IKEA - Design Theory Case Study

What IKEA Delivers To You

From: LEUNG Tsz Wan MAI Suen Ching MOK Yi Ming LAM Ching Yiu LUN Diwen

SD 3082

Deliver To: Sandy Ng

Introduction to Design Theories and Culture

CONTENTS 1 / About IKEA 2 / Group Report 3 / Individual Reflection 4 / Peer Assessment Form

About IKEA

IKEA is a Swedish brand founded in 1943. As a famous home furnishing brand, it owned a total of 410 department stores over the world.

The founder of IKEA Ingvar Kamprad created this brand of ready-to-assemble kind of appliances at the age of 17. He is now one of the richest in the

world. IKEA branches spread in over 40 countries. Their belief and vision of Swedish simple lifestyle gained popularity among different people in many countries. The culture of self-assemble furniture and affordable price of products have made them successful and become a leader of the market.

Group Report

From Design Theories To IKEA Ikea known as the wide-spread globally furniture retailer was founded in Sweden in 1943.

Nowadays, Ikea’s branches have been all around the world in over 50 countries. It aims to provide appropriate home decoration ideas to organizing tips to inspiration for making your home more convenience.

Under the globalization, brands need to alter their marketing strategies to coordinate the abroad markets. Every country has their unique culture, which leads the locals in different countries having different demands to the products. Therefore, Ikea has to make particular

schemes to target distinct countries’ markets. In order to adapt the globalization, the Ikea’s design strategies have been changing for last decades years. Considering the most effective communication and to strengthen the brand image, Ikea mainly focus its design on sign language and creative. That relates to the theories: globalization, semiotic, and creativity.

We believe that semiotic and creativity can well present Ikea’s design changes under the globalization over years.

Therefore, that would be examined under four parts, respectively catalogues, Stores, advertising, and lifestyle. We will explain how Ikea’s catalogues get changes in distinct countries, the stores’ settings and services, the advertising released in different areas, and how does Ikea coordinate the lifestyle in different cultures.

Globalisation and Localisation in IKEA’s Publications The idea of globalisation and localisation can be found in the publication of IKEA. The IKEA catalogue is distributed to the public in different countries every year to introduce their new products and information.

The designs of the yearly catalogue for each countries are carefully amended for local cultures adaptation.

Localisation in Catalogue Design Localisation can be seen through the outlook of the catalogue. The spines of the book published in Arabic and other countries are in different orientations, as Arabic version is on the right, while the rest of the versions are on the left.

The majority of different countries take reading from right to left as their habit and

Figure 1 - Catalogue Design for Arabic

Figure 2 - Catalogue Design for other countries and regions

behaviour. However, the literacy habit of Arabian is from left to right, which leads to the change of book spine orientation in Arabic. It shows that IKEA will adjust its publication format according to the local culture of certain countries in order to match with their regional habit and manners, to allow themselves become universal and be able to fit into various local markets.

This kind of localisation can also be noticed by looking at the details of the photographic treatment in the content of the catalogue and their websites.

Other than product information in the book and online, there are models with pictures included in order to make the display realistic and for clearer demonstrations. Female models are featured in the catalogue quite often, but not in Arabic’s IKEA catalogue.

It tends to be ordinary for many places to put female models in books and magazines. However, it is inappropriate and culturally improper for female characters to present themselves on any open publications in any media without the authorisation and permission of men under the social norms of Arabic. Apart from their decisions being controlled by male in their countries, they are also not allowed to dress up or present themselves too pretty which may “show off their beauty� to others. Therefore, modelling in the sales catalogue and on IKEA websites is considered to be a wrongdoing in Arabic.

Since this is a special culture for the Arabian regions, IKEA’s catalogue and online sales platform released in Arabic have made certain adaptation to fit in the local community, shown as an act of localisation and respecting the local community. All female models featured in the display rooms

and product shots are removed from both printed and non-printed publications.

Women in all ages, including female child models are also extracted from the original photos to avoid cultural disputes between IKEA and Arabians. For the other catalogue versions and online media, regions such as Japan, China and European countries, models in both genders are kept and shown in the content.

Figure 3 - Catalogue in Arabic version compares with other regions

Figure 4,5 - Catalogue in Arabic version compares with other regions

Globalisation in IKEA’s Core Value and Message The catalogue design contains the element of globalisation. In general, IKEA promotes a living style that is simple and high quality with affordable prices. This vision and ideology of IKEA originated from Sweden, where IKEA was founded. Through the process of brand building and expanding branches over the world did not change their belief, but to strengthen it and spread it to different regions. This kind of promotion in terms of Sweden living style are gradually being accepted and becoming popular worldwide.

They created an effect of globalisation in brand message and style that are welcomed by different civilisation.

Furthermore, promoting a theme for every year in the catalogue is IKEA’s common practice, such as “Where the everyday begins” and “Make room for life”.

These messages are printed on the cover of the catalogue in all versions, only in different languages. This has shown the element of globalisation in IKEA’s publications in terms of changing theme every year.

Their messages are not bounded by territorial limitation and stay consistent in all regions.

Therefore, IKEA as an international brand has created a globalisation outcome and abled to spread their prime ideology to every places successfully, which helps them to grow their business and get everyone to know Sweden lifestyles and embrace it.

Figure 8 - Catalogues in different regions with identical yearly theme on the cover

Localisation in Definition of Home Compartments Localisation is shown through the selection of products under different categories in the catalogue. Different home compartments can have different meanings in different countries. For example, the word “kitchen” can refer to various meaning and idea to different regions. “Kitchen” in European countries reminds people of big size kitchen hardware, such as cabinets, stations, tabs and sink. IKEA therefore decided to put these items on the front page of kitchen category. A larger proportion of product introduction will also focus on these kind of big size kitchen installations in order to match with their needs and local culture. On the other hand, “kitchen” in Japan remind people of kitchen hardware such as drawers, trays and utensils. This makes the content under kitchen category

put emphasis on these tools and appliances in the catalogue of Japanese version.

Figure 9 & 10 - Front page of Kitchen category in Europe and Japan Another example of “kitchen” as an essential home compartment having various meanings and definitions in different countries. In European countries, people often imagine “kitchen” as a spacious area in the house and big pantry,

Figure 11 - Kitchen display room photo shown in catalogues in Europe and China

where they can both cook and dine. Therefore, they shot photos of kitchen in a wider angle and feature more kitchen appliances with dining space inside the display room pictures. However, in eastern countries such as China, they seldom regard “kitchen” as a roomy area. “Kitchen” in their mind refers to a place to cook and are usually small. Dining should be done in the dining room or living room. This culture leads IKEA to rearrange the photo shooting angle of

the kitchen to make it look smaller, more like a “Chinese-style kitchen”. The products displayed in the photo are also chosen to match the living style of Chinese people, such as ceramic teapots and chairs.

The way IKEA localises its content and product selection through the catalogue helps to root their values and business in different places. Blending in local cultures also contributed to its user-friendly image and practical style.

Figure 12 &13 - Display room of western IKEA

Globalization also can be seen in the design of display room.

As IKEA would like to present the message “ the display rooms play an essential, if secret role, showing consumers how to fit IKEA pieces into their lives�. Therefore, IKEA present their living style through the design of display room. For the display room around the IKEA stores, they put all the products, which related to the daily life, for example, toothbrush, cup, chopsticks etc. Through this

example, it shows that IKEA not just only selling the furniture, but also selling the living style of their brand. When people walk into the display room of IKEA, they already could imagine how the look of their house.

Localisation in Display Room Design For the display design, there are different between Hong Kong and western. For Hong Kong, the display room sizes

are smaller than the western due to the culture different. As IKEA knows that one size of display room cannot fit into different countries. Therefore, they may adjust the size of display room due to the living habits, culture different, and environment factors.

Localization can be seen in the design of display room. While the product available in Hong Kong are mainly the same in any IKEA store in the world.

What IKEA tries to do is to build the room settings not like the US, not like in the UK or Sweden but in a way that feels relevant to Hong Kong customers with sizes of rooms and kitchens that are realistic

by Hong Kong standards. put emphasis on these tools and appliances in the catalogue of Japanese version. For Hong Kong, the display room have to be smaller because of the apartment size have small rooms. As the apartment sizes are small, the product that shows in the display room is mainly focus on the storage.

It is common for Hong Kong IKEA to provide advises of the method of storage. Besides, there are also different in the display room`s design of Japan. For Japan IKEA, they might incorporate tatami mats, and the Dutch room, which is reflected the local architecture.

Though these two examples, it shows that IKEA tries to localize their product in different countries.

Figure 14 &15 - Display room of IKEA Hong Kong

Glocalization in Display Room Design Glocalization refers to the adaptation of international products around the particularities of a local culture in which they are sold. The process allows integration of local markets into world markets. However, IKEA is a global brand, it selling the living style through their stores. In the other hands, they also keep the original culture of a country.

Figure 16 - Display room of IKEA Hong Kong

Take Hong Kong as an example, IKEA not just only adopt the message of IKEA in the store, but also add some cultural elements into the stores. As the apartment of Hong Kong is small compare with the others countries. The Hong Kong IKEA tries to design the display room, which consults the real apartment of Hong Kong. Moreover, some traditional furniture store also changed after IKEA store were opened. Pricerite is a traditional furniture store in Hong Kong.

Figure 17 - Display room of Pricerite Hong Kong

Glocalization refers to the adaptation of international products around the particularities of a local culture in which they are sold. The process allows integration of local markets into world markets. However, IKEA is a global brand, it selling the living style through their stores. In the other hands, they also keep the original culture of a country.

room just like the real apartment, which are mostly like the design of IKEA. Through the above examples, it shows that IKEA tries to adapt the international product into the local market. Besides, the local market also changed through the integration.

Take Hong Kong as an example, IKEA not just only adopt the message of IKEA in the store, but also add some cultural elements into the stores. As the apartment of Hong Kong is small compare with the others countries. The Hong Kong IKEA tries to design the display room, which consults the real apartment of Hong Kong. Moreover, some traditional furniture store also changed after IKEA store were opened. Pricerite is a traditional furniture store in Hong Kong.

After IKEA launched in Hong Kong, the display room design of Pricerite also changed. They tried to design the display

IKEA has a great reputation in the advertising world for doing creative and highly strategic marketing. Semiotics are frequently used in IKEA’s print ads to signify messages. In order to figure out how the idea of semiotics contribute to marketing communications and advertising, we are going to decode the print ads of IKEA by the use of icon, text and colour.

Semiotics in IKEA’s Advertising

Use of Icon A great example of effective use of icon is found in IKEA’s Print Ads of 2016 Chinese New Year in Singapore. In the series

Figure 17, 18 & 19 : Print Ads of IKEA 2016 Chinese New Year in Singapore

of three Print Ads, the main elements are the IKEA’s products including cookware sets, pans, plates, plant pots, vase, etc. Each print Ad, there is a big Chinese knot which combined by a kind of IKEA kitchen appliances or home acces-

accessories and some decorative read Chinese elements such as knots and cords. You can see that the signifier is represented by the visual images of the IKEA’s products in both left and right-hand sides as well as the big Chinese

knot in the central. There are also words – “Get Everything You Need for A Prosperous Chinese New Year” – which adds to the signifier. The red Chinese knots itself symbolize good luck and a prosperous life. Similarly, those IKEA kitchen appliances and home accessories become part of the icon of Chinese knot, which are also provoking feelings like blessing. It also presents a feeling that IKEA’s products are full of Chinese culture and approachable. The Signified is that IKEA’s products are functional and decorative at the same time. For this series of three Print Ads, the messages are effectively communicated without the use of much words. The print ads are simple but still modern, which featured the traditional Chinese elements with semiotic icon cleverly.

Use of Text Text can be used to serve as a symbol in advertising in the same way that an image is

used. Frequently one word will convey a message with the same effectiveness as an entire picture and IKEA’s Print Ad titled “Lack Friday” is a good example. The Print Ad was released in Denmark in Nov 2017. IKEA launched the campaign, promoting their $7.99 side table, LACK. But, they did it by simply removing the B from “Black Friday”, leaving only “Lack Friday”. This

creative use of text can smartly link “Black Friday” and IKEA’s side table “Lack” together.

“Black Friday” is the Friday after Thanksgiving when stores in the Europe reduce the price of goods in order to attract customers who want to start their Christmas shopping.

While “lack” means not have enough of something that is needed or wanted, at the same time “lack” is the name of the IKEA side table. Followed by the small price tag $7.99 and the line: Low prices. Every day, the print ad delivers a clear and strong message that “At Ikea, you save 365 days a year.

Not just one.” Effective use of text can defiantly help in communications.

Use of Colour Colour can be used as a way of signifying value, emotions, which plays an important role in semiotics. Using the colour effectively helps advertising campaigns stand out and strengthen the meaning. IKEA has launched a Valentine’s Day campaign on Singapore’s

Facebook in 2017. In the campaign, the illustrations are in yellow and blue colours. When we saw yellow and blue colours, the brand “IKEA” pops up in our mind immediately even without the brand logo.The combination of yellow and blue colours is Ikea’s best-known idiosyncrasies.

Yellow and blue colours are the basic colours of the Swedish national flag. Besides, colour itself has significant meaning.

The blue colour symbolizes trust and excellence, whereas the yellow colour stands for happiness, imagination and energy. The contrasting colours have special meaning to IKEA and become the identity of IKEA. Therefore, colour of yellow and blue not only represent the Swedish brand - IKEA, but also provide a friendly and Modern image. If the illustrations are in black and white colour, it will lose the meaning and attractiveness. IKEA skilfully uses yellow and blue as the colours in the Valentine’s Day campaign, which makes the campaign become impressive.

Figure 20, 21 & 22 : IKEA Singapore's cute Valentine's Facebook campaign and characters in black and white colour

Figure 23 : Storage bed design with Billy bookcase

DIY Culture in Ikea bookcase of Billy Series Billy Series bookcase in Ikea is one of the most popular Ikea products, 41 million Billy bookcases were sold out from 1979 to 2009. Ikea provide different size of bed with storage, it does not promote the DIY storage bed by using Billy series of

bookcase. However, this DIY culture becomes a trend in western countries. People upload their ideas of bed design and share their DIY experience as a tutorial for others. This DIY culture redefining a new use of bookcase which can have multi-purpose when you look in different angle, it turns into a bed when

the bookcase lying on its side.

In figure Q, we can see the normal version of storage bed design. Then people starts designing different type of bed with their creative such as adding more space and with the use of bed and bookcase under the bed such as adding stairs for more space, leaving space between two bookcases to make a storage space or a rest area for pet, transforming into a Murphy bed. Some of them surrounded the bed with

bookcases, changed the whole style of the bedroom. In this creative activity, the limitation of how bed should be like are broke by the customers. It makes bookcase can be used in more categories, it can also transform into other furniture.

Figure 24 & 25 : Storage bed design with Billy bookcase

Figure 26 & 27 - Storage bed design with Billy bookcase

Figure 28 - Storage bed design with Billy bookcase

Figure 29 - 2016 winner, Rainbow Cloud by Caroline, age 8, USA

Creativity in Ikea soft toy drawing competition The American businessman David Kelley pointed out that Creative Confidence is important to kids as the creativity will be limited when they are fear of judgment. People afraid to be judge when they not saying the right creative things and

they often rejected their own idea. The process of thinking and brainstorming is important. Ikea soft toy drawing competition is one of the process that kids can test their creativity. The competition recruits kids from 0 to 12 to join, the price return is not high but the winner's design will be turned into a real soft toy and

sold in Ikea stores. This competition can encourage the children to play their imagination, and to build up children’s creative confidence. Imagination is personal, but when it comes to be a competition, things become creativity as the kids have to design by communicating with others.

Guided Mastery is a therapeutic method of assisting clients in raising their self-efficacy so they are motivated to attempt, and subsequently accomplish,

progressively more difficult tasks that are involved in the implementation of behavioral therapies. A psychologist Albert Bandura pointed out this theory and shows small successes can turn their fear to familiarity with society experiment. The competition is one of the steps, it is meaningful to the kids when they have the opportunity to be one of the toy designers. It becomes a good foundation of creation (art and design) for children.

Figure 29 - 2016 winners’ work

Conclusion To be concluded, Ikea has made much efforts on its design to coordinate the globalization for the sake of expanding the target markets over years. Firstly, Ikea’s catalogues are the most resilient products books in the world, as which have been edited in many versions for each country, having taken the regional habits, behaviors, and manners into account to allow themselves become universal and be able to fit into various local markets. Secondly, Ikea’s stores show the lifestyles through the design of display rooms collected with numerous products, which related to the daily life. Also the settings of the display rooms are different of each area basing on the regional contexts, but they sell the same products.

Thirdly, Ikea’s advertising, especially print Ads, frequently employs semiotics to signify messages. As symbol is the most common language in the world that most, if not all, people do understand, which is

effective to widely disseminate the massages in a simple way.

Mostly, Icon, text, and colour are in use. Eventually, Ikea’s products are creativity as consumers can build up their products by their personal demands as casual as what they want. As well as Ikea would realize the children’s creativity, producing the soft toys according to children’s drawings. After all, under the globalization, Ikea has made its design changes in semiotic and creativity, that we can be experienced from Ikea’s catalogues, Stores, advertising, and lifestyle.

Individual Report

Individual Reflection Venus / LEUNG Tsz Wan 17020973D

From Creativity To Culture One of the reasons why Advertising Design fascinates me is that, a good one can always catch people’s heart and blend into different cultures and values. At the beginning of the course, the name “Introduction to Design Theories and Culture” gave me the impression of great amount of readings and theory-based philosophy, which is dull and uninteresting.

However, I have to say it surprised me throughout the whole semester with different topics and discussions in tutorials. The topic that interests me the most is “creativity” and “culture”, and how they can combine together to form a contemporary design. In the past tutorials, product

and object designs were often taken as examples for discussion and teaching. Since this reflection is about what I have learnt and absorbed, and how I process the knowledge into my design learning, I would like to take a creative event organised by a famous brand as an example for discussion and see how it perfectly combine “creativity” and “culture” in designs.

Skittles is a famous brand in Britain selling fruity sweets under the Wrigley Company. The design and outlook of skittles is the significant rainbow color sugar shells on the outside and an “S” printed in the middle. A catchy slogan of “taste the rainbow” is also one of the elements that makes it memorable. In 2016, they have launched a new product in London, but only for a day. That is the day that show how

Skittles respect culture and put together in their design to become a creative product, the day of Pride in London. Pride of London is a local culture and tradition that held every year in a form of public parade to show support and love to the LGBT group. Many British value this event as they think that all people are equal and no one should be discriminated due to their sexual orientations. The rainbow flag is the symbolism of the event and the LGBT group. However, topics about homosexuality are becoming controversial over years and still not being accepted in many places. Therefore, Skittles wished to seize the chance and tell everyone that they support the LGBT group and how they put their support in culture combining product creativity.

Since their rainbow color candy is what the most significant and classic, they think it would be a good idea that to remove those vibrant colors for one day of Pride in London. The Skittles in different stores of London has changed not only its packaging into black and white, but also the sugar shell of the candy as well. The rationale behind this creative design is that, there is only one rainbow that deserves the centre of attention - the rainbow flag of the Pride of London. This is a great example of a creative mind puts into design and infuses with valuable culture. The way they executed their idea is to transform something typical, traditional characteristics of their product and turned it into something fun and meaningful, even just for a day. That’s because it is not about how long did they sell their new product, but the act and motive behind the new product itself.

The design shows way more than the standpoint of supporting LGBT group, but also respect to cultures and breaking through their limits on own product designs.

This kind of designs move and impress me the most as I always think that a good design can move people’s heart. Design is not only about making things useful. It can be related to something more such as introducing cultures, redefining people’s perceptions, or even changing people’s behaviours. This is why culture, creativity and good designs are indivisible, and the reason why design is fundamental to the world’s and people’s development and improvement. And by achieving the aim of bringing goods to the whole world, it is essential to let people understand design and to convince by them through touching their hearts.

Another example I want to bring up is the new product designed by IKEA, called the “Cook This Page”. This is one of the things that I have researched for the group essay discussion and I found it very intriguing.

It is a design of a set of recipe that printed on parchment papers, with the food and ingredients graphics in real sizes. People who love to cook but having hard time on getting right amount of ingredients, or those who have trouble focusing on reading words and cook at the same time, this design can help them to regain the enjoyment of cooking. The design allow cooker to follow the instructions by simply putting the exact amount of ingredients on the parchment paper and cook them through directly. This design not just introduced the living culture of simplicity in Sweden, but also creating a new creative cooking culture and habit to the world. Other than introducing Sweden culture through the creative product, another purpose of it is to change people’s behaviours by observing new cultures. As the idea of simple lifestyle and people getting lazier is the recent phenomenon, it seems cooking has become a complicated and troublesome task for everyone. IKEA observed the rapid growth of this culture, therefore they bring the

culture into their creative minds and invented “Cook This Page”. This is what makes a good design powerful. It blends with culture seamlessly and lead the crowd to a new kind of perceptions. This design even refined “cooking” and the way it should be done.

This course is not about introducing new design theories to me, but to remind me that the theories are actually hiding right inside the good designs and easy to find. It paved a fundamental bases for my design future and change my way of seeing designs in different times. It also reminds me of the relationship of culture, creativity and designs, and how are they inseparable.

Individual Reflection Jacinda / MAI Suen Ching 17011736D

IKEA is a global brand in the world. It has over 400 stores around the world. There are few reasons can explain that why IKEA became so famous and successful around the world. For the individual essay, I would like to focus on the advertising and creative of IKEA. At the last, I would like to talk about how this subject benefit to my university major.

For the part of creative, IKEA presented lots of creative idea through their brand. It included the creative brand message, creative marketing strategy and creative furniture design. The part creative furniture design and brand message have been already mentioned in the group essay.

Therefore, I would like to talk about the creative marketing strategy. I think the most interesting part of IKEA product is not their creative furniture design. IKEA is the only furniture retailer who created some specific name of their products. IKEA product are identified by one-word (rarely two-word) name. Most of the names are Scandinavian in origin. Although there are some exceptions, most product names are based on a special naming system developed by IKEA. For example, Klippan is the name of the collection of sofa, DUKTIG (meaning: clever, well-behaved) is a line of children's toys, OSLO is a name of a bed, DINERA (meaning: (to) dine) for tableware. There were few reasons could explain that why IKEA had this creative idea. For the marketing strategy, Company founder Kamprad, who is dyslexic, found that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a

product code, made the names easier to remember. Therefore, IKEA tried to stand in the furniture industry. In fact, this creative idea made a great success of IKEA. If IKEA did not create the name of the products, people may confused when they were buying furniture. It was because there were thousand of sofa in the world. However, IKEA create the name of their products, it was easy for people to remember the product of IKEA. For the localisation IKEA also had some adjustment of the name. Some of IKEA's Swedish product names have amusing or unfortunate connotations in other languages, sometimes resulting in the names being withdrawn in certain countries. Notable examples for English include the "Jerker" computer desk (discontinued several years ago as of 2013), "Fukta" plant spray, "Fartfull" workbench, and "Lyckhem" (meaning bliss). Kitchen legs are called FAKTUM (called AKURUM in the United States). In language, one word can have different massage, it is indeed for IKEA to localise the name in different countries.

Other than the creative product name, IKEA also apply their creative in the advertising. For the traditional furniture advertising, there were lots of information in the print advertising. However, IKEA use a very direct and clean way to present their products. In the print advertising of IKEA, it only shows that the product, logo and few words. Compare with the others brand, the print advertising of IKEA is very clean and easy understanding. People can get the message of the print advertising in a few second. Besides, IKEA make good use of the colour. In the above example of print advertising. IKEA use the shape yellow and white as the background colour, which are the attractive colour. It is easy to get the attention from people through using these

attractive colour as the background. For the layout, IKEA also use an interesting way to present the price. Some of the print advertising of IKEA already included the price, which is just like price tag. I think IKEA use a very outstanding and creative way in their advertising. People can get the message from IKEA easily through the attractive layout.

As a advertising design student, I think IKEA is a very successful company in the world. IKEA not just only is a furniture retail, but also is a design company. IKEA gives lots of chance for the designers. It can be shown in the products name. Also, IKEA can accept some creative idea in advertising compare with the other furniture brands.

Design Theory and Culture is a useful subject for me to know more about the world. The subject is not just include the part of design, but also include some knowledge that related to our daily life. For the various theory in this subject, I am most interested in the semiotics.

Semiotics is a very important element in design. Design is a tool to simplify some complicated message into a simple thing. Through this process, semiotics is an important role. It is because one semiotic can present a very complicated message. After this subject, i learn more about the use of semiotics around the world. I think this can make good use in my major.

Individual Reflection Raymond / Lun Diwen 17030928D

Gender, Culture & Spectatorship in Contemporary Advertising Design This is a lecture about gender, culture, and spectatorship. In this lecture, I have learnt the positioning of male and female, as well as the implications of naked women on any medium.

From far long time ago, human beings have come up a notion that men are on top of the women. The assigned reading indicates that male is always in action, while the female is depicted as inactive. That examines the theory with numerous European oil painting art work which are belike in the Renaissance. In the reading, men are playing a role in spec-

tators whose born objective is to appreciate women, as the women are supposed to be attractive and perfect. In a rather fashionable term, we may define this as “sex stereotypes”, which is defined as “the formation or promotion of a fixed general idea or image of how men and women will behave”. And this never get rid of “sexism”.

Here has a contemporary design example. AXE is one of the most controversial brands on sexism, that is suitable to be a reference to be explored. AXE (known as Lynx in some countries) is one of the global famous men’s cosmetic brands, mainly introduces deodorant sprays, hair spray, shampoo, and shower gel. The majority of its TV commercials are claimed to be sexism.

AXE had introduced a TV commercial resulting in being bombarded with a spate of negative responds in 2012. In the TV commercial, the main characters – a male and a female – has been imagined respectively into a short hair and a pair of breasts. They work in the same office. The hair has been fascinated by the breasts, but he has no chance to approach her because of many frustrations. At the end of the story, they had altered into a man and a woman showing the real faces, and eventually met another. Meanwhile, the scene showed the slogan “Hair. It is what girls see first”.

Male is described as that they always put their focuses on women’s bodies especially breasts, and determine the most important things even selecting beloved by the appeal of the bodies, to which personality do not even matter.

Moreover, females are represented as breasts, which is the issue of objectification of women. This shows the stereotypes in the society that overgeneralize the behavior of male and female, implying that men are normally lustful to always be attracted by women’s bodies. That is a kind of gender stereotypes that male is fixed with the negative images according to the traits of their biological makeup, such like the assigned reading mentioned “spectators”.

To put it simply, in some advertisements, women are labeled as an object that its function is to fascinate males. Meanwhile, males are all lust and love to focus on the hot girls who have the big breasts and slim bodies.

Sexism is a result of negative stereotypes on male or female is hard to be prevented in the mass media, in spite of having a potential risk leading to complaints. Like above-mentioned AXE’s TVC advertising - males are normally lust. In view of functionalism, it is a macro-sociological perspective - also

known as structural functionalism. It is believed that social control and stability are enhanced when people share beliefs, values and attitudes in common. Therefore, males and Females have different functions in pre-industrial and contemporary societies. Likely in most TV commercials, men do the heavy works when women do the light works.

Mass media entertains and informs us in regularity. The Media, however, does not simply disseminate neutral or objective information and messages. What is conveyed to us is infused with norms and values, including gender. In other words, media serves as a gender socializer. In addition, the media gives the public what it expects, wants, or demands such like the media content mirrors the behaviors, relationships, values and norms most prevalent in a society. Advertising designers are supposed to put some concerns on the ethical troubles to avoid complaints, especially sexism, the most common issue appearing in the advertising medium.

I have learnt that gender issues are everywhere full of our society from past to present. We are hard to comprehensively avert to involve into the problem. However, those engage in dissemination of information have a big responsibility for putting more efforts on striking a balance between male and female in order to minimize the risk of commit sexism. Furthermore, I have gained a better insight on the relationship between gender and advertisement. I believe that having a comprehensive insight can help me to create the better design outcomes with no complaints.

Individual Reflection Yoco / Lam Ching Yiu 17036028D

Playfulness Makes Creativity David Kelley, a successful businessman in America, pointed out that Creative Confidence is needed for every designer. Problems arise when design students brainstorming ideas in a group. As most of us fear for judgment, we tend to be conservative when it comes to thinking of new ideas. We are afraid to speak up before a deep thought in mind and we certainly would not play during the meetings with group members.

Therefore, we lost great ideas easily by not giving vital suggestions as soon as we thought of them. The American graphic designer Paula Scher pointed out that one can be both playful and serious at the same time,

which means we can brainstorm serious ideas while we are playing.

However, it is impossible to do so if we, at the beginning of the project, are so fixated on the idea of creating something impressive from scratch.

The followings are the two examples showing that why the first idea suggested by a member should not be banned. First, Paula Scher drew the Citibank logo on a napkin in the first meeting, she thought that is “the play part” of the job.” Then she spent a year going to more meetings and trying to sell the logo to the company. As we can see, it has become the final logo of Citibank and it is now an image that represents the bank all over the world.

Another example is about underground railway. A London lawyer, Charles Pearson, had a vision of bringing the railway underground in 1890. This new concept was considered insane and it was a very expensive engineering project at that time. It took him years to persuade London citizens. New concepts have always been banned when they first came out, but we can see nowadays, underground railway is used in every developed country.

Not only children, people who work in design industries also need to play.

When kids do not know the way to use a tool, they ask what it is first. Then they ask what they can do with it. They might not use it appropriately even when someone teaches them how. However, they can always create a new way to use it or a new angle to see new things. As we grow older, we become more educated. We read instructions, search on the internet for manuals, or we just ask someone to teach us. Somehow we know the correct way to use things and the limitation of the use of a tool exists. It is because once we have learnt, we forgot how to be curious and creative and we just follow the norms. Therefore, we have to relearn how to use or see things in a new perspective when we work on design projects.

Playfulness is important, as it helps us to have better and creative ideas. We can see the shared symbols from the interior design in some creative compa-

-nies. Google and Pixar provide playful facilities for their employees. A relaxing area helps the employees think, and the ideas come easily when they see different objects in the room. The joyfulness also becomes one of the reasons people want to work in these companies.

In addition, we can see the design institutions such as Polytechnic University Innovation Tower and Hong Kong Design Institute. From the outside, the designs of these two buildings are different. Although the interior designs of both of the buildings are not functional, the designers still keep these ideas that contain creativity as they make the designs special. It is also how branding works, it makes you want to be

a part of the group when you see the tower. It fulfills the desire of the consumer. “Play� is more than just fun, elderly have to play games so that they can keep being smart. We always heard that play mahjong is a good exercise for your brain. A nursing home in Hong Kong provides Toy Library as a search shows that playing games can delay brain degeneration. Last year, a few students from Polytechnic University designed three mini-games for the elderly with a theme related to their daily lives. Comparing to the elders who stay at home, elders who play games are smarter and less emotional.

Our entire life is related to playing. Advertising is related to creativity. In most of the assignments, we have to think of ideas. I understand the reason and the story behind of designs clearly after learning the theories and culture during the lesson. It also makes me interested in knowing how important the playfulness and DIY culture are in the lesson of art, craftsmanship, and technology. I chose this topic to study as I want to know more about the ways to improve the creativity. I understood that playing and communicating with others are important when thinking about ideas. It reminded me that I often came up with new ideas when I am not intentionally thinking about it. A new idea comes easier with interactions as the message begins having output and input, just like how we think of design ideas nowadays.

Individual Reflection Mokming / Mok Yiming 17030859D

In this individual reflective essay, I would like to talk about what impress me the most in this subject, how the knowledge learned in this course can assist me in advertising specialty, as well as my personal experience in executing the project of IKEA. First of all, I enjoyed having this subject since some topics like radical design are inspiring and impressive. The theory of radical design is something new to me and I have never heard of Memphis before. Radical design allowed designers to express distortion and irony, moving far

away from functionality of design. I think Radical design is crazy and I like the idea of challenging the concept of the object. It is so exciting that to break the rules and design something unpredictable. Although it might fail to serve a function in design, the attitude and creativity should be greatly appreciated. The "Carlton" room divider designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 really impressed me. The piece calls into question conventional furniture forms by combining a space divider, bookcase, and chest of drawers. It is a new way to define space. Intended for the higher end of the market and finely handcrafted, it is made of medium-density fiberboard and cheap plastic laminate, a subversion of high and low. The vivid colors and seemingly random interplay of solids and voids suggest avant-garde painting and sculpture. Yet underlying the

the surface is an entirely logical structural system of real and implied equilateral triangles. While at first sight the slanted shelving seems counterintuitive, it accommodates books which often fall over in upright shelving. The "Carlton" room divider is a good design which combines Art, craftsmanship and technology seamlessly. Radical design is crazy but doesn’t means it is nonsense.

Besides, design theory and culture is a practical subject that helps me to understand the principles behind a good design. After having the lessons, I am able to interpret and appreciate a design. Very often, we design something that we think it is beautiful and then we find dissatisfaction in it. However, a good or valuable design is not only about aesthetic but also with the supported value such as the design theory behind. Design theory is very important to a design. Among all the design theory, I am enthusiastic in semiotics and it contribute in advertising specialty. According to Goldman (1992) and Williamson (1978), adverts work by transferring (or try to transfer) visual and textual signified onto their product. Thus, the signs in an ad’s image and writing usually signify notions of taste, luxury, health, happiness and so on, and adverts attempt to shift the section explores this process of meaning transference in advertising images more fully. Very often, the advertisements are not only to inform but also to persuade. Semiotic reference occupies a pivotal point in the relationship between advertising discourse and ideology. Images, words, colors, and other signs should be an important part of the overall successfulness of advertisements. I read a book called Creative Advertising by Thames and Hudson. I mostly focused on looking at how image interprets a message to the viewer. I figured out that rhetoric can be thought of as the branch of semiotics, and it is frequently found in advertisements. Some adverts contain phrases, metaphors, slang expressions which when viewers look at them they contain jokes or serious messages. Often the word-for-word translation of language into direct pictures on often leads to comical, absurd

or surprising ideas that can be turned into hugely successful campaigns. For example, the advert below advertising Midori Frozen Margartitas using the images of flowers put into a freezer. Actually, the picture itself is quite ridiculous. However, the text” Midori Frozen Margartitas” and the image of the alcohol “Margartitas” are used to anchor the meaning of the advertisement and direct the reader to the way the interpret they image. The name of the cocktail 'margarita' is the Spanish word for daisy. The images of flowers put into a freezer associated relaxing and natural feeling to the cocktail 'margarita'.

The project of IKEA broadens my horizons. Not until I executed the project, did I realised that design is everywhere. Even language can be part of the design. As shown in the IKEA catalogues, Language is a semiotic code that shaping and reflecting culture and behaviours.

Different languages in IKEA catalogues show a significant cultural phenomenon. Because of the Languages are different, the reading orders and book binding of American edition and the Saudi edition are opposite. For America catalogue, English is used, which is read from left to right; while for Saudi Arabia catalogue, Arabic is used, which is read from right to left. Besides, IKEA did a really great job in advertising, especially print ads. It is well-known that IKEA is absurdly cheap in comparison with other furniture manufacturers. In order to highlight the brand’s super-low prices, IKEA launched a series of print ads “IKEA. It’s that Affordable”, demonstrating how cheap the Swedish brand’s furniture is by using other everyday products like pizza boxes and tubes of toothpaste as an illustrative measuring stick. Creating visual metaphor,

IKEA merges two affordable icons in one in the posters. Stamps, coffee cups, toothpastes, soda cans and IKEA furniture are fused in a way that forming a message that in IKEA you don’t have to pay much to get great Scandinavian design, get it for as little as a few everyday products. For example, the “Selje” bedside table costs the same as six tubes of toothpaste. The application of semiotics helps a lot in delivering message. All those have very distinct shapes and would serve as the perfect canvas for our idea: show that IKEA furniture is as affordable as the least expensive things in our everyday lives.

Bibliography

Ikea: 2016 Chinese New Year. Retrieved December 3, 2017 from https://www.behance.net/gallery/36794277/IKEA-2016-Chinese-new-Year Hjaltelin Stahl (2017). IKEA: "Lack Friday" Print Ad. Retrieved December 3, 2017 from https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/ikea-lack-friday-22958115/ Eliza Williams (2016). Ikea Singapore's cute Valentine's Facebook campaign Creative Review. Retrieved December 3, 2017 from https://www.creativereview.co.uk/ikea-singapores-cute-valentines-facebook-campaign/ Jie, Wu (2012). Enlightenment of IKEA Globalization Strategy on the Cultivation of Modern Design Personnel. Retrieved December 3, 2017 from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1435693349?pq-origsite=gscholar David Kelley (2012). TED: How to build your creative confidence. Retrieved December 3 2017 from https://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence#t-81203 SAGE Knowledge.Retrieved December 3 2017 from http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/cbt/n85.xml