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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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Original Abstract

Abstract

This paper analyses the effect hyper-consumerism has on methods of dissemination. It will explore designers within the meta- modernism movement and the way they produce artefacts within corresponding mediums for social change and activism.

From the perspective of the multi-disciplined designer, this paper intends to address how the mediums of dissemination have changed to reflect the nature of the world and consumer behaviour through different design outputs. Furthermore it will investigate various mediums that best promote awareness around social issues.

To understand the role and responsibilities of the designer I will analyse current consumer behaviour and correlate it with the new way design practitioners have produced artefacts that spread awareness through dissemination about current social issues and democratisation.

The outcome of investigating into design practitioners advocating for social change revealed that, mediums of dissemination have transformed into consumable products that an individual can access and use. These products further promote the users support of the social issue/ activism, meanwhile being a vessel for dissemination as the individual uses the product within places of society. This paper analyses the effect hyper-consumerism has on methods of dissemination. It will explore designers within the meta- modernism movement and the way they produce artefacts within corresponding mediums for social change and activism.

Refined Abstract

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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I did a tufting induction at uni and practiced with the gun but if I was to print a poster in A2 size I would need a projector to project the image on the canvas. Due to time restriction I don’t know if I’ll realistically have time to do this but could potentially recreate it digitally. It is something I could carry onto my third year project working across different mediums.

I went looking at different fabrics for embroidery or printing at the fabric store and coumwnted some I liked. I also found a great photo of decontextualisation of adding a panther and a label and paint to a typographic poster. Brining in imagery that combines a existing idea with information and creating a new meaning or adding further value.

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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Poster ideas:

1. Create a garment with social message or icon.

2. Design a Rug with tufting gun with message.

3. Create a label and get it embroider to then photograph.

4. Create a physical object that someone would usually by and reproduce it by recontextualising an idea or logo and printing on it.

For example place a image of a Jonah and the whale from the Bible on a snapper or fish from the farmers market.

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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DESIGN RESEARCH CASE STUDIES — TASK 01.

02.

03.

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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Research Notes — Multiple Sources

Concepts + Thematics:

Quote: “vision and ideology in design is transformative because it reveals what might exist, and this can be influential in shaping beliefs and evoking intrinsic values in others.”

This is the world of consumerism proper, the period of “dynamic nexus between cheap energy, industrial expansion and rising levels of consumption” (p.12), where “continuous choice, of self-evaluation and social comparison” dominate, and through which “design and marketing must continuously ‘cue’ consumerism” (p. 102). Here we fnd an escalatory logic of comparison and competition carefully managed by designers and marketers — heirs to Wedgewood’s “engine of emulation”

Source: https://www.academia.edu/32661519/Daniel_Welch_Reviews_Robert_Crocker_2016_Somebody_Elses_Problem_Consumerism_Sustainability_and_Design_

Activism:

Activism as a concept has long been associated with advocacy and agonistic actions to produce change. It has played an important role historically in making social and political advancements in our society. By linking design to activism, “design activism” considers design as a vehicle for activism. Rather than viewing design as a technical exercise, “design activism” or “design as activism” recognizes the potential and capacity of design as a tool for social and environmental progress. We must recognize the power of design to bring about critical changes to protect the safety and welfare of diverse living communities on the planet. We must see design activism not simply as a rebranding of our work, but as a way to be true to what we do as landscape architects. Design activism is design that challenges power structures. “Design is political, and ignoring these larger facets makes us complicit in perpetuating uneven geographies and power structures.”

We argue that social (including political) change is fundamental to how society approaches and safeguards the environment, including living systems. Furthermore, we see the engagement of the vulnerable and underserved as an important part of the social change, from a system that privileges the few to one that strives for justice and equity. Quotes: Artist and designer Kordae Henry sees design activism as a form of survival, “We hold the power to choose between design that harms and continues to divide us or design that creates spaces that will uplift, connect, and distribute power to those who have been marginalized.” On a similar note, Lucinda Sanders argues, “the designer must be willing to engage in these broader, and often unfamiliar, systemic failures to operate as an activist – design through activism.” Joanna Karaman states, “truly engaging in design activism means more than just having the loudest voice in the crowd. The quieter, yet still powerful acts of uplifting new ideas, supporting existing community groups, and visioning potential scenarios in the built environment can have a lasting impact on people’s day-to-day lives.”

Barbara Brown Wilson notes, “activism often requires skills not all designers are taught in school, such as cultural competency, peace negotiation, community organizing, knowledge of other fields (e.g. ecology or economics), deep listening, and a desire to de-center one’s individual ideas toward a collaborative outcome.”

Randolph T. Hester wrote, “Catalysts see design not only as a symbolic and utilitarian end but also a stimulus to bring about political transformation.”6 For Hester, all design is design activism, “Every design action is a political act that concretizes power and authority.”7 The more important question, he argues, is “design activism for whom?” or for whom is design activism serving. Kate Orff notes that climate change requires us to imagine a different scale of action, “to scale up our work to effect larger behavioral modifications.” She further notes that this type of action is not usually commissioned by a specific client or through an RFQ process. “Rather, a pervasive, activist stance needs to be consciously brought to bear on all our endeavors to effect change.” Opposing Argument for Activism: Quotes: Denise Hoffman Brandt from the City College of New York had this to say in our interview: “Activism suggests being outside of what is normal—It is oppositional.” It tends to be “more a reaction, rather than a continuum,” she argues. Hoffman Brandt’s caution and critique are well taken. Rather than momentary disruptions, we must aim for sustaining changes. Source: https://designactivism.be.uw.edu/framework/chapter-1/

Examples of Social Good + Designers Product

· Parley and the NYC Department of Sanitation Foundation Work to Turn Plastic Waste and Litter into Special Edition Ocean Bags Collaboration Spotlights and Removes Plastic Pollution by City’s Waterway

Parley for the Oceans and the Foundation for New York’s Strongest announced a collaboration that will bring attention to trash from the city’s waterways and find an innovative way to use some of the plastic pollutions. Beginning this summer, the groups will work to remove litter from beaches and waterways across the city. After the clean-up events, some of the collected plastic items will be cleaned, processed and turned into Ocean Plastic® that Parley will use to make a special edition of their Ocean Bags. An initial, limited edition run of these distinct, reusable and durable bags will feature the iconic I LOVE NY logo to promote visits to beaches, parks, and other amazing attractions across New York State. The bags will be available March 2020, when New York State's ban on single-use plastic bags takes effect. “While it's best to use reusable first, through our work with Parley, we hope to not only help clean up the city's waterways, but turn litter that was clogging up our beaches into a ‘forever item’ that’s reusable, useful, and helps keep additional single-use bags from the waste stream.” said Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley for the Oceans. “Together, we will clean up New York’s beaches, upcycle collected materials and create a series of Parley Ocean Bags that empower New Yorkers to rethink their choices and be part of the solution. For the Oceans.” The funds will be used for projects and programming that lead New Yorkers to embrace environmentalism; forge creative partnerships that highlight Sanitation Workers' important role in protecting citizens’ quality of life; and to host special events such as the Food Waste Fair, which worked to help business owners improve the sustainability of their operations. Source: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fd14a8ad4328f0b6168fcaa/t/5fe360e57d6dcc5d80237bc7/1608736997789/Parley+-+DSNY+Foundation+Press+Release+6.8.19.pdf

To raise awareness and funds for the scholarship, we’re teaming up with Off-White™ to release a capsule collection. First being auctioned off at a New York event for the 2022 class of “Post-Modern” Scholars, the release will be made available on the Highsnobiety Shop on April 13, with all proceeds going towards supporting the fund. Source: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/post-modern-scholarship-off-white-collection/

Facts on social activism / consumerism: According to Richey and Ponte (2011), this business model is increasingly engaging consumers on issues on international development. Statistics show that a third ofconsumers prefer to buy from sustainable brands: according to the Unilever Consumer Study(2016), 33% of consumers buy from brands they believe are doing social or environmental good. Source: https://www.academia.edu/31225291/Social_transformation_through_consumerism_and_digital_activism

Digital Activism: What is digital activism? Does it create social transformation?

Increasing accessibility to communicate with thousands of people has made the Internet quickly atool of choice for organizations, or even businesses, looking to spread a social message with a widereach. Using Internet and digital tools to build community and create awareness, as well as make profit, has become common nowadays. Digital activism is where digital tools, such as Internet,mobile phone and social media, are used towards bringing about social and/or political change.Digital activism is a contemporary form of political participation strongly connected with the usageof Internet and New Media. As a consequence of the use of New Technologies, the methods ofmobilization completely changes. As a matter of fact, participation and online activism consists forexample on digital campaign and virtual mobilization through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.(Leocadia Dìaz Romero, 2014). Social media gives the opportunity to cross borders and reach awaste range of possible attendees. Technologies of information and communication has the capacityto get to know global events and react instantaneously. Thanks to these new tools social movementhave promoted cooperation, found supporters, or clients in the case of TOMS®, and organizeddemonstrations all over the world. Online communication has transformed the international societyin a ‘global village’ (McLuhan, 1962).

Good Glyphs Example Good Glyphs is a charitable project from the design studio Violet Office. The typefaces used throughout the website are Neue Helvetica and Good Glyphs No. 1. Larger headlines feature a randomized mix with the two typefaces.

Good Glyphs No. 1 is a collaborative dingbat font project initiated by Violet Office, with contributions by 32 designers. The font is icensed under SIL Open Font License v1.1. All proceeds are being donated to Doctors Without Borders. Source: https://fontsinuse.com/uses/33394/good-glyphs-no-1-website

Technology/ Social Media

Various forms of technology have allowed this democratisation of design, to the point where we are even able to design our own social lives. Source: https://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/democratising-design

(Decolonizing Design)

The word “decolonization” was originally used to describe the withdrawal of a state from a former colony. Now, decolonization has come to represent a whole host of ideas: It’s an acknowledgement that in the West, society has been built upon the colonization of other nations , that we exist within a system of privilege and oppression, and that a lot of the culture we’ve come to see as ours has actually been appropriated or stolen

Design values and history is taught through a canon; that accepted pantheon of work by predominantly European and American male designers that sets the basis for what is deemed “good” or “bad.” The authority of the canon has undermined the work produced by non-Western cultures and those from poorer backgrounds so that Ghanaian textiles, for example, get cast as craft rather than design. Classifying traditional craft as different from modern design deems the histories and practices of design from many cultures inferior. We should aim to eliminate the false distinctions between craft and design, in order to recognize all culturally important forms of making. Design thinking rhetoric is similarly exclusive: To frame design thinking as a progressive narrative of global salvation ignores alternative ways of knowing.

Simba Ncube, a graphic design student and researcher at London’s Central Saint Martins, describes his experience of being labelled as a “Black designer:” “While identity and solace can be found in the words, they still ‘other’ the practitioner and therefore their work,” he says. “When Western conventions are centred in design, this means that anything else is seen as ‘different.’” When a homogenous group of people decide what’s “good,” it’s detrimental to the profession, and results in the majority of people striving towards a similar style. Recognizing that capitalism “is an instrument of colonization,” and therefore that it’s almost impossible to truly decolonize in Western society at present, she says that decoloniality is about reimagining something beyond the current system we exist in. Abdulla and her group’s co-founders have written extensively on the colonial systems within which contemporary design operates. Source: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/

Within the current landscape of design academia, non-Western epistemologies and practices have not been taken seriously, and this has a history going all the way back to the need to develop design methods as a reaction to what was seen as craft-based design – incidentally associated with pre-industrial, non-European cultures. Dichotomies like this one persist to this day, where the legitimacy of relying on texts that do not fall within the Western canon is constantly questioned Source: https://www.decolonisingdesign.com/actions-and-interventions/publications/2018/what-a-decolonisation-of-design-involves-by-ahmed-ansari/

Quotes:

“For far too long, designers have remained married to the concept that what we do is neutral, universal, that politics has no place in design,” says Dana Abdulla. Yet the choices we make as designers are intrinsically political: With every design choice we make, there’s the potential to not just exclude but to oppress; every design subtly persuades its audience one way or another and every design vocabulary has history and context. Learning about the history of colonialism will open our eyes to how power structures have formed society today, and how they dominate our understanding of design. Source: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/

“The idea is to abolish systemic racism, [which] manifests itself in a number of ways. But for a 17-year-old who is Black – whether they’re in school or applying for their first job – in these archetypal positions, in design or business, or especially within fashion, we’re the extreme minority,” Abloh says. “Black people in upper-level management positions of these highly influential brands and entities are few and far between. I want to change that.” Source: https://theface.com/style/virgil-abloh-interview-post-modern-scholarship-fund-louis-vuitton-ss21

Actions towards Decolonization: Working with minority owned printers, for example, is one way of decolonizing design labor:

Challenging the system/way of thought examples: Clara Balaguer of the Filipino publishing imprint Hardworking Goodlooking proposes the following exercise for “the Comic Sans, design-educated haters” in an interview with Walker Art’s The Gradient: “Use Comic Sans, Curlz, Brush Script, Papyrus. Understand why people respond to it. Accept that social constituencies (not clients but constituencies) have made a choice that should be respected instead of ridiculed […] Challenge yourself to dismantle what the (Ivy League?) man has told you is ugly, uncouth, primitive, savage.”

Source: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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On metamodernism: Virgil Abloh’s borderless fashion practice The contemporary global fashion system is at a unique point of convergence

Research Paper Notes: between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture and across creative disciplines and representational spaces. Fashion designers are no longer confined to the catwalk, nor to the physical object of clothing, but are multi-hyphenate creators bringing together design principles from other fields such as architecture, graphic design and fine art. Within this shifting design landscape, ‘meta’ has entered the millennial colloquial vernacular to describe anything that is self-referential, and has become a trait common to a generation whose cultural production and direct way of communicating is based upon digital social networks such as Instagram and Facebook.

Abloh is a multi-hyphenate practitioner who works across the fields of fashion, fine art, architecture, graphic design, product design and music to not only rupture preconceived borders around creative fields, but to break the perceived boundaries between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture.

As the ultimate self-referential designer, Abloh has triggered a cognitive dissonance in the fashion community due to the innate inability to categorize him.

Abloh’s interdisciplinary practice fuses luxury and streetwear to create a new democratic fashion identity for both fashion maker and consumer.

Postmodernism was what Jameson terms a ‘commodity rush’ in which ‘culture’ had become a product of its own. Within contemporary fashion, branding and image have become more important than the fashion product itself in renegotiating the definition of ‘luxury’.

Clothing itself is not the main focus for Abloh, rather he is ‘driven by ideas – a way of living and being, not a style of garment’ (Stoppard cited in Darling 2019: 137) Pyrex Vision (formed in 2012) was Abloh’s first independent envisioning of a streetwear label that was also a societal commentary.

The brand reflected the growing popularity of rap artists such as A$AP Rocky whose style was a mash up of ‘high’ and ‘low’ fashion by mixing Rick Owens with streetwear brands such as Palace or Supreme (Kansara 2018: n.pag.). Pyrex Vision consisted of hoodies, t-shirts, basketball shorts and flannel shirts with varsity lettering and Renaissance art reproductions from the likes of Caravaggio (see Figure 2). Abloh here juxtaposes the ‘high’ and the ‘low’ recentering and de-contextualizing the narrative of the clothing’s wearers.A highly intertextual tactic gives cultural cachet to the fashion object while democratizing the access to some of art history’s great masters.

Examplen of Medium:

A return to the strategy of postmodern artists and designers to convey social commentary is being utilized by some contemporary fashion designers in an increasingly over-saturated market that is being criticized for its ecological damage, in what Geczy and Karaminas describe as ‘critical fashion practice’ (2017).

This collaboration manifested in the runway presentation for the collection.

The invite to the show was a bright orange t-shirt with life jacket instructions screen-printed on the front, and on the back there was a text that read, ‘I will never forgive the ocean’, the quote was taken from UK-based Iranian refugee writer Omid Shams (Madsen 2017: n.pag.). Holzer’s part came in the form of two films projected onto the side of the Palazzo Pitti with her signature wallsof text as the content, the projections shifted through various texts during the duration of the show as the models walked in front. In one film were thepoems of Polish Second World War resistance fighter Anna Świrszczyńska, the other film consisted of a compilation of poems related to conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Palestine by seven poets from the region living in exile overseas. The disruptive installation was a way for Abloh to add to the political conversation about the global refugee crisis, using his platform as a way to start further conversation.

THE TEN: ‘The Ten’, which was released in October 2017. The covetable nature of these releases, with their signature design principles, has pushed their resell prices up to four figure numbers. In a ‘textbook’ that accompanied the collection’s release, Abloh and Nike exposed the process of the collaboration and the ‘reconstruction’ Abloh went through to recreate ten classic Nike sneaker silhouettes, or to quote, ‘Ten Icons Reconstructed’ (Abloh cited in Warnett 2017: 17). This idea of reconstruction plays on postmodern concepts of deconstruction, by deconstructing the iconic sneakers and reconstructing them with his personal design principles, Abloh has created a ‘meta’ fashion object that reveals the product’s past, present and future. The multifaceted ways in which he communicated this collection, through the online ‘Textbook’, in store retail launches, and through live videos via Instagram, Abloh has created an authenticity in his design persona that relies on the accessibility of him as a practitioner that has only been made available due to the technetronic era.1

The ‘metamodern’ as a proposition for interrogating the aesthetic and cultural expressions of contemporary fashion beyond postmodernism is inherently defined by the globalized, borderless and technetronic nature of contemporary society. What we can see of it in the practice of Virgil Abloh is the way in which he moves seamlessly between disciplines, centralizing fashion while blurring the boundaries of what can be defined as such, predominantly through the multiple collaborations with practitioners from other fields and the ‘delocalisation’ of where ‘fashion’ has traditionally existed, which is within rigid class systems and on the rarefied runway. Vermeulen and van den Akker’s idea of the metamodern oscillation is epitomized in Abloh’s work as he moves between modernist design principles and postmodern ironic deconstruction tactics for the products he creates. His connection to youth culture and luxury fashion audiences gives him leverage to address important sociocultural and political issues such as racial diversity, environmental impact and global politics, and make them known to new audiences. Virgil Abloh builds upon the history of modern and postmodern cultural aesthetics to centre fashion as both a physical and metaphysical driver of criticality and progress, which is a utopic thought for an industry that is so frequently self reflexively commenting on its own end.

With these kinds of collaborations, Abloh proves that fashion no longer has to be just clothes, it can also be the metaphysical cultural production of fashion and the utilization of its platform to progress critical conversations.

Quote: On the installation, Abloh commented that his intention was progress, ‘I’m using my platform to nudge things along in a direction that is, Iguess, a little more utopian’ (Madsen 2017: n.pag.). With these kinds of collaborations,

Abloh proves that fashion no longer has to be just clothes, it can also be the metaphysical cultural production of fashion and the utilization of its platform to progress critical conversations. Gallery exhibitions have become integral platforms in which to communicate ‘The duo’s ironic and insouciant artistic gestures are designed to disrupt the divisions and tiers of stratified cultural production. The sculpture Life itself (2018) is a kind of architectural carapace designed by Abloh to house one of Murakami’s brightly sinister flower sculptures.’ (Abloh and Murakami 2018: n.pag., original emphasis)

It also confirms the idea that fashion is something beyond that of the embodied physical garment and when the fashion concept is placed within a context beyond that of the runway catwalk and retail space, the ways that it is consumed by an audience take on a completely different value system. This value system is one based on active interaction and immersion.

In keeping with counterculture, postmodern consumer culture was born in the 1960s. This consumer culture connotes individuality, self-expression and a stylistic self-consciousness. Postmodern consumer culture suggests that regardless of age and class origins, all people have room for self-improvement and self-expression. ―This is the world of men and women who quest for the new and the latest in relationships and experiences, who have a sense of adventure and take risks to explore life‘s options to the full, who are conscious that they have only one life to live and must work hard to enjoy, experience and express it‖ (Featherstone, 2007, p.84). Youth in particular is a quite sensitive group. Brought up in the midst of heavy-exposure marketing, they pursue the real thing - the uncut, untested, unplanned and unpretentious; strongly resist the commercial machine and the claims of mass marketers (Beverland & Ewing, 2005).

Within the value system of postmodern consumer culture, people increasingly view consumption as an autonomous space in which they could pursue identities unencumbered by tradition, social circumstances, or societal institutions. One such behaviour is communities around brands, a distinctively postmodern mode of sociality, in which consumers claim to be doing their own thing while doing it with thousands of like-minded others (Holt, 2002). However, for Webb (2007), this kind of group expresses the need for security and solidarity in growing individualism which rejects mass production and homogenised stores.

While there is a broad scope of consumers pursuing a highly stylised and aesthetic project and using the whirlwind resources of consumer culture to fabricate idiosyncratic meanings, Holt (1998) suggested that the landscape is not a general condition of postmodernity, but a critical aspect of people in high cultural capital resources lifestyle. ―The pursuit of individual style in the face of pervasive homogenising forces is problematic only for HCCs (people in high cultural capital resources) for whom originality and authenticity is a highly valued mark of distinction in their social milieu. The LCCs (people in low cultural capital resources) do not encounter this problem, since they pursue lifestyles in a less individuated manner that neither precludes commodities nor demands unique identities‖ (Holt, 1998, p.21).

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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VIRGIL ABLOH XQ INTERVIEW

“Activism is rooted in this idea that you can spread knowledge so that change can happen.” AMAZING QUOTE — Designers Responsibility and attitude to make change and spread awareness through different mediums and work.

“I’m an internal optimist so I fundamentally, so I really believe that the world can be better”

“I don’t think about boundaries I don’t think about boxes I’m an optimist that believes in creativity, so ofcourse when you start doing that you start drawing all over the paper and not within the lines”

“…. So I believe you can change the world by breaking your enegic reaction”

“There’s areas to learn, no one is born with a political stance in mind and no one is born knowing the intricacies between right and wrong and I think it’s important to live in a world and open space where doing exactly what we are doing is having dialogue and allowing people to talk”

Virgil discusses creating dialogue within the spaces he works in and producing products that are available and can be accessed by the many - sharing ideas sometimes limited to the individual by their own social classs or group. His ts all about creating conversation, forming an opinion and identity and developing responsibility to make the world a better place through dialogue. Whether conversation or medium.

“…. Insert that new idea again and see if we can get to a better place. if we the members of society keep this mentality and know where we are in the system, we can change the world that we live in.”

“You know for me, that’s why I always put pop culture references in my presentation, coz you know it was always burned into my head… you know you have to find your inspiration in a book or someone that has the luxury of history and context to say they’re great. You know I like Picasso just as much as anyone else but I also like future who is a graffiti artist from Brooklyn, who comes from hiphop and I understand hiphop because I identify with it. Hiphop is just as important as fine art, like why is it different?

Own words: if you extend your classroom to it being bigger than just your practice you obliterate walls and boxes between your practice and the rest of the world where a new articulated style or design message / voice begins to grow. https://youtu.be/hU39eXYMShA

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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Acceleration in Consumerism, Technology and Sustainability

The networked computer has progressively colonised, transformed and accelerated older established technological systems in transportation, communication and manufacture over the last 30 years. In today's global economy, the increasing mobility of people, goods and information enabled by this technology has led to an acceleration and expansion of consumerism, giving rise to what has been termed appropriately, 'hyper-consumption.

Despite appearances to the contrary, there seems little in the way of good news for resource-use reduction and sustainability. Rather than attaining a progressive 'dematerialisation' that was once predicted to slow or replace the 'box economy, the material economy is being expanded and accelerated by the virtual economy.

Rather, it is systemic and grounded in today's hyper-consumption, whose psychosocial or cultural basis cannot be substantially changed by material innovation alone.

Mobile Phone: 'The 'connected presence of the mobile phone links individuals in a network that is distinct from the community, place and time in which each is situated (Ling, 2008:180-183).

It brings distant individuals together in a sort of co-presence' and simultaneously creates a distance between the individual caller and their immediate social and material environment (Turkle, 2008; Campbell and Park, Intensification of social and technological processes closely aligned to the process and consequences of modernity itself.

Logic of capitalism connects continuous and destabilising economic growth with acceleration through the need to increase production and productivity.(Rosa, 2003: 8-10

Consumerism is this the pursuit of happiness or the good life through material, commoditised means. (Campbell, 1987, 2004) the romantic ethic and the spirit of modern consumerism. Oxford Blackwell.

The store and the till are now in our consumers pockets. In this state the virtual and real are interwoven an evident consequence of computerisation in many fields.

The hybrid of virtual image and real object and their interactive interdependence dramatically expand and accelerate consumer opportunities.

Sources: Turkle, S., 2008. Always-on/always-on-you: the tethered self. In: J. E. Katz, ed. Handbook of mobile communication studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 121-137.

Ling, R., 2008. New tech, new ties: how mobile communication is reshaping social cohesion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Campbell, S. M. and Park, Y. J., 2008. The social implications of mobile telephony: the rise of personal communication society. Sociology Compass, 2:2, pp.371-387.

This series of readings around consumerism was important to understand the market place where consumerism is the current. Looking at how consumerism has been in the past and the changes and interaction brought about the mobile phone - with the market access now 24/7.

The virtual market place was once thought to reduce physical waste but the contrary has occurred where it has rapidly sped up consumerism and the amount of products being produced. A word that stood out was hyper consumerism which sums up the current state of our cultural economy and production.

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grad604calebjerome · 3 years ago

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Discussion around Consumerism

 Own Words: While consumerism and mass production are inevitable cogs in our machine-like society, designers offer the opportunity for the consumer to participate and purchase an alternative product on the market that stands for something. Whether that be a sustainable bag or an item representing beliefs products now have the opportunity to be more than just what it serves to function but embody within it numerous notions and ideals that can be shared as the individual shares, interacts or wears it within the environment.

Looking at negative views of consumerism but then marriage sustainability and social commentary with consumerism — brings forth a promotion of new ideals and a new way to interact with goods that create social awareness and products that are reinvested into society and its social wellbeing.  https://www.academia.edu/32661519/Daniel_Welch_Reviews_Robert_Crocker_2016_Somebody_Elses_Problem_Consumerism_Sustainability_and_Design_

Early Consumerism, Trade + Beliefs Crocker continues his history of the democratisation of luxury in the context of early modern global trade, through adaptive imitation in design and technical advances in production allowing substitution of cheaper processes and materials (Chapter 2). He explores the logic of imitation, substitution and authenticity in design and consumption. While this process widens and democratizes the market “in turn it intensifes and accelerates the cycle of manufacture, purchase, use and discard, and compounds its environmental efects” (p. 54). Crocker’s thesis is that the fundamental role played by imitation in human behaviour (in the mode of Gabriel Tarde) is harnessed in consumerism in a circuit between design, consumption and production “as a continuous circle of adaptation and substitution based upon imitation, a ‘directed practice’ whose aim is to encourage more consumption” (p. 57).

Te frst section of the book continues with a welcome joining together of the stories of the development of design and of mass consumption (Chapter 3). Here William Morris as an exemplar of how “[v]ision and ideology in design is transformative because it reveals what might exist, and this can be infuential in shaping beliefs and evoking intrinsic values in others” (p.71). Beyond the celebration of artisanal values, however, there is a perhaps more ambivalent role for the designer, where, for Crocker, the designer’s vision or ideology and the consumer’s understanding of “the good life promised by consumption itself” collide as “two imagined worlds of desire”(p.75).  

Post War — Consumerism The second section explores the “dynamics that make today’s consumerism so escalatory, expansive and increasingly destructive”. Here we arrive at the “more mobile, technocratic consumer democracy” of post-war afuent society, where consumerism became seen not only as the key to economic prosperity but also to peace and democracy (p. 98). But while he acknowledges the post war generations’ positive sense of consumerism as prosperity for all—access to goods as a corollary of the social democratic and Keynesian compromise—ultimately for Crocker the “consumer as citizen” is a myth. Tis is the world of consumerism proper, the period of “dynamic nexus between cheap energy, industrial expansion and rising levels of consumption” (p.12), where “continuous choice, of self-evaluation and social comparison” dominate, and through which “design and marketing must continuously ‘cue’ consumerism” (p. 102). Here we fnd an escalatory logic of comparison and competition carefully managed by designers and marketers—heirs to Wedgewood’s “engine of emulation”.

Source:  Welch, D. (2017). Robert Crocker (2016) “Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design”. Reviewed in: Journal of Consumer Ethics. 1(1), pp. 48-53. 

This essay by Robert Crocker was super informative about consumerism - the section which I believed was upmost value was discussing post war consumerism and the rate at which it sped up and how that has impacted our society. Cheap expansion and high production has decreased value in a lot of products but has spread many messages around. Also the idea of consumerism making you human, a citizen that is participating in culture. Ultimately you are being used by the large companies. It was also a super important point to note how the designer has a role of visioning and shaping the future. Or possibilities of the future which I wrote about in my write up on defuturing the future for design research class. Providing ideas or visions of the future for example equality on a shirt - it is a potential vision of the future which people consume and support thus shaping a culture and moving towards certain ideals.

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