Category: Uncategorized (Page 10 of 19)

Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extension of man. In the introductions of the chapters that were assigned in this week, it can be interpretated as humans been using the technology to goes beyond of the limits that the nature imposed over it. Almost every action that human does carries a meaning, a message. A sound, a pose, a gesture, a look, a movement, all that can transmit a message to any receptor that is in the sphere of that message.  And it this message that is transmitted beyond the humans limits that is enhanced by the tools.

The real impact that the medium has, it goes alongside with the occasional impact that the communication and content have. An example of this is one of the daily use technologies that is so popular that little by little, it feels destinated to ends in the hands of every human in the planet, the cellphone. Then, why is this piece of hardware and software is being so widely accepted. The reason is one of the pillars and objective of every technology created by humans. It is to be an extension or enhancement of the different organs and functions, and parts of the body. It means the axe is an extension of the fist, the telescope is an extension of the eye, the megaphone is an extension of the voice, etc. The cellphone is that widely popular because is a condensed of multiples enhancements for the human being. This technology allows us to be transported instantly around the globe to see what is happening thousands of miles away from us. Let us see the past with recordings, increase the memory to remember everything that is need to. Let us hear loud and clear the best musicians around the planet, read book for us. Basically, it expands the human possibilities a lot in case of this extensions could be used properly. This tool uncapped abilities beyond the human limits.  

The author of the book states “The Medium is the message”. It means the medium chose by us to be the transmitter hold the same or even a superior worth than that is transmitting.       

https://designopendata.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/themediumisthemassage_marshallmcluhan_quentinfiore.pdf

For this week’s reading, it focused on technology and the media we use to help convey our ideas across. The readings were from Marshall McCluhan’s Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McCluhan starts off by saying “the medium is the message” which I interpreted as media we use is impacted by the technology accessible to us at any given time. Comparing ideas and products from the past while not understanding what made them work is an uphill battle. Technology was only so advanced at that point in time and so inventors and creators worked with what they had. As technology changes and evolves, so do our ideas. McCluhan then goes on to say that jobs also change with technology and need. So losing jobs is not that black and white as we may think it is. It goes deeper than saying we lost jobs or that “millennials are killing x job market or product”. as our needs change so do our jobs. In the early 1900s when the automobile was barely an idea, we wouldn’t expect Ford to create highly capable cars meant for luxury or speed, we only think as far as what we were taught.

The message of any media will always rely on the content. McCluhan relates this idea to the written word and print media. The media can only do so much but without the meaning or intent of a message, the medium will always be just that. A message carries thought and it serves a purpose, whether it be to inform or persuade the audience. Moving onto another example, he uses electricity spelling out a brand name as something that attracts consumers and is finally notable rather than just electricity. This speaks to the realm of advertising as it basically uses the same medium and example. Putting up an LED screen with no information in it on a billboard spot or on television will not produce any revenue or interest. When there is information whether it be complex or one or two words, it will entice people’s curiosity and in turn, will create web traffic and interest.

In chapter seven, McCluhan is discussing the effects of technology changing has on our social lives. “For the massive social surgery is needed to insert new technology into the group mind.” For me, to rule out any unnecessary anxiety and backlash we would need to bridge the gap between old and new technology. Using the example of a rotary telephone from the 1910s and a smartphone from the 2010s, we simply cannot jump from one to the other, there needs to be familiarity among the items so they can be functional and useful. Taking things slow and reinventing the ideas of what a phone does are important to think about when approached with new technology. Over a century we have refined the idea of a phone through many trial and error including, to landlines, the flip phone, to the sidekick from TMobile, and onto smartphones like the iPhone. And even with all this new technology, we are reverting to the modern take on the classic flip phone, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.

According to Marshall McCluhan in Chapter 1, ‘The Medium is The Message’ I can say that it talks about how media, specifically electric communication has changed society and how we view things. From the reading, I have gathered that he means it’s the way that we receive information that is more important than the message itself. It also shows us that he was ahead of his time and that it’s something that we can relate to in today’s world. 

The forms of receiving and communicating messages to one another have evolved and it’s not the technology itself that is the problem because it’s okay to use it as long as we are in control of it and not the other way around. It’s more of how we use it and for what purposes we use it. Aside from that, he briefly talks about how machines are creating jobs but at the same time, it’s eliminating them as well. This is something that we’ve seen throughout the years and it’s something that we continue to encounter. When technology evolves it will always have its pros and cons.

 Throughout the reading, he mostly talks about media and the way that it’s changing us and how we look at things. The message that we are receiving from these media has influenced us and often misleads us to what is really important. From when television was first introduced we were once the consumers consuming information by this new technology. Whereas now we are not only the consumers but also we have become the producers by creating information as well.

Reading the excerpt from Marshall McLuhan’s book called “ Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” talks about how media has changed humans lives, not the content of it but the medium. 

In the reading,McLuhan sees that media is communicating its own importance and that content once in a while has a genuine impact on individuals, though the medium has solid impact. Humans especially nowadays rely on the media so much that it became part of their life. For instance, your arm is an extension to your body; it is a part of you and you rely on it for daily needs and purposes. We use our arms and hands to use different tools like using a spoon to eat. The spoon also becomes an extension. This broadens our abilities beyond what we can physically. With technology/media there is virtually no limit to how far humans can extend. 

McLuhan famous line from the book states “ The Medium is the Message”. What it basically means is that the medium through which we decide to exchange information holds as much, if not more, worth than the message itself. It is really not the content that is important but it is how we give and receive the content that makes quite the impact. McLuhan believes technology to be the extension of humans, like I mentioned above humans rely on the internet quite a lot even designers. For a designer, the most powerful medium is the internet. For them to design and pass on the message they want convey, is through the internet and internet is the designer’s extension. 

In Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, he talks about media, technology, and how it affects human beings. 

The first chapter called The Medium is the Message talks about the division of things as means of control. He also talks about technology and how it changed our relationship with other humans and for that reason he splits these aspects into two: content and message. “The “content” of any medium is always another medium”.. “and the message of any medium or technology is the change… that it introduces into human affairs”, he says. As from my understanding, the content is the use we give to technology, and the message is its introduction into human nature. 

McLuhan’s also talks about technology and media as “extensions of man” because “it is the way they are use what that determines their value”. Personally, I agree with this because Technology has changed the way we interact with each other, in a way another, it has improved the world we live in. 

In chapter seven, he talks about The Nemesis of Creativity and the importance of artists in a world of technology and media. He states that “the serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity”. He couldn’t be more specifically when talking about it because most of the time, designers have to put away their bias in order to create something. In other words, we have to see the world with the eyes of a child. 

I am going to cite two of my favorite quotes from the readings:

1. “The artist picks up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before its transforming impact occurs. He, then, builds models or Noah’s arks for facing the change that is at hand.”
2. “The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. He is the man of integral awareness.”

I think he is absolutely right because that is how media and technology works for designers. They always go hand in hand.

In these 3 articles, we can see 3 systems where the designers rule under 3 different styles. This is a direct response to that part particularly. Josef Muller-Brockmann rules his work under the laws of universal validity, the use of the grid in the process of creation is a must be. The grid allows the work to be constructive, oriented, and organize. Those characteristics give a clear view which will be the objective of the project while is being built. The best example of that, it is “the morphological box of the typogram” developed and explained in his “In Grid and Design Philosophy”
As for Karl Gerstener, the system that he created to bring the extraordinary set of works that he did during his life. He started a path that almost all designers of our time are transiting. In which, we combine the arts with science. He was able to adapt amazingly the ever-evolving field of computer programming to what we called design. He translates topics like blueprints, outlines, and grids into the programming language, he used similar guidelines in both environments, and that allowed him to translate his work from one environment to the other with the maximum fidelity. This uncapped the possibility of creating drafts on paper. Where he can decide the color, appearance, thickness, and even place where the typefaces will be integrated into a project.
Jan Tschichold rules under a system where the clarity and order are the primordial bases of his designs. He claimed that in the past, the typography design was centered in a sole form of central arrangement and beauty. This put great limitations on the possibilities of the designer to express through the typography itself. In the “New Typography,” Tschichold stated the view of bringing forth an unambiguous form of communication with your audience. He emphasizes the appreciation of simplicity. You must be able to not using unnecessaries elements or too many ornaments. And you can fill the eyes. But not overwhelm the eyes of our audience.

Typography is very essential when it comes to design in the this day and age. Type can communicate in more way then what it say, the font, color, size, width and even how its position are all ways it can mean different things, and thats what Tescholod described as the new Typography. it solves designs problems and give the reader a better understanding of the composition. Here is a little example of that.

According to the reading from what I took away was that legibility is the most important aspect of design when using type. Unlike in the past when type was more based on decorative elements.