Well this is exactly what I found reading The Culture of Design by Guy Julier to be like! There are so many big long complicated words all put into the one sentence to be able to register it. Maybe this is just because I am not very literate or particularly fond of reading or maybe this guy just thought if he stuck lots of big words together he would sound smart? It is probably the first of the two but who knows!
After struggling through understanding chapter four, I finally got somewhere and took some notes and was beginning to make progress.
The first point I came across in the book was that no matter the purpose that you design something for, the general public or the 'consumer' will take it and re-interpret it in their own way and use it in a way you never seen possible at the start. This I think couldn't be more right, I will see something on the tele and its advert is fantastic and shows exactly what its used for but I will sit there and think how I could use it differently and how it will benefit me personally and how I will get the most from it. The book talks about this idea that the cultural process of consuming is classed as a self identifying act, which again I believe to be very true. The way in which people shop for clothes I believe to be a fantastic example here, there are people who wil only buy what's 'in' fashion or deemed to be cool or fashionable by their friends and this is a way of people expressing their personal identity. However I do think it is slightly a group identity if everyone is following the same trend but none the less people what to show who they they by the clothes they wear. On the other side of this we have people who, well not don't care about what they wear but just don't care as much about the latest trends or who's wearing who on the red carpet and these people also show their identity through expression of clothes and belongings they like. This brings up the next point of consumerism being a personal choice within the market, I think yes buying what you want is your own personal choice but choosing from what is only available leaves you with a limited choice because nothing is made to just suit the one particular person, the designer makes something to try and suit all for this one 'consumer' so to make it your own you have to adapt it to your own needs. We live in such a demanding world of new designs and creations being made every minute and this is what the whole culture of consumption is built on, if there weren't so many things to keep buying people would stop consuming, and advertising companies and designers are making their money through this idea of creating solutions to problems that don't really exist but the general public believe that they need this desired product to be able to function. This point was made at fridays lecture about this idea of us being from generation Y and that we are studying for jobs that aren't already created, and this is what is keeping the world in this cycle of consumerism. We keep designing and people keep buying....
The final point I found to be very interesting is the statement made by a man called Schudson that "advertising isn't as important a force as critics make out and usefully draws our attention to other forms by which product knowledge reaches consumers; including word of mouth, mass media, direct marketing and promotions." I am unsure as to wether I agree or disagree with this statement, because I do believe that advertising is a very important tool, maybe this is because I am studying graphic design and I am interested specifically in the field or branding and advertising, but without it I believe consumerism wouldn't be where it is today. Although I do agree that certain things I have bought were purely out of a case of word of mouth by a friend and I then passed on the message so all together I believe advertising is just as important because to start this chain of word of mouth someone had to see some sort of advertising that made them go out buy the product and tell others.
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