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:
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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)
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