OUGD601 Practical Research (Adbusters)

Research:

Adbusters
'We are a global network of artists, writers, musicians, designers, poets, philosophers and punks trying to pull off a radical transformation of the current world order.'

The Adbusters Media Foundation publishes the reader-supported, advertising-free Adbusters, an activist magazine with an international circulation of 120,000 by the late 2000s devoted to challenging consumerism. Adbusters also launch campaigns such as 'Buy Nothing Day', 'TV Turnoff Week' and 'Occupy Wall Street'. They are well known for their 'subvertisments' which spoof popular advertisements. They blame advertising for playing a central role in creating and maintaining consumer culture. This argument is based on the belief that the advertising industry goes to great effort and expense to associate desire and identity with commodities. (Wikipedia)

UNTITLED (I SHOP THEREFORE I AM), 1987. BARBARA KRUGER.

NOTHING BILLBOARD, FROM ADBUSTERS #37. FIONA JACK.

TABULA ROSA, 2004. BORJANA VENTZISLAVOVA, MIROSLAV NICIC & MLADEN PENEV.

HEATHER ANNE CAMPBELL, THE MIDNIGHT SHOW. THIS SPOOF AD APPEARED IN ADBUSTERS #96.

Adbusters create shocking images which capture the viewers attention, but whether it has any real impact to promote change is questionable. This is something I will need to think about when coming up with my own campaign message - it needs to be clear and understandable as well as having an impact which makes the viewer more aware of devious advertising. 

OUGD601 Practical Brief

Client: 

WE'VE GOT ETHICS

A group dedicated to ethical advertising, seeking to promote honesty, fairness and responsibility in all advertising. 

Brief:

Create an advertisement campaign to highlight to consumers and drive awareness of the negative impact of advertising within society.

Negatives include:
- Enhancing insecurities e.g. body image
- Promise of happiness through consumption
- Everything thing you need is for sale
- Identity solution
- Misrepresentation
- False images
- Unrealistic expectations
- Promotion of harmful products

Aims and Objectives:

- Drive awareness
- Professional 
- Clear message
- Thought provoking
- Create conversation

Target Audience:

16 - 25 year olds

Requirements:

- Include logo

Deliverables:

- Posters

Relation to essay:

The persuasive advertising methods talked about within the essay will be used to show how it can impact consumer behaviour negatively, and it is important to show the reality behind the advertisements.

OUGD601 Time Plan

Time Plan:
Over the Christmas period I need to plan my time effectively to make sure that I get the work done in time for the deadline. Hopefully this will keep me on track and I will be more organised with my work.

Red - Essay
Blue - Practical

OUGD601 Practical Ideas and Crit

Initial Ideas:
I really want my practical and my essay to have a clear succinct link that connects the two, as I don't think this has been successful within my other COP practicals. I decided to do a quick mind map to help to get some initial ideas.

The main idea would be to create a branding campaign that utilises some of the persuasive techniques that I have talked about within my essay. Picking a brand which already has an established association / message, will make it easier to apply the persuasive techniques. The idea is still quite broad at the moment so will need more refinement to make it a workable brief.

Crit:
Today we had a group crit to help us start formulating ideas for the practical. I found this useful to really start thinking about what it is that I am going to produce. However, I think due to the broad nature of what I could do, I think it was hard for people to give me appropriate feedback until I had determined more about what it is I wanted to do.

Notes:
- How should I best produce? This will all depend on what brand I decide to do as this will impact on production.

- Where would you display? Billboards, interiors? This is something I again need to think about later in the process when I have decided more coherently what I want to do.

- Brand with negative connotations? Lynx? Use more positive persuasion to help attach new associations to the brand.

- Use packaging and the explained theories of advertising to reinforce a pre existing campaign.

- Should it be packaging? I had mentioned that my interests are within packaging rather that advertising, suggesting I'd enjoy doing packaging and get more out of it in terms of portfolio.

- Advertising can be broader and might have a better link with essay.

- I need to choose a brand to study and compare so that persuasive methods can be implemented with the brand meaning. 


- Focus on Identity and lifestyle? Basic vs Luxury? 

The crit for me raised more questions than actually providing me with any answers, but I think these are all things I need to consider in more depth. Focusing on packaging would be more in line with what I want to do as well as potentially being more fun, so it was suggested to go down this route. My main concern however is that the link might not be obvious as I haven't talked about packaging within my essay, maybe this is something I should try and include to give a clearer synthesis. I need to choose a brand as soon as possible with a strong identity/message that I can communicate through the packaging.

The next crit will be on Monday 8th January at 11am, however I think that I need more support before Christmas to finalise an idea so I know exactly what it is that I have got to do.

OUGD601 Tutorial 3

Tutorial 3:

Todays tutorial with Simon was really useful to hear some feedback on what I have written so far for my essay.

Introduction:
- At the moment the style is like a documentary - isn't necessary
- Don't say aims - outline what areas I am looking at and what it does - include authors

Main content:
- Don't say advertising 'helps' consumers
- Differentiate between persuasive advertisements and others 
- Are there any references for Benetton
- Elaborate on meaning for Gosling experiment - products as a signifier for identity
- Don't use first person - say 'individual'
- Dictionary definition for lifestyle try to find someone else to define - expand on Giddens definition.
- Pavlov experiment needs to have better linkage - could be used to show repeated / consistent exposure to advertisements. Consistent brand message - constant reinforcement?

Areas to look into:
- Positive advertisements - positive reinforcement - such as sports brands - positive self improvement.

Overall the tutorial that I had with Simon was really beneficial as I was able to see that I am heading in the right direction as well as referencing correctly. I was encouraged to start thinking about what I am going to be doing for my practical as we have practical crits next week.

I really want to try and get my essay finished so that Simon can give me any edits / advice before we break up for Christmas, then I can focus fully on the practical.

OUGD601 Essay Plan

Essay Plan:

Title - 'How is persuasion used to influence consumer behaviour?'

Intro

• Introduce the topic - How advertising/branding can influence consumer behaviours through the use of different methods of persuasion.
• Give examples of persuasive methods - current/relevant 
• Summarise content and main persuasive method.
• Explain practical use - recognising these methods can help a designer recognise what can work and understand how to communicate to the consumer more effectively.

Persuasion

• Definition (What is it?)
• How is it related to graphic design? - communication / How is it used?
• Why is it relevant?
• When is it used?
• Where is it used?

Consumer Identities

• What are (consumer) identities? Define
• How are identities created - Anthony Giddens (reflexive process, link to modernity) - Support from Personal Construct Theory (Kelly)
• Why is this important? Greater understanding how to target consumers.
• Persuasive adverts that show an identity that the consumer relates to or hopes to relate to, encouraging them to buy into the product/service. (If you buy this your a good mother, a professional etc.)
• Possessions representing identity - Gosling, Ko, Morris and Thomas (2002) 

Lifestyle Choices

• What are they? Explain link with identity - central element, as it is the way in which you are living your life to shape your identity.
• The Mary Douglas Thesis - ideal form of community - rejection of other lifestyles.
• How does branding and advertising play on this to persuade consumers? - showing 'ideal' lifestyles - politicises consumer choice - brands can show what they are not (Nike campaign protesting against professional sport - everyone can be an athlete) 
• Group membership - loyalty - persuading people they are part of a certain group - explains 'cultist' feel of some brands.

Social Comparison

• What is it and why is it important? Link to group membership.
• The comparison of ideals created by consumer culture - upward / downward comparison.
• How does it effect consumer choice - belief there are right/wrong choices - how this is applied to branding.
• Creates uncertainty - how does this get exploited through persuasive appeals - social proof, encouraging us that others love it (children's ads - showing toy with loads of friends - you'll be popular if you own this) / claiming they are the best.

Conditioning / Association

• What is it, how does it work?
• Attractiveness - 'halo effect' - associating products / services to increase appeal.
• Celebrities - establishing a positive connection - status / prestige.
• Authority - authority figures in ads (dentists, hair experts etc.) - more likely to believe them and the product / service they represent.
• Scarcity - something that didn't have much appeal, but becomes more attractive because it would become unavailable (exclusive/limited items). 

Symbolic Meaning of Products

• What is this and what does it mean? - association with human characteristics / meanings.
• Symbolic Interactionism - Brands and products can become symbols and communicate/express things with others. Link to identities being represented and group membership - belonging.
• How do we learn symbolic meanings - indirect / direct
• The importance of trust/loyalty/values in relation to symbolism
• Examples

Conclusion

• Brief summary of key methods of persuasion in relation to consumer behaviour.
• What conclusion have I made from these findings.
• Why is this important?

OUGD601 'Persuasion In Advertising' John O'Shaughnessy and Nicholas O'Shaughnessy

'Persuasion In Advertising' John O'Shaughnessy and Nicholas O'Shaughnessy

OUGD601 'Brandwatching - Lifting the Lid on Branding' Giles Lury

'Brandwatching - Lifting the Lid on Branding' Giles Lury 

OUGD601 'Identity and Consumption' Jansson-Boyd, Catherine V. (2010) Consumer Psychology

'Identity and Consumption' Jansson-Boyd, Catherine V. (2010) Consumer Psychology:

Notes

OUGD601 Mind-map: What am I going to cover?

Mind-map: What am I going to cover?

I decided that the best way for me to organise some of the topics that I want to cover within my essay is to do a mind map. 

OUGD601 Tutorial 1

Tutorial 1:

Talking through my idea with Simon it was suggested that my question still needed work. Instead of using the word perception which is too subjective, focus more on persuasion, this is because it will be a lot easier to find information and data. 

FOCUS
- Persuasion
- Lifestyle choice / factors 
- Why are we susceptible?
- Consumer identities - relationship / identity / consumer
- Identity - persuasion - lifestyle

TEXTS
- 'Identity and Consumption' Jansson-Boyd, Catherine V. (2010) Consumer Psychology
- John O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas Jackson O'Shaughnessy. (2004) Persuasion In Advertising
- Robin Warner - This is your Lifestyle

PREPARATION (10th NOV)
- Think about the first section of you essay, write a paragraph.

This tutorial was really helpful as I was able to make clear what I should be researching and what would be most appropriate for the topic area I am looking at. I was also made aware that I don't need to limit myself to just packaging I can look at advertising and branding as well. I still feel like I need to pinpoint what question I am going to answer and do a lot more research into the relevant topics.

OUGD601 Presenting my idea

COP - Presentation (5-10mins)

Over the summer the question that I had decided on was:

'To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view, and perceptions of truth?'

THEME
- Perception

BACKGROUND
- Rise of consumerism 
- Social impact of graphic design
- Reality of design and how perceptions can be influenced and changed.

INTERESTS
- Link between psychology and design - why people really connect with design e.g brands.
- How design can distract away from the truth of the product or service.

THINGS TO LOOK INTO
- Adbusters - trying to change perception of brands 'the ugly truth'.
- Gestalt - helps the designer influence the viewer by controlling how the design is viewed (Logo).
- Branding Techniques - playing on emotions, personal connections.

PRESENTATION

FEEDBACK
- Don't use 'To what extent..'
- Could be changed to 'How has our perception through advertisements...'
- Have more of a packaging focus.

CHANGES
- 'What is the effect of packaging on consumer perception?'

OUGD501 Studio Brief 01 - Final Essay

“How is social control achieved through design?”

Within a society there is always control, to regulate and help maintain that society. Referring to mechanisms or processes used to encourage conformity and compliance, design is one of them. Creating a consumer culture, things we don’t need, but what we think we need, an abundance of products and services. Design acts as a kind of rhetoric, where it can be used to exploit dreams and fantasies, as Berger explores in Ways of Seeing. It is a tool which has great impact within society, through commerce, politics, war, religion and love. This essay explores this impact and how society is kept under some form of control through design. It is important for graphic designers, and all designers, to understand the influence and power that design can hold, as well as in which way it can be used. Being more aware will create designs with a conscience, that want to benefit and aid society.

Design has been ‘ruthlessly tapping into our willingness to pay to be entertained or flattered by our possessions.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 50). This material culture indulges primal desires, items are ‘calculatingly designed to achieve an emotional response.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 8). This emotional response creates a connection; it gives items personalities that are easy for us to understand and bond with. John Berger (1972) explores this as he states that publicity proposes that we change our lives and make them better, when we start to buy into it. It suggests inadequacies as you are but promises improvements, working by playing on the fear of not being desirable, of being unenviable. There are pictures everywhere showing ideal lifestyles, it is unescapable.

In 1955 an ad campaign began called ‘The Marlboro Man’, which represented the power a brand could have on changing people’s lifestyles. In Fig 1 an image captured the ideal lifestyle of a free, self-made man, that many men aspired to be like at the time. It suggests that you could be like this man if you start to smoke Marlboro cigarettes. Advertising campaigns like these show ‘the shallow but sharp emotional tug that the manufacturer of want exerts on us.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 6). Enforcing the power that a fabricated ‘want’ holds over us, it attacks a deeper level of consciousness where we begin to believe what we are being shown is the way to a happy, fulfilled life.

Identity is important as it can promote trust and security, influencing people’s decisions. Design plays a big part in image engineering where distinctions are blurred, ‘Distinctions between institutions are blurred; distinctions between people we live with and people we watch on screen are blurred; distinctions between things are blurred.’ (Caplan, 2006, pg 71). We are soon unable to see the truth of a product because of a fabricated reality that has been created.

This can be seen within a campaign led by Edward Bernays (1891 – 1995) in the 1920’s, to encourage women to start smoking outside. Bernays was considered the founder of public relations, and his techniques are based upon the ideas of Freud.  During that time, it wasn’t publicly acceptable for women to smoke, and it was Bernays challenge to change that. He orchestrated a public display of women smoking during the Easter Day Parade in NYC. He hired actresses, and organized press to attend so that photos would be taken of the women smoking publicly. The campaign was aptly named ‘torches of freedom’. It suggested to women a sense of empowerment and liberty. Linked with women just being able to have the right to vote, it played on desires of women wanting to be equal to men. The campaign was extremely successful as cigarette sales in women increased. 

This led to cigarette companies creating ad campaigns that targeted women, as shown in Fig 2. Which deceived women into thinking that to stay slim they would have to smoke a ‘Lucky’, playing on the social desires at the time. As well as inventing false doubt ‘No throat irritation – no cough’, which masked the truth purely for financial gain no matter the health risks.

Robert Grudin (2010) talks about how power comes into play within design, and that designers, ‘However grand their aspirations, they wait upon the will of people in power.’ This power can confirm the truth of a good design, but it can also reduce design to nothing more than a fabric of lies (Grudin, 2010, pg 5). Grudin gives an example of Minoru Yamasaki who was hired to build the world trade centre, but her original proposal was dismissed. Which led to a ‘twinned colossus that insulted the skyline, posed safety hazards, and offended fundamentalist Islamists.’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 6). This abuse of design to exert power for monetary gain, has its consequences, as seen with the 9/11 attack.

Overdesign is also a characteristic which needs to be considered carefully as it can break the rule, form follows function, and tempt society into buying things they do not need or have much use for. Design can communicate and aid a society, but overdesign is dysfunctional, it doesn’t benefit communication it only confuses or hides the truth. If ‘design is a kind of rhetoric, overdesign is an opportunistic abuse of rhetoric in the application of some form of power.’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 14-15). We interact to find out problems which we can solve and communicate through design, but that is when we are abusing what has been said. Overdesign is the opportunity for abusing this art of persuasion, which shows it has some form of power.

Within the discipline of graphic design, designers are hired as communicators, whether that is to boost the credibility of clients or package design which suggest ‘wholesomeness, increased size, and uniqueness of products that are hazardous, smaller, and no different from other brands.’ (Caplan, 2006, pg 160). Design has become a language (Sudjic, 2008), where in effect designers are the translators. They have the skill to communicate messages which can cause love, hate, war, hope, freedom, and pain. All, which society will take in and reflect on how that will change their world.

Designing obsolescence into products has now become standard practice and is another way of keeping people buying into products. Whether that is software which isn’t compatible with certain hardware or the fact that it has the likelihood of breaking. (Spinks, 2015). Grudin agrees by talking about how products are ‘built to break’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 78), as well as emphasising the vexation that would cause, ‘A 2004 computer may still function well, but if confronted with 2010 software, it might just as well have been driven over by a dump truck.’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 76). Spinks gave the example of a smartphone which is taken everywhere, it stays with you always, yet ‘it is fragile and desirable enough to be rendered useless with just a few drops of water or an opportunistic thief.’ (Spinks, 2015) similarly emphasising the frustration. This disempowers the consumer as there seems to be no control for them, but there is a control of cash flow into society.

The corrupt relationship between producer and consumer has left us ‘secure in the belief that these are not indulgences but investments in the family.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 5). We have begun to lose touch with what is considered a luxury, as society convinces us that they are a necessity. ‘Dior and Prada hire Pritzker prize-winning architects to build stores on the scale of grand opera to reduce shoppers to an ecstatic consumerist trance.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 11). If you place items in a powerfully beautiful building, whatever is inside seems expensive because it has created an illusion of grandeur.

Clean water was once considered a luxury but now in most societies, they would scarcely consider it that. ‘Luxury has expanded unstoppably from a craft into an industry’, and ‘In most cases the machine has replaced the hand and the businessman has taken the craftsman’s place.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 92, pg 114). It has become a source of power and status as Josef Hoffmann said ‘because we believe that owning beautiful things makes us beautiful too.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 117). This belief taps into desires of being powerful and wealthy and is enforced through branding and celebrities which make sure that only certain brands are ever recognised (Sudjic, 2008).

People of status, celebrities and performers have been commonly associated with products and services, to achieve the idea that if someone famous has it, others will want it too. We know that a performer will only be asked to endorse something if they win, and that this doesn’t reflect or make a product better, yet people are ‘still attracted to products that are advertised as if they had something to do with stardom or athletic prowess.’ (Caplan, 2006, pg 167). Caplan agrees that this method of design does work on influencing people to buy into it. Even Sudjic has noticed how ‘Moleskin notebooks describe themselves as ‘the legendary notebook of Van Gogh and Matisse, Hemingway and Chatwin,’ and so seem to suggest talent by association’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 76). This method relates to Bergers idea of how it plays on the fears of being undesirable, if you own something that a celebrity has it will elevate your status.

Fashion has also gained social control of a society as ‘It represents a convergence between high culture and popular art that gives it real power.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 141). It uses sex, status and celebrity to entice people, which has led to a large amount of influence, both financial and cultural, on those who control it (Sudjic, 2008). It works with film to control what is considered in, and fashionable. It makes people want what the ‘stars’ have, which have been fabricated for us. Although, it has also created entry-level jobs for people in disadvantaged societies to help them develop and grow.

However, societies can sometimes control and take command of what the new trends are, and what the next best thing to buy is. This suggests that social control can be broken when the consumer decides they are no longer happy. Certain aspects of fashion such as, ‘The uniform highlights the paradox between fashion as a means of individual self-expression and as a way to suppress individuality and provide a prefabricated identity for those who wear it.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 154). This sort of design assumes conformity, and changes the way people think and behave by making them less of an individual, you are exactly like everyone else, it has taken away your liberty and freedom.

On the Health guidance website relating to school uniforms, they believe there are positives to having a uniform. ‘a school uniform can help teachers to quickly identify children from their school and so prevent them from getting lost.’ as well ‘It prevents competition and teasing: When children wear their own clothes into school, this then becomes a time for them to judge each other’ (ORG et al., n.d.). This will help to counteract fears of not being desirable, it helps to make things more equal no matter of wealth. It could also help boost productivity as wearing a uniform could make people believe that they become more professional (ORG et al., n.d.). Overall uniforms do help to achieve social control, they can be for positive reasons as outlined by the Health guidance website, or they can be used negatively such as within an army.

Materials within the fashion industry used to be controlled through laws which restricted people from wearing certain colours and fabrics, only the privileged were allowed. (Sudjic, 2008). ‘The Romans limited the use of Tyrian purple dye, to avoid social tensions; the French in the Middle Ages restricted velvet to princes; they were attempting to enforce a social hierarchy, and to repress pretensions of newcomers.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 157). Fashion was and still is a sign of status, it is designed to make us look a certain way, whether that is beautiful, powerful, kind or commanding.

Architecture is also used as a tool to help influence and exert power, ‘Architects design euphemistic artefacts, buildings that – by ignoring the varying abilities of people to walk, see and otherwise negotiate the built environment – make statements to the effect that there are no such people.’ (Caplan, 2006, pg 160). Caplan suggests here that architecture can be used in a way which doesn’t support the people, but has its own control of an environment. This can be seen within art galleries which have beautiful architecture and interiors which steal the attention from the work on display, evidencing how form is overreaching function (Grudin, 2010).

Michelangelo adapted Donato Bramante’s designs for the St. Peter’s Basilica in 1546, however he died while the church was still under construction. Giacomo della Porta replaced him, but papal policy had changed and it was ‘decided to build the world’s biggest church in order to advertise Rome’s hegemony and papal power.’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 15). When the church was finally finished it ‘had been expanded to make a baroque barn whose sole symbolic purpose was to proclaim the centralized and overwhelming power of Rome and the pope.’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 15). This indicates how designs can be turned into something that only benefits the people in power. The church was adapted to create a presence that demands to be noticed, and controls the perspective of society.

Understanding the roles of other forms of design within society is important to understand the reach of control within design. Trends in society constantly change, they are influenced from each different area. Graphic design plays more of a central role due to its communitive nature, through advertising and branding, which are used to help promote these other aspects of design. In general, ‘Design is a public service’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 26), used to work within a society but designers can get ‘caught in the wheels of power’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 45). It is important to stay true to your own artistic integrity as this can help produce design that does good. Good design could be that it ‘helps to develop skill and/or imparts knowledge’, ‘it is not unreasonably expensive’ and ‘is sustainable’ (Grudin, 2010, pg 28).

‘Design is so fundamentally human that our species has been called Homo Faber (man the maker), implying that no historical influence will ever alienate us from the meticulous process of refitting our world.’ (Grudin 2010, pg 7). There is a belief that this is just the way of life, enforced by Sudjics reference as a ‘public service’, without it would society be able to thrive? ‘We are a generation born to consume.’ (Sudjic, 2008, pg 6), without this consumption society would not have progressed, money would be worthless, so design as a form of social control is necessary for progression and survival.

Social control can be achieved through design in numerous ways, and that control doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. It has become clear that for a society to develop and survive, design is necessary at providing commerce and creating this consumer culture. If we take away this foundation, control would be lost and society would crumble. On the other hand, Berger explains how design plays on dreams and uses psychology to influence and control societies cash flow. Edward Bernays ‘torches of freedom’ shows how this knowledge of psychology and design can be used as a method of persuasion. This is further backed up by the barrage of advertising which took note and used it as a form of propaganda, where society saw nothing else but these fictional images and designs. This design is forced onto people wherever they go, they are beginning to lose the choice of whether they want to see this, it is reducing societies freedom. 

Identity and branding are also a strong force within graphic design, that goes a long way in maintaining control of what society wants. Caplan understands this as distinctions being blurred, we are unable to recognise what is real, whether this product is good. Social and cultural factors do show to have an impact; designers are aware of what is happening around them and use that to their advantage. Consumer culture took off after the war to consume societies way out of depression, it created a fantasy world which was better than our own. Evidence of social and cultural factors can be seen again from the ‘torches of freedom’ campaign, relating to the link of women being allowed to vote, so women should be allowed to smoke.

Overdesign is also a form of social control as form starts to overreach function. Designers embellish and exaggerate to make something stand out to be bought, but ultimately that does not aid the consumer, it is just a means to make them buy into something that has no added value. Caplan explains how packaging designers do this to make whatever it holds inside look better therefore deceiving the consumer. Overall design is a language, which Sudjic acknowledges, graphic designer’s roles are to communicate messages for different reasons to control the thoughts and behaviours of a society. This can have implications where designer’s talents are being abused and mutated into something that doesn’t reflect their artistic integrity. But, it can also be used for good to benefit society, designers need to be aware of what effect their designs can have, so that they do not lose control themselves.

Bibliography:

John Berger / ways of seeing , episode 4 (1972) (2012) Youtube, added by Berger, J. [Online]. Available at https://youtu.be/5jTUebm73IY (Accessed 6 December 2016).

Boundless (2016) Social control [Online]. Available at https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/education-13/the-conflict-perspective-on-education-101/social-control-569-8937/ (Accessed 23 January 2017).

Caplan, R. (2005) Cracking the whip: Essays on design and its side effects, New York, Fairchild Books.

Grudin, R. (2010) Design and truth, New Haven, Yale University Press.

Kolowich, L. (2016) 12 of the best marketing and advertising campaigns of all time [Online]. Available at https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32763/The-10-Greatest-Marketing-Campaigns-of-All-Time.aspx#sm.00001ivjeav2l1fp0vg7ep1d83fk1 (Accessed 24 January 2017).
ORG, H. E., feed, rss and e-mail (n.d.) Pros and cons of school uniforms [Online]. Available at http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15038/1/Pros-and-Cons-of-School-Uniforms.html (Accessed 24 January 2017).

Pages, T. S. (2012) Torches of freedom: Women and smoking propaganda - sociological images [Online]. Available at https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/02/27/torches-of-freedom-women-and-smoking-propaganda/ (Accessed 23 January 2017).

Spinks, R. (2015) ‘We’re all losers to a gadget industry built on planned obsolescence’, The Guardian, 23 March [Online]. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/23/were-are-all-losers-to-gadget-industry-built-on-planned-obsolescence (Accessed 24 January 2017).

Sudjic, D. (2008) The language of things, New York, Allen Lane.

Images:
Fig 1 – The Marlboro Man, (n.d.), [image]  https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/marlboro-weekend-man.jpg?t=1485273357009&width=1200&name=marlboro-weekend-man.jpg (Acessed 23 January 2017)

Fig 2 – (n.d.), [image]  https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2012/02/Lucky1.jpeg (Acessed 23 January 2017)

OUGD501 Studio Brief 02 - Design Boards

OUGD501 Studio Brief 02 - Evaluation

Evaluation:

In relation to the brief 'How are people persuaded to buy something considered a luxury?' I have learnt the different techniques in design which help to produce the illusion of a luxury item. Researching into typography, colour, and minimalism are all techniques used to persuade the consumer that this is a better product than its competitors. My practical piece aimed to see if these design techniques would help to make the product look better and more high-end as well as seeing if people would be more persuaded to buy it.

I have found this task quite challenging as I was trying to play around with the idea of minimalism but from some of the feedback, it was said that there wasn't enough to the design. This suggest that I didn't appropriately achieve the right effect, however it was interesting to work further and learn about this style.

The feedback from the questionnaire was mainly positive with the majority saying that it does look like a luxury food item, however there were points of feedback were it was said the design does not work and needed further improvement. This shows that although some would be more inclined to buy based on the design, it does not have that effect for everyone. This could be due to my design or going against what I have looked into in my essay, people are not that bothered by luxury. 

I think because my results are not completely conclusive it has left me feeling unsure about the project and whether it was successful or not. However I have learnt about the considerations that are needed when designing a luxury product and what techniques are used.

OUGD501 Studio Brief 03 - ISSUU Research Proposal

OUGD501 Studio Brief 03 - Theme / Question

Question 6: To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view of historical events and perceptions of truth?

Based on the research derived from CoP 2 looking at how social control is achieved through design, I will be exploring the research question 'To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding of historical events and perceptions of truth?'. 

I am interested in understanding the social impact graphic design has, through periods of style and the rise of consumerism. Exploring the reality of design and how perceptions can be influenced and changed. Design narratives which create immaterial aspects such as emotions, are used to connect with consumers on a different level. This links in with the psychology of design and why we make connections with people and things. Personalities are created within branding that use elements of graphic design to achieve this. I want to look further in depth at Branding and how design can distract away from the truth of the product or service.

A starting point for the question could be to look at historical events where graphic design, through advertising, products and brands has constructed our understanding and perceptions of truth. Looking in depth at brands which have created identities for themselves, and how graphic design helps to shape them. This could then move onto how perceptions are changed, what techniques are used, and what really is truth.

OUGD501 Studio Brief 03 - Research Proposal

Brief:

Based on your level 5 Context of practice work produce a 10 slide ISSUU presentation following the format below. This presentation will act as your Context of practice 3 research proposal and will guide your research and reading over the summer period.

Your research will be based around one of the following themes / questions:

Question 1: What is Good? - To what extent does Social Responsibility impact on the role and function of Graphic Design?

Question 2: To what extent do the individual politics of professional practitioners impact on the role and function of Graphic Design

Question 3: In an era of globalisation, to what extent do contemporary Graphic Design practices reflect core British Values?

Question 4: To what extent do Technological developments in production and distribution impact on Graphic Design ?

Question 5: To what extent does Aesthetic ‘Style’ reflect the context, audience and/or function of contemporary Graphic Design?

Question 6: To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view of historical events and perceptions of truth?

Your ISSUU presentation must include the following:

- 250 word introductory statement/rationale

- 5 relevant/related subjects

- 5 relevant quotes

- 5 relevant books

- 5 relevant websites

- 5 relevant images

- 5 relevant contextual references


Your proposal should focus on the development of a body of theoretical, contextual and practical research around an individually appropriate theme or subject relating to your selected question.

Background / Considerations:

Context of practice 3 is an extensive research project that includes a 6000-9000 word dissertation and a related body of work. The CoP 3 module is intensive and is submitted in January therefore, students that have found the most success in the module have committed to a substantial amount of preliminary research over the summer period. This should include all relevant reading needed for the project as this is the most time consuming task.


The questions above are designed to reflect each of the core CoP themes but these are also indicative and will likely develop and change as you work through the project. Your CoP 3 project question/title will be an evolved form of this original question.

Mandatory Requirements:

All posts to you Design Context blog should be labeled with the OUGD501 module code.

Deliverables:

1 x 10 page ISSUU presentation

OUGD501 Study Task 09: Studio Brief 2 - Reception

Reception:
I created a questionnaire which helped me to understand whether the new rebrand was successful, and if it has an impact on people's decision to buy the product.

Answers:

From this feedback it shows that generally people thought that the new design does help the product to look like a more high-end food product. It was noted that the use of white space provides a stripped back, simple and sophisticated design. Although some contradictory feedback felt there was too much black. The sans-serif typeface was thought by some to give off the high-end aesthetic and scored the most for the element that helps it to appear luxurious, whereas others felt it was too plain and reminded them of home brands, instead having a fancier font. 

The results for whether people would consider buying this product based on the new packaging design show that it has the potential to influence some peoples decision, however it is not a definite that it has a full effect.

Lastly I received further feedback which could still further improve on the design to help it move into the high-end food market. This shows that the design could need further development before it is ready to be sold in shops. Based on this questionnaire I think that it will need further design development so that it has a better reception with the target audience.