Re: Subliminal Messages: Fact or Fiction

I have to respectfully disagree with the post on Target. I don't believe what they are using is subliminal messaging. More so, they seem to be playing on the GenXers nostalgia. I, an X'er myself, think our whole generation became nostalgic for our childhoods before we were even out of them! All of the fashions of our adolescence returned to being in style before we were out of our 20's.
In searching for an adequate image here, I found this NY Times article that seems to say that I'm just old:  GenX Nostalgia Boom.

However, I do believe subliminal messaging can work WITH a strong concept. The concept always has to be there first, and it has to drive the design. I was watching an episode of "Wilfred" the other evening (Google if you are unfamiliar - it's FANTASTIC!) and the protaganist, Ryan, reminds Wilfred (a dog) that he figured out how to join a meat-of-the-month club, so he's smarter than a dog should be. Wilfred responds along the lines of: "It was Amazon-dot-com! One click shopping. They make it so easy."

I know in the age of DVR and OnDemand, advertisers aren't getting their dollars-worth with commercials. I also know having these ads integrated into the script is far less jarring than the early "Soap" Operas, where they would pause to have the actor or actress pitch the sponsors product to you mid-show. But there's something in selling your product in a way most consumers have been trained to overlook that seems dishonest to me.

I think Wayne and Garth said it best in this clip, from 1992. I can't believe this is 20 years old.

Re: The Future of Publication Design

I think the one company that got it right with the transition from print to digital publications was Wired. They immediately embraced all the interactivity that a user could want and kept in all the real-world cues and effects to remind people they aren't just on another website. Wired published this article in May of this year discussing the artifice of the page flip, reveling in it's sucess at "blend[ing] the tactility of real-world pages with the digitally native tablet aesthetic."
If anyone SHOULD understand how to make the transition from print to digital, it is Wired, given their niche.

RE: Subliminal Messages and Are Designers Over Designing

Apologies to the class if I posted too early. The posts on subliminal messaging and overdesigning reminded me of U by Kotex. I can see the appeal of bright packaging to the younger consumer, but in my opinion, these products are meant to be discreet and disposable. This commercial makes fun of the subliminal marketing techniques used to sway impressionable women. Similar to the graphic tissue boxes, colored toilet paper is another novelty that is design overkill.

RE: Subliminal Messages

I think that to some extent, subliminal messages are still very much in use. I don't think that they are being used in the very obvious way we expect (i.e. overtly sexual ads, etc). In visual and verbal rhetoric, we are currently covering how different visual images are a form of rhetoric based on how the receiver interprets the message. I think that there are things being said, without words, but with these images that allow us to draw our own conclusion, and if we are influenced by mainstream ideals, then we are probably going to get the "underlying" message the creator is hoping we will see.

Re: Subliminal Messages

I think that subliminal messages aren't as effective as a successful brand campaign with a concept or message that will stick.  The Subtle Power of Hidden Messages by Wolfgang Stroebe suggests that "subliminal messages are similar to how our surroundings color our choices, without us consciously realizing it.  Subliminal messages hold control over our behavior the same way" (The Subtle Power of Hidden Messages. Stroebe, Wolfgang, Scientific American Mind, 15552284, May/Jun2012, Vol. 23, Issue 2).  While a subliminal message immediately causes our mind to sway in one direction, I don’t think this effect will work well long term.

Re: Subliminal Messages: Fact of Fiction

I, too, find it hard to believe in ALL of these findings being on purpose. Do I think every now and then you get a few wise guys on the animation team or a few jokesters behind the photography? Sure, it's inevitable. What I don't believe is that any of it really does anything but create hype. If you look hard at something, you can make it look like something else. Kind of reminds me of a childhood game involving clouds. Not to mention, what's the point in wasting time trying subliminal messaging in the hopes of people getting it. Advertisers know very well that direct response targeting is much more efficient. Might be fun though to start burying some messages into my work...although something tells me if the C-suite picks up on it, I might be pushing papers in the near future.

Re: Subliminal Messages

I agree with Courtney that Disney and few other companies are not hiding SEX in their products subliminally, my guess is that people see what they want to see. I won't say that is the case for everything but we easily make things dirty when they don't have to be. I'm curious if we as Americans see these ads that are blatantly using sex to sell their products as dirty because as a culture we are not use to seeing those things on television or other prints ads. There are always commercials popping up on the internet that are from other countries that are very sexual and as far as I can tell there is no problem running those ads on tv in whatever country they are from but we will not show them here. Check out this Ikea video, I can't imagine seeing this on television here but it wouldn't bother me even if it did, sex sells and it can be pretty funny, no need to hide it. (I don't think there is anything wrong in the video but if you are sensitive to the subject don't click play, just to be on the safe side)

RE: Subliminal Messages: Fact or Fiction?

Most of the examples on that site are just using sex to sell their products, which frankly, isn't very subliminal at all. I don't know if I believe that words on the sides of ice cubes really make a difference, but I like Keia's point about recalling certain times in our lives as a way to appeal in a not as overt way. I'm not sure if these constitute subliminal messaging, but the feelings generated by the ad are more than the just an urge to buy something because of what it will do for you. Rather, the urge to buy that something comes from the feeling that you perceive you will get purchasing that object or the way the commercial helped you build some sort of bond with the idea of the object. Interesting stuff. The Burger King ad was just distasteful. Seriously? In 2012, we're going to just be blatant about it? Get more creative BK!

Subliminal Messages: Fact or Fiction

It’s safe to say that I’m a subliminer. I believe in subliminal messages and I think for the most part a number of people do too (whether they want to admit it). It’s a fact there are subliminal messages hidden in marketing – that’s how an idea is sold. 

With the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli, Wikipedia quotes Merikle and Skanes who suggests, “research on action priming has shown that subliminal stimuli can trigger only those actions that one plans to perform anyway: only if a person already has the specific intention to perform a certain action, can this action be subliminally triggered.” (Source). The article also discusses subjective and objective stimuli, which I won’t get into. 

With the above being said, I have to again agree with subliminal messaging. I think Target does a great job with this. For example, Targets 2012 Back To School Advertisements took parents back in time and in such a clever way. I'm calling it a "time warp". If you’re a child of the 80’s or you know what good music sounded like oh say “back in the day” then you’ve experienced it?

Target advertised back to school merchandise using songs from the 80's! Seriously folks, who doesn't love the 80's? What better way to lure a parent (or person) in by playing music that takes them back to good times when all was fluffy and there were no worries.  What's even better is the characters (teachers) singing the songs remind us of ourselves (or maybe someone you know). These ads were plastered everywhere! I'm not sure where you were if you missed them. I have to admit when I first saw these commercials I was mesmerized, fingers snapping, singing and all. Two, three, four days later I was still thinking of these commercials. I definitely needed to take a trip to Target. Low and behold a few days later I was off to Target. 

Target Back to School advertisement,

Music Teacher singing  "Word Up", by Cameo,1986.

Target Back to School advertisement,

English Teacher singing a revamped version of 

The Go-Go's, "We Got The Beat, 1980.

RE: Subliminal Messages: Fact of Fiction

The messages featured in that website are so well hidden I'm not sure how many people would actually notice, and I agree that several of them are a stretch. I don't really buy into the concept, and I agree with Marie that most "subliminal messaging" that ends up in products are the result of a desperate designer trying to sell their idea to a client.

Re. Subliminal Messages

Does everyone remember this recent ad campaign from Burger King? 

The day this ad ran, subtlety died. Sex is implied pretty obvious. (I mean you would have to be an idiot to not get it.) Needless to say, this campaign did not last long. It offended too many people. It's not just the imagery that has sexual messaging, the copy takes it even further. If you can't read the text at the bottom it says:

"Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER. Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with a single beef patty, topped with American cheese, crispy onions and the A1 Thick and Hearty Steak Sauce."

I don't know about you, but this messaging makes me NOT want to eat at BK. 

Project 1 Feedback

I reshot my spoon pictures to make them more abstract as the evolution goes on. I'd appreciate any feedback you have. Thanks.

RE: Subliminal Messages: Fact of Fiction

Subliminal messages fact or fiction? I think that subliminal messages are sometimes fact and sometimes fiction, if that is even possible. With the media being aware that "sex sells" I do believe that at times they use that to their advantage to sell their product(s.). Sometimes with consumers knowing that "sex sells" they can also relate an advertising or design to sex when the designer/ company had no intent for it to even be relative to sex. 

This past summer I had the opportunity of selecting a topic for my Visual and Verbal Rhetoric final project, I chose how women are used in fragrance ads. With me having to actually do an in depth analysis on the ads I did become a consumer with the mind state that "sex sells". Ever since I have done an analysis on the topic I cannot look at a perfume ad without relating it to sex. So maybe subliminal messaging is fiction and I have just fixated my mind around the fact that all fragrance ads are using the topic of sex to their benefit. What do you all think? 

Re: Subliminal Messages

I am really not sure what person is writing the blog that we all have to post about... I think it's courtney's turn... so I am writing regarding her post on subliminal messaging.

I may be completely wrong about the meaning of subliminal messaging but in my eyes it has to do with something that makes your sub-concious think about something else or to get the product/do something that you didn't really think of at the moment. 

In one of my other classes we were talking about how Amazon is famous for listing what other products you may be interested in. For instance if I buy a CD then when I am looking at my other cart, other options appear at the bottom of the page allowing the person to see if they want anything else. I think it's labeled something like "Other buyers who bought that, also bought this". But what that does is expand your mind process. I may for instance buy the CD that I wanted and then also click on a CD that I have never heard of but other people that liked my music liked this as well. Now, down the road CD #2 is more of my style than CD #1, thus I don't want to listen to anymore songs by CD #1. I have now opened by eyes to more things, more possibilities, and more of a culture change (in a way). But is this really bad? I think it may be bad for the band on CD #1, but what is CD #2's band was underground and because of Amazon they became more popular and successful. I would have never heard of them or contributed to their band if it weren't for Amazon and them catergorizing. So is it really bad after all?

Re: Subliminal Messages & The Future of Pub Design

In reviewing the posts over the last two weeks, I think Courtney's blog kind of got lost in the shuffle, so I thought I'd answer hers and Adele's in the same post.

Re: Subliminal Messages

I think subliminal messages are bogus and nothing more than a marketing fart.

"Most psychologists agree that subliminal messaging has shown no lasting impact upon the behavior of subjects tested [2]. While research has shown that subliminal messaging may create a momentary change in thinking, this effect is – when present – extremely fleeting, and often impacts only those already primed for a particular behavior. The standard example given is that of beverage advertising. If an already thirsty test subject is subliminally shown images of beverages, their desire for a beverage may increase slightly for a short duration [3]. But even this example is fraught with misconceptions, due to the now infamous “experiment” run by James Vicary, and where we get the term subliminal advertising." Read more here from neurohypnoticscience.com

But I think there is much to be said for semiotics and their role in design. If you're in this class, chances are that you've taken Visual and Verbal rhetoric, so you know that semiotics is  
"The study of signs and symbols, especially the relationship between written or spoken signs and their referents in the physical world or the world of ideas. A core strategic method by which graphic marks, texts and images can be deconstructed and interpreted to determine their underlying meanings."

"Subliminal advertising" just strikes me as a lazy way to try to do the same thing. A way that has been proven ineffective but that people buy into nonetheless because it's easier than actually thinking of an effectual graphic design solution.

RE: The Future of Pub Design

The future of Pub Design is DIGITAL with a smattering of print jobs a few times per year. Interactive apps, websites, ebooks, games, ETC. Those are the future. There will always be a need for print (packaging, marketing) but the older we get, I think printed books (and DEFINITELY magazines) will become more and more rare. 

Because we are mired in a culture that consumes and throws away finite resources  ("Ending is better than mending...") Print will become too expensive. The cost of paper (where's all the trees???) ink, delivery...(will the post office even exist in 20 years?)

And the generation you'd be trying to reach out to in 25 years will have been born into an era where the paper product was dying--or perhaps was already dead. (The generation I am referring to are those of Westernized nations, who have the luxury of technology and worrying about getting the latest iPhone.)

And in my eternal hope that future generations will develop a stronger sense of environmental stewardship (either through organic means, or out of sheer, undeniable necessity) I think one day the idea of so wastefully using paper the way we do now will become abhorrent and all those who, for years, had condescendingly embedded "Please consider the environment before printing this email" in their signature will grin with smug satisfaction at their small role in the "no paper" movement and perhaps swap this platitude out with an equally ineffective and annoying privacy disclosure. 

I reshot my origami flowers this weekend and tried to simplify me idea to the evolution. Other then the background, does this seem like a natural progression?

The Future of Publication Design

Im not sure what else needs to be said about the future of publication design other than what was said in the post. I think we are beating a boring dead horse to continue talking about this subject. One example of a group staying on FAIL is USA Today. By turning it's newspaper "redesign" into a print out of it's nightmare website (http://beta.usatoday.com/?a=p/) they showed me that while they want to, they are scared to go to strictly web based content.

I think the future of "publication design" is going to be closer to gaming than publication design. Consider the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. Readers could choose the path characters took in either achieving their goals or dying horrible, often hard to imagine deaths. Now imagine one of those books with dynamic graphics, audio and video linked to text and time spent on pages or reading the "book". Finding a lost city of gold and becoming wealthy beyond all imagining or having your head shrunk by the guardians of the Lost Jewels of Nabooti will have never felt so real.

P.S. The Cave of Time FTW!

The Future of Publications Design

A graphic design topic that I have been thinking about is how social media and e-readers affect the future of  publications design. Most current books and magazines have both an online version and a printed version. I imagine a future where old-fashioned books will become a novelty, much like records. While instant downloads are a godsend, there is something special about a tangible item that can be passed on to a friend, signed by the author, hung on a wall, displayed on a shelf or stacked on the floor. Consumers used to be limited by what was on display at their local retailers. Now, with online stores, you can find most anything and if you search for or view one item, suddenly multitudes of similar titles and genres appear. An oversaturation of information can sway your attention elsewhere.

 

With e-readers, consumers who may have been hesitant to be seen purchasing or reading certain publications can now indulge with one click of a button. Instead of picking up a book or magazine, looking at the back and cover, and possibly flipping through the pages before deciding to read it - now the decision to buy it is more based upon recent trends and amateur online reviews. Or maybe, a celebrity tweets that they are reading a specific book or at a photo shoot for an upcoming magazine article. One could argue that this now pulls in more readers than a bookstore display, well-designed cover, compelling article or loyalty to a writer ever could. My discussion topic for the class is how do you see publications changing in the future and do you know of any examples of successful transition from print to digital? An example would be a newspaper that survives through interactive media or an invitation designer who supplements traditional cardstock with matching event websites.

Project 1 Feedback

Hi y'all. So I had shot an original fourth photo for my series, but didn't mention it because everyone else's ideas about ripping stuff up seemed better. However, I might be able to work with the idea and add the ripping. I've posted the images below. I imagine Amy will think that these are still too nice, but what do you guys think of the "gun" concept?

Project 1: Evolution

Hello Guys,

I would love to hear your feedback on my Evolution photos so far. I look forward to reading them. Thanks. 

-Aprile G. 

Object: Ice Cube Tray

RE: Are Designers Over Designing?

This is an especially interesting subject matter in regards to how the world of books is changing. As physical books are increasingly less popular, the text inside the cover is no longer the product itself. We have to sell the whole book as the product including the cover. In fact, I recently read an article about how there is a new niche for designers in specialty book covers because of this very problem. However, I will agree with Emily Keeler's point about books becoming consumable objects indicating the stylistic choices of the purchaser. When books have fancy covers, I am much less likely to carry them around and read them on the bus and so forth. I want to preserve them. This leads to me not necessarily reading the book, which, shows just how the book has become a visual commodity rather than a literary one. I also found Jill's argument about Kleenex boxes and etc important. Recently, I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a friend of mine and she literally asked if they had any of the q-tips that come in a fancy little box. To me this is ridiculous. I think we have seen a trend of over-designed disposable packaging. I have no problem with selling a well-designed product that you can place your q-tips in--like a little wooden box or something, but these disposable products aren't even that great to look at. Something that is classic and can be reused is better than something that is crappy looking and has to be thrown away.

RE: Are designers over designing?

The truth of the matter is designers are over designing  - sometimes with a purpose and at other times with no purpose at all. And yes, most of this overdesigning does tend to lead me to judge a book by its cover (no pun intended).

Book Covers...in particular

A few of you have brought up the topic of book covers. I’d have to say I am enjoying book covers these days and the redesign of them. Honestly, a few are over done but a few of them are great.  

I believe that book covers have been designed for their time. With that being said, books today are being designed or overdesigned because design is more prevalent as well as to keep up with today’s market, the age of technology, etc. Last fall my typography class was tasked with redesigning a series of book covers, which I think were great - you can view a few of those here. 

Jessica Hische an illustrator, letterer, and designer designed the book covers below - which I love. There’s something about small little details in the design of these book covers that I enjoy. The covers are simple but with a fine detail and worldly and seem to breath new life into the books. While I may be judging these books by their cover, I also am aware that they are indeed good books.

via: Barnes & Noble 

Leatherbound Classics, designed by Jessica Hische

 I think that most people will judge a book by its cover because it’s the first thing one see’s when picking up a book. However, it’s up to the person purchasing the book to take the initiative to look beyond a books cover for its content. How the two relate (and they should), well that’s up to the designer and the publisher.

Products Overall

I think a number of products have been or are being OVER designed. But at the same time I believe this surge of over designing has to do with marketing and competition. Jill posted about Kleenex tissue band and how they’ve redesigned their tissue box covers. I honestly have to say I pretty much upchucked when I saw the redesign of this product on the shelf. I stood in amazement. I couldn’t believe it. My first thought, “Are you serious”? My second thought, “Why. I really just want to purchase a box of Kleenex…a simple box.” I’m all for reshaping the box but the excessive designs are a bit much (in my opinion)!

In designing products I think designers should be conscious of how a design will hold up over time. Or possibly how one designs a design for the current taking into consideration of a products future. Almost like when planning for facilities, one must plan for current trends and needs but also consider what future needs will be. Eh, maybe that’s a little weird…but it’s a thought.

And to the notion of overdesigning to make a brand a winner – I don’t buy it. I believe there are good brands and long standing brands that have been winners with simplified designs.