Task 6

Portfolio Task 6- Theory Into Practice

Look at the CTS blog that Garry Barker has been writing to complement the lecture programme this year. Write a short response to one of the posts on the blog. Use the ideas that Garry is discussing to mount a short critical evaluation of one piece of Graphic design that you have produced on Level 5.


Reflections on the first lecture, Surveillance and Foucault

One of the ideas in which Gary has discussed on his blog is, reflections on the first lecture, surveillance and Foucault. The idea that all design is centered on communication and that it helps in the formation of social and cultural identities. 'If you look at how graphic design helps in the formation of social and cultural identities, it is reasonable to suggest that class, racial, ethnic, age and gender groups etc. are often represented by stereotypes within the graphic design industry.

I am going to look at a piece of work I have designed which I had the chance to choose my target audience. The audience I chose was children aged 5-10. This piece of work was subtly controlled by the way we are stereotyped as the colours, fonts and images I used were very stereotypical for small children. I used bright yellow, blue and green, simple images of animals and bold clear fonts that were very large and also simple. I also produced things I thought would be fun for children such as bookmarks and  stickers, again very stereotypical. 'All representations are by their very nature 'less than' reality and therefore involve a selection or choice' I chose my target audience and therefore chose to stereotype my decisions within design. 'This choice is going to be one made by the person constructing the representation and therefore will reflect prejudices held on the part of the image maker'

This happens basically all the time in graphic design whether a designer has been given the target audience or has to chose the audience themselves, and therefore more often than not the design decisions made will be very stereotypical. 

Gary talks about how Salen suggests design fits into two categories of 'Standard and non-standard'

'Salen (2001) suggests that all visual form supports structures of cultural standardisation, marking distinctions between what he calls 'Standard and non- standard' participants' and also 'How it can become an 'agent of standardisation' but i do not necesarrily think that this piece of design fits into these categories however it does suggest that is it represented by an age group stereotype.