Critical Positions on Advertising (Seminar)

Advertising

- Advertising as a harmful, social source

- Manipulative device?

Relationship between propaganda and advertising

- Impossible to escape advertising

- Times square epitomises use of advertising

- Subject to onslaught of messages

Instructions, promises, fantasies, unattainable ideas

- From a range of media

Billboard, web, TV etc

- In some way, they do effect us

Directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously

- The most effective medium of the 20th and 21st century

- Early 90s -> 11,000 TV ads a year

This was 20 years ago therefore it has increased exponentially

- 25 million print adverts produced in Britain a year

Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

Karl Marx played a significant role in the development of modern communism and believed capitalism would inevitably produce tensions and chaos leading to its destruction.

Marx cultural theorists

- Critique of consumer/commodity culture

- Culture based around the purchasing and selling of things

- Begins to define ourselves and each other

- Stewart Ewen terms 'the commodity self'

'Instead of being identified by what they produce, people identify themselves through what they consume"

Judith Williamson

John berger - Ways of Seeing (Advertising)

- Contemporary culture created on the idea of glamour and the condition of being envied (anxiety, value etc)

- People competing against each other and unattainable ideas

- Products promise to give human fulfilment but ultimately make us poorer

Superficial appearances

Would we change how we interact with each other if we had no commodities?

- Encourage people to do something more productive?

- Shortcut to relationships? Problematic due to quick judgements?

- Fools you into thinking you can gain acceptance

- Becomes a barrier between our understanding of people

On the surface, advertising sells things whereas statistics prove otherwise.

CK One - case study

- Sociability, belonging and popularity is being sold

- The assumption that if you don't purchase the products, you won't achieve these associations

- Men and women

- Youth

- Sophistication

- Fashion (models)

- Status

- Glamour

- Androgenous

- Developed sexuality

- Ultimately seems more powerful

Images like this creates a false desire to gain the symbolic associations and therefore perpetuates false needs (Marx critiques)

How does commodity culture perpetuate false needs?

1) Aesthetic innovation

Fashion, for example, is referred to as 'capitalists baby' by Marx critiques. We are tripped into believing we need more clothes due to the update or change in the 'latest' style or trent.

2) Planned obsolescence

Are computer circuit boards designed to break or planned to have a certain shelf life? Consumers are required to purchase updated products and therefore keep coming back.

3) Novelty

Apple products are involved in a new culture and once a product is obtained, you feel you 'belong' to what is new.

Commodity Fetishism

- Symptom of capitalist society

- Relationships are formed through 'things'

- Our society revolved around third party commodities

- De-huminisation

Reification

- Products are give human associations (personified)

- Products themselves are perceived as sexy, romantic, cool etc.

- Conversely, people become the opposite

Inversely transposed

People treated as objects

Lecture Notes - 24/11/10

Advertising and New Media

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Important images/notes referenced include:

Sunlight Soap - The Lever Brothers

- Founded by James Darcy & William Hesketh Lever

- Today, it is known as Uniliver and encompasses 900 brands such as

 Ben & Jerry's, Bird's eye & Persil

- It is a ubiquitous brand: part of the average consumers 'mental furniture'

- "The corners of somebodies mind is the most expensive real estate." Hegarty (2009)

Contemporary art & advertising

- Brands began using contemporary paintings in their advertising

- 'The New Frock' (1889) by William Powell Frith was used in a Sunlight soap ad 

alongside the caption, 'So Clean'.

- Colourful & innovative advertising was crucial to Lever's success

Product placement

- The Wedding Morning (1892)

- It was used as an advertisement by the Lever Brothers but using traditional photo manipulation techniques, they switched the clock and cup (higlighted) to soap

- The white dress is supposed to indicate the effects of the product

- Social gathering; product bringing the family together

Promotion Boom

- Opening of new offices in Switzerland

- Promotional washing competition in Lake Geneva (1889)

- Influential schemes including a royal endorsement in 1897 and a wrapper scheme in 1903 where the company offered free products in return for a few wrappers of soap

Target market

- Spoke directly to working-class housewives

- Improves their live (leaving time for romance)

- High-feeling/emotive strategy

- Power of suggestion

- Same strategy still used today (Dove etc)

NEW MEDIA:

Viral advertising

- One distinction between old and new media

- Voluntary viewings as opposed to forced (TV, radio)

- Unpaid peer-to-peer communication

- Audience is engaged

Coke & Mentos

- Viewer generated content

- The two brands had no association with this video

- Advertising generated from this video would normally be worth in excess of $10 million

Modernist Graphic Design

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, from Dunes, 1914. From Drucker p. 124.

http://www.metaphorical.org/poetics/page2.html

"For all intents and purposes, visual poetry can be defined as poetry that is meant to be seen – poetry that presupposes a viewer as well as a reader." - William Bohn

Poetry isn't just about reading it aloud - it is meant to be seen and replicated through type and image. Visual poetry was developed from a large number of factors, including Mallarmé's prototypical Un Coup de Des (1914).

IBM (1961) Computer Advertisement [online] Available at: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/08/08/101-classic-computer.html

This IBM advertisement uses emerging photo montage techniques (typical of modernist design) to create a vivid piece of imagery. The use of subdued colours against the black stripes create immediate impact. The imagery dominates the ad as the text is laid out in a simple, one paragraph structure.

Insurance advertisement, Outing Magazine 35:4, Jan. 1900. APS Online; pg. XXVI.

http://www.metaphorical.org/poetics/page3.html

Although at first glance, this may seem like a relatively simple insurance advertisement, the designer has included a wide array of text sizes, weights and text positioning in order to create a visually interesting and stimulating piece. It is reminiscent of modernist graphic design as it is anti-ornament and an engaging piece of text, originating from short, simple phrases presented in an unusual composition.

lya Zdanevich, “Soirée du Coeur à Barbe”, 1923

This innovative example of modernist design transforms type into image and is largely anti-ornament. The curve of the text embodies the negative space which in itself, encompasses a short paragraph. The text consists of bold, black serif and sans serif typefaces yet the larger letters are mostly sans-serif and seem to create the most impact, (S and E)

Carlo Vivarelli, Neue Grafik, 1958 [online] Available at: http://wiedler.ch/felix/books/story/260

Grotesk, a sans-serif typeface, is prominent in early modernists works. The design is based largely on form follows function as the composition is intended to ease reading - this is due to the left aligned text, clear and concise spacing throughout and the use of the aforementioned sans-serif typeface.

Lecture Notes - 17/11/10

The Document

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Important images/notes referenced include:

Documentary style images dominate photography.

It instantaneously captures the world around us and covers a wide variety of topics and ongoing events - there is no unifying definition. It signifies evidence (although this can be argued at times) and documents the world at a certain point in time. It instigates social change and becomes our history, our only knowledge. 

Joseph Nicephore (1826) 'View from a window at La Gras'

Nicephore took what is believed to be the world's first photograph. This is his earliest surviving photograph of a scene from nature taken with a camera obscura.

James Nachtwey (2000) Palestine - War photographer

He photographed events such as the one above in order to negotiate for peace. He believed photography was the opposite to war and as everyone cannot be there to witness, he took it upon himself to document the conflicts. He wanted to persuade to benefit humanity - an involvement in society by taking a stance.

William Edward Kilburn (1848) The Great Chartist Meeting at the Common

In this case, the photographer is not involved and is instead, stood far away as to not alter or change that specific moment in time - this therefore adds a sense of authenticity.

Henri Cartier Bresson (1932)

The decisive moment: "Photgraphy achieves its highest distinction - reflecting the universality of the human condition in a never-to-be-retrieved fraction of a second". He carefully composed his photographs and would sometimes wait hours upon hours to caputre the aforementioned, 'decisive moment'.

Jacob Riis (1888) 'Bandits Roost'

He was a social campaigner in New York who took photographs of the poor to feed the morbid curiosity of the rich - allowing them to 'spy'. It therefore became more and more popular with the rich as their curiosity grew yet it was not a true depiction of life but instead is their projection of life - their poses are forced and they are looking directly in the camera. 

F.S.A Photographers (1935 - 44) Farm Security Adminstration

During the depression, 11 million people were unemployed. These photographers were employed by the government and were asked to document the plight of migrant workers by using the photographs as photojournalism and as an emotive lobbying tool. However, they were given a shooting script and were instructed exactly what to photograph - this process was highly controversial.

Margaret Bourke-White (1937) 'Sharecroppers Home'

An image of a boy and his dog is iconic, emotive and sentimental which is exactly why a boy and a dog are acting as the subjects in this particular photograph. Although it may seem natural, it is staged. The surrounding advertisements connote commercialism and the comparison between the rich and the poor.

Dorothea Lange (1936) 'Migrant Mother'

This was known to be the image of the great depression. It portrays the emotional struggle of a mother and has immense symbolism to Raphael's, 'Madonna & Child'. The photographer arranged her subjects like actors.

Roberte Haeberle (1969) Vietnam

Haeberle intersected the last point of these peoples lives, by asking the American Soldiers who were about to shoot this Vietnamese family to stop in order to give him enough time to take a photograph. This was highly criticised due to its moral questioning.

Graphic Design & Modernism (Seminar)

Although I wasn't in for the first lecture based around Modernism, I was able to gain insight into the basic principles of modernist design. 

Graphic Design & Modernism

Modernism is simply.. cultural responses to the modern world

Modernity: 17th - 20th century

Industrial large scale capitalism

Modernist graphic design was evident in the 20th century

* Rejection of ornament (Adolf Loos (1908) Ornament and Crime). Stripped down aesthetic.

* Form follows function (Louis Sullivan (1896) The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered).

- Fashionable, superficial style

- Without connotations

- Architectural theorists

- Seeks to strip out all hindrances.. style is secondary

EXAMPLES

Cheret (1884)

Toulouse - Lautrec (1891)

- New forms of leisure

- Social relations

- Not modernist in the sense that 'form follows function'

Parole in liberta (1914) Audio poem

- Experimental typography

- Setting and arranging type

- Minimalist

- New techniques and processes

- Type not limited to a structure or grid

- Type forms images

Marinetti (1909) Futurist Manifesto

- Embracing modern times

Fortunato Depero (1927) Bolted Book

- Modernist typographer

- Links to industry (binded with bolts)

- Staying true to materials

Appolinaire (1918) Il Pleut

- Words cascade like the rain

- Experimental typography

Jan Tschichold (1927)

- No fonts except Grotesk fit for the modern age 

- Naturalist, historic connotations ((in relation to Fraktur)

- Graphic design should be neutral and international and therefore appreciated worldwide

- Design should aid communication

Boyne & Rattansi (1990) - Postmodernism & Society

1) Aesthetic self-reflectiveness - celebrated the media which the design is working with. Jackson Pollock, for example, focuses on the process of creating design aswell as the message it portrays.

2) Montage - merging photography and print is a new technique and process 

3) Paradox, ambiguity and uncertainty - more complex to decode, open to interpretation

4) Loss of integrated individual subject - In pre-modern times, identities were fixed and certain. Modernity shattered this certainty and new technologies, classes and fashion, for example, become apparent. However, people are no longer confident with their self-image.

5) Optimism and utopianism - Modernists wanted everyone, all around the world, to be equal. Their use of the Grotesk sans-serif font, meant there were no naturalist or historial connotations (as aforementioned), as opposed to the Fraktur typeface, but it could be appreciated by everyone.

Lecture Notes - 10/11/10

Graphic Design: A Medium for the Masses

In 1912, William Addison Dwiggins, a successful designer, coined the term, 

'graphic design': "In the matter of layout, forget art at the start and use horse-sense. The printing-designer's whole duty is to make a clear presentation of the message - to get the important statements forward and the minor parts placed so that they will not be overlooked. This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art.

Important images referenced in these notes include:

Bison and Horses Cave Painting (15,000 - 10,000 BC)

Earliest forms of visual communication

People were unable to read and write

Pears Soap Advertisement - John Everett Millais (1886)

Alphonse Mucha (1898) Poster for cigarette papers

Are these examples 'Graphic design' or 'Fine art'?

Whether a design is understood is important in graphic design whereas this is the opposite with fine art - it doesn't matter if someone does not understand the piece.

El Lissitksy (1919) Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

Fighting against communists

Geometric elements reminiscent of Kandinksy

Different to figurative representations in the West

Revolutionary Design in Russia (Seminar)

The October Revolution
(Also known as Red October or the Bolsheviks Revolution)

The October Revolution overthrew the Russian Government and gave the power to the local soviets dominated by the Bolsheviks.  Social, economic, and political relations had become a major crisis in Russia and industrial production declined dramatically resulting in strikes from all trades. This was also due to the expense of living increasing whereas the workers pay had decreased by almost a half.


'October' (10 days that shook the world) directed by Sergie Eisenstein in 1927
This film was commisioned by the government as a celebratory dramatization of the 1917 October Revolution. Throughout the film, there are numerous symbolic references, some of which are as follows:


- Rich, wealthy lifestyle
Smashing the bottles
Getting rid of their luxuries
- Everyone now has a share of wealth
- Kid on throne symbolises a new dawn 
- Symbolises the ideology of the monarchy
- Clocks
Revolution has impact all over the world
- All countries are uniting in common interest


Art in Russia


- Art in Russia previous to the revolution was there to glorify
- Propaganda
Deceptive/manipulated views
Spreading of communism
There to educate
- The colour red
Symbolises revolutionary struggle
Blood of the oppressed
Associated with communism


1917 to mid 1920s - Intense Artistic Experimentation
- Aesthetic innocation
- Russia 'jumped' 5 stages of cultural development
- Faiths in technology and industry
- Workers would not be the subject of art prior to the revolution
- Machine & industrial aeshetic


Late 1920s onwards - Socialist Realism (Lenin)
- Art practice banned
Too 'new'
Similar to capitalist west
Progressive avant garde culture
- Negative sense of propaganda
- Exploiting communist culture
- Cult of a leader
- Regulated and controlled
- Unified
- Avant garde artists had to flee

El Lissitzky - 'Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge'

Defines moment of revolution. Red wedge represents this pinacle moment and suggests them (Bolsheviks) leading the way for others to follow. Aforementioned, the colour red symbolises their revolutionary struggle and communism itself.

Rodchenko - 'Books' poster

Commisioned to be put outside libraries to encourage participation in literature (self education). Photography was a new process at this time and photomontage was an emerging technique. The woman represents the working class and suggests everyone is equal.

Photomontage

- Pioneered during this time

- Combines photography and design

- Mass production was important to constructivists

Cheap

New process

Constructivists

- Constructing the future - a new world

- Deemed art as aeshetic experimented which influenced the modern age

- Their aim was to '... achieve the communistic expression of material structures'.