"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald A. Norman, and the effect of nostalgic styles in campaigns

At the moment I am reading Debbie Milliman's Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, which reminded me to also have a look at one book she urges every designer to read - The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman (because I'm not going to ignore required reading from the head of Sterling Brands, after all).  I'll admit that I struggled to see a way this book relates to my work at all, so I don't have masses to write about here.  Norman's book focuses on (surprise) everyday things, such as filing cabinets, light switches and revolving doors, and contains many many examples of times when things went wrong and people assumed it was their fault.  The true fault, according to Norman, lies in bad design of objects, either in a mechanical, kinaesthetic or face-on functional way.  He urges us to not say we are "bad with technology" or "rubbish with doors", and instead recognise that things we trusted to work smoothly aren't always designed in a way that they can do so.

"The appearance of the device must provide the critical clues required for its proper operation - knowledge has to be both in the head and in the world." (Norman, 1988).  I found this to be an interesting point - if a piece of work requires people to stop, look, consider and think, the work arguably needs to look like it has a message (or in some cases, a concealed one, keeping in mind different techniques of visual persuasion).  Exactly how something looks like it has a message is subjective from person to person, but there are general styles that can be identified as suiting the kind of graphic art which is intended to jolt people into an awareness of an issue.  In a previous post I talked about the work of Shepard Fairey at ObeyGiant, but I didn't go into the actual style of his art too much.  I feel like this is a good point to do that and compare it with other styles used in the same vein of work. By doing this I can feed my findings into practical art I am working on.

"This short lesson on conceptual models points out that good design is also an act of communication between the designer and the user, except that all the communication has to come by the appearance of the device itself.  The device must explain itself." (Norman, 1988)  Again, Norman is talking about the likes of washing machines and other everyday appliances, but the idea can translate to art practises.

Fig. 1

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Fig. 3

The images above were created in the last 5 years, but with a style and subject matter that deliberately mimics that of posters created in the 20th century.   The halftone prints of the 70s pop art movement are reproduced digitally in Fairey's work alongside compositions that nod to the Constructivist movement, to reference the style that was used at the time for propagandic posters.  Perhaps in the same way that President Carter commissioned Andy Warhol to create his campaign poster during the 1976 US presidential election, President Obama commissioned Shepard Fairey to create the now famous Hope poster in a move to identify with the younger voters.  Fairey's style, as well as being inspired by Warhol, is a reference to the political goings-on of the 1970s where many minority groups were fighting for equality and the biggest protest of the decade was the Vietnam War.  By visually linking his own work to political protests in both art style and imagery (hand grenades and nuclear missiles, seen in Figures 1 and 2), Fairey is telling his audience that his posters are intended to provoke questions about today's political situations.
  On another level the vector halftone design also works with the subject matter, as it makes it palatable for today's audience who are sometimes over sensitive to war-related imagery.  A photographic piece of a hand holding a hand grenade with an explosion behind it might be deemed too visceral, while a Photoshop job of George Bush holding a nuclear weapon would have caused an outrage by Republicans even more so than the illustrated interpretation above.

Figure 3 shows the cover of the Global Trade Review, issued August 2010.  At the time the world was in they eye of the storm of a financial crisis (not that it's much better now), hence the topic of the cover. By presenting it in the style of a 1950s advertisement aimed at housewives,  it could be argued that GTR are de-sensitising the issue a notch by using a familiar vintage style.  For me I find the art style almost comforting which is interesting given the serious topic.

Fig. 4

Similarly, these modern posters by the American Red Cross and the people behind Earth Hour, respectively, are created in a vector style that mimics pop art and has hints of influences from Constructivism.  The image of the white hand which bears the Red Cross logo reaching to pull the hand out from the suggested rubble says everything about the appeal.  The Red Cross is a symbol which is internationally recognised, so there is no elaboration needed as to who they are or what their cause is.  Join The Earth Hour is similar in that is shows the act of "doing", in this case turning off a lightbulb.  Earth Hour is a well known event in the West, so again all that was needed was the time and instruction to the public to "Switch off your lights". Were it not for the modern typeface it could be mistaken for a poster of a different era.

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The Occupy America movement deliberately borrowed from old propaganda, mixing it up with fresher elements such as the Bebas Neue font in Fig.  and the illustrations which are clearly digital.  An important thing to consider is that these are all examples of white propaganda, defined by Zybnek Zeman (1978) as "openly disclosing its source." 

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Persuasive advertising, both in the 20th and 21st century, often relied on the classic wholesome image of a person or family, painted and printed in the familiar style of what we refer to as vintage advertising.  

The image was often a ploy to persuade middle class Americans (as one typical example) to support or do something.  The painterly style seen in Daddy, What did you do in the Great War was used by the artist because that was his or her working style, but today that style is arguably associated with vintage advertising related to selling products.  The same goes for the iconic U.S army recruitment poster (Figure 9 left) 

Fig. 9

Bruce Emmet's illustrations for Coca-Cola used the same style in Retro Poster Maker, an online brand project, where coke lovers could put messages on vintage coke advertisements or upload a photo and have their faces Photoshopped in.  In this case, it was to highlight the enduring nature of the Coke brand as it was part of the 125 year anniversary campaign, and to continue the visual message of coke being a family brand for everyone.  While Coca-Cola is one of the world's biggest corporate brands on a global scale, this campaign makes the company appear personable, warm and caring which are not characteristics usually associated with global corporations.  (See my post on anti-brand communities for reference). 

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Emmet was also commissioned by BPDD et Fils to create these anti-smoking posters for the French public.  Les Droits de Non-Fumers (The Rights of Non-Smokers) appear at first glance to be a vintage-styled ad for smoking, but after reading the text it is apparent that the opposite is true.  The slogan at the bottom of the posters reads "The tobacco industry kills 73000 people a year.  Continue to trust him." Ever darker, the text beside the cigarette box refers to the "saving of millions of pensions each year" caused by early deaths of smokers, which is straight up horrible.  The second poster continues the theme of black humour, with a tagline which translates "Say no to imitations! It would be a shame to catch a cancer of poor quality." The combination of cheery, glamourised imagery and harrowing sarcasm lampoons the French's national bad habit and wars of the consequences of a public ignorance towards the dangers of smoking.  This is removed from being too harsh (and therefore risk being ignored) by mimicking the styles of vintage posters which used questions or emotional statements such as "It would be a shame to…" or "Why don't you…".  Is is also important to note that these days vintage posters and artworks are romanticised a little in our minds, which again can make a heavy subject matter slightly easier to take in.

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So here we have seen examples, in both a persuasive and brand sense, which use a nostalgic or radical style to associate the subject matter with a movement, idea or in the case of Coca-Cola, a romanticised bygone era.  What I am curious about (and I think I have written about this before) is the connotations and visual implications of a certain style of graphic art.  Since an audience would be familiar with an art style such as Fairey's, which is wrapped up in propaganda and political advertising, does this mean they are more likely to be persuaded by it based on the fact that they know it is intended to be?   Or would they be more likely to believe the likes of the pro-sugar posters in the post previous to this one, where facts are subverted and they wouldn't know an opinion was being pressed upon them?  Exploring how this kind of art is perceived and how it influences behaviour and/or opinion seems to be where my project is headed at the moment.  

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References

Norman, Donald, 1988. The Design of Everyday Things.  London: MIT Press

Images

Fig. 1. Fairey, Frank Shepard, 2006. Hug Bombs and Drop Babies.  Available at:

http://www.aiga.org/interview-with-shepard-fairey-still-obeying-after-all-these-year/

[Accessed 10 November 2014]

Fig. 2. Fairey, Frank Shepard, 2014. Imperial Glory Offset.  24 x 36 inch Lithograph offset. Available at: http://www.obeygiant.com/prints/imperial-glory-offset

[Accessed 10 November 2014]

Fig.3. Fairey, Frank Shepard, and Yerena, Ernesto, 2013.  Immigration Reform Now! 1.  24 x 35" offset print.  Available at: http://www.obeygiant.com/prints/immigration-reform-now-2

[Accessed 10 November 2014]

Fig. 4. Unknown, 2010.  Global Trade Review July/August 2010.  Magazine cover.  London: Exporta Group.  

Fig. 5.  Unknown, 2011.  Help Japan Rise Up Appeal Poster.  [online image] Available at:

http://webdesignsurvivalist.com/inspiration/inspiration-30-modern-propaganda-posters/

Fig 6.  Unknown, 2011.  Join The Earth Hour.  [online image] Available at:

http://webdesignsurvivalist.com/inspiration/inspiration-30-modern-propaganda-posters/

Fig. 7.  Unknown, . Occupy Wall St poster.  [online image] Available at:

http://webdesignsurvivalist.com/inspiration/inspiration-30-modern-propaganda-posters/

Fig. 8.  Uknown, #OccupyAmerica [online image] Available at:

http://webdesignsurvivalist.com/inspiration/inspiration-30-modern-propaganda-posters/

Fig. 9: The War Office, 1915.  Daddy, what did you do in the great war? Poster.  The British Library.

Fig. 9 (left). Flagg, James Montgomery, c1917.  I want you for US army: nearest recruiting station.  Lithographic print.  No location.

Fig. 10.  Emmet, Bruce, 2011.  Coca Cola Poster Maker 1 [online image] Available at: 

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/coca-cola-125th-anniversary.html

Fig. 11. Emmet, Bruce, 2011.  Coca Cola Poster Maker 2 [online image] Available at: 

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/coca-cola-125th-anniversary.html

Fig. 12. Emmet, Bruce, 2011.  Coca Cola Poster Maker Welcome Page [online image] Available at: 

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/coca-cola-125th-anniversary.html

Fig. 13.  Emmet, Bruce, 2014.  Les Droits Des Non-Fumers.  [online image] Available at:

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/les-droits-des-non-fumeurs.html

Fig. 14.  Emmet, Bruce, 2014.  Les Droits Des Non-Fumers 2.  [online image] Available at:

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/les-droits-des-non-fumeurs.html