The Gaze and the Media Seminar
Thursday 31 October 2013
Monday 28 October 2013
OUGD501 - CoP Identity Seminar
Context of Practice Identity Seminar
Essentialism
Essentialism has a tendency to identify people's identities, IE your personality is born into you.
Identity and 'the other' in visual representation
Identity Creation - What makes you, you?
How do you express your identity?
Circuit of culture
Identity formation by Jaques Lacan
Jaques Lacan's theory of the 'Hommelette' implies that you are born a selfless, unaware being. You are an extension of your parents and are a clumsy non-being. It's not until the 'mirror stage' (not to be necessarily taken literally) where you see yourself being a separate thing from your parents that you take yourself more seriously and start having opinions and interests. But this is when the start of the conflict between who we are and who we want to be begins.
It's at this moment where you get an illusion of wholeness - where you recognise all your achievements and are content and pleased that you are in fact, a whole being. In his theory, it's this feeling we then try to achieve again our whole lives by receiving views from others. Our own subjectivity is fragile.
The problem with this is that this state relies on the assumption of opposition and radical otherness. In the same way we assure ourselves that our individuality is confirmed by other people's unity.
This however does shore up unstable identities through the illusion of unity - a good example of this is football hooliganism. The idea that the other team is rubbish assures them that their team is better than the actual fact that their team is successful in their own right.
This goes for anything such as belief systems, values, fashion and trends.
Study task 3 that follows from this session is here.
Essentialism
Essentialism has a tendency to identify people's identities, IE your personality is born into you.
Identity and 'the other' in visual representation
- The creation of identities
- The concepts of otherness
Identity Creation - What makes you, you?
- Skills
- Sense of humour
- Interests
- Clothes
- Education
- Fears
- Occupation
- Where you live and your accent
- Size
- Social Network used
- Gender
- Social skills
- DNA
- Religion and beliefs
- Sexual orientation
- Physical attributes
How do you express your identity?
- Tattoos and piercings
- Cosmetics - makeup, hair dye etc
- Liberation of sexuality
- Clothes
- Creative skills
- Where you CHOOSE to live
- Eating habits - (vegetarian/ vegan etc)
- Recreation
- Lifestyle choices - going to the gym, recreational activities etc
- Objects owned
Circuit of culture
Identity formation by Jaques Lacan
Jaques Lacan's theory of the 'Hommelette' implies that you are born a selfless, unaware being. You are an extension of your parents and are a clumsy non-being. It's not until the 'mirror stage' (not to be necessarily taken literally) where you see yourself being a separate thing from your parents that you take yourself more seriously and start having opinions and interests. But this is when the start of the conflict between who we are and who we want to be begins.
It's at this moment where you get an illusion of wholeness - where you recognise all your achievements and are content and pleased that you are in fact, a whole being. In his theory, it's this feeling we then try to achieve again our whole lives by receiving views from others. Our own subjectivity is fragile.
The problem with this is that this state relies on the assumption of opposition and radical otherness. In the same way we assure ourselves that our individuality is confirmed by other people's unity.
This however does shore up unstable identities through the illusion of unity - a good example of this is football hooliganism. The idea that the other team is rubbish assures them that their team is better than the actual fact that their team is successful in their own right.
This goes for anything such as belief systems, values, fashion and trends.
Study task 3 that follows from this session is here.
Thursday 24 October 2013
OUGD501 - Consumerism Seminar
Consumerism
Today we had a seminar on consumerism. Since I wasn't present in the past seminar we conviniently recapped over some of the things I had missed:
Freud's theory
That all humans have instinctual desires and 'pleasure principles' and once these are satisfied they become docile. It also states that essentially the world is rational and humans are irrational beings and things like war and conflicts are caused by this incompatibility between humanity and society.
Bernay's theory
That the consumerist system attaches these natural human desires to materials - for example, 'buy this to feel sexy!'. This gives us the idea that our desires will be satisfied if we were to obtain this product.
This sort of attachment of human desires to actions are used almost everywhere - not just in materialistic marketing. Commodities, people, celebrities, and even politicians, for example, use these techniques to gain support of the community by attaching a false notion of desire.
It can be argued that consumerist culture started when the rise of mass produced products came into normal circulation - the Fordist mass production of the 1920's.
Fordism, named after Henry Ford, is a notion of a modern economic and social system based on an industrialized and standardized form of mass production.
It caused an acceleration of availability of products and commodities. It also meant that:
We then went through an extract of J Berger's 'Ways of seeing'. This lead to a discussion on consumerist culture and the effect it has on everyday society.
The task set from this session is here.
Today we had a seminar on consumerism. Since I wasn't present in the past seminar we conviniently recapped over some of the things I had missed:
Freud's theory
That all humans have instinctual desires and 'pleasure principles' and once these are satisfied they become docile. It also states that essentially the world is rational and humans are irrational beings and things like war and conflicts are caused by this incompatibility between humanity and society.
Bernay's theory
That the consumerist system attaches these natural human desires to materials - for example, 'buy this to feel sexy!'. This gives us the idea that our desires will be satisfied if we were to obtain this product.
This sort of attachment of human desires to actions are used almost everywhere - not just in materialistic marketing. Commodities, people, celebrities, and even politicians, for example, use these techniques to gain support of the community by attaching a false notion of desire.
Consumerism was born out of the Mass Production Boom.
It can be argued that consumerist culture started when the rise of mass produced products came into normal circulation - the Fordist mass production of the 1920's.
Fordism, named after Henry Ford, is a notion of a modern economic and social system based on an industrialized and standardized form of mass production.
The Ford Motor Company was one of several hundred small automobile manufacturers that emerged between 1890 and 1910. After five years of producing automobiles, Ford introduced the Model T, which was simple and light, yet sturdy enough to drive on the country's primitive roads.[6]The mass production of this automobile lowered its unit price, making it affordable for the average consumer. Furthermore, Ford substantially increased its workers' wages,[7] in order to combat rampant absenteeism and employee turnover which approached 400% annually, which had the byproduct of giving them the means to become customers. These factors led to massive consumption. In fact, the Model T surpassed all expectations, because it attained a peak of 60% of the automobile output within the United States.[8]
The production system that Ford exemplified involved synchronization, precision, and specialization within a company.[9]
It caused an acceleration of availability of products and commodities. It also meant that:
- There was an increase in disposable income.
- There was an increase in consumption.
- There was an increase in competition between products.
- An emergence of brand culture from this competition.
***
We then went through an extract of J Berger's 'Ways of seeing'. This lead to a discussion on consumerist culture and the effect it has on everyday society.
The task set from this session is here.
Tuesday 22 October 2013
OUGD501- CoP Consumerism Seminar Study Task 2
Study Task 2
Using the text Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing', write one critical analysis of an advert which, in your opinion, reflects the logic of consumerism, or the social conditions of consumerism, discussed in the lecture 'Consumerism' (17/10/13). Use at least five quotes, referenced according to the Harvard system, in support of your argument.
A very explicit but perfect example of consumerist culture within advertising can be described in this one advert for Michael Kors Spring Collection 2013:
The image is actually advertising the Michael Kors handbag. Upon quick research, we can recognize that Michael Kors is an expensive brand, but not in the same sort of league of Chanel, Gucci etc. From this we can guess that this image is aimed at the middle class. In ‘Ways of Seeing’ Berger states that 'The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life’ (Berger, 1972, p. 142) and this cannot be more apparent in this image. We don’t have this millionaire, jet-setting life and yet this handbag is within our reach - and price range. We are one step closer to having this life! Berger teaches that in publicity 'The power to spend money is the power to live' (Berger, 1972, p 143). We can see that wealth and power go hand in hand in this image - the expensive car, the private helicopter, the designer jewelry - the luggage carrier and the fact that they seem to have free time!
With the idea that we could actually obtain this handbag, it gives us a sense of hope that sometime in the future we will become this woman - ‘The publicity image which is ephemeral uses only the future tense. With this you will become desirable.' (Berger, 1972, p. 144).
With the notion that this isn’t our life we are viewing but someone else’s out of reach of ours, there is a sense of voyeurism. We are caught in someone else’s romantic moment and almost fantasizing as if it were ours. The fact that neither the subjects aren looking at the camera at all or through the lenses of sunglasses almost builds a barrier between us and the subjects: we’re not the ones holding the camera, we’re simply looking at the printed image - this isn’t our life. Berger goes on to say that ‘[The sexuality] is a symbol for something presumed to be larger than it: the good life in which you can buy whatever you want. To be able to buy is the same thing as being sexually desirable' (Berger, 1972, p. 144) that puts us in a position to think that if we were to obtain this object, then we would fit perfectly into this life, and supports our materialistic desires.
The wealth and power displayed in this image all plays upon the fact that perhaps the more materialistic audience of Michael Kors are guaranteed to share this dream that one day they will be rich enough to have ‘fun’ and achieve their dreams - ‘Publicity does not manufacture the dream. All that it does is to propose to each one of us that we are not yet enviable - yet could be' (Berger, 1972, p. 144) . The association with love and sex in this image also plays to our desires as humans to want to be loved. By attaching this connotation to this handbag and wealthy lifestyle makes us think that even if we’re not currently in a romantic situation we can fill in the gaps of this lifestyle.
OUGD504 - Design for web Study task 4 - Design for web research
Study Task 4 - Answering my questions and
furthering my research
After coming up with a range of different (and complicated) ideas, I had a few of questions that I needed answering. I also needed to do a lot of further research:
Types of research
Visual Research
What are other interactive features I can use in my design?
What is the best way to illustrate a map design of this nature?
What features are best to use when designing a tourist website?
What visuals are appropriate for a historical, respected monument?
Chester & Cheshire West
Barcelona Cathedral
What tourist opportunities are available at St Peter's? How much does it cost? When is the best time to go? What's on?
furthering my research
After coming up with a range of different (and complicated) ideas, I had a few of questions that I needed answering. I also needed to do a lot of further research:
Types of research
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is a type of research conducted to establish the audience’s beliefs, feelings, motivations and triggers. Results are often rich in insights.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is a type of research that provides valid data. It’s all about the numbers. Insights can be difficult at times, as quantitative research requires analysis to identify trends.
Primary Research
Primary research is new, not old, information.
Secondary Research
Secondary research is research performed on old data. E.g. New analysis on data gathered last year.
Segmentation
You hear a lot about ‘Market Segmentation’. It means the market of the product, or service, is segmented into groups. Those groups, or segments, represent a part of the customer group or audience. They are usually grouped by demographics such as sex, age, ethnicity, income, occupation etc.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are moderated group discussions whose participants are selected to accurately represent the audience or customer.
Visual Research
Visual research is the gathering of visual information, stuff that a designer will find useful in solving the problem. Visual research is generally the domain of the designer, or the project team, rarely the client.
Visual Research
Parallax scrolling:
Parallax scrolling is this amazing trending new feature that allows the user to scroll down the website with the effect of different layers that move at different rates. It showcases imagery really well as the content seems to fall into place as you scroll.
Here are some examples of really effective parallax scrolling sites:
Jess and Russ
Jessica Hische's wedding website uses imagery and text to fully utilise the parallax scrolling feature.
http://jessandruss.us/
Parallax scrolling is this amazing trending new feature that allows the user to scroll down the website with the effect of different layers that move at different rates. It showcases imagery really well as the content seems to fall into place as you scroll.
Here are some examples of really effective parallax scrolling sites:
Jess and Russ
Jessica Hische's wedding website uses imagery and text to fully utilise the parallax scrolling feature.
http://jessandruss.us/
These are Things
This website keeps one image in the same place, showing off the moving background.
This feature would be really useful in displaying the interactive timeline with the artist biographies.
Non scrolling websites
Because I want my navigation bar to be in the bottom half of the home page, it is paramount that the page doesn't scroll so that the user can find the nav bar. Here are some examples of some sites that don't scroll:
Alex Buga
We are Sofa
Disneyworld new Fantasyland
Animation
Walt Disney World's New Fantasyland is not necessarily a functional site for serious information. They've had a bit of fun with this and used amazing interactive animation to show the journey of the new fantasyland.
Walt Disney World's New Fantasyland is not necessarily a functional site for serious information. They've had a bit of fun with this and used amazing interactive animation to show the journey of the new fantasyland.
What is the best way to illustrate a map design of this nature?
I think that to display the information as clearly as possible, an isometric map is needed as it's the easiest way to see the information without it being too complicated. I couldn't find many modern style of isometric map, but these are good examples of isometric maps that show multiple storeys.
On the current St Peter's Basilica website, they have a map showing the interior and exterior of the Basilica:
What features are best to use when designing a tourist website?
I want to know the best way to accommodate all that booking information! I am starting to look at a few tourism websites and how they deal with the mass information required when making a booking similar to this:
Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays
For my site I would like to include a page dedicated to booking a trip to the Basilica, but I also think that a mini booking bar be visible on the home page, as I think that lots of visitors to the site will be visiting for this reason.
For the booking page itself, I want a more elaborate selection of choices to make, offering all the information I found off of the tourist page of the official website. The red page on the Virgin site deals with the mass of info well, while the white one has a lot less info but gives a quick snapshot.
If visitors were to use the mini bar on my site, after clicking 'check availability' (the button to replace 'find holidays' in this instance) it would take you to the booking page and show your results plus more opportunities to elaborate on what they requested.
Thomas Cook
Again, the Thomas Cook site deals with the information needed in a mini bar on the main home page. The use of informal language works well here but I'm not entirely sure how it would work on my site, because I would want my site to be multilingual to accommodate all potential customers, so I don't think informal chat would translate well.
And from there I am looking at tourism websites as a whole to see how they display their information to the viewer:
London Dungeon
Again, the home site has a mini booking feature which confirms that this probably is the best way to go with my site. I like the way that the colour scheme matches the photography used.
The book tickets online tab opens up this mini floating booking page. I would like to include a calendar on my booking page, as I think that not only does it help the visitor to visually browse a lot easier, but events and ceremonies can be shown visually on the calendar. I would also like to show the peak/ quiet times are on the calendar.
Alton Towers
On the Alton Towers site, the priority tabs are the ones to book online. I don't know if this is wholly appropriate for my site since the majority of the site will be dedicated to information about the Basilica, not just how to go to see it.
The Alton Towers site accomodates a lot of different possibilities and combinations to booking - which is what I need for my site. It needs to be clear and concise and do all the working out for the visitor.
Disney World
This is the initial booking site for Walt Disney World. I don't think that this approach is the best way to book but more so browse.
Again, I think that this sort of approach to showcasing everything that's on is not very concise, possibly because it's impossible to do absolutely everything in one trip (which is also the case for the Basilica) but this is more appropriate as an addition to a calendar, not instead of, in my opinion.
What visuals are appropriate for a historical, respected monument?
Metropolitan Museum of Art
This more modern/ less 'fun' approach to the design might be more suitable for my website, since the content is informative and historical.
Because of the religious nature of the website, I wanted to look at a few websites for churches that have displayed the information in a respectful, non-corporate style:
Church of the Incarnation
I like the colour scheme and typefaces used on this site but I'm not entirely sure about the overall feel, it doesn't look contemporary enough to work with the format of a website.
http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/
I really like the colours and typefaces used on this site as it really works with the old world style artwork in a respective manner. It reflects the style of the Bible itself, but in a modern way that works with the format of a website.
The British Museum
I really like the British Museum's ability to let the images talk for themselves with a dark background the light images stand out really well.
Chester & Cheshire West
The typography on Chester and Cheshire's site compliments the tudor architectural style of the city. This should be addressed on my site also by using at least a serif font to go with the photographs used.
Lincoln Cathedral
The gentle colours on Lincoln Cathedral's site are respectful to the nature of the subject matter.
Barcelona Cathedral
I really like the mixture between modern and old world style in this with the minimalist layout and serif font that corresponds with the architecture of the building. The colour scheme of the site is gentle and lets the fantastic image speak for itself.
Qualitative secondary research
What tourist opportunities are available at St Peter's? How much does it cost? When is the best time to go? What's on?
Most of the information can be found on the current St Peter's Basilica website: (http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/index.htm)
Hours: St. Peter's Basilica is open daily, Apr-Sep 7:00-19:00;
Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00
Treasury Museum: 9:00 - 18:15 (Apr - Sep) 9:00 - 17:15 p.m. (Oct - Mar)
Grottoes: 7:00-18:00 (Apr - Sep) 7:00-17:00 (Oct - Mar)
Cupola: 8:00 - 18:00 (Apr - Sep) 8:00 - 16:45 (Oct - Mar)
Scavi Office: weekdays 9:00 - 17:00
Sacristy (011) 39 06 6988 3712
Parish Office (011) 39 06 6988 5435
Vatican Switchboard (011) 39 06 6982
Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00
Treasury Museum: 9:00 - 18:15 (Apr - Sep) 9:00 - 17:15 p.m. (Oct - Mar)
Grottoes: 7:00-18:00 (Apr - Sep) 7:00-17:00 (Oct - Mar)
Cupola: 8:00 - 18:00 (Apr - Sep) 8:00 - 16:45 (Oct - Mar)
Scavi Office: weekdays 9:00 - 17:00
Sacristy (011) 39 06 6988 3712
Parish Office (011) 39 06 6988 5435
Vatican Switchboard (011) 39 06 6982
Getting to St. Peter's Basilica
By Subway - This map shows the Vatican area and nearest subway stop. Take Linea A (red line) toward Battistini and exit at Ottaviano-S. Pietro. Walk south on Via Ottaviano toward St. Peter's Square.
By Walking - From the city center, the most direct route is to cross the Tiber and walk straight up Via Conciliazioni. A more interesting route is to go under the Passetto arch near Castel S. Angelo and walk up Pio Borgo, providing a more dramatic entrance from the right (north) side of the Piazza.
By Subway - This map shows the Vatican area and nearest subway stop. Take Linea A (red line) toward Battistini and exit at Ottaviano-S. Pietro. Walk south on Via Ottaviano toward St. Peter's Square.
By Walking - From the city center, the most direct route is to cross the Tiber and walk straight up Via Conciliazioni. A more interesting route is to go under the Passetto arch near Castel S. Angelo and walk up Pio Borgo, providing a more dramatic entrance from the right (north) side of the Piazza.
Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel - (Vatican website) Hours - Closed on many holidays, check the Vatican Website Mar-Oct 8:45-15:20, Exit 16:45 Saturdays 8:45 - 12:20 Exit 13:45 Nov-Feb 8:45 - 12:20, Exit 13:45 Closed Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month which is free. Regular Price - 12 Euros (Vatican Website) For Guided Tours of the Vatican Gardens or Museum - Vatican Website Many people still come to St. Peter's Square looking for the entrance to the Museum. The roof of the Sistine Chapel can be seen from the Square, but it's a 10-15 min. walk, north along the Vatican Wall, to the museum entrance. Modest dress is required (though more enforced at the Basilica). I recommend going early (around 8:00AM), or late (after 11:00AM), as the line can get very long during tourist season..
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