OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
“To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view of historical events and perceptions of truth?”
Rationale : Graphic Design has the possibility to cover all platforms, and has the power to frequently comment on the world, whether that is by remembering something in the past sense to glorify it, encouraging a moment in the present or designing for a function. We often only remember what’s their and what has been immortalised in print and within historical design, yet their are may alternative histories and untold stories which may alter how we see past events. Especially after a significant amount of time has passed, and fewer first hand accounts are surfacing verbally, we take the word of designers as gospel- looking back believing ‘why would they lie’, ‘of-course the world was like that’, and take those images for fact when really they could be manipulations of the truth. We believe something more if its from a trusted source, such as the News or world of mouth from someone we know, however successful Graphic Design has the power to harness the officiality of these platforms to trick the viewer into believing what they have to say. A common example of this is ‘fake news’, where people in position of power and authority are betraying the viewers trust and distributing lies rather than facts, all for persuasive manipulation and the prevention of real perceptions of truth.
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
5 relevant/related subjects
PROPAGANDA to construct History
Digital Media
Propaganda- war posters and information to loved ones back home. Looking at historical and contemporary events focused around politics and public figures.
How photo-shopping is used across graphic communication, altering true perceptions of beauty and often lying to the consumers about natural physical attributes. Photoshopping for weight loss and heightened beauty are used across advertisements for items such as diet pills and mascara, when the advert is suggestive that the result was from the product, not as a result of digital media.
Advertising, Brand & Media - Representing people as good and morally right via advertising and propaganda, when in actual fact they’re hiding policies and miscommunicating their intentions (Hitler/ Donald Trump)
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
... Crime & Representation of character roles through History
Meme warfare as perceptions of subjective truth, or accounts of actual history?
Crimes that have been covered up by Graphic Design fake newspaper headlines and crime-scene reports.
As time goes on memes and subjective opinions will be the newspaper headlines of the day, and possibly more remembered by the younger generation than the event which it actually corresponded to.
How certain subcultures were often positioned by designers to appear to associate with crime Exploring Ethnicity and related specific genres within design, e.g.: Hip Hop movement which was portrayed initially for the benefit of Ragan politics
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
5 relevant quotes
“All truths are easy to understand when discovered; and the point is to discover them”Galleleio
“In a world that has REALLY been turned on its head, truth is a moment of falsehood. ” - Guy Debord
“History is her-story, too.” ~Richard Hudson-Miles
“History is written by the victors.” Walter Benjamin
“Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.” —David Ogilvy
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
5 relevant books
Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility, by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J. Flanagin, 2015 Learning race and ethnicity through history: Youth and Digital Media. From MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning and edited by Anna Evertett for MIT (2012) (This aspec to of looking at misconceptions of race through graphic design could be extended to investigate Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, by S.Craig Watkins, 2006) Design History and the History of Design, By John A Walker and Judy Attfield (1988) The Art of Truth and Phenomenology, by Gregory Schufreider (2010), The Society of The Spectacle, Guy Dubord (1976) Also The Dimensions of Graphic Design and Its Spheres of Influence, Article by Robert Harland, Design Issues, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Winter 2011), pp. 21-34 and Visualizing Multi-Racialism in Singapore: Graphic Design as a Tool for Ideology and Policy in Nation Building, Leong K. Chan Design Issues, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Winter 2011), pp. 63-69.
Jen Lea
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
5 relevant websites
- http://www.eyemagazine.com/opinion/article/against-the-flow - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/06/kellyanne-conway-fake-bowling-green-massacre-three-times - http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/graphic_arts_and_advertising_ as_war_propaganda -http://designobserver.com/feature/an-introduction-to-graphic-design/8727 (and http://www.designersandbooks.com which provides many accounts on historical design practice) - http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/there-is-such-a-thing-as-society
Jen Lea
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
5 relevant contextual references
Donald Trump as a manipulator of truth through design and ‘brand’ positioning
The Forgotten Versions of History
Kellyanne Conway as a smoke screen in the media/online distribution to cover up the things Trump has said (creating massacres on the day that Trump released new policies which needed covering due to controversy)
Red plaques vs Herrididge plaques marking the aspects of modern culture/ alternative socialist events which have occurred over the past 20 years. These move away from the autocracy and saturation of biased messages. Also- the system of awarding a plaque to those who have ‘contributed to society’ removes a huge proportion of history as not everyone who contributes gets recognised for it- nor glorified and remembered by a plaque.
North Korea being brainwashed by Kim Family Only having access to stories about the Kim Family, only one newspaper and one TV channel all promoting strictly controlled messages from the dominant ideology. Can tell the public masses of lies, yet there is no democracy or alternative sources to compare this news, therefore (like Plato’s cave), they are unaware of the culture history outside their bubble of knowledge.
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
...
‘Keep It Real’ Campaign
False News/ The Guardian Newspaper Scandal
Encouraging young women over social media to not alter their physical appearance too much, or be drawn into heightened beauty ideals perpetuated by Photoshop and devious post production.
How we often take things for granted just because they come from an official source
Dove ‘real women’, moving away from Photoshopping to give an honesty to the consumers about their product and effect it will have- rather than being misleading.
OUGD501: Studio Brief 03
Jen Lea
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