Author: Jamir Campbell (Page 1 of 2)

According to Heller the concept of mainstream vs underground is relevant in contemporary design, because of the constant stealing of ideas from the underground by people in the mainstream. Heller continues to talk about how they will alter the work slightly if even that, then they reissue them, to the world as new products. As a result, sometimes the original work goes unnoticed while the copy gets a lot of credit. As a designer I couldn’t say I didn’t know that these types of things go on. It’s understandable to get inspiration from past products but to take old ideas and copy them just isn’t right and has a bad effect on the design world. For one when doing this you’re not really being creative and before you know it everyone will all have designs that look almost the same, which gets boring and would eventually lose the attention of the audience because it doesn’t intrigue them anymore. What gets your audience and get people looking at what your doing is your unique style and how you present things to them, it’s all about standing out.

For my presentation I will be doing a set of Nike posters from the 1990s, I wouldn’t say they necessarily stole ideas from the underground but used the fashion trends from the underground and incorporated these trends into their brand. Also, in some of the commercials they used popular hip-hop music and other genre to get the attention of the audience they wanted. they used athletes like Michael Jordan and celebrity like Spike Lee. When it comes to the designer, the phrase that he used was “Just Do It”. He stole this slogan from a man named Gary Gilmore, who when on death row said, “let’s do it”. Dan Wieden then took off lets and added just and that’s how Nike came up with there famous slogan. That’s one of the only times I can think of when they stole an idea or altered one to make a new product or campaign.

The specific posters I chose was the collaborations between Michael Jordan and Spike Lee. When reading an article on what was the inspiration for the ad campaign, I found they were trying to sell Michael Jordan sneakers, there were a bunch of Michael Jordan sneakers coming out at this time. When doing this Nike tried to tap into the “Sneaker Head Culture”. The shoe industry was growing fast, and people started to have somewhat of an addiction to shoes. Most people were fine with a couple pairs of sneakers, but some people were collecting more than a hundred pairs of shoes. Nike did an amazing job at marketing Jordans sneaker to the “Sneaker head Culture” and they took ideas from underground culture and alter certain things to make their ads more intriguing to the sneaker culture. I would say that this approach shaped the mainstream by showing companies in general that they can take styles and different concepts from the underground to help improve their consumer intake.

Sources:

https://nike-justdoit.weebly.com/influence-on-pop-culture.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneaker_collecting

https://nike-justdoit.weebly.com/influence-on-pop-culture.html

This is a Forza Horizon 5 ad. In the image, you see Ted Cristo Fernández who is a driver in the game and it’s based in Mexico. Their goal was to introduce people to Mexican culture and show how advanced their racing game has become over time. I found this ad in a gaming magazine. 

This is a TikTok ad in which it uses different races and ethnicities to express Tik Tok’s ability to create culture, it also highlights how TikTok produces unmissable content. I found this ad when I was on the TikTok app.

This is a Google ad that asked people to answer some tuff questions about race and culture. A message that Google was trying to get out is that their platform has enough power to bring people together . I found this ad while on the web. 

Technology and media  help individuals communicate with each other; it helps society determine how to express themselves.  When a media is introduced, it is adapted to human senses so that it becomes an extension of the individual, and its capabilities influence the whole of society, leading to change. I think media is important because it changes how humans operate. I believe technology can be a great thing when humans use it toward there advantage, but sadly we sometimes allow it to control us.  Due to technology human’s social skills have taken a hit, it’s harder to socialize because people are so caught up with their gadgets that they lost touch with reality. Also, because people are stuck talking by the screen when were in a social setting it hard to keep simple conversation with one another.

Lack of socialization was evident in earlier times. Since newspapers people have been showing lack of socialization but with how advanced technology is it’s gotten a lot worse. Because someone can gain knowledge so fast because of technology , it has created a lack in one’s own knowledge. The role that designers can play in creating a new message is by thinking outside the box when comes to design and keeping in mind that the medium is just as important as the message. When designing you must remember that whatever you use to design or show that product will make the audience have a certain reaction. 

The media is more important because , there used to capture the eye of the audience. As a designer if the Medium isn’t interesting or doesn’t connect to the audience they won’t get to the actual message itself. If the medium is eye catching the audience is more likely to engage in the rest of your work. I found this to be an interesting concept I never thought about the affect the media could have on a audience.

According to Walter Gropius, Herbert Bayer , and László Moholy-Nagy designers were influenced by design standards set my by society, and not there own standards . These standards definitely held back designers and took away the creativity aspect of design. Walter Gropius, Herbert Bayer and László Moholy-Nagy all felt a change needed to happen, hence Gropius creation of the Bauhaus school. The Bauhaus school was one of the most influential school during the 20th century. The Bauhaus greatly influenced modern graphic design and typography. The Bauhaus combined elements of both fine arts and design education. Gropius stressed the importance of designing for mass production. It saw mass production as something that could still incorporate craft.

   Photography and typography can play a big role in shaping new art. When using a camera you can strengthen your design abilities. Learning photography can help you develop a better eye for composition, Photography can strengthen your eye in understanding the impact of light and color.  In my opinion Typography has two main purposes in graphic design. The first is to promote legibility , and the second is to help communicate the message that the company or brand is trying to say. Another thing typography can revolve around aesthetics. People are attracted to visually appealing designs which are easy on the eyes. Type can take the form of objects, and it  can send a message. Type can be artwork in itself, If done the right way.

    Language has a important role in design. We use language as a tool for communication with other people. Designers use visual language to communicate with their audience, so things like fonts , colors, icons all fall under that category. If you don’t communicate the design to your audience well it will leave them confused and uninterested. Just like a writer or a speaker chooses their words to communicate a message, good designers choose the right visual elements to also communicate a message. Media can be a huge help to design. With media designers can now share design ideas , techniques , and inspiration. Media also brings a lot of exposure too design. I think the Bauhaus already had somethings that keeps it relevant in the 21 century. Gropius believed Form followed function meaning simple geometric shapes were designed based on the intended function or purpose of a building an object. If artist think about some of the Bauhaus objectives they can make beautiful work.