OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 - STUDY TASK 4 // The Gaze and the Media

Choosing one example of media, analyse femininity/masculinity using 5 quotes from the text 'The Look.' 

The advertisement depicted above is from the 'Lynx' (Axe) Range, with the added caption 'can she make you lose control?' With the model in the advert, wearing very little whilst removing a turkey from a very 1970's oven. At a glance, you would assume that the body spray would become the bridge between your normal lonely self, to a life with this model, who doesn't wear any clothes, and cooks you dinner. This type of advert appeals to men, giving them almost some sort of beneficial security in their lives. This is supported by Coward, R. in 'The Look', 'marriage, for instance often operates to secure women's labour and reproductive capacity to the advantage of men.' (Coward, 2000, P35) The man is gaining a large amount from this fantasy, which the advert creates. Not to avoid the more obvious point, the advert is designed to be sexy; you will be having sex with this woman. Coward supports this with 'sex-at-a-distance is the only complete secure relation which men can have with women. Perhaps other forms of contact are too unsettling.' (Coward, 2000, P34) Coward refers to the fantasy of sex, but not only that, the availability, the lack of rejection one would be apposed with when encountering a woman. An unrealistic structured ideal where the male audience do not lose out. 

If you think about this image, the camera being an extension of the male's eye, looking at the model, a point of view shot, you'll notice the model is looking directly back at you, meeting the gaze, rather than avoiding it. Now, you could argue that she is challenging the gaze, in a strong powerful manner, making the viewer feel uncomfortable, as it would be in some ads, but this is not the case, she's looking at the male audience in an almost flirtatious manner, however you do feel she is in control, a more confident manner. As the advert would suggest, 'can she make you lose control?', Coward supports this in this writing, 'Women in the flesh, often feel embarrassed irritated or downright angered by men's persistent gaze. But not wanting to risk male attention turning to male aggression, women avert their eyes and hurry away. Those women on the billboards, though; they look back. Those fantasy women stare off the walls with a look of urgent availability.' (Coward, 2000, P34) Coward mentions if you were to look at a women with such an obtrusive gaze to which you stare upon the model in the picture, they would be offended, or even scared, however the model's confident returning gaze conveys neither of these returning emotions, and greets us with a welcoming, flirtatious gaze, almost to say 'I'm yours'. This allows the audience to look in an almost voyeuristic, sexual, lustful manner. 'Voyeurism is a way of taking sexual pleasure by looking at rather than being close to a particular object of desire, like a Peeping Tom.' (Coward, 2000, P34) The sexualisation, the desire the lust created by an ad for body spray. 

OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 (Seminar) - Identity

Recap from the lecture

• Essentialism 
• Physiognomy - the outlook, because people are born in a certain environment, having a certain identity. 
• Anti-Essentialism - Society shapes us as people, and we don’t have any defining characteristics, but we’re formed by socialism.  

Identity and the other in visual representation

• Creation of identities
• concepts of otherness
• Analysis of visual example
• Identity - who we are and how others perceive who we are
• Identity creation - What makes you, you?
• The way you dress/present yourself
• How you speak/mannerisms
• Where you’re from
• Level of social skills/who you surround yourself with
• Interests
• Upbringing/background/genetics
• Physical Attributes (deformities)
• Fear
• Sense of Humour 
• Skills and abilities/what you can do for society
• Religion and Beliefs
• Gender
• Sexuality

How do you express your identity?

• The way you dress/present yourself - conspicuous consumption
• Your way of speaking
• Life style choices
• Body modifications
• Job/Profession/Vocation
• Emotional Availability 
• Social Networking
• Reality vs projected identity.

Circuit of Culture - Stuart Hall

• Culture is the framework within which our identities are formed, expressed and regulated.
• Identity formation
• Process from psychoanalysis

Jacques LACAN

• The ‘hommelette’ (french pun - man/omelette)
• The ‘Mirror Stage’ - the key point of identity formation in the individual
• The Mirror Stage
• Sense of self (subjectivity) built on:
• an illusion of wholeness
• receiving views from others
• Result = own subjectivity is fragile

Constructing the ‘other’

• Problems: relives on the assumption of position and radical otherness
• In the same way that we create our own identities we
• Identification
• Shores up unstable identities though the illusion of unity. 
• Shared fashions, belief systems, values
• — Subterranean Values (Matza, 1961)

Find an example of othering. 

OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 - Study Task 2 // Consumerism Aston Martin Analysis

The advert depicted above is that of Aston Martin, a high performance, super car manufacturer, based in the UK. Aston Martin produced this advert to promote and re-home their used Aston Martins. This advert reflects the logic of consumerism; it does so by tapping into our suppressed irrational desires, as spoken about by Sigmund Freud. The idea that we all have hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts, which need controlling, hidden, suppressed by society. The advert does so by suggesting, quiet blatantly, that the woman in the ad is a sexual object, ‘you know you’re not the first, but do you really care?’, something which can stimulate you, a personification of an Aston Martin, you expect a thrill from her. This is supported by Berger, J. in 'Ways of Seeing’, where he write 'One may remember or forget these messages but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory of expectation.’ (Berger. J, 1972, p129) - this car, like this girl, is an experience, it doesn’t matter that you’re not the first, as long as you’re experiencing it. It also implies that this car is supposed to pleasure you, like a woman would when engaging in sexual acts. This is once again referred to ‘Publicity is effective precisely because it feeds upon the real. Clothes, food, cars, cosmetics, bathos, sunshine are real things to en enjoyed in themselves. Publicity begins by working on a natural appetite for pleasure’. (Berger. J, 1972, p132) This texts also communicate the envy associated within the ads, almost like bragging rights, as some males, who are indeed the target audience for this advert, do tend to boast about their sexual encounters, in an 'alpha male’ style. Something, which could also be done with an Aston Martin, as apposed to a 2003 Fiat Punto. Transforming you into the man you want to be, which could either be with a fantastic looking female, or even an Aston Martin. ‘It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives by buying something more…it will make us in some way richer — even though we will be poorer by having spent our money.’ (Berger. J, 1972, 131). You could also suggest that whoever has used the Aston, or spent time with the model, have had an enriched life 'Publicity persuades us of such a transformation by showing us people who have apparently been transformed’ (Berger. J, 1972, P131). You could also argue that not only is an Aston Martin a commodity which acts as a status symbol, making you accessible to women, without it, you are nothing, as suggested by the association between the model and the car, this is supported by Berger; ‘If you are able to buy this product you will be loveable. If you cannot buy it, you will be less loveable’ (Berger. J, 1972, P144). Ultimately, tying the ownership of used Aston Martin to that with intercourse with an attractive woman. 

Bibliography

1. Berger. J (1972) 'Ways of Seeing' BBC and Penguin Books Ltd, London 

OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 (Seminar) - Comsumerism

Lecture Recap:

• Freud - Instinctual desires, 'pleasure principle', when satisfied you become docile. Incompatibility with humanity and society. 
• Bernays - Consumption satisfies the desires, we're made to think we're happy, so we're docile. As we believe our desires have been met. 
• Social Control - Using the consumer system, keeping people passive and docile, people are less likely to start a revolution. 
• P.R. - Commodities, society to people - a false need.
• Fordism - Mass production, an execration of the amount of things available - Because of it's nature it produced disposable income, which increased consumption. Which lead to brand rivalry. (1920's)

We then were asked to pick out some key phrases, which supported the idea of consumerism in the text below, click to zoom!

OUGD501: Context of Practice: Applying the Shannon & Weaver's model

Apply Shannon & Weaver's model to an example of communication. ow widely is the applicable? How useful do you find this source of exercise. Write a short analysis for your blogs, also think about the limits of Shannon & Weaver's model

What are the main communicative functions of redundancy? what do we mean by saying the English language is 50% redundant?

Discuss the ways in which convention can be said to facilitate understanding. Think of visual communication that breaks or extend specific conventions. How does this affect desire to communicate or the audience the reach? 

The Model

I have chosen to apply the Shannon & Weaver's model to the series of adverts which Apple use to promote their products. Apple have always had a high level of sophistication within their adverts, very incising  simple. Incredibly informative, I feel this would be an interesting subject to investigate, and apply the model to. 

Apple uses the the specifications of the product (the information source) The specifications are extremely minimal Apple then uses their advertising team, the world renown designer Sir. Jony to create a short video (the encoder) which becomes the advert, the deliverable (the channel), they advert is then received by the audience, (the decoder) either from the adverts on television, YouTube and other websites or on Apple's website itself. The audience then take in the information and make sense of it, (the destination)

The adverts have a much different approach, rather than applying the products to a situation, much like competing technology companies, for example, Samsung who show the target audience enjoying the product, seen below, whereas Apple's initial product reveal ads usually show Sir Jony I've discussing the technical aspects of the product, with complementary shots of the product, showcasing it in an almost human like fashion. 

Redundancy within

Apple's adverts could be described as extremely redundant. Redundancy is the lack of information, in a sense that there is not a huge amount to take in, or to understand, a smoother method of communication. The adverts use precise phrases such as "The iPhone 5 is the thinnest, lightest phone". An example of redundancy within the Apple ads, they always use simple, short phrases using words to describe a change or an exact percentage, for example "14% lighter". Apple uses the the specifications of the product (the information source) The specifications are extremely minimal Apple then uses their advertising team, the world renown designer Sir. Jony to create a short video (the encoder) which becomes the advert, the deliverable (the channel), they advert is then received by the audience, (the decoder) either from the adverts on television, YouTube and other websites or on Apple's website itself. The audience then take in the information and make sense of it, (the destination), perhaps comparing the specs given to their current phone, contemplating an upgrade, depending on the impact of  the advert, which in itself is extremely redundant, which eliminates the possibility of any confusion being created, (noise) a simple message.  

The English Language is 50% Redundant!

The phrase 'English is 50% redundant' is referring to the obtuse way in which we have several words which have the same meaning, equivalent duplicates. Words and phrases such as 'We ascended upwards' or 'the end result'. 

OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 (Seminar) - Communication Theory

The Shannon-Weaver mathematical model (1949)

• Simplistic method of communication, 
• Taking two elements and breaking them down into 5 element, plus the noise source. 
• They primarily looked at telecommunications.

How this is relevant and applicable to Graphic Designers

• Information Source: The concept, the idea, the brief, the problem. 
• The Transmitter (encoder): creating the design, transforming the problem into a piece of Graphic Design
• Channel: The Piece of Graphic Design itself, the deliverable
• Receiver (Decoder): Someone making sense of the design, assuming it's good design 
• Destination: The audience getting the message, the solution to the problem.
• <s> Noise Source: Could be the stock, or to what it is applied to </s>

What problems could occur which would stop the communication; relevant to Graphic Design

• Information Source: Information may be inaccurate, you might get the wrong end of the stick, conceptual problems, 
• Transmitter (encoder): Limited timescale, creative block, bad designer, misinterpreted information, not considering the target audience 
• Channel: Damaged or destroyed, ineffective location,  production issues, limitations of the subject
• Receiver (Decoder): Perhaps it might be aimed at the wrong audience, Colour issues, could be offensive,
• Destination: Lack of feedback, (however, this has hit a flaw with the model, as it's entirely linear, no way to give feedback), 

Methods to fix the problems

• Information Source:Ask questions, make sure you know, do more research
• Transmitter (encoder): Design it properly, get feedback
• Channel: Make it simple, strong, understandable,
• Receiver (Decoder): Make sure you're speaking in ways the understanding can understand
• Destination: Give feedback.

Noises (things which disrupt the process)

• Information Source: Low budget, budget limitations, boring subject, boring client - something which discourages you, unethical ideals
• Transmitter (encoder): To the extent of your style, is it appropriate? Fussy clients, 
• Channel: Destructions to the application, the z key doesn't work on the mac. 
• Receiver (decoder): Colourblind clients, what's next to your design
• Destination: poor reputation of the brand, lack of popular opinion, sub culture opinions. 

Communication Problems - Shannon-Weaver subcategorised all the possible problems which can go wrong

• Level A - Technical Problems - How accurately can the message be transmitted
• Level B - Semantic Problems - How precisely is the message conveyed
• Level C - Effectiveness problems - How effectively does the received meaning affect behaviour 

Level A Problems 

• Printing, 
• cost, 
• trail and error process, 
• timescale, 
• lack of understanding in relation to the process, 
• lack of skill, 
• Broken laptop, 
• Problems with your ability to use software, 
• Problems with your techniques

Level B  

• Misinterpretation of the message both being conveyed and received
• Tone of Voice
• Colour schemes,
• Visual stuff

Level C 

• Offensive design, in poor taste,
• Colour issues, 
• Subtle metaphor, which may be misread
• Location

Noise - Anything untended added to the single between transmission and reception. Noise can actually be something you aim for, something which you would want to communicate through. Not always entirely negative. Certain visually communicators might choose to be the noise source to an already established channel, for example putting graffiti onto a poster, to disrupt it, messing with the system. Hijacking an existing channel and making it your own, as a sort of visual pirate, creatively becoming the noise and inserting yourself into the channel, although you need to understand the channel before you place yourself into it. Noise can be both a problem and a solution. 

Redundancy vs Entropy

• Redundant, smooth communication
• Whereas Entropy is almost like a leaking, not smooth, it changes into something entirely different
• Redundancy
• There's not a lot to take in or understand
• High predictability
• Low information
• Easily understandable
• Conventional, readable, etc. 
• You can tap into existing conventions, cultural assumptions, to form a redundancy - reflecting a prejudice. 

Entropy

• Low predictability
• Unconventional
• High information
• Complex, open to a large amount of interpretation 
• You might want to create something entropic for attention

Apply Shannon & Weaver's model to an example of communication. ow widely is the applicable? How useful do you find this source of exercise. Write a short analysis for your blogs, also think about the limits of Shannon & Weaver's model

What are the main communicative functions of redundancy? What do we mean by saying the English language is 50% redundant?

Discuss the ways in which convention can be said to facilitate understanding. Think of visual communication that breaks or extend specific conventions. How does this affect desire to communicate or the audience the reach? 

OUGD405: Design Proces - Software Workshop - Photoshop

Work Post | Design Practice

Above you can see a image of light manipulation, which I found in a post on Reddit. The user who submitted the post is playing with the bokeh circles which you see in a photo when the light is out of focus. In the image above you can get a basic idea of how it is done. By placing a template on top of the apature, creating a new shape in which the light will enter the camera. 

I did some more investigating into the subject, by looking at YouTube's Photography specialists DigitalRevTV. In the video above, they show use a pack which you can get for $20, showing you the basic kit you need to make custom bokeh shapes. They then go to create their own bokeh shapes, using materials you can pick up for next-to-nothing. They show a great variety of new creative/geeky shapes which they made, they even went on to experiment with words to manipulate the shape of the bokeh. 

For the rear of the postcard, creating a space to write the address and add a stamp, I had to find some sources to base the design upon. 

This seems to be the typical layout of the rear of most postcards. 

OUGD404: Seminar Notes - Art, Graphic Design and Value