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COLLAGE OF COLLAGES

ELECTRONIC COLLAGES FOR GENERATING NEW PRODUCT IDEAS

Dóra Horváth, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Ariel Mitev, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Corresponding author:

Dóra Horváth

Corvinus University of Budapest,

Institute of Marketing and Media

Budapest

Fővám tér 8.1093

Hungary

Email: [email protected]

Tel.: + 36 1 482 5490 ; + 36 30 297 5276

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



COLLAGE OF COLLAGES

ELECTRONIC COLLAGES FOR GENERATING NEW PRODUCT IDEAS

Dóra Horváth, Corvinus University of Budapest, HungaryAriel Mitev, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

ABSTRACT

According to Max Ernst a collage is created when two different entities are placed together in

a new space. Independent elements together create new meanings, where the collective

meaning is not the sum of meanings of the different elements, but forms a compounded new

meaning. In our methodological paper we present a new approach to interpreting consumer

collages which contributes to better understanding of authentic consumer content.

It is not universal meanings, but the actual interpretations of a created composition that weinvestigate and show their power in exploring relating consumer attitudes. In our paper we are

going to present collage technique as a postmodern research technique as an adequate data

collection tool today in order to explore new in-depth consumer content and show that

researchers’ de-composition and re-composition of consumer collages gives a new

perspective into exploring authentic consumer content.



1. Introduction & objectives

There are several authors in the marketing literature who used paper-based collages for

exploring product associations and product concepts (Costa et. al, 2003; Havlena & Holak,

1996), however hardly any article has considered the philosophical, psychological and artistic

background of the collage, they use the recorded collages as illustrations on their own. In our paper we show that collages cannot only be approached on their own, but together, where the

collage of collages forms a new and very clear meaning of product, brand related attitudes

and associations that can be a reliable starting point for generating new product ideas. Leading

design oriented companies such as Alessi or Apple indicate that consumers cannot express

their new needs, it is designers who can envision the future. However, when consumers are

asked to create a composition of their own, they would freely project their associations and

thoughts. Our series of consecutive research projects where we tested the technique through

different industries: telecommunications, postal services, press products, high tech products

show that consumer insights indeed can give inspiration and input for future projections and

new product concepts.

2. Theoretical background: collage as a research tool

2.1.Collage in Art

The word collage comes from the French language meaning glueing or pasting, therefore

collage means a pasted picture. In art the pasted material could be anything and applied

anywhere on wood, canvas, paper – with newspaper pieces, bus tickets, litter or photographs

by the artist. The appearance of the collages is attributed to the cubists, and since then it is

present in the art. The technique was made recognized by Picasso’s Still-life with Chair

Caning (1912) and Georges Braque’s Violin and Pipe (1913-1914). The technique later

appeared in dadaism (Kurt Schwitters) and surrealism (Max Ernst). Gauguin wrote in hisletter from Tahiti, that he feels he has to return to the beginning of the beginning, to the

rocking-horse of his childhood. Dadaist wanted to return to being a child (childish syllables

dada refer to playfulness), denying the Grand Art (Gombrich, 2002:601).

Visual metaphor is the basis of the child-drawing (Schuster, 2005:94), furthermore it remains

a suitable exploratory research methodology, that gives a relieving freedom for respondents at

a later age too. Practical market research uses press products and their pasted collages.

2.2. Collage as a postmodern technique

Collage in art is for expressing a fragmented world view. The technique contradicts classical

art approaches, where parts of reality become part of the piece of art. Fragmented view is a

postmodern specialty. According to the postmodern there are no universal truths, „grandnarratives” are irrelevant, which are linguistic games, there are no criteria that would indicate

the „truth”. According to Daniel C. Dennett (1998) „narrative approach of the self” helps to

create people’s own worlds, which creates one’s own „narrative gravitational world”.

Everything that happens to the one is saved in terms of „tiny narratives”. One’s personality is

the sum of his own stories. In market research collage technique gives a quasi experience of

creation.

Fragmentation determines one's construction of identity. If we talk about that consumer

groups are fragmented, this does not only mean that there are fragmented segments, but the

self is fragmented as well. The self is created and recreated by product and brand contacts.

From all postmodern characteristics, fragmentation best describes today’s consumers.



According to postmodern approaches consumer behaviour changes through time and space. In

a world full of choices there are no constant motives and consumption habits. In several areas

where consumer culture is most recordable (fashion, travelling, art), it is clear that consumers

do not create identifiable patterns, experiences are multiple. These experiences evolve

narratives, where narratives are subject to change, none has an exlusive position, therefore all

narratives are acceptable (Venkatesh, 1999).

Symbols create meanings, which are transfered to consumers through the media, cultures or

families. Meanings constantly change, and simultaneously, consumer practices change.

Postmodern marketing and consumer research relies on the assumption that text (advertising,

press, books, pictures, etc.) are not stable, and may be interpreted in several ways (Brown et

al., 1999; Scott, 1994). Instead, they state that text is instable, its interpreation maybe

multiple, which is dependent on the reader. It is the interpeter’s personal, cultural and gender

identity, context that will determine the creation of meaning, therefore one text is interpreted

in numerous ways.

2.3. Three dimensional collage: bricoleur

In cultural anthropology bricolage refers to tools, that help people to react on their

surrounding world. These spontaneous or thrown-together structures (that we might call as

bricolage) are ad hoc responses to the environment, and their role is to explain the

surrounding world. (Hawkes, 1977). The bricoleur, a person who tinkers, is the one who puts

scenery together from different stylistic elements. (Hebdige, 1995).

Object and meaning create a sign together, and these signs are summed in the newer and

newer communication representations in different subcultures. As a result, when the bricoleur

relocates the former object to a new position, or uses the same system of signs, or the object is

put into another form: a new message is formulated. (Clarke, 1976). To illustrate, if we takethe usual signs of the business world - e.g. suit, tie, collar, short hair - these might be used by

other subcultures, who deprive these from their original meanings - e.g. performance,

ambition, conformity - and they create new meanings, objects that are valued for their own

virtue or just become empty fetish.

Visual media gets an emerging central role: that is knowledge about fashion. The postmodern

paradigm’s frequently referred products are television (especially music channels), video and

style magazines, which all have a strong visual influence (Muggleton, 2005). In the

postmodern reality there are multiple even eclectic styles present simultaneously that spread

very fast, which give a way for “active” consumers to manifest in a creative and aesthetic

manner. This results in the emergence of the “do-it-yourself” style, which is identical to“postmodern appearance management" and the collage technique (Kaiser et al., 1991).

According to the observation of Willis (1990) the youth behave as bricolers when they shop.

The postmodern paradigm requires that relation between companies and consumers be

changed. Managers and consumers are to act as partners in the process of fulfilling needs, in

constructing realities. This process is to be made available for consumers to participate.

Fulfilling consumer needs is a modern marketing objective, postmodern empowers the

consumer, which implies that marketing is the tool of consumer communities, which is for

creating their own lifestyles and experiences. (Firat és Dholakia, 2006).

Overall, collage can be considered a feasible tool for portraying today’s consumers’ thoughts

and views. The collage is not a strange or unfamiliar tool as we encounter collages every day



in the media, in dressing and in the environment. It is a tool for creating one’s own reality,

empowerment of the consumer, that might well applied in research.

3. Collage as a tool for generating new product ideas

Pictures of the collage can come from the print media, an online image bank, but a personal

picture or drawing can be constructing element too. Overall, what matters is that these

elements are all part of the culture of the creator. The creation of the collage is both, a

physical and mental activity. The creator has to make physical efforts, while searching for the

right pictures in the news or on the computer (see Table 1.). The creator has to search among

the pictures till the moment he finds the right ones. Magazine pictures have their own

contexts, however the creator relocates these and puts them into a new context. As a result,

they will become part of a new story, that is formulated by the creator. The major objective is

to solve and express a problem. (Finley, 2001).

Table 1: Procedure of creating and interpreting a collageStep Description

1 Setting up circumstances. Explanation of the task Provision of pictures from an offline or online image bank,

online or offline user environment

2 Searching for pictures, choice The creators physical and mental efforts

3 Creating the collage Pictures get new meanings as they are relocated

4 Explanation of the collage, creator’s interpreation The creator’s interpretaion

5 Analysis, evaluation Researchers’ analysis and interpreation

The use of collages in research brings the following advantages (Landgarten, 1993):

• Helps to recall, relive experiences

• It makes it easier to express feelings that are difficult to tell by words

• Individual choices of pictures reveal one’s individual view point and thinking• Individual choices of pictures give the freedom of rich and in-depth self expression

In our previous research we found that it is important to ask for creators' own interpretation of

the choice elements, and their intent with them. It is important, because researchers’

seemingly independent, objective interpretation might bring wrong directions, contrary to the

creators' original intent. This can be explained by the fact that one picture might hold multiple

meanings: as a dog might be the symbol of saving the house or the symbol of being faithful.

The other approach to interpreting consumer collages is when the researcher does not ask for

consumer interpretations. In that case the researcher uses tested set of pictures, where the

meaning of the pictures is stable, already set. The problem with this approach in our point of view is that it assumes one objective universal uniform meaning, and disregards the

possibility on individual interpretations. The two views might be reconciled with the

involvement of independent judges who also analyse and interpret the pictures Bruner (2004).

As people, consumers do not share common uniform knowledge and experiences, therefore

their knowledge base are multiple, which imply that their associations of pictures are also

manifold. This is well explained by the fact, that interpretations of art bring so diverse

frequent disagreement. Besides individual differences, common cultural background bring

culture specific associations and interpretations (Schuster, 2005:110).

Associations become very important when they relate to the respondents' personality. Those

collages give very revealing results when they relate to the person’s relation to products,



services and brands. Symbols contribute to the expression of unconscious, difficult to

verbalise contents (Schuster, 2005:104). Meaning of the symbol is not evident however,

therefore it is important to explore contexts and relations. If someone for example is proud of

being able to sail, this person will probably appreciate imagery with lakes. A professional

horse rider will like horse related imagery, because that will reflect a positive aspects of his or

her self (Schuster, 2005:111).

4. Collage of collages: generating new product concepts

Advantage of collages and visual representation is that it gives freedom for participants to

express their own views. By interpreting their own collages respondents are relieved to talk

about their thoughts and feelings, which result in in-depth colourful insights. Therefore we

consider it essential to quote and content analyse consumer interpretations. Bellow we present

one example of de-composed and re-composed series of collages.

In a given research situation respondents are asked to create a visual composition related tothe given question. The created composition then is explained by the author. Respondents use

a web-surface where they can create their virtual composition. They can choose, cut, rotate

pictures and, add text as well. After completion, authors describe their piece of art.

Analysis gives a re-composition of consumer interpretations and their relations.

For an illustration, respondents start working according to a task description:

Imagine the following: You are somewhere and you read something. Imagine yourself today and

within 10 years time. Create a collage of your choice of visual and textual elements that describes the

bellow topic:

„This is how I will keep contact today and in 10 years’ time where postal services will still exist”

After completing their piece of art respondents are asked to describe their work:Describe your work! Explain why you chose the particular elements on the collage! Describe what

they mean? Why were they put on the collage?

In our presentation we will give an illustration from our previous series of research where

visual expression and creators' interpretation create in-depth meanings and show how user

content may be reinterpreted and recomposed by the researchers.

5. Closing picture: a contribution

Our objective was to show that in today’s changing media consumption, increasing visual

communication makes collage technique an adequate and efficient research tool especially inthe case of youngsters for recording their difficult to express views, attitudes and feelings.

Collage technique well fits in the surrounding media landscape: music videos, 30 second

commercials, picture magazines, web 2.0 applications, where people give voluntary collages

of themselves as self representations.

Our contribution is the interpretation process and re-composition that creates a new

“super-collage” which gives a powerful tool for the academic as well as the corporate

research to explore new in-depth directly unavailable consumer content.

The question as a result is not that whether we can attach and find universal meanings, but

rather the actual meaning at a given point in a given context. Let’s imagine a horse. What

does a horse symbolize? Is it standing or is it in motion? The symbol of a horse might meanfastness, or nature, or being grand. The point is in the context where it is interpreted.



6. References

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Brown, S., Stevens, L. and Maclaran, P. (1999): I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bakhtin!: Literary

Theory, Postmodern Advertising, and the Gender Agenda. Journal of Advertising, VolumeXXVIII, Number 1, Spring, 11-24.

Bruner, J. (2004): Az oktatás kultúrája. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest.

Clarke, J. (1976): The skinheads and the magical recovery of working class community. In: S.

Hall et al. (eds): Resistance through rituals. Hutchinson, New York.

Costa, A.I.A, D. Schollmeester, M. Dekker, W.M.F. Jongen (2003): Exploring the use of

consumer collages in product design. Trends in Food Science and Technology 14., pp. 17-

31.

Dennett, D. (1998): Az intencionalitás filozófiája. Osiris Kiadó, Budapest.

Finley, S. (2001). Painting life histories. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Summer, 13-

26.

Firat, A. F. and N. Dholakia (2006): Theoretical and philosophical implications of postmodern debates: some challenges to modern marketing. Marketing Theory, 6 (2), 123-

162.

Gombrich, E. H. (2002): History of Art. Glória Kiadó, Budapest.

Havlena, W. J. & Holak, S. L. (1996): Exploring nostalgia imagery through the use of

consumer collages. In F. Kardes & M. Sujan (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research (Vol.

23), pp 35-42.

Hawkes, T. (1977): Structuralism and semiotics. Methuen, London.

Hebdige, D. (1995): A stílus, mint célzatos kommunikáció. Replika, 17-18, 181-197.

Kaiser, S. B., R. H. Nagasawa és S. S. Hutton (1991): Fashion, postmodernity and personal

appearance: A symbolic interactionist formulation. Symbolic Interaction 14(2): 165–185.

Landgarten, H.B. (1993). Magazine photo collage: A multicultural assessment and treatment

technique. Brunner/Mazel, New York.

Muggleton, D. (2005): A poszt-szubkulturalista. Replika, 53, december, 111-126.

Schuster, M. (2005): Művészetlélektan. Panem Kiadó, Budapest.

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Consumer Research, 21 (september), 252-273.

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Global Information and Sign Economy. Journal of Macromarketing, Vol.19, No 12,

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