Dissertation - Design & accessibility

Dissertation

- 6000-8000 word dissertation (aim for the upper word limit)
- Broken down into 4 chapters - 4 x 1500 word essays
- Think of a theme with a series of sub-theme you wish to investigate
- Coherent, organised and critical approach
- Ensure you include as much (relevant) primary research as possible

Methodologies

- Feminist, semiotic, psychoanalytical, marxist, ecological, postcolonial, narratology etc
- Theoretical way to look at a give subject
- Different lenses on a given topic will yield different results - how will you address it?
- Uniformed methodology

Primary research

- Interviews (with designers, the public etc)
- Questionnaires (if thought through and rigorous)
- Own analysis on works of design
- TV / Film / Animation
- Archives

CHECK VLE FOR RESOURCE


Design and Accessibility

Relationship between the designer and the audience and how this manifests itself
Communication - how people negotiate meaning

A -----> B    Process / Linear model

How much does the designer consider the audience when designing?
How much does the audience understanding what the designer is trying to communicate?

The problem with process models are that they are linear / one-way
They don't understand that communication derives from both sources
Doesn't take into account the audience as a creator of meaning

A <-----> B

Be aware of the linear way of communication and semiotic theory

Communication within a social structure

Dependent on a sociopolitical context

Audience theory

- Models have emerged on the concept of semiotics that focus on audience

- Class, race, sex, gender etc

- Many of these issues are sometimes ignored by the designer

- Some designers see audience as a homogenous mass - same thoughts, ideals, aspirations

- Audience theory intends to abolish this

A, B, C1, C2, D, E - one way of 'categorising' an audience

Starts to look at social context creating communication as much as the designer

Frankfurt School

Adorno reduces society as one pliable mass of people without difference

Overestimates the power of the media

Effects model / Hypodermic syringe

Communication systems - mass media 

Hypodermic syringe that 'injects' the mass audience

Reception theory 

Similar to audience theory

Shows how meaning is created at the point of reception by the individual based on own circumstances

Meaning is not created in one source and transmitted (Shannon & Weaver)

David Morley (1980)

1) Preferred reading (dominant hegemonic)
- When you are sent a message by an advertisement, you are taking a preferred reading
- The message intended by the designer

2) Oppositional
- Opportunity for the same advert meaning something else to someone else

3) Negotiated
- Not accepting the dominant / preferred reading but don't totally oppose it either


Uses & Gratification model

- Extension on reception theory
- Emphasises that people use the media for their own ends, they are not manipulated
- Meaning of the media depends on the person - constantly shifts

THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (Roland Barthes)




Initial idea: Semiotics & myth in relation to logo and branding in its simplest form

Dissertation Lecture

Extended written essay on one topic
In-depth critical research and analysis
6000-8000 words

HE Courses - Cross College - Level 6 Dissertation
Existing powerpoint presentations

Proposal forms online - ensure details are correct

Academic support - G23 (3 opportunities)

One next week, another in September - first come, first serve
Not about context but expression  how you communicate through your writing

The dissertation...


It is not just a descriptive piece of work
Think analytically
Be enthusiastic

It is a common mistake to choose a broad topic - it is essential the topic is relatively narrow
Choose the best topics that will inform your argument / standpoints
Start collecting information that is relevant to your particular interest
It will feed into your studio practice - needs to have relevance

Marking

Marked against a clinical mark scheme
Use a breadth of sources - they mark against this (books, magazines, journals, exhibitions, web etc)
How have you collected evidence from these sources? What is important?

Research

The collection of information is the key to a stress free project
E-mail / write letters to companies
Dissertation tutorials with supervisor

Proposal

Ensure the title is clear and explanatory
What primary sources will you use? First hand interaction
Have some sources prepared for the dissertation proposal
Don't click submit if it is not 100% correct - draft first

Final essay

Essay - Other sources

I came across the following publication when looking into semioligical systems in relation to the media as it was noted in the essay feedback tutorial that I should look at the newspaper front covers in more depth.

Hartley, J. (1982) Understanding News, London, Methuen & Co. Ltd

Some quotes:

"Speech, then, is the means by which we select and organise our experience, and it is the medium through which we learn how to behave, how to react, what to believe." p.1

"Speech isn't something over which we have individual control - it is supplied to us a ready made tool by other people." p.1. This could be applied to the section when I begin to analyse the media as a whole and its platform for social control.

"Our submission to the social control of the language-sytem is usually both voluntary and taken for granted." p.2.

"We identify strongly with certain language-systems, and seek to present ourselves in their terms." p.2.

"News comes to us as the pre-existing discourse of an impersonal social institution which is also an industry. As we get used to its codes and conventions we will become 'news-literate'." p.5.

"The way news is produced, what it concentrates on, how its stories are put together and who takes an interest in it, all depend to some extent on the habits and conventions - not to mention technology - which were developed in a previous historical period." p.8.

"The news is a social institution and a cultural discourse which exists and has meaning only in relation to other institutions and discourses operating at the same time." p.9.

"The corporations and capitalists who own the means of news production can mount campaigns, of exposure and investigation, or of war-mongering and witch-hunts, which help to alter the political or social direction of a country." p.9.

Task 5 - The Gaze

‘According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)

Discuss this quote with reference to one work of art and one work from the contemporary media.

Hans Memling (1485) Vanity

Hans Memling 'Vanity' is used by Berger in particular as an example of the exploitation of the male gaze. An exposition on the female nude was prevalent during this time (1485) as it was predominantly a patriarchal society; men were in control through means of visual production. The majority of artists throughout this era were men, commissioned to paint pieces of nude women purely for pleasure; highlighting this sense of objectification. Men were seen to have a superior constraint over the depiction of women in art and due to their power and stance through society, the male gaze was deemed the norm - as a result, it altered how women ultimately viewed themselves. 

Berger suggests that women are ‘depicted in a different way to men - because the "ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him’ (Berger, 64)

The subject is looking into a mirror therefore there is no reciprocity; as the gaze is never challenged, the painting provides justification for the viewers gaze - this in turn distracts from the fact the artist painted his subject through enjoyment. Vanity, indicated by the use of the mirror - and in the title of the piece itself - is seen to legitimise the gaze as it is believed this is how the subject wants to be viewed. Berger insinuates that conventions through masculine discourses of art history indicate that women watch or allow themselves being looked at whereas men look (gaze) upon women. The subject acknowledges our presence through the manipulation of where she is looking; conversely, if she were to be looking at the viewer, she is aware of the viewers presence and therefore challenges and opposes the gaze.

The gaze is also prominent through contemporary society and consumerism advertisements. The advert above, for Opium, features model Sophie Dahl, lying naked against a dark backdrop. Due to the provocative nature of the photograph and its overt use of nudity, the ad received hundreds of complaints as it was deemed too 'degrading' to women - it was subsequently withdrawn in its entirety.

'Christopher Graham, ASA director general, said the poster was sexually suggestive and likely to cause "serious or widespread offence" thereby breaking the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion.'

As with Memlings 'Vanity', the subject is looking away from the viewer, indicating no reciprocity or challenge of the gaze. The primary focus of the advertisement is the model due to the stark contrast between the subject and the backdrop. The advert was later re-released, however, simply with an alternate orientation; the emphasis now being on the subjects face as opposed to her body. Although this advert implies a male point of view, due to the suggestive nature of the photograph, the intended viewer is female. The women viewing these advertisements are seen to 'identify both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite-sex viewer' (Berger, 44)

The theory of the gaze, particularly the male gaze, is still prevalent in contemporary society and form part of social conventions. Ideals and these notions are pre-installed within us but are ultimately controlled by society as a whole; we therefore deem these aforementioned conventions as the norm.

Sources

Berger, J (1974) Ways of Seeing, Viking Press, New York

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1077165.stm

Task 4 - Hyperreality

Hyperreality is the simulation of reality - where the real has been replaced by the simulacra. Every day, we are subject to an onslaught of images as governed by the media; images that we take for granted, as 'real'. The media ultimately has a controlling stance on what we perceive as reality and therefore provides constructs and foundations within society which we accept as real. Photographic imagery featured on magazine covers, for example, are largely fabricated and are not necessarily a true representation of the real. However, as a society we deem this acceptable - or at least perceive this as the norm - therefore we rarely challenge or deconstruct what we see. Hyperreality can be applied to many mundane 'objects' however, that as aforementioned, we deem the norm.

It is a Christmas tradition to put up a christmas tree in the living room. In contemporary society is becoming common practice to use an artificial tree as we perceive this to be a better alternative to the real. However, we still refer to this as a 'christmas tree' due to its resemblance despite not being a tree at all - it is a fabrication of one, a copy. The image below references this theory in a more exaggerated form. Several books have been arranged in such a way to resemble a christmas tree yet a real tree could easily have been used - is this perceived to be a better alternative? Despite attempting to replicate the original? This replication of reality becomes the new original.

The over-commercialisation of christmas is often associated with the TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). The idea of hyperreality is reinforced within the plot of this programme. The protagonist, Charlie Brown, ignored requests to get a 'big, shiny aluminium tree' and instead purchases a smaller, less aesthetically pleasing 'real' tree. However, in comparison, the replication of the original seemed much more desirable, hence why Aluminium trees became more popular in the 1960's. Artificial trees have soon become the norm in contemporary society as we believe an artificial replication is better than the original.

Sources

Trees made of tinsel (Online) Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/ChristmasCountdown/story?id=1414607 [Accessed 25th March 2012] Originally sourced from Wikipedia

Tree of books http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/n864k/my_kind_of_christmas_tree/

Task 2 - Benjamin & Mechanical Reproduction

Read the Walter Benjamin's essay 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. Write a 300 word analysis of one work of Graphic Design, that you think relates to the themes of the text, and employing quotes, concepts and terminology from the text.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

I came across this video a few weeks back and thought it would be greatly applicable to this task. The 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster was a propaganda tool commissioned by the British Government during the second world war among 2 other designs. Utilising a uniform design combining just 2 colours for a large print run and a graphic of a crown, the posters were devised to incite reassurance and raise morale. Although the 2 other posters were heavily publicised, the Keep Calm and Carry on design was never officially issued but later found in Barter Book store in 2000 - 61 years after it was commissioned. 

A crown copyright (used on artworks created by the UK government) lasts just 50 years therefore the design immediately outsourced to the public domain allowing free usage and interpretation. Due to its prominence and rise in popularity, many designs emerged, reproducing, altering or replicating the design. Berger introduces the theory of the original and the copy in his essay, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. Berger believes the 'authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning'; in other words, the 'orignal' has an 'aura' surrounding it; its history defines it and it defines history. The copy removes any remaining sense of aura and authority; its authenticity is stripped though some may see a copy as a work in itself that occupies new meaning.

The economic substructure has changed substantially and society is rapidly changing due to advancing and emerging technology. People have immediate access to artwork through the internet and ultimately have more say in the creation of media, redefining sub-culture; the meaning of the artwork is authored from below. 'Technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself.' The multiplicity of copies that emerged (and still emerging) from the Keep Calm and Carry on poster, however, lose much resonance of the original, that of reassurance to the British public during difficult and troubled times. Conversely, people may see that the message is retained through its associations and is still applicable to the modern day; its communication is embedded and it is the stylistic aesthetics that seem to resonate.