Author: Basema Ikhmayes

According to Heller, Description of What Is the Approach of Underground Vs. Mainstream Relevant in Contemporary Design
According to Heller, the concept of Underground Vs. Mainstream is important in contemporary design since it involves the application of ideas on issues associated with issues of intellectual property within livelihoods. In particular, Heller describes how mass marketers illegally obtain ideas and information from visionaries where they make changes and then reuse them as new products for the public (Bowie, 2020). As a result, these end up making the materials and commodities previously in the market null and void.
Explanation of Where the Designer or Design That I Will Be Addressing for My Final Fit to Dichotomy
My choice of research design that I will be addressing for my final Dichotomy ought to ensure that the evidence obtained enables me to efficiently and effectively put up the challenge logically and unambiguously as much as possible. Several factors influenced the choice since I needed to establish a cause-and-effect interaction and relationship between experimental methods and variables (Greene, M. T., Gonzalez, R., & Papalambros, 2019). For final fit to Dichotomy involves creating and analyzing the approaches that ensure engagement of individuals in several chances to gather feedback, create, redesign, and experiment.
Discussion of What Underground Designs Impacted the Questioned Work
Underground designs influenced the mainstream culture since the dominance was associated with values, ways, and language of behaving imposed on the economic and political power. The impact resulted in political and legal suppression of patterns and values through monopolized media communication. There, conclusions can be made that traditional societies are attributed to increased customs and cultural traits often conglomerated through various cultures and subcultures.
The Work in Question Shaped the Mainstream in Several Ways
The underground involved a social group and movement whose values and ways of life were opposed to the mainstream of society to some extent (Guerra, 2021). The cultural values promoted and expressed actual opposition towards the existing and dominating culture. Hence, it was clear that the underground showed a contradiction and opposition to the mainstream.

References

Bowie, A. (2020). A Burkean dialectical-rhetorical perspective on shifting design trends. Southern Communication Journal, 85(2), 125-138.
Greene, M. T., Gonzalez, R., & Papalambros, P. Y. (2019, July). Measuring systems engineering and design thinking attitudes. In Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 3939-3948). Cambridge University Press.
Guerra, P. (2021). So close yet so far: DIY cultures in Portugal and Brazil. Cultural Trends, 30(2), 122-138.

This week I came across this ad conveyed by Unicef on YouTube. In my opinion, the ad disseminates essential information on Ukraine children who urgently needs help. Unicef is an international organization that deals with child protection, focusing on gender, ethnicity, race, culture, disability, and family and caregivers (UNICEF, 2022). The core values of this organization cover these four aspects, which delineate the stereotype that may impact the lives of children all over the world. When we see the ad, the first impression it creates in our minds significantly impacts the reputation of the organization. Even though they are children, the organization recognizes them and values their well-being; this is a clear demonstration of the identity and Representation of children regardless of their ethnicity, culture or rather race.
Companies or people usually include children under their parents. However, this organization recognizes children individually, demonstrating that they can stand alone as an individual with their rights. From the ad above, it is an essential message that does not exclude anyone but portrays the inclusion of the general public despite one’s race, ethnicity, culture, or even gender. The message is not directed to a target audience but the rest of the world, either male or female, to come together and help children in Ukraine. Children include both males and females, and those living in Ukraine are from varied backgrounds. From the reading and this ad, I have learned a lot regarding identity and Representation. Advertisement portrays a lot regarding the reputation of an organization. The interpretation of the message in an advertisement can either build a brand name of a company or destroys it.

Although linguists refuse the status of language to all communication, a message can be inferred not only from the mere simple agglutination of symbols but more precisely from the true system signs of the image. But often, image is perceived to be weak in respect of meaning, and as a result, some perceive an image to be an extremely rudimental system when compared with language, while others feel that the ineffable richness embedded therein can be fully exhausted.
In reference to the presented article, Rhetoric of the Image, the author, Roland Barthes, informs that regardless of the supposed limitation of meaning, it supports a veritable ontology of the signification process (Barthes, 2015). But seemingly, the author preferably analyses an advertising message since they are undoubtedly intentional.
While analyzing the presented, Panzani advertisement image, the author initially identifies the most obvious aspects supporting linguistics, including caption and labels inserted, allowing code identification. Devoid of the linguistic message leaves a pure image asserted to be twofold: denotational and connotational, and since the signs are not linear, the order is unimportant (Barthes, 2015). The author then proceeds to the iconic message, the relation between signified and signifier, which is asserted to be quasi-tautological, and the transition. A satisfactory analysis should present the linguistic message as well as a coded-iconic and non-coded iconic message.
Questions Relating to the Article
How does one determine the nature of transformation between the signifieds and signifiers?
Why does the author imply that the absence of code reinforces the myth of photographic naturalness?
The author emphasizes that coding of the denoted message consequently affects connoted message since the literal coding prepares and facilitates connotation by establishing a certain discontinuity in the image at once. What does this imply?
A core aspect differentiating the message presented in drawing and photograph is the ethic. What other aspects discriminate against these elements?

The core of McLuhan’s theory starts by explaining media as an extension of ourselves. According to McLuhan, phones extend our voices, and computers are an extension of brains, the television extends our eyes and ears. In addition, McLuhan believes that electricity extends our body’s nervous system in general. McLuhan’s subsequent idea of the media or technology is that they are an extension of some physical, psychological or intellectual functions related to humans.
McLuhan explains technology as a machine that introduces narcosis to the user in his book, “understanding media: The extension of men.” As such, technology causes a numbing effect of amputation towards the users. Automation creates new patterns for the people, is the association with the humans tends to eliminate jobs that are viewed as a negative impact. McLuhan further believes that technology alters human relations with each other and ourselves. Technology influenced human labor through the fragmentation of the production process.
The real takeaway messages for artists and designers are developing tools, services, experiences, and communities from the medium. According to McLuhan, the internet has created the most extensive reach than other mediums in history. However, despite the power of the internet, it has created considerable implications on the message status. Designers and artists are encouraged to perceive that the internet as a medium teaches expandability, instant satisfaction, and accessibility. Artists and designers need to understand how the design of the medium shape the message.
To fully realize their goals, artists and designers need to embrace technology tools and acknowledge the world on the medium they will enjoy culture, art, or music. Maximizing the medium impacts the distribution of the message. According to McLuhan, the medium is always subordinate to the message. Artists and designers face many challenges in determining ways to deliver or distribute the media. The media itself has a more significant impact on the environment.

Tschichold, Gerstner, and Müller-Brockmann taught me that a great layout design comprises inventiveness, attractiveness, and user interface elements. If the layout design is employed for a particular purpose, it might be asymmetrical or symmetrical. Additionally, a designer’s ability to convey a message most quickly and efficiently and functional, objective, and aesthetic quality should be considered (Müller-Brockmann, Josef 2009). For example, positioning a prominent icon in the middle of the page rather than towards the bottom of the page helps the layout design to hold the subject of interest to be communicated.

Aside from these points, I learned that to achieve harmony in an image’s overall design, the grid’s balance must be maintained. According to Gerstner (Karl Gerstner 2001), the typography grid works as a proportional regulator. The upshot of this discovery was that white space, or negative space, is an element that focuses the viewer’s attention throughout the layout. Since positive and negative space might develop from this design, my element balances these two types of spaces.

According to Tschichold, 1998, the content of a text dictates how elements of a layout are connected logically and precisely in terms of value and emphasis. Consequently, the designer or typographer must choose the most efficient means of conveying this relationship through weight, size, form, and color to convey this message effectively. According to my interpretation, the lively asymmetrical expression represents an ever-evolving movement responding to typography’s infinite variety. Designing a layout that is effective for the intended audience means making it appealing to a wide range of people and ensuring that it is relevant to that group.