Cultural Context & Design - Essay Example

Cultural Context and Design In putting together an advertising campaign for a particular product or service, advertisers are typically only focused on how that advertisement can work to better promote their product or service over their competition. Subtle clues within the action or dialogue can indicate how people react to specific behaviors that may be receiving a new definition thanks to advertisements. The attitudes and philosophy of a given company can often be determined by the advertising they put out. By examining the visual clues, subliminal messages and other aspects of the ad design, not only can the careful observer learn much about the company, but can also assess how the advertisement is impacting or contributing to the general thought and behavior of society. This examination of the signs of a given advertisement is what Roland Barthes referred to as semiotic analysis. This process of looking at an advertisement for its deeper cultural meanings and associations enables us to gain a better understanding of the relationship that develops between the product or the advertiser and the viewer or consumer. After examining a little bit about what Roland Barthes meant by semiotic analysis, this process will be applied to two advertisements as an illustration of the process. Roughly speaking, semiotics refers to the process of analyzing the ‘signs’ of a given culture for indications of meaning at varying levels. “Semiology therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification” (Barthes, 1964). Perhaps appropriate to the application of semiotic analysis to the field of advertising, philosopher Umberto Eco refers to it as “a discipline for studying everything which can be used in order to lie” (1976). Thus, it refers to language, image, color, shape, expression, placement and a number of other contextual clues that combine together in some unique way so as to convey a sense of meaning to a particular cultural group. To discuss these various elements, Barthes and others have provided us with specific terms that help to keep things within an understandable framework. The primary elements that will be concentrated on in this study include signifiers, signified and sign. The sign is the compound element formed by the signifier and the signified. The signifier is “the form which the sign takes” while the signified is “the concept it represents” (Chandler, 2006). While there has been a shift in the way these terms are commonly used, the signifier can be said to be the most basic idea – the word ‘open’ or the material form of a tree. The signified then takes on a broader meaning – the store whose doors bear the sign ‘open’ is currently open for business, all are welcome to enter; the sign bearing the image of a tree indicates a community park can be found on the next exit or one is about to enter a natural setting for instance. Thus, for every image and every word, there is some further meaning, the form of which is interpreted based upon their use in combination with other forms or words forming a denotation and connotation. Like the signified and signifier, the denotative message and connotative message combine together to suggest a deeper ideological myth. “Barthes’ notion of myth is that of a socially constructed reality that is passed off as natural. Myth is a mode of signification in which the signifier is stripped of its history, the form is stripped of its substance, and then it is adorned with a substance that is artificial, but which appears entirely natural” (Ryder, 2004). The depth of the meaning received depends entirely upon the degree to which the message sender (the advertiser) and the message receiver (the consumer) share the same cultural myths and understandings as well as the advertiser’s ability to successfully combine images so as to connect with a particular ideological concept (Chandler, 2006). To make this concept somewhat easier to understand, it is helpful to apply it to a form of advertising. The following advertisement for Philips brand light bulbs found in a recent issue of Time magazine is a good example: Time magazine advertisement from November issue, 2007 The signifiers immediately evident in this advertisement include the light bulb in the near center of the page, the woman wearing green and brown clothing, the softly blue walls, the lamp on the table behind her and the blue and white striped couch. If one looks closely, a glass bowl with a white swirl running around it can be found on a table just to the woman’s right (next to the arm of the couch) and a small bookcase full of light-colored books can be seen underneath the lamp. In addition, a small, square pillow with large round dots can be seen resting on the couch just behind her, and the corner of a picture hanging on the wall gives the impression of a modernist landscape. The style of the lamp is also immediately evident, depicting a slender spiraled base running up under a white, slightly tilted lampshade. The signified is the concept of a comfortable living room as evident in the soft couch, carefully placed pillow and the ease of the woman sitting there. The lamp helps to signify the idea of light, in the light color of its shade, and the idea of a tree, in its carefully twisting ‘trunk’ and gracefully spreading ‘crown.’ The books and the corner of the painting work to signify leisure activities while the predominant colors used – blue, green and brown – suggest a naturalistic setting. The light bulb in the woman’s hand is allowed to retain its original meaning, as a featured object within the picture plane. Because of their associations with each other, these images all combine together to form a sign. The advertiser presents to the viewer the idea of an intelligent woman sitting comfortably in a slightly upper middle class to upper class room that is just imperfect enough to be comfortable and just small enough to be located in any home. While the impression is successfully communicated that we are looking at a woman in a comfortable space holding a light bulb, the meanings of the message go deeper than this, taking on connotative meaning. Because of the way in which the various elements of the room carry their own unique messages, the viewer is given the impression that this woman is intelligent. Her leisure activities include reading and appreciating artwork, indicating that she is thoughtful and well-informed. Her living room is tastefully decorated, indicating she has a highly developed aesthetic sense and therefore would not settle for anything of inferior quality. The tilt of her head seems as if it is curling toward the tilt of the lamp shade, calling to mind, for those of the Western Anglicized culture to which it’s addressed, the image of the ‘bright idea’, a man with a light bulb over his head. This idea is reinforced by the presence of the light bulb itself in her hands, as if she had merely reached up and grabbed it from her imagination. At the same time, the image conveys the connotative message that this woman is strongly environmentally conscious. Her living space is reminiscent of a beach environment, with the blue and white striped furnishings, which is used culturally as a symbol of relaxation and leisure. The couch is soft, as is shown by the level that she has sunk into it, further connoting the idea of comfort. The lines are curved throughout, suggesting natural forms such as the ‘wave’ of the arm on the couch, the round dots on the soft pillow or the gentle swirl of white on the glass bowl, all of which help to suggest the idea of water. They also help to emphasize the shape of the light bulb and bring attention to it again and again. The walls are an ‘atmospheric’ blue and white fuzziness while the woman herself is given the only suggestion of earthly connection in her green and blue. Her posture and soft smile suggest a knowledgeable person who was just waiting for you to finally come and ask for her advice on how to be environmentally friendly without giving up any of the comforts of modern life. Thus, the woman signifies a trusted friend, the living room becomes a trusted environment and her position suggests she is attempting to share her wisdom with the viewer. Yet, semiotics goes even further than this message as it pulls at even deeper ideas stemming from our mythology. Ancient myth holds that the Earth herself is a living entity in and of itself. It is aware and able to send its spirit out among the various creatures that depend upon it for their survival. In personified form, she is known as Gaia, or the Earth Mother, and is typically depicted as a young woman of color clad in the colors of the fields and forests. As befits an entity of this type, her living space is always depicted in the context of nature – a forest glade, a riverside grotto, a garden or even within the branches and trunk of a special tree. In its appeal to this myth, the image presents the woman existing in a space surrounded by sky, perhaps in a water environment as she sits on the crest of a wave and remains surrounded by the ‘watery’ glass. At the same time, though, she isn’t far removed from her forest, either, as the lamp behind her, discussed earlier, takes on the deeper meaning of the trees. Her green and brown comfortable clothing further alludes to this myth, finally giving the viewer the impression that Mother Nature herself is facing us, finally proud of us for having come to her to ask what would be the best way to brighten up our homes – our entire home. The next magazine advertisement, attempting to entice visitors to come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, won the 2006 Create Awards: The Create Awards, 2006, This image presents a series of signifiers, blank upright rectangles, seen slightly overlapping each other in what, to a modern culture, are immediately recognizable as semi-private, claustrophobic cubicles typical of large, impersonal office complexes, the signified. This signified is made more evident by the glimpse of office printers that can be seen just to the inside of several of the partitions. A single office chair is visible toward the left center, highlighting the impression of a cramped office setting. Everything in the image is kept to a strict neutral tone, beige-gray carpeting, off-white partitions, neutral white office equipment and grayish office chair. Into this bland color scheme, a man dressed in black and white business attire is seen flying through the upper half of the image, one leg extended forward, the other leg hidden behind his own partition. In his hands he carries a guitar, his head is bent forward in action and his hands seem ready for play. The guitar is a glossy, highly toned wood, black and white electric acoustic guitar such as might be used by rock stars concentrating on a wide variety of music on stage. Other than the guitar, the only hint of real color in the image is in the green letters of the sign above the man’s head that spells out the word ‘exit.’ The signified thus becomes the quintessential office building and cramped working quarters of thousands of people throughout the modern world, most of who seek only to escape from such bindings. The denotative message, then, is of a man acting inappropriately in the office in preference of pretending to be a rock musician. The connotative message in this image brings forward the concept that music can set you free. Here we have the office worker clearly breaking not only the bounds of proper office etiquette, but also the bounds of gravity as he hovers in the air through the central area. The word exit, also seeming to hover over his head, reinforces that idea that music can set you free, but not just any music. The pose of the man is the pose of a rock musician, providing very little doubt regarding this to anyone who has ever had the opportunity to compare a rock concert with a classical guitarist’s performance. While the guitar depicted could be used for just about any type of stage music, it is this pose alone that captures the nature of the music intended. For the modern office worker, rock music conveys a sense of freedom and rebelliousness that most wish they had the option of expressing. Even this idea of a trapped soul is captured in the image as the man is depicted still clad in his business wear despite his actions. However, thanks to his ability to expand outside of the rigid bounds of the solemn and staid office persona, he is able to discover the exit, the freedom, the release all indoor workers long for. It is this sense of release that the museum is hoping to evoke in the viewers of this advertisement and this sense of excitement that they manage to convey. However, again, the pull on the consumer’s emotions goes deeper than this immediate image of freedom and fun. It recalls the myth of the warrior youth, particularly in his action-filled pose. Replace the guitar with a rifle and the business suit with a uniform and you instantly have the image of a soldier or a hunter stalking his prey. The pose of this man immediately calls forward the hero archetype. Jungian theory indicates that the hero is the mana personality, considered to be the container for spiritual power. He is the ultimate defender, the man standing up in strength and duty for the good cause and the defeater of monstrous creatures such as dragons, gorgons or the mechanizing process of the capitalist system (Boeree, 2006). In making this connection, the advertisement is appealing to the innate desire of most Westernized viewer to be involved in something greater, something nobler and something more active than merely crunching numbers in a computer all day long. In the sense that rock music is frequently associated with concepts of rebellion and calls for change, the role of the hero warrior is completely in keeping with the message because it is one of the few archetypes that is associated with a process itself, rather than as a simple image. The hero progresses through a series of predictable stages in order to attain full growth and development and is therefore an image that itself conveys a sense of action and progression. In promoting the Rock and Roll traditions and beliefs, exposing people to the ‘rebellious’ messages being sent, the message being sent is itself a call to action, an appeal for independent thought and radical reactions of an artistic nature. Thus the message being sent through the advertisement on all levels can be seen to support the same idea if one is familiar with the archetypes and traditions of the Western culture and symbolism. Through the process of semiotic analysis, a close look at two different advertisements illustrate how the communication between the advertiser and the consumer occurs at a much deeper level than simple images on a page would seem to suggest. While the signs seem to be pretty straight-forward, giving us the impression of a woman’s living room or a man’s workspace, they convey much deeper connotations as they enable us to identify with them. We are able to perceive a woman we’ve never met as being a trusted neighbor and friend who is not only intelligent but also presumably well-off and happy. We are able to perceive a man as our own inner nature, struggling to break free of the bounds the modern world has placed us in and find a new freedom through some clearly marked exit point. Yet the message goes even deeper than that, pulling from our most ancient myths and beliefs, our cultural means of identify ourselves with the exterior world, giving us the impression that we are conversing with a deity or experiencing the primeval adventures of youth. In both cases, we are given the sense that the power is ours to change the world by identifying ourselves with the products or organizations depicted in the advert. We see Philips light bulbs as being beneficial for the environment, selected by Mother Nature herself, and we need know nothing else about it before we are seeking the product in the store. We see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as being the place to go to learn how to experience the jolt of life experienced by rock stars and finally find a way out of the daily grind of modern life. Works Cited Barthes, Roland. Elements of Semiology. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964. Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners. Wales: The University of Wales, 2006. Eco, Umberto. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976. Ryder, Martin. “Semiotics: Language and Culture.” Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004. Read More