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Sub Culture Essay

Introduction

In this essay, the topics of sub-culture within a design is going to be explored with its impact on design holistically and how it impacts design as a whole and why it should be considered in the creation process. The idea is that sub-culture stems from rebellion or desensitization to a parent culture thus creating a group of people who end up separated from its parent culture of which it belongs. 

The idea is to consider not just sub-cultures that may be affected during the design process but rather the idea that a sub-culture that may surface from the result of a design. This notion is mostly observed from a multitude of angles whereby a sub-culture may form out of sheer rebellion or as a response to and a reiteration of a parent culture. 

An in-depth look will be given to the works of Roland Barthes, Dick Hebdige and other concepts such as Semiotics and Hegemony whereby an analysis will be made on subculture to dictate it impacts in design. There will also be an exploration of fandoms that stem from an iconic model in pop culture to further reinforce the concept that subculture is important during the design process. 

Subculture, The Meaning of Style

Author Dick Hebdige published a renowned book focusing entirely on subculture within the British scene around the youth culture called Subculture, The Meaning of Style (Hebdige, 2012). In this publication, Hebdige argues that style or fashion in this sense is the catalyst for subculture in the youth scene where he claims that even the most powerless of a teenager can become a punk rocker through sub-culture. 

Hebdige cites a wide range of subcultures within this text; he credits the skinheads to Rastafarians and even goths however he draws a lot from the ideals of structuralism and Marxist ways of thinking. Furthermore, he explains how black cultures like Rastafarianism pass on their values to other youth cultures with specific reference to dreads as imposing an aesthetic drawn from the 'otherness' of black culture. In this context, black culture serves as the fundamental standard by which other cultures are judged due to their impressionable output. 

Hebdige refers to some subcultures as 'cultural noise, whereby they create blockages within the flow of society due to their rebellious nature thus creating interference with mass culture. The blockage represents where a community has failed to meet the requirements of a subculture, and therefore style is where these groups turn in order to express their needs that they wish to be fulfilled. This also reinforces a concept of a dominant culture having a suppressive nature by way of this model mentioned above. 

Through commodification, one can gain an understanding of style. However, such a belief is only relevant when related to its subculture because once removed; it is then unable to express its need for a subculture. Although this entire publication focuses primarily on style as the focus of the subcultures, we can understand through this the idea of the parent-child relationship between the subculture, and its catalyst. It is this model whereby we base our argument that subculture must be considered in design or during the design process, as the relevancy of design can sometimes be dependant on subcultures that exist either for or against parent design. 

Hebdige says “our task becomes to discern the hidden messages inscribed in code on the glossy surfaces of style, to trace them as ‘maps of meaning’ which obscurely re-present the very contradictions they are designed to resolve or conceal.” (Hebdige, 2012)

Influence of Design on Subcultures

In this example, it's important to understand how subcultures are influenced by design, and then, through ontological design, subcultures form due to the impact of design itself. This is where the belief that subcultures may be an integral part of the design process or at least deserves some recognition when design is taking place. 

Examples in popular culture can be seen widely from music. Music is one of the most significant forms of design that holds such a significant impact that can be seen visually through these groups of people. Famous bands such as Metallica, Pink Floyd or even Nirvana have been observed to have played a role in the creation of not just subcultures but ideologies that would be seen to live on and stand the test of time having both contributed to the old school Rock and Grunge scene who, till this very day, is still being carried out and celebrated. 

To dig even further we can look at how design then can become commercialised as it becomes seemingly relatable to a large group of people such that they begin to assimilate the content or the design into being an integral part of their identities, the most famous example of this would be the band The Grateful Dead which is an old school rock band that has amassed such a large following to the degree where their fans are called 'Dead Heads' thus spawning a merchandise line called The Dead Bears which even today can be seen selling for a lot of money all of which began with the album art designed by Bob Thomas. 

It is evident that when mainstream design is commercialised it then gains the potential to be assimilated into or create a subculture thus giving strength, recognition and credibility to its parent culture. 

Relative to this we can also look at mainstream media for influencing subcultures where we can look at Playboy Magazine for example which made a subculture of men that shared the same views and goals as per what this magazine had suggested. These men who sought out luxurious lifestyles and seek to live out their lives as “Playboys” exactly as models such as Hugh Hefner would portray. This idealised and reinforced the thinking whereby a certain lifestyle became the influence, and like this, we saw a drastic change in the way men dressed for that period, in a way that would be consistent with that of a Playboy lifestyle in order to assimilate and infer it's message into everyday life. 

Subcultures in today's scene such as Hipsters or Vegans all stem from a holistic ideal that made it seem relatable or had a point of reference in order to promote or sell the idea. This is the contrast to the theories posed by Hebdige whereby his arguments represented subcultures as somewhat of a rebellious nature whereas Design Influenced subcultures merely reflect the parent culture and embody its values in their everyday lives. 

Why Subcultures Need to Be Considered

Subcultures are very important to design and can reflect whether or not the design is good or bad. Good design will spawn facets of fandoms and followings where these groups will carry these design elements further. An example of this would be cosplay. Cosplay is short for Costume Play, and generally, this is the act of bringing your favourite character to life, be it from a TV Series, Movie or Video Game. 

In the world of cosplay, a lot of more elegant details are considered, the aspects of the character from their clothing all the way to their hair as well as colours and mannerisms. To gain a better understanding, a video titled Why I Cosplay (YouTube, 2018), Two cosplayers were followed throughout their journey in order to gain a better understanding of their journey and the effort they put in but also, more importantly, to better understand WHY they do what they do. 

One cosplayer accounts: “Through cosplay, I could become these characters, I could live vicariously with how cool they were, and it seems people feel the need to become someone else to strengthen themselves.”  Not only does this account for such an emotional connection with these designs ultimately, but also one must realise what an incredible impact a simple design can have, and to go even further back, we can see that these were pure sketches or drawing at one point that evolved into these characters with personality and flow so much so that another person felt connected enough to bring that character to life for one day. 

“And really what makes cosplay so beautiful is how people can interpret curves and strange clothing pieces that wouldn't even exist in our world.” (YouTube, 2018), Quoted from an unnamed cosplayer, this speaks to how design is interpreted by the masses, this perfectly illustrates how people can consume design and interpret it in their way which is a matter of improving design and making it more efficient, as we're able to see how design can evolve along with the people who consume it. 

Above all, it is essential to consider the sense of community that design can create using cosplay as an example. These designs that were once just ideas brought people together and formed families through their choice of colour and shape. People sought to indeed dig deeper into design than most people would consider and in so doing they have given new meaning to design as a whole. 

And from a designers perspective, it's important to see how design is consumed and what is being interpreted in order to improve the design and this can only be achieved through the use of subculture. 

Looking back at the two contrasting types of subculture that has been covered, going from the rebellious nature to the unifying class, it's therefore crucial that one considers how the design process is portrayed as it could have either reception depending on its execution. 

Why Subcultures Are Intrinsic to Design

Through Semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, we're able to gauge precisely how design is perceived which is relevant to cosplayers and pop culture assimilation of design whereas, on the other hand, we have the concepts of Hegemony and Counter-hegemony which is the suppressive and dominants cultures spoken about through the works of Hebdige. 

These are very contrasting receptions of design however they are the reason why design prosper, it is the only way we, as designers, can gage many things about the designs, all from how its perception to what is being done with it as well as what changes need to be made based on the feedback we receive from the subcultures. 

In conclusion, a brand can gauge its strength through its design based on its subculture if it has one, and alternatively one can design with the idea of a subculture in mind as a design must be strong enough for people to assimilate design on a physical level or even implement it in their own lives. 

Therefore looking at favourite fandoms such as Game of Thrones, Star Wars or even Marvel and DC, These facets of design spawned multiple subcultures from its brand all the way from cosplaying to the creating of new designing spawning from the original. 

Subcultures tell us that design is efficient. As aforementioned, subcultures assimilate designs and make it their own if it successful and even if not, they will pay for counter-hegemonic subcultures for their voices to be heard. In other words, subcultures are the market we are designing for, and they are the make or break whether or not design is in any way successful therefore, we can design with this in mind as the goal, in so doing we will be creating for the right reasons working with the right target market from the get-go and as such we will be able to improve further or retract a design based on its child culture.