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Unit 1 MA Graphic Branding & Identity 2011 London College of Communication
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Paulo Estriga 3
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THE CONCEPT
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oliticians, corporations, religious leaders, marketeers: all these entities have in common the desire to direct people – sometimes entire populations or societies – to produce a certain specific behaviour or action; to have people themselves narrow down and eliminate from their available array of alternatives, until they are left with that one choice only, the one they were severely directed to, but believe to be the product of their own free will. Marketing is in a constant and everevolving process of improving how to achieve this aim by attempting to bypass the receiver’s rational, conscious mind – the one that challenges, questions, and evaluates – and go straight to the subconscious mind, affecting rational decisions from within having eliminated all resistance. The methods used go from the appeal to the most basic human instincts
with the use of sexually-charged imagery, aspirational content, or the exploration of basic human fears, to the objective scientific application of eye-tracking software to determine how to perfectly lay out a supermarket shelf or a website. My proposition plays on the ultimate marketeer’s dream: what if you had found and perfected to the ultimate degree a way, an infallible code, so deeply rooted in human mind and human essence, that it would speak straight to every person’s subconscious mind in an equally effective way for all, and make those people take certain specific actions without them ever noticing they were being subliminally directed to it? In my research I found the circle is given meanings of unity, infinity or safety from the unknown, and is considered to be perceived more readily by the subconscious mind than the other basic shapes. I also found a strong link between
the 7-circle image and the meanings given to the numbers 1, 6 and 7 in religion and psychology. It is my belief that the generally common meanings subconsciously given to these numbers and then put in writing through the ages, came from the observation of the agglomeration of circular shapes before there was even written word or numeral glyphs; the ancient man, like me, was intrigued by the fact that while a square naturally “multiplies” in multiples of four, and the triangle in multiples of three, the circle, having no sides, “chooses” to multiply in sixes. They may have found it magic, a demonstration of divine will. They may also have seen in it an image of creation and creatures, of God and men, of magical infinity, of generation of the universe, and from there, the meanings of shape and numbers relative to that image followed suit. I believe that the same way that the square, circle and triangle are deeply 5
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rooted in the human subconscious mind (noticeable for example from children’s drawings), so is the case with the meanings given to the agglomeration (the gestalt) of those shapes and the numeral relations from there derived. If you were, therefore, to try to find a symbolic basis for subliminal communication, the 7-circle image, for its devotional potential, would be a good starting point – it could be followed like the word of God. Should such a system be developed, in order to direct people to – more than feel certain basic emotions – perform certain specific actions, it would be necessary to find a way to integrate an alphabet into the system. Applying the English alphabet to the 7-circle image I found a fortunate coincidence: that it can start and end in the central circle, providing yet more devotional meaning – the alpha and the omega, the circle to be revered as God, the beginning and end of
all things. Of course, different alphabets would generate different results. In order to find a system onto which symbolically apply this code, I found the images of previously concentric circles made tangent in mathematically considered formulas provided good multistable potential: the ability to be manipulated into certain desired visual meanings at the will of the generator. I found a way then to translate the alphabetic code into the tangent angles and numbers of circles that compose these images – generating themselves new perceived visual sensations from the relationships between the different odd shapes created. Obviously, such a specific alphabetic code could not be perceived without being learned. In order to make it act subliminally, it would have to be learned and then forgotten at the level of the conscious mind only; a dystopian ruler could have it imprinted into every child’s
mind using hypnosis for example, and then make that process be forgotten: people would perceive such images rationally as decorative only – the official art of the regime, for instance – but their subconscious mind would be reading the message and their actions would follow the given orders the same way they’d follow hypnotic triggers – without rational questioning. This concept aims to hold a mirror to the current strategies of spin and propaganda used not only in advertising, but also in politics, news and mass entertainment. It elevates the currently used methods to a caricature-like, unobtainable level of effectiveness in order to show how much we are already being manipulated even with just the limited knowledge and resources available. It asks the question: would it ever reach a similar height if politicians, corporations, religious leaders and marketeers had their way? 7
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Original photo sourced via Google Images
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Original photo sourced via Google Images
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Original photo sourced via Google Images
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