Manufactured Landscapes

When Ms.Baichwal directed this documentary, i don't think she had any idea what amazing insight she would gain. The concept was all about observing Mr.Brutensky's work as a photographer. Shooting him at work in China and in Afghanistan and trying to make the audience feel the intensity of the shoot and the depth of the experiences they went through.

The documentary was shot in 2005 , it shows the working people of china were suffering from inhumane working hours without decent pay and the amazing and unfortunate footprint they are leaving the environment with. The film captured a very important issue and portraits a message that i think people around the world should be well aware of. The earth is being destroyed by man. Big corporations are well aware of the damages their factories are producing but that doesn't stop them.

That is exactly what the photographer was trying to convey through his photographs. In my opinion, The documentary is much, much stronger than the photographs. Mr.Brutensky is without a doubt an amazing photographer but i think the subject matter is what made his photographs that strong . However, the documentary gave the people of china and Afghanistan more attention and was way more affective in getting me thinking about how important of an issue it is. It had the power of portraying the intensity of the situation and that made it much more intense than the stillness of the photography.

link:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/movies/20land.html

Responsibly Answers Absurdity By Michael schemidt

As Graphic designers , are we responsible for globalization or not? Globalization is the strategy of making an international influence therefore getting global control. That is a pretty huge thing to be responsible of if i am just a graphic designer working for a company to make a living. However , as designers , if we are exposing our work to the world , we do play a small part in globalization.

The reason why companies want to globalize is because they realize that the consumers have control. They get to decide what's worthy of their money and what's not. Therefore, in order to be worthy of their money they need to meet their needs; find out exactly what their looking for and provide it. especially when it comes to national holidays. Brands realize how important holidays can be, especially religious ones. That is why they wait for opportunity they get to take advantage of that influence. For example, when it comes to ramadan ; the religious muslim holiday , Brands attack it with adds and campaigns, aiming to link their brands with this holiday. The holiday should be all about our islamic and arabic culture and celebrating our muslim heritage so when a brand like Mcdonalds ; an american brand, makes an add of a certain product linked to ramadan that is simply absurd in the author's opinion. However , brands don't look at it from that point of view, they look at it as reaching to that certain society so that they would be appreciated.

In my point of view, those brands can't be blamed or frowned upon because it is their job to reach to the costumers in any way they can and i don't see a problem with Mcdonlads or burger king or any other foreign brands making adds for ramadan , i see it as a respect for our holiday even if that not what they aimed for.

link:

http://kissmyblackads.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

The Cultural influence of brands By Chris Riley

As designers , when it comes to designing for brands, we understand that the consumers of this generation have fulfilled their basic needs and are now looking for luxury products. What i mean is, years and years ago, people didn't have much choice when it comes to choosing a product, whatever that product may be. industrialization was limited and monopoly was widely spread. People needed necessities so they go out , find that one and only shop that sells that product and buy it, they didn't have choices at all. However, especially in the last century , the industrial world has expanded beyond imagination and that made the consumers stop and think carefully about what they wanted. They have the choice now , they have the power to be picky and expect more from brands. They demanded to get what is promised in the adds or they will switch to another brand. That power made brands put all their efforts into costumer satisfaction. Not only that, but they had to convince the consumers that they absolutely must go with their brand. How? By influencing their ideas into the culture, making the culture feel their brand is the coolest choice they can make. For example fashion industries use famous and lovable celebrities as their models in order to make their fans believe that it is what they think is cool therefore it is. As designers we do influence culture by working for these brands but in my opinion, its not such a bad thing, when used right of course. By that i mean , it would not be ethical for a designer to influence a culture to go for certain brand , when he knows it's harmful. However, when a designer is involved in marketing a product aimed towards the betterment of the community, it something to be proud of.

link:

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/06/behold_emma_watsons_burberry_c.html

Who gets to say what to whom? By Maud Lavin

Design is a powerful means of communication. People of authority realize that , but are they using it to the people's advantage? are they communicating the right message? Do designers nowadays put themselves in other stalk holders' positions and view their design from different points?

First rule you learn in design school is before you start any design, you need to research. Research is the first and most important step of designing. It gives you an idea of the market your designing for in order to realize how they are going to view your work.

Designers nowadays have lost their ethics when it comes to culture sensitivity, and they go ahead and broadcast their message to the world without consideration. The Unilever " Fair and lovely" campaign for example raised a lot of rage because people took a negative message from it that the product is trying to say that fair skinned people are more beautiful than dark skinned people, which harmed the product's sales.

As designers we shouldn't take the fact that our work can be viewed broadly so lightly, we should be careful of the message that we want to send out , and the message that could be interpreted because we do have the power to speak out so we need to use it right.

link :

http://www.fairandlovely.in/

Timing is everything, by Peter Hall

Timing is everything in Graphic design, and by that i don't mean time management. A designer can be greatly appreciated for a certain piece at one time but hated by the same piece at another time. That is because people are naturally affected by the events that they are living through and especially when you are working on a political design, you should consider the events or the situation that the people are in at that certain period in order to be effective. Not only that but you need to be sensitive to people's feelings at that stage so that you don't offend anyone or be misread.

An example of that situation was given in the article, the " Wish you were here" issue by sphere magazine in 2001. That year, the most unpopular president of america yet has been elected and it was a big issue that he was so shockingly unfit to be a president. The editors of the magazine decided to make the issue about it , by making artists and designers around the world design postcards of issues that they think the president should be aware of. At the time they thought it would be a huge hit and wouldn't be a problem since their country is all about freedom of speech and opinion. Unfortunately for them, the timing couldn't be worse for them to publish that issue. They published it just days before 9/11 and that changed things completely. Instead of people reacting positively to the issue and giving feedback about the issues that were addressed in the magazine, they attacked the editors for publishing such negative criticism of the american government at a sensitive time and they accused them of being terrorists themselves! The editors replied by explaining that they started the project months before 9/11 occurred.

The point here is that, if the timing of the publishing was different, that issue would have gotten a completely different reaction from people. That is why political designers have to be very careful and extra sensitive to the era they are living in.

The writer concluded by quoting socrates when he said : " The unpopularity of an idea does not prove it's false. It does however prove that it's unpopular" and i completely agree.