I love this sentence and I like how this idea is solved only by using typography. I think the way these letter "folds" giving the impression that the paper is folding too or is blowing by the wind, is very interesting. It makes the optical illusion of movement.
http://www.redeye.org.uk/redeye/default.aspThis is the link to a very interesting for photographers website. It is "the photography resource site from North West England", that how Redeye calls itself. This website was created for photographers networking. It contains a lot of useful information about events and exhibitions. It has got also a forum and a part called "advice and info". I think every photographer from North West England should subscribe to their email update.
Culture is all intellectual achievements: the arts, music, painting, literature, philosophy and the performing arts. Culture means also our education, good taste, sophistication or lifestyle, customs, traditions and values.
There is high culture and low culture. By high culture we understand the best intellectual manifestations of human activity. High culture is very exclusive, elegant, smart and expensive. It is characterised by high value, elitism, it used to belong to bourgeois and was often difficult to understand. As high culture we would traditionally classify Theatre, Opera, Orchestras, Ballet, Literature, Fine Art, Architecture, Classical music, BBC Radio 3, The Times, Guardian, Fine Jewellery, Haute Couture and others. Sports like martial arts, yachting, polo or golf and also cosmetic surgery or eating out in elegant restaurant has some associations with high culture.
The opposite of high culture is low culture. It is also called popular culture or mass culture because it is made for masses. That is why it must be easy to understand by the majority of people. Low culture is cheap, easily and quickly produced. It is described as trivial and low valued. It is closely linked with words consumerism and kitsch. As an example of low culture we can list Cinema, Slapstick, Escapist Fiction, Television, Soap operas, Pop music, Tattoo, Applied arts (design, craft), game shows like Big Brother, Cartoons, The Sun, “Mirror” but also brand like Primark or Matalan.
As I said Haute Couture is an example of high culture. One of the most famous couture houses is Christian Dior. It is very exclusive, elegant and expansive brand. Dior is known for his style but also very good quality, high standard, luxury products. That is why Dior’s shops art very sophisticated too. We cannot find Dior’s shops in every city. In Britain there are only tree cities where Dior’s products are sold (London, Manchester and Birmingham). Those products are only for very special and rich people. Even Dior’s advertisement shows that. They are presented in women’s glossy magazines, not on billboards. These advertisements show beautiful women in elegant space, which could be some exclusive, luxury hotel or villas. These women are sometimes famous but most of all elegant, actresses, like Monica Bellucci. She posed to the photo. It was not an informal situation. Even her hair and the bag seem to be in a posed movement. The photograph is carefully composed. The colour of the image is well balanced and subtle. The only writing is the name of the couture house Dior with its typical elegant, old typeface with serifs and very small information how to contact Dior. The information is big enough to notice it but not too big, so it does not disturb in presentation the main image. The advertisement has got this Dior’s sophisticated look and gives us impression of luxury.
Matalan is one of those brands, which are made to be consumed by masses. That is why I am using it as an example for low culture. Matalan is a very cheap shop, affordable for all and its products have low value. There is many more Matalan shops then Dior. Matalan’s advertisements are seen on billboards or online, never in elegant women’s magazines. Matalan also sends its catalogues to our mailboxes. In the opposite of Dior they are trying to get to every potential customer. One of their billboards presented two children, young woman and young man and old woman. The advertisement was trying to show that everybody could find something in Matalan. Presented on the image people are happy, friendly but not elegant or sophisticated. They look like everybody, like people from our streets, they are like we are. They seem to be in some informal situations. The billboard presented also the big Matalan’s logo- its name in red, simple, bold, only capital letters. It must be seen. To convince us even more to go to Matalan shop, advertiser put writing similar to handwriting “uncover the value”, like those smiling people were writing it themselves. As the billboard was situated next to Matalan shop there was no need to put any information about its address.
In 21st century, however, the borderline between low culture and high culture is getting thinner and thinner, more and more blurred. For example Matalan is trying to appear as an exclusive brand, only for elite. That is why only Matalan’s card owners can buy its products. It gives as an impression of elitism even if everybody can get very easily Matalan’s card in the shop. Matalan’s design is very similar to this presented by couture houses like Dior. Cloths and accessorize from Matalan, look very often like they were inspired by big designers. That is why the buyer can make a choice between very expensive Rebel handbag from Dior or Rebel inspired handbag from Matalan that cost £6. There is the difference in the quality and the price but it seems like Matalan knows all the latest trends in the fashion. Dior, just like the others couture houses, has got always two lines, two collections- very individual, one-of and exclusive Haute Couture and Prêt-A-Porte which is high street line, less expensive, more affordable. It is also quite fashionable to have very expensive accessorize like bag from famous designer, for example Dior and complement it with products from a mass culture shop like Primark, Matalan or George at ASDA. Even very rich, famous people love matching their clothes from luxury shops with these from vintage shops. We all know now what the other people are doing. We like watching other people and copy them. People want to be like “their celebrities”. Because of the crossover of high and low culture they can afford to be the “cheap” version of “their idol”.
This is a link to the National Gallery of Art Washington. I found there very interesting part with information about Dada. It has got some images and notes about artists involved in this art movement but also its design has got some Dada feeling, look and atmosphere.http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2006/dada/artwork/baargeld.shtm#null
This Polish website already won FWA award. It has changed since then but it is again fantastic work. Unfortunately it is in Polish. This is website for fruit juice "Jupi" and it is really funny. It does interact with the viewer. The recent idea is to let people visiting website to create short film advertising "Jupi" juice. Viewer can also vote for the best film and the winner will see his work in the television. I like the idea but also colorful and fresh design. There is a lot of fun on this website and I think it is really good for advertising the product.
http://www.jupiland.com/pl/
We were asked to start taking photos for our portfolio. I had to start from understanding my camera, so I decided to spend some time on just practicing and taking simple shots. I was happy only with this one photograph. I like different textures and geometrical composition of this image.
Stereotype is a simplified or exaggerated generalization. It is usually offensive. It is a conception, opinion or image about some groups of people, usually based on minimal, poor knowledge. By using stereotypes, we assume that people in this group have some features in common. Stereotypes group people because of their religion, biology, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age and many other reasons. For example the Jewish are mean or the Muslims are terrorists. In my opinion a generalization always hurts some people. Judging others by stereotypes is harmful because we all are different. People use stereotypes towards these groups which they are not part of. Even if we do not want to use stereotypes and we do not believe in them, we still know them; they are in our culture and in our perception. We do know how to read them and this is important in the media.
That is why the advertising agencies like using them in their advertisements. Even if it is not true, we do hear many times that women can’t drive, men love DIY, the Scottish have red hair, the French are arrogant, the Polish eat just cabbage and cucumber or gay men are effeminate. In many public places baby changing facilities are in women’s toilets, therefore a father could not go out with his baby on his own or divorced man could not take care of the baby. That is another stereotype- it is not a man but a woman, who takes care of the children or the house. That is why in commercials it is always women doing washing. If there is a man presented, he is an expert who explains why it is better to use some new product. The advertising agencies know that stereotypes make the message easier to read for us. We can then quickly skip to the information about the product.
I like those advertisements, which look for unexpected solutions and are creative. They use stereotypes to make us think. Two of my favourite advertisements caused some controversy. The first one advertised the perfume Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. It was shown in 2000 presented by the naked model Sophie Dahl, lying on dark, velvet, contrasting with her pale skin, fabric. She was lying in a sexually suggestive pose. The stereotype here is the fact of showing a female body to sell a product. Stereotypically perfumes are advertise by young people half or fully naked, very often hugging each other or kissing passionately. In this sense, the Opium advertisement uses this stereotype. The opium is a drug and the model is posing like she was in a trance. That is another stereotype. The Opium gives the same results as the opium drug. It is a very erotic image but it does not cross this thin line, when the photo is vulgar. I personally really like how this advertisement shows the female body. It is beautiful woman; she is not one of the skinny, very ill looking, and anorexic models. The model’s size is then not a stereotype. I first saw this advertisement in a womens magazine, in Poland. I like this image but I can understand, that it would cause controversy if shown on a billboard, as it happened in Britain. I don’t find it offensive, as it was not made for men. I think there is a connection between perfumes and passion, attraction, sexual tension so I can accept that it shows a naked woman.
The second advertisement, which I think is very interesting, is the one promoting United colors of Benetton. For many years the controversial photographer Oliviero Toscani was responsible for Benetton’s images. This brand has always two campaigns: the product one and the institutional one. The second one always sends some social message, always touches very difficult subjects. In 1991 Benetton’s institutional campaign had the title “Angel and Devil” and showed two hugging children. There was a little white girl with curly blond hair, as an angel and a little black boy with his hair creating horns, like a devil. The boy had a serious face and the girl was smiling. The advertisement confronted our expectations, because it did not show the product or people using the product. Children on the photo have no clothes and Benetton is a clothes brand. The image uses the stereotype of an angel being a pale, blond, curly haired child and a devil being represented by a dark skinned person. It is controversial because it touches a taboo, like the difference, which divides people instead of bringing them together, or racism. By using a stereotype, it provokes, it makes us think. Why does it have to be a black boy representing a devil, why only can white, blonde girls be a symbol of an angel? Is that what we think? In my opinion Toscani could have gone further and create another image where a white person would play a devil and a black person would be an angel. By showing this stereotype, Benetton starts a dialog about it. The image confronts stereotype that black and white have to fight, that there must be a conflict between them, just like between angels and devils, like racism claims. The advertisement shows that any differences can be united; people can be integrated under Benetton’s name.
These two advertisements used stereotypes but at the same time confronted them with our expectations, shocked us. They were created to promote products. However they do make us think and talk about other issues, other then just that what they sell. That is why they are still alive in our cultural and social awareness and that is why they are very good advertisements. They still call attention to those brands they were made for a few years ago. Which is the opposite effect of one of many, like the same, boring “washing powder” advertisements. I think that stereotypes can be used in publicity if they actually question stereotypes themselves.
I love this Urban Screens' leaflet design. It is futuristic, fresh and strong.
I am really impressed with MMU Library's information leaflet. I like its design, the choice of colours, the choice of fonts, which were used. It shows that important information doesn't have to be presented in a boring style. This leaflet tells us how to use the library's services, it gives us the knowledge but it is still colourful, playful and fun.
Banksy is a very popular artist, so I am not original being his fun. I don't really like the design of his website but I like the content of it. I am impressed with his ideas, how he can make a use of the break in the wall or other existing features in the place where he decides to create his artworks. I really like the part of Banksy's website, called "What happened Next..." which shows what occurs to his artworks created in public space, after a while.
http://www.banksy.co.uk/
I found this leaflet and I thought it is very interesting. As the play is about beautiful, independent woman the designer used female sign in the letter "O". I think it is always good when we can interact in some ways with design artworks around us. I like the fact that this leaflet folds to create different shape.
