So I guess I'm going to be reflecting on the proposals of Anne, Khuyen (who already posted her whole paper on here, good for you!), Nate and Jacqueline - I wish I felt more confident responding in class but I feel more articulate when posting here. Anways...
Anne
I had a quick chat with you after class about what your thesis could be. Don't be so worried about having a complex thesis - you have a lot of interesting and thought-provoking information, just think about what your gut feelings are after all of this research, and go with that for your thesis. As far as specifics, perhaps you should concentrate your paper on why the zigzag building design of Ernst May's ended up being more successful than the work of either Pruit or Safdie. Exactly what insight/background/team did he have to help him create housing that "worked"? From what I gleaned of your presentation it seems that May had a more humanistic approach to the problem of affordable/enjoyable housing than the other two, though they were also working towards the greater good. You could deconstruct the design principles prevalent in each time period your buildings are from, and from this draw your own conclusions on which ideals ended up working out.
Khuyen
I know you've posted your paper online already, but I'll bite anyway. Your topic is a consice opportunity to educate those not aware of design's power in how simple things like the composition of two images in a single layout can direct the reader to see a particular message or flow that may not be hinted at obviously. I have just one query - I would like to see a little insight into how much autonomy a reader has when interacting with a meticulously planned book like Mau's Life Style. Does such a narrated format really allow for the reader to "form his own decisions", as you said in class? Clearly, yes, we all have some degree of independence when reading from a text, but how pervasive do you think good flow/design is? When something is well-designed, can we ever claim that the reader is truly left to come to his own conclusions? Is something that is designed also intrinsically narrative?
Nate
First of all - I love the cover art for Attica Blues. That photograph is beautifully shot, staged or not. Then again, when it comes to graphic design, how can you argue against the conscious composition of a source photograph? The Tongue in Chic album cover is an interesting work, and I'm glad you picked this to relate with the first piece. It is interesting that we all reacted the same way to the work - awkward, unsuccesful, ambiguous. What I find most awkward about the cover is the garish background color. My question is this - if you can find out how much influence each artist had on their album cover (for example, the partially self-designed album art for MIA), what would be your judgement on the corrolation between artist involvement and album "success"? Personally I think the MIA cover is one of the most hideous album designs conceived, but as you said it was very succesful and reflective of the artist and her influences - it was a sucess.
Jacqueline
Wow. Super interesting topic, and I must say I don't envy you for the breadth and depth of research you must be doing to find information on such an abstract topic. But it's interesting to think of the phone as reflective of not only society's changing needs, but of the mutating (and yet partially stagnant) role the female image plays in advertising. Particularly interesting is the attempt in 1960's to bring style and sensibility to the phone by offering it in many bright colors. However my question concerns something else - how do you think the role of the woman is changed in 2004, where gender roles in advertising, while ever present, have been drastically toned down to an almost subconscious level? I just spent 15 minutes looking for an ad for the LG Chocolate (i believe) from 4 years ago or so that REALLY set me off, in a bad way. It was an image of the phone - photographed very sleekly or entirely generated in illustrator/a 3d program - surrounded by a background of typed phrases such as "touch me. caress me. hold me. stroke me. love me. whisper into my ear." The color scheme of the advertisement was a dark chocolate brown mixed with reddish hues. I wish I could find this ad for you, because as ambiguous as it looks on the surface, it is obviously engendering the phone as a sexual object of desire. Perhaps not aligned perfectly with what you are writing about, but worth seeing. I'll keep my eye out and bring it to class if I find it :)
AH! I just had a huge response typed out and pressed backspace by accident. So frustrating, that is the third time that has happened to me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let me attempt to re-do.
I agree with most everything Christin has said, so instead of making my own post I’m going to add on to hers.
Anne- You are dealing with three truly interesting buildings here. I know we threw around the words successful and unsuccessful today in class, however I really do feel like they fit here. I feel Pruit and Safdie are unsuccessful in public housing for two very different reasons. Pruitt-Igoe was under-designed, and under-thought, with bad building materials and a total lack of public awareness/support. Habitat 67 on the other hand was almost too good, too acclaimed (not to mention too far away) for public housing. With that said, it seems the zigzag building is a fair middle ground that has stood up to the test of time.
It would be interesting to find statements from people who have lived in each of these communities.
Jacqueline- To echo Christin, this is a very large topic to take on, and I salute you for tackling it. I just wanted to share with you an experience I had while at my partner’s parent’s house about 2 years ago.
They were having some trouble with their cable and phone service; the phone had been down all day. By this point his mother was literally in a panic. I had never really understood the urgency of having a phone; I was raised in a house where no one was on the telephone very much. Anyway, his mother, Sharon, began to vent to us about the stress she was going through, not being able to talk on the phone with her sisters. At first I thought it was a little silly, however she began to talk about her large family (having 9 sisters) and how close they all were. It was a daily tradition that she called some on Monday, some on Tuesday, some on Wednesday and they would all spend hours speaking to each other about how their days were going and upcoming plans.
Sharon doesn’t have the best relationship with her husband, and no close neighbors/friends, so this was the only bit of relaxing, open communication she got. She said she doesn’t care about TVs, computers or movies, as long as she has a telephone she is content.
Anyway, I found this very interesting, and I’m sure you’ll find more people like her if you continue to look into the phone and it’s many devotees. To some people, like Sharon, it’s not just a device, it’s an essential need.
jaqueline- technology is a difficult subject to tackle, but i think you are handling it well. gendered objects represented through advertisement is an evocative practice and i think using semiotics to deconstruct your ads and their messages will be very helpful to your argument.
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