. Its title 'Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity, works in a way to try get investors to use this trading company as it is changing the world for the better and is helping everyone in the Empire.

Both these images are very visually different in styles yet hold a similar message about the way of life the product or company gives you, both offer to improve life for you and people around you yet both use a different technique to the other to advertise there product or company. The 'Uncle sam range' shows wealth, happiness and domestic bliss that will only be achieved through the purchase of this product. Yet the 'Empire Market Board' advert suggests that by supporting the Empire will improve the lives of not only you but natives too, it promotes colonial progress and a stronger Empire.

Context of practice one - Visual Literacy - The Language of Design.

We began the lecture by going through why we are here in out current position as creative students on our chosen course. As creatives is our job to communicate and solve problems of communication through image, type or motion. We need to learn to be able to communicate ideas and concepts, to different audiences, considering different context. But before we could do this we needed to understand the terminology behind it.

Visual Communication is the sending and receiving of messages using image or type, it is based on a level of understanding of signs, symbols and objects which is affected by media, context and audience.

Visual literacy -
Visual literacy is the ability to find meaning from visual image and type, and also interpreting images from a range of cultures. It also stands for the production of images which can communicate a message. Visual literacy is our ability to interpret and understand information which is presented as an image, for example the international symbol for toilets is now seen as the image to the left, just three small human form symbols one female one male, also in some cases the sign for a disable access is shown through this symbol of a wheel chaired person. All these signs show is a human form, the female represented by wearing a skirt/dress and the male in trousers, as images they do nothing to represent a toilet or bathroom facility but because it has been used in western culture to show that there is mens and women's bathrooms it is now recognised without any type being needed.  This sort of symbols breaks down language barriers and is now internationally recognised, Visual literacy is the idea that images can be read.

A symbol such as this, left, can be interpreted in many different ways, it can be put in different context, for example if this symbol is place next to multiply, division and subtract symbols it is immediately connected to maths. If you make the vertical line longer at the bottom it would look like a crucifix and be related to Religion.

Another factor is colour, for example if this symbol was green it would represent health and medical practice. Yet if the cross was white with a red background it would be the flag of Switzerland, small changes of shape and colour totally changes the meaning behind a symbol and changes our perception of it. Visual communication is made of symbols whose meanings results from their existence in certain contexts.

  These are the symbols for VENUS and MARS, the first is the circle with a small cross below it is associated with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, the latter, the circle with the arrow emering from it is the symbol which represents the God of war Mars. VENUS is now representative of female and MARS representative of male, in this image it looks as if Venus represents male and Mars female just because of the colours used, people would assume that as blue is seen as a masculine colour and pink as a feminine colour, when in fact the symbols represent the opposite to the colour.

Visual Syntax -

Visual Syntax refers to the structure of a picture and the organisation of elements within the visual image, it represents the basic foundations of an image which affects the way we read and perceive it. Elements to consider are format, scale, font and colour to name a few.

Visual Semantics -

The semantics of an image refers to how an image fits in into a cultural process of communication, which includes the relationship between form and meaning through cultural references such as religion, politics, social and historical structures.

We perceive these signs as road signs as we see them everyday on streets we walk past them and we perceive them without knowing full meaning, it is just seeing them everyday we seem to learn of them without trying, it is only when we learn hazard perception that we fully know the meaning of the shapes and colours and symbols.







Again this image of for sets of hair, eye brows and moustaches is first of all perceived as heads due to the layout of the imagery, our minds fill in the gaps of what is missing in the image. We also recognise who these people are, The Beatles, as they are a symbol of British culture, yet they were about in the 60s before I was born, they are still huge today in modern culture.



Semiotics -

Is the study of signs and semiosis, communication, symbolism and signification. Semiotics can be related to the studies of linguistics, which looks at the meaning of lecture. Not only does semiotics look at linguistics but also sign systems, visuals and visual literacy.

Visual Synecdoche -

This term is used when a part is used to represent a whole, the main subject is substituted with something connected to the main. The substitution only works if the Synecdoche is recognised around the world.

For example the Statue of liberty is an iconic landmark which is very representative of New York, it is universally recognised as a part of New York, if seen people immediately know what it is and where it is.




Visual Metonym -

A visual metonym is a symbolic which is used to represent something of a literal meaning. It is linked to a main subject which the metonym shares a relationship to yet is not representative of it. Such as this image of a taxi, which is usually seen as a New York taxi yet this design is used in different places across America so cannot be seen as a universally recognised symbol for New York yet can still be linked.

"Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for" - Bruce Mau