The first things first manifesto is a call to arms to designers, telling them that they should be using their expertise to support companies and causes that contribute to our national prosperity instead of 'flogging their skills and imagination to sell things'. The Emporio Armarni 'diamonds' perfume advertisement below is an example of these products that has been skilfully designed by creatives who in turn have contributed to the consumerism that is unhealthy for our society. The advert preys on the target audiences insecurities and advertises the image more than the perfume. They are selling the hope to be more like Beyonce to the audience. They are buying the perfume not based on the smell, but the fact that Beyonce is using it and the elegant way. The bottle has been designed in an aesthetic that resembles a diamond which gives the product its name. The reason they have chosen this is the preconception that diamonds are extremely rare and have value. This preconception was falsely put in place by the Da Beers Diamond Company in the 1930s to open up a new market that they could control. This preconception gives the product a sense of value and important in the eyes of the target audience when in actual fact it costs them very little to manufacture it, giving the corporation a huge profit. This causes independent companies in the same market to perish.

This advert is the 'design as persuasion' mentioned in First things first (revisited) by Rick Poyner. 

Triangulation- Referring to a process where you use 3 sources (compared and contrasted) to reach an informed decision about what your talking about. The more sources you use and the more material and different views you find of your chosen subject, the deeper your analysis will be and more critical and informed.


Our Group was set the task of analysing the first things first manifesto (1964 & 2000)
Explain how the 2000 manifesto is deferent to the 1964 manifesto.

1964 Manifesto Points:

- Rebuking advertising

- Stop applauding work to sell products that aren't a necessity such as cat food, stomach powders, fizzy water

- 'Advertising industry is wasted on these trivial purposes'

- Instead use the talent to pursue more socially meaningful causes like designing sign-age for streets and buildings, to educational materials.

- Needs to contribute more it the national prosperity with the skill and experience.

- It is urged to develop a more critical and ethically sound mind towards the application of their skills, in a period of time when materialistic luxury were everywhere in the 60's from 'gimmick merchants' and 'hidden persuaders' in high pressure advertising to be more affluent.

- Working against materialism and instead working to 'national prosperity doing projects such as educational purposes.

- It wasn't set out to destroy advertising but ‘a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication.’

- Sparking a debate

(Garland, 1964)

2000 Manifesto Comparison:

- Updated to be more culturally relevant whilst structure remains similar.

- The original text was signed by 'graphic designers, photographers and students', while the 2000 reflected “graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators” so a broader reflection of the creative industries and not just graphic designers.

- 'Many design teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it' a tide of books and publications reinforce it'. In this update it targets creative students, a poster version will be designed by Adbusters who published the update and dispatched to design schools around the world to target this.

- ‘First Things First Manifesto 2000’ is being published in its entirety, with 33 signatories’ names, in Adbusters, Emigre and the AIGA Journal in North America, in Eye and Blueprint in Britain, in Items in the Netherlands, and Form in Germany. Larger published breadth.

- It also expands the original manifesto’s concerns:

'Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes and other information design projects urgently require our expertise and help. … Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.'

- Urgency and not just starting a debate. Having to do something about it and not just talking about it.

- Products listed are more ethically debated to 1964 manifesto. Credit cards - Debt. Sneakers - Made in 3rd world etc.... More ethically charged.

(Lasn, 1999)

First things first, revisited. (Poyner, 2005)

1964 was post-war consumerism.

Optimism with consumerism coming across the Atlantic form the US to the UK.

Proposed as a critique of US style consumerism.

Ken Garlan - Activist (CND) and socialist

Tony Benn agreed with this so it had political backing too - but socialist backing by Labour.

Suggesting that it has accidentally become a manifesto and a call to arms but not intended to when written by Garland.

underlying political system not in question.

Garland says it's part of a good economy in recovery of post-war Britain and advertising is not the end of the world, but you should just become more ethically aware.

A necessary part of economy.

Design is not neutral.

We only learn about the commercial fucntion of design.

In the 2000 manifesto it alludes to it as well - not just the world of consumerism but the world of education as well. It creates a system where there's not any alternative but consumerism.

1964 optimism that they could change the world. Very different time now to 1964.

System is not emerging but a global system of commercialism and consumerism.

Supportive of the manifestos. Revisiting it again and a history in support of it. Acceptance of it.

Michael Beirut (2007)

Foot-Notes 1-5:

Analysis of the 2000 manifesto.

Summary of beliefs and a call to arms.

Should this be a call to arms and is it accurate?

Talks about drawing attention to things that are ignored like the signatories of the design as they are signed by designers who work in culture already. Established designers in culture already and not commercial working.

Working in education already and not in a big ad-agency. They have practices above and behold having to pay the bills. It's easier to work for culture when you don't have to think when your next pay check comes in. They won't ever have to do that so manifesto looks down on designers and more importantly, students.

Tools of advertising are portrayed as evil but they are the same as graphic designers and examples are given in charity and non-for-profit organisations.

Graphic design is the art of the everyday.

Why limit your audience? Or impact.

Graphic Design role in advertising.

Inform vs Pursuade.

Views audience as passive.

Look at them as people and not just evil advertising.

How can you refuse to design everyday items for everyday people when it's what they need.

Behind the first things first manifesto that graphic designers have a massively impactful way on people. In jobs in advertising - what is your role? Graphic designers don't shape the message if they work in an ad agency but instead ass the gloss and finish it off.

Thinking of people as too mindless and stupid but really they're actually actively engaged.

Presented in a way of- you're either with us or against us. Given a choice.

Avoids the complexity of the situation.

6-7

Personal freedom to seek pleasure.

Harmful code of public discourse?

What if we withdraw from this space?

If we boycott they're left to it or it's polluted with rubbish. Isn't it better for everything to be better designed by only the ethical? it is for our industry but to the public - do they even care?

Celebration of the role of the designer but humility is needed to remember not a lot of people realise the role of Graphic Design.

Culture Jamming - disruption of

Adbusters saying what we do is what all you should do. Have an anti-capitalist message.

But there's also other forms of designs which are very ethical but aren't as 'in your face' and sexy enough for Adbusters.

Bruce Mau (1998)

More or less a complete contraction to itself.

Point 12. Keep moving. Point 13. Slow down.

First things first is an educated and agreed upon set of values.

This is very opinionated and subjective by Mau.

Focussed on personal satisfaction.

Contradictory but this is what makes it so readable.

Informal, casual but individually responsive.

Everyone is a leader point 10. Individual compared to FTF where a collective impose their ideas.

Being true to your own creative self.

Taking your personal decision and then being a better creative.

FTF - socialist in how it is a collective responsibility. Shared responsibility which is its downfall too as it talks about everyone being equal to them.

FTF asks for designers like Bruce Mau in working ethically setting up a company called Public Good - for social chance. In his manifesto it isn't dogmatic and hammering home ideas - they're very broad in a sense.

Personal notes from online resources:

The superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal self. The conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id's demands, the superego may make the person feel bad through guilt.

The idea of the "mirror stage" is an important early component in Lacan’s critical reinterpretation of the work of Freud. Drawing on work in physiology and animal psychology, Lacan proposes that human infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body (reflected in a mirror, or represented to the infant through the mother or primary caregiver) produces a psychic response that gives rise to the mental representation of an "I". The infant identifies with the image, which serves as a gestalt of the infant's emerging perceptions of selfhood, but because the image of a unified body does not correspond with the underdeveloped infant's physical vulnerability and weakness, this imago is established as an Ideal-I toward which the subject will perpetually strive throughout his or her life.

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, the ego ideal is the part of the superego that includes the rules and standards for good behaviors. These behaviors include those that are approved of by parental and other authority figures. Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value, and accomplishment. Breaking these rules can result in feelings of guilt.

The ego ideal is often thought of as the image we have of our ideal selves - the people we want to become. It is this image we hold up as the ideal individual, often modeled after people that we know, that we hold up as the standard of who we are striving to be.

Comparison of Identity Theory and Psychoanalysis

The main similarities that i've drawn from Identity theory and psychoanalysis is the belief of an ideal self, a role model for our actual self to aspire to be like. Styker and Freuds theories could work together. Freud's theory suggests that there is a negotiation to your actions and feelings between the ID, Ego and Super Ego. The super ego consists of the conscience and ideal self that has empathy for others and stops your ID and Ego acting on pure impulse. The diferent balances of ID, Ego and Super ego make us diferent from each other emotionally and can create the Hierarchy within social situations that Sheldon Stryker mentions.

Stryker's theory speaks more of identities that a person can take on when in diferent social situations. There is a hierarchy of identities that a person has which has been formed with positive feedback from others. This belief suggests that there is a Ideal self that above all other identities is the one that we want to be. Much like the ideal self mentioned in Freuds 'ego ideal' theory that set rules for good behaviour which have been approved by parental and authoritative figures. Stryker's theory suggests that the feedback for your ideal self is a constant one that is never complete.

Freud's ID, Ego, Super Ego theory ties in well with George J. McCall and J.L.Simmons' Theory of Identity (1960) with the belief that identity is improvised as the individual seeks to realise their various plans and goals. The way Freud explains his theory it seems as though the ID, Ego, and super ego's balance of ability to control your actions changes with the social situation. If you seek to realise a plan or goal (as mentioned in Theory of Identity (1960)), the impulsive ID seeks to act impulsively to achieve your goal. The semi-concious ego works partially alongside the super ego to achieve the goal without causing harm to itself and other peoples perception of the ideal self.

Today we split into group and went through the 'Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Identity' passage we were set to read last week. It looked at both Sheldon Strykers Identity Theory in 1980 and George J. McCall and J. L. Simmons Theory of Identity.

George Herbert Mead in sited that any idea about self can only be thought about with other people ideas kept in mind. This is to say that people think about what person they are in a certain situation. 'Self' changes with context and diferent social interactions.
Individuals are motivated to

Sheldon Stryker


Role Performances are based on information in a given situation

We adopt identities that compliment other in a current social scenario

self objectification

Commitment to an identity- if an identity is validated then commitment will increase.

situation structure is the connections and relationships between individuals or in a situation

In relationships there are set roles played by people. Some social structures are rigid, whereas other are fluid and allow for changing of roles with the paradigm.

Salience Hierarchy - The hierarchy of identities based on success and import to the individual

McCall and Simmonds (1960)

Self-criticism - self review is more important others

Always some dissatisfaction as we hold high standard for ourselves

Over perform to begin with then adjustments are made in reaction to others approval/disapproval

Places too much emphasis on self evaluation and self-image as opposed to other people

Ideal image in line with plans and goals

Identity as a drive force of behaviour

'Exchange negotiations'

'Altercasting' - forcing a personallity/ identity onto someone

rewards


RELATING THEORY TO PRACTICE

a brand has to change the way it is viewed within society. Often they have to find their USP to identify/categorise it with the social paradigm.

Brands want to be perceived in a certain way by their audience. Either classy so that their audience will strive to feel like they fit in that social environment, or alternatively make people feel higher in a social hierarchy than the brand.

How you want to be seen as a designer can affect the work that you produce and you design decisions.

Design for who someone aspires to be, not who they are. Ideal image, who they strive to be. Design is about appealing to someones ideal character.

Product design. We have to make the audience believe that they will be perceived as 'cool' if they bought our product.

Other peoples perception of a brand will influence an individuals.

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar by German architect Walter Gropius (1883–1969). Its core objective was a radical concept: to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts. Gropius explained this vision for a union of art and design in the Proclamation of the Bauhaus (1919), which described a utopian craft guild combining architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression. Gropius developed a craft-based curriculum that would turn out artisans and designers capable of creating useful and beautiful objects appropriate to this new system of living.

The Bauhaus combined elements of both fine arts and design education. The curriculum commenced with a preliminary course that immersed the students, who came from a diverse range of social and educational backgrounds, in the study of materials, color theory, and formal relationships in preparation for more specialized studies. This preliminary course was often taught by visual artists, including Paul Klee(1987.455.16), Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944), and Josef Albers (59.160), among others.

Following their immersion in Bauhaus theory, students entered specialized workshops, which included metalworking, cabinetmaking, weaving, pottery, typography, and wall painting. Although Gropius' initial aim was a unification of the arts through craft, aspects of this approach proved financially impractical. While maintaining the emphasis on craft, he repositioned the goals of the Bauhaus in 1923, stressing the importance of designing for mass production. It was at this time that the school adopted the slogan "Art into Industry."

In 1925, the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, where Gropius designed a new building to house the school. This building contained many features that later became hallmarks of modernist architecture, including steel-frame construction, a glass curtain wall, and an asymmetrical, pinwheel plan, throughout which Gropius distributed studio, classroom, and administrative space for maximum efficiency and spatial logic.

The cabinetmaking workshop was one of the most popular at the Bauhaus. Under the direction of Marcel Breuer (1983.366) from 1924 to 1928, this studio reconceived the very essence of furniture, often seeking to dematerialize conventional forms such as chairs to their minimal existence. Breuer theorized that eventually chairs would become obsolete, replaced by supportive columns or air. Inspired by the extruded steel tubes of his bicycle, he experimented with metal furniture, ultimately creating lightweight, mass-producible metal chairs. Some of these chairs were deployed in the theater of the Dessau building.

The textile workshop, especially under the direction of designer and weaver Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983), created abstract textiles suitable for use in Bauhaus environments. Students studied color theory and design as well as the technical aspects of weaving. Stölzl encouraged experimentation with unorthodox materials, including cellophane, fiberglass, and metal. Fabrics from the weaving workshop were commercially successful, providing vital and much needed funds to the Bauhaus. The studio's textiles, along with architectural wall painting, adorned the interiors of Bauhaus buildings, providing polychromatic yet abstract visual interest to these somewhat severe spaces. While the weaving studio was primarily comprised of women, this was in part due to the fact that they were discouraged from participating in other areas. The workshop trained a number of prominent textile artists, including Anni Albers (1899–1994), who continued to create and write about modernist textiles throughout her life.

Metalworking was another popular workshop at the Bauhaus and, along with the cabinetmaking studio, was the most successful in developing design prototypes for mass production. In this studio, designers such as Marianne Brandt (2000.63a-c), Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1986.412.1-16), and Christian Dell (1893–1974) created beautiful, modern items such as lighting fixtures and tableware. Occasionally, these objects were used in the Bauhaus campus itself; light fixtures designed in the metalwork shop illuminated the Bauhaus building and some faculty housing. Brandt was the first woman to attend the metalworking studio, and replaced László Moholy-Nagy (1987.1100.158) as studio director in 1928. Many of her designs became iconic expressions of the Bauhaus aesthetic. Her sculptural and geometric silver and ebony teapot (2000.63a-c), while never mass-produced, reflects both the influence of her mentor, Moholy-Nagy, and the Bauhaus emphasis on industrial forms. It was designed with careful attention to functionality and ease of use, from the nondrip spout to the heat-resistant ebony handle.

The typography workshop, while not initially a priority of the Bauhaus, became increasingly important under figures like Moholy-Nagy and the graphic designer Herbert Bayer (2001.392). At the Bauhaus, typography was conceived as both an empirical means of communication and an artistic expression, with visual clarity stressed above all. Concurrently, typography became increasingly connected to corporate identity and advertising. The promotional materials prepared for the Bauhaus at the workshop, with their use of sans serif typefaces and the incorporation of photography as a key graphic element, served as visual symbols of the avant-garde institution.

Gropius stepped down as director of the Bauhaus in 1928, succeeded by the architect Hannes Meyer (1889–1954). Meyer maintained the emphasis on mass-producible design and eliminated parts of the curriculum he felt were overly formalist in nature. Additionally, he stressed the social function of architecture and design, favoring concern for the public good rather than private luxury. Advertising and photography continued to gain prominence under his leadership.

Under pressure from an increasingly right-wing municipal government, Meyer resigned as director of the Bauhaus in 1930. He was replaced by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1980.351). Mies once again reconfigured the curriculum, with an increased emphasis on architecture. Lily Reich (1885–1947), who collaborated with Mies on a number of his private commissions, assumed control of the new interior design department. Other departments included weaving, photography, the fine arts, and building. The increasingly unstable political situation in Germany, combined with the perilous financial condition of the Bauhaus, caused Mies to relocate the school to Berlin in 1930, where it operated on a reduced scale. He ultimately shuttered the Bauhaus in 1933.

During the turbulent and often dangerous years of World War II, many of the key figures of the Bauhaus emigrated to the United States, where their work and their teaching philosophies influenced generations of young architects and designers. Marcel Breuer and Joseph Albers taught at Yale, Walter Gropius went to Harvard, and Moholy-Nagy established the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937.

I would have liked to screen print my book, but it was setting myself even more of a challenge as I had never bound mount board before and wasn't sure how it would go. The screen printed book would have been more relevant to my content as it would have been a book true to its materials. digital printed book is just as relevant as Bauhaus designers were known for embracing new technologies.

  I cropped the pages only on the side it would be bound as I could then crop it all together afterwards to get a cleaner finished design. I found that digitally printing the pages caused the front and back of the pages to not register particularly well, but the 3mm bleed I left would compensate for that except for one page.

 The clamp at Blenheim walk was actually too small to fit my A4 pages in, so I made makeshift clamp with metal boards and weights which worked perfectly

I am happy with the final outcome, although there were a few errors which if given the chance I would want to change. The digital print changed the colour of my book slightly, but not too much and also caused the yellow text to blur and be less legible.

 The act of perfect binding the book can always cause problems. In this case, some glue got in-between one spread and caused a rip in the centre.

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN		LEVEL	04
Module Code	OUGD401
Module Title	Context of practice

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME	Ashley Woodrow-smith

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? I have developed the skill of writing about design and seeing how other work I have seen can be written about within the subject of my research. I believe I have applied this skill quite effectively. Reading over my essay I found that I managed to get my point across very clearly which has always been a challenge for me.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? I have the developed the skill of perfect binding mount board. I found that I had to use more PVA as the pages had more weight to them. Printing onto mount board was the hardest part. The registration from back and front did not align very well. In future I would screen print my pages as I have control over where it prints.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? The design aesthetic is very strong and very relevant to Bauhaus. I am very pleased with the consistency throughout the book.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? I believe that the concept behind my book is quite weak, or at least not as clear as I would like it to be. In future I will spend more time in the idea development stage so as to come up with a clearer and hopefully more engaging publication.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? 1. I will try to create a stronger and more interesting way to show my essay in a physical format. 2. I will consider different formats for my ‘theory into practise’, not just a book. 3. I will get more feedback next time, and organise crits. 4. I will consider the contextualisation of my essay within modern day design. 5. I will consider the mediums relevant to the content of my essay.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.