What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self?

 "What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self?"

During my research, I have read "Olins, W (2003) Wally Olins: On Brand London: Thames and Hudsons". The book is about to inform the readers how and why the brands are important to costumers also for the reader to get a better comprehension about all the aspects of branding and looking at the history of it. Olins explains different brands which have been successful or not during this time, its referencing to  the most famous brands which they are well known now such as Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, Even Shell, Gap, Nike etc. "Branding has moved so far beyond its commercial origins that its impact is virtually immeasurable in social and cultural terms" I have found this quote from this book which shows how branding has become the most important thing in our lives in the whole world. Moreover this shows how branding has a massive impact on costumers. Going to the shops costumers doesn't focus on the product it self what it contains etc, but mainly on the logo, design or image. "The brand is controlled by us - the costumers, make it successful or not". Here is the other quote from this book which tells that the costumers which are 'us', have the biggest impact on making the brand successful or not by choosing products designed by companies. Ollins explain that all the companies has changed their focus in the last decades from making and selling to 'being', in a world of all competitive brands 'the rational choice has become almost impossible, brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership.'

Lecture 3 Chronologies 1: Type - Production & Distribution

Last week lecture was about the importance of 'Chronologies'.

Understanding where things come from and why things mean certain things.

Type is a form of illustration and is based on understanding the language. Type is far more than just a subject, it informs a lot of our decisions. It exists as it does because of historical context.

Typography- is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form.

First alphabet was Greek alphabet (pictures of sounds). Latin was the development of Greek Alphabet. There isn't specific time when the type was made, cavemen had images and mark makings to communicate but as people were spreading out into the world so language and type changed and developed till now. 

IMAGES - DIAGRAMS - SYMBOLS 

               past                                      now

- In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg - introduced printing to Europe. He has designed a type by working on the printing press began in approximately. In 1436 first thing which he created was 'Bible'. 

 A TYPOGRAPHIC TIMELINE OF CLASSIFICATION 

                                                                 

- 1540 to 1996 - developing the type. 

- William Foster - 1870-  has the biggest influence of developing the type. He sent the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. 

- Walter Gropious - 1900 to 1919 - founder of the Bauhaus school (1919-1933), the birthplace of modern design education.

- Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman, creators of Helvetica.

- Microsoft practically ripped off Helvetica in 1982 with Arial

- Steve Jobs - 1990 - Introduced first Macintosh on October 15 and it was sold for less that US $1000

- 'By making itself evident, typography can illuminate the construction and identity of a page, screen, place or product'- Ellen Lupton

- 'Typography fostered the modern idea of individuality but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and integration' - Neil Postman

- Vincent Connare - 1994 - Designer of Comic Sans MS. He worked for Microsoft.

- 'We realize now that long documents do not work on the web. We should need have though otherwise but all those short documents we're reading instead are poisoning our ability to read long documents'. -  John Clark

- 'Since typography is a communication method that utilizes a gathering of related subjects and methodologies that include sociology, linguistics, psychology, aesthetics and so much more… there is no single approach within typography that applies to everything'. - Shelley Gruendler

What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self

Today's sessions we had to identify the tone of voice within a text relating to our selected essay question. The question which I have chosen to explore is 'The relationship between branding and the consumer self'. I have chosen this question as the branding always interested me. I want gain more knowledge about what effect branding has on consumers. 

The source which I used for this question was: 

'Olins, W (2003) Wally Olins: On Brand London: Thames and Hudsons'.

Tone of Voice: 

I believe that in Wally Olins the tone of voice in the extract is quite informed and colloquial. The beginning of his book starts with the words 'Once upon a time...' showing his personality whilst exploring why brands are important to customers. The text is delivered via personally written short paragraphs in first person. The book is about to inform the readers how and why the brands are important to costumers also for the reader to get a better comprehension about all the aspects of branding and looking at the history of it.

5 Key points the text is trying to deliver: 

-  On the beginning of the book Olins introducing how branding developed affecting our lives.   'Branding has moved so far beyond its commercial origins that its impact is virtually immeasurable in social and cultural terms".

- The brands have become something that represents each individualistic of each person. 'We mostly take a product's functional characteristics for granted and while brands are still all about image, it is no longer just their own image - it is also our image'.

- different brands which have been successful or not during this time and their examples. 

- Branding has become the most important thing in our lives in the whole world. Costumers have the biggest impact on making the brand successful 'The brand is controlled by us - the customers, make it successful or not'. 

- The way brands get stopped and noticeable. 'Mechanism of branding was designed for and defined by modern communication techiques' as well as 'To sell products by creating and projecting colourful but simple ideas clearly'.

Choosing and essay question

During the COP lesson last week, we have been given six different questions/ themes that we have to chose and write the essay about. Those questions are:

• “To what extent have Modernist design principles influenced contemporary Graphic Design?”
• “How did Postmodernism impact on Graphic Design practice?"
• "To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?"
• “Discuss the role that Graphic Design can play during periods of political and/or social upheaval."
• “What is the relationship between branding and The Consumer Self?”
• "What is the role of print media in the digital age?"

Two questions which I'm most interested are:

'What is the relationship between branding and The Costumer Self?' and the other one is 'What is the role of print media in the digital age?'. 

Visual Literacy - The Language of Visual Culture Lecture

Wednesday's lecture focused on visual language when communicating type, images, signs, symbols and gestures and its affect on audience, context, media and method of distribution. Visual literacy is the idea that pictures can be read, but for this to be successful we need to have a basic understanding of visual syntax and visual semantics.

Visual Syntax

The syntax of an image refers to its pictorial structure and visual organization. For example, its framing, format, line, texture etc. basically all of the formal elements that make up the image.

Visual Semantics

Semantics of an image refers to the way the image fits into a cultural process of communication. This includes the relationship between form and meaning, and the way that this meaning is created through cultural references, social ideals, religious beliefs, political ideas, historical structures etc.

Semiotics

Toward the end of the lecture we were introduced to the topic of semiotics. This covers non-linguistic sign systems, visual language and visual literacy. It is the study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness, metaphor, symbolism, signification and communication. Visual elements of semiotics include symbol, sign, signifier, metaphor, metonym and synecdoche.

I think this lecture was really interesting. We were shown an image of apple and have been told that ‘its not an apple’ straight away. An ‘apple’ can have lots of different meanings starting from a logo of a famous brand to alternative name for a place in New York.

Symbol: (e.g. logo - image)

Sign: (e.g. identity - what the image represents)

Signifier: (e.g. brand - the connotations of the brand and its message or meaning)

Metaphor: Transfers the meaning from one image to another. Used to convey a message about something unfamiliar by associating it with something familiar.

Metonym: Symbolic image used to make reference to a subject. Related, but not intrinsically linked. 

Synecdoche: A universally recognised image, inherently connected to the subject.

Study Task 1 - Image analysis

Today’s seminar was based on comparing, contrasting and analyzing three propaganda images.

The first image that we looked on was the advertising image ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ (1876) designed by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York. The next two images were about ‘East African transport Old Style’ and ‘East African Transport New Style’ by Adrian Allinson. We had to answer four different questions about the choice, font organization and style of illustration, the purpose and meaning of the image, the target audience and the historical contexts relevant to the production of the image.

The first image ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ uses a Wild Western style font. The image is very bright almost abstract using the range of blue, red, white and yellow colors, which are creating American theme running throughout the poster. From the American flag on the wall, carpet, curtains to the character’s old fashion clothes everything represent America, this indicates how proud they are of being ‘American’ and of their country achievements.  The image has a bit of cartoony look, it looks like a hand drawing or painting rather than an advertisement.  Also is not organized giving an impression of being jokingly and not serious.  

The Uncle Sam Range (1876) Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York

Looking at this image we can clearly say that the purpose of this image is to show how America has been feeding the whole world. In the left top corner of the image there is a clock on the wall and all the goods on the table in the centre of the image, which indicate that 100 years has passed, and their celebration of achieving something. However, the eye is drawn to three things in particular. The globe sitting next to the table, the woman, which is giving the food and the men next to her looking as a very important person. The globe is holding a long list with different names of the countries on it, which looks like a list of trading between countries.  

The other two images ‘East African transport Old Style’ and ‘East African Transport New Style’ uses San Serif, bold and eye-catching font. The image has a different style of printing than the first image ‘The Uncle Sam Range’. The image appears to be more as w watercolour painting also the image is well organized. The purpose of this image seems to be promoting the colonial empires and that the aim is not money, but to show how successful the effort of modernisation is going. Moreover, they are trying to show to the readers how they helped modernise and improve the transport in Africa with technology. In the first image we can see African’s people in their traditional clothes while walking through the wilds with their kids, while carrying at the same time supplies. The second image shows improvements that came about doe to the colonisation for e.g. traveling by transport, industry, trucks and different style of clothing as well. Furthermore, there are no children on this image; this shows how the attitude towards woman has changed. 

Empire Marketing Board - 'East African Transport Old Style' and 'East African Transport New Style' by Adrian Allinson, from the 'Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity' series of posters; 60 x 40 ins, displayed December 1930-January 1931; Waterlow and Sons Ltd