Wow..this article had a lot of attitude in it. Matt Soar either had a rough day when he wrote "The Impotence of Being Earnest" or he really has strong beliefs on the foundation of manifestos and today's designers. In his article he analyzed another manifesto called "First Things First" in which thirty- three of top designers in design talk about thier responsibilities in the design world. According to Matt, this is a revamp of an earlier edition and I think Matt is kind of sour about this emergence because he says, "So, at the very least, it seems that the 'First Things First' flame has been rekindled in an attempt to ignite debate where none -or not enough-existed before." And he also placed manifesto in quotes when he first presents First Things First, giving the impression that he was being sarcastic. Seems like he has a grudge against these designers or he doesn't follow along with thier beliefs.
Matt brings up a group called The Adbusters and this organization is trying to resurrect manifestos. The Adbusters have a term they call culture jamming in which social marketing "takes the piss out of consumer capitalism". Mr. Soar believed that designers should treat thier audiences as citizens before customers. Basically I felt that Matt soar is critical of today's designers and gave his opinion on how they can improve and solve thier problems.
Saturday
We're Here To be Bad (Good)
My mother and most of the parents in this "good ridden" world of ours would frown down on me if I said that good is bad and doing bad is actually good. After reading Tibor Kalman and Karrie Jacobs "We're Here To be Bad", my whole perspective on being bad changed.Well at least in the deign world...
The authors challenged the graphic designers of today to be different, to be unordianry, to be...BAD. Yes these authors claim that being bad as designers is being good. Being bad breaks you away from old standards and "what designers are supposed to be like" idea. "We need to be bad as in disobediant. Bad as in insubordinate. Bad as in taking the design brief the clients hands us and rewriting it." page 2.In order to produce successful and long lasting products, graphic designers must create things are aren't familiar with the public and things that are different but effective. This is what bad is..breaking away from the norm.
The article also pointed out that graphic designers must realize how powerful design really is. Say for instance there are two of the same products being sold. Well the graphic designer's job is to make one product look better than its competitor's. Even though they are both the same product, the consumers will buy the product thats appeals more to thier eyes and preferences.
The words strategic communication was thrown alot in this article showing that design shares a major part in marketing.
There is design and there is business..one cannot function without the other.
The interesting point that was made in this article is that design is a very important aspect of marketing but the actual designer isn't. That's pretty sad if you ask me but reality is reality.
But as graphic desingers we must set our selves loose of what schools taught us and what the society tells us on how to be the average designer. We must search for new land and produce new bearings because if we don't...this world is going to be very boring soon. We must be bad!
Wednesday
Media Gender & Identity
David Gaunlett's "Media, Gender and Identity" was very interesting to me because it showed the transition of preferences in design between time. This article was also very interesting because it showed that most males are confused in their role as male and the "decline" in masculinity. After reading this, I learned that the major tool that pushed this confusion in most males is the media and the power it has. Here is when the question of identity comes into play.
Questions like "What is masculine supposed to look like?" and "Do men really have to be the head of the household?" and so forth. This current community is still stuck in old traditional times when the man was the head of the home and in charge of everything and basically the boss. But now in these cuurent times, the women have stepped up and taken the places that traditionally men hold. Things like CEO's of companies and the main income earner in the household. There is a major shift in the gender domination in fields and it is getting more obvious each and every year.
"Is image everything or is it surface deep?" I have to say based on personal experiences that image is not everything but it is a very powerful aspect. This country has been image governed since the beginning of the colonization. Everything from the color of a person's skin to a person's gender to a civilian's disability. Yes, it is a sad situation but it is reality. So many people, including egotistical men, view the uprising of women's status in the community as a bad thing. It is not! Not only do I believe that this shift is positive but I believe it balances out weight of power between genders.
I believe that media composes the biggest part in discrimination in this country in the first place. When I turn on the t.v. and watch a commercial on a large company, there is usually a man represting that company. When I watch movies or t.v. shows, there is usually a stay at home mother who caters to the family and home. It is very rare to see a female president of a corporation or a stay at home father and it sets a certain guideline in our minds that it is supposed to be this way. I feel sorry for the youth growing who witnesses the same thing that I just described because if they have no proper raising, they will believe that this is realirty.
Yes, the foolish and ignorant are victims of media (which is sad because they take up a large part of our society) but the knowledgable and observer realizes that media abuses their powers and produces artificial reality.
Questions like "What is masculine supposed to look like?" and "Do men really have to be the head of the household?" and so forth. This current community is still stuck in old traditional times when the man was the head of the home and in charge of everything and basically the boss. But now in these cuurent times, the women have stepped up and taken the places that traditionally men hold. Things like CEO's of companies and the main income earner in the household. There is a major shift in the gender domination in fields and it is getting more obvious each and every year.
"Is image everything or is it surface deep?" I have to say based on personal experiences that image is not everything but it is a very powerful aspect. This country has been image governed since the beginning of the colonization. Everything from the color of a person's skin to a person's gender to a civilian's disability. Yes, it is a sad situation but it is reality. So many people, including egotistical men, view the uprising of women's status in the community as a bad thing. It is not! Not only do I believe that this shift is positive but I believe it balances out weight of power between genders.
I believe that media composes the biggest part in discrimination in this country in the first place. When I turn on the t.v. and watch a commercial on a large company, there is usually a man represting that company. When I watch movies or t.v. shows, there is usually a stay at home mother who caters to the family and home. It is very rare to see a female president of a corporation or a stay at home father and it sets a certain guideline in our minds that it is supposed to be this way. I feel sorry for the youth growing who witnesses the same thing that I just described because if they have no proper raising, they will believe that this is realirty.
Yes, the foolish and ignorant are victims of media (which is sad because they take up a large part of our society) but the knowledgable and observer realizes that media abuses their powers and produces artificial reality.
No Logo
No Logo was a very powerful manifesto in which is roamed through our world, which is a very branded one. This manifesto exposed how our lifestyles and economy are tamed by the "green hungry" corporations and the affect they have on the people. But Im not here to rabble about money hungry officials or our struggling economy. I am here, as an artist, to talk about how the concept of brands can mean so much more than just a tag of a company.
Brands!
The official mark of a company. The grand tag of a business. The final stamp of a foundation and future. These three sentences alone seem heavy because a brand is not just a simple logo. No, a brand is a very complex business inside of a business. The brand can be compared to the heart and the company is the body. And surely the body cannot survive without its heart and a company cannot prosper without a brand. The brand produces the blood and that circulates through the company. It sends energy throughout the corporations system hoping that success is the result at the end of the day. The business feeds of the brand and if the brand is healthy, then there is a greater chance that the company will be healthy in the competitive business arena.
"A brand is not a product. It is the sum total of everything a company does- the good, the bad and even the off strategy- that creates a large context or an identity in the consumer's mind."
-Scott Bedbury (formerly of Nike and Starbucks)
Brands create a world of their own that can't be replicated by any other. The brand can be as simple as a image, slogan, unique taste and anything else that touches the consumers senses and forces them to remember it forever. But what the average person doesn't see is that brands are well thought out, companies create a complicated blueprint for them, even the design of a brand is rigorous. The brand, besides the consumers and actual employees, is the most important and essential factor in a company. A brand is so strong that it can create personal relationships with its consumers. No, brands are not people but most people can relate with brands like they are living individuals. If a company has a great reputation in its marketing and products, like the company Nike, then most likely there will be many fans and supporters that will trust the brand. When consumers are happy about the service and great contribution of a company, then those consumers will grow a relationship witht that company and its brand. Say for instance Nike begins to make crappy sports gear or their appeal to the young athletes in the world decline, then it will be like a bad break up or divorce because those once satisfied consumers will lose faith in Nike. And Nike will begin to lose money and grow a bad reputation and so on... Companies already realize this and that is the reason why they put in so much money in advertising and logo design and etc. For an example, during Superbowl Day companies spend millions and millions of dollars in a series, if not one, commercials for that one day. Companies also spend alot of money on endorsing celebrities to add shine and appeal to their company's face.
As im writing this im starting to notice myself that design has a greater influence on the world than I thought! A brand itself, when successful, creates prospering companies and companies make the world go round. So when you think about it, it all comes down to design. Without design there would be no successful functioning world. And without design, there would be chaos and no kind of organization. So when you think about design even deeper, you realize that brands run the world. In conclusion, I strongly believe that design can save the world....
because design created the world.
Brands!
The official mark of a company. The grand tag of a business. The final stamp of a foundation and future. These three sentences alone seem heavy because a brand is not just a simple logo. No, a brand is a very complex business inside of a business. The brand can be compared to the heart and the company is the body. And surely the body cannot survive without its heart and a company cannot prosper without a brand. The brand produces the blood and that circulates through the company. It sends energy throughout the corporations system hoping that success is the result at the end of the day. The business feeds of the brand and if the brand is healthy, then there is a greater chance that the company will be healthy in the competitive business arena.
"A brand is not a product. It is the sum total of everything a company does- the good, the bad and even the off strategy- that creates a large context or an identity in the consumer's mind."
-Scott Bedbury (formerly of Nike and Starbucks)
Brands create a world of their own that can't be replicated by any other. The brand can be as simple as a image, slogan, unique taste and anything else that touches the consumers senses and forces them to remember it forever. But what the average person doesn't see is that brands are well thought out, companies create a complicated blueprint for them, even the design of a brand is rigorous. The brand, besides the consumers and actual employees, is the most important and essential factor in a company. A brand is so strong that it can create personal relationships with its consumers. No, brands are not people but most people can relate with brands like they are living individuals. If a company has a great reputation in its marketing and products, like the company Nike, then most likely there will be many fans and supporters that will trust the brand. When consumers are happy about the service and great contribution of a company, then those consumers will grow a relationship witht that company and its brand. Say for instance Nike begins to make crappy sports gear or their appeal to the young athletes in the world decline, then it will be like a bad break up or divorce because those once satisfied consumers will lose faith in Nike. And Nike will begin to lose money and grow a bad reputation and so on... Companies already realize this and that is the reason why they put in so much money in advertising and logo design and etc. For an example, during Superbowl Day companies spend millions and millions of dollars in a series, if not one, commercials for that one day. Companies also spend alot of money on endorsing celebrities to add shine and appeal to their company's face.
As im writing this im starting to notice myself that design has a greater influence on the world than I thought! A brand itself, when successful, creates prospering companies and companies make the world go round. So when you think about it, it all comes down to design. Without design there would be no successful functioning world. And without design, there would be chaos and no kind of organization. So when you think about design even deeper, you realize that brands run the world. In conclusion, I strongly believe that design can save the world....
because design created the world.
Tuesday
The Bauhaus Show "The House of Building"
The Bauhaus Show..hmm let's see... well to be totally honest it was not my type of exhibit. There were many times when I just walked up and down the hallways and collected pleasure by witnessing other's faces. But besides my opinion, I still believe that this exhibit was alive with art. To the layout of the text and images on the walls to the presentation of the pieces, it was a very well presented exhibit to the public and the eyes.
The predominant color of the galery walls were grey and I am guessing this is because the designer did not want the viewers 2 focus on the color vibes radiating from the walls, but the objects and art pieces that in the gallery. Going through the Bauhaus show I realized how powerful colors really are and the affect that they have on anything in its area or environment.Going back to the grey walls, it was very smart that they made it that hue because when a piece was in the spotlight light the wall and background sort of faded away. But grey wasn't the only color. There was radiant colors like red and yellow and they used blue too. So you can imagine the weird moods and feelings some people felt as they wandered through the exhibit
Researching on the Bauhaus, I learned that the shapes circle, triangle, and square and the colors red, yellow and blue are main representations. Geometry was another key factor in the Bauhaus movement. The masters of the Bauhaus were so geometric that they actually believed in an alphabet that had no capitalization. So they believed in lower case letter that formed in a geometric fashion. For an example, if you look at the actual title of Bauhaus and its font face, it is in lowercase fashion. ( I wonder if the students of the Bauhaus would criticize me because I capitalized the b in Bauhaus). Architecture seems like another emphasis in the exhibit or should I say the Bauhaus religion. I say this because everything was set in a certain way and placed in a certain matter, kind of reminded me of organzied chaos.
Now to the sweet stuff..the actual art pieces. There were many pieces presented ranging from expensive looking lamps to paintings to upper class but comfortable chairs. Personally, this show almost seemed like a store opening or something because of the wide range of objects that were there. But my favorite piece in the whole show was the Bauhaus Chessmen and Board. Some sculptor named Josef Hartwig. The reason why this chess piece was my favorite, besides the fact that I own a glass chess set, is because it was so unique and the chess pieces were not the average chess pieces. Instead they were spheres and X's and cubes and cylinders. I learned that
they are minimalist forms that represented the way each piece moved. I just enjoyed the uniqueness of it.
And going back to a special item in the Bauhaus Show was the chairs. The modern designers of the Bauhaus movement were greatly influenced by William Morris, an English designer. Morris believed that there should be no difference between form and function and when that combined witht the style of the Bauhaus designers, that created the style we wtiness today as we look at present Bauhaus pieces. This style is called Madison and it is used in woodworks like tables and chairs.
Overall like I said in the beginning, the show was pretty boring..well to me. But it was packed full of intelligent art and rich history.I recommend it to any art lover who loves art history.
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