Task 6- Theory into practice

Im looking at surveillance the panopticon and Foucault within Graphic design there are many social communications factors as a designer you center your work around the audience and therefore can typically stereotype a lot of the time we make things obvious and direct in most situations something that doesn't need to much effort to depict the meaning. This can include stereotypes such as class age gender groups.  Looking at in which ways I control my design to specific stereotypes I have homed in on I am looking at this piece of design which I created this year for Greggs rebrand. My target audience was work orientated 25-35 yr olds I was aiming to make greggs alot more classy rather than cheap greasy take-out I chose the mocha and brown as they related to posh coffees and clean cut got away from grease proof papers and brown parcel wrapping. I took the imagery on doillies as they are very old fashioned boutique like which would also apply to the older age range as I also had the issue of not out casting customers they had already.

Task 5- sustainability and capitalism

sustainability is described in the text as an ecological factor in which must be changed yet due to a range of different issues within the social environment this isn't always possible. Not all societies can afford to be sustainable and therefore can have detrimental effect to these communities. Therefore although it is seen as a very communal lifestyle change unfortunately it is not that simple. There is a main intersection between The main characteristics of Capatalism

Task 4- Communication theory

The Shannon and weavers mathematic model of communication theory has five main parts to it: information /source - transmitter (encoder) - channel - receiver (decoder) - destination. These were parts which were able to communicate to any social forms including the telephone radio etc and what effects the information reaching its target audience.
 Therefore this can be applied to Graphic design in many ways as you have a message ( information) and you need to send this message out to an audience which will then decode it to understand its meaning or relevance.
The christmas advertisements for Coca-cola have a very large target audience there colours of red remind you of christmas anyway and the actually se Santa in the advert and plenty of toys making you buy into this idea of luxury family orientated ideals. Using the model to depict this into sections information source in coca-cola the transmitter for this would be the designer/advertiser the channel would be how this is then displayed e.g billboards the noise effecting this would be the positioning of the board/ what other adverts are effecting it possibly diet ads or other soft drink suppliers the receiver would be people viewing the poster trying to decode its message. This advertisement for coca-cola doesn't rely on the receiver to do much decoding into what its trying to reveal or sell this happens as we make a relation with the colours and the brands identity this becomes redundant as there isn't much of a hidden meaning and is more about aesthetic visuals "look on the coke side of life" buying into lifestyle having lots of presents etc. therefore entropy isnt at a loss as there isnt much of a message to get lost within the design.

Task three- Essay Ideas

Main thrust of my argument:

Title: The social effect of Graphic design

• Even though graphics is seen in everyday life its a very passive form of design so does it have social effect?
• Many people engage with design everyday and is applied to most paper based sources in masses, yet graffiti is becoming the art form of this bombarding society with a message.
• The angel of the north os a piece of fine art as is graffiti yet why is one seen to be more acceptable than another?
• We see the uses of graphic design everyday and often recieve things such as mailouts underground maps etc for free yet a free art gallery is going to be something of the past does this mean fine art is considered more value and why is this?
• Is graphic design considered as a 'waste' art form due to its paper based form in most cases the design is ignored and the fact wasted paper is more of an issue.

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of seeing. Harmondsworth, Penguin. 

Ferrell, J. (1993) crimes of style: urban graffiti and the politics of criminality. New York Garland

Stuhr, P ( 1994) Multicultural art education and social reconstruction. National Art Education Association  http://www.jstor.org/pss/1320218 (13/02/11)

Newark, Q. (2002) What is Graphic Design. Switzerland, RotoVision 

Twemlow, A. (2006) What is Graphic Design for. Switzerland, RotoVision 

Task two- on popular music

Adorno makes references to the two musical spheres on on popular culture and the other culture. Culture is for the upper classes and popular culture is for the masses,working class. They are two spheres which in his views are worlds apart in refernce to musical taste and talent of the composer. A clear judgment concerning the relation of serious music to popular music can be arrived at only by strict attention to the fundamental characteristic of popular music: standardization.' (Adorno 1941) He says by this standardization of the chorus containing 32 bars and the range having one octave and one note the music is regurgitated over and over its all the same.' The composition hears for the listener' (Adorno 1941:77) once you have listened to one song you have heard them all. This makes a direct link to pseudo-individualization which is the thought that you have free choice yet Adorno argues that popular music does the thinking for you, its purpose to make you think you have a choice. A way of making the real a passive thought. He talks from a very upper class level and considers the views of the few upper class are more important than the more! Behind judgements of taste lie power politics and class.'Structural standardization aims at standard reactions' (Adorno 1941:76) Adorno refers to the structuring of society as popular music is aimed at the masses and there is more working class than upper class by producing music which is of a very similar genre to previous songs which have been a hit and released you are subjecting the masses to what you want them to hear and therefore they are more likely to enjoy and like the music you have produced for them,resulting in more record sales.





This video to me is a feel good song which when you here the tune it makes you feel happy the lyrics get forgotten how Adorno explains that it is this illusion and a way to ignore reality it is a passive form of distraction. Yet this genre of music is very standardized yet you cant help but like it due to its up beat nature. Yet to me a song can also reflect memories and depending on when it was released e.g summertime when you first heard it can reflect your feelings about it wether you like it or not. 

Task one- Panopticism.

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.


CCTV is the new society of panoptic it by means of it being placed around the cities where we all live/ work and play, being ensured that it is for our own safety! 'Hence the major effect of the panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conciseness and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power' (Foucault, 2000: 65) Yet is it really or is it simply means to keep an eye on what we are doing constantly where we go what we do almost like a big eye in the sky. ‘who take pleasure in spying and punishing’ (Foucault, 1977: ). There have been many situations where people have said its invasion of there privacy and yet again the cameras still lye on the lampost around the UK. As crime increases and the rate of criminals being charged for these crimes such as vandalism robbery etc the more people start seeing the point and necessity of the cameras. As years have gone on we now accept that we are being watched and in most cases were not becoming docile bodies to the government always looking around before doing something in fearer of being caught and charged by police etc. Therefore we begin to conform to society in ways which have never been seen before basically monitoring our own movements and  self-regulating our behavior. 'Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he's spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know wether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so' (Foucault 1977: 80) CCTV makes us act in a way which makes you feel guilty even if not doing anything wrong at that time almost as if your guilty unless proven otherwise it has a real sense of invasion into your life its almost being controlled by someone you cant even see and don't know.'The panopticon functions as a kind of laboratory of power.' (Foucault 1977:84) The panopticon was a tower in which the guards would evaluate the inmates behavior and take control of the situation should there be one. Much like our society with  police vs the people today.