Category: Uncategorized (Page 9 of 19)

Ecovia “Stop the Violence” ad from 2012 was designed to raise awareness. It depicts the image of a woman, to her right appears to be a male’s forearm. The cars are crashing and the image portrays the male striking the woman’s chin.

“Stop the Violence, Drive Safe”, I really like this ad because it refers not only to driving safe, but to raise awareness to violence.

In 2013, Saudi Arabia launched a campaign against domestic violence. In a country where women are less valued than men, this advertising draws a lot of attention.

This advertising campaign made me realize our reality, social media has changed us in a way that we think that sharing a picture of a person in need will help them, when the truth is we are not doing anything to actually help them.

Coca-Cola always seek to embrace the diversity that it molds each and every one of their advertising campaign. I choose to focus on the ad campaign “Share A Coke”. They add “ Share a Coke…” and a person’s name is added on the label of the coke. This targets people of all backgrounds, people from around the world engaged with the coca-cola ad posting images and tagging people they know or seen with the name.

Advertising Week ‘Great Minds Think Unalike’ Campaign promotes the mission of the annual week-long New York conference. The visual representation of a hand is used to tell a story. This simple picture holds a thousand words, it tells who each and every one of these persons are. The use of diverse skin color tells us that it’s targeting all races and all ethnic backgrounds.

This is an advertising campaign that L’Oreal made to target the business world. They took a problem/idea that has constantly impact business and they used that as a way to give advice to present and future business to come. One may think that it’s targeting specifically males but it’s targeting the owners, managers, and all those in the business. They integrated their products to visually represent the statistics and demographics of the impact

This is an advertisement ad from Camel Snus, a tobacco company targeting the LGBT community. This ad shapes the company as an accepting and progressive company, but in reality it is pandering to the LGBT community to buy tobacco products. It is almost predatory and opportunistic, as they wear a veil of acceptance simply to increase sales. LGBT+ people are more likely to smoke compared to their heterosexual cisgender counterparts. http://www.trinketsandtrash.org/detail.php?item_number=213662

Here we have a commercial from the Biden campaign called Shop Talk Trust. It targets African-Americans, specifically Black men to vote. While I believe this commercial is well intentioned, encouraging Black men to vote and it is not following stereotypes, to some degree it is also pandering. At the end of the day this is politics and politicians have to pander to groups if they want this specific community’s vote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_N0-Fx2liU

This is a promo ad for a DC Comics event where the main heroes hand over the mantle to a younger generation. To me this paints as DC as a company that is trying to be more inclusive and diverse. You see several people of color like Jackson Hyde (Aquaman), the new Wonder Woman named Yara Flor, and some characters even have disabilities. Despite this being temporary as comics always return to the status quo, they are putting some effort like getting Black writers for Black characters. https://www.comicsbeat.com/dc-future-state-titles-creators/

This week’s reading focuses on how technology and media have impacted the world and society. In Chapter 1, ‘The Medium is The Message’ Marshall McLuhan speaks about how technology has changed how we interact and connect with others. McLuhan expresses how technology has divided us. The way we interact with one another has definitely changed, technology has become such a dominant aspect of our daily lives. McLuhan says “the medium is the message” which is how we use it, and communicate. It is the “personal and social consequences” as McLuhan states. He expresses that “any extension of ourselves—results from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology”. In other words, technology has become a part of us, through various social media we learn, connect, share our thoughts, and meet new people. Reading down more in the passage McLuhan made me realize how technology has not only changed how we do things but also how we rely heavily on it. It has been transmitted beyond us and passed our limits. 

Everything is now documented on social media, we as individuals can’t go a day without phones or the internet. Many of us use emoticons and gifs to express our feelings and depend on social media to share our opinions. McLuhan used many different views to support his claims. I kind of got confused but I tried my best to grasp what he was saying. In Chapter 7, ‘The Nemesis of Creativity’ the first thing that came to mind was how technology has hindered our creative process. Due to the fact that many people go straight to a tablet, or laptop to start a design. Sketching on paper is often skipped. The use of technology has been integrated more and more into what we create. 

The traditional way of creating art is slowly diminishing, as time progresses art continues to be created digitally. However, McLuhan conveys how the artist controls the technology, technology does not control the artist. The people have the power to control technology and creativity. Technology should be seen and used as an asset. We determine how far we want technology to impact our design and work. Technology has its pros and cons to it, in the sense that it has broken down barriers and made it easier to connect. However, its downfall is how much we allow it to dictate our lives. I think this is McLuhan’s main idea and what he intended readers to take away from his readings. We, as creators, have the power to control how much of an impact technology influences our ideas, opinions, and creativity.  

As explained by Marshall McLuhan, the media results from a new scale that is introduced into our affairs. It influences humanity in either positive or negative ways. Considering automation, humanity is negatively affected because the new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs. On the positive side, automation also creates roles for people considering the depth of involvement in their work and human association that had been earlier disrupted by mechanical technology. The media also shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The content available in media or the use of media, in general, are in varieties. The content displayed and portrayed by the media ‘blinds’ viewers and consumers to the character of the medium. Hence, people tend to reflect a mirror image of what is put out by the media. Finally, the media and technology have been interwoven from the earliest days of human communication. The media has created a seemingly endless amount of airtime for any and every voice that wants to be heard. It allows consumers to bypass traditional advertising venues and allow companies to be more innovative in trying to get the attention of consumers.

Technological progress despite having many advantages also has its disadvantages. For example, technological advancements that are to bring about alleviation of physical stress can bring on psychic stress that may even be much worse. Modern technology no doubt has gained a presence in our lives that it has become so addictive as people are now glued to social media and smartphones to the extent that relaxation and sleep is now impacted. This, therefore, causes even more stress than was present before technological progress came into light. Also, we are too prone and likely to make technological progress and instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The nature of the media is to creep inside participants and consumers unnoticed.  Hence, media; a product of modern science is not in itself good or bad but it really depends on the way it is used. The way it is used is what determines the value. If the formative power in the media is the media themselves, a whole lot can ensure that which would also adversely affect the purpose for which the media was created.

If we go back in time, and trace the history of the human culture, it can be observed there is no example of a conscious adjustment in the various factors involved in the creation of new ideas except the efforts that have been put in by artists and designers. An artist works to pick up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before the transforming impacts are felt. Also, an artist is one who can function in any field; scientific or humanistic and grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. The artist is vast in knowledge and must possess integral awareness. In other to successfully create new ideas, the artists must be able to correct the sense ratios before the blow of new technology which has numbed conscious and practical procedures. When he notices them, he can correct them even before numbness and subliminal reactions begin to surface. I am sure we all can agree with the saying “two heads are better than one”. In light of this, artists can work collaboratively with one another to ensure fresh ideas are created. When artists work together, they can pull ideas, resources and experience together to create top notch ideas.

The media a designer used to distribute information is only a path to success. The media used is not the final product which brings about positive changes in the thinking of the consumers or positive influences. The final work is responsible for these changes, hence, the work is placed significantly higher than the media which is used to create that information. Again, society is dependent on the outcome of the work put out by the designer, much care is not given to the media through which the output is being made. The designer however may take the media into consideration as it would help to create positive results. Nonetheless, consumers only are attracted to the final output of the process. Finally, the work of a designer is subordinate to the media used in achieving it, because the work is what the consumers feast on. They are usually oblivious of the process by which it was achieved but only consume the final product.

Marshall McLuhan who is the author of the book “The Medium is the Message, “explains how the medium intertwined with our everyday lives.  He spoke about the medium as the message and explained that the contents of one medium is also another medium.  It is the process of actions connecting to each other to complete the process and is also any new addition to our lives. Technology is one addition that is expanding rapidly and is a breakdown of the quality of many products and the effort of the process. Although it can be said that technology enhances daily life and makes manual tasks easier, it has negative impact on society. The lack of creativity and the desire to create everything quickly has somewhat lessened the quality of the products. The author has given many examples and made comparisons of the old ways of doing things and the new ways with technology.  These show that although using technology can allow mass production of goods at a faster pace, it is not necessarily the best way to do things.

        Since it is stated that the medium is the message and the content of the message are linked, artists and designers must have a clear vision when creating new ideas to establish that link. There is always an extension to ideas or products which extend the first medium to the next to show the connection. McLuhan gave examples of products from artists and designers that are different but linked to create the message. He said that electric light and power have separate uses, but they are still connected to human being’s daily lives.

        As more technology is developed and people become increasingly vulnerable to be more productive, the media becomes a powerful organization.  It has a lot of influence on how information is provided to the public. Therefore, designers often used the media to introduce themselves and their work to people. The media create a platform where it not only entices people to the work of the designers but, but designers to adapt the trend of the media to please the media and the people.  Often the designer’s creativity suffers as they are no longer individual entities but participants of mass production.

I am actually having trouble understanding the reading. But I will try my best to give my interpretation of the excerpts of Marshall McLuhan’s book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.

To my understand in the first chapter, McLuhan seems to be talking how about how the “message” or “medium” of technology can help us accelerate our progression. For example he states that the railway system did not invent motion, transportation, wheels, roads, or movement, but instead made it easier to go from one location to another, expanding our reach. He also mentions how the medium drives the message. He uses light for an example, when electrical light was harnessed by people, we use it for brain surgery or light up a baseball game at night. He states that this underlines that “the medium is the message” because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action.”

As previously stated I am also having trouble understanding chapter 7 the Nemesis of Creativity of Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. To me he seems to be talking about how does technology fit in human society and how it could change us for the worse and possibly for the better (probably not). Which in my opinion seems to supplement chapter one of the book. For example he mentions how artist are the only people that can avoid the “bully blow of new technology of any age.” I assume what he is trying to say is that artist are able to avoid how technology can change someone and society as a whole while being aware of what is happening as he refers artists as a “men of integral awareness.” Then he compares technology as something a kin to a disease, something invasive. That no one is immune to the advancement of technology. This to me, means the change that technology brings is inevitable and everyone will be affected by it, except for artists apparently.