Task three; essay proposal.

How does panopticism link to branding within the fashion industry and what effect does this have on society? 

Essay content;

- What is the Panopticon and what was it used for? 

- What examples of Panopticism exsist in modern day?

- How is society Panoptic? and the judgements that are made based on fashion branding. 

- The importance of logos within fashion branding, focussing on a particular logo for more in depth discussion. 

- How identity is now determined by brands we wear and the way society has become due to this. 

- How are consumers encouraged to buy into brands? 

Academic sources;

- Brand story // Joseph Hancock.

Discusses how branding creates an identity for a product, a person and a company. The person's identity is one thing i'd like to explore. It also helps the reader think critically about the message a brand gives, something which most consumers won't do so I could also disucss this. 

- Fashion, culture and identity // Fred Davis. 

Explores how clothing determines your identity and how this communicates messages. This book looks at the sociology behind fashion decisions. Again this links to the idea of identity I would like to explore through branding. 

- Cool brands - An insight into some of Britain's coolest brands // Superbrands.

Gives an insight into particular brands from where they began and why certain decisions were  made. This will give me greater understanding of branding. It also explores certain fashion brands and shops such as H&M and how they are now bringing famous designers in and this links to my idea due to consumerism and the idea that you are judged so consumers will buy into this because it's designer. 

- Fashion and the consumer // Jennifer Yurchisin & Kim K.P. Johnson.

There is a particular section on fashion consumption: Physcographics which explores why people buy and how they are influenced by the people they associate with. This can be connected with the fact that group stereotypes are formed because that group may all buy into the same brands therefor linking to my question because this is an affect branding has on society. 

- Branding // Helen Vaid. 
There is a particular section on logos, something which obviously plays a huge part within branding. It discusses the ideas behind creating a logo and what they can convey. This can be something I discuss within my essay with it being such an important part of branding and one of the main things the consumer looks for when they are searching for branded clothes.


- Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison // Michael Foucault. 
The section 'Panopticism' explains what the Panopticon was/is and what it was used for, it can be used to back up my current knowledge of the Panopticon and Panopticism and also give me further understanding of it. This is the theory I have linked to my essay idea so having references for this is going to be nescessary. 

Task two; Benjamin & mechanical reproduction.

British government 1939. 

This piece of graphic design relates to the text by Walter Benjamin in many ways because it is something that has been massively reproduced over the years whether it be online or physically. 'Affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in the very notion of art' this is a quote that describes mechincal reproduction and what it may be capable of. Although through factors such as the internet it has brought about this amazing change in the notion of art, there is also the arguement that not all aspects are good because mechanical reproduction is taking away the tradition that art holds. This poster i've chosen was produced for the second world war to strengthen morale, there was 2,500,00 copies made and because they were printed this piece of work has technically always been reproducable but not in the way that we know it today. 'One might subsume the eliminated element in the term 'aura' and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art'. This quote states that mechanical reproduction takes away the aura of an artwork which is a very important aspect that an original has. Artworks have aura because they are believed to be made of uniqueness, creativity, genius, value, mystery, authenticity and authority. When this piece of graphic design was originally created, it had meaning and value in the sense that after the world war it would always be linked to what people at the time went through, it would act maybe as a marker of history for those who knew its true meaning. It also had authority because it was created by the government as a suggestion for how people should react. Due to mechnical reproduction this aura has been destroyed because this poster was re-discovered in 2000 and has become part of popular culture because it has been applied to a range of different products. The aura has been further more destroyed because little of the audience know where it actually comes from and its becoming known for popularity rather than being connected to the world war two. 

Lecture six; cities and film.

- Georg Simmel; German sociologist who wrote about the effect the city had on people.
- Urban sociology; the city engulfing the character.
- Louis Sullivan creator of the modern skyscraper.
- Details on Guaranty building is influenced by the arts and crafts movement.
- Skyscrapers represent the upwardly mobile city of business opportunity.
- Fordism; mechanised labour relations.
- The body was consumed by the factory environment.
- Stock market crash 1929; factories close and unemployment rises.
- Flaneur; what is the role of the body in the city?
- A Flaneur is a man of leasuire, there to simply observe.
- Walter Benjamin explores the ideas of a Flaneur.
- Susan Sontag; the photographer as a Flaneur.
- Proposal of the Flaneuse (female version), "invisible" due to things such as segregation of the sexes.
- The idea of the woman on the street is seen as bad due to things such as prostitution.
- Sophie Calle; Flaneuse photographer who created the people about the city photography series (documentary).
- Venice is a labyrinth city so the perfect location for a Flaneuse observer if they have a target.
- 'The detective' 1980. Sophie Calle hires someone so that she can be observed herself in Paris.
- Cindy Sherman also looks at the woman in the city but more so in the sense that she is trapped.
- Arthur Felig; looks at the idea of the city as a threat and photographs incidents.
- L.A. Noire is based on the idea of the naked city and the city as a threat (video game).
- Walker Evans 'many are called'. Observation within the city through the use of a hidden camera. Portrays the idea that people are alone in the city.
- The postmodern city is a confusing place and has to be negotiated.
- Terrible things are not recognised due to the flow of city life, people continue about their business like they normally would.
- The disruption of the twin towers is the disruption of the american dream.
- There is the idea of the surveillance city due to the dangers the city has.

Lecture five; the gaze and the media.

- Hans Memling 'Vanity' 1485.
The mirror is a device, sinful regard for the woman's self. 
- Alexandre Cabnel 'Birth of venus' 1863.
Both of the above are examples of works using a mirror. 
- Sophie Dahl - Opium. 
Withdrawn from advertising for sexual nature. 
Once the format was changed the vertical format was approved because emphasis changed to the face. 
- The gorilla girls campaign - do women have to be naked to get into a museum? 
- Manet 'Bar at the Folies Bergeres' 1882. 
The idea of mirrors again and how they send a message. 
- Women's bodies are used in advertising through the use of photography. 
- Men are also objectified in advertising. 
- Women are marginalised within the masculine discourse of art history. 
- Barbara Kruger uses the theories of the gaze.
- More modern artworks have the same ideas about women being looked at but in a less obvious way. 
- Reality television gives us the power of the gaze. 
- The Truman show is a film which is an example of the gaze. 

Lecture four; critical positions on the media and popular culture.

Culture? 
- One of the two or three most complicated words in the english language. 
- A particular way of life. 
- Works of intellectual and especially artistic significance. 
- General process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development of a particular society, at a particular time. 


- Marx's concept of base/superstructure links. 


Raymond Williams four definitions of popular;
- Well liked by many people. 
- Inferior kinds of work. 
- Work deliberately setting out to win favour with people. 
- Culture actually made by the people themselves. 


- Anything that aims to be understood by everyone could be described as popular. 


Inferior or residual culture.
- Popular press VS quality press.
- Popular cinema VS art cinema. 
- Popular entertainment VS art culture.


- Popular culture can begin as something which is passed by until it is created by the 'right' person. 


- The physical separation of classes eventually creates own cultures. 


Matthew Arnold culture is; 
- The best that has been thought and said in the world. 
- Study of perfection. 
- Attained through disinterested reading, writing and thinking. 
- The pursuit of culture. 
- Seeks to minister the diseased spirit of our times. 


Leavisism; "Culture has always been in minority keeping" 


Frankfurt school - critical theory; study of culture took place here. 
"The culture industry" This is an idea of culture but more like culture produced in a factory. 


- Culture in capitalism was mass produced. "All mass culture is identical" 
- Culture for the masses. 
- The idea of art as a culture is gone due to art as mass production. 
- Influences cause us to be one dimensional, creating a false consciousness. 


- Popular culture was a threat to the upper class. 
- Working class culture was bad because it 'dumbed down' thinking about political situations. 


- Contemporary culture industry for the working class de-politicises because it makes us think unacceptable things are ok for example, women flaunting themselves. 


- The culture industry is standardised so it does your thinking for you. 


Qualities of authentic culture; 
- Real
- European 
- Multi - dimensional 
- Active consumption 
- Individual creation
- Imagination 
- Autonomous (independent from the rules) 


- What happens to the cultural value of something when it's reproduced? 

Seminar two - technology will liberate us.

Technology > reproduction > value.
Photography
New techniques


The main thing to be taken from this lecture was that the reproduction of art works devalues them in a number of different ways and this is down to the development of technology. 
During this seminar we were put into pairs and given a paragraph from the text 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction' by Walter Benjamin. We had to read the text, discuss what we felt it meant and then feedback to the group and talk about these ideas. Myself and Kirsty were given paragraph four to look at. 

The key points we got from this section of the text were; 

- The value of art changes depending on the context it is in

- If something is reproduced it loses it's uniqueness but art works were reproduced so everyone could have them not just the upper class people

- With photography which is actually the original?

- As technologies began to evolve there was a sense of crisis later to come for art

- Art is treated like royalty because you tend to have to walk up a huge staircase and then whilst walking around an art gallery you talk quietly as though you are treating the pieces with respect

- When it's authority gets threatened by reproduction it recoils in order to try and save itself

- Tradition is changed by this idea of reproduction, it is lost. 

- Art is described as the cult of beauty due to its uniqueness but this has declined due to reproduction

Lecture three; Marxism & design activism.

Marxism is - a political manifesto, leading to socialism, communism and the twentieth century conflicts between capital and labour. 
A philosophical approach to the social sciences, which focuses on the role of society in determining human behaviour, based on the concept of dialectical materialism. 


Capitalism is - control of the means of production in private hands.
A market where labour power is bought and sold. 
Production of commodities for sales.
Use of money as a means of exchange. 
Competition/meritocracy. 


Communist evolution; 
Primitive communism 
Slave society
Feudalism
Capitalism 
Socialism
Communism


Marx's concept of base/superstructure.
Base; 
Forces of production - materials, tools, workers, skills
Relations of production - employer, employee, class, master, slave


Superstructure; 
Social institutions - legal, political, cultural
Forms of consciousness - 'the history of all hithero existing society is the history of class struggles' 


Base > determines content and form of > superstructure > reflects form of and legitimises > base.


System of ideas or beliefs
Masking, distortion or selection of ideas, to reinforce power relations, through creation of 'false consciousness' 
Society = economic, political and ideological. 
Ideology is a practice through which men and women 'live' their relations to real conditions of existence. 
Ideology offers false, but seemingly true resolutions to social imbalance.


The media as ideological state apparatus
A means of production. 
Disseminates the views of the ruling class.
Media creates a false consciousness.
The individual is produced by nature.


How does advertising effect us?
What examples of graphic design could be determined by social or political factors?

Task one - Panopticism.

Thinking about modern day examples of panopticism I have chosen one example to discuss, I will also include quotes from 'Panopticism' by Michael Foucault that link to my ideas. A modern swimming pool is in my opinion panoptic because the lifeguard sits in their chair in the middle of the pool area like the tower of the Panopticon because "the registration of the pathological must be constantly centralised". This chair is high enough so that the lifeguard can over look the whole of the pool area and can be seen by the public swimmers. There are rules put in place that only tend to be followed due to the panoptic layout of the swimming pool because someone is constantly watching to make sure the public are abiding thus links the quote "Visibility is a trap". Panopticism in this case is used as a safety feature because the public are aware that they are being watched therefor they behave in a certain sensible manner. This reduces accidents because the public become docile bodies when attending the swimming pool and automatically behave themselves. "So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in it's effects, even if it is discontinuous in it's action" - There does become a point in which the lifeguard doesn't necessarily have to be there because the public self regulate so not to endanger themselves. Unlike the Panopticon however, the public can see each other when in the swimming pool so may be influenced by what others are doing in a negative way. "The first is that of a pure community, the second that of a disciplined society" this could link to the fact that some people know how to behave in modern day society and others are taught through systems such as the panoptic layout. Overall "Bentham's Panopticon is the architectural figure of this composition" because the way in which the swimming pool is laid out could have come from the ideas of the Panopticon.

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish, London, Penguin.

Lecture two; Technology will liberate us.

Books to look at;

Digital currents

Art in the age of mechanical reproduction

Art in the age of mass media 

Simulacra and simulation

- Technological conditions can effect the collective consciousness.

- Technology triggers important changes in cultural development.

[insert pictures here]

- Anything that is copied isn't always the same as the original. 

Machine age; modernism

- Walter benjamin - the emergence of technology and art. 

- Photograms were the early experiments with photography. 

- Marx brings about the fact that technology changes the value of things eg. is a copy worth as much as the original. 

- Consumerism brings down the value in a sense. 

- Photography moves something into a new context which changes the value.

- Something that came with photography was kineticism , the idea of movement. 

- Richard Hamilton - using technology to re-create image. 

- How you style something determines if it rests within art of design.

Electronic age; postmodernism

- The computer is a natural metaphor.

- We consume the technology and create new techniques. 

- Collaborations between art and science. 

Simulation and simulacrum 

- Reflection of profound reality. 

(Jean Baudrillard 1981)

- It distorts reality and is confusing because its the decision of what is real and what is not. 

- Word of mouth masks the absence of what is real because we believe what we are told. 

- Nam June Pauek; uses technology as an art form. 

John Walker; art and mass media 

- Art uses mass media.

- At what point does art become design?

Digital age

- Digital potential leads to multimedia productions.

- New contexts.

- Used for installations eg. projections (Jenny Holser)

- New technologies make it easier to reproduce without going through a whole process. 

Seminar one - Panopticism.

- Panopticon; Jeremy Benthan. 
- The Panopticon is used more subtly in modern day eg. the lecture theatre. 
Key features;
- Isolation
- Invisibility/visibility
- Productivity


- Modern disciplinary society 'docile bodies' making people become productive, obedient and self regulating. 
- Physical ---> Mental control, as times have moved on there has become a shift in ways of control. 
- A modern day swimming pool is Panoptic as a safety feature because people are aware they are being watched by a lifeguard. 
- Power is a relationship that works both ways. It relies on one person not retaliating against the other. 
- The perfect life and body; advertising works in a Panoptic manner because there is the view we are constantly being watched in everyday life. 
- The relationship with your parents is Panoptic because there are certain things you would do around them and also certain things you wouldn't. 

Lecture one; Panopticism.

Institutions and institutional power. 

- The panopticon proposed in 1791. 

- Has the same principles of control as our society. 

- Michel Foucault (1926 - 1984) wrote about power and was a social theorist. 

- Madness and civilisation. 

- Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. 

- The 'mad' were once socially accepted until about the 1600's. 

- Houses of correction were created to curb unemployment and idleness. Anyone who couldn't work was placed here and made to work by threat. The 'mad' corrupted the sane so more specialist institutions were created. 

- Thus came the birth of the asylum - the sane and insane were separated. They were treated like children and given rewards for good behaviour. This was a form of social control. 

- There become new forms of knowledge eg. psychology so technically the problem could be passed over to specialist people. 

- People were humiliated (the pillory) to show others that there are consequences for their actions. 

- The was a shift from physical punishment to mental 'control'. 

The panopticon

Traditional layout

The prisoners view

- The design of the Panopticon could be multi-functional eg. a school, hospital and prison. 

- The Tate britain is a Panopticon. 

- The layout of it meant that prisoners were taught to act a certain way due to the fact they could be being constantly watched so this was implanted on their mind which meant they would always behave well. It became a form of mental correction because eventually prisoners would just behave perfectly with this constant view that they were being watched. 

- It allows scrutiny. 

- It allows the supervisor to experiment on subjects. 

- Aims to make the prisoners productive. 

- Reforms the prisoners. 

- Helps treat patients. 

- Helps instruct school children. 

Thus was born

Panopticism... A NEW MODE OF POWER.

- The Panopticon is a model of how society organises power. 

- The open plan office is an example as you can constantly be surveyed by your boss. 

- Panopticism is you modifying your own behaviour based on the environment you are in. 

- Modern bars are usually open plan now because these spaces are easier control based again on the fact you can always be seen. 

- The library in the Parkinson building of Leeds uni is the same because a library is usually a controlled place. 

- Security cameras are more successful when visible because people tend to act a certain way due to the fact they know they are being watched. 

- We become 'docile bodies' - self monitoring, self correcting, obedient bodies. 

- Power is a relationship in which there can be resistance. 

Year Two. 

Essay.

Deconstruction in graphic design.

After reading the piece of text 'thinking with type' there is a few obvious points noticeable that have been made about type. One of the main points is that type is designed to help readers avoid reading. This means that the reader can skim quickly over text and pick out certain parts or words and still understand the content. It makes the whole reading process less intense. 


Typography sealed the idea of 'the text' being original work and gave ideas an essential form to be produced in. This was another point made in the text, and it also then goes on to talk about how print established authors as the owners of their texts which meant copyright laws were written in the 18th century to protect authors rights. These laws are still disputed today but have shaped the texts we read. 


In the section 'linearity' the difference between a 'text' and 'work' is disputed. This is disputed by a critic named Roland Barthes, he states that a work is 'tidy, neatly packaged, proofread and copyrighted' and text is 'impossible to contain and consists of received ideas'. However, the traditional text page has been supported by features of the book. Features include, page numbers, headings and an index. These things could only come about because the typographic book is a fixed sequence of pages. This section states that due to the 'rules' of typography we were able to create rules for books which work across all areas. 


Barthes description of the text being open and simply ideas means that the reader is more important than the author in creating meaning. This means that depending on how the text reads, each reader may gather different ideas and interpret the text differently. Graphic designers embraced these ideas using typography as a model of interpretation and exploring the difference between seeing and reading. They would challenge readers to produce their own meaning. Overall, typography doesn't necessarily create meaning itself but helps the reader create meaning due to all the factors discussed in this summary I've written. 

David Carson; www.davidcarsondesign.com

Deconstructionist work breaks all the rules of typography and completely leaves the 'reader' to interpret the work in their own way. Instead of avoiding reading the 'reader' has to look closely at this piece I have chosen and possibly even try and interpret what it says. There isn't necessarily a message here which can be interpreted because of the layout and style of the piece. The style of the work is copyrighted to the artist in a way because this style can be found throughout Carson's collection. Deconstructionist graphic design has no rules other than to break the rules themselves. Typography in deconstructionism could be described as 'there to be seen' as design is but graphic design is also there to communicate so the piece above has a message. The one characteristic of typography that deconstructionism does follow is the fact that the audience is more important than the 'author' in creating meaning as each person will take something different away from the above piece. This piece hints at the fact its about the rules of something, maybe graphic design, and the rest is then left to the 'reader'. 

Postmodern graphic design.

Postmodernism 

Term used from about 1970 to describe changes seen to take place in Western society and culture from the 1960s on. These changes arose from anti-authoritarian challenges to the prevailing orthodoxies across the board. In art, postmodernism was specifically a reaction against modernism. It may be said to begin with Pop art and to embrace much of what followed including Conceptual art, Neo-Expressionism, Feminist art, and the Young British Artists of the 1990s. Some outstanding characteristics of postmodernism are that it collapses the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture; that it tends to efface the boundary between art and everyday life; and that it refuses to recognise the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be.

Reid, J (1977) 'God save the queen'

This piece is a good example of refusing to recognise a certain style of what art should be. Its taken this 'royal' image and changed it so that it has a modern twist. Something so simplistic can be seen as great because its original and unseen. This also created a style for this band as the whole magazine cut out look can be found throughout many of their albums. The style also suits the time of the band its presenting. 

Jones, T (1980) 'ID magazine'

Reid, J (1977) 'Never mind the bollocks' 

Kruger, B (1848) 'Declaration of sentiments' 

I link all of the above pieces of graphic design to postmodernism because of the relationship with imagery and typography because typography plays quite a large part in the postmodern era. It gives imagery a whole new meaning. Examples such as the sex pistols cover proves how much times have changed because artists are now able to get away with a lot more in terms of language used. Postmodern graphic design reflects through the current works because graphic designs now use type and imagery so that they work together to present a particular message. 

Tappin Gofton (2005) 'X & Y' 

This however, is completely different to the rest. It uses alphanumeric coding which could be described as a type of typography in a sense as it has a message. It just looks new and fits with the rest of the postmodern works through colour and the presentation of a message. This is very postmodern because its new, fresh and innovative. It opens a doorway to a new type of design and a new way of sending a message. 

Avant Garde.

Avant-garde 

Originally a French term, meaning in English, vanguard or advance guard (the part of an army that goes forward ahead of the rest). Applied to art, means that which is in the forefront, is innovatory, which introduces and explores new forms and in some cases new subject matter. In this sense the term first appeared in France in the first half of the nineteenth century and is usually credited to the influential thinker Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the forerunners of socialism. He believed in the social power of the arts and saw artists, alongside scientists and industrialists, as the leaders of a new society. In 1825 he wrote: 'We artists will serve you as an avant-garde¿ the power of the arts is most immediate: when we want to spread new ideas we inscribe them on marble or canvas¿ What a magnificent destiny for the arts is that of exercising a positive power over society, a true priestly function and of marching in the van [i.e. vanguard] of all the intellectual faculties!' Avant-garde art can be said to begin in the 1850s with the Realism of Gustave Courbet, who was strongly influenced by early socialist ideas. This was followed by the successive movements of modern art, and the term avant-garde is more or less synonymous with modern. Some avant-grade movements such as Cubism for example have focused mainly on innovations of form, others such as Futurism, De Stijl orSurrealism have had strong social programmes. The notion of the avant-garde enshrines the idea that art should be judged primarily on the quality and originality of the artists vision and ideas.  www.tate.org.uk

To me, avant garde in design is something that has been created from a previously learnt process that fits more into the current era where style is concerned. It can also be something that has been designed that pushes the boundaries of what is described as the 'norm' or accepted by us today. 

'Get unhooked' NHS 2007.

This campaign can be described as avant guard because it pushes the boundaries of what is and is not accepted in our society. The 'shock factor' of this caused the overall campaign to be successful because it caused a stir with many people complaining about the fact its inappropriate. It could be said that it was an experiment to get people to pay attention to the reality of things such as smoking. The campaign is innovative in the sense that they've used a representation instead of being literal with actual cigarets which is overall a new idea. 

Shepard Fairey (American, born 1970) ‘Change’, 2008.

This piece is another avant garde example for graphic design. This is because its taken quite an old style into a modern era to try and get people to accept something politically, in this case its a new leader. Its promoting what is believed to bring 'change' with no knowledge of wether this will in fact happen or not as desired. Its setting a challenge upon people to believe in something new or someone. This is out of the norm for the current era because posters in this style don't tend to come about so it could also be challenging the type of design to see how well it communicates too. This could be described as an experimental piece because it relies very much (despite some text) on the use of colour to present an idea in a way. 

Introducing postmodernism.

- Postmodern theory emerges from architecture.
- Postmodernism; a doubt in modernism.
- Modernism is building the future.
- The idea of progress is doubted.
- It is characterised by;
exhaustion
pluralism
pessimism
disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge.
- Reaction to;
modern life, technology, new materials, communication.
- Jean Tinguely 'homage to new york' 1960. No progressive message.
- Modern world is self destructive.
- Origin; 1917 - Rudolph Pannwitz, spoke of 'hilisto, amoral, post modern men'
- 1960's - Beginnings
1970's - established as a term
1980's - style
1990's - dominant theoretical discourse
Today - tired and simmering
- 'After modernism'
- Contra modernism
- Global village; culture, races, images, capital, products.
- 15th July 1972, 3.32on - Modernism dies (Charles Jencks) Demolition of the Pruitt - Igoe development, St Louis.
- The original plan was for everyone to live happy together but the demolition was the reality.
- Postmodernism has an attitude of questioning conventions.
- Space for 'new voices'
- Questioning on the values of modernism.
- The only rule is that there are no rules!
- A reaction to the rules of international style of architecture.
- Mixing the old and the new.
- Crisis in confidence.
- Postmodern asthetics;
complexity
chaos
- Pop art could be emergence of postmodernism in fine art.
- High art/low art divide begins to crumble.
- Las Vegas - postmodern city?
- Did Andy Warhol take art seriously?
- Advertising is what we seek to give us messages.
- Femanism emerges.
- Punk - a postmodern movement.
- A vague disputed term.