Year: 2020

Media is everywhere, many people have gone to great lengths to describe, as good or bad, what the effects of our heightened exposure to media outlets might mean for human psychology and experience. In Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan, the author goes to great lengths to discuss how the new media of sights and sounds, might be being mishandled by our society, even going as far as to say that even previous technologies such as printing had been mishandled, for the simple reason that we did not view them rightly.

McLuhan makes the case that “the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs” meaning that rather than seeing the content of say, a movie, as the story or music, we should see it for what makes it what it is, cinema itself, what it carries, a story, is something separate. So the author makes the case that for example, a railway does not create anything at all, not movement, not metal, not the sound really, but rather it defines the manner in which people will use it, it exists unto itself and has good or bad effects all its own. To use a railway rather than walk is a restriction, a new kind of movement, but not altogether its own thing as if it were altogether separate, at least, that’s how I understand him.

In this way, when we understand that a railway isn’t a product unto itself but a restriction, a medium, something more abstract like motion, that McLuhan would make the case that a company like General Electric, is in the business of moving information, not something which might be more obvious like lightbulbs which was the more obvious product. It’s a confusing concept to me but it makes sense, what really gets me is where he makes this consistent claim that the “medium is the message,” reading it over though and really taking in the examples that he gives it becomes more clear. A post-it note is a medium by which we define and give shape to language, which is essentially information, so then the post-it maker is not in the business of making post-its so much as he is trying to transfer information. McLuhan would go on to say that every message is a medium, a post-it is a message insofar as it gives shape sound and color to information, it is not passive, but it is a medium for the written word, the characters written give a tone and character to the sounds they represent, whose sounds give character and shape to nonverbal ideas, this basic but dizzying idea he elaborates on in the very first page, needless to say the rest of it was equally if not more complex for me.

Having established this though is crucial to understanding his claims throughout the rest of the piece that mediums are not massive, they all give color and effect to how we as humans interact and while he harped again and again on this point, lamenting how the world did not seem to realize this crucial reality, and making clear that only the artist, someone deeply involved with medium, would be able to know this, I couldn’t find whether or not he thought whether or not something like television was truly evil. He described in grandiose terms how the television and music could take our senses, get inside us, that this was powerful, he likened it to a gun, making it seem much like he was describing some sci-fi mind-control device.

“it is not the incised area that is most affected [by new media]. The area of impact and incision is numb. It is the entire system that is changed. The effect of radio is visual, the effect of the photo is auditory.” what I think he means here is that the addition of a new media outlet changes how everything works, radio is not the same when television is also available because now that information, that sound, is perceived in a world where sound is also perceived with images. I’ll be honest, it’s something that mostly flies over my head, he goes on to discuss how society doesn’t usually make any effort to shift or change when a new medium is adopted, except by artists, he seems to again see this as dangerous, irresponsible.

It reminds me of previous topics we’ve discussed like responsibility in design, the role that we play, especially since our work is generally mass-market, in how society at large will take in and experience the world, but this also brings to mind the question of whether the author was too inward in his thinking, he never goes on to consider teaching the masses, he seems to consider the artist an expert all his own, one who carries a weight, a responsibility, a great power. Perhaps, this has something to do with, in these many readings, can only be described as a much larger ego held by those in what would come to be seen as design fields, with professionals wanting to create new and more perfect mediums for communication or bring in a new age of human experience all together, these efforts ultimately having either failed or mostly failed with their good bits taken in and adopted. Was this author more of those failed ramblings, watching as the world changed so rapidly and in that confusion making grandiose judgements and statements, not unlike say, Pope Pius IX against what he knew as modernism, rationalism, against what was a more traditional world. In contrast, maybe us designers are the ones who simply have a small perspective, thinking about how to keep a jpeg the right size but not considering the wider cultural and artistic impacts of what we do, or maybe should be doing, are they thinking too large or are we thinking too small, or is the answer more inbetween, and can I afford to find the answer while living in a city rampant with gentrification and a pandemic?

Towards the end he likens human society today, maybe thinking of America, with that of the Romans and Greeks, he states “the strange falsification of history by archeology, insofar as the survival of many material objects of the past does not indicate the quality of ordinary life and experience at any particular time. Continuous technical improvement in the means of warfare occurs over the entire period of Hellenic and Roman decline” here seemingly making the case that we shouldn’t be too optimistic about new ways to describe and shape information so much as we should be stewards to society always on the lookout, knowing that this is no indication of  us actually doing well as a society and, I would infer, as designers in general. A VR advertisement might be a million times worse, more damaging, and ultimately be backpedaling, even from 1980s magazine ads, at least I’d imagine that’s an argument he’d make.

Ultimately I agree with him more then I disagree, but that might also be because I don’t really like all the different ways the world screams at us, I like print, I prefer it, so what I understand from this reading already sides with what I already think, even so it goes in areas I wouldn’t think of and this is a reading I want to go over more.

The excerpt Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, the author,  Marshall McLuhan, describes that media and technology has been an long term effect for humans. Media and Technology is helpful for human. Media helps people communicate through the internet. As I was reading the excerpt, I can agree with McLuhan on how media change people ways. Technology help media to be advance. One of the biggest influence that media has a impact on is our phones.

Phones help people communicate all around the world. Media is apart of advanced technology. Instead of writing a letter that would take days to be receive, a person could send text within 1 sec back and forth. Faster communication is key to the media. The term “The medium is the message” is being as content. The word “Message” that was used lot in the article was a key word for human senses. The author also explain that media is good but don’t let it control you. As the media grows the more control it has upon us.

Almost every where you go a person is stuck to their phone but it’s to not to be. Almost everything you wanna see is on one device. Everything that’s happening in the world right now can be seen on one device. Through out the years technology has become more advanced. Technology in media has become humanity’s best invention. Media helps designers like us to get our name out to the world. Todays’s society social media is a best way to get your work seen. Also social media is a way to make money and start a business. Since socializing with others isn’t a thing anymore. More people connect with each through social media.

Media extend human beings or humainty by the medium that is technology that gives us the opportunity to use it to communicate with other by using it and also to spread those  message to ourself. In the article by McLuhan’s influential 1964 book Understanding Media: “The Extensions of Man” says that “characteristic of all media, means that the “content” of any medium is always another medium”. This quote means that medium is the message wheather it is verbal or written that is also medium that has message to share with others.  

The hazards that  technological progress might bring for individual and society in electric age or in the current age are that one is human jobs that might replace with technology and the second is that people communication will be depend on technology too. As in the reading the author says that “It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of modern society and the stability of its inner life depends in large part on the maintenance of an equilibrium between the strength of the techniques of communication and the capacity of the individual’s own reaction”. This quote explains that people in modern lifes of communication depends on the the medium of the technology the techniques they use to communicate and that it takes the strength to in their inner life this techniques is the important part of their life.

If “the medium is the message,” The  role of the artists and designers play in creating new ideas and those are that they use technology and the medium to shape and influence  the society as they share the message. As it goes on, in electric age, “the medium is the message,” becomes the basic idea and design that people normally use to spread the educational theory.  It may means that now days, media is everywhere people use the technology to spread the content or message to make an awareness or educate people on some issues either usung the written words or the design. 

 

The “media is the message” emphasizes the importance of the form of the media, that is, the media itself. The other dimension opposite to “form” is “content”. Taking mobile phones as an example, “mobile phones” themselves are a form of media, and what we watch through mobile phones, such as news, pictures, videos, etc., are all media content (also known as “messages”). If you ask which of form and content has a greater impact on us, I think most people’s first reaction is the latter, that is, content. After all, what people directly read and receive is the main factor affecting cognition and attitude, rather than Abstract form concept. The media changes people’s thinking and life unknowingly. In other words, new media forms change our experience of ourselves and society, and this influence is ultimately more important than the content of the specific message it conveys.

McLuhan analyzed media as human extensions, it extends our body and senses, For example, wheels are extensions of feet, clothes are extensions of skin, and houses are extensions of collective skin. The second is the extension of senses. For example, a printed book is the extension of vision, especially in this “electric age” our senses has been greatly extended, radio, telegraph, telephone, television and other emerging media. These extensions have impacted human society at different levels, from the revolution to certain things being treated differently in different cultures.

After the release of the Apple iPhone, smartphones gradually replaced personal computers as one of the most used hardware. “We can really say Mobile phones are an extension of human organ functions to some extent. “Due to the maturity of the smartphone industry, the era of mobile Internet with apps as the core has officially arrived. The form of the media is gradually fragmented, and it cuts apart the scenes, time, and relationships with which we are exposed to information. With the emergence of tablet products, box products, smart wearable devices, home intelligent products, and in-vehicle systems, all these took us to a new era. The media is no longer isolated, and the information is not isolated. Messages flow between multiple screens in an instant. Messages are organically connected together through a personal ID with a smartphone as the core, and new messages are constantly created in this flow.  Every new medium is changing our thinking and behaviors.

I believe that media extends human being or humanity in general in a few ways but also takes away from human being and their humanity. Media extends human beings by giving them a way of communicating and creating without a typical pen and paper but I agree when they state that “We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them.” Ever since technology has presented itself in our world, we have taken it with open arms and accepted it as a way to get everything faster and more efficient but what it is actually doing is limiting our creativity and our judgement on what works within the graphic design world and what doesn’t. Media extends humans in the sense that the medium they use is not the only medium they are using. For example, the written word is the content of print and the content of written word is speaking.

The hazards that technological progress bring to individuals and society in the “electric age” is the idea that structure and configuration are the two main ideas for creating that this is all they teach students in class. Which was point in our Bauhaus reading when they stated that going to school doesn’t make you an artist. “If it works its obsolete,” this is the idea that is being placed into the minds of the current age but this is not true. In another article that was read in class, it stated that even though a solution works, doesn’t mean it is the right one. Technology itself is growth and change but what they don’t understand is the extend of the growth and the understanding of change.

Artists, in creating new ideas, can take on technology and utilize it in a way to stay afloat in the design world. It is our duty to adapt to the new things in life especially if it impacts our profession. “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.” This means the person, no matter what field they are in, understanding who they are and what the world is giving them is a true artist.

In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan describes technology and media as “extensions of man”. The media is true a way for human to communicate and help people transform their messages, but I also agree with Mcluchan that the media has changed the way we behave by making us think in a certain way. Like for example emojis is a way of communication with images that states or identify a certain message. Meanwhile media can change the people’s brain through technology, because messages reach people through technology.

Society is very much dependent on technology either they know information from twitter or Facebook or they use their phones to communicate. I think designer can use the media in a way that either they can spread a message or take a message. They can also use media as a way to get inspiration and not basically use it in a way that can change the way of thinking .

 

 

Class,

First of all, I hope everyone is healthy, safe, remaining calm, and following recommendations to stay out of harm’s way. These are obviously uncertain times, but I sincerely believe that if we navigate them carefully and thoughtfully we will emerge from them stronger and better than before.

We could make a long list of DO’s and DONT’s concerning how to act and what to believe, and we should all be considering that list. But for the sake of this post,  I will just say please DO keep checking updates from the school, and please DO keep checking back to this OpenLab page for updates specific to our course.

We are all improvising here. That means there may be some delays, changes, and variations to the course. The first of which is that we can expect to not meet in person for the remainder of the semester. This is particularly troubling to me, as our classroom conversations are one of my favorite parts of teaching the course. But I am, like all of your instructors, developing a path forward that will still incorporate our conversations, though in a slightly altered form.

I will continue to update you via this site as that path is developed. For now here are some pertinent items:
– Classes are suspended this week, including Tuesday March 17.
– We will resume classes next week, March 24, as an online meeting.
– Plan to log-in to our next classroom session at 8:30am on Tuesday, March 24. We will plan to use Zoom to conference in. I will create a new post with full details in the coming days.
– Stay on track with your assignments. We are going to continue to follow the syllabus. Your response to the McLuhan reading is still due on the 17th, and the reading for the 24th will be posted on Tuesday morning.
– Please let me know if you have any questions or immediate concerns. Email me: mlange@citytech.cuny.edu, comment on this post, or send a message through OpenLab.

Again, I’ll be posting more updates soon. Until then, be well, be cautious and be calm. Let me know if there is anything more I can offer or share.

Matt

 

 

From Marshall McLuhan’s book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”, he discusses the progression of technology in society and the relationship between technology and the medium. In his book he states, “it is the medium thatControls the scale and form of human association and action. The content or use of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human association”. Here McLuhan is explaining how the medium itself is the message and that it depends on the content of that message. Without the content being defined then the content of the medium will not be clear. We see this idea being applied in technology and we the consumers use and interact with it. For example, Youtube is a huge platform where people post thousands of videos. The content of the videos themselves is what will have an impact on how many people will be on Youtube, but more specifically the group of people that will be watching certain videos based on their interest. This is how technology more specifically affects us today, we have access to so many platforms and we as consumers take in all kinds of information that can shape how we think and perceive certain things. 

McLuhan also discusses how technological advancement is beneficial to human development. I do agree with this because technology has helped humans expand and learn so much about the world we live in, especially right now where we need social distancing and online classes because of the coronavirus outbreak. We are lucky that we have the technology to help us during this time of distress. McLuhan also gives an example of this in his book, “The railway did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work and leisure”. In this example we see how the advancement of technology opened more opportunities for society. There were more jobs available for people, work was also made much easier with the aid of a machine, and technology also provided some entertainment to us.  Although technology may be great it does also take a toll on us as well. It could be easy for us to believe anything whether it was right or wrong simply because of large social media platforms controlling what news and information we see. 

After reading this chapter it has made me wonder how the things that McLuhan has discussed affect us as designers. After some thought I realized that as designers the things we create are based on society today. Especially when every other year there are trends and new softwares being released, this affects how we design. What we make could be popular now but in a few years it might not be, however in the future whatever we do design would be based on the growth and development of what was designed in the past and with the materials used to design it. I think this is what McLuhan was trying to get across in his book, especially how media and technology affect us. 

What I learned from the articles that typography crated by using science, math, and beauty. Most people went by the beauty of a image back then which was cool but in reality everyone need clarity to be able to see to read. As time go by modern technology advances better quality. Math is very important because it balance how many things you need to create a product to figure out how long how tall for things to be even out. Science is also important because scientific knowledge creates new technology. Science and math work together as one.

The article, Jan Tschichold, of The New Typography (1928), believes in that the New Typography has clarity than the old typography which was more focus on the beauty aspects. Old typography was more freely way of art and a free way to express an individual through type. Clarity for the new typography has rules. As a designer you want to grab people attention, match with theme of an art work that shows entitlement. Designer are also considers as problem solver. In the article Karl Gerstner, Designing Programmes (1964).  According to the article designing means to pick out determining elements and combine them. The reason why design is created to help ideas come to life, and bring out the creativity in a form of art.

Before designing, there’s an important aspect which is grid, Designing a grid before designing is important because it give a professional layout on to place things in the right way and not just all over the place. Josef Müller-Brockmann, Grid and Design Philosophy (1981), believes in building a grid before designing. “This is the expression of a professional ethos: the designer’s work should have the clearly intelligible, objective, functional, and aesthetic quality of mathematical thinking.”. according to the article. Also show value into your art work

Marshall McLuhan stated “This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves…” From my understanding, McLuhan is saying that the medium itself has a greater impact on the nature of society and culture than the message that is delivered through that medium. Media is an extension of human beings in that it has become an integral role in how we communicate and how it shapes the social and cultural structure of humanity itself. Take for example, facebook. Through facebook, you can communicate any message you want, but whatever you are communicating is not nearly as impactful as the platform itself. Not to take away the power that content can have, but compared to the medium as a whole, it is less impactful.

Although technology has streamlined communication, convenience, and manufacturing, there are some negative aspects to it as well. Technological progress often means than human workers get replaced with automation. Another downfall is that we are at a point in society where most technology is considered a necessity for day to day living. Not only that, it has changed the very fabric of our communication systems. Basically, we have become too dependent on technology. Marshall McLuhan states “Many people would be disposed to say that it was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that was its meaning or message.” What he is saying is the way we send and receive messages is more important than the message itself. What I believe he is referring to is how in this modern age with advanced technology and forms of communication, we are no longer just consumers of media but we also became the producers. The fact that any ordinary person can be producers of content is a good thing, however a lot of people use it to spread hate, ignorance and false information.

Being a designer means being a part of what shapes and influences society. Design is everywhere in media, and we must use that to contribute the change we would like to see. We have a moral obligation to turn down spreading messages of hate and ignorance because the power we hold is bigger than we think.