How Graphic Design Shapes Popular Culture - Essay Example

How Popular Culture Shaped the Design Industry Introduction Art and design have been with us since the beginning of time. The early man used to paint on walls using crude tools and dye the paintings. The paintings were an illustration of their way of life and still communicate through the designs. Graphic design is used to pass messages through pictures, images, words, and types. It has evolved over time and has influenced culture along the way. The reverse is also true with the design industry being shaped by popular culture. Popular culture impacts on everything, including fashion, advertisements, food packaging and political campaigns. It should be portrayed in such a manner that it communicates its users or the intended target. Popular culture is important in that it reflects the likes and desires of people that can be used in getting their attention through design. Steve Heller in How Graphic Design Shapes Popular Culture observes the icons of culture and how they have influenced popular culture (Heller, 2012). The book also proves that modern culture has shaped graphics design and uses the sound images of crackling cereals to show how marketing has changed over time. Modern popular culture has altered the way the design industry functions and how logos are more of a cultural influence than just a marketing strategy. Culture determines the market of products and the way they are sold to the people. It also determines the kind of people that purchase the advertised products and how the advertisements can be phrased. Designing of logos, images, and words should coincide with the culture that most people can relate with. A popular culture pushes people to decide the kind of products they require and those they will purchase (Heller, 2010). Popular culture spans over various platforms, some as old as humanity itself and some that have emerged as a result of human evolution through time. This platforms can be termed as categories of popular culture and include politics, fashion, technology, news, sports, movies, TV shows and the entire entertainment industry. This entire span of professions relays heavily on visual techniques to appeal to their targeted audience or consumers. The ability to communicate effectively using visual cues has gained much popularity over the years and has been adopted all over the globe to achieve various needs. With such a high demand for visual forms of communication across the globe, graphic designers have become primarily important in creating avenues that both the general public and professionals would use to put their message across. If we have a look at the design industry, we can clearly witness the impact of modern pop culture on the design of consumer products. In the early days during the industrial revolution, many products were tailored for the local home population. As time went by and communication between different continents begun the flourish, people began to learn about each other’s culture. They learned about each other’s beliefs, values, ideals and patterns of behavior. Product design then changed to cater for the majority of the population as possible. This consideration led to the standardization of design for many products. In the long run, people would readily associate with products far from their country of origin without difficulty. Today most consumer products like mobile phones, household items, and electronic products among others have a similar form factor irrespective of their manufacturers. The diversity that was there in the beginning has shrunk, and designers tend to incorporate what the societies in the whole world will relate to. This diversity can be accredited to possibly homogenization of culture among people over time. This similarity may be a result of the mass media through various technological devices over time that include the television set, the internet, the phone and other earlier forms of communication between people. Modern products may be built with the intent to conform most cultures, but they are also built to perform or support certain activities. Hence, it is the activity they are designed to perform that dictates how they are used. However, the manner in which we carry out our daily activities today be it at work or in an informal setting is heavily characterized by technology around us. Thus, many of the activities we do are heavily influenced by technologies we use. These advancements include our computers, mobile phones, and transportation alternatives. And once technology dictates our activities our cultural values, beliefs and ideals begin to fade away. However this same activities determines the design, and when the design is suitable for the technology, consumers will adopt it irrespective of culture. Better still the designers of the products have still included some slight variations in their products that are mindful of different cultures. This consideration just shows that even though we may use the same technologies across the world, due to our cultures our behaviors may differ. Researchers have also found out that while similar products may be produced for use in different backgrounds, the way are used by people in this regions is quite different. Hence, if these designers were to reach out to the manufactures and share their findings, then it would be possible to make products attuned to the consumer’s needs and preferences (Jobling, 1996). As it turns out the most receptive people to this homogenization of popular culture is the youth. The impact of globalization on modern culture is everywhere, from movies television, fashion trends, video games, sports, and music. The loss of traditional elements of local popular culture is on the rise with societies’ adopting the general global popular culture. The major setback of having this standardized designs is the neglect of people’s habits, and designers need to find ways to be sensitive to different cultures. Modern products luck the aspect of culture in them despite being created from different places. Before products from individual countries like India would have a variety of ornaments on them. With the ideology of mass production, this has dwindled over the years and now only a small percentage of products have this cultural tradition accompanied with them. Don Norman in his book human-centered design considered harmful states that this uniformity of design and lack of innovation may be as a result of how the designers are being trained (Norman, 2005). He states that modern design schools have a very similar curriculum and that it is even possible to find schools in the same country having a greater degree of diversification than those from different countries. He also goes further to state that most design professionals end up learning in the same known top universities learning the same thing. It even gets worse when they proceed to get their PHDs since only a limited number of schools offer PHDs in design. The content being in taught in schools also has heavily been influenced by the west. As his final words, Don Norman states that just because these designers go to the same school, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their work will be equally the same. Modern day Graphic design is heavily influenced by popular culture, in that graphic designers have to be knowledgeable about the current trends and activities. One of the largest industries that graphic designers dominate today is the advertising industry. In this business the image you portray to your target consumer is crucial. This critical work is left to the advertisers of the company who in turn seek the views of graphic designers. Graphic designers have had to cope up with upcoming trends to get the maximum out of the adverts they create. Advertisers understand the influence pop culture has towards the people and will always use this to their advantage. For instance it is not new to see product posters with celebrity figures on them. Since the primary aim of the product designer is to capture the attention of his audience and the same time deliver the needed information in minimal time. The Posters they produce will, therefore, have to be captivating and easy to understand to the target market. These celebrity figures are only appropriate for particular products and audiences which are another critical factor to consider. There are countless ways to carry out advertising from the creation of posters and banners, to printing of t-shirts, caps, mugs, umbrellas and through the media. One thing that remains of uttermost importance is the readability and the legibility of the message (Campos, 2014). Another factor that modern graphic designers have learned to cope with is the homogenization of different culture. This aspect applies specifically to the adoption of Western culture to other areas. The western culture has had a great influence on other societies and most culture today are either westernized or incorporate their local culture and that from the west (Milestone, 2013). Traditional Chinese brides never wore white gowns to their wedding but instead they had traditional red dresses. In spite of this some brides have been opted for the westernized dresses for their weddings instead of sticking to their tradition. The hybridization of cultural elements has led to the birth of a new global culture we may actually have some value. Graphic designer have also played a crucial role in the creating magazine covers. It is essential that the graphic designer be inspirational in his application of typography and photography. It is important that the graphic design uses the available space in the magazine wisely so as to convey as much information as possible about the contents in the magazine as possible without confusing them. Particular magazines, however, have chosen to maintain some form of consistency all through their issues thus giving them a strong visual identity. This visualization is a technique that upholds culture by sticking to a particular way of doing things. Consumers too tend to be more comfortable when purchasing an item that they can identify with. Some graphic designers, however, change the layout of the cover with every of the magazine but even so will still retain the same magazine logo. The appropriate use of color is also important. A car magazine can use a lot of bright colors and look flashier than a TIME magazine as in figure 1. Figure 1: Magazine comparison Another agile industry is video games. One of the most played games to date is Pac-man that was introduced in the mid-20th century. This game changed the video game industry at the time. It was after its release that we saw significant numbers of female players joining their male counterparts in gaming arcades. It challenged the video game industry to diversify the genre of the games to have a strategy in them. Later on due to the impact it had had on society, other game designers had to create games to match the growing fan base who appreciate more than just racing and shooting games. They had to match the needs of the consumer in their design. This consideration made significant changes to the video game industry. Today we have more sophisticated games like SIM which simulate real life experiences of a person on a daily basis. The video game industry has also changed from creating games for children as it was the norm before the 21st century. There are video games made specifically for a more mature audience, for example, the famous Grand Theft Auto franchise of games. This new category of video games came into existence since the youth of the today 21st century crave gameplay more than their earlier counterparts. This change has also been driven by their introduction of home consoles, handheld consoles and the internet as opposed to the arcades of earlier days. What has and still is a major concern about this games is the amount of violence in them. It has also been said that leads to criminal erratic behavior. Not only has popular culture pushed designers to make games for a mature audience but they have also made them widen their scope even more. The Nintendo Wii console, for example, has sports games that require the player to perform exact movements and actions as they would when in the field, for example, tennis. Other games offer educational value to their consumers and is especially helpful for children who are still learning about language and their environments (Willett, 2010). Some graphic designers do write graphic novels. They have a close resemblance to comic books but they are different. The motion picture has always gained interest and attracted a lot of attention from its audience. This interest has led to some movies being made from famous graphic novels. Some of this movies include Sin City and 300. This move is just but a way for the designers attempt to reach a wider audience already created by the film industry. Comic books artists have also followed suit and made a movie after movie from their fictional characters in their books. The famous fictional superhero character Batman has been the inspiration behind several movie titles that have actually taken the movie industry by storm in terms of revenue. A clear indication that it is possible to be successful in these fields of entertainment. All this approach into movies by graphic designers from comics and novel is in an attempt to cope with the changing factors of popular culture since more people are changing to watching than to reading. Popular culture has also brought change through its use in signs to guide people through their activities. This signs are simple and easy to understands and have been adopted globally. The signs range from road signs to indoor signs we see in hallways and in restaurants and washrooms. It has also helped to ease communication and interaction between people from different cultures as it most of the time self-explanatory as can be seen below. Figure 2: Road sign Reference HELLER, S. (2012). Pop how graphic design shapes popular culture. New York, Allworth Press, an imprint of Allworth Communications. http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID={7371719C-B7D9-4BE4-83EC-1B63FC43608B}&Format=410. HELLER, S. (2010). Pop: how graphic design shapes popular culture. New York, Allworth Press, an imprint of Allworth Communications. JOBLING, P., & CROWLEY, D. (1996). Graphic design: reproduction and representation since 1800. Manchester [u.a.], Manchester Univ. Press. Norman, D. (2005). Human-centered design considered harmful. Interactions, 14-14. CAMPOS, R., DE PINHO, R. R., DUARTE, N., & SARMENTO, C. (2014). Popular and Visual Culture Design, Circulation and Consumption. Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=1810272 MILESTONE, K., & MEYER, A. (2013). Gender and Popular Culture. New York, NY, John Wiley & Sons. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201502142694. WILLETT, J. A. (2010). The American beauty industry encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif, Greenwood. Read More