Tasks Due Last Week
- Review: Mainstream Modernism + American Corporate Identity
- Discussion: Week 8
- Reading Response 7
- Week 8 Agenda Checklist
This Week’s Topics
- Check-in & Reading Reflections
- The Medium is the Message
- Reading Response 8
- Week 9 Agenda Checklist
At the end of this session, students should have an understanding of the following:
- An understanding of the prophetic and influential ideas presented by Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960s, specifically the theories in his book “Understanding Media” and his quote “The Media is the Message.”
- Why these ideas relate to the persuasive technology that we interact with on social media platforms and how they are affecting human society.
- Guidelines and due date for the Week 9 Discussion
- Prompt and due date for Reading Response 8
Check-In & Share
Do you have anything to share from your Research Journal? Add a comment to this post with something you’ve added to your Research Journal recently.
Or suggest a track for the playlist on the COMD3504 playlist post.
Midterm Grades
I’m required to give you a midterm grade and communicate your current standing in the class. If we’ve met and discussed your progress, and if you’ve completed all of the work up until this point your midterm grade = P. If you are missing several assignments, or have missed several classes, your midterm grade could be BL and we should work together to formulate a plan to get you back on track. If you are missing a significant number of assignments, your midterm grade is likely a U and we should meet to discuss your options.
- P=Passing work
- BL= Borderline
- U=Unsatisfactory
- SA=Stopped Attending
Recap & Reflections from Assignment: Reading Response 7
Let’s look at Graphic Design History to see where we are in the timeline:
American Corporate Identity 1950s-1960s
Filmore Posters / Psychedelia 1960’s
- Is there a difference between “underground” and “mainstream” today?
- Where are the underground designers today?
Comment Review from Discussion: Week 8
American Corporate Identity branding of the 1950s has evolved.
“Branding turned into belonging: belonging to a tribe, to a religion, to a family. Branding demonstrated that sense of belonging both for people that were part of the same group and also for those who did not belong.”
- If branding is how we designate meaning through language, symbols, and words, how do the brands (in the broadest sense) that you affiliate with connect you to others?
- What is the meaning/ideology behind your brands?
Activities
Below find the information covered in this session. Complete all of the following activities, videos, and assignments.
1. The Medium is the Message (2+ hours)
Last class we looked at the American version of Modernism as corporate identity design and advertising in the 1950s-1960s began to take shape. This week we will move closer to the Postmodern era and examine Marshall McLuhan’s ideas about media as television was becoming the dominant medium. His theories were radical at the time and have been influential in the study and practice of design and media theory. They are especially important now with regard to the persuasive advertising model used by social media.
Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian professor and philosopher. He is known for coining the phrase “The medium is the message”. This statement first appeared in his book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man – The Medium is the Message, which was published in 1964. And in his more experimental text “The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effect“, co-created by McLuhan and Quentin Fiore in 1967. Note that the cover design was created by David Carlson aka the ‘Godfather of grunge’. Grunge was inspired by underground rock culture and it was all about breaking the rules of traditional graphic design.
McLuhan died before the birth of the internet, but many believe that his theories about electronic media were prophetic; that he envisioned the internet decades before its arrival. He spoke about communication technologies as having the ability to create a “global village” and the increasing loss of privacy as a result.
McLuhan argued that we should focus on the medium of communication itself and he defined media as a technological extension of the body. He used the term “media” in a very broad sense including the spoken word, the written word, the printed word, telephone, films, radio, television, etc.
There are many excellent interpretations and critiques of McLuhan’s ideas. Let’s watch a few videos to help us to understand his ideas in the context of today’s contemporary media.
Marshall McLuhan – A film by Daniel Savage
The media has the power to transform human nature and furthermore, no matter how powerful or persuasive the message, it’s the media that has changed our thought patterns and behavior. What does this mean for the “electronic environment” we inhabit? How do we decipher what media is fact and which is fiction? Discerning the difference is crucial now, more than ever.
Daniel Savage: The Medium of the Message – ADC LAUREN FESTA
What does “The Medium is the Message” really mean?
“The idea is that the mediums have a far greater impact on the fundamental shape and nature of society than any message that is delivered through that medium. What has had a greater impact on society and the way that we interact with one another, all the content of every Youtube video ever made or the existence of Youtube itself? All the conversations that you’ve ever had, the existence of your cell phone?… How do the mediums that you use help shape the world?”
The Medium is the Message explained by Dan Olson
This Is Marshall McLuhan – The Medium Is The Massage (1967)
Created in 1967, this video could be describing the new mediums of today: the internet, social media, online video, video games, virtual reality, etc. Watch from start to 08:23 (or longer if you have time.)
“The electric age is changing you, it’s changing your family, it’s changing your neighborhood, it’s changing your education, your job, it’s changing your government, it’s changing your relationship to others. These little circuits are making our world go. The electric age is having a profound effect on us. We are in a period of fantastic change that’s coming about at fantastic speed. Your life is changing dramatically, and you are numb to it.”
This Is Marshall McLuhan – The Medium Is The Massage (1967)
Social Media is the Message
McLuhan believed that media (in the broadest sense) is an extension of humanity, of the human body, and mind. How does media affect us? Our bodies? Our relationships? Our understanding of the world? Are we being changed right now?
If the camera is an extension of the eyes, what is the internet an extension of?
Tristan Harris, the founder of the Center for Humane Technology, believes social media as it exists now “is a simultaneous utopia and dystopia.” The utopia the user experiences is the dopamine hits and efficiency of on-demand everything, and the dystopia of the giant manipulative matrix that we are living in. How do we recognize the Matrix if we don’t know that we’re in the Matrix?
The Social Dilemma – Persuasive Media
In the documentary, The Social Dilemma, early leaders in social media, like Tristan Harris, have revealed that the medium of the internet, specifically social media, is becoming an existential threat to human society.
While he didn’t foresee the negative effect on society, consider Marshall McLuhan’s prophetic theories about electronic media in the late 1960’s, specifically how technology is an extension of humanity. Think about the current design of social media and the consequences of our growing dependence on it.
Clips from The Social Dilemma
Tristan Harris – A New Agenda For Tech Presentation (54 mins)
What will become of society if the persuasive technology used for for-profit social media advertising is allowed to continue as it is now?
2. Assignment: Reading Response 8 (2+ Hours)
Follow the assignment guidelines and prompts for Reading Response 8 – Wednesday before next class.
You will be reading and annotating an excerpt from Roland Barthes’ 1977 essay, “Rhetoric of the Image.”
Refer to Assignment: Reading Response 8 for prompts.
Resources
- Assignment: Reading Response 8
- Using Hypothesis
- Research Journal
- Grammarly
- Reading Response (Example) post
Week 9 Agenda Checklist
Below are all of the tasks, big and small, for this week. he due date is Wednesday, 11:59 pm before our next Thursday class. Timely completion of these tasks will contribute to your success in this course.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
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