Online workbook Lukasz Kurasinski by Lukasz Kurasinski

VT VISUAL THINKING

BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Unit 2 Visual Thinking Academic Year 2013/2014 Lukasz Kurasinski

CONteNtS

VISUAL THINKING page 4 dIGItAL mAteRIALIty page 5 tRANSmedIA page 5 pROJect mONSteR page 6 - 8 DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS page 9 - 11 pOStcARd page 12 - 14 AESTETHIC JUDGMENT page 15 “With the world’s economy in a slump, the Middle East’s never ending conflict, and the on-going war on terrorism, there is a heightened awareness in the world community of the many sides of the numerous issues that both directly and indirectly affect our lives. Increasingly, people are feeling powerless and underrepresented because they have no voice. Designers, however, have a voice. They are among the most influential bystanders because their skills enable them to communicate a message easily through the Web or through posters and printed pieces. A picture is worth a thousand words and designers have used this adage to their advantage for years by creating simple yet powerful designs that immediately convey the message to the viewer.” - Milton Glaser ‘The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics’ (2005)

p. 15

PHOTOGRAPHY KILLED PAINTING page 16 - 17

HAND LETTERING

page 18 - 20

page 21 - 22

LETTER PRESS

DIGITAL LETTER M PRESS

page 23 - 26

LETTERS IN LANDSCAPE

page 27 - 28

TYPHOGRAPHY LEXICON page 29 - 31

page 32 - 36

PROPAGANDA

pASSION ANd cONvIctION page 37

FINAL evALUAtION

page 38 - 39

bIbLIOGRApHy

VISUAL THINKING

Visual Thinking “... the ability to find meaning in imagery. It involves a set of skills ranging from simple identification (naming what one sees) to complex interpretation on contextual, metaphoric and philosophical levels. Many aspects of cognition are called upon, such as personal association, questioning, speculating, analyzing, fact-finding, and categorizing. Objective understanding is the premise of much of the literacy, but subjective and affective aspects of knowing are equally important.” - Philip Yenawine, ‘Thoughts on Visual Literacy’. 1997

‘Visual Thinking’ unit focuses on extending our visual awareness, individual creative language and understanding of contemporary practice while examining the fertile and complex semiotic and aesthetic nature of word, image and object. In these unit I examine these relationships while engaging with broad and experimental creative processes through a series of workshops, demonstrations, seminars and critiques provided across the courses in the School of Visual Arts: Fine Art, Graphic Design, Illustration and Visual Communication. This unit has been designed by the Course Leaders across the School to give unique opportunity to test and expand range of skills and to combine materials and processes in different ways. I develop an awareness and understanding of the related key themes and issues, placed within relevant social, historical and cultural contexts. Through studio practice this unit introduces the symbiotic and expansive relationship that exists between theory and practice in the visual arts. The unit provide strong foundation for studies by enabling to develop research and study skills within relevant critical and theoretical frameworks.

dIGITAL MATERIALITY Lecture. Monday 13 January, 9-11am, Digital Materiality. Tutor: Lee Mackinnon Explore the history, development and pervasiveness of the digital today. The focus was on the materiality of the digital and impact on human behaviour and interaction. Key elements were: modes of production and obsolescence; gaming and play as forms of labour; the ethics of global digital interactivity; social media; image as information; electronic civil disobedience [hacking;wikileaks]; analogue and digital; computational contexts. Digital technology have huge impact on every aspect of our life. In 20th century play was innocent. Digitaly change nature of work into play. Confluance that play is labour and labour is play. Examples from movies and art: Alex Galloway on The Internet as Factory and Play (2010) Cary Arcangel - hacking games as art Jacquard Loom - coding in form of language. Binary computer. Bruno Latour - Action Network Theory (ANT) Unusual approach to digitalism by artists. Most of ideas are more or less crazy. As a person who is in love with computer technology I consider those examples as form of perversion or effect of mental illness. Overall I am happy of taking part of that lecture because it gave me another reason to consider fine art as subject only for choosen group of society.

TRANSMEDIA Lecture. Monday 13 January, 11-13pm Transmedia. Tutor: Paul Roberts This lecture with Paul Roberts from BA (hons) Illustration explored the concept of transmedia and its application to a range of visual and media practices. It examined the ways in which the term is currently defined and used by a range of contemporary theorists, and how the concept builds upon previous notions such as intertextuality, remix culture, and postproduction. It also draws upon the concept of the Gutenberg Parenthesis which seeks to examine the extent to which contemporary cultural and media practices can be seen to be reverting to a pre-Gutenberg form in which relationships between textual objects become more fluid, and notions of ownership and defined authorship start to break down. Monomedia - simple text, book, image. Music. Interpretation/adaptation - remaking one media product into another. ie. book to film. Multimedia - combination of mediums working together. Transmedia - Coexisting, openriding, adaptation. Use of different channels contributed to say the same story. Each medium has itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own affordances, potential, communication ability; but also potentially audience defferentiation and accessibility. Interesting aproach into subject of media. The lecture examine the ways in which transmedia is a useful concept for exploring ideas such as audience and interaction and performativity.

PROJECT MONSTER First initial visual project. We were asked to create visualisation of our own monster. A monster that represents something we really donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like. This could be something we are scared of, something we detest. By giving this monster an identity we can then banish it from our life. I took this task very serious because I have a monster which I am really scared of. That monster is chaseing me all my life. It is aloneness, izolation. In the middle we can see black dot. It symbolize me. that dot is surrounded bu lots of other dots. Non of them is close to black dot. There seems to be some pressure and impact of other dots. My another monster is related with colours. I do not like colours and people who are colourful. I am scared of them and noise they make around themself. I created several versions of that idea. I am very pleased from outcome I produced.

PROJECT MONSTER

PROJECT MONSTER Here are my final development versions. All outcomes were created in Adobe Illustrator and based on my own idea.

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS

Distinctive Characters: Typography as a Semiotic Resource. This project is about typography and creating new letter forms. Typography can be used as a powerful vehicle to transmit ideas and notions of culture, gender, history, materiality and value. The function of typography is to communicate a message so that it effectively conveys and reinforces meaning. Typography as a semiotic resource in its own right is capable of transmitting meaning. Above are my initial ideas of applying letter O into shape of oak tree. Finaly I choose one most effective. 9

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS Next part of project is to convert my design of tree into 3D sculpture. I decided to use wood board and jigsaw to create nice looking template. I enjoy constructing using tools at work. This part of development was very like playing toys. I do wish to work more with wood boards and cutting shapes from them. I think it is really interesting medium to work with

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS

POSTCARD After finishing 3D outcome with wchich transmit meaning of the word comes time to use that into printing design. Our tast is to create postcard basing on good qualty photography of 3D outcome.We must produce an A6 postcard with the image and brief description of word. First I had to make fotosession of my 3D letter. I decided to take it to forest and use natural envorenment as backbround-image for my design. Here are some of photographs taken in the woods. I love forest and I use every opportunity to go on outdoor trip. I enjoy camping and bushcrafting so for me there was no other choice than take those photos in the forest.

POSTCARD

On each sample we can see key text which describe brief. Font I used for this text is Garamond, the same as font of the letter: “Idea of incorporating twig shapes into letterforms to create shape of tree based on letter ‘O’. The type font used for this project is Garamond which is an old style serif typeface developed in the 15th century. Oak tree can live for very long time so as the written word.” I also allow myself on adding small shape of my character in form of logo.

Interesting project with using 3D idea generation. It was something new for me. I really like working with tools. I enjoyed cutting shape of tree font from wooden board. During this project I have realised how little I know about typography. I have learned something new about history of typography and letterforms and I wish to know more. Knowledge about fonts and correct way of using them is important in work of graphic designer. 14

AESTETHIC JUDGMENT Lecture. Monday 20 January, Notions of Taste, Aesthetic Judgement and Consumer Tutor: Kirsten Hardie This session explored relationship with objects and how we respond to and give value to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and how our aesthetic judgements and purchase decisions relate to consumer culture. The session considers the phenomenon of consumption and notions of style, luxury, memory etc. in relation to bespoke and the mass produced items. It considers the thoughts of Baudrillard, Veblen, the Frankfurt School and Klein. Unordinary and sometimes shocking lecture and seminars. I do not like kitsch products but unfortunately there are people who buy it and enjoy them. Designers are responsible for the way how world looks like, especially on the store shelf. I think it was usefull, but I wish to never had to go on similar lecture. I am more interested in products which are stylish and practical.

PHOTOGRAPHY KILLED PAINTING Lecture. 24 February. Photography Killed Painting and Digital is Dead...? Tutor: Sarah James On lecture we were examining historical precedence, (eg. lenses, print, photography), and raise questions regarding contemporary technological debate in the arts (participatory culture, converged practices and 21st century craft). Interesting questions ike: Is photography form of art or just looks like art? Unfortunately, conclusions about historical unimportant opinions are not very exciting. Key thinkers: Benjamin, Debord, Baudrillard, Negreponte, Hockey, Frayling, Maeda, Jenkins, Sennet.

HAND LETTERING

Here are examples of different letter forms created by myself on workshop about Hand lettering. Unfortunately it was not as interesting as could be because we did not try caligraphy or hand writing type fonts, but I found something for myself. Interesting was secound part where I could play with different media basing on one simple text. I tried to express emotions anf feelings like anger and excitement.

HAND LETTERING

LETTER PRESS Workshop about letterpress printing (relief printing). We were teached how to create our own relief and how to compose word and sentences using old fashioned types. Setting types is difficult and time consuming work but it gave opportunity to create something with own hands.

LETTER PRESS

After we create relief and set text on composing stick comes time to print it on paper. We learned how use press machine step by step. It was hard and complitated task to create couple pages of text. I admire people who had to work on them in past. I archive all process on my camera so we can see how it work. 19

LETTER PRESS

I do prefare work on computer but I have to admit that work on press gave much more excitement. on tle left are my prints of dragonfly and text. it took me half day to print them. Quality of the print is bad but it make every print and project unique. I enjoyed participating on that workshop. It was probably best workshop of the unit however I could create much better design in 20 min using computer with appropriate software.

DIGITAL LETTER M PRESS Workshop. Friday 31 January, ‘‘Mein Gott Gutenberg has gone digital’’ This introduction to LetterMPress gave me experience of producing designs on a digital letterpress. Similar to real one we were placing and arranging type on the press bed, inking, and then turning the hand crank to make a print Every step in the printing process is replicated to give an authentic, interactive experience.

DIGITAL LETTER M PRESS Second part of workshop was with using other softwares such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. It was form of revision but using outcomes produced in MLetterPress we could create completely new quality of design. Combining old unique press type forms with modern high-quality design gave us effective results.

LETTERS IN LANDSCAPE Letters in the landscape - A lexicon of urban typography For this project we had to collect photograph examples of vernacular letterforms in the town. It took me 4 days to collect all alphabet with. Walking across town I found many interesting objects which could be consider as letter forms. I had to plann which letterforms photograph in order to create a lexicon of letterforms. I went through a process of picture editing and retouching in readiness to prepare layouts for the book l will be published in.Because it is print so each photo have to be edited as CMYK and save as Tif file. Every image have to be in resolution 300 dpi to keep it high quality.

TYPHOGRAPHY LEXICON

After printing all pages we have to go through binding process. It is easy but time consuming. We need to remember about every detail because every mistake will effect the quality. 27

Process of binding is not difficult but final effect is amazing. It was my first book I ever produced and I wish to make more.

PROPAGANDA Lecture. Monady 27 January, The Power of Persuasion: Propaganda - Meanings, Methods and Messages. Tutor: Kirsten Hardie Propaganda - what it is, why it exists and how it operates - through consideration of historical and in particular contemporary examples from across a range of dynamic, dramatic and diverse contexts and channels of communication. The session examines key issues - notions of mass manipulation; spin; persuasion and control “Propaganda is: 1. (Organized promotion of) information to assist or damage the cause of a government or movement‘ 2. The spreading of ideas, information, or rumour for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person‘ 3. Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also: a public action having such an effect.” - Merriam-Webster, Internet Encyclopaedia Propaganda is a manipulation of information to influence public opinion. Propagandists emphasize the elements of information that support their position and exclude those that do not. Misleading statements and lies may be used to create the desired effect in the public audience. Advertising is commercial propaganda, an institutionalized and systematic spreading of information and/or disinformation, usually to promote a narrow point of view. In general, propaganda is a message designated to persuade its intended audience to think and behave in a certain manner. Lobbying, advertising, and missionary activity are all forms of propaganda, but the term is most commonly used in the political arena. Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes use propaganda to win and keep the support of the populace. In wartime, propaganda directed by a country at its own civilian population and military forces can boost morale; propaganda aimed at the enemy is an element of psychological warfare. This lecture was probably best of the unit. Very interesting and intriguing. After lecture we had seminars with the same subject. I found it very exciting because of my personal connection to the topic.

PROPAGANDA Those amazing photographs present revolution in Ukraine. This subject is personal for me becase my girlfriend is from ukrainian and at that time she was in the country. We get task to put in groups forms of propaganda and than select one to work with. We chosed ethical based propaganda in form of posters to support ukrainian nation and spread information about revolution in Western Europe. After researching informations, brain storming and analyzing data we get to idea about creating series of infographic, anti-establishment posters. Posters were aimed into ukrainian government. What makes me really happy that after several months revolution is over and gouvernment and president of Ukraine were outplace. Unfortunately about 100 people died during the revolution. It inspired me to write an essay about propaganda used by Adbusters.

PASSION ANd cONvIctION “With the world’s economy in a slump, the Middle East’s never ending conflict, and the on-going war on terrorism, there is a heightened awareness in the world community of the many sides of the numerous issues that both directly and indirectly affect our lives. Increasingly, people are feeling powerless and underrepresented because they have no voice. Designers, however, have a voice. They are among the most influential bystanders because their skills enable them to communicate a message easily through the Web or through posters and printed pieces. A picture is worth a thousand words and designers have used this adage to their advantage for years by creating simple yet powerful designs that immediately convey the message to the viewer.” - Milton Glaser ‘The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics’ (2005) We live in cruel and vicious world with wars, conflicts and injustice. Society surrounded by media is commercialized mainstream. People reward the shallow, the dumbest, the meanest and the loudest. No longer have common sense of decency. They do not know what is right or wrong. The worst qualities in people are looked up to and celebrated. Lying and spreading fear is fine as long as someone can make money on it. We are feed with the same distraction that comes along every time a mighty empire starts collapsing. All around the world are people gifted with creative and critical thinking. People who have ideas and passion to changed society not by mediocrity but by courage, conviction and vision. “We are a global network of culture jammers: writers, artists, designers, rabble rousers... hackers, philosophers, pranksters, poets and punks who believe that mental environmentalism is the defining social struggle of our era. We vow to change the way information flows and to shake up the production of meaning in our society. Our aim is to catalyze a sudden, unexpected moment of truth – a mass reversal of perspective; a global mindshift – from which the corporate/consumerist forces never fully recover.” - Adbusters statement. (www.adbusters.org) The Adbusters is international media foundation based in Canada, Vancouver. They are notfor-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environmental, reader-supported, advertising-fee an activist organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. Their magazine has an international circulation of 120,000. They believe in civil disobedience and informing societies in to fight with world’s injustice. They use information and propaganda to damage or assist the cause of a movement, corporation or government. They spread information and ideas using variety of medias such as Internet, television, magazine, posters, photographs and even flags. Adbusters believes the public deserves a right to be presented with viewpoints that are different from the standard. They stand against corporation and government propaganda and advertising industry. The foundation was born out of their belief that citizens do not have the same access to the information flows as corporations. Adbusters stand up for democratic transparency, freedom of speech and the public access to the airwaves. This shift in emphasis is a crucial element of mental environmentalism. The magazine aims to provoke anti-consumerist feelings and attempts to create a means of raising awareness and getting its message out to people that is both aesthetically pleasing and entertaining. “Propaganda is: 1. (Organized promotion of) information to assist or damage the cause of a government or

movement‘ 2. The spreading of ideas, information, or rumour for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person‘ 3. Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also: a public action having such an effect.” - Merriam-Webster, Internet Encyclopaedia Propaganda is a manipulation of information to influence public opinion. Propagandists emphasize the elements of information that support their position and exclude those that do not. Misleading statements and lies may be used to create the desired effect in the public audience. Advertising is commercial propaganda, an institutionalized and systematic spreading of information and/or disinformation, usually to promote a narrow point of view. In general, propaganda is a message designated to persuade its intended audience to think and behave in a certain manner. Lobbying, advertising, and missionary activity are all forms of propaganda, but the term is most commonly used in the political arena. Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes use propaganda to win and keep the support of the populace. In wartime, propaganda directed by a country at its own civilian population and military forces can boost morale; propaganda aimed at the enemy is an element of psychological warfare. “What we’re trying to do is pioneer a new form of social activism using all the power of the mass media to sell ideas, rather than products. We’re motivated by a kind of ‘greenthink’ that comes from the environmental movement and isn’t mired in the old ideology of the left and right. Instead, we take the environmental ethic into the mental ethic, trying to clean up the toxic areas of our minds. You can’t recycle and be a good environmental citizen, then watch four hours of television and get consumption messages pumped at you.” - Kalle Lasn, Adbusters Manifest (2011) A powerful manifesto by a leading media activist, Culture Jam lays the foundations for the most significant social movement of the early twenty-first century -- a movement that can change the world and the way we think and live. Adbusters describes itself as anti-advertising: it blames advertising for playing a central role in creating, and maintaining, consumer culture. This argument is based on the belief that the advertising industry makes great effort and expense to associate desire and identity with commodities. Adbusters believes that advertising have negative effects and empowering its readers to regain control of culture. Kalle Lasn is publisher of Adbusters magazine and founder of the Adbusters Media Foundation and Powershift Advertising Agency. Lasn has dedicated himself to launch social marketing campaigns with Adbusters such as ‘Buy Nothing Day’ and ‘TV Turnoff Week’, and to fighting legal battles for the right to access the public airwaves, primarily through the anticapitalist tactic of culture jamming. His documentaries have been broadcast on PBS, CBC, and around the world, has won 15 international awards. Lasn, along with Adbusters senior editor Micah White and Adbusters’ 90,000-strong global network of activists were the instigators of the first ‘Occupy Wall Street’ event on 17 September 2011. A peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy has become probably the most talked-about Western protest movement of the current decade. Activists call them self “jammers”. Their protest takes many other forms such as corporate boycotts and ‘art as protest’, often-incorporating humour. The goal is to interrupt the normal consumerist experience, that includes clever billboard modifications, Google bombing, flash mobs and fake parking tickets for SUVs. The term “jam” contains more than one meaning, including improvising or idea already in existence, and interrupting. Activism also takes many other forms such as corporate boycotts and ‘art as protest’. The “One Flag” competition encouraged readers to create a flag that symbolized “global citizenship”, without using language or commonly known symbols. In 2011 designer Shi-Zhe Yung create US Flag with logos of Corporations replacing stars in the blue canton. Since then this flag was using often by activists to show that they stand against. Adbusters says that flag captures the spirit of their movement.

Fig 1. ‘Corporate America Flag’ Shi-Zhe Yung for Adbusters Anti-consumerist activists express concern over modern corporations or organizations that pursue solely economic goals at the expense of environmental, social, or ethical concerns; these concerns overlap with those of environmental activism, anti-globalization, and animal-rights activism. They don’t want us to accept things as they are but to understand it, to go into it, examine it. “The true terrorists of our world do not meet at the docks at midnight, or scream “Allah Akbar” before some violent action. The true terrorists of our world wear 5000-dollar suits and work in the highest positions of finance, government and business”. - Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008) Adbusters Foundation is a beginning to give people information through incisive philosophical essays, activist commentary, books and advertising spoofs. Information that otherwise would be almost impossible to obtain. In a world where 10% of the population owns 90% planet resources and 1% of population owns 40%. In a world where 34,000 children die every single day from poverty and preventable diseases, and where 50% of the world’s population lives on less than 2 dollars a day... One thing is clear. Something is very wrong. And whether we are aware of it or not, the lifeblood of all our established institutions and thus society itself is money. The last thing the men behind the curtain want is a conscious informed public capable of critical thinking. The foundation has been criticized for having a style and form that are too similar to the media and commercial product that Adbusters attack, that its high gloss design makes the magazine too expensive, and that a style over substance approach is used to mask sub content. Kalle in his book ‘Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics’ (2012) says: “Brands, products, fashions, celebrities, entertainments.” These things “are our culture now. [The people’s] role is mostly to listen and watch-and then based on what we have heard and seen, to buy (p. 8).” The media has turned us into buying machines-always striving for the newest and the coolest item on the market. People have separated themselves from their natural environment, and now live mostly through consumption hided in safe bubble created by technology-based societies. “Fear breeds insecurity-and then consumer culture offers us a variety of ways to buy our way back to security (p. 17).” The fear implanted on the people guides their actions everyday. People have become “mediated self-constructions (p. 44)” Lasn’s book is about “wanting to live `not as an object but as a subject of the story’ (p. 100).”

He wants “cities designed chiefly with pedestrians, bicycles, and public transport in mind. Not just new ecofriendly products, but new consumption patterns and new lifestyles (p. 112).” He inspires the reader to create their own world and offers a variety of ways to help it along The voice in the book becomes the voice of a charismatic speaker in the reader’s mind. The themes of the book are so prevalent in our culture- it’s impossible to ignore. The book Meme Wars is basically itself a collection of memes, underpinned by short works, designed to suck the reader into a mindset. Cleverly, first memes are presented to prep the readers mind, and then the academics are appended, so the reader will be under the influence of the meme and easily swayed, very much a modern advertising campaign. Alas, you see cool people drink this, you are told it is good for you, and you conclude it. Must be good for you because cool people drink it. At some level it seems the only escape from this absurdity is to believe that at people must choose to be brainwashed, and can therefore choose to stop participating. It seems they believe people are sheep and the book employs the same “brainwashing” tactics they deplore. Adbusters is one of the few magazines that attempt to question and demolish the very memes and beliefs upon which mainstream society rests, debate about how goods are produced and distributed, services provided and resources extracted. On the other hand, there are some fundamental contradictions in the very essence of what Adbusters supposedly stands for. The market results predicted by microeconomics are not right or wrong, good or bad. They just are. Markets do have one beautiful characteristic: Markets are self-adjusting. Adbasters activists generally overlook this essential component. What makes me really worry that in one of the earliest choices presented in Lasn book (‘Meme Wars’): “an economy must be centrally planned by the government or by the banks.” This is a ridiculous statement. Adbusters are often named as anti-capitalists or even opposite to capitalists. I want to remind that opposite to capitalism is communism. And I am not prepared to resolve world’s problems with using execution squads, re-alignment camps, gulags, or any other communistic methods of “making world better” place. We can start to examine the whole Adbusters dialectic by simply looking at the format and price. The foundation has been criticized for having a style and form that are too similar to the media and commercial product that Adbusters attack, that its high gloss design makes the magazine too expensive. How, one might naturally ask, can glossy magazines that sells for $8 (1 Year Subscription 6 issues for $45.00, 1 Year Digital Subscription 6 digital issues for $25.00) claim to be leading the fight against global capitalism? The price alone makes it out of reach to all but privileged consumers. Then there is the format of the magazine and what may be it is best-known feature -fake ads meant to parody real ones. The strange thing about this is that there is often only a little difference between Adbuster parody advertisements and the more sophisticated real ones in many typically consumerist magazines. The Blackspot Shoes campaign has make heated debate, as Adbusters admits to using the same marketing techniques which it denounces other companies for using. They believe consumers seek exclusivity and social distinction and have argued that the mainstream market seeks the very same brand of individuality that the foundation promotes. Alas, they see the foundation as promoting capitalist values. So in this manner, Adbusters, by putting out an expensive, and stylish publication, is not only taking the risk that its intentions and authenticity may be questioned, but that it gets lost in similar looking media. They are not-for-profit, but it does not look like it. Buy Nothing Day is legendary for instigating this type of personal transformation; maybe they should rewrite their principles as well. “Our mission is to cut through the fog of mental pollution, changing the way information flows in our society. With incisive philosophical thrusts, activist commentaries and visual mindbombs from around the world, we want to enlighten you, enrage you and enlist you in creating a new future. We hope Adbusters is a kick in the head, a life changing epiphany and a compelling call to arms.” - Adbusters Statement (www.adbusters.org)

The Adbusters want to be consider as intellectual forefront of the debates regarding issues, such as global capitalism, advertising and new media but if people can be brainwashed so easily, then how can we know if we are not being brainwashed too by Adbusters? Perhaps the most blatant limitation of Adbusters is that it tends to be mainly reactionary. It criticizes and satirizes while seldom offers any real alternatives, other than abstract anarchist or existentialist type calls for “freedom” or “authenticity.” It is here that the reader must take responsibility and realize that maybe the anarchists and existentialists were right after all. A magazine, even Adbusters, is not going to do it for us any more than any church, government or corporation. Nor should we expect them to. Students leave school without financial skills. Millions of educated people pursued their profession successfully but later finding themself struggling financially. What is missing from their education is not how to make money but how to spend money. What to do after you make it. It calls “financial aptitude”; how long you keep it, and how hard that money works for you. Most people do not understand it. Surrounded by adverts, lies and being constantly misinformed they copy things from medias and pop-culture. A person can be highly educated, professionally successful, but struggle financial problems. These people often work harder than they need to, because they have learned how to work hard, but not how to make money work for them. Business people however know how to make money, manipulating societies. People make “money masters” responsible for their suffering but aren’t they suffering because not knowing what is wrong or good? We are all responsible for our self-education. Nevertheless Adbusters is one of the few magazines that attempt to question and demolish the very memes and beliefs upon which mainstream society rests. On the other hand, there are some fundamental contradictions in the very essence of what Adbusters supposedly stands for. Lasn use phrase “Culture Jammers” to describe those who participate in anti-media action. He also despises television and it’s numbing parade of images and commercials, yet he combats this by making more commercials. I do not disagree with many of the problems presented. As a culture we spend energy with disturbing whimsy. Our hyper-consumption is only possible through hyper-conversion of fossil fuels. With all of the problems in our natural environment, people still pretend not to acknowledge or care about it. I agree that the externalities of pollution and depletion are generally not accounted for in the market. But the market is merely the aggregate of the people producing and consuming. So it is not a flaw of neo-classical economics that these costs are understated, but of society. Assign the “right” costs to these externalities and the markets will auto-adjust. Unfortunately, Lasn fails in his search for ways to deal with these issues. Meme Wars is an attempt to persuade people that we need to re-value resources. However, I am more concerned with how hyper-consumption changes us, rather than how it depletes resources.

FINAL EVALUATION

I have carried out extensive research into the way in which visual thinking and propaganda has been portrayed through graphic design. I took part in range or lectures, workshops and seminars to learn, practise and improve my skills and knowledge about graphic design. I improved my knowledge and skills of using Photoshop and learned how to use InDesign. During this unit I have learn about basic letterform terminology, typographic grids, layout, pre-publication specifications, typographic systems, relief and printing techniques. By creating essay I improved my writing skills. In my designs I blend my own ideas with range of inspirations to create a work that is my own. Part of this process is presenting a projects that are personal to me, that reflects me. To stretch my abilities further I will experiment and practise with new skills I have learned such as work with Adobe InDesign and digital publishing. I will need to challenge myself to manage my time more effectively and plan my work better so I can achieve my ideas in the time available to me. To help me develop my work and projects effectively the final outcome is a web based digital publication. I organized all my work from this unit and presented in digital workbook created in Adobe InDesign. I did enjoy my work and I am pleased with outcomes. However if I could do it again I would focus more on research and idea development. I will try to improve that in next unit.

bIbLIOGRApHy Garth S. Jowett and Victoria J. O’Donnell. “Propaganda & Persuasion” SAGE Publications, Inc; Fifth Edition (9 Jun 2011) ISBN-10: 1412977827 Kalle Lasn. ‘Culture Jam: How to Reverse America’s Suicidal Consumer Binge - and Why We Must’. HarperCollins; Reprint edition (12 April 2001) ISBN-10: 0688178057 Kalle Lasn. ‘Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics’ Penguin (13 Nov 2012). ISBN-10: 1846146984 Robert T Kiyosaki. ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. Plata Publishing; 2nd edition (23 Jun 2011) ISBN-10: 1612680003 Peter Joseph. ‘Zeitgeist: Addendum’ (2008) [Film resource] Peter Joseph. ‘Zeitgeist: Moving Forward’ (2011) [Film resource] Bobcat Goldthwait ‘God Bless America’ (2011) [Film resource] An encyclopaedia Britannica Company ‘Merriam-Webster.’ ‘Propaganda’ [Online recourse] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda [Accessed 22 February 2014] The Adbusters (official website) [Online recourse] https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd [Accessed on 8, 15, 24 February 2014] Milton Glaser, Mirko Ilić, Tony Kushner. ‘The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics’ (2005/2006) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/301582. The_Design_of_Dissent [Accessed on 22 February 2014] LarryC (December 24, 2008) ‘Adbusters review’ [Online resource] http://www.liminalworlds.com/adbusters-review/ [Accessed on 22 Feb 2014] Nick Carson, ‘10 designs that rocked the world’ Creative Bloq [Online], Jul 30, 2013. Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/design/designs-rocked-world-7133689 [Accessed 8 February 2014]

bIbLIOGRApHy Business Dictionary. ‘Propaganda’ [Online resource] http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/propaganda.html [Accessed on 23 Feb 2014] Wikipedia. ‘Adbusters’ (Last modified on 24 February 2014) [Online resource] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adbusters [Accessed on 8, 20 and 24 February 2014] Wikipedia. ‘Propaganda’. (Last modified on 20 February 2014) [Online resource] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda [Accessed on 23 Feb 2014] [Online] https://www.facebook.com/adbusters [Accessed on 10 February 2014] Amazon. ‘Meme Wars Destruction Neoclassical Economics’ [Online resource] http://www.amazon.com/Meme-Wars-Destruction-Neoclassical-Economics/dp/1609804732/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352496188&sr=8-1&keywords=+9781609804732 [Accessed on 10 February 2014] Fig 1. Adbusters. ‘Corporate America Flag’ (online resource) https://www.adbusters. org/cultureshop/corpo

BA (Hons) Graphic Design Unit 2 Visual Thinking Academic Year 2013/2014 Lukasz Kurasinski