RESEARCH - NIKEID

With people in consumer society forever wanting to be individual and unique it's difficult for brands to give their customers something that will make them feel that way. The word brand itself implies that something is permanently marked and it's unchangeable so when we buy a branded product we'll be getting the same branded product as every other consumer.

NIKE have tackled this with their NIKEID brand. It's a sub brand to the overall NIKE brand that allows customers to go online or to their stores and customise their shoes. I've tried this myself on the NIKEstore website. http://www.nike.com/gb/en_gb/

So you can see that you can customise pretty much every part of the shoe besides the sole and tread of it. You can even remove the NIKE name and SWOOSH from the shoe entirely in some cases.

RESEARCH - the century of self

This is a link to the documentary thats been broken down into small chunks that can be viewed with great ease than the full length video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC-FSZQgwdA&playnext=1&list=PL983A4502BAD80B3A&feature=results_main

A very long documentary which I probably wont be able to get through but I've been watching it and taking notes when I can. I've been picking up specifically on the consumer and brand related topics and quotes. Trying to select specific points that relate to my topic I hope to use the theories to build up my first chapter and reference to it in the second.

DISSERTATION - 1st tutorial

This was the first of my six half hour tutorials for my dissertation. I felt quite under prepared for it as I haven't done copious amounts of reading and I don't have any sort of structure planned out for my topic and content. Fortunately Richard and I managed to discuss quite a bit and it really helped to verbalise some ideas. As we picked apart the topic and asked some fundamental questions, it made the direction of my dissertation more clear.


These are the notes I took during the tutorial, some are brief but others I've tried to expand on.


When do I bring the case study into my dissertation? Does it come in straight away or do I make a few analytical points first?

At the end. Make general points on the methodologies to begin with then direct it towards the specific with you case study.



Look at the the first two chapters of Naomi Kliens 'No Logo' and read the chapter on the marketing of cool.

Analyse consumer culture and apply brand theory to the NIKE franchise - use  no logo chapter one and two and the documentary 'The Century of Self'


Plan of action

define methodologies
set up dyslexia tutorial sessions
use appropriate theories
speak to Lisa about Vans - similar topic for dissertation
watch century of self again and take notes - extract useful parts and quotes and ideas
look at the consumption reader

1st task - take the shell structure we discussed and add flesh to the bones of it in bullet points

2nd task - email it to Richard ASAP

3rd task - book second tutorial, roughly 2 weeks time



Richards feedback sheet

DISSERTATION - google scholar search on consumerism

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8608.00063/abstract

DISSERTATION - Consumerism - the typical wikisearch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism

Extract

Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen. Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process ofglobalization.^[1] In this sense, consumerism is usually considered a part of media culture.

Sometimes, the term "consumerism" is also used to refer to the consumerists movement, consumer protection or consumer activism, which seeks to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards. In this sense it is a movement or a set of policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer.^[2]

In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society (cf. Producerism, especially in the British sense of the term).^[3]

The term "consumerism" was first used in 1915 to refer to "advocacy of the rights and interests of consumers" (Oxford English Dictionary) but in this article the term "consumerism" refers to the sense first used in 1960, "emphasis on or preoccupation with the acquisition of consumer goods" (Oxford English Dictionary).

DISSERTATION - Reading list and their useful chapters

'NO LOGO' by Naomi Klien

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

- chapter three - Alt. Everything: the youth market and the marketing of cool p63-87
- chapter five - Patriarchy Gets Funky: the triumph of identity marketing p107-129
- chapter six - Brand Bombing: franchises in the age of the superbrand p129-143
- chapter nine - The Disregarded Factory: degraded production in the age of the superbrand p195-231
- chapter twelve - Culture Jamming: ads under attack p279-311
- chapter fifteen - The Brand Boomerang: the tactics of brand-based campaigns p345-365
- chapter sixteen - A Take of Three Logos: the swoosh, the shell and the arches p365-397
- conclusion - Consumerism Versus Citizenship: the fight for the global commons p439-447

'DESIGN FOR SOCIETY' by Nigel Whiteley

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

- chapter 1 - Consumer-led Design p7-47
- chapter 2 - Green Design p47-94
- chapter 3 - responsible design and ethical consuming

'DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE CHANGE' by Anne Chick & Paul Micklethwaite

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

- chapter 2 (2.1) - Societal challenges are design challenges
- chapter 4 (4.1 through to 4.4)
- chapter 5 (5.2 & 5.3)
- chapter 6 (6.1 & 6.3)

'GOOD: AN INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN GRAPHIC DESIGN' by Lucienne Roberts

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

- Section 2: approaching good
- Section 4: Being good - specifically look at 'Graphics design/public art: Sheila Levrant de Bretteville'

'VISUAL COMMUNICATION FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE' by Jonathan Baldwin & Lucienne Roberts

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

Culture section
- whats is culture? p74-82
- style and identity p88-98
Conflict Section
- the political designer p136-146

'THE FUNDAMENTALS OF BRANDING' by Melissa Davis

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

- chapter 2 - Deconstructing Brands
- chapter 3 - The Changing Brand Audience

'DESIGN FOR THE REAL WORLD - human ecology and social change' by Victor Papanek

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

Part One: how it is
- chapter 5 - Our Kleenex Culture: obsolescence and value p86-102
Part Two: how it could be
- chapter 10 - Environmental Design: pollution, crowding, ecology p248-285

'THE GREEN IMPERATIVE - ecology and ethics in design and architecture' by Victor Papanek

Useful chapters//chapters of interest-

- chapter 5 - the biotechnology of communities p105 (looks at the consumer)
- chapter 7 - Form Follows Fun p139
- chapter 8 - Is Convenience the Enemy? p159

'SUSTAINABLE' by Aaris Sherin

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

Part One
- chapter 1 - Overview of Sustainable Design p12-26
- chapter 2 - Sustainable Motivators p26-36

'BRANDS AND BRANDING' by Rita Clifton & John Simmons

Useful chapters//chapters of interest:-

Part 1
- chapter 2 - the financial value of brands p27
- chapter 3 - the social value of brands p47
Part 2
- chapter 5 - brand positioning and brand creation p79
- chapter 7 - visual and verbal identity p113
- chapter 9 - the public relations perspective on branding p143
Part 3
- chapter 12 - an alternative perspective on brands: markets and morals p185

CTS - Dissertation - Consumerism seminar

Design for Consumerism.

Branding theory - methodology - specify methodologies in proposal form

- do inter views later in the research so you can ask better/the right questions for your primary research

- 2 sides to consumerism

- anti-consumerism - activist movements - global crisis - anti-capitalist movement

- Occupy movement

(critical side of consumerism)

How do brands survive and work?

How do they operate?

How is a superbrand constructed? - Apple is an example

Communication Theory - methodology - how brands relate to the consumers

Book - Wally Ollins - how brands work - A-political stand point

Book - Naomi Klien - 'No Logo' - very political stand point

Documentary - Adam Curtis - 'Century of the Self' - available on youtube in four 1 hour parts

 - Marx

- Freud

- western american mass consumerism - using  theories of Freud and Edward Berinays (PR)

- talks about consumerism as a pacifying device - how does the designer negotiate that with the audience?

'Conspicuous Consumption' - T. Veblien

Consuming to gain status - buying so others see we are buying things

Baudrillard - consumer culture - symbolic value of the commodity - commodity fetishism - Marx should be referenced with this as he came up with this concept

How does consumerism work as a social system?

Whats the social context?

Consumption statistics?

Get a detailed definition of consumption to help your dissertation.

Designer as a wage labourer.

- taking on jobs we don't ethically agree with - how does a designer negotiate with the job and their own ethics and views of consumer society?

- culture jammers

- V. Papanek - Social Tithe - 10% of your time should be spent designing to change society

- First Things First manifesto

Modern politics relates to consumerism - politics as a pacifier - we feel as though we are getting our say in the matter

Simmel - trickle down theory

- process of emulation occurs

- upper class buy certain brands and commodities

- lower class see the upper class buying those brands and commodities

- lower class then buy them as well in an attempt to gain a similar status

- the upper class see that the lower class have bought the same brands and commodities and start to buy different ones instead

-  the lower class don't gain the desired status as it no longer applies to those brands and commodities

There is also a Trickle Up theory.

- brands taking on street fashion from ghettos for example - NIKE adopting the fashion of people from the Bronx

Theodore Adorno vs Walter Benjamin - theorists

Pseudo - individualism

D.I.Y movement - anti-capitalist - make your own designs, music, fashion, clothes etc

- counter culture