OUGD501 / SYNTHESIS

During the essay section of the module, I focused on marxist ideas of class, and the exploitation of the proletariat in different institutions such as work and education, then leading onto exploring the various ways that advertising effects and maintains class structure. This included instilling ideas into those suseptible to those advertisments, for example those who read weekly magazines usually aimed at women age 25-50 with children, of a working class.

The research undertaken into Adorno's work on the suggestion that culture is the cause of the stationary social positioning of the lower classes, really informed my practice as magazines such as 'Take a Break' and 'Chat' definitely have a culture surrounding them. Distractions from their class position are implemented into media that the working class come into contact with, such as pop culture's current affairs, allowing the reader to immerse themselves into the lives of celebrities, or television media such as the X Factor which keeps those who watch it involved and distracted.

David Gauntlett's research further gave me substance, as his documentation of the difference between working class magazines and high class magazines informed my research, and provided support to my practical work.

From analysing the methods and principles included in these magazines in order to sell, I also looked into higher class magazines to distinguish the differences between the two. I wanted to implement the principles of the higher class magazines onto the weekly magazines, and experiment with these design decisions to see if this changed the target audience. I wanted to keep the same text content, to demonstrate that design has an impact on the overall tone that the publication takes. When displayed on the originals, the stories are extremely shocking, which is excentuated by the design decisions; I wanted to be able to manipulate this, and show that even if the majority of the content does not change, the magazine can have a completely different target audience.

Gauntlett, D. (2008) Media, gender and identity: An introduction. New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library.

Adorno, T.W. and Bernstein, J.M. (1991) The culture industry: Selected essays on mass culture. London: Routledge.