The sign in graphic design

A sociological exploration of sign production

in the postmodern era

Submitted by Keith Robertson BA Hons.

A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

School of Sociology. Politics, and Anthropology.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

LaTrobe University. Bundoora. Victoria 3083 Australia

April J999

Contents

v Acknowledgments

vii Abstract

ix Statement of Authorship

i Introduction

3 Overview of Chapters

Literature Review

7 chaprei i Postmodernism and Sign Product ion in Graphic Design

Introduction

8 The Death and Resurrection of the Author

11 The Death of Meaning - the Simulacra and the Hyperreal

14 From Production to Reproduction

18 Social semiot ics: Counter Postmodernists

25 Graphic Design Function in the Semantic Universe

28 The Identif ication of a Graphic Design Code

31 Conclusion

33 Chapter2 Graphic Design as Cultural Product ion

Introduction

35 Institutionalization: Graphic Design in Production and Reproduction

36 The Institutional Structures of Graphic Design Production

39 The Ass ignment of Value through Graphic Design in Mass Communica t ions

and Mass Production

41 Sign Production as Cultural and Industrial Production

42 Reproduction - The Socialization of Graphic Design

45 The Significance of Class to the Analysis of Graphic Design

47 Social Class: One of the most Important Themes of the Sociological Tradition

49 The Dominant Ideology Thesis

52 The Dominant Ideology Thesis: Critique and Response

54 Class and Postmodern Theory: Critique and Accommodat ion

59 Conclusion

Theory

61 Chapter 3 Towards a Graphic Design Code

Introduction

62 The Postmodern Market

63 The Code of the Marketplace

65 The Structure of the Code

68 A Code of Binary Oppositions on an Arbitrarily Divided Continuum

69 The Aesthetic Sign-function of the Code

71 Towards a Graphic Design Code

73 The Elements of the Graphic Design Code

74 The Stratification of the Graphic Design Code

75 The Pro-aesthetic Style

76 The Anti-aesthetic Style

Conclusion

Methodology

79 Chapter 4 Methodology

Introduction

81 Research Design

82 The Interviews

84 Data Collection and Analysis

86 The Limitations and justification of the Research Design

87 Ethical Issues

The Study

89 copras Contemporary Magazine Analysis Demonstrating the Graphic Design Code

Introduction

Why magazines?

90 Magazines: the serial nature

91 The Competit ive Marketplace of the Magazine

93 The Structure of the Graphic Design Code and it's role in the Aesthetic Continuum

94 The division of the Aesthetic Continuum in the Postmodern Marketplace

95 Pro-aesthetic Design - Elite Maintenance

113 Anti-aesthetic Design - Massmarket Maintenance

120 The Enunciation of the Graphic Design Code in Binary Opposit ions

122 Conclusion

123 Chapter 6 The Enunciation of the Code: Space and Text

Introduction to Chapters 6, 7 & 8

124 Space and Text

White Space

127 Grids

129 Typography

130 Discipline

132 Body Copy

Columns

134 Headlines

135 Kerning, Leading and Al ignment

Conclusion

137 Chapter? The Enunciat ion of the Code: Image, Colour and Mater ials

Introduction

Photography and Illustration

138 The Sign-function of Photography

139 Illustration vs. Photography

141 Designing wi th Photographs

142 Photographic Values

143 Colour

Colour Range

144 Colour Function

146 Colour Values

147 Materials of Presentation

149 Conclusion

151 Chapter 8 The Enunciation of the Code: Authorship and Institutional Values

Introduction

The Graphic Designer as Author

The Power of the Designer

153 Autonomy

155 Personal Design Values and Inspiration

156 Significant Others - the Editor and the Product ion Team

159 The Graphic Designer and the Reader

161 Change and it 's Mot ivat ion

163 Design Inspiration

164 Job Satisfaction

165 Conclusion

16/ Chapter 9 The Enunciation of the Code: Personal Values

Introduction

168 Social Class

171 Lifestyle

172 Dinner

173 Clothes

175 Art Appreciat ion

177 Other Magazines

178 Music

179 Age and Training

180 Conclusion

Discussion

181 Chapiei 10 Testing the Graphic Design Code Research Outcomes

Introduction

182 A Summary of the Analysis and Interviews Investigating the Structure

of the Graphic Design Code

Layout/Space/Grid

184 Typography

188 Image/Photography/Il lustration

189 Colour

191 Materials of Presentation

192 The Production of the Sign

The Idea of Authorship

193 Autonomy

The Production Team

194 Personal Values

195 Social Class

196 Habitus

198 The Significance of the Production of the Graphic Design Code to Postmodern Theory

204 The Significance of Production of the Graphic Design Code to Sociological Theory

208 Issues arising that relate to Graphic Design Theory

209 Conclusion

Conclusion

211 Summary

214 Future Directions

217 The Interview Questionnaire Schedule

221 Bibliography

227 Glossary of Graphic Design Terms

229 Ethics Committee Approval

Acknowledgements

The writing of this thesis spanned eight years of writing and research and over this

time I must acknowledge how greatly indebted I am to some very important individuals

who have encouraged and nurtured me through this sometimes tortuous process,

enabling me to stay focussed while simultaneously working and keeping family life as

normal as possible.

Over the life of the thesis I have had two supervisors each of whom have played a

very special part Prof. Allan Kellehear was my supervisor for the bulk of the thesis. I

thank him for his persistence, encouragement and hard work in reading, criticising and

helping restructure my original material. Dr Beryl Langer was my original supervisor and

I thank her for getting me started and inspiring me to consider the Sociology of Graphic

Design in the first place.

On a personal level, my wife Alex has allowed me enough space and understanding

for the thesis to fit into our family life without destroying it's cohesion and to my

daughters Phoebe and Harriet who hardly know their dad without the Damocles Sword

of the thesis hanging over him. They have kept me down to earth. I appreciate their

love and patience.

To my interviewees. I would like to thank them for their time and co-operation in

agreeing to be interviewed. To my colleagues in the Graphic Design Course area at

RMIT, I would like to thank them for their continued patience and encouragement.

Lastly. I would like to thank my old friends Prue Marks, Jody Fenn and Niko Spelbrink of

Ography Design for designing and helping with the production problems of this final draft.

sjgn of graphic designA sociological exploration of sign productionin the postmodern era

A thesis wrmen by Keith Robertson 1 9 9 9

The age of Postmodernism is defined by some major characteristics which affect and

are affected by graphic design; such as the primacy of information as a global

commodity and a consumption driven economy where increasingly taste is becoming

the universal means of market appeal. Graphic Design is the design of information

traditionally for print media, but is these days involved with the presentation of

information in any media and so, though often overlooked, has become the

fundamental center of information organization.

The Literature Review chapters explore graphic design as a particular sort of sign

production from both a postmodern and sociological perspective and expose graphic

design as an activity with strong semiotic, social, industrial and economic roots, part of

new postmodern systems of sign production developed to suit the new media which

are increasingly image dominated and where styles of presentation are primary to

information transmission.

After developing these ideas I propose that graphic design forms a fundamental

structure to most forms of postmodern communication and develop the Graphic

Design Code as a system in which all of the elements of graphic design are structured

in the form of binary oppositions based on class driven values of taste.

In order to explore this proposition I conduct a semiotic analysis of a wide range of

contemporary magazine design and then (using the same structure of analysis) interview

ten leading Australian magazine art directors who work at each end of the Code.

The study exposes a highly structured code based on taste and class and as such,

exposes one of the fundamental socialisers of the postmodern marketplace, one

largely overlooked by earlier sociological studies of media and communication and

rarely given such social significance by graphic design theorists who have been slow

to paint their activities with a social brush.

Statement of Authorship

12 A p r i l 1999

First soft-bound edition

"Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no

material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis which I have

qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person's work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution."

Research procedures reported in the thesis were approved by the relevant

Ethics/Safety Committee or authorised officer as appropriate.

Date: /2.S If'l I 49$ Candidate's signature:

Introduction

When I started working as a graphic designer in the early seventies graphic design

would have been described as design for print. Graphic designers were people who

manually assembled line art (black and white artwork that might incorporate type,

illustrations, rules etc.) pasted it onto base art or layout sheets and then, on an overlay,

made written instructions to the pre-press room at the printers, where film was

prepared according to instructions before printing plates were made and books or

magazines printed. This laborious process involved a high degree of technical

knowledge of a wide range of industrial processes and the ability to liaise accurately

with a wide range of technical support; people such as typesetters, film assemblers,

printers, binders, editors etc. Today, a majority of these jobs have disappeared and

been replaced by a graphic designer and a small but high powered personal computer

which can produce far more sophisticated visual feats than could be achieved manually

a decade before.

Computer technology has totally transformed the graphic design task and method of

production, giving designers increased, indeed immense control over one of the most

important aspects of visual communication. This does not mean that the graphic

designer is autonomous, far from it. Graphic design will always be part of a production

process and necessarily working for a client. Most likely the client will be a publisher or

industrial producer in need of the designer to attract attention and present information

in the most advantageous way.

Graphic design is essentially the design of contexts into which information, textual

and visual, is presented. These are usually stylized within traditional formats of

presentation (such as magazines, newspapers, packages or even labels) forming an

important and usually familiar background to a textual and informational message

which is ever changing and updating. Graphic Design is the element which remains

constant in a magazine for instance from issue to issue. Subject matter, both textual

and visual, must keep changing as part of the necessary change of content, but styles

of presentation tend to remain much more constant and this is the important continuity

that the graphic designing art director must provide. Graphic design is a poorly

understood activity which can still be misunderstood and unrecognised by the lay

public, and here, I must include people of all classes and professions, including

academics such as sociologists. For this reason I have found the following thesis a

challenging and at times a ground breaking activity.

I happened to be trained first as a graphic designer, but then disenchanted with the

idea of a career in the advertising industry, I studied sociology, only to work for twenty

years as a graphic designer in the magazine and the small independent publishing

industry in Melbourne. Australia. The independent publishing movement was a brief

and idealistic product of the seventies and eighties, but it turned out that they

were never strong enough to survive the crash of 1987. so by the nineties I had entered

academia as a Graphic Design Lecturer, mainly in Design Theory, and it seemed

only logical to me that Graphic Design Theory should be a part of cultural theory

and media studies. The late eighties saw the birth of a new movement in design

theory, one much more closely connected to cultural studies which tended by this

time, to be dominating and drawing together whole areas of discourse such as

literature, film, cultural production, sociology and philosophy. The French theorists,

especially Barthes, Foucault and Derrida were most influential in this movement, yet

somehow, when applied to graphic design, analysis was usually small and limited in

scope and piecemeal. Faced with this range of material in my area, and being aware,

because of my background in sociology, of a much broader but more relevant range of

writing, I commenced the present study with the hope of connecting graphic design to

a much broader theoretical tradition. As the study progressed I have been gratified to

discover that this connection is not just a one way process, so I hope that this new

area of discourse might now develop its own momentum and that through graphic

design, communication studies might give to the visually designed dimension a level

of import at least as significant as the text and image which tend to have been the sum

total of recognised media content in the past.

There have been excellent semiotic analyses of specialist areas touched by graphic

design in the past, such as Roland Barthes on photography and Judith Williamson's

Decoding Advertisements (Barthes 1977a, and Williamson 1978) and yet as a broader,

context providing system of presentation, I found graphic design both poorly defined

and analysed. For this reason, part of this study provides a structural analysis of graphic

design as a specialized activity common these days, not just to print, but also to the

electronic information media which these days are arguably even more important

technologies than print. Graphic design, thanks to its computer centredness in

production, remains with the computer, the dominant and ever influential essential

ingredient of the new media which are by their very nature information dominant. For

this reason I develop the five essential elements of graphic design (space, type, image,

colour and material of reproduction) elements which are universal to all graphic design

no matter what its media of presentation. My thesis demonstrates the value of

exposing the structural basis of meaning in graphic design. The concept of graphic

design as a composite of structural elements has certainly influenced and enhanced

my teaching of design in both practical and theoretical areas. The elements are all

known to graphic designers at both a practical and theoretical level, but it is indicative

of the slow development of design theory that they have never been presented as a

structural system/code of presentation prior to this.

Another major issue of this thesis arises out of the need to establish the graphic

designer as a special sort of author. Authorship (and the death of it) has been an

important theme in semiotic theory since Barthes (Barthes 1977a) and yet it seems to

me so necessary to develop the status of visual meaning (along with, but identifiably

separate to textual meaning) that I seek to develop the graphic designer/art director as

a special type of semiotic functionary. Barthes' analysis, especially in Mythologies

(Barthes 1973) with its emphasis on the mythic and ideology reinforcing levels of

signification in metalanguage seems a perfect realm for the activity of graphic design.

Graphic design has traditionally been described as political when its text is obviously

so (such as under the Nazi or communist propagandists). This thesis sees the political,

or more strictly, the ideological, as one of graphic design's primary functions. This, and

its underlying insistence that graphic design is foundational in the formation of

aesthetic taste cultures in contemporary society, demonstrates the most powerful

social forces of social class reinforced by taste in contemporary mass societies such

as is found in Australia today, is one of its strongest findings. Social class is an

increasingly old fashioned concept to many postmodernists and yet this thesis

suggests that strongly polarized social class is clearly evident in contemporary design

works and perhaps the major intersection between design and the social. Given the

rise of aesthetic judgement as a major force in contemporary consumerism, graphic

design appears to be increasingly a major mechanism of social control and

manipulation, maintaining taste cultures and with them status quo dominance of the

bourgeois hegemony.

Overview of Chapters

The first chapter of the thesis that follows is part of the literature review which I divided

into two principal areas, the first is concerned with Postmodernism, Semiotics and

Graphic Design. It seemed evident to me that Postmodern Theory and the Semiotic

tradition from which it grew held many of the keys to an understanding of an activity

like graphic design which is clearly so much a part of the new media dominated

information society.

I commence by trying to understand the postmodern idea of authorship as it

relates to graphic design; dealing first of all with Barthes' idea of the death of the

author and then with Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality and the simulacra. In both

of these theories we see a loss of control of the author; in the first, by surrendering

meaning to the reader and in the second by hypothesizing a sign set free of its

traditional sources of signification. With the help of Foucault I refocus on the graphic

designer's function as author serving a variety of functions but primarily being

wedded to the postmodern marketplace which conveniently sets up a social realm

ripe for symbolic manipulation. This manipulation occurs through the aesthetic realm

in which graphic design has been brought into play as a major arbiter of taste setting

the foundation for the reception of other signs which far from representing the

hyperreal instead are tied to the marketplace which seeks to construct its audiences

making them ready for consumption.

The next chapter continues the literature review, but this time examines the

sociological concepts most useful to elucidating graphic design activity. Here, I am

firstly insistent in seeing design as a form of media production, part of the commercial

and media economy and as such recognizing that design is actually produced as an

institutionalized part of industry. Graphic Design is shown to be an industry in its own

right with institutionalized structures, traditions and hierarchies. Even the aesthetics

expressed in the design are seen to be institutionalized industrial products tied to the

commercial marketplace. This is graphic design as cultural production. Eco (Eco 1976)

is called upon in an analysis of graphic design as a unique system of sign production

with a flexible but highly structured code of expression clearly understood by the

industry but less clearly by the educational institutions. Graphic design is then

understood as a uniquely postmodern form of socialisation, teaching values of

expression and consumption and reproducing social class through a rigid hierarchy of

taste which Bourdieu calls the cultural arbitrary (Bourdieu 1984).

Chapter 3 develops the idea that graphic design is so systematically structured that

it forms one of the great modern/postmodern codes of expression tied mainly to the

commercial marketplace expressed in all the commercial media, advertising and

associated areas of consumption. The code is reinforced by the serial nature of its

reproduction. The code itself is then explored exposing a binary code of oppositions of

taste used to orient the consumer/reader to complex media environments. It is shown

to be a hypercode which provides general structure and orientation around which there

is considerable flexibility and room to show some freedom of expression. This degree

of flexibility is important in an aesthetically dominated code, as it allows personal

expression and enough flexibility to give both creative job satisfaction and

unselfconscious reader identification, but above all, is a polarized set of values strictly

defined by class through aesthetic control. It is here that I describe the Graphic Design

Code as being made up of a set of essential design elements universal to all

applications of the code - those being space, type, image, colour and materials of

presentation. Finally, the Code is shown to be highly polarized and stratified according

to class in pro- and anti-aesthetic styles of expression where taste is shown to be

controlled by all the positive values of good taste - the cultural arbitrary.

Chapter 4 is the Methodology chapter where the research method is presented and

described. There are two principal and complementary forms of research carried out,

one is a semiotic analysis of a wide range of mainly Australian magazines; and

secondly, interviews with ten leading Australian magazine art directors who, using the

same structural analysis provided by the code, analyze their design production in their

own words. These interview findings are then broken down according to the structure

of the Code as developed in Chapter 3. The research method is criticized and ethical

issues discussed.

The next chapter (Chapter 5) is the first research chapter in which I carry detailed

semiotic analysis on a wide range of Australian and international magazines spread

across the aesthetic continuum which constitutes the Graphic Design Code.

Magazines are justified as being probably the most characteristic of the postmodern

print media as they have benefited most from technological developments in printing

where colour has become nearly universal and most importantly cost effective so that

these improvements now penetrate all of the levels of the postmodern media

marketplace. The analysis is carried out using the Design Elements of the Graphic

Design Code. After the analyses the code is described in a tabular form demonstrating

the aesthetic polarities in terms of binary oppositions.

Chapters 6 and 7 then present and discuss the interview material in the areas of the

Design Elements, Space and Type in Chapter 6 and Image. Colour and Materials in

Chapter 7. Comparison is made in each case with the binary oppositions tabulated and

summarized in Chapter 5 and this same structure is used in the presentation of the

interview material. This material complements and largely reinforces the summary and

outcome of the analysis in Chapter 5 and covers the same subject matter.

Chapters 8 and 9 however address issues that go beyond the Design Elements and

here the issues are not always dealt with such correlation though the bi-polar structure

still gives strength to the interview material. Chapter 8 discusses issues of authorship

and institutional values. Here issues like their perceived relationship to their readership

and the degree of autonomy they feel themselves to have in their jobs are discussed;

the power of institutional structures and their relations to editors and management;

their personal values in design; change in design and what motivates it and design

influences. This chapter strongly and consistently reinforces the bi-polar extremes of

the Code. Interesting, but less successful is the analysis in Chapter 9 of the designers'

personal values This part of the interview schedule was intended to reflect the

interview findings of Bourdieu's Distinction (Bourdieu 1984) but here I think the

interview technique fell short of the depth of analysis necessary for the successful

exposure of the respondents' true values, especially in the area of social class and to a

lesser extent lifestyle. Further, probably observational information is needed to properly _

reinforce, reject or clarify their interview findings. Nevertheless, the polarized interview 3̂c

structure still gives strength and consistency to the material. 2.o"

Chapter 10: Testing the Graphic Design Code tests the research outcomes against =

the major issues raised elsewhere in the thesis from Postmodern, Sociological and

Graphic Design Theory. Each of the Design Elements are discussed in the light of the

art directors' responses. Discipline, or the lack of it, turns out to be the most

consistently held difference between the pro- and anti-aesthetic designers Even

though the pro-aesthetic designers acknowledge the greater freedom available to them

at their end of the code, they tend, through adherence to discipline, to inhibit their

freedom in the name of institutional consistency and not losing the reader. The reader

comes through as one of the most influential forces in graphic design. It is the readers'

inherent conservatism which inhibits the designers' willingness to experiment. I then

test the research findings against the early research chapters of the thesis and suggest

that the Graphic Design Code functions to counter the effects of hyperreality by

providing a clear and polarized foundational structure to the signs generated as

communication for the postmodern media. Graphic design is shown to be an almost

totally commodified practice, always reaching out, appealing to and manipulating

popular opinion in such a way that appeals to innate but cultivated dispositions of

taste. The relation between the art director and the reader however is a surprisingly

strong one, where the designers effectively feel in communication with the readership

largely through constant practice and the serial nature of media change and

reproduction. When looking at the sociological implications of the research findings I

emphasise the material nature of sign production in graphic design and see this

analysis reinforcing the stress that must be returned to production and especially

institutional production in media studies. Media and media publishers are very much

about production to suit market forces and the serial nature of magazine production

reinforces the socialisation of the marketplace into aesthetic dispositions which exactly

correlate with those of the market share.

Lastly, I reflect upon the significance of findings to Graphic Design Theory. It is here

that a Sociology of Graphic Design has most to offer as it emphasises a mostly new

and more fully articulated perspective into the social motivation of graphic design and

especially its nearly total capitulation to commercial forces as a field of expression.

Partial and piecemeal analysis has mostly left graphic design detached from social

forces in most Graphic Design Theory. My emphasis on the universality of the design

elements gives back to design a much grander role in the formation of meaning and

recognition at last that it is a universal phenomena, not just brilliance or the miscarriage

of taste. Most important is the message for Graphic Design education which

desperately needs to understand its universal application instead of seeing design

practice entirely through rose coloured glasses and concentrating only on the

production of fine design

Chapter 11 is the conclusion where further study and research is discussed and the

implications of the findings briefly applied to key areas.

Literature ReviewPostmodernism and Sign Productionin Graphic Design

Introduction

As the subject of this first literature review is about the production of graphic design in

the age of postmodernism, it is necessary to illuminate the aspects of the postmodern

debate that relate to the field of sign production in graphic design and to critique it

when necessary.

Some of the key postmodern theories downplay the very activities of which graphic

design is an important part; the replacing of production/labour with reproduction/

consumption for instance, de-emphasises the creation of signs and the idea of the

simulacra strips signs of their directedness (Baudhllard.1988 d: 143-147). Ironically, for

the subject of this thesis, the graphic designer too, has recently been 'killed of f using

Barthes as a major resource (Richardson, 1993). This smart metaphysics tends to deny

the material production of the whole field of communications - a position reached by

accepting only the reception of signs as the prime area of signification and not the

creation or manufacture of them. This error is a major point in the critique of both

Barthes and Baudrillard by social/socio-semiotics (Gottdiener, 1995: 49).

For this reason I will first summarize and then debate the author / reader dichotomy

as it has developed, first in Barthes's semiology and later in the postmodern emphasis

on reception theory and consumerism as the only valid realms of signification. I support

the recognition that semiotics gives to the reader/consumer as the primary locus of

meaning, but argue that Barthes never intended to deny authorship per se - simply to

dethrone it.

Since graphic design is at the centre of my study, I feel I must re-establish a postmodern

role for the author (or in my case the graphic designer as co-author and co-textualizer) and I

do this largely through the ideas of Michel Foucault and Umberto Eco (Foucault 1991 and

Eco 1976). Both writers put a new emphasis on the author through highlighting the idea of

author function, which returns to the author what is unique about their particular media role

as the originator of the text. The author function should not be generalised, but rather

revealed through each related historical and industrial purpose; in the way that the writer

contributes to the text through words and the graphic designer through context and

presentation. Graphic design is shown to encapsulate one of the primary forms of

postmodern sign production - that of giving ever greater visual emphasis.

The second postmodern 'death' to be addressed in this chapter is the death of

meaning. One of the major characteristics attributed to the postmodern world is the

disintegration of meaning through the loss of linear history where meaning is formed

primarily through the random processes of reproduction in the mass media (Jameson

1991) or where the traditional classifiers of taste have supposedly dissolved into a

symbolically totally deconstructed hyperspace (Baudrillard 1988a). By focussing on

contemporary graphic design production I am able to describe a system of production

and image making with far greater tradition and intent to influence than that suggested

by Baudrillard's simulacra. I conclude by showing a preference for the idea that the

postmodern age is much more characteristic of late capitalism - a stage of development

more continuous with the modern world, but where all of culture (including, of course,

graphic design) has been totally commodified.

Commodification of all values is therefore posited as the strongest influence of the

postmodern era. In tandem with the development of the new electronic technologies

and economic globalization, commodification has led to a near universal adoption of a

commercial codification of taste where realms of cultural production like graphic

design, are now one of the primary expressions of value. Graphic design reinforces

the now totally commodified habitus expressing the positive values of bourgeois taste

to the elite market, or in the negative, to the masses. The sign function of graphic

design is to ascribe the appropriate aesthetic text to each and every class and/or

group in society. Graphic design has been converted into a taste code to locate and

reinforce each strata of society.

The Death and Resurrection of the Author

"... to give writing its future, it is necessary to overthrow the myth: the birth of the reader must be at the

cost of the death of the author" (Barthes, 1977a: 148)

These words end an article on the perception of textual meaning by Roland Barthes

first written in 1968. It is written in the dramatic, rhetorical style of a manifesto, yet today,

the phrase the death of the author has almost lost its metaphorical ring enough to be

taken literally. This was never meant as a physical threat to writers or their livelihood,

rather, a description of what Barthes perceived to be a more real or semiotically correct

location of meaning formation within the reader of the text rather than the author

"The reader is the space on which all the quotations that make up a writing are inscribed without any of

them being lost; a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination. Yet this destination cannot any

longer be personal: the reader is without history, biography, psychology; he is simply that someone who

holds together in a single field all the traces by which the written text is constituted." IBarthes, 1977a: 148)

And so. in this relatively early semiotic text is identified what has come to be one of the

major shifts of perceptive theory of the late twentieth century - from the author to the

reader and with it, a 'fracturing' of the 'class' or perception group. It is not surprising that

Barthes chooses to make his claim so dramatically, because in the modern period, the

author as the individual/genius/creative hero had reigned supreme; from the literary

criticism of the Leavises, the avant garde subversive modern artist to the auteur theory of

film direction. The modern period regarded authorship as the principal value as if there

was only one correct interpretation - the product of a creative and highly individual vision.

So it is important to see Barthes writing in 1968 as being reactive to a dominant view now

fashionably eclipsed by his own. These days, it is usual to concentrate on the role of the

reader, or through reception theory, try to reconstitute the meaning of the text through its

interpretation and assimilation by the individual reader, rather than assume a correct

interpretation of the original text as the idiosyncratic view of the author (eg., Eco, 1984

and Radway. 1991).

Now that the authors' death is a given in the critical status quo. there is an

imbalance emerging - almost the reverse of the imbalance being addressed by Barthes

in 1968 - that it is being perceived that the author and the text are of little relevance

compared to the received meaning of the communication through the reader. I am not

going to propose that we return to the modernist position, but suggest that the current

debate is concentrating much too strongly on the receiver to the detriment of the author,

who after all has many unique qualities (such as privileged access to influential media

operatives) which should not be ignored, even if we accept that the reception of ideas

should take primacy in the transmission of meaning. ,_

Reception of meaning might be understood as something fairly passive and one g

directional (implied in words like reception or consumption) but there is a much more |

proactive meaning ascribed to reception where meaning is actually constructed or ™CD*

produced by the reader (Radway, 1991:467). Reception is an especially interesting S

problem when you look at particular audiences for particular types of text; audiences

which possess a level of literacy which is far from the conventional, educated, middle

class audience most critics and academic writers would be addressing.

Clearly, in the case of graphic design production, reception is just as significant

an end of the communication process as it is in the production of text, but in

the production of all meaning there is always a producer AND receiver and where

the receivers are necessarily diverse and numerous (as they are under mass

communication) the production end of the mass communicated product is necessarily

more centralized around the author or production team. Even at the level of production,

it is fashionable to follow Barthes's description of the authorial process as being

necessarily eclectic, combining all manner of cultural references - both the coherent

and the contradictory (Barthes, 1977a: 146). So the degree of origination claimed by the

postmodern author is necessarily going to be modified by its conditions of existence,

more than that of the modernist Author-God (Idem). Not only is a text constructed of

historical and cultural influences, but reference probably beyond the conscious

awareness of the author/s must also be considered. The cultural location and use of

the text and its reception through various degrees of literacy gives meaning that

ascribes culturally to the text itself (Williams, 1982:57). This type of analysis is one

often described by sociologists as cultural production.

The death of the Author-God (which is a limited kind of death that I am only too

happy to accept) in fact redefines the comprehension of authorship and. in turn,

graphic design. The 'power' of the author is necessarily reduced once you understand

that neither productive reference nor interpretive comprehension can be controlled.

There are also many characteristics of the capitalist system of production that limit the

designer/author's role. I will expand on these later when describing the industrial

conditions of postmodernism, but chiefly, it must be recognised that industrial

production takes place within an established market place full of expectations and

traditions that obviously prescribe such a large percentage of any new formation in the

area of communication. The function of a new product, for instance, is mostly given.

The usual creative hope is to modify slightly or add to a function that already exists in

the marketplace, so the designer/author is mostly resigned to the fact that he/she is

likely to make only minor modifications to existing expectations. Also, under mass

production, most consumers tend to think generically, and yet the designer must

be working on specific products, solving specific problems which makes his industrial

role a purely comparative one to the mass consumer. So the postmodern

comprehension of the author is a much more conditional one than that constructed for

the Author-God. However, I do not think that we should totally dismiss the modern

concept of authorship. The author role may have become more limited in scope

through recognising its influences in cultural production, yet it has exponentially gained

influence through the ever intensifying mass production of the contemporary media.

It is significant that Michel Foucault has seen fit to rescue the author from Barthes'

internment. Foucault describes the author function as a significant location of power;

a phenomenon, however, that shouldn't be generalised, but each case of authorship

analysed for its own unique social, cultural and political mix of qualities. Foucault

identifies the author as a function of discourse. According to Foucault, authorship is

constructed in order to support and give credibility to particular sorts of text. He goes

on to describe different types of text at different periods of history as supporting a

huge range of author function. For instance in the modern period the author has

become an object of appropriation, a form of property, owned, traded and legally

bound by publishers and users of the text alike. The author function of particular types

of text (eg., of myths) has been seen as unnecessary because their antiquity has been

seen as sufficient proof of their authenticity. In contrast, the modern scientific text

regards acknowledged authorship as mandatory. The modern author also tends to offer

a personalizing function by giving a psychological dimension to a range of texts

providing a unique consistency of meaning (Foucault, 1991:453-461). Rather than de-

emphasise the author role. Foucault suggests that we ask different sorts of questions.

Most importantly he suggests that we try to understand the very conditions that

sanction different conditions of authorship

"... we should ask: under what conditions and through what forms can an entity like the subject

|the author] appear in the order of discourse; what position does it occupy: what functions does it exhibit:

and what rules does it follow in each type of discourse? In short, the subject (and its substitutes) must

be stripped of its creative role and analysed as a complex and variable function of discourse "

(Foucault, 1991:461)

Viewed in this way, authorship loses the mystique ascribed to it in the modern

period, so that it becomes a function of the larger culture; motivated by economic,

industrial, marketing and social forces which seek benefit through a particular

exploitation of the author role. And so authorship, as a point of origination, takes on

new meaning as both a manipulated and motivated expression of the culture as a

whole. This particular understanding of the author function is also clear in Umberto

Eco's emphasis on sign production in his major theoretical work A Theory of Semiotics

(Eco, 1976). Sign production is for Eco, understanding the conditions that govern sign

formation in particular cultures. By analysing the complexity of sign production, so the

role of the sign producer can seem to be both highly creative but also potentially highly

proscribed by an inherited historical tradition, workplace and industrial organization,

market forces etc.

To suggest therefore, that the author is dead in the postmodern era, is to correctly

identify a tendency to place rather more emphasis on the readers' task of

interpretation, but to take the metaphor more literally than that is to accept a more

radical but absurd concept that ignores the necessity of intention and origination in the

production of all communicated phenomena.

10

The Death of Meaning - the Simulacra and the Hyperreal

There is a second death in postmodernism and it is the death of meaning. Most

extreme is the position of Jean Baudrillard, the self appointed polemicist for the

postmodern. Baudrillard commenced his social analysis as a structuralist and a

Marxist, describing the modern culture as deriving from labour and production. ,—

However, in his later works, he described labour as being replaced by consumption and 3

work by play, these becoming postmodern man's primary, formative function - a switch 3

which has transformed man's whole existence and with it created a new system of <5'

meaning (Baudrillard, 1988a). This new order is one where a new aesthetic has been 2

invented, an aesthetic dominated by signs and media of sign formation rather than the

actual production of material objects located in a class structure. This is most easily

understood in the production of postmodern art where the emphasis is on the pastiche

effects of symbol formation through grouping of found objects, alluding to past styles

and cross-cultural references, allowing the viewer to form or interpret the subject for

him/herself purely by processing the juxtaposition of meaning. In fact, the new role can

be observed in its greatest clarity in the industrial role of the graphic designer, where

every task juxtapositions new elements and combinations of signs within a totally

contrived industrial project.

The argument put by postmodern theorists (Baudrillard, 1988c and Jameson 1991) is

that we are now observing a society where culture is dominant - where the argument

between form and function is over - where the raw is all cooked - where the struggle

with the material world has finished in that it has all been commodified; even culture is

caught up in the commodification net. Of paramount importance in the postmodern view,

is the dominance of the media and especially the electronic media which are so invasive

of those previously private realms - the home and leisure time. In this totally 'done over'

world Baudrillard proposes a society where all cultural references are of the second order

- referring to signs and images which are already cultural products. Reality at this stage

of development is described by Baudrillard as a complete simulation - the hyperreal.

"At the conclusion of this process of reproduction, the real becomes not only that which can be

reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced, the hyperreal. But this does not mean that

reality and art are in some sense extinguished through total absorption of one another. Hyperrealism is

something like their mutual fulfilment and overflowing into one another through an exchange at the level

of simulation of their respective foundational privileges and prejudices. Hyperrealism is only beyond

representation because it functions entirely within the realm of simulation ... hyperrealism is an integral

part of a coded reality, which it perpetuates without modifying ... today, reality itself is hyperrealistic."

(Baudrillard, 1988d: 145-146)

This is described as a totally contrived System of Objects where material realities of

production are obliterated by a system of connotations - implied benefits and statuses

that bear a resemblance only to the needs promulgated by the commodity system

itself. The evidence of this can be found most clearly in advertising and its related

media which now mostly act as an ideological/hyperreal reinforcement for the

advertising they carry. And so the editorial content of the newspaper or magazine

and the sexual desirability of the news reader all relate the 'real' content of the media

to the content of the advertisement. This is the location of the hyperreal. As to the

realities of production, they are clearly of secondary importance in the postmodern

schematic; the advertiser is more concerned with relating the product to the lifestyle

11

of the consumer and the producer has become a distributor anyway by moving

production off shore to the third world - the realm postmodernists choose to ignore.

The idea of production has become less simple and more problematic and yet in the

area of symbol manipulation like graphic design, the process of sign production is a

grossly manipulated and industrialized field of expression.

In the writings of Baudrillard and another of the key postmodernists Fredric

Jameson, there is a sense that the hyperreal is replacing values gained through direct

experience with those totally contrived by the media. More than this, there is an added

quality of excess, in the over-abundance of information which makes value formation

very difficult to control and be sure of (Baudrillard, 1988b:2W). Baudrillard describes

the masses as developing a sort of passive resistance because they are caught in

"... an insoluble 'double bind' - exactly that of children in their relationship to the demands of the adult

world. They are at the same time told to constitute themselves as autonomous subjects, responsible, free,

and conscious, and to constitute themselves as submissive objects, inert, obedient, and conformist."

(Baudrillard. 1988b:218j

And so Baudrillard describes a sort of bland quiescence as an expedient refusal of

meaning. Jameson is impressed too by some inherent weaknesses and distortions that

occur in the postmodern system, again to do with the loss of meaning; that is, the loss

of the idea of a sequential linear history. This he sees as coming about both through

the diversity of media and information, therefore, its lack of structure and logical

sequence in delivery of information. So history is referred to, but not in any order and

more often than not. what is referred to, is a stylistic connotation derived from a

previous historical reference or artifact (Jameson, 1991:19).

So postmodernism has a lot to do with a new state of consciousness; a

consciousness different from that produced in the past stages of capitalism. So

different is it that the strongest characteristic identified by Jameson is the loss of

historical perspective - old struggles, perspectives and even contradictions no longer

have such relevance as new sorts of solutions to problems are sought. This is the first

generation to experience an entirely done-over world where learning and experience

are always second-hand and pre-processed. This has been most clearly illuminated in

areas of design such as architecture, where in postmodernism, selected forms of

ornament are being applied to buildings once more, in combinations incomprehensible

and unnecessary to the previously dominant values of functional modernism. So these

new combinations give symbolic evidence of a new consciousness.

In economic terms, late capitalism is characterised by an international scale of

operation - an expansion of the idea of mass production and mass communication

which so characterized the previous period of monopoly capital. In the postmodern

world national and local boundaries are rendered irrelevant compared to the global

forces dominated by international capital. This international characteristic of late

capitalism has developed along with commodification of nearly all of our lives. Through

new forms of retailing, nearly every human need might be met and through the all

pervasive new media forms, every human feeling is exploited Sleep is the only respite

from incessant bombardment. Whereas in the monopoly stage, different areas of our

lives (like food preparation, domestic work, leisure, sport or entertainment) were

gradually brought under the commodity sphere, under late capitalism all culture has

been commodified. This is similar to what Bourdieu describes as the new body hexis.

12

"From marriage counsellors to the vendors of slimming aids, all those who now make a profession of

supplying (he means of bridging the gap between is' and 'ought' in the realm of the body and its uses would

be nothing without the unconscious collusion of all those who contribute to producing an inexhaustible

market tor the products they offer, who by imposing new uses of the body and a new bodily hexis - the hexis

which the new bourgeoisie of the sauna bath, the gymnasium and the ski slope has discovered for itself - ,__

produce the corresponding needs, expectations and dissatisfactions. Doctors and diet experts armed with SJ

the authority of science, who impose their definition of normality with height-weight tables, balanced diets 3

or models of sexual adequacy; couturiers who confer the sanction of good taste on the unattainable ™to"

measurements of fashion models; advertisers for whom the new obligatory uses of the body provide scope §

for countless warnings and reminders (Watch your weight!' 'Someone isn't using ...'); journalists who exhibit

and glorify their own life-style in women's weeklies and magazines for well-heeled executives - all combine,

in the competition between them, to advance a cause which they can serve so well only because they are

not always aware of serving it or even serving themselves in the process " (Bourdieu, 1984:153)

The correlation between the near universal commodification of postmodern life and

the possibility of efficient and universal communication systems to support and

promote this consumption demonstrates the increasing dependence on truly effective

communication. In the visual media (print and electronic) graphic design is the key to

many of the read messages, even when words are not dominant, or even missing. The

public often acknowledged that graphic design is evident in some realms of the media

(perhaps advertising or magazines) but in most media, graphic design is accepted as

natural and therefore neutral; appreciated at a subliminal level, hidden by tradition and

repetition as codes of presentation.

"The foundation of graphic design is formal structure. Functional structuralists have enumerated and

described the conventions and codes for arranging the 'graphic elements' - typography, line art. and

continuous-tone art - on the page in order to move the reader's eye through the layout. The fact that these

graphic elements are meaningful aspects of communication usually is not emphasized by functional

structuralists; form, rather than content, is the central focus of analysis and discussion. The graphic

elements are described as forms with visual characteristics', such as shape, weight, size, pattern, texture,

position and colour. Through these graphic elements, visual characteristics, and design principles such as

balance, sequence, contrast, unity, proportion, etc.. designers impose visual order on a layout The design

practices can be defined as conventions, while the whole system of practices constitute the design code "

(Craig. 1990:21)

One of the great ironies of graphic design is that designers are themselves as

consciously unaware of design codes as the public they serve; the only reason graphic

designers are still effective is that they, like the public, share the same language and

use the same codes. Designers tend to operate as functionaries to the code without

fully understanding its social implications and so unwittingly become the purveyors of

a hegemonic discourse. Graphic designers are at the front line of the growth of

consumerism. Their skills present and translate all products to the public. The success

of design is one of the industrial factors which determines the successful reception of

the product in the marketplace.

Most designers have been trained and educated to reproduce the mythology of

design rather than fully understand it. The exact parallel is with grammar in language.

We learn language through practice and rehearsal with our families. Once at school we

may or may not learn of the grammatical principles of that language and on leaving

school it is usual for us to forget the fine details of the grammatical structure which

13

underlies correct usage However constant usage of the language through social

discourse and reading are enough for us to be acculturated into a set of usages

appropriate for our needs. I would argue that if we are to understand fully the actual

use of language we must look in two principal areas for explanation; one is to

grammar, to acknowledge the official rules, but the other is to dialect, which would

help explain the particular adaptation of the official to the vernacular. Graphic design is

in exactly the same position because it is just another aspect of the very same

language of expression and it operates to amplify the same message.

From Production to Reproduction

The mass communication technology of postmodern society has moved the emphasis

from production to reproduction. This tendency has been reinforced by the increased

scale of the media to national, transnational and even global proportions in step with the

transnational growth of industry. Increases in scale and ownership, necessarily implies a

decrease in bases of production and manufacture. Sign production tends to be

concentrating while wider and wider markets are being served. Jameson implies that

media of reproduction in fact call forth a very different response to those of production

"Such machines are indeed machines of reproduction rather than of production, and they make very

different demands on our capacity for aesthetic representation ... Here we have less to do with kinetic

energy than with all kinds ol reproductive processes ... the aesthetic embodiment of such processes often

tends to slip back more comfortably into a mere thematic representation of content - into narratives which

are about the processes ol reproduction and include ... the whole technology of the production and

reproduction of the simulacrum." (Jameson, 1991:36-37)

Given the mass production of information in multiple media forms. I agree with both

Baudrillard and Jameson that new coping mechanisms have developed. These

mechanisms are likely to derive from the multiple processes and proliferation of the

new media themselves. One logical outcome of the proliferation of information and

diversity of information sources is the necessity to develop codes of appreciation which

can quickly and generally process and categorise what is a massive amount of material

- too much to be either necessary or useful. An example would be the way the

newspaper reader scans the patchy and highlighted mosaic of the newspaper page for

information never expecting to read or take-in the total content. This tendency is in

keeping with Marshall McLuhan's concept of hot/explosive and cool/implosive media

types; with the latter variety dominating post-electronic media (McLuhan, 1967a:31-42).

Marshall McLuhan was a major influence in the development of Baudrillard's theory

of implosion; however. Baudrillard's use of the word is fundamentally different to that

of McLuhan. For Baudrillard, implosion implies a dissolution of reality, when meaning is

gained from secondary rather than primary sources (Baudrillard, 1988b:208). For

McLuhan. implosion implies the process whereby the individual selectively interacts

with cool/electronic media. McLuhan characterized cool media, as being multi-sensory

ie. they occupied more than one sensory extension, in contrast to mechanical media

which characteristically occupied only one (McLuhan, 1967a:3l). This meant, according

to McLuhan, that the messages of cool media, because they were more complex

14

through being received through more senses, were more likely to be subjectively

interpreted, in contrast to the highly defined message of the hot (single sensory extension)

media characterized by the written word or the radio. McLuhan implied that the cool media

would usher in a less controlling media because each individual would become a more

independent processor of information, in contrast to the rise of fascism under radio (Op ,-

cit:317-318). It is interesting that Baudrillard chooses to use McLuhan's word negatively as 3

the collapse of meaning, in a way never intended by McLuhan who saw implosion as a s30

means of loosening media control through encouraging freedom through more ?5"

independent reading of information. Since McLuhan was also proselytizing for a new age 2

ushered in by new media it is necessary that the meaning of implosive media be properly

understood. Neither Baudrillard nor McLuhan predict media which are more highly

controlled, but McLuhan saw the new media as actively forming a public capable of filling

in more diverse and less precise images where Baudrillard describes this very same

phenomena leading to dissolution of meaning and a sort of vacuum substituting reality.

What appears to be missing from both Baudrillard and McLuhan's ideas of media as

process, is the idea of content and with it the power to control ideas and signification.

For Baudrillard, the masses become passive receptors washed over by information. For

McLuhan, the content of the media is supposedly not as influential as the process of

the media forms themselves. McLuhan's main dictum was The Medium is the Message

- meaning that the most influential effect of media was not the information it carried,

rather the social effect of its method or process of delivery. In both cases, the content

becomes secondary to the process and by implication so too does ownership and the

opportunity for effective expression of values that ownership implies. If the insight

gained from semiotic analysis is worth considering, then clearly content is important;

the process of the media affects the delivery of the sign through the syntax of it's

language rather than the content of it's speech. If you consider a news item as content/

speech then it is interesting to consider its reception via two popular media. On the

radio, which has a hot, single sensory media the content of the message must be

tightly defined and tightly controlled; but in a newspaper the reader is only likely to be

exposed to the content if she/he chooses to be interested.

In terms of Barthes' analysis all of the speech produced byAhrough graphic design is

mythical speecn because all of the signs manipulated byAhrough graphic design are

already the product of semiosis - they all carry a cultural meaning ascribed by its prior

cultural usage and history. Barthes often refers to the historical nature of myth and in the

context of Mythologies, based on various observations of cultural phenomena in his

contemporary French culture of the 1960s, he refers to the dominance of bourgeois

culture which effectively becomes the standard through which all other cultural

standards and practices are measured (Barthes, 1973:151). The French bourgeois

culture of the 1960s described by Barthes is necessarily historically tied to that particular

time and place but there are different levels that we can interpret Barthes' work and in it

you discover signs and symbols which are general to western consumer dominated

cultures and others which are specific to nationality like local political figures and social

customs. One of the most significant aspects of Mythologies is the fact that it was one

of the very earliest works to concentrate on consumerism and its role in the formation

of meaning in modern societies and as such it foretells the trend that was to become

amplified in the next four decades in the formation of international postmodern society.

15

I am arguing here, that bourgeois values have become international values and that although

minor details have changed, international culture, as spread by the transnational media, are

enforcing a universally understood and accepted code internationally, regardless of national

traditions, wealth and histories. For these reasons, the culture of the working class in Australia

or the peasants in Indonesia might find themselves sharing usually a negative comparison of

their own cultural values with the internationally dominant ones of the transnational media.

Robert Craig suggests this wider dominance in his analysis of graphic design as having values

specific to the aesthetic of an epoch. In this way there is an ideological underpinning to

international bourgeois culture that is based on class, race and cultural values.

"Every culture creates its own conventions and codes. The semiotic systems ol design and production

and the meanings or values inherent in them torm the basis of the design practices and esthetic of an

epoch In any epoch, the conventions and codes that inform graphic design are the result of social,

economic, and political interests and historical and technical developments. As a result, they have an

ideological basis peculiar to the configuration of these impinging forces. However, once the conventions

and codes are in place, it is possible lor producers to encode and for readers to decode graphic design

without understanding much of the ideological grounding inherent in the design. However, even when

encoding or decoding are carried out unconsciously, the behaviour amounts to behavioural acceptance

and participation in that ideology. To demystify or denaturalize the ideology of graphic design is. in part, to

demonstrate its historical character and to search for the sources of its development." (Craig. 1990:26-27)

Clearly graphic design is integral to the presentation and formation of cultural values

and to reiterate Craig, it is most likely that these dominant values are not seen as a

system of dominance but as part of a code which is accepted as natural to the era and

area of operation. So graphic design firstly needs to be identified as a system of codes

which carry semiotic meaning. Once that is established, the mechanisms and patterns

of influence contained in graphic design practice, might be exposed.

Before I proceed to look at the semiotics of graphic design in greater detail it is first

of all necessary to demonstrate the two different levels of semiosis defined by Barthes

as primary and secondary. In Barthes' schema there is an important distinction

between primary semiosis (an encounter with nature as an unprocessed reality) and

secondary semiosis; which covers most cultural experience - that is, with the pre-

processed reality or contrived points of view *

* Primary semiosis is the basic process behind aH interpretation of meaning/sign construction

Primary 1. Signifier 2. Signified

Sign

In primary semiosis the sign is an original construction of meaning; a new creation. This realm of semiosis occurs most often in the field of inter-personal

relations where speech, personal presentation, gesture, situaiional context etc are creating meaning through each individual's interpretation of their experience

In the cultural realm however, where the indwdual is interacting/extracting meaning from the male reconstructed environment the basic process of semiosis is

secondary. Barthes describes this level of semiosis as mythic, in the realm of metalanguage.

1 Signifei 2. Signified

Sign1 SIGNIFIES 2. SIGNIFIED

SIGN

Myth is most deceptive when it naturalizes the cultural world so that it seems

normal and right. One of the characteristics most touted about the postmodern world

is that it is classless in the sense that it has all come to represent the center. This

argument is made every day in observation and anecdote; it has entered everyday

'common sense'. One sees it in most theory and analysis of mass society, mass , -

communications and design. Even for analysts working in the area of cultural studies 3

the myth of classlessness is often irresistible; it is an example of what Barthes called 3

" ..myth: [transforming] history into nature" (Barthes, 1973:140). Bourdieu describes the %CD*

cultural areas as particularly vulnerable to 'misrecognition' because of the taken for §

granted assumptions carried by middle class observers and participants regards their

own cultural rewards that come from commentary and participation.

"Culture is the site, par excellence, of misrecognition. because, in generating strategies objectively

adapted to the objective chances of profit of which it is the product, the sense of investment secures

profits which do not need to be pursued as profits; and so it brings to those who have legitimate culture

as a second nature the supplementary profits of being seen (and seeing themselves) as perfectly

disinterested, unblemished by any cynical or mercenary use of culture." (Bourdieu, 1984:86)

When the writer produces text she/he is able to express whatever is suitable to the

task so long as it is within the rules of expression of the written code. Their writing is

potentially creative on the one hand (as in the cases of producing metaphor,

metonomy or synecdoche) but bound by convention on the other (in terms of the

grammar). When the graphic designer produces the designed text however, she/he is

much freer to exploit the forms of substitution in the production of new artwork but

much less bound by formal restrictions (or codes) of expression. The visual realm is

much more flexible in its rules of combination but more codified by the arbitrary codes

of taste imposed by publishers/or their editors for their readerships. In this way, the

authors, (both writer and designer) contribute to the ideological message of a

production which must ultimately be the responsibility and reflection of the publisher/

executive producer. The writer is only specifically responsible for the written content of

the text. It is the designer however, who manages the much greater combinational task

of linking disparate literary texts under the management of the editor into the illusion

of an ideological whole.

"Ideology is therefore a message which starts with a factual description, and then tries to justify it

theoretically, gradually being accepted by society through a process of overcoding. For a semiotics of codes

there is no need to establish how the message comes into existence nor for what political or economic

reasons: instead, it is concerned to establish in what sense this new coding can be called 'ideological'."

(Eco. 1976:290)

Graphic design has become part of what Eco calls the new rhetoric. The old rhetoric

was based on absolute reason, on logical form. The idea of the new rhetoric is

interesting because it is in harmony with that more eclectic characteristic of

postmodernism where ideas are composed selectively from a cultural smorgasbord of

media, educational, historical, informational sources.

17

"Thus almost all human reasoning aboul facts, decisions, opinions, beliefs and values is no longec

considered to be based on the authority of Absolute Reason but instead intertwined with emotional

elements, historical evaluations, and pragmatic motivations. In this sense the new rhetoric considers the

persuasive discourse not as a subtle fraudulent procedure but as a technique of 'reasonable' human

interaction, controlled by doubt and explicitly subject to many extra-logical conditions.

If rhetoric is considered in this way. it represents one of the more complex manifestations of sign

production, involving the choice of given probable premises ..." (Eco. 1976:277-2781

In the postmodern culture, where ideas are first encountered in a prepackaged and pre-

codified form, graphic design is a very important part of the packaged presentation of

ideas and therefore an overcoding rhetorical signifier.

It is interesting to untangle the ideological roles of the writer and the designer in the

production of the text. The writer may or may not be ideological in their expression or

intent - their ideological content is intentionally produced in the meaning of the text.

On the other hand the graphic designer has no such choice. They are commissioned

NOT to originate text but to present it. This act of presentation is always ideological,

through what Eco describes above, as a process of overcoding. Design effectively

naturalizes the form of the text, thus at least by one very important sensory input (and

one of the most important significations of meaning), assures the reader that the total

written/ designed text is likely to be palatable or not.

Before I go on to look at the structure of the sign there is one more general

characteristic of signs that should be highlighted - that of sign function. Many of the

signs that exist in most semiological systems exist in order to perform a function that

is utilitarian and functional. In the case of graphic design the alphabet is the most

common example. However, once these signs are socialized by design within a cultural

context, they start to take on meanings or connotations which are extra to their

function. So not all signs will necessarily possess meaning apart from their functional

one - the typography of text or body copy for example, should carry very little meaning

apart from conveying information; but even here it may connote meaning though

probably at a very low level.

Social Semiotics: Counter Postmodernists

Starting in the 1980s and picking up momentum in the 1990s there has developed a

critique of postmodernism out of Australia and America, called respectively Social

Semiotics and Socio-semiotics. Social Semiotics originated with the literature studies

of Michael Halliday (Halliday, 1978) and has produced a major text defining its

philosophies Social Semiotics (Hodge and Kress. 1988) and a diverse range of critique

and analysis on popular culture (Fiske, 1989a, 1989b), visual semiotics (Kress and van

Leeuwen, 1996). tourism and gender (Game. 1991) and music (Van Leeuwen. 1988;

18

1991). Not published until 1995. and giving no acknowledgement of the considerable

Australian work in the area. Socio-semiotics appears to be the invention of American

sociologist M. Gottdiener (Gottdiener, 1995). Gottdiener takes a more confrontational

debate with postmodern theory, but then posits essentially the same argument as the

Social Semioticians, that the study of material culture and the semiotic analysis of it, ,—

are still legitimate directions for a truly insightful understanding of social phenomena, %

and that poststructural and deconstruction theory is essentially a new form of analytical s

idealism (Gottdiener, 1995:49). These writings coincided with the writing of this thesis. ?(5*

which expresses a lot of social/socio-semiotic values, so it is only right that I document S

some of the major positions supported by social/socio-semiotic theory, especially as

they relate to the theory adopted in this thesis.

Though both the social/socio-semiotic schools commence their analysis of

semiotics from Saussure and Pierce, their main impetus for the further development of

a materialist semiotics derives from the same impetus as this thesis - the early writings

of Roland Barthes (Barthes, 1973; 1977b) and Jean Baudrillard (Baudrillard, 1996).

Gottdiener sums up this attraction:

"Socio-semioticians consider Barthes' early period as more important. During this time he was particularly

interested in the way systems of signification were overlaid by ideology in the form of written texts ot

discourse. He distinguished between cultural phenomena per se -... and ideologies linked to cultural

processes which were discourses that manipulated the users of culture for specific purposes, such as the

sale ol commodities." IGottdiener, 1995:37)

There is particular sympathy shown to Barthes's Myth Today essay and his exhaustive

The Fashion System (Barthes. 1973; 1983) which was a major inspiration to

Baudrillard's even broader early work The System of Objects (Baudrillard, 1983). These

writings are the role models on which the cultural analysis of the social / socio-semiotic

theorists are based, and they have sought to justify their preferred change of direction

against the main deconstructive stream of French theory which has become

increasingly abstract, idealistic and non-materialist.

Essentially, social/socio-semiotic theory is embracing semiotic analyses of signs and

sign systems, but insists that these systems are not abstract or 'floating' but can only

be properly understood by an incorporation of their social location and context

into their meaning or signification. As such, semiotics remains an excellent theoretical

system for exposing the 'depth analysis' of social phenomena and exposing the

relationships of social phenomena with broader influences in a manner more likely to be

associated with Marxist critical theory. Factors such as the economy, power and

ideological influence are foregrounded in social/socio-semiotic theory. This is a return to

Marx and the concept of historical materialism as the only 'real' starting point for a

sociological understanding of the world and cultural phenomena - often it is described

as a material semiotics (Hodge and Kress. 1988:27-30; Gottdiener, 1995:3-33). They also

19

claim to be more closely aligned to Foucault's ideas relating to power and control of

expression and ideas in particular epochs (Gottdiener. 1995: 30-31; Foucault, 1970).

Perhaps the most persuasive and fundamental critique of post-structuralist theory

comes from Eco (referred to here by Gottdiener) when he addresses the connotation

of signs:

"The most important observation of Eco in contradistinction to deconstructionism is his insistence that all

connotations of signs are understood only in specific relation to other signs within a particular semantic

field. That is. the interpretation of signs depends on context. These contexts are structured by particular

codes. The combination of codes and contexts constitutes the semantic field ... The semantic field is

bounded and hence constrains the operation of unlimited semiosis." /Gottdiener, 1995:24)

"Eco ... disagrees with the deconstructionist conception of meaning as the free play of signifiers. He

suggests that this is a form of idealism, and that the meaning must always, in the final analysis, be linked

to signifieds. or meaning systems operating as codes To assert otherwise, as the deconstructionists have

done, is to suggest that the entire universe of all meanings would, through unending infinite regress, be

contained in every text, and there would be no point in writing or creating anything new. Postmodernists

following Baudrillard seem to suggest as much with claims that reality has disappeared and been replaced

by the hyperreal." IGondiener, J995: 23-24)

The essential task for social/socio-semiotic analysis therefore, is to locate meaning in a

sufficiently wide context that acknowledges the reality of power and inequality that

operate in all economic and social systems and expose the reality of existence and the

formation and control of meaning within social contexts. This is intended to overcome

the increasingly idealist and abstract analysis of the post-structuralists returning social

analysis to Marxist critical theory and the sociological tradition.

"Postmodernists see only a world of signs: they miss the material culture that acts as sign -vehicles for

signification and its relation to everyday life. As Baudrillard shows in this book [The System of Objects],

the relation between signs and material objects is not a simple dichotomy. Ideologies, like modern styles

of furniture, are engineered into material forms. Socio-semiotics takes this as its fundamental analytical

understanding of social life." IGondiener. 1995:49)

Social/socio-semiotic analysis essentially picks up semiotic analysis before it enters its

deconstructive phase and continues the sociological tradition of understanding

material culture through its complex interrelationships with all significant, related sign

systems that connect with relevant social phenomena. These ideas were put by Hodge

and Kress seven years earlier:

"... the social dimensions of semiotic systems are so intrinsic to their nature and function that the systems

cannot be studied in isolation. 'Mainstream semiotics' emphasizes structures and codes, at the expense

of functions and social uses of semiotic systems, the complex interrelations of semiotic systems in social

20

practice, all of the factors which provide their motivation, their origins and destinations, their form and

substance. It stresses system and product, rather than speakers and writers or other participants in

semiotic activity as connected and interacr/Vjj in a variety of ways in concrete and social contexts "

(Hodge and Kress. 1988: V

These goals are ones I have essentially tried to express through the analysis and S

understanding imparted by the study of The Graphic Design Code in this thesis. Most j |

of the thesis was written simultaneously to these writings, though still inspired by the ^CD

same sources. Rather than develop a greater exposition of social/socio-semiotic theory, §•

it would be useful to briefly list some of the principal concepts of social/socio-semiotic

theory that relate to this thesis.

i Ideology

The concept of ideology is used freely in social/socio-semiotic theory, just as it is by

Barthes in his early writing. There is no acknowledgement of the reservation shown

about the concept of ideology by Abercrombie, Hill and Turner in The Dominant

Ideology Thesis (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner, 1984) who essentially see ideology as a

concept which can never become concrete or materialized as it is only ever in

circulation as an idea. Nevertheless, there are strong roots in Marx. Durkheim and

Mannheim as to the concepts of ideology, social beliefs and collective consciousness

of social groups. Gottdiener claims that ideology is present in all semiotic phenomena.

"... Material forms are never simply matter. They are encoded by ideological meanings which are

engineered into form. Similarly, codified ideologies do not exist as mere discursive relations They are

materialized in the social order as interactions, modes of appearance, design of environments, and

commodified cultural objects." (Gottdiener, 1995:28)

So. in social/socio-semiotic theory the presence of ideology is universal and located in

sign-value (Gottdiener, 1995:54). Hodge and Kress give many examples that relate

ideology to language (Hodge and Kress, 1988:3,19) but also to material signs such as

space (Hodge and Kress. 1988:52), place (Hodge and Kress. 1988:52-53; 68). genre

(Hodge and Kress, 1988:51) and class (Hodge and Kress, 1988:79). In particular. Hodge

and Kress point to logonomic systems as particular formations of signs which carry

messages about the text being transmitted.

"The behaviour of the participants is constrained by logonomic systems which operate through messages

about their identity and relationships, signifying status, power and solidarity The set of messages which

organizes a particular semiotic exchange will imply a generalized version of social relations. That is. every

semiotic act has an ideological content." (Hodge and Kress. 1988:40)

"... Interrelated systems of signs of power and solidarity are used to organize and make sense of the

relationships of participants in all semiotic acts ... Logonomic systems specify and assume specific

relations of power and solidarity between categories of participant, projecting an ideological vision of

reality." (Hodge and Kress. 1988:46)

The universality of ideological content in semiotic phenomena certainly gives credence

to my calling on the presence of class as one of the major markers of sign-value in the

Graphic Design Code.

21

2 Genres

Genre is another concept important to the Graphic Design Code as it is useful in

describing recurring and familiar patterns/codes of presentation. Genre is not just content

Aext but a style of presentation, so is particularly suited to visual signs and presentation.

"... genres encode and enforce a version of society, an ideological form, which, because it is enshrined in

interlocking production and reception regimes, seems like a prerequisite for meaning to occur. But in

practice the set of meanings and relationships projected by genres are by no means inevitable."

/Hodge and Kress. 1988: 51)

The concept of genre is particularly important to what, in Chapter 4, I call the pro- and

anti-aesthetic styles of graphic design. Genres could exist at any level of the continuum

that constitutes the Graphic Design Code, however, they are recognized by the

patterns of regularity they exhibit in the presentation of design elements. Hodge and

Kress are right to emphasize that the generic aspects of the Graphic Design Code are

determined by the mutual understanding of both producers and receivers of signs

3 The Metasign

Metasign is a term borrowed from Barthes and is integral to an understanding of social

/socio-semiotic theory. The metasign in Barthes is that second order of semiosis (to do

with langue more than parole) which exists at the cultural level of presentation - a level

of signification related more to context, myth and where the primary sign is located in

the world. It is usual too. for the metasign to be part of a tradition in presentation and

for that reason to often seem invisible - a naturalized part of the cultural world (Hodge

and Kress, 1988: 97). Hodge and Kress describe one of the major sign functions of the

metasign to be the expression of difference. Often difference is distinguishable in

order to express group identity (of which class identity is probably the strongest!

remembering that this often forms bi-polar identification in the sign reader.

" T h e motor of semiotic change is the desire to express difference This desire proceeds from the need of

specific groups to create internal solidarity and to exclude others, as antigroups constructing antilanguages ...

Differences can be expressed by marked choices and significant transformations at any level in a semiotic

hierarchy ... These differences exist to express group ideology and group identity. They normally form

functional sets of metasigns [pervasive markers of group allegiance), whose meaning is social rather than

referential, oriented to the semiosic rather than the mimetic plane ... since antilanguages and anticultures aim

to exclude and mystify others, and since metasigns are normally pervasive in the production of texts, an

accumulation of transparent metasigns of group identity will normally lead to forms of language and text

whose mimetic meanings seem impenetrable, inexplicable and opaque to outsiders. Incomprehensibility, that

is. is never an accident ... The 'culture' of a group performs the same function for it as the metasigns in

individual codes. A culture, then, is a complex that consists of metasigns from a range of codes (speech,

clothing, food, etc ) with a common core of social meanings." (Hodge and Kress. 1988:90-91)

The role of the graphic designer in this context is pertinent because their role becomes

that of information codifiers who match a diverse text (both written and visual) to the

expectations of a particular audience. As such they are working almost entirely at the

level of the metasign, creating consistent systems of presentation for information; a

process that is entirely contextual. Social semiotics gives this an entirely social

motivation and meaning and locates the meaning in the communication processes that

are absolutely basic to human interaction

22

4 The binary principle/pro and anti languages

Stemming from the original semiotic theory of Saussure is a system that sees the semiotic

code constructed out of a dialectical process based on wide ranging binary oppositions.

"... Saussure accounted for its fundamental coherence and economy by reference to an abstract elemental

binary principle, with infinite particular forms produced by this principle applied repeatedly to the material basis

of the code. A dialectic of this kind can generate innumerable different forms which still make sense. The sense3

they make, however, is a function of both the binary principle and the material basis as they interact ... The 33CD

structures of a semiotic code are built up by the inieraction of a small number of binary principles interacting 5"

with the material nature of the coding medium. Its unity comes from its general principles and their

relationships, its variety from the material base on which the principles act." (Hodge and Kress, 1988:30)

The binary tendency in the semiotic code is an important part of most semiotic theory

and was adopted in the structure of the Graphic Design Code (see Chapter 4) as one of

the most appropriate form of sign-value formation. Social semiotics gives great

emphasis to binary divisions at all levels of sign formation. Halliday's concept of

antilanguage is especially interesting in the light of the pro- and anti-aesthetic of the

Graphic Design Code.

"Antilanguages as studied by Halliday seem to be associated with subordinate oppositional groups • prisoners,

thieves and so on. But a related phenomenon is very general in languages in stratified societies. Many

language communities have two distinct languages, one of which is labeled 'high', and is identified with high-

status speakers on public occasions, the other low', for the converse. Corresponding to 'high' languages

there is normally high' culture, with the same social meaning and function as the high language, and usually

mediated through the relevant 'high' language (cf.Bourdieu 1984). The nature, existence and role of high'

culture, which operates ultimately as a single semiotic system that consists of overlapping sets of metasigns

. . The metasigns of the elite who control high culture incorporate meanings of hostility towards the majority

just as much as do metasigns of punks, bikies and mafiosi." (Hodge and Kress. 1988:87-88)

The role of language and systems of communication such as graphic design in defining

and maintaining social structure is very clearly enunciated in social/socio semiotics and

meaning formed through oppositions is posited as one of the most common forms of

semiosis.

5 Social/socio semiotics and polysemy

One of the given characteristics of social/socio semiotic analyses is poysemy; that all

social/socio semiotic analyses are necessarily complex and multi-leveled in their

signification and relevance to meaning formation in the social sphere.

"The premise of socio-semiotics is that any cultural object is both an object of use in a social system with

a generative history and social context, and also a component in a system of signification. The basis of

socio-semiotics is polysemy and the need to analyze the articulation of several sign systems for any given

cultural object. Furthermore, the meaning of cultural objects and their use as expressive symbols in

society remains a function of cultural context and interactive process, of particular semantic fields and of

the knowledge-power articulation ... Analysis captures the point of view of both ifreproducers of culture

and the consumers of culture." (Gottdiener. 1995:29)

Semiotic analysis is concerned with the development/intersection of meaning at

a number of planes and levels; as such, no social/socio semiotic analysis is simple as

it should always be concerned to explain social phenomena from a number of angles;

23

hence its polysemy. Semiotic analysis before social/socio semiotics was mostly

derived from linguistics and the verbal code. Part of the social/socio semiotic project is

to give to other planes of meaning better representation. Dominant in the modern

media and underemphasised in most semiotic analysis is the visual code and even

here greater complexity is being produced as it is a whole other plane of meaning.

"Verbal language has. as we have shown, a highly articulated system of specialized modality markers, and

context-specific rules for their use. Other semiotic codes use modality markers which are less clearly

articulated, and less specific. And while it is not the case that the hearer/reader's reconstruction of

modality markers is identical with that of the speaker/writer - social semiotic systems are characterized by

their heterogeneity, not their homogeneity ..." (Hodge and Kress, 1988:128)

It is not unusual for semioticians to refer to the structure of meaning as grammar (on the

plane of langue) deriving, probably, from the preference for verbal or written language

as the raw material for semiotic analysis. Visual signs have structure too, but they are

rarely so precisely defined or structured as the formation of meaning in language. Hence

a greater heterogeneity in interpretation, but in the case of the mass media (in which the

Graphic Design Code operates) another universal plane of meaning must be considered,

which gives greater consistency to interpretation - the plane of time.

"Social semiotics, then, cannot ignore or equivocate with history and time ... Every semiotic structure

inevitably exists in space and time, and every semiotic process takes place in those dimensions ... to ignore

the temporal dimension is to introduce a distortion ... Time in semiosis is always history." (Hodge and Kress,

1988: 151)

There is clearly developing a variety of semiotic planes considered important for the

analysis of particular types of phenomena such as the mass media; verbal/visual

(space, proximity) graphic design elements/economicAime. Each of these planes

delivers its own meaning in social/socio-semiotic analysis which signifies social

dimensions which ignored may hide the social significance of the sign vehicle

Social/socio-semiotic analysis must be regarded as one of the most cogent reactions

by sociologists to the persuasive, yet often hollow rhetoric of postmodernists who

have increasingly dismissed the social dimension and production in favor of

technological reproduction and its free floating contents. Against this, social/socio-

semiotic analysis refuses to give up that the sign is always produced and that control

over modality is the key to understanding what is ideological in all social production.

Often it is what is not said or left understated that provides the key to semiosis and it

is precisely the thoroughness of structural analysis that encourages these 'hidden'

planes of meaning to be exposed. Socio-semiotics returns to Marxian theoretical roots

in order precisely locate itself in economic and social theory.

"In the first stage, capitalist commodity manufacturers produce objects for their exchange value, whereas

purchasers of those objects desire them for their use value. This use value is embedded in a cultural life

whose meaning systems preexist the first stage of semiosis associated with mass culture - that is. they

exist in society's ideological substratum, or the substance ol the content'. The intention of the producer,

therefore, draws on a different social practice from that of the user. Exchange value is linked with

use value through the discourse of sign value that is so superimposed on this discordant relation by the

24

CD

scS

"logotechniques" of advertising and market control as to cloud the calculating consciousness of the

purchaser... domination of consumer behaviour is not automatic, as advocates of false consciousness'

theory believe." IGottdiener. 1995:180)

Many of these concepts are rejected by postmodern theorists as part of a redundant

grand theorizing typical of the heroic but obsolete modern period. If you adopt this

viewpoint then you are rejecting the historical role that sociology has created for itself

as a particular type of global theorizing. However if sociology is to continue it must ^CD

critically carve a path through postmodern theory, rejecting what is simply polemic and §•

accepting what strengthens and gives relevance to postmodern sociology. The debate

is hardly resolved however as many of the concepts that social/socio-semiotic theory

and analysis hold onto are now contested assumptions. Ideology is a case in point.

To capture the contradiction characteristic of ideological forms, we will talk of ideological complexes, a

functionally related set of contradictory versions of the world, coercively imposed by one social group on

another on behalf of its own distinctive interests or subversively oflered by another social group in attempts

at resistance in its own interests. An ideological complex exists to sustain relationships of both power and

solidarity, and it represents the social order as simultaneously serving the interests of both dominant and

subordinate ... Ideological complexes are constructed in order to constrain behaviour by structuring the

versions of reality on which social action is based, in particular ways." (Hodge and Kress, 1988:31

The postmodern world is described as being beyond the generalizing comprehension of

sociological theory and yet social/socio-semiotic theory, by incorporating power, one of the

central postmodern obsessions into its basic structure (c.f. Foucault, 1970) social/socio-

semiotics is creating for itself an effective analysis relevant to both theoretical positions.

Graphic Design Function in the Semantic Universe

One of the great shifts between the modern and the postmodern is the overpowering

dominance of culturally produced artifacts and services which intervene between

society and nature. So culture replaces nature as man's primary experience making

culture as second nature one of the primary conditions of postmodernism. It is as if the

whole new development of society conspires to hide the true material nature of

relations in postmodern society. Sociology seeks to expose the true nature of relations

and can do so by a number of means. In Distinction Bourdieu sought to expose the

structure of relations through administering large numbers of detailed surveys which

objectively correlated class dispositions and patterns of taste in a wide range of areas

of consumption. Barthes on the other hand, used semiotics as a system of analysis to

uncover social meanings (significations) of culturally produced objects through reading

their implied meanings. Both theoretical approaches are meaningful to this study of

graphic design but it is semiotics that highlights meanings through communication of

ideas and this method is clearly most appropriate in the analysis of graphic design as it

too works in the same area of transmission.

It is interesting that Barthes analysis of myth describes it as a second order

semiological system, where the signifier's meaning is itself already processed i.e. that

the sign used as the signifier in myth is itself a sign; already a product of a full semantic

process described by Barthes as language (Barthes, 1973:123-124). This concept is fully

in keeping with Jameson's concept of postmodernism and also fully compatible with

25

every choice the graphic designer makes in the production of artwork. Typography for

instance, has a long history and tradition which has given meaning to each typeface or at

least to each category of type face, so when choosing a typeface (one of the most

common activities of graphic designers) the designer is choosing an element that already

brings with it an implied/ascribed/traditional/coded meaning. It is the combination of

many elements in every design production which creates the mythological level of

meaning when interpreted by the reader, who may or may not recognize all the subtleties

of meaning in the work, in fact, most will be 'read' subconsciously.

The signs produced by graphic designers are clearly the result of a very complex

process of selection and combination which is itself a highly proscribed area of

operation, indeed, an industrial process. The graphic designer is a client of industry and

must always be understood to be operating within the demands and needs of the

industrial process. So it is necessary to understand graphic design as a unique set of

highly specialized skills which, because they work exclusively in the visual area, are highly

inventive and laborious. Production in the visual area is usually more laborious than say

the production of words which are more highly codified (Eco, 1976:152). So graphic

design must be understood and described as a special sort of labour that produces new

cultural products not just as exercises in style or aesthetics but as industrial products

within industrial systems and constraints which need to be clearly understood.

The graphic designer is in the business of creating iconic messages. The iconic

exists in the realm of the visual and whether it be in the giving of visual form to written

or spoken messages (through typography and layout) or in the use and/or manipulation

of purely visual signs (such as photography or illustration) it is necessary that the

primacy of the visual be recognised as being the most powerful organizing cue in the

communication process, working precisely at the level of metalanguage - concerned

more with the general trend and organization than with the detail.

The visual relates to John Berger's idea of seeing being our primary and most

enveloping experience and therefore, of most importance.

"11 is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world in words, but

words can never undo the tact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what

we know is never settled...this seeing which comes before words... can never be quite covered by them ..."

(Berger. 1972:7-8)

It is this special quality of visual signs (over written signs) that gives graphic design, a

primarily visual medium, an especially powerful role as the greatest contemporary

mediator of meaning. In Downcast Eyes, Martin Jay critiques the denigration of the

visual in modern French theory; showing how a concentration on the written text has

caused the judgement of the whole movement to be somewhat image blind (Jay,

1993). Eco warns against the 'fallacy' of simply drawing up a typology of signs.

"But il instead one classifies modes of sign production, one can include both grammatically isolated

sign-functions and more global textual units which assume the role of large-scale (undercoded) sign

functions, such as ..'iconic signs'. "(Eco, 1976:217)

So. it is in our return to sign production that we can uncover the most useful typology

relating to graphic design. Graphic design can be approached from two major planes

of production. First is undercoding - the plane of operation where the graphic designer,

say as art director, relates to a design production as an overall style of presentation

26

(which may of course relate to history and convention in many ways) and secondly, at

the level of operation which is more circumstantially sensitive, in that it is responding

to an individual text.

In Mythologies, Barthes uses speech as the zone of the accumulative souces of

information used to describe the meanings imparted regardless of their semantic origin r-

on sensory input. Photographs, for instance, can impart an equivalent or relative §

signification to the text/speech signification which might accompany it. Both sources S3D

will contribute to the speech/signification which is a synthesis of the two sources of ?co'

meaning (or three or four, depending on the semantic sources perceived to be in §

operation) (Barthes, 1973:119). It is highly likely, that in contemporary, mass-market

media that the photographs perform most of the significatory task, leaving the text little

more function than a caption or a footnote.

In semiotic analysis the distinction between the primary and secondary systems of

signification is one of the most important theoretical distinctions that can be made

concerning the interpretation of meaning. In the primary system, used everyday, for

instance in face to face interaction, the sign is constructed out of objects and

significations being constructed out of the raw data of spontaneous interaction

interpreted through experience. In the case of graphic design, the body copy of text,

presented in a typographic form, not designed to draw attention to itself, but primarily to

convey information, is a typical case where typographic signs are presented not to

influence a particular interpretation of the text, but to allow the literal meaning of the text

to come through. The sign function of the alphabet, is, in the primary system, to carry the

literal meaning. In the secondary system, the signifer is also the sign produced by a

previous, primary level of semiosis. In graphic design this occurs whenever textual

presentation is taking place and of course this can occur using any of the devices graphic

designers have at their disposal to influence meaning. The meaning of the designed text

is skewed compared to the straight textual presentation such as in a novel or manuscript.

The key to understanding the bipartite coming together of the written and designed texts

is the idea of the aesthetic text. The realization of the text as aesthetic unites its visual and

literary meanings as one signifying entity of aesthetic intent. In the next chapter I explain

aesthetics as being governed by a single cultural arbitrary and it is this arbitrary that is

imposed in either a positive or negative form according to the perceptions of the market by

the editor who represents the publisher's perspective by creating and managing markets to

expand consumption. Viewed in this way. the designed text, as an aesthetic sign-vehicle, is

semiotically interesting because in its combination of word and design, it has taken on an

ideological meaning relating to the generalised aesthetic position of the design which is

more encapsulating/encompassing than the significations of its constituent parts. Eco

describes the aesthetic text as being interesting for another important reason - because it

focuses upon the labour of sign production of a very particular type.

"The aesthetic use of a language deserves attention on a number of different levels: (i) an aesthetic text

involves a very peculiar labor, i.e. a particular manipulation of the expression ..: (ii) this manipulation of the

expression releases (and is released by) a reassessment of the content ..: (iii) this double operation,

producing an idiosyncratic and highly original instance of sign function ...is to some degree reflected in

precisely those codes on which the aesthetic sign-function is based, thus releasing a process of code-

changing .; (iv) the entire operation, even though focused on codes, frequently produces a new type of

awareness about the world ... the aesthetic text represents a network of diverse communicational acts

eliciting highly original responses ..." lEco, 1976:261)27

CD

3

So the aesthetic text reveals in its content and form a specific and pointed intent on the

part of its producers. This process is often highly creative and challenging in that it

might transform the code in which it works or alternatively, work predictably within the

code. Nevertheless, even when code-changing is demonstrated, this is happening

within a system of sign production which performs the industrial role of aestheticising

the text for an appropriate market and making it a suitable ideological vehicle.

The aesthetic text gives equal emphasis to the form of expression as well as its

contents and so dressing the written text in acceptable or even challenging hues.

"The aesthetic text is a system of messages in which the particular treatment of the channel (that is of

the stuff of which sign-vehicles are made) becomes pertinent." (Eco, 1976:266)

Just as in poetry, it is the quality of the juxtaposition of words and the new images and

insights created by the new juxtapositions that gives value to the poem, so in graphic

design, it is the particular treatment of the channel that gives value to the form of the

design. Text always operates on these two levels, in both the written content and the

design content the bipartite aesthetic text is always active. Every unit of expression,

every sign-vehicle is a carrier of formal value within the established forms of the

bipartite aesthetic text (Eco, 1976:266). The aesthetic against which all western texts

are measured are predetermined by only slowly changing value positions and these

might be described as ruling taste, or to use Bourdieu's term the cultural arbitrary

(Bourdieu 8 Passeron, 1977: 10-11). This is certainly the case in design, but it is also as

evident in the institutionally separated industrial divisions that oversee the production

of both text and design in respective areas. The division of labour and production in the

manufacture of the aesthetic text is highly stratified in order of training, text production,

design production and readership. This division or stratification through codes of

presentation will become a major theme later in the next chapter.

The Identification of a Graphic Design Code

Semiotic analysis is useful if applied to the sign formation of graphic design at both

micro and macro levels. It can be used at the primary level of deciphering meaning at

each individual instance of design formation, but most grapnic design exists on the

secondary level of signification, which I am arguing, can identify broad planes of

cultural expression by analysing the structural patterns of whole genres and classes of

expression. Recurring structural patterns nearly always appear in human communication;

. these patterns of occurrence are explained by Eco to form a code; a code that we learn

through frequency of contact and experience.

"Thus (a) a code establishes the correlation of an expression plane (in its purely formal and systematic

aspect) with a content plane [in its purely formal and systematic aspect): |b) a sign-function establishes

the correlation of an abstract element of the expression system with an abstract element of the content

system: |c) in this way a code establishes general types, therefore producing the rule which generates

concrete tokens, i.e.. signs such as usually occur in communicative processes: (d) both the continua

represent elements which precede the semiotic correlation and with which semiotics is not concerned

(they are respectively beyond the lower and upper thresholds of semiotics)." (Sco. 1976:50-51)

28

A code emerges through usage. In the case of language, this may be at an informal

level dictated by tradition and/or innovation, but in the case of design the meaning is

controlled by the media of expression, its traditions and its ownership which together

will control expression, through coding, for that media. In graphic design, the

correlation of expression and content planes is the most important piece of fine tuning

the designer must make. The reproduction of a sign within a code is judged according

to the traditions and rules of flexibility which define the parameters or boundaries of

expression. Eco's emphasis (in (b)) on abstract elements is important when one

remembers that the designer is always dealing with metalanguage - elements already

loaded with meaning and in juxtaposition with other symbolic elements equally loaded.

With such a rich symbolic soup as this, the designer is constantly playing with nuance,

inflection and refinement. So codes develop a more heightened identity through

stronger patterned juxtapositions. These codes are most easily recognised historically

- it is indeed the way art and design history are usually taught - but any industry

controlled by shifts of fashion is governed by codification and the constant

modification of coded details produced by competition and industrial cycles

The production of text and design works within a universally encoded environment.

The author's creative contribution to the enterprise constitutes the most creative level

of sign production, because even within a strongly codified area, the authors

contribution holds the chance of originality and interpretation which may alter or

expand the codified form. This chance is contained in the sign production of the

literary/written text just as it is of the designed text. Eco, for example, uses the literary

terms of metaphor, metonomy and synecdoche to describe some of the combinational

forms in written expression which work within coded (established) expression and

allow the opportunity for new combinational incorporation (Eco, 1976:280). These sorts

of chances happen in production of the written text all the time. Design production is

an identical case. Metaphor, substitution by similarity, frequently happens in the

production of graphic design, when a familiar form of layout and/or design is used to

give familiar form and therefore respectability to a new text. Metaphor in graphic

design, could give the appearance of harmony to even disparate contents. A more

ironic example would be when a 'send-up' edition of say TIME magazine masquerades

as the real thing by reproducing the layout of the original magazine but not its textual

contents. Metonomy: substitution by contiguity, is one of the most frequent devices

employed by graphic designers when manipulating typography and layouts e.g. relating

two articles to each other through similar but different choice of typeface (like relating

text through use of typeface of the same family but of a different weight) or the

depiction of new text in an 'old' form (as in the TIME case above). Synecdoche: a figure

of speech in which part is named but the whole is understood or whole is named but

part understood; where trademarks or logotypes stand in for the corporation, film or

publication they represent.

In the case of graphic design practice, the kind of labour involved and the options

available are largely determined by the traditions and organization of industrial practice

and status (which is usually related to experience). But even in highly controlled studio

environments, semiotic analysis would see the possibility of creative labour existing

even with the change of very minor variables e.g. kerning and leading of type. Any act

of aesthetic inscription could be inventive. Eco lists two types of invention - moderate

and radical.

CD

3

29

"Moderate inventions occur when one projects directly from a perceptual representation into an

expression continuum, thereby realizing an expression-form which dictates the rules producing the

equivalent coment-unit ... A sign-function emerges from the exploratory labour of code-making, and

so establishes itself land] generates habits, acquired expectations, and mannerisms. Expressive visual

,_ units become sufficiently fixed to be available for further combinations. Stylizations come into being."

| {Eco, 1976:254)

% Moderate inventions occur frequently in graphic design, indeed moderate, rather thanCD

%• radical inventions, are the desired outcome of most commercial design activity. The

academic or scientific journal for instance, completely discourages even moderate

invention, with design coming to symbolize the stolidity of the exercise in much the

same way that established wealth is often symbolized by classical motifs or antiques

which in themselves represent permanence and inviolability of historically verified

taste. When any industrial product or publication needs updating however, it is nearly

always a moderate invention that is called for; a change, but one which still identifies

with its prior formation. Radical inventions pose a very different form of labour.

"The case of radical inventions is rather different, in that the sender more or less bypasses the perceptual

model, and delves directly into the as yet unshaped perceptual continuum, mapping his perception as he

organizes it ... In such cases what takes place is a radical code-making, a violent proposal of new

conventions. The sign-function does not as yet exist, and indeed sometimes fails to establish itself at all

The sender gambles on the possibility of semiosis and loses." (Ibid)

The radical invention is by its very nature exceptional and rare. In art history, radical

invention is the labour of heroes. The modern movement is charted as a history of

radical invention, and post-modernism claims to see the death of radical invention as a

possibility. In graphic design radical invention is extremely rare and though theoretically

possible, is unlikely to emerge from a commercial culture where priorities and

requirements are rarely radical. There must of course, be many attempts at radical

invention in graphic design which never become public because either the client or the

public perceive it to be a potentially unsuccessful gamble and so it remains hidden.

Code-making and code-breaking are both aesthetic activities - generally pro- and anti-

establishment respectively, so there is most likely a strong cultural arbitrary reinforcing

current codes and moderate invention over radical alternatives which inherently

support oppositional interests.

So the semiotic foundation is based on this associative total, at first, maybe

appearing too obscure and insubstantial a base for a whole system of explanation. Let

us consider it more closely. If all meaning is ascribed through signs, and if all signs

have a composed meaning that comes about through relation, then meaning is itself

an entirely arbitrary phenomena.* Meaning is often shared. One of the primary

characteristics of human society is its shared values about particular phenomena, but

this sharing of meaning can never be taken for granted and nor should it be assumed

to be a total - relation is more likely the sharing of equivalences. Interpretation

of signs, especially in areas such as mass communications, are often spoken of as if

* The natwe of 'arbitrary phenomena' referred to here is that anarchistic meaning of arbitrary which contains the infinite possibilities of signification derived from

mere opinion; but contained within the definition of the word arbitrary is the reverse possibility of influence and even control when one acknowledges that opinion

can be so easily controHed by even the informal laws of tradition and custom. It is this latter meaning that Bourdieu uses when he refers to the cultural arbitrary.

30

there was consensus on their meaning; as if consumption through purchase, or being

an audience, gave some sort of equality to their experience and interpretation.

Commercial market research for instance, is mostly concerned with a narrow range

of opinion relating to the potential consumers' likelihood of purchase. Results are

not likely to reveal specific instances of meaning, rather establishing simply ,_

broadcategories of interest. Semiotic analysis helps to break down these assumptions 3

and give a much richer perspective to communicative experience. 33JCD<

Conclusion

Common to all definitions of postmodernism is the emergence of a new form of

obscuration defined as endemic to a culture where all references are of the second

order. Hidden from the postmodern consciousness are the productive realities of the

culture that produces them. This form of postmodern alienation is similar to Marx's

concept of false consciousness in that the mythology of the bourgeois ideological

position still hides the realities of social production; but the postmodern culture in

which this now occurs, is so much more totally encompassing, that it constitutes a

new state of existence. Because the level of consciousness has changed, does it mean

that the realities of the social infrastructure have changed with it? Postmodern society

has seen a much greater polarization of wealth over recent decades. The increasing

phenomena of transnational and mass media organizations makes obvious the

concentration of ownership in particular private, national and international hands.

Fundamental to postmodern society is a changing but increasingly polarized class

structure, where manual work is being eroded and a new majority being created of

white collar, educated and service industry employed masses, with a smaller but

increasingly wealthy upper class of entrepreneurial middle class and inherited wealth.

In this first chapter I have charted the key issues raised by some leading

postmodernists and semioticians that relate to graphic design; namely, the shifting

emphasis of the primary locus of meaning from the author to the reader and the

evolution of a cultural sphere where all meaning is derived from secondary sources

shifting the emphasis from production to reproduction and consumption. I have

explored semiology as a system for better understanding the meaning of cultural

phenomena (like graphic design presentation) and from it, have developed an

understanding of graphic design both as a material sign, but also as sign production.

To make this shift of emphasis I have found it necessary to shift from the semiology of

Roland Barthes to the semiotics of Umberto Eco. Because semiology immediately

precedes and runs parallel to the key postmodernists, aspects of semiotics have

become incorporated in what is generally regarded as postmodern theory.* For this

reason I have linked these two realms of theory in this first chapter as the primary

illuminators of the contemporary function of graphic design. Graphic design gains

stature and complexity from this reading of its signs and their production and emerges

as a complex phenomena mostly theoretically underdeveloped and usually overlooked

' Semioticians such as Roland Barthes provided many of the foundation theories for postmodernism. The debt to Barthes is obvious in many of the theories of the

French movements of Post Structuralism and Deconstruction, so stiong is it, that you could be forgiven for making a semiotic understanding of the world a

necessary precondition for the postmodern condition.

31

or only partially understood. I described the idea of authorship, as a central

postmodern issue. The graphic designers relationship to the author and the text I

describe as central to graphic design but I propose too. using Eco's idea of sign

production and Foucault's of author function, to come to an understanding of graphic

design as the intentional product and agent of a system of sign production which is

heavily institutionalized and hierarchized into every aspect of cultural production. The

institutionalization of design training and design production and their reproduction

through institutionalization and socialisation will be the subject of the next chapter.

My reception of postmodern and semiological theory is often critical and my main

criticism of these theorists is that they are too often de-emphasising the material

realities of production - highlighting the shift from the author to the reader and the

supposed evaporation of meaning in the secondary realms of the hyperreal. I believe a

sociological analysis of graphic design as a field of postmodern sign production

demonstrates that graphic design needs to be understood as the product of a highly

institutionalized system of learning/education and industry which in turn, relates

directly to the role of design in the class structure of society; mainly in the reproduction

of dominant values and the perpetuation of a hierarchy of signs designed to classify a

market which acts to perpetuate the status quo.

For this reason the next chapter will concentrate on the sociological aspects of

cultural production and its relation to class. These are unfashionable issues to

postmodernists, but a reading of the sociology of cultural production next to semiotics

and postmodernism, begins to describe graphic design in a more complete way as a

suitably complex phenomena.

32

Literature ReviewGraphic Design as Cultural Production

Introduction

Graphic design is an under researched and theorized field of study. Because of this

paucity of research, it is not surprising that the range of theoretical interrogations has

been limited. Graphic design history and theory teaching has been dominated by Fine

Art trained graduates, who have a tendency to see artifacts in conscious isolation as if

they were products produced only by aesthetic impulses. This approach to art has

often been shown to be inadequate but in the case of design it is even less capable of

adequately assessing Graphic Design's true nature and motivation.

Another popular (but limited) understanding of graphic design is that the designers'

function is primarily problem solving. This is certainly part of the designers role, but as

the primary motivation, it is one of the myths of modernism, related to the idea that

form follows function - that the designer is essentially battling the dragon of ornament,

streamlining, stripping back, discovering the essence - rather than responding to the

commercial exigencies of production and the market place.

Along with this narrow and overly specialized function for design there also comes

the fallacy that design is portrayed as just being the activity of designers. This

assumption ignores the realities of industrial decision making which necessarily

involves large numbers of influential people who also have a vested interest in the

design from the point of view of making a profit to locating and selling the product to

interested consumers in the marketplace. Out of the industrial context, seeing the

designer as the dominant motivator of change, there is also a tendency to use an

evolutionary model (borrowed from the natural sciences) to explain change in design;

as if design had a metamorphosing life of its own rather than viewing it as part of this

more complex, commercial process of decision making.

It is also usual for writers to see design as one of a similar range of products (a category)

and to assume that all category members share identical characteristics - ignoring that it

is precisely those things that distinguish each category member from the other which are

its crucial design characteristics rather than what generalities it shares.

» » *

Since the mid 1980s there has been a stronger tendency to understand graphic

design from a wider perspective - one that is primarily economic - where the primary

motive is profit and the designer is relegated to being part of a team of professionals

involved in manufacturing who cater to market exigencies. This is a less glamorous view

of the design process, since by putting the designer's role in an economic perspective

it makes it less significant in the total process of manufacture and industrial decision

making. By stripping away the illusions, it allows a much better understanding of what

design really is - one important ingredient in the whole complex of industrial production.

Acknowledging this complexity, design is increasingly being seen as part of the

language of communication. According to this view, design's primary role is to

communicate information both about the nature of the product AND about the nature

of the consumer.

33

"The point is that the social and economic use of a product has a direct relation to its meanings. Thus the

same product can mean different things across cultural and historical changes in circumstances and use.

Similarly (he history of the mediation of a product - how, for example, it has been written about,

illustrated, photographed, displayed, advertised - is also not only of historical interest but embedded in

j _ the formation of meaning." (Fry. 1988:12)

~ In post-modern society there is an increasing tendency to see meanings communicated in

5, non-verbal and non-written form. All of the aspects of design are crucial to understandingCD

s the communication processes that are becoming more dominant as the new electronic

media come to dominate the receipt and transmission of information. Added to this is the

near universal dominance of international consumerism which has encroached on most

social and cultural spheres of activity. It is design which is at the cutting edge of post-

modern industry, unwritten and often noticed only subconsciously, but communicating the

commercial message to the consumer and allowing the consumer to use this message to

give meaning to their own understanding and presentation of self.

Recent design theory has at last been insistent on placing the designer as a servant

of the capitalist economy (e.g. Fry, 1988 and Forty. 1986). The production of designers is

both industrial and cultural and to confuse design with art is to misunderstand the

principal quality of design. Design is one of the processes of industrial capitalism

Design is responsible for formulating the visual styling of the signs with which all

aspects of industry are communicated to the public. The public, in turn, takes on these

signs through their use of the industrial products and through popularity, reinforce the

styling of future products. These products range from 3D industrial products to all forms

of media, packaging, retailing and consumption. Capitalism controls the signification of

ever greater areas of human communication and through advertising and the media,

influence even our most basic beliefs and emotions - the ideological realm.

As a sociological phenomena therefore, design must be understood to operate on at

least three different levels:

1 The economic - the role of design in the communication of ideas/concepts/

beliefs/self image/social image/class in a word ideology; and in its role making

continual adjustment/fine tuning of the manufacturing process fitting it to the

tastes of the consumer.

2 The technological - changing production processes create different roles for the

designer, restructuring the workplace and with it the status of roles in production

(Forty, 1986:6).

3 The semiology of design - design is one of the richest areas of communication as

it incorporates both language and visualAactile signals into the meaning of what

is produced. This obviously complex area of interpretation is well suited to

semiology as it is one of the few systems that might incorporate meanings from

those different levels. These are levels that can be separated for theoretical

purposes only. In the real world each level affects the meaning of the other levels

as they adjust to the repercussions of change.

Life has changed so totally with the establishment and consolidation of the mass

consumer market, that the commercial exigencies of production do largely determine

what people want their lives to be and how quickly they are likely to become unhappy

with whatever lifestyle they have chosen. Consumer capitalism has turned most of the

world economy to commodity production moving the emphasis away from primary

34

production and meeting basic needs to the control of every sector of work, leisure and

family time through manufacturing, media and service industries.

According to Raymond Williams, one of the main misconceptions that needs to be

clarified in media theory is that media are, as well as being processes of

communication, means of production and reproduction in their own right. r̂

"... means of communication, from the simplest physical forms of language to the most advanced forms £CD

of communications technology, are themselves always socially and materially produced, and of course zaCD

reproduced ... the means of communication have a specific productive history, which is always more or 5 '

less directly related to general historical phases of productive and technical capacity ... the historically

changing means of communication have historically variable relations to the general complex of

productive forces and to the general social relationships which are produced by them and which the

general productive forces both produce and reproduce ' (Williams, 1982:50)

In postmodern society (especially in Australia) media ownership is becoming

increasingly centralized and with centralization, has come the myth that ownership is

not important because we have been encouraged to see media not primarily as means

of production, but merely as conduits of information along which pass messages from

senders to receivers. As soon as the word mass is added to society or communications

it has tended to abstract the social entities involved and neutralize the fact that access

is restricted to or controlled by the groups who own the means of production. By

viewing information in a similarly neutral light, the content is downvalued and the

process regarded as being of primary importance. Marshall McLuhan's dictum 'the

medium is the message' would be a classic case in point (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967b).

Institutionalization: Graphic Design in Production and Reproduction

Graphic design is that specialist area of design that has traditionally been involved with

the printing and publishing industry. In recent decades it has adapted to the many

forms of electronic and digital media. Graphic design produces the packages of

groceries, the design of the novel, the titles for a film, the art direction of

advertisements, the art gallery invitation and the weekly magazine. The range of

graphic design is enormous. Everything we read is designed. This does not mean that

everything we read is designed by a formally qualified graphic designer, but it does

mean that it is designed; it has been prepared for presentation to the reader/consumer

in a manner that the manufacturer believes will show the product (whether it be image

or text) to the best, or at least most desired manner.

Graphic design is that field of design once known as commercial art (perhaps a more

appropriate name because it acknowledges the economic nature of the activity) and

more recently as visual communication or graphic design. Graphic design (and from

now on when I am referring to the graphic design I could also be referring to a visual

communication or to commercial art) was born of the technological and economic

changes of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. For most of its history, it has

been concerned with the production of design for use in the commercial printing

industry, so graphic design history is inextricably involved with the technological,

economic, social, cultural and political developments of the period - culminating with

the importance of visual presentation in mass society dominated by consumerism and

the commodification by industry of most of our waking lives.

35

Since the 1980s there has been another technological revolution perhaps as great as

the first - the shift to digital technologies which have totally transformed the workplace

and institutional structures of graphic design. Laser scanners were introduced in the

1970s and have been responsible for making possible virtually flawless full colour

,_ reproduction in conjunction with commercial lithography. The truly revolutionary

3 change however, is that the small personal computer which is fast taking over every

S pre-press function giving the designer control over an ever wider area from production-n

2 of colour roughs, typesetting, paste-up/finished-art to the making of plates and so

S adding functions to the previously developed laser/digital technology. The full industrial

ramifications of this new technology are still to be fully worked out - both in terms of

industrial organization and in design practice not to mention the effect on the designs

themselves. Nevertheless, what we can already be sure of. is that there has developed

a massive segmenting of the media market which is being catered for by ever

improving quality of reproduction and styles of presentation appropriate to the

segment of the culture being targeted. Through these publications, something as

ephemeral as style has become the primary sign produced by the modern media and

one can quickly see this success spreading to the electronic media. Editorial and

advertising have now become perfectly enmeshed to deliver a consistent message.

The graphic designer is a presentation specialist working with a limited but powerful

repertoire of symbols. Strictly speaking, the graphic designer is a creative agent who

by visualizing the design for whatever purpose, is actively engaging the imagination of

the reader/consumer while simultaneously expressing the message of the

manufacturer/producer. There is another role, that of the finished artist (functionally the

agent who turns the visualized rough into camera ready artwork fit for reproduction)

which is not creative in the imaginative sense as it does not originate the design, but is

certainly high in technical skills. The finished artist can be the same agent that

conceived the design, but it is usual for finished artists to carry out the mechanical

preparation of artwork for printing and this is clearly a separate production task not to

be confused with graphic design. Graphic design usually involves a mix of conceptual

and applied labour and the important point to make here is that the applied labour can

be done by a finished artist Generally speaking there would be a rule that the higher

the industrial/managerial status of the designer (usually earning the title of art director)

the less likely it would be that their role would continue into the mechanical/applied

stage. These divided tasks, however, are becoming more fused and confused with the

advent of the micro-computer into graphic design practice. Designers working in small

studios and freelance practitioners would also tend to delegate and subdivide their

work tasks less.

The Institutional Structures of Graphic Design Production

The organization of the work places in which graphic designs are produced is many

and varied. There is one universal to all design production and that is. that design is

always produced for a client. The client is even replicated in the case of graphic design

teaching by the lecturer who effectively acts as arbiter of appropriateness and quality

of design solution for the design student's particular brief. Once in industry, there is a

fairly limited typology of work locations and organizations in which graphic designers

might find themselves. I will attempt to build a typology of graphic designers' work

36

organizational structures as these all will help determine the degree of autonomy

permitted the designer according to the organizational structures and responsibilities

expected at different levels of operation.

1 Freelance practice - the client hires the freelancing designer directly, usually for the

specialist skills they feature as their primary specialty. The freelance operator will

usually choose to work independently after they have developed a reputation in ST

some other section of the industry. Independence would be a key feature of this =

organizational type, however, it is usual, even for independent operators, to produce jg>

artwork with other specialists e.g. a book designer working with an illustrator to | '

produce a book jacket. It might also be the case, that the freelance designer employ

other designers on a full or part time basis, however, their business practice must

eventually evolve into the studio model described under 2 if the scale of the

business increases in size. Of course, the client is the final arbiter who not only sets

the brief, but chooses between options provided by the designer or designers

(because it is usual for clients to commission briefs from more than one source).

2 Studio practice - is likely to exist in either of two major forms (a) as a grouping of

independent similar or complementary talented individuals, (b) as independent

operators who also happen to employ designers under their auspices as art director,

or (c) as a more hierarchical structure where the studio is run by art director/s and/or

business managers who hire designers according to their industrial needs.

According to the scale of the organization and relation to the owner, studio practice

may restrict or allow direct contact between the client and the designer. Generally,

in a studio, the designer has a more specialized role of producing artwork, with less

emphasis on the business side of design (doing costing, quotes etc.). In terms of

autonomy, the studio is more likely to produce artwork in teams or at least under the

supervision of an art-director. I will develop the role of the art director later in this chapter.

3 Agency practice - is organized as a more specialized variant of 2(c). The graphic

designer is likely to be hired either as an art-director or as a designer who will work

in a team including an art-director and copywriter who are responsible to an account

executive who liaises with the client. It is not unusual for the designer or art-director

to meet the client in briefings or presentations but it is usual for the account

executive to negotiate with the client. Depending on the persuasiveness of the

account executive, the client has absolute say over the design solution, often

resulting in huge compromise. The agency pays well but probably offers the least

autonomy to the designer. The designer is also expected to work all hours to meet

the most unreasonable deadlines and last minute changes.

4 Industry located practice - runs usually on the studio (b) model, but meeting the

specialist in-house needs of a particular industry sector e.g. printing, publishers,

packagers etc. It is usual for industry located studios to be attached to only large

companies and corporations as they depend on volume of the same sort of work for

their existence. Depending on the nature of the business, these sorts of art

departments still work very much in a client relationship to those who actually

generate the work e.g. editors in the case of publishers, magazines or newspapers

or sales representatives in the case of printers.

Recognizing the unique relationships and power structures of the graphic design work

place is important in order to recognize the autonomy of the designer as author of,

and contributor to, a cultural product. The universal element of graphic design

37

production, is that it is a service to a larger project. As a cultural and industrial product,

graphic design contributes the very important role of presentation to the reader/public

in a style or code which is both attractive and consumeable. In other words, graphic

design not only has to attract its audience, it also has to communicate effectively with

,_ them - usually within strongly entrenched media traditions.

5 The typology of the previous paragraphs establishes that graphic designers operate

3 within much larger industrial structures than the workplace organization set up to~n

5 manage the graphic designer's limited range of production. It is therefore necessary toCD

S take this larger context into account when considering the role of the author in relation

"to modern graphic design practice. This can be a complex area, so it is better to

systematically discuss the role of the graphic designer as author on a case by case

basis. I will more fully describe the graphic designer's likely organizational structure in

the case of the publishing industry as an example of the importance of organizational/

industrial structure to the graphic designer's role.

The book, regardless of what it contains, is one of the simplest and most enduring

media forms. The book contains a single narrative of a writer (or group of writers) who

are usually the only acknowledged authors of the text. This acknowledgement is

nominally and traditionally given on the cover and title page, but the reading of literary

criticism, even the most progressive, usually regards this sole authorship as given fact.

The role of the literary author has been touched by the magic/genius/mystique of what

has happened to all artistic expression in the modern period and so carries a degree of

mythological baggage as to the individuality of creative writing. Not only does the

author produce for a real or imagined reader/market and so shape their text around

those expectations; they also work within traditions and genres which largely

determine the form of the text often leaving space for original expression only in the

changing words and narrative. So even the literary author is channelled as a text

producer by their social expectations and traditions. The fact that this text is also the

industrial product of a publisher however, is mostly ignored. Like all industrial products,

books are part of a larger production schedule and profit making enterprise and as

such often originate from an original conceptual idea generated by responsible

organizational operatives e.g. in the case of a thematic series, editors perform this

managing and originating role.

The editor manages the text in all its aspects, and it is they who largely determine the

visual look of the publication although a graphic designer may well be called in and be

acknowledged for their art direction, illustration etc. Editors are driven by profit margins

and retail sales and they use design to help sell the book at a retail level. However, the

editor has more complex motives that betray all the aspects of their industrial role; they

are working within a tradition of presentation which they, the author and the reader both

recognize, one that takes the text seriously as an art form as well as a saleable product.

So the text is not simply the product of one author but part of an industrial process and

it is in this context that we must also see graphic design. Just as the editor mediates

between the writer's artistic and commercial fields of influence, so the graphic designer

must visually present text and images that express these very distinct goals.

The tug between the aesthetic and commercial fields of expression are no where better

demonstrated than in the field of graphic design education and/or training. So distinct are

the aesthetic and commercial goals that there have developed separate systems of

training - one subsumed by universities or technical colleges and the other by industry.

38

• Only in the areas of up-market refined aesthetic production is the educated designer of

any use to industry, otherwise, the publishing/publication industry will do what it has

always done and train its functionaries itself in the style that it has invented; largely

developed through competition in the marketplace.

The Assignment of Value through Graphic Design in Mass Communications S30

and Mass Production |to"

Graphic design has a role in all genres of industrial production. In postmodern §

societies, graphic design is essentially a visual process of symbol formation and

invention used to codify text and image making, to appeal to different audiences/

readers in the context of mass communication dominated culture. Described in this

way, graphic design is part of the shared culture and should not be located, out of

context, as a particular object.

In the first chapter I quoted Eco's categorization of the unique properties that

characterize a mass society (Eco,1976:13). His first point concerns the apparently

homogeneous nature of mass society. In that chapter I also discussed the importance

of bourgeois dominated myth in the period of late capitalism. Myth, as described by

Barthes, is largely concerned with the suppression of oppositional positions through

the dominance of hegemonic values.

"But in most other semiological systems, the language is elaborated not by the 'speaking mass' but by a

deciding group. In this sense, it can be held that in most semiological languages, the sign is really and

truly 'arbitrary' since it is founded in artificial fashion by a unilateral decision: these in fact are fabricated

languages ... The user follows these languages, draws messages (or 'speech') from them but has no part

in their elaboration. The deciding group which is at the origin of the system (and of its changes) can be

more or less narrow: it can be a highly qualified technocracy (fashion, motor industry): it can also be more

diffuse and anonymous group (the production of standardized furniture, the middle reaches of ready to

wear). If. however, this artificial character does not alter the institutional nature of the communication and

preserves some amount of dialectical play between the system and usage, it is because, in the first place,

although imposed on the users, the signifying contract' is no less observed ... and because ... languages

elaborated as the outcome of a decision are not entirely free ('arbitrary). They are subject to the

determination of the community ..." (Barthes, 1977b:31-32)

Rather than deny 'differences and contrasts' Barthes is highlighting a system where

social control means power, not only over the means of production, but also, over the

means of symbol formation itself. Pierre Bourdieu echoes these ideas in his concept of

the cultural arbitrary presented here as the aesthetic disposition.

"Although art obviously offers the greatest scope to the aesthetic disposition, there is no area of practice

in which the aim of purifying, refining and sublimating primary needs and impulses cannot assert itself, no

area in which the stylization of life, that is the primacy of forms over function, of manner over matter, does

not produce the same effects. And nothing is more distinctive, more distinguished, than the capacity to

confer aesthetic status on objects that are banal or even 'common' (because the 'common' people make

them their own. especially for aesthetic purposes, or the ability to apply the principles of a 'pure' aesthetic

to the most everyday choices of life. e.g.. in cooking, clothing or decoration, completely reversing the

popular disposition which annexes aesthetics to ethics." (Bourdieu, 1984:5)

39

When one views graphic design in this same light you can see that it never leaves the

area of value inscription and coding for taste. The most obvious place to look would be

in a publication like Vogue Living which has the function of producing a saleable

publication based on well co-ordinated lifestyle accessories. Just as Vogue Living uses

the domestic house as the centre around which all of its related accessories revolve,

so the graphic designer, by co-ordinating the different sections of the magazine with

relevant text and photography into their overall layout and art direction, also presents a

thoroughly co-ordinated set of cultural values just as representative of the cultural

arbitrary as the contents themselves.

Eco's second essential ingredient of mass communications is the existence of

channels of communication which make possible contact with a very wide public in

various sociological situations (Eco, 1976:13). In contemporary society there are many

such media. Television typifies modern mass communications in its near universal reach,

not only into every home but into the private lives of individuals; even private relaxing

moments have been invaded and commodified by these modern media. Magazines,

newspapers and radio would perform a similar function to television but print media do

have to be consciously purchased, therefore are necessarily even more selectively

consumed. The growth of these media however, has also increased the reach of the

graphic designer, providing them with a great number and diversity of employment

opportunities. The importance of the design role has proportionately gained power and

influence, although I believe most of the influence happens at a subconscious level - the

same level that dialect in speech would be appreciated by the listener.

Eco's third element is that mass communications study acknowledge productive

groups which work out and send out messages by industrial means (Eco, 1976:13).

This role is precisely that of the graphic designer who is first and foremost one of those

industrial creators, producers and transmitters of information working within a larger

communications industry, which is indisputably commercial and part of the much larger

capitalist economy. Defining the competitive industrial reality is essential to the

existence of this industry because it finances and controls the content of everything

produced from production to distribution and consumption. Even non-commercial

television for instance would largely have its content determined by what the

commercial channels choose A/or to provide. The history of graphic design has largely

been determined by commercial competition although the acknowledgement of design

'motivation' at this less than idealistic, more materialistic level, has rarely been made;

probably because it is not a popular self-image. Robert Craig is one of the few design

theorists to allude to the commercial motivation of the actual form of design, but even

here, the full ramifications of commercial influence are not developed.

"By the end of the (nineteenth! century, the new pictorial style of advertising, in large space and with large

type and illustration overwhelmed the news and editorial material in many publications These

developments broke the typographic code of publication design and led to a radically expanded visual

code for all printed materials. The impact of the revolution in advertising design cannot be over estimated.

The strategies of the new advertising struck deep at the heart of the typographic tradition. Ads became

attractions designed to contrast with and draw attention to themselves at the expense of the surrounding

material. In the typographic code, harmony or unity was the foundation." (Craig, 1990:19)

40

• As well as an understanding of the industrial role of graphic design production

however, must come an understanding of the 'studio floor'; the actual conditions under

which graphic design is produced. I am thinking here, not so much of working

conditions, but of the limits of expression imposed on the designer by industrial and

social expectations. This is another reason for my choice of semiotic analysis, ,_

especially the theory of Eco. with his emphasis on sign production which necessarily 3

incorporates the designer, the client and the audience/reader into sign production 3

completing a circle of influence back-to the creation of the symbols themselves. 5ct>'

Sign production as Cultural and Industrial Production

Once it is established that every sign produced has a sign-function and that the discovery

of the sign-function is recoverable through semiotic analysis and through this analysis the

sign might be allocated into certain codes then patterns can be identified which expose

not only sign-function, but also particular modes of sign-production. The patterns that

make up sign codes are not random but come about often through the arbitrary imposed

by social and economic formed groups which use the signs (and the shared values that

they represent) as their primary form of cohesion and even propaganda for a particular

world view. It is logical then, that sign production is also far from random and comes about

often from highly structured processes, ranging from socialisation and education to

industrial process. Eco identifies three necessary stages of sign-production:

"If a general theory of codes, providing the notion of sign-function along with the notion of segmentation of

both the expression and the content levels, seemed to offer a unified definition for every kind of sign, the

concrete labor of producing these signs obliges one to recognize that there are different modes of

production and that these modes of production are linked to a triple process: (i) the process of shaping the

expression-continuum; (ii) the process of correlating that shaped continuum with its possible content; (iii)

the process of connecting these signs to factual events, things or states of the world." (Eco, 1976:757)

The connection of sign-function to sign-production makes the necessary link, in

semiotic terms, between theory and practice. So often the analysis of signs in

semiotics remains at the analytic level, never transcending or progressing to the

process of the system that produces the sign in the first place. The concept of sign

production is especially important in the context of post-modern theory which often

tends to detach signs from the real world in its analysis of the multimedia environment

and so the myriad possibilities of correlation are acknowledged as being dominant,

rather than the concrete relations that must always underlie the production of signs

regardless of their over abundance. Graphic design is a case in point. Contained in the

graphic design process of sign production is a whole tradition and mechanism of

production that reproduces and creates signs and then enters the public realm through

their particular sphere of power and influence - access to all the media of mass

production - not necessarily through ownership, but purely through their preparation

and training through the education system which gives graduates access to control of

a sphere of image making. In this context, analysis of the education system (in the

context of graphic design training) gives a very strong idea of the shaping and

reinforcement of the expression-continuum through its teaching and its imparting of a

particular tradition and history of design - one principally reflecting the bourgeois

cultural arbitrary in design rather than the commercial one. Dominant in the application

41

of semiotics to design production is the idea that any labour that produces sign

production is first and foremost a social practice inherently producing and reproducing

ideological positions (Eco, 1976:118).

The multiplicity and complexity of design codes, when revealed through semiotic

analysis, shows a range of strongly contrasting values. These contrasts tend to brand,

through their identification and use, the class and identity of the user. Though subtlety

can be found, it is really the extreme contrast of values between the polarities of the

code which presents the strongest formation in the area of graphic design. Putting the

idea of sign-production into this context creates some striking juxtapositions because

the 'official' or 'approved' design, as taught by the tertiary design courses, reflects only

the cultural arbitrary of 'good taste'. The 'used' design of much of the commercial

sector is governed by a different set of values/ideologies; ruled not by taste, but by

commerce - primarily competition and in a visual area, competition for the eye. Thus,

by viewing design codes as sign-production the ideological and social basis of

production is revealed.

Reproduction - The Socialisation of Graphic Design

Socialisation relates to Graphic Design at two levels: 1. as an agent of socialisation itself;

operating on the designer and the public alike as an agent of change and influence; and

2. as the both passive and active (selective) state of reception which forms the very

concept of self and influencing a particular relationship to the social sphere.

It is important to remember that the mass media is owned, controlled and

programmed; not by its mass audience, but by the bourgeois hegemony of media

owners, advertisers, editors and designers who literally design an aesthetic for the

masses (and indeed for all audiences). One of the unique qualities of graphic design is

that it is a socializing agent. It is through the design of context that the text fits into the

class specific habitus - a product of culture but also of consumerism, advertising and the

necessary maintainence of markets at particular levels of consumption. According to

Bourdieu, the affect of bourgeois ideology is so pervasive that it affects the whole value

base of the culture, systematizing not only the positive but the negative values are well.

"But ideology is a partial and disconnected world vision: by disregarding the multiple interconnections ol

the semantic universe, it also conceals the pragmatic reasons for which certain signs (with all their various

interpretations) were produced. This oblivion produces a false conscience. Thus a theory of codes (which

looks so independent from the actual world, naming its states through signs), demonstrates its heuristic

Ipower to discover] and practical power, for it reveals, by showing the hidden interconnections of a given

cultural system, the ways in which the labor of sign production can respect or betray the complexity of

such a cultural network, thereby adapting it to (or separating it from) the human labor of transforming

states of the world." (Eco. 1996:297)

Semiotic analysis helps to expose the false consciousness produced by design

educators, who, by their primary motivation in taste and not commerce are hiding the

primary function of design as a commercial system of sign-production. The dominant

bourgeois aesthetic of less is more is based on the bourgeois values which above all

feign disinterest in the material world and so gains strength each time material values

are contrasted with those more ethereal ones representing no material value at all. The

paramount bourgeois value in graphic design is white space and as such, amplifies its

42

value every time loudness or busyness are condemned (Robertson, 1994). Graphic

design practice is located specifically to those areas of sign-production which are

primarily ideological, reinforcing the status quo, but also perpetuating the dynamic of

changing design values necessary for a competitive capitalist economic system. Pierre

Bourdieu locates the bourgeois aesthetic as the primary classifier of class, so the r-

reproduction of this aesthetic (and its oppositions) in popular and commercially useful 3

forms comprises one of the most powerful ideological functions. S

<

"Economic power is first and foremost a power to keep economic necessities at arms length. This is why to'

it universally asserts itself by the destruction of riches, conspicuous consumption, squandering, and every

form of gratuitous luxury. Thus, whereas the court aristocracy made the whole of life a continuous

spectacle, the bourgeoisie has established the opposition between what is paid for and what is free, the

interested and the disinterested, in the form of the opposition, which Weber saw as characterizing it.

between place of work and place of residence, working days and holidays, the outside (male) and the

inside (female), business and sentiment, industry and art. the world of economic necessity and the world

of artistic freedom that is snatched, by economic power, from that necessity." (Bourdieu. 1984:55)

The idea of oppositions is especially important to the area of design. In terms of coding

meaning, opposition is one of the clearest and simplest ways of locating meaning. A

large percentage of meaning is deduced through contrast - more like this, less like

that. This happens especially in the visual/aural realms which are planes of expression

occupied by modern designers, where, in contrast to purely literary meaning, values

are less precise and rule governed and can be understood using only generally

quantifiable measurement.

Pierre Bourdieu found the institutions of both the family and education to be

absolutely fundamental to expressions of taste. Summarizing the findings of his

research in Distinction, Bourdieu states that

"Two basic facts were thus established: on the one hand, the very close relationship linking cultural practices

(or the corresponding opinions) to educational capital (measured by qualifications) and, secondarily, to social

origin (measured by father's occupation); and. on the other hand, the fact that at equivalent levels of

educational capital, the weight of social origin in the practice and preference - explaining system increases

as one moves away from the most legitimate areas of culture." (Bourdieu. 1984:13)

The family is most pervasive in its influence. Being socialized into the middle class

family with a particular middle class range of interests and even an inherited middle

class mode of reaction and appreciation gives the absolute social advantages through

an innate appreciation and demonstration of the dominant aesthetic. Shortly behind the

impact of class socialisation is the influence of education and the higher levels of

education in particular. Education, he describes, is shallower in its effects, as learned

information and values are less intimately felt than those of our primary socialisation.

"Even in the classroom, the dominant definition of the legitimate way of appropriating culture and works

of art favours those who have had early access to legitimate culture, in a cultured household, outside of

scholastic disciplines, since even within the educational system it devalues scholarly knowledge and

interpretation as 'scholastic' or even pedantic' in favour of direct experience and simple delight."

(Bourdieu. 1984:2)

43

The natural and relaxed appreciation of bourgeois cultural values is clearly a social

advantage which bestows benefits both material and aesthetic to the child of the

bourgeois family. So natural does a bourgeois appreciation of cultural artefacts become

that one even learns to accept culture with the distance and even nonchalance

suggested by Kant's aesthetic. Education also tends to locate values in particular

designated fields in a way that socialisation does not. This is important when you fully

realize how all pervasive our culture is. Barthes argues that semiotics is important in the

analysis of modern society because everything we experience these days is loaded with

meaning; this signification is important in our socialisation for the very same reason.

"The development of publicity, of a national press, of radio, of illustrated news, not to speak of the survival

of a myriad rites of communication which rule social appearances, makes the development of a

semiological science more urgent than ever. In a single day. how many non-signifying fields do we cross?

Very few. sometimes none ..." (Barthes. 1973; 121)

All objects, actions and reactions that we experience in our social world are loaded

with significance by the distinction ascribed to it by class. How ever we read this

distinction (remembering that it can just as easily be positive as negative) allows the

reader to classify the world but simultaneously this classifies the reader by

demonstrating a particular classAaste disposition to others. So social class is

fundamental to our particular reading of signs helping determine our positive or

negative reception through the cultural arbitrary.

There is one last realm of socialisation which will be dealt with in much greater

depth under class structure - that of language. Language is very basic to all forms of

communication and it can even be argued as a universal means of expression, as all

meanings must eventually be articulated if they are to be understood and

communicated to others.

"It is true that objects, images and patterns of behaviour can signify, and do so on a large scale, but never

autonomously; every semiological system has its linguistic admixture. Where there is a visual substance,

for example, the meaning is confirmed by being duplicated in a linguistic message (which happens in the

case of the cinema, advertising, comic strips, press photography, etc.) so that at least a part of the iconic

message is. in terms of structural relationship, either redundant or taken up by the linguistic system. As

for collections of objects (clothes, food), they enjoy the status of systems only in so far as they pass

through the relay of language, which extracts their signifiers (in the form of nomenclature) and names their

signifieds (in the forms of usages or reasons): we are. much more than in former times, and despite the

spread of pictorial illustration, a civilization of the written word." (Barthes, 1977b: 10)

The dependence on language has increased in postmodern society with the very

spread of the media forms and the new value given to information access in the nearly

totally technologized culture. There may have been a shift in dependence away from

traditional printed media (but even these have had a renewal and resurgence) but it

makes little difference to the dominance of language as the primary communicator.

Even the internet, the postmodern media par excellence, is based on language in it's

primary HTML structure (Hyper Text Mark-up Language).

One change in technologies that is indisputable, is that there has been a growth of

technologies that present language which needs to primarily be absorbed visually and

44

only slightly less often with the support of aural reinforcement. This means that there

has been a preoccupation with the presentation of information, because with the

increase of information, individuals have to become more selective, so they tend to use

language design (of which graphic design is the major visual component) as a cueing

device - a form of quick referencing most often referred to in readership analysis of the j - .

modern newspaper, where readers scan the page for headline and pictorial cues, but 3

feel under no obligation to read everything. Just as aural language relies on grammar, 3

vocabulary, accent and dialect to give distinction to speech, so visualized language 5to"

uses all the elements of graphic design (space, typography etc.) to give class S

distinction and relevance to each piece of visually presented information. Barthes is

right to describe a great variety of semiological systems (systems of communication)

as forming unique 'linguistic admixtures' of elements in different formulas and

combinations, (ibid) It should of course be necessary for the graphic designer to be

clearly aware of these mixes of elements in order to maximize their use. Once again

this is mostly understood only intuitively. Nevertheless, language in all of its semiotic

forms, must always form the basis of graphic design, for without language graphic

design would not exist.

The Significance of Class to the Analysis of Graphic Design

In my search for theory which helped make sense of graphic design as a social

phenomena, I utilized some key theorists in the realm of semiotic and postmodern

theory. As the study progressed, themes emerged relating to social class, that were

often contradicted by postmodern theory; often occurring within the development of

particular theorists such as Roland Barthes and Baudrillard who to a lesser and greater

degree move away from a class analysis as their theory progresses.

Roland Barthes is hardly a postmodernist, however he was a key progenitor of

postmodern theory, and is important to this study because he introduced me to

semiotic analysis and especially the development of the idea of myth. Myth, according

to Barthes, is semiotically perceived belief about the meaning of things. For Barthes,

myth is a part of language and its power is to control the meaning of the things /

content/text expressed by language

"Myth is a type ol speech. Of Course, it is not any type: language needs special conditions in order to

become myth myth is a system of communication ... it is a message ... myth cannot possibly be an

object, a concept, of an idea: it is a mode of signification, a form .. since myth is a type of speech,

everything can be a myth provided it is conveyed by a discourse. Myth is not defined by the object of its

message, but by the way in which it utters this message." (Barthes 1973:117)

In Barthes' analysis, especially in his major essay Myth Today, social class (described

usually as hegemonic, bourgeois dominant class) shapes, describes and sees the

world through its own signification and because of its access to the production and

reproduction of information, allows it to dominate the social agenda. It is the particular

angle which constitutes the myth rather than the information itself. (Barthes,

1973:117-174)

45

in a bourgeois culture, there is neither proletarian culture nor proletarian morality, there is no

proletarian art: ideologically, all that is not bourgeois is obliged to borrow from the bourgeoisie

Bourgeois ideology can therefore spread over everything and in so doing lose its name without risk: no

one here will throw this name of bourgeois back at it. It can without resistance subsume bourgeois

theater, art and humanity under their eternal analogues: in a word, it can ex-nominate itself without

restraint when there is only one single human nature left: the defection from the name 'bourgeois' is here

complete" (Barthes, 1973:151)

Barthes' concept of myth is generally compatible with the Marxist idea of dominant

class and dominant ideology; however, his shift to a greater concern with linguistic

theory and individual interpretation (the 'death' of the author) led his later work away

from a conventional Marxist interpretation with its emphasis on myth and class

domination of ideas.

Jean Baudrillard, who a little later than Barthes, in 1968 published The System of

Objects, also adopted a basically Marxist perspective to his analysis of issues to do

with production, consumption and meaning (Baudrillard, 1996). This inspiring and

ambitious piece of grand theorizing stands in complete contradiction to his more

contemporary postmodern theory which rejects all of the premises of his earlier belief

except for a basic belief in signification which seems to have lost its power to mean

anything anymore. I discussed Baudrillard's later ideas in Chapter 2 and reject his

emptying out of meaning because I believe he is naively attracted to the radical idea of

semiotic anarchy while ignoring the more ideological underpinnings of continuing sign

systems such as the Graphic Design Code represents. For these reasons I am more

attracted to the early structural theory of Baudrillard

Another key theory that has seemed relevant to the exploration of graphic design is

Pierre Bourdieu's concept of 'habitus' introduced in Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984). In

Distinction. Bourdieu explores the structure and origins of taste and locates them to

class dispositions which he calls habitus. Being an anthropologist. Bourdieu describes

habitus in the broadest sense, as a set of dispositions used by the class members

which determines how they furnish, structure and act upon and in their material and

social world. In these sets of interactions he develops a concept of taste which is very

much associated with the class dynamics of the larger French culture.

'Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier. Social subjects, classified by their classifications, distinguish

themselves by the distinctions they make, between the beautiful and the ugly, the distinguished and the

vulgar, in which their position in the objective classifications is expressed or betrayed." (Bourdieu, 1984:5-6)

Bourdieu's emphasis on aesthetic appreciation and its motivation by the class located

dispositions of habitus are clearly relevant concepts to an understanding of graphic

design. As well, Bourdieu suggest a dynamic of appreciation which also appealed to my

understanding of graphic design; those of contrast, of polarization and difference. The

appeal of this approach to the analysis of popular culture is echoed by Fiske (1989b):

"Bourdieu's (1984) main argument is ... that culture is used to distinguish among classes and fractions of

classes, and to disguise the social nature of these distinctions by locating them in the universals of aesthetics

or taste The difficulty or complexity of 'high' art is used first to establish its aesthetic superiority to 'low.' or

obvious art. and then to naturalize the superior taste and (quality) of those (the educated bourgeoisie) whose

tastes it meets ... Artistic complexity is a class distinction ... Conversely, a popular art is characterized as

simple and arouses what Bourdieu 0984: 486-488) calls the disgust of the facile.'" (Fiske. 1989b. p!21)

46

There are many concepts that attracted me to the theory of Bourdieu; notably the

relationship between class and taste and especially the concept of a high and low

aesthetic which are polar extremes of the same system of taste. I have incorporate

these ideas in the structure of the Graphic Design Code and also explored the relation

of habitus to the social location and expression of the art directors I interview as the

basis of my research later in the thesis in Chapters 7 to 10. I will discuss Fiske's

theories of popular culture towards the end of this chapter.

Umberto Eco (A Theory of Semiotics 1976) was the other key semiotician to which I

turned. The importance of Eco to graphic design is in his emphasis on sign production

but also through his emphasis on sign function of cultural objects and their formation

in codes composed structurally in terms of oppositions - developed to express

difference. These concepts are crucial to the structure and development of what, in

Chapter 4, I call the Graphic Design Code. Eco relates the concept of sign value

directly to the theory of Marx, but is careful to emphasize that meaning formation,

while it will always have economic dimensions, is necessarily much broader and more

diverse in signification.

"In the first book of Das Kapital Marx not only shows how all commodities, in a general exchange system,

can become signs standing for other'commodities: he also suggests that this relation of mutual

significance is made possible because the commodities system is structured by means of oppositions .

This significant relationship is made possible by the cultural existence of an exchange parameter that we

can record as EV (exchange value) ... All of these items can be correlated, in a more sophisticated cultural

system, with the universal equivalent, money" lEco, 1977:25)

In essence. Eco's description of a code working through polarization compliments

Bourdieu's concept of distinction; but beyond that he fails to develop social class as a

major issue.

Social Class: One of the most important themes of the Sociological Tradition

Class is one of those theoretical concepts that has developed as one of the pillars of

sociological insight - one that transcends the experience of individuals, and it might

even be argued, other areas of stratification that might also divide society, such as

gender, age or ethnicity (Breen 6 Rottman, 1995: 179, ix). Class is often mis-recognized

by social actors themselves and has even been stripped of its legitimacy by

postmodernists and poststructuralists who wish to strip sociology itself of its grand

theory. Karl Marx was most responsible for placing class in the center of the sociological

tradition. It was Marx and Engels, who, in The Communist Manifesto claimed that

"The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: i.e.. the class which is the ruling material

force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force." (Marx and Engels. 1965:. 61)

From these beginnings, grew class as one of the major developing themes of

sociology; one that has occupied the discipline's founding theorists - such as Weber,

Durkheim and Parsons - who despite their differences, have been trying to deal

structurally with this central important issue of sociology; connecting individual

knowledge with social order. Both Marx and Weber, for instance, adopt the premise

47

"that, in capitalism, the market is intrinsically a structure of power, in which the possession of certain

attributes advantages some groupings of individuals relative to others. While it is a power structure, the

market is not a normatively defined system of authority in which the distribution of power is. as such,

sanctioned as legitimate. The rights of property, and of the sale of labour, are rights of the alienation or

disposal of goods Ice 'commodities' in the Marxian sensel. which underpin the system of power, not in

spite of. but because of the fact that they are specified in terms of freedom of economic exchange."

(Giddens. 1973 101-2)

Marx was using class in the dynamic, explanatory sense (Giddens. 1973: 99) whereas

others, usually following Weber, tend to see class as a descriptive category - seen most

clearly in Weber's distinguishing categories that identify multiple bases of inequality;

broadly described as differential life-chances (Breen 8 Rottman, 1995:27-28). Weber

also used class to classify contrasting phenomena

". . his contrast between class 'in itself and class 'for itself is primarily one distinguishing between class

relationships as a cluster of economic connections on the one hand and class consciousness on the

other." (Giddens. 1973:104)

So class has become a concept that needs constant definition and refinement in use.

This is especially the case when Talcott Parsons is concerned who has stripped class

of its dynamic and made of it a social cement'.

"... according to Parsonian functionalism. [if a social system is to exist, there must be| a shared set of

values and beliefs. This common culture is reproduced across different generations by the process of

socialization within primary groups such as the family. As these values are internalized, the individual

experiences a psychological reward for his acceptance of existing social arrangements. The social control

of the individual and the integration of the social system are thereby explained in terms of a dominant

culture which inhibits instability and conflict within society." (Abercrombie etal. 1984:2)

In the summary above, you can see how Parsons acknowledges the dominant cultural

influence and yet explains it by the opposite mechanism of agreement rather than

repression. What is important here is the acknowledgement that shared class values

give definition and allegiance to social structure in all of the structural theoretical

streams of sociology - and implicitly, that there is a dominant culture serving the

interests of dominant groups in society. In the development of the Graphic Design

Code in this thesis, it has felt fitting to me to explain the development and function of

the code in class terms because it is a major theme in the sociological tradition.

However, there was the development of an even more explicitly Marxist

development of thought, centering around the themes of ideology and cultural studies,

that led to a body of theory that has come to be named The Dominant Ideology

Thesis. It was contributed to by a number of mid-twentieth century European Marxists

through three main sources - the Frankfurt School; Louis Althusser and A. Gramsci.

Each contributed to this main theme of Marx but gave to it their own,particular

interpretation and emphasis. Together they form the intellectual background for

Barthes, Bourdieu. Baudrillard and Jameson et al. though their debt is not often

acknowledged. Abercrombie. Hill and Turner offer a robust critique of The Dominant

Ideology Thesis which makes some important modifications to the straight Marxist

reading which I think better prepares the thesis for a postmodern critique.

48

The Dominant Ideology Thesis

The Dominant Ideology Thesis has been named as a theoretical phenomena by

Abercrombie. Hill and Turner (1984) in fact it is a generalized term for a theme developed

from a number of sources from the 1940s to 1980s. Having now read most of the texts

on class in Australia for instance, The Dominant Ideology Thesis has certainly been ,_

largely unquestioned in the analysis of class in this country, which suggests that it was f;

sociological orthodoxy in that period (e.g. Connell, 1977; 1983; Chamberlain, 1983). 33J

Generally speaking, the Frankfurt School (Adorno, 1991; Marcuse, 1966; Benjamin, ^co'

1982) was responsible for moving the Marxist debate away from exclusively economic S

to cultural issues and the exploration of the arts and popular culture, mass

communications and the culture 'industry'. They were also mostly responsible for the

development of critical theory as a style of cultural analysis. The Frankfurt School was

never described as 'owning' or inventing The Dominant Ideology Thesis however its

principal themes were of cultural hegemony and as such were instrumental in

broadening the Marxist perspective.

Perhaps the best starting point is to give Abercrombie, Hill and Turner's summary of

The Dominant Ideology Thesis

"... the dominant ideology thesis can be summarized in the following terms. The thesis argues that in all

societies based on class divisions there is a dominant class which enjoys control of both the means of

material production and the means of mental production. Through its control of ideological production, the

dominant class is able to supervise the construction of a set of coherent beliefs. These dominant beliefs

of the dominant class are more powerful, dense and coherent than those of subordinate classes. The

dominant ideology penetrates and infects the consciousness of the working class, because the working

class comes to see and to experience reality through the conceptual categories of the dominant class The

dominant ideology functions to incorporate the working class within a system which is. in fact, operating

against the material interests of labour. This incorporation in turn explains the coherence and integration

ot capitalist society" (Abercrombie etal.. 1984:1)

What is evident in this summary is the direct derivation from Marx and Engels, even to

the bipartite class system alluded to in The Communist Manifesto. Essentially this

basic hypothesis was developed and refined in two ways. Through Althusser, it links

Marx's concept oi class to the formation of knowledge through ideology. Through

Gramsci and his division of social institutions into state and civil structures there is

described a basic hegemony forming which repressively reinforces ruling class beliefs.

Louis Althusser was immensely influential in the 60s and 70s and was responsible for

the refinement of the concept of ideology - all within a Marxist framework. In keeping with

Marx's dynamic class theory is Althusser's insistence that ideology is man's 'lived relation'

with the world - not the beliefs themselves - so every historical epoch and social actor will

act and be acted upon according to those established and evolving relationships.

"In Althusser's account, ideology acts specifically as a condition of existence, differently in each mode of

production However, it also has the general function of relating men to their conditions of existence and, in

this sense, it is a necessary component of any society: ideology (as a system of mass representations) is

indispensable in any society if men are to be formed, transformed and equipped to respond to the

demands of their conditions of existence' (Althusser, 1969:235) Ideology is a 'lived relation' between men

and their world, not merely a system of beliefs. It achieves its effect by placing and adapting men to their

49

roles as bearers ol the structures of social relations by constituting individuals as 'subjects' 'subiect' has a

double meaning, both as a 'center of initiatives' and as a 'subjected being'. For him therefore, ideology works

by constituting individuals as subjects of the social structure, as subjects which bear functions within that

structure, while apparently giving a unique individuality to each subject." lAbercrombie etal., 1984:22)

£ In Althusser's description of ideology, he is not describing objects, identifiable 'things'

~ or even information rather 'systems of presentation', 'structures of relations' or even a

5, 'coded reality' which unconsciously forms the social subject. The following quote isCD

%• from Althusser's For Marx quoted by Marina Heck:

"Ideology is indeed a system of representations, but in the majority of cases these representations have

nothing to do with 'consciousness': they are usually images and occasionally concepts, but it is above all

as structures that they impose on the vast majority of men. not via their 'consciousness'." (Heck,

1980:122)

What is described here as most significant are the patterns of experience, issues

relating more to concepts like access, facilitation, options, alternatives, comprehensible

delivery, media forms, aesthetic styles and traditions, stratification, domination of forms

of delivery; not the media content, information or even the instrument of delivery. The

following quotes I found particularly useful in the discussion of Althusser by the

Argentinean scholar E. Veron (he is quoted extensively by Marina Heck!

"Ideology is a system of coding reality and not a determined set of coded messages with this system ...

This way ideology becomes autonomous in relation to the consciousness or intention of its agents: these

may be conscious of their points of view about social forms, but not of the semantic conditions (rules and

categories of codification| which makes possible those points of view." (Heck, 1980:123)

"Ideology is not a particular type of message, or a class of social discourses, but it is one of the many

levels of organization of the messages, from the point of view of semantic properties. Ideology is

therefore a level of signification which can be present in any type of message, even in the scientific

discourse." (Wee*, 1980:1231

The description of ideology as organized and coded reality is most compatible with the

nature of graphic design as I describe it later in this thesis. What is graphic design if it

is not a system of presentation, where one of its main tasks is to accept whatever

information, text, image, client etc. and present it in such a way that a particular

audience might find it palatable?

Gramsci developed his particular take on Marxism between the world wars in the

often violent political climate of Italy during the rise of fascism. Again. I will leave a

summary of Gramsci's political theory up to Abercrombie. Hill and Turner.

"Gramsci argues that civil society and the state are separate structures or sets of institutions within

society. Civil society is made up of 'private' institutions like the church, trade unions and schools, while the

state is made up of public institutions like the government, courts, police and the army ... Civil society is

the site of the engineering of consent while the state represents the apparatus of repression. Confusingly.

Gramsci also equates the concept of hegemony both with civil and with the generation of consent, and

the concept of 'domination' with political society and the use of force." (Abercrombie el al.. 1984:131

50

The important aspect of Gramsci's theory is the dual paths that lead to the hegemony

of the ruling class - through the institutions of the state [repressive institutions) and the

institutions of civil society (civilizing institutions) cultural, religious, educational and

industrial institutions which through socialization, education and indoctrination

'engineer' consent. Gramsci offered a more detailed and refined analysis of power and c-

its manifestation through social institutions and opened up the Marxist model to more 3

cultural debate. 3zo

Perhaps the most sophisticated expression of these ideas came about through the 55'

Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) which stands as a late S

twentieth century landmark. The output of the CCCS was diverse but generally

speaking it worked towards the understanding of cultural texts through semiotic

analysis working towards uncovering the codes of expression that reveal the ideology

or hidden structure of the text. This was done as much in visual texts as in written ones

as they concentrated on the media of electronic transmission.

"Media Studies broke with the models of 'direct influence' ... - into a framework which drew much more

on what can broadly be defined as the 'ideological' role of the media. This latter approach defined the

media as a major cultural and ideological force, standing in a dominant position with respect to the way in

which social relations and political problems were defined and the production and transformation of

popular ideologies in the audiences addressed ... the general ideological nature of mass communications

and the complexity of the linguistic structuration of its forms - has been the basis of all subsequent work

we broke with the passive and undifferentiated conceptions of the 'audience' [and] ... the question of

the media and ideologies returned to the agenda a concern with the role which the media play in the

circulation and securing of dominant ideological definitions and representations." (Half, 1980a: 117-118)

Stuart Hall and the CCCS have been a great inspiration and example through their

exposure of the ideological level and content of otherwise seemingly 'innocent',

mainstream media material such as news bulletins and television soap opera. As well,

the CCCS developed theoretical reinforcement to their research that went beyond

previous theory. Hall's exposition codes for instance is pertinent to the development of

my conceptualizing the sign and sign-function of graphic design.

"The articulation of an arbitrary sign - whether visual or verbal -with the concept of a referent is the

product not of nature bul of convention, and the conventionalism of discourses requires the intervention,

the support of codes." /Hall. 1980s: 132)

CCCS theorists describe media content as the surface content but suggest that what

is most significant about media is their coded patterning through presentation; a level

of media not immediately available to surface observation and revealing a deeper level

of conditioning.

"There is. therefore, a level of 'deep structure', which is 'invisible' and 'unconscious', which continually

structures our immediate conscious perceptions in this distorted way. This is why in ideological analysis,

we must go to the structuring level of messages - that is. to the level where the discourse is coded • not

just to their surface forms." (Heck. 1980:122)

51

These concepts have been immensely important in forming my own concepts of the

media when exploring graphic design. I would argue that the CCCS theorists come

from a broadly Marxist background but CCCS theory is not consistently of one school,

being eclectic for instance, in the way that it has incorporated semiotic theory into its

models and then combined it with concepts that belong more to mainstream Marxism.

The Dominant Ideology Thesis: Critique and Response

A major critique of The Dominant Ideology Thesis by Abercrombie, Hill and Turner was

published in 1984 (Abercrombie etal.. 1982; 1984). This is a very thorough study which

anticipates some of the wider critique that was to come from the postmodernists, but

they stay within the realm of sociology rather than the wider field taken by postmodern

theory. It is worth my while considering the major criticisms made in the study as my

analysis of graphic design can cast light on, and in some cases extend the points they

have made.

"We do not assert that there has never been a dominant ideology: we simply argue that the importance of

ideology has been greatly exaggerated by Marxists and sociologists, and that ideologies do not have the

consequences which are attributed to them by the dominant ideology thesis." (Abercrombie el a/.. 1984:3/

The important point here, is that Abercrombie et al. are referring to ideology as a

concept that has grown out of Marxian theory. Just as class was never an empirically

measured or precisely definable phenomena (yet a vital part of the dynamic of history in

Marxian theory) so ideology is in itself unable to be measured. It is worth referring back

to a point made by Giddens that Marx was using class in the dynamic, explanatory

sense (Giddens. 1973:99) not in the Weberian sense as a descriptive category. In my

investigation of graphic design, I would also adopt the argument made by Heck above

that ideology is not an immediately descriptive surface, but rather the hidden structural

relationships of phenomena that are of most significance (Heck. 1980:122).

Abercrombie et al. through presenting studies from different historical periods,

demonstrate that there is little evidence, at least in the Feudal and early modern historical

periods, that there was a shared dominant ideology. They argue that the disparate

classes are more recognizable by their difference than their similarity, and that given poor

cross-class communication, that it was understandable that classes tended to develop

separate cultures. However they do acknowledge that in the late modern period

(remembering this was written in 1984) the communications media quite possibly allow

the chance of both class domination and media to cross class boundaries.

"In the case of the mass media, the assumption is made that these media do disseminate a coherent set

of values which derive from a dominant ideology, or even that dominant groups directly control what is

published or broadcast via their ownership of the press and commercial television ... The ideology either

appears as a set of concrete items which apply in specific circumstances rather than as a more all-

embracing set of values ... A common theme is that the dominant ideology functions to make legitimate

in the eyes of subordinates the system of social inequality and the privileges of dominant groups."

/Abercrombie et al, 1984:130)

The publishing industry that I study in this thesis is a very active and transforming part

of the mass media Abercrombie. Hall and Turner are referring to. Other parts of this

thesis describe the restricted nature of magazine and publishing ownership in Australia

52

(now mostly monopoly owned and globally dominated) as well as the highly divided

marketplace with boundaries divided by class, gender, age and sectional interests. It

has never been my intention that magazines be seen separately from the other print or

electronic media - they are simply a sample field of study - but the exposure of design

as an ideological force I argue later, is shared across the media. r-

In this thesis, I have adopted one of the most popular claims of the postmodernists, 3

that graphic design forms an intrinsic part of a postmodern cultural aesthetic that 3

forms an ideological foundation for the media (Bourdieu, 1984; Featherstone, 1991) and ?

roughly conforms to the range of habitus that demonstrates the class based structure §

of society. Abercrombie et al. question the notion that culture is ideological.

"... culture as ideology is a more diffuse notion which can be specified only in broad generalities and

which is difficult to verify in the same way as other elements ... These cultural traits are held to inhibit

speculation and philosophical modes of inquiry which penetrate the true nature of class society, and to

create respect for hierarchy and deference to authority. They are thought to dominate all cultural forms

within society, to deprive the working class of the possibility ol an autonomous world-view and an

independent culture, and so to incorporate the working class into capitalist society." (Abercrombie etal..

1984:137)

I find this critique one based on a premise not supported by the findings of this thesis.

Graphic design is shown to be present as a strong sub-theme/sub-text/foundation to all

commercial and prepared visual information. The structure of the Graphic Design Code

demonstrates a hierarchy of value directly in relation to the hierarchy of classes; the

Graphic Design Code is an aesthetic code based on value which does not allow the

lower classes an independent voice, only an inferior one. {See chapter 10)

After looking at late-modern society Abercrombie et al. conclude that what ideological

themes might be shared by society are not shared universally and that dominant

ideologies are more likely to be shared by the dominant class rather than the subordinate

who do not appear to show any affiliation or affection for dominant values at all.

"The conclusion that dominant ideologies are not held, or are held in a moderated way. by subordinate

classes, clearly conflicts with the conventional 'ruling ideas mode I... the dominant classes should not be

seen as cynically manipulating the dominated classes: they do believe what they say. We wish to argue

that just as the dominated classes do not hold the dominant ideology, the dominant classes do. This

implies a redirection of sociological interests, for the chief impact of dominant beliefs is on the dominant

not the dominated classes. To use another vocabulary, the prime function of the dominant ideology is

toward the dominant class." (Abercrombie et al.. 1982:406)

This description contradicts or perhaps even overlooks the nature of the ideological

code as described by Heck, the CCCS and The Graphic Design Code (Heck, 1980). The

Graphic Design Code is a structure of relationships which allocate superior and inferior

values to each end of the market. As such, it is not that one class 'believes' in these

values any more or less than the other (the marketplace suggests both sides of the

market are fully and enthusiastically committed) but what is hidden is the ideological

structure that underlies the market and social structure it serves and reflects.

53

Class and Postmodern Theory: Critique and Accommodation

There are many aspects of the sociological perspective that have suffered at the hands

of postmodern theory. At the broadest level, sociology has been rejected as part of the

meta-narrative that started with the enlightenment, scientific and rational thought and

has now been applied to the understanding of most human endeavor (e.g. Foucault,

1970; Baudrillard, 1988e; Dunn. 1998). This project, it is claimed, has now exhausted

itself and along with modernism has simply outlived its functionality. I have been

attracted to the boldness of these claims but feel too, that much of its bluster is simply

rhetoric. Cynicism regards meta-theory is one thing, but to ignore concepts like class

or capitalism in the postmodern era is naive and in effect, throwing out the baby with

the bath water. What the media tell us every day, is that there is greater polarization of

wealth and resources both globally and within national cultures through the near

universal adoption of market economy economics.

The postmodern view of the world does document many of the key changes that

start to distinguish a new pattern of existence, but to throw out major categories of

social formation (such as class) because you reject meta-theory per se is naive in the

extreme. Having said this, I also acknowledge that there is disintegration and

reconstruction being documented by postmodern social theory which may give us a

more refined and improved handle on the postmodern world. I will present some of

these insights in relation to class.

1 Reflexive modernism

Reflexivity is a term that is increasingly being adopted by sociologists to describe a key

element of the reconstituting postmodern individual. It is hard to discuss reflexivity away

from those often more technical and material elements of change that are often a major

part of the description of the postmodern world - especially consumerism, aestheticisation,

globalization, digitization, the rise of popular culture and the new connections and spaces

created by the new media and media access. Individuation was popularized by Ulrich Beck

(Beck, 1992) in relation to German Green Party politics but it has quickly been adopted as a

concept by leading British Sociologists, Scott Lash and John Urry and even Anthony

Giddens has leant reflexivity his imprimatur (Lash 8 Urry. 1994; Lash, 1994; Giddens. 1994).

Reflexivity describes the reconstitution of the postmodern individual after the

disintegration of the influential institutions that shaped the modern individual have

declined or collapsed and so lost their influence. In their place is a new reflexivity. an

ability to cope with less controlled, predictable, structured inputs of knowledge and

experience provided by formerly influential institutions such as nuclear family, long

term employment, conventional media, traditional education and career paths. In their

place, people are still constituting their knowledge but doing so in ways connected as

never before; signs, time and space have been transformed by media in a way that

encourages greater and greater individuation.

"... individualization in the second, reflexive phase of modernity has set individuals free from these collective

and abstract structures such as class, nation, the nuclear family and unconditional belief in the validity of

science Thus reflexive modernity is attained only with the crisis of the nuclear family and the concomitant self-

organization of life narratives; with the decline of influence on agents of class structures - in voting behavior,

consumption patterns. Hade union membership; with the displacement of rule-bound production through

flexibility at work; with the new ecological distrust and critique of institutionalized science." (Lash. 1994:715)

54

In this newly reconstituted world collective and institutional social formations seem to

be under challenge (which of course weakens the traditional sociological enterprise)

this becomes clearer in a later quote from Lash:

"What indeed underpins reflexivity is then neither the social (economic, political and ideological) structures

of Marxism, nor the (normatively regulated and institutional) social structures of Parsonian functionalism, jj*

but instead an articulated web of global and local networks of information and communication £•CD

structures. One might best understand this new context in contrast to industrial capitalism, in which 'life mCD

chances' and class inequality depend on the agent's place in and access to the mode of production. In ST

reflexive modernity, life chances - the outcome of who are to be the reflexivity winners and who the

reflexivity losers - depend instead on place in the 'mode of information'. Life chances in reflexive

modernity are a question of access not to productive capital or production structures but instead of

access to and place in the new information and communication structures." (Lash. 1994:120-121)

Here is a society described as being, in a sense reconnected by a new technology. This

is a media dominant social theory, but as such gives understanding to new social

formations. It is early days yet to be objectively assessing this new sociology, but in

relation to class, it is interesting that both Lash, Urry and Giddens are not talking of the

end of class (as the more apocalyptic postmodernists do) but of a reconstituting

society, more complex and individualized at a micro level; but more divided at the

macro level as is implied in the above quote • into winners and losers.

"If the post-industrial middle class (mainly) and the upgraded working class (marginally) are the 'reflexivity-

winners' of todays informationalized capitalist order, then this third class who are downgraded from the

classical proletariat of simple modernity are the reflexive losers', the bottom and largely excluded third of

our turn-of-the-twenty-first-century two thirds societies'. A large portion of this new lower class are very

much in the position of what it makes sense to call an 'underclass'... in the shift from manufacturing to

informational production a new class is created which is structurally downwards mobile from the working

class." (Lash. 1994:130)

Coupled with this new structuration (Giddens, 1973:130) whereby people are allocated

to the new class position is the new way the reflexive subject relates to the new. more

ephemeral, information based material world. Lash describes two levels of reflexivity:

"... structural reflexivity in which agency, set free from the constraints of social structure, then reflects on

the rules' and resources' of such structure; reflects on agency's social conditions of existence. Second

there is se//-reflexivity in which agency reflects on itself. In self reflexivity previous heteronomous

monitoring of agents is displaced by self monitoring." (Lash, 1994:115-116)

As a concept, reflexivity cleverly incorporates the greater individuation brought about

by key aspects of postmodern theory such as aestheticization and consumerism which

tend to break down traditional 'modern' patterns, yet still allows these new

reconstituted subjects to be located in social setting, a project at the heart of sociology.

2 The Leveling Effects of Commodification and Aestheticization

Class is also under threat by the dual tendency in postmodern theory to claim that

society is now totally commodified and aestheticized in a way that distinguishes it from

the modern era. Commodification commenced colonizing society throughout the

modern era. but under late capitalism this colonization project is seen as completed.

This has come about through post-Fordist development of flexible accumulation which.

55

for the first time has allowed industry to be able to more instantaneously respond to

the consumer needs through just-in-time production methods relying on each products

strategy of difference (Dunn, 1998:120).

"Whereas mass production and consumption democrati2es by making things and people more identical,

flexible accumulation democratizes by elaborating their differences...the strategy of target marketing

differentiates social and cultural distinction so extensively as to create a new and. by modern standards,

indiscriminate cultural heterogeneity" (Dunn, 1998:120).

And so it is claimed, people are becoming more individualized, less conforming to the

wider social group as they had to do when under mass production, goods were

standardized and in many areas of consumption, certain goods are identical regardless

of class. But products do not just exist for consumption their meaning is now contrived

by newly refined and specialized postmodern service industries in which designers of

all sorts play a major part.

"... the biggest changes have occurred on the side of exchange, involving numerous strategies intended to

increase consumption rates. The rise of major industries in consumer research, marketing, financing,

packaging, and promotion speaks to the voluminous growth occurring in the consumption circuit of the

capitalist system More importantly, whole industries have established themselves around the symbolic and

aesthetic functions regulating the consumption process, for example, advertising, fashion, design, and the

various media that serve as their vehicles. With the consolidation of these industries, the exchange process

has been embedded in a culture of consumption that shapes and conditions consumer behavior by

resituating the commodity in a complex system of social and personal meanings." (Dunn, 1998:112)

Due to the marriage of new media and commodity and service promotion there has

been a relentless push on new areas of commodification many of which were

uncommodified in the modern era. Many of the new areas of commodification were

only sensitized through aestheticization and the imposition of design where none had

existed before, so it is not surprising that new areas of importance have arisen that do

not conform to old class boundaries such as housing, food or clothing might have

traditionally identified.

"... the marketing of goods and services has been 'decoupled' from instiutionalized status norms This

structural shift makes the shaping of social relations and social differences by the system of commodities

ever more complex and unpredictable." (Dunn, 1998:113)

Dunn is also critical of Bourdieu and his concept of distinction precisely because it is

too class bound in the way that Bourdieu describes its formation and motivation and

so tends to ignore what he sees as the opposite tendency in postmodern production

which he describes as the erasure of class differences (Dunn, 1998:1 17). Scott Lash

would most likely be critical of this tight interpretation of Bourdieu as he uses

Bourdieu's concept of social field in his own analysis as one that allows room for

reflexivity and adaptation (Lash, 1994:161).

3 The marginalization of class through the formation of new social fractions

One of the most frequent claims of the postmodernists is that class has disintegrated

and been replaced by new (and, so it is implied) more relevant divisions based on

newly important categories such as gender, race, age or sexuality. These are especially

important categories when a section of the media is under study - such as magazines.

56

Magazines are divided around very specialized markets in most cases; not just

marketed to women, but women of a certain age, sexuality, income, married or single,

ethnicity etc.

Since the rise of feminism in the 1970's there has been much study of women's media

as a separate category of study. An interesting case relating to popular women's magazines

would be Janice Winship's study for The Open University in The changing experience of m3

women series Unit 6 (Winship, 1983). Though limited in scope, this study starts to explore =CD

the patterns of subject matter from content to design and tries to understand women's jj>

magazines through the needs they service. Winship uncovers class difference above all as 2

one of the most distinguishing characteristics throughout the range of women's

publications and in many ways I suspect class remains useful as being one of those over-

arching categories bigger than more sectional interests such as race or sexuality. Class is

also shown to be more important than gender in Janice Radway's famous study on

romance reading (Radway. 1991). Burawoy expresses these same conclusions when he is

quoted in Breen and Rottman's recent book on Class Stratification.

"While gender and racial domination may have a greater tenacity than class domination, class is the more

basic principle of organization of contemporary society. This means two things. First, class better explains

the development and reproduction of contemporary societies. Second, racial and gender domination are

shaped by the class in which they are embedded more than forms of class domination are shaped by

gender and race. IBurawoy 1985:91" (Breen b Bottman, 1995:162)

4 Cultural studies, critical analysis, social semiotics and popular culture

More in support of the Dominant Ideology Thesis than in opposition are a number of

Australian analysts who have started a new stream of semiotic analysis called Social

Semiotics which has developed in a diverse range of areas basically combining

semiotic analysis with critical theory. Kress and van Leeuwen's Reading Images is an

important text on visual semiotics; Anne Game's Undoing the Social was important in

my study in providing a structure for my research material; but probably most

important were the many texts on popular culture by John Fiske - together they

provided me with models of analysis useful to this thesis (Kress and van Leeuwen,

1996; Game, 1991; Fiske. 198.9a. 1989b. 1992). These theorists share a critical analytical

method in their analysis, but otherwise their interests and specialities are diverse.

Of this group. John Fiske is probably the closest in interest to the subject matter of

this thesis. He is best known for a series of books he has written on the theme of

popular culture (Fiske, 1989a. 1989b, 1992). Fiske takes what would best be described

as a feisty left wing position in defense of popular culture claiming that it is a

subjugated culture but also independant in its practice as it is only ruled by the

expression of subjugated needs; distinguished semiotically from ruling culture through

opposition and resistant to complete hegemonic control. So as a theoretical position, it

cuts across the dissenting views of the Dominant Ideology Thesis expressed by the

above points in some important aspects.

Fiske qualifies the complete acceptance of the dominant ideology thesis by a

radicalized view of the subjugated working class as autonomous spirits acting out of

self interest and freedom of choice, anarchistically following whims that might be

governed by little more than the pleasure princple. As such popular culture, might be

provided by a hegemonic system of production, which tries to anticipate popular taste,

57

but it is totally at the mercy of popular consumption which only ever obeys its own

whims, needs and aesthetic rules. A key to understanding Fiske's unique position

comes through his analysis of aesthetic judgement vs popular taste:

"The people discriminate among the products of the culture industries, choosing some and rejecting

j» others in a process that often takes the industry by surprise, for it is driven by the social conditions of the

£ people ai least as much as by the characteristics of the text. This popular discrimination, then, is quiteCD

za different from the critical or aesthetic discrimation promoted by schools and universities to evaluate theCD

ST quality of h ighbrow texts. Popular discrimination is concerned w i th functional i ty rather than quality, for it is

concerned w i th the potential uses of the text in everyday l i fe." (Fiske.1989b: 129)

"Popular d iscr iminat ion is thus qui te different f rom the aesthetic d iscr iminat ion valued so highly by the

bourgeois ie and insti tut ional ized so effectively in the crit ical industry. 'Qual i ty ' • wo rd beloved of the

bourgeois ie because it universalizes the specif icity of its o w n art fo rms and cultural tastes - is irrelevant

here. Aesthet ic judgements are anti-popular - they deny the mult ipl ici ty of readings and the mult ipl ici ty of

(unct ions that the same text can per form as it is moved through di f ferent al legiances w i lh in the social

order Aesthet ics centers its values in the textual structure and this ignores these social pemnances

through wh ich text and everyday life are interconnected." (Fiske. 7989b: 130)

Fiskes theory accepts the dominant ideology thesis in as much it recognizes a

dominant and subjugated class culture, it also accepts that the cultural products

provided for popular consumption are provided by the same group; but it does not

support that they are sharing the same aesthetic system, as suggested by Bourdieu

(and this thesis). Fiske is arguing something important in its difference; that is, that

popular discrimination is not governed by anything as narrow in scope as aesthetics,

rather it is governed by a diverse range of needs which will have some patterns of taste

and maybe regularity in its consumption, but will also be full of contradiction and

irregularity which ultimately is unable to be controlled. This particular insight is

reinforced by Fiske's analyses of diverse popular culture phenomena from jeans, to

music, news or shopping (Fiske, 1989a) where semiotic analysis of various consumer

items illustrate the diversity of interpretation possible and much of it completely

unintended by the authors or producers of commodities. Following the leads given by

Barthes and Eco (Barthes, 1977a; Eco. 1984) with the death of the author and the role

of the reader, Fiske is giving power not to the producer, but to the consumer and as

such uses semiotics to empower the consumer as the principal producer of meaning

" . the sense of oppositionality. the sense of difference, is more determinant than that of similarity, of

class identity, for it is shared antagonisms that produce the fluidity that is characteristic of the people in

elaborated societies ... people move as active agents not subjugated subjects, across social categories,

and are capable of apparently contradictory positions either alternately or simultaneously without too

much sense of strain." (Fiske, J989b:24)

In Fiske's schema there is an important clarification to the nature of cultural hegemony

regards the sign function of consumption in popular culture. This is I believe the most

credible analysis of this phenomena, however, as this thesis is primarily about sign

production (rather than sign consumption) it is of less relevance to this research task

than others.

58

Conclusion

Graphic Design can now be located not just as a type of language, with a structure

reflecting the grammar and nuance of text but relating to a wider world of appearances

connecting with human perception at a very basic and perhaps instinctual level. What's

more, graphic design belongs to the social structure, not just as a visual system of signs r_

that is understood because it relates to everyday life, but also because it has been 3

industrialized as a system of sign production and ritualized through serialization into s

repetitive formats that feed upon social traditions and expectations. In many ways there 3

are parallels between graphic design and socialisation; that innate level that one learns §

through familiarity and constant practice and rehearsal. When media enter the lounge

room and our hours of relaxation they are participating with our perceptions at a level

never open to previous media - especially at the visual level. When these tendencies are

seen to be clearly reflecting the patterns of taste and aesthetic judgement that already

exist in the broader society, it is clear that graphic design works at ideological levels

Graphic design projects ideological traditions of taste, branding the various adherents

through their dispositions into pre-existing and/or commercially useful market sectors.

It is now my task to more fully describe the Graphic Design Code, not only linking it

to it's social base but also describing it's structural form and organization.

59

ch,P,e,3 T h e o r y

Towards a Graphic Design Code

Introduction

Out of the developing conditions described by the theory of postmodernism are the

prerequisite criteria which determine the marketplace from which the contemporary

graphic design code has emerged. The primary motivator of change has been

technological, but the transformation heralded by McLuhan is now described as being

complete (McLuhan, 1967a). The most obvious change is speed. The new technologies

facilitate instantaneous interactions at all levels of communication. Next is the

penetration of the marketplace into all levels of human existence leading to the

proliferation of goods and services to meet human needs - physical, psychological,

educational, vocational and recreational. In this totally consumerised world, graphic

design feeds and encourages a heightened aesthetic awareness in production through

controlling the consumption of the marketplace.

The role of design in production is to codify products and present them to an

appropriately sensitised and codified marketplace. It is design that encourages an

awareness of and a demand for difference - difference in products, but also difference in

self identification and presentation via consumption and possession. Baudrillard's model

and series distinction is important here, as is Bourdieu's concept of habitus (Baudrillard,

1988e and Bourdieu, 1984). Both of these concepts assume strongly codified preferences

in consumption and/or behaviour. These codes are primarily aesthetic and are based on

the socialisation of values mostly reflecting social class, but in these postmodern times,

they might also be learned through the media and especially advertising, which are

becoming the postmodern socialisers of even basic values and experience.

The significance of the Graphic Design Code has mostly been underrated in modern

theory, but in the period of postmodernism, the aestheticization of everyday life has

become one of the dominant characteristics of the new social and industrial age

through the dominance of consumption (Featherstone, 1991:65-82). This gives a role

and significance to design that could only have been imagined in 3n earlier age. As

media shift from the primarily literary to the primarily visual, so the pre-verbal and the

non-verbal levels of communication and experience take pre-eminence and with it

visualized meaning. One of the unique aspects of design is that it performs a similar

role to grammar in language. Like grammar, design provides the structure in which the

individual elements of communication are presented. Like grammar, the structure is

accepted and understood by its users but is held subliminally in the subconscious,

while the actual content of the communication is related to. In the postmodern era, the

Design Code has evolved to become one of the most efficient tools of capital through

the mass media and advertising to cultivate and maintain the market. By the

incorporation of the modern aesthetic into the Graphic Design Code design has

become an efficient imparter of value in every field and level of consumption.

The elements of the graphic design code can be described fairly succinctly - because

like language, they have constant structural elements. In the case of graphic design the

elements are spatial organization (grids), typography, visualization (e.g. illustration or

photography), colour and material of presentation (e.g. stock, binding or format).

61

The Postmodern Market

There is a greater consensus emerging as to the nature of postmodernism. As a

description of the contemporary western social, commercial and cultural environment

postmodernism is the main theoretical position that deals with the newly formed and

transforming conditions of production and marketplace. There is much polemic about

the revolutionary significance of the new postmodern age. but whether this era

deserves to be constituted as a new era or simply a new phase of economic and social

development will remain indeterminate and unresolvable. What is more significant, is

to try to determine what it is in postmodernism that contributes to new conditions of

production and consumption what in turn, shapes new patterns of public reception.

The postmodern marketplace is generally acknowledged to have now formed a unique

set of conditions which distinguish it from earlier stages of social development. The

primary force in this change has been the communications revolution heralded by

McLuhan, but twenty five years later this revolution has already transformed society The

postmodern condition is redefining the very possibilities for social relations far beyond

the face-to-face to relations of global proportion. Paramount, in this new formation is the

intrusion of the interests of capital, via the mass communications, as it turns the whole

social sphere into a universal market. John Hinkson describes the postmodern market as

having three unique developments which distinguish it from previous eras:

"The firs! characteristic of the postmodern market ... refers to the sheer speed of transactions which the

new technologies facilitate ... The second characteristic ... is not so obvious. Here I am referring to the new

market's ability to assimilate spheres of life which have always been outside the market relation ... the more

powerful postmodern market can offer solutions to problems which were formerly resolved through social

forms which did not involve technological intervention ... Finally, the postmodern market is characterised by

a radically enhanced flow of commodities, commodities generated by high-technological processes.

Importantly, this illustrates how it is not only the market which is affected by these new developments, but

also the productive system, along with the cultural formation of persons generally.'YH/Wfeon, 1992:118)

The importance of Hinkson's description of postmodernism is the centrality and

dominance of the competitive marketplace in this new social formation. As such it is a

description of the postmodern that fits much more comfortably with Jameson's who

prefers to define it as the last phase of capitalism [re Mandels idea of late capitalism]

rather than a more discontinuous 'new phase' (Jameson, 1997:35-37).

In the first chapter I referred to Baudrillard's tendency, in his later work, to split

objects of consumption off from their origin in production; as contrived products of

an industrial system which promotes ever widening spheres of consumption

precisely to keep the economic system generated. The earlier work of Baudrillard,

especially The System of Objects, recognises the importance of production as the

primary generator of the consumer system, but as he has developed his theory, so

he has progressively amputated the connotative sign of the object from the denoted

object which is still a contrived product of a system no matter what meaning is

ascribed to it through advertising, consumption and presentation of self (Baudrillard

1988c and 1988d). Many of the tendencies expounded by Baudrillard on the

simulacra and the free floating sign are worthy of speculation and inclusion in

postmodern theory, but there is also a necessity to keep locating this increasingly

manipulated symbolic sphere of signs and images to its economic base which is

62

responsible for the generation of the signs and objects of signification in the first place.

Sut Jhally describes Baudrillard's 'mistake' as making a fetish out of consumption.

"What they see are vast proliferations of commodities capable ol taking and reflecting multiple symbolic

forms and they look exclusively to consumption to explain this multiplicity, forgetting the deeper reality of

commodity production In separating commodities from their material basis in production, they drift off jg"o

into the idealist iconosphere' of the 'code' or 'culture'."(Jhally. 1990:52) •<

My principal argument in this thesis is not to argue with the idea that the code is now

of paramount importance in mass media dominated postmodern cultures, rather it is to

restate, through the exploration of graphic design production, that this contrived realm

is a structured and purposeful construct of commercial production simply expanding

into and consolidating new markets.

Advertising and its attendant media therefore become principal agents of

socialisation into the postmodern capitalist economy with all of its new internalised

values and myths. Baudrillard describes this process of socialisation as a complete

system of values; Sut Jhally describes the process as a moral system, worthy of being

a postmodern substitute for what has traditionally constituted the role of religious

belief (Jhally. 1990:203). So clearly the code that constitutes these values is most

profound, shaping the whole cultural milieu of postmodern society perhaps replacing

or at least intruding on the traditional realms of the family, the education system and

organised religion. So the market now intrudes on the construction of self at the very

most profound, perhaps even spiritual levels.

Aesthetic production is another form of value that has now become completely

integrated into production.

"What has happened is that aesthetic production today has become integrated into commodity

production generally: the frantic economic urgency of producing fresh waves of ever more novel-seeming

goods (from clothing to airplanes), at ever greater rates of turnover, now assigns an increasingly essential

structural function and position to aesthetic innovation and experimentation." /Jameson, 1991:4-5)

All the traditional bourgeois realms of the sacred - art, music, literature, sport, the

family, leisure time, religion have now all been incorporated into the consumerist

economy so that symbolisms from each of these realms have been incorporated, even

scrambled, as fodder to a system of production that has colonised the whole

postmodern individual. Through flooding the individual with a myriad range of symbolic

choices, as soon as you start to differentiate, to choose, you are actively incorporating

yourself within the symbolic code set up, offered and reinforced by the system of

production whether that be industrial or cultural. Baudrillard describes this engagement

in consumption as necessarily a continuous activity; one which continues to serve the

ongoing interests of industry through the unabated desire for new thrills and

experiences, constantly supplied and each new innovation hungrily sought for

(Baudrillard. 1988c:48).

The Code of the Marketplace

I am now shifting focus from the macro level of marketplace to the micro level of

meaning and function. Clearly there is now a marketplace of immense scale and

diversity and yet diverse objects share statuses and meanings across product groups

63

and even realms of discourse e.g. the correlation of fine art and alcohol in an

advertisement. Because of this diversity I am choosing a semiotic form of analysis,

because semiotics recognises that meaning is synthesised/signified from any contrived

range of correlations limited only by human experience and imagination.

The importance of codes in mass production has already been referred to in

Baudrillard's distinction between model and series (Baudrillard, 1988e: 171-182). The

model is any mass produced object we have decided to consume. The model is

chosen by making a distinction between that particular product and the complete

range of products/the series from which this particular model is the chosen/preferred

example. So the choice of the model acknowledges the existence of the series and

uses its preferred qualities as an active expression of personal values by taking on the

distinctions of the model as an adjunct of personal display. Baudrillard sees this aspect

of consumerism as a uniquely modern form of presentation of self - a language of

differences given to us through production and advertising rather than through some

form of innate needs or desires relating to the pleasure principle (Baudrillard. 1988c:47j.

Bourdieu acknowledges the dominance of the code in consumption for very similar

reasons of self expression. For Bourdieu, it is the learning and successful practice/

demonstration of taste codes which constitutes one of the main functions of the

contemporary communication process (Bourdieu, 1984:2). Consumption, through the

display and juxtaposition of artefacts we take on as part of our lifestyle, demonstrates

in material form largely class based codes of values about the material world. This set

of material, social and class values is something Bourdieu has called habitus

(Bourdieu, 1984:170). Habitus is as much defining of its occupants as it is of those

outside its particular class formation, and so for Bourdieu, the role of consumer goods

is primarily one of classification and therefore communication. Bourdieu's concept of

habitus is a product of research and intellectual theory but in fact the whole idea of

market segmentation, which has for most of the twentieth century been used

successfully by the advertising industry, is based on very similar assumptions of

correlation between social values and income.

Another area that theoretically describes this area is what Roland Barthes has called

metalanguage. Metalanguage is described by Barthes as a second realm of

signification "... a second language in which one speaks about the first" (Barthes.

1973:124) Metalanguage becomes one of the most useful concepts in the analysis of

postmodern cultural phenomena and for graphic design in particular. Since the principal

role of graphic design is one of presentation of text and/or image, the signification of

graphic design is therefore always contextual - the meaning belongs to the contextual

whole rather than the individual parts or sections. This meaning of course is never

simple as each of the component parts of the graphic design assemblage brings with

it connotations of meaning already the product of prior signification e.g. a typeface has

a family character and a history of invention and usage which gives meaning to its form

regardless of the meaning of the text it is presenting.

Codes that govern consumption reflect the complex media and commercial

environment which now dominates western cultures. Nevertheless, human perception

must construct strategies of survival, which, I am arguing, has an innate tendency to

generalise patterns of meaning from disparate sources. This generalisation is inherent

in the binary nature of the code in that it is constructed of oppositions Meaning/

signification/distinction is more likely to be identified simply by its difference rather

64

than by its precision or definition e.g. this typeface seems more modern than that, or

the cut of that dress seems smarter than this; these are all typically design related

mobilizations of taste codes. Often difference is distinguished by saying what it isn't

rather than what it is, so the oppositional nature of the code is omnipresent, defining

even when its absence is more noticeable than its presence. I have already discussed _,

the role of the code under consumerism, especially in its distinction between the S

model and the series where only the minor differences highlight the distinction

between one product and another. This realm of differentiation is precisely the area

occupied by graphic design, and it is of such contemporary importance in the code

because its very role is through combination, to join symbols from both disparate

realms and disparate media. So clearly the differentiation offered by the code can be

general in the sense that it is often imprecise referring to tendencies rather than

specific/precise judgements.

The Structure of the Code

"A semiotic o( the code is an operational device in the service ol a semiotics of sign production A

semiotics of the code can be established - if only partially - when the existence of a message postulates

it as an explanatory condition Semiotics must proceed to isolate structures as if a definitive general

structure existed. " lEco. 1976:128-129)

Graphic design is a form of sign production greatly dependent upon underlying

structures that restrict and guide the choice of nearly every component part and

relationship. The fact that graphic design can be so readily recognised to reflect

particular genres, movements or epochs, suggests that these definitive general

structures in fact play a stronger, more governing and controlling role than is generally

recognised. The ascription of mythic or ideological meaning at this level, by appealing

to the aesthetic taste of the reader, makes the graphic design code the first encountered

level at which the semiotics of the designed product is experienced by the consumer. It

is the code too that is largely influential in the sign production of graphic design - even

at the broadest level, say of media form (e.g. the format and structure of the book), the

code is restricting the options and confining the expression range.

The most important characteristic of the code is that it is a social and cultural

product and is therefore an arbitrary foundation, produced by unique conditions of

production. The code is larger than the individual, and though the individual may

challenge details of it, the code is one of those social phenomena that exists as a

generally acknowledged pattern of ideas. The formation of the code is built, like any

semiotic structure, at the levels of language (langue) and speech (parole). These words

obviously derive from textual analysis, but even with primarily visual material, the

combinational formations can still be understood to be following the same progressions.

"The language (languel ... is at the same time a social institution and a system of values. As a social

institution, it is by no means an act, and it is not subject to any premeditation. It is the social part of

language, the individual cannot by himself either create or modify it: it is essentially a collective contract

which one must accept in its entirety if one wishes to communicate. Moreover, this social product is

autonomous for it can be handled only after a period of learning." (Barthes 1977b: 14)

65

This plane of meaning is to do with traditions, traditions of permanence (like the

syntactical structure of language) or traditions of change, which define the boundaries

of expression, outside of which the code must be redefined or the expression

relocated. Codes do not restrict expression, because the code itself can always be

changed, but they do define the optimum conditions of expression likely to maximize

the transmission of meaning; and optimum conditions are generally strongly

circumscribed by custom and habit. Langue in textual terms is to do with syntax,

grammar and the formality of clear presentation. In visual terms, langue can be found

in structural elements like pattern recognition, sequence, colour harmony, typographic

custom, spatial organization, media formatting etc.

"Speech (parole): In contrast to the language, which is both institution and system, speech is essentially

an individual act of selection and actualization ..." (Barihes. 1977b.14 15)

Speech accounts for the individuation that comes in each and every act of

communication. Speech is the personal; the choice of signs which signify meaning by

the very act of juxtaposition, combination etc. Speech brings content through

connotation. Effective communication implies an appropriate adherence to langue but

in speech we locate the potential for freedom of expression and even the chance to

erode or redirect the foundations of the code.

So far I have defined the code as containing two major planes of meaning, but

clearly I am not describing a simple phenomena. The concept of langue, especially

when used to analyse graphic design, incorporates elements from many different fields

of expression each of which have a unique and often separate history of use (see

section The elements of the Graphic Design Code later in this chapter pp73-74).

Combine these structurally complex phenomena with the myriad content of speech

and you have a concept of code so immense'in its range of expression that it might be

better to link the Graphic Design code to a code on the scale of Eco's hypercode.

"What was called the code is thus better viewed as a complex network of subcodes which goes far

beyond such categories as grammar", however comprehensive they may be. One might therefore call it a

hypercode ... which gathers together various subcodes, some of which are strong and stable, while

others are weak and transient, such as a lot of peripheral connotative couplings." (Eco. 1976:125/

Each component element that contributes to the signs of Graphic Design must be

allowed to signify acknowledging its own particular sign formation. It is usual, for

instance, to incorporate typography with a particular form of image making (such as

photography) in Graphic Design. Typography carries an immensely rich heritage and

tradition in use, most of which is not common knowledge but often experienced

subliminally, yet its diversity of variables (face, size, spacing etc.) encourages particular

connotation similar to the inflection in the spoken word or a particular accent.

Photography on the other hand implies a totally different, mostly unrelated history and

yet can connote on an equally diverse range of levels. These elements work as

subcodes which contribute to the Graphic Design at the level of hypercode and it is

undeniable that it connotes at both of these levels simultaneously.

A related and complementary concept is Umberto Eco's analysis of overcoding.

undercoding and extra-coding.

66

"Thus overcoding proceeds from existing codes to more analytic subcodes while undercoding proceeds

Irom non existent codes to potential codes. This double movement, so easily detectable in certain cases

|e.g aesthetic judgements - beautiful vs ugly - a deceptive case of undercoding) is frequently intertwined

in most common cases of sign production and interpretation, so that in many instances it seems difficult

to establish whether one is over or undercoding. In such threshold cases ... it would be wiser to speak of

extra-coding (such a category covering both movements at once. The movements of extra-coding are the

subject matter of both a theory of codes and a theory of sign production." (Eco. 1976:136)

Overcoding, then, is to do with the recognition of pre-established rulesAraditions within

which, or around which a particular cultural product might be seen to be representative -

it is the anchor that gives most meaning/an orientation to an object. Overcoding might

differ from the typical/expected norm but it is the difference which takes most of the

signification in this case. Undercoding occurs when a cultural phenomena presents itself

outside established codes and the very patterns of the phenomena itself (like repetition

and omission) take on significance as the subject struggles to construct a code from

nothing in order to understand the communication. Either over or under-coding might

lead to extra-coding which would theoretically, on acceptance, form a newly overcoded

form itself. The beauty of the code as a form of analysis is its flexibility; creativity, for

instance, is a built-in part of the code, which by its very nature, must be understood as a

fluid concept changing over time and adapting to cultural innovation.

It is accepted in postmodern theory that the consumer led advertising system has

helped construct the dominant contemporary code of meaning - and this is built

around social status.

"The object/advertising system constitutes a system of signification but not language, for it lacks an active

syntax: it has the simplicity and effectiveness of a code. It does not structure the personality: it designates

and classifies it. It does not structure social relations: it demarcates them in a hierarchical repertoire. It is

formalised in a universal system of recognition of social statuses: a code of 'social standing' ... objects

have always constituted a system of recognition ... but in conjunction, and often in addition to other

systems [gestural, ritual, ceremonial, language, birth status, code of moral values, etc.I What is specific to

our society is that other systems of recognition are progressively withdrawing, primarily to the advantage

of the code of 'social standing.' Obviously this code is more or less determinant given the social and

economic level; nevertheless llic collective function of advertising is to convert us all to the coJe

(Baudnllard. 1988c: 19)

I do not argue with the general observation that social standing governs the dominant

code in postmodern culture but I would argue that appraisals, such as that of

Baudnllard above, need to go deeper to find the basis of the code than the fields of

advertising and consumerism. For this reason I am proposing an amalgam of the idea

of habitus with the idea of a design code - one that acts as a fundamental code

common to all areas of consumption and/or expression in postmodern life. A design

code can be identified in all realms of postmodern experience and acts as a unifying

factor often arching over diverse realms of experience and expression and forming

perhaps the dominant over-coding device.

67

A Code of Binary Oppositions on an Arbitrarily Divided Continuum

Fundamental to the operation of the Graphic Design Code is the concept of the

biplanar rule deriving from the langue/parole planes of signification.

The code which ... couples different systems is a biplanar rule establishing new attractions and

^T repulsions between items from different planes. In other words, every item within the code maintains ao-< double set of relations, a systematic one with all the items of its own plane (content or expression) and a

signifying one with one Of more items from the correlated plane " lEco. 1976:126)

The notion of the binary/bipartite construction of meaning relates to the evaluation of all

value laden cultural phenomena. Complex cultural phenomena, joining often

contradictory semantic fields of expression, necessitate a construction of meaning

rather than a more simplistic notion of ideation - hence the phenomena of the sign

being the outcome of relationships between juxtaposed variables; variables with both

systematic and referent correlations. Eco discusses the phenomena of snow in Eskimo

society, which has a numerous and diverse range of meanings compared to European

cultures and languages who have a paucity of descriptions for such phenomena. This is

a simple description to illustrate the cultural differences of division of values according

to environmental differences. Eco proposes that all cultural phenomena might be

imagined as a "... continuum [of] content-stuff which can be cut into different formal

systems." (Eco 1977:77) I am proposing that aesthetic judgement is made in the same

fashion. What fashions, divides, alters and extends the aesthetic continuum of course,

differs from culture to culture, nevertheless, just as the evaluation of snow is a cultural

byproduct of natural exposure or overexposure to the stuff, so too is aesthetic value due

to the evaluative precision a particular population (and parts thereof) ascribe to particular

phenomena. If understood as a continuum of value, the postmodern aesthetic can be

seen to incorporate many more diverse cultural strands than probably any preceding

epoch. As consumerism slowly incorporates our whole daily existence, so the same

aesthetic values are making evaluative judgements of the mundane along with once

separate and rarified realms of 'the arts'. In this cultural transformation, the aesthetic

continuum has had to become much more versatile - we are now encouraged to use it

on content stuff once considered beyond the realm of aesthetic caring.

Eco's description of an evaluative continuum implies a knowledge in the general

population that there exists a range of values stretching from the negative to the

superlative to which each phenomena can be applied; in Eco's words:

"A cultural unit... is defined inasmuch as it is placed in a system of olher cultural units which are opposed

to it and circumscribe it. A cultural unit 'exists' and is recognised insofar as there exists another one which

is opposed to it. It is the relationship between the various terms of a system of cultural units which

subtracts from each one of the terms what is conveyed by the others." (Eco. 1976:73)

If you record common statements of aesthetic judgement (in Chapter 5 I will be doing

this in the context of Graphic Design) it is striking how frequently judgement is located

and recorded through oppositional evaluation It is most frequent that people judge by

comparison; differentiating, comparing outcomes, fine-tuning. Fields of evaluation are,

most often, not dogmatic but to do with fine shades of meaning/value. How else do

you choose between the model and the series? Barthes describes the idea of the

evaluative opposition as being universal.

68

"... the principle of difference which is the foundation of opposition: it is this principle which must inspire

the analysis of the associative sphere: for to deal with the opposition can only mean to observe the

relations of similarity or difference which may exist between the terms of the oppositions, that is. quite

precisely, to classify them " (Barthes. 1977b:74j

Contained in the idea of difference is always housed the concept of opposition, again 5*

harking back to the binary code of zero and one. Barthes goes on to describe the -3

significant element of difference as the mark which he describes as the significant

element which connotes difference and therefore opposition (Barthes 1977b:76-77).

The buyer of any serial product (e.g. refrigerators or CD players) faces the decision of

the mark in every purchase; it is this that creates difference in nearly every acquisition.

When Graphic Design has a direct commercial application (as in areas of packaging,

corporate identity or advertising) it is the attribution of difference which constitutes its

major role in nearly every instance.

The Aesthetic Sign-function In the Code

It is one of the dominant themes of postmodernity that every field of contemporary life

has now been incorporated into the commodity system. The means by which this has

been achieved, is through the expansion and extension of the aesthetic code to all areas

of consumption i.e. to make commercial that which was formerly private or publicly

owned. The aesthetic code has always been captive of the dominant groups in society

(such as the Roman Catholic Church in the renaissance, the aristocracy in pre-industrial

Europe and later the bourgeois in the capitalist, industrial world) it is the dominant

ideology in visualized forms. The modern through to the postmodern eras have seen,

through the growth of consumerism and advertising, the slow incorporation of the whole

culture into an aesthetically based code. This is most dramatically put by Baudrillard:

"Today, the real and the imaginary are confounded in the same operational totality, and aesthetic

fascination is simply everywhere ... This is no longer a productive space, but a kind of ciphering strip, a

coding and decoding tape, a tape recording magnetized with signs It is an aesthetic reality, to be sure.

but no longer by virtue of arts premeditation and distance, but through a kind of elevation to the second

power, via the anticipation and the irn.nanence of the code." (Baudrillacd. 1988c: 146)

In the Modern era (throughout the rise of industrialization) aesthetic value was primarily

reactive (oppositional) to the ostentation that had characterized the bourgeoisie in the

nineteenth century. A modern aesthetic code developed in the first half of the twentieth

century as a usually oppositional reaction to bourgeois conservatism and materialism,

gaining initially only a fringe reception. However, in the last half century this oppositional

aesthetic has been accepted and broadened in scope allowing its incorporation into the

wider social, cultural and economic fabric. The dynamic and oppositional change that has

so characterized aesthetic production in the early twentieth century has also been

enthusiastically embraced and incorporated into the competitive dynamic of capitalism.

We can now see the fashion industry driven by aesthetically based, oppositional change.

The change is economically driven but expressed in aesthetic terms and visualizations.

Graphic Design has also been captured by the same economic drive, tied to the

commodity system and responding to its need to change and increase market share.

Coupled to this capturing of the aesthetic code by the commodity system is the

question of control. It is apparent in any encounter with mass culture that there exists69

a hierarchy of values (the aesthetic continuum) representing the oppositions of the

aesthetic code. Bourdieu sees this control of the aesthetic as being the key to the

bourgeois expression of freedom - the value at the heart of commodity consumption.

"As the objective distance from necessity grows, life-style increasingly becomes the product of what

g" Weber calls a 'stylization of life', a systematic commitment which orients and organizes the most diverseo

•< practices - the choice of a vintage or a cheese or the decoration of a holiday home in the country. This

affirmation of power over a dominated necessity always implies a claim to a legitimate superiority over

those who. because they cannot assert the same contempt for contingencies in gratuitous luxury and

conspicuous consumption, remain dominated by the ordinary interests and urgencies. The tastes of

freedom can only assert themselves as such in relation to the tastes of necessity, which are thereby

brought to the level of the aesthetic and defined as vulgar" (Bourdieu, 1984:55-56)

Bourdieu describes the presentation and manipulation of aesthetic values as one of the

most powerful tools of class subjugation - the contrast in the aesthetic code is again

described in terms of opposition and difference. It is capitalism, through production,

advertising and marketing that has adopted and manipulated the aesthetic code into a

totally incorporating and encompassing set of values that incorporates change into the

production system. A major part of this process has been to identify, isolate and manipulate

market sectors into the most productive patterns of consumption. Fields of sign production

like Graphic Design have been first of all identified for isolation and development (separate

from the printing industry of which they were once a part) and are now entirely incorporated

into industry linking production and marketing to the culture as a whole. As sign producers.

Graphic Designers are part of the aesthetically informed bourgeoisie.

"... the strategies aimed at transforming the basic dispositions of a life-style into a system of aesthetic

principles, objective differences into elective distinctions, passive options ... into conscious, elective

choices are in fact reserved for members of the dominant class, indeed the very top bourgeoisie, and for

artists, who as the inventors and professionals of the 'stylization of life' are alone able to make their art of

living one of the fine arts." (Bourdieu, 1984:57)

One of the most interesting tendencies to come out of my research is the strong correlation

between the stratification of the qualification and training of Graphic Designers with the class

stratification of the media market. The mass market magazines regard their aesthetic as being

so different and opposed to the graduates of university based graphic design courses that in

most cases they prefer to train their own designers; the implication being that the values of

the University-trained student are oppositional to the ones of the mass market. The mass

media instead reaches not for the middle class trained designer, but for members of the

working class who are themselves products of the mass market system and so, like most

educational institutions, seek to reproduce their own values; those of a subjugated system.

"It must never be forgotten that the working-class 'aesthetic' is a dominated 'aesthetic' which is constantly

obliged to define itself in terms of the dominant aesthetics. The members of the working class, who can

neither ignore the high-art aesthetic, which denounces their own 'aesthetic', not abandon, but still less

proclaim them and legitimate them, often experience their relationship to the aesthetic norms in a twofold

and contradictory way." (Bourdieu. 1984:41)

It is important to note that again Bourdieu reinforces the idea of an aesthetic code

characterized by binary difference. Graphic Design is one the most stratified fields of

sign production, totally enveloped by commercial exigency

70

Towards a Graphic Design Code

The Graphic Design Code is one of the most overlooked and therefore underrated

systems in contemporary theory. I would go so far as to say that it has become the

dominant code in communication precisely because of the diversity of media and

sources of information which now characterise postmodern society. In a sense, the _,

design code has become the visual centre, the co-ordinate that links the disparate §

media and fields of visual experience. The power of the Design Code has come about

because of the postmodern shift of emphasis from production to reproduction. Those

with control over reproduction these days control the context of consumption, not only

of industrially produced goods but also aspects of culture, including art, leisure and the

media. It is the devices of design which classify, connect, re-invent and present the

world through the media and all industrial design according to the commercial taste

codes which exist primarily to service the postmodern market.

Of paramount importance to the contemporary design code, is one of the most

hegemonic characteristics of postmodern, developed societies - a phenomena Mike

Featherstone calls the aestheticization of everyday life (Featherstone, 1991:66-73).

Featherstone summarises this aestheticization happening in three principal ways;

through art movements (like pop-art and dada) which have sought to find aesthetic, or

redefine as aesthetic, mass produced objects; through the popular twentieth century

tendency to turn life into a work of art inherent in words like lifestyle; through the mass

media and mass production, all objects and messages become saturated with 'sign-

value', taking on meanings not specifically or intentionally designed into the product

(Bourdieu, 1984:30). Over the twentieth century, the dominant economic emphasis has

moved away from production to meet necessary demands (like food and shelter) to the

reproduction of produced goods in contexts contrived to enhance their consumption.

Hence the idea of postmodern culture having the dominant ethos of the marketplace - all

jostling, competing, compelling and available for consumption. All industrial design has

the function of influencing these dominant market decisions - the 'modern' idea of

designing for function acknowledges only part of the social/cultural role of products and

reinforces the myth that design expresses one dominant interpretation of good taste.

Bourdieu is most useful on the topic of the modern aesthetic and its hegemonic

base. Bourdieu identifies a dominant cultural arbitrary of modern good taste or

distinction which places the primacy of form over function which reverses the former

(historic) values of objects (in function or use) and ascribes, or makes available for

inscription, all designed surfaces (Bourdieu, 1984: 4-5). Bourdieu however, would also

see this aesthetic branding as having a further ideological role which exists

concomitantly with the appearance of all manufactured things.

"Ideology is an illusion consistent with interest, but a well-grounded illusion. Those who invoke experience

against knowledge have a basis for their prejudice in the real opposition between the domestic learning

and the scholastic learning of culture. Bourgeois culture and the bourgeois relation to culture owe their

inimitable character to the fact that... they are acquired, pre-verbally. by early immersion in a world of

cultivated people, practices and objects." I Bourdieu. 1984:74-75)

The implications for design in this aesthetic immersion are immense because design

exists precisely in the area of the pre-verbal. or perhaps put more accurately, the non-

verbal realm of experience. Design is learnt by example through repetition, reinforcement

and juxtaposition in exactly the same way as language precisely because it can be used

71

as part of language in the broadest sense - as our self expression. Of course language

can be understood as being non-visual - in the form of speech - but in the modern and

postmodern epochs there has been an increasing emphasis on a simultaneous verbal/

visual articulation of information with a progressive emphasis on the non-verbal as the

primary carrier of meaning as we move into increasingly visualised media. The new

dominance of visual aesthetic qualities in branding and appreciating the world is the key

to understanding the role of design in communication.

Design provides a visual shorthand/a code, understood purely in visual terms, which

acts to organise the individual's experience of the world. In the over-abundant

postmodern environment increasing dependence is being placed on the design code

as the primary visual organiser of information. Eco describes the individual's

comprehension of the aesthetic text as being first and foremost a dialectic between

acceptance and repudiation of the sender's codes (Eco, 1976:275). This basic

dialectical process is one of continual fine-tuning which might, at its most general,

represent the basic binary position of me/not for me, and end in the more informed

and sophisticated choice of a particular appropriation of specific values inscribed in a

particular object. The role of the modern aesthetic in this process is important because

it has been conveniently appropriated as the cultural arbiter of taste, as important an

arbiter in its absence as in its use. This dominant arbiter, through advertising, but also,

perhaps more importantly, through all graphic and industrial design, has been

generalised throughout our postmodern culture, influencing not only our media

consumption but all the consumption of our material lives providing an

institutionalised code of connotations (Craig, 1990:22). In a culture now built around

consumption, it is only natural that the principal target markets of the commercial

world would come to dominate the codes projected by the media themselves. The

media and all industrial production, have taken on a social meaning which reflects our

habitus as much as our diets, home decoration and clothes we wear; in fact it is now

very hard to disentangle these elements from advertising and the media, so enmeshed

have they become. Indeed our habitus is very much shaped, charted, reflected by

much of the popular media which are totally preoccupied with the advertiser's

marketplace; editorial reflecting the interests of the advertisers in a consummate

hegemony.

There has been little written about graphic design codes from a social viewpoint. It

is interesting that despite twenty years of contact between semiotics and graphic

design, one of the best recent articles on the ideological nature of graphic design ends

by naming two recent dominant design codes; a typographic code (basically described

as an inherited historic model) and the advertising code which is made to account for

the punchy, competitive character of the contemporary media (Craig, 1990:18-19). It is

as if class and economic interest shall forever go unacknowledged as the major force

behind media form. Craig's categories of code are useful but remain essentially

stylistic in their analysis. I am proposing that we use categories based on my previous

theoretical discussion which reflect not simply styles of expression as forms in

themselves, but styles which represent dominant social interests, in fact, our whole

society and culture as it is currently structured. The key that links the social with the

cultural is aesthetic

72

The Elements of the Graphic Design Code

Graphic design is composed of a highly structured range of standard elements, which

is why. as a system of presentation, it lends itself to structural analysis. Of course, not

all of these elements will be present in every example under analysis, but often

omission or emphasis on only one element, will be precisely the key to understanding _,

any particular piece of work. Following is a brief outline of the principal elements of S

graphic design:

1 Space - Layout grids are the foundation of the designed page or space. Layout grids

derive from two basic traditions: (a] the humanistic/historicalAraditional style

represented by the golden-mean, contrasting wi th |b] the mathematically derived

and divided modern grid. Grids are most often appreciated subliminally, unless they

are highlighted through the breaking of rules e.g. slipping or superimposing them.

As a code, the traditional grid is still utilized to carry larger volumes of serious text,

such as in a novel or journal. The modern grid is more likely to be found in media

forms such as newspapers and magazines. Incorporation of white space is an important

ascription of value in the modern grid and is probably the strongest class defining

element of the contemporary Graphic Design Code. Layout grids transmit meaning by

providing a context to the relationships of the other elements of the design.

2 Typography - type is usually the most important tool of the graphic designer,

especially when it comes to the ascription of meaning in the presentation of text.

There are 6 characteristics of type which ascribe meaning - some wi th greater

signification than others.

2.1 Typeface design is the most obvious typographic ascriber of meaning. There

are thousands of typefaces available to the contemporary designer which offer

such a finely tuned range of options that they can fairly precisely signify any

particular meaning. Typefaces can invoke t ime - history (even of precise periods)

or modernity, nationality, attitude (formality e.g. formal script, roman-serif

letterforms or informality e.g. brush script, handwrit ten script, some san-serif

letterforms etc.). Typeface uniformity/discipline vs variety is one of the most

codified areas of graphic design.

2.2 Typesize is the next most important textual ascriber of meaning. The most obvious

comparison here, is that between the headline banner and the body copy of the text;

such contrast in size clearly prioritizes and attracts attention through drawing

attention to certain parts of the text over others. Designers can use typesize to give

added meaning to words - not on the plane of syntax e.g. heading over body copy -

but on the systematic where letter size may in some way give added meaning to the

word itself through drawing some relation to another system of association.

2.3 Leading is the amount of white space that exists between lines of type and as

such is one of the more subtle conveyors of meaning. The greatest volume of

typography is of course text or body copy and as such has a mainly utilitarian sign

function; to convey the literal meaning of the text. Leading theoretically enhances

the readability of the text by slightly separating the lines of type on the page and

making the block of copy seem more attractive/readable by seeming less heavy

through the slight addition of white space. However, whi te space, no matter

where it occurs is one of the greatest 'luxuries' of the designer or the publication,

because white space is not purely functional but also a preference of fashion - a

major code of modernism that goes back to less is more and starting from zero.

73

2.4 Kerning refers to the space between letters of type. The functional and generally

approved position is to set the letters of a word so that the eye does not confuse the

letterforms. Any additional white space between letters is inserted mainly for stylistic

reasons. White space can signify sophistication when used in kerning as well.

25 Column width is usually standardized mathematically in modern publications into

regular column widths. Just as the oppositional modern artist has expressed

individuality by being oppositional to the bourgeois status quo, so the postmodern

designer has expressed individuality by being irregular - i.e. breaking the rules of

the grid. This breaking of the rules has become fashionable in contemporary design

and part of the postmodern sophisticated code of the up-market. Increased white

space is also applied through increasing the space between columns of copy.

2.6 Type alignment has become quite complex in contemporary publications. The

traditional setting for type was to centre headlines and justify body copy (align the

type to the right and left sides of the column). Modern setting however has made

a fetish of type set to only one side of the column - asymmetrical alignment. This

was initially done because the early modern designers thought it more functional.

Today it has entered the Design Code as one of the modern sophisticated options.

There is a generally recognised polarity between traditional vs modern that would

contain most type alignment options. Asymmetrical typography of course exists in

tandem with other preferences for modern typographic settings - like san-serif

typefaces, a limited range of typesize, wide leading, wide kerning and irregular

column widths.

3 Image - illustration and photography are of course an immensely varied field where

the range in expressive options and styles is almost limitless, nevertheless, there are

general categories which quickly form in the systematic plane e.g. the snapshot vs

the professional studio-lit image, the caricature vs the realistically drawn portrait

etc. Such categorization is signified by the viewer regardless of the textual subject

matter carried with the image. There is also a strong relationship between the size

of the reproduced image and social class in publication design.

4 Colour - is another of the graphic designer's main expressive devices. Much has been

written about the psychology of colour application (e.g. ltten.23-27) Judith

Williamson, who uses semiotics to analyse the meaning of advertisements, calls

colour a signpost - so important is it in ascribing meaning and giving priority to

particular design elements (Williamson, 1978:20-24).

5 Materials of Presentation relates to the physical and material forms of presentation.

Most often these are traditional or serial in form and relate not just to paper / material

stock but also to binding and finish. Much of graphic design is prescribed by the

presentation form as it sets the synXax/systematic plane of sign production.

The Stratification of the Graphic Design Code

In this chapter, I have proposed that there has developed in contemporary Western

societies an aesthetic continuum of value which has been captured, exploited and

expanded by the culture of commercial sign production of which graphic design is an

integral, visualizing part. Graphic design can hardly be conceived of operating outside

the commercial realm of production and so an analysis of the Graphic Design Code

becomes an excellent window on the role of sign production in Western cultures.

74

The Graphic Design Code can best be conceived as a structured range of oppositions

most clearly defined in the polarities of the pro- and anti-aesthetic forms - or the modern

and the mass market styles. While these categories represent the stylistic extremes and

oppositions, the proliferation of realms of aesthetic application in postmodern times

suggest a highly dissected continuum with many shades of aesthetic meaning. The _̂

modern style has been adopted as the bourgeois cultural arbiter of taste which sets all 8

the positive values of the code, incorporating appropriate change to satisfy market

forces. The mass market style conversely, is a negative style, mostly representing values

regarded as inferior to bourgeois arbitrated good taste. The values demonstrated by the

mass market usually are completely opposite to those of modern period good taste.

l The Pro-aesthetic Style

a: The neutral carrier: This category of publication is probably the second largest in

terms of production output because it is the sort of design now produced by default,

by computers in newsletters, journals, pamphlets, books, most newspapers and many

magazines throughout the western world. The neutral carrier has been naturalized into

western culture over the twentieth century in a variety of forms which would all be

regarded as functional, efficient, effective in terms of delivering the text in a bland,

readable form that does not interrupt the flow of meaning by stylistic flourishes or

formats. The key word here is naturalized; it is design which goes unnoticed because

its characteristics are accepted as being totally familiar and user friendly.

Needless to say, most design education also takes for granted this type of design, it

is design that produces itself, though some designers, through Information Design,

will acknowledge that this is where the real future of contemporary graphic design lies

- in the fine tuning of institutional information.

The most obvious characteristic of the neutral carrier is the dominance of text in the

form of small body copy. Because there is much text and the point size small, copy is

usually presented in multi-column widths in proportional relation to the point size,

which characterize this type of design having layout comprised of narrow columns of

type with the inclusion of headlines and illustration only when necessary for the

communication of emphasis in the text. The classic example of this style of publication

is the academic, scientific or trade related journal which give/gain much of their

authority from the standardized, repetitive form of their presentation. To change the

layout would be symbolic of a change of ideological position which is precisely what

this type of publication seeks to mask. The neutral carrier therefore, is the most

strongly ideologically encoded type of publication.

b. The aesthetically pleasing publication: These types of publication might at first seem

to be the most blatantly ideological because they are using all the contemporary

canons of style and good taste to attract your attention - they are particularly active in

the marketplace. Ideological they are, but because they are also so aggressively

competitive, they are also prepared to take risks and even make 'mistakes'. The most

admired publications in this category, represent the cutting edge of contemporary

design, which incorporate the dynamic of the oppositional risk-taker, who, by seeking

to re-define the acceptable code of graphic design, manages instead, to make the

acceptable range of contemporary expression even wider. The modern aesthetic has

now been taken on as the dominant aesthetic and with it goes the the incorporation of

the oppositional position. Indeed, the oppositional is precisely where the postmodern

media looks for the enlivening of the code*

1 do not wish to imply that this genre of design is mostly oppositional. Most of it is

safely in the realms of good taste. The oppositional is usually greatly modified and just

suggested by graphic design elements which are chosen precisely because they are

known and friendly but might just intimate an awareness of cutting edge challenge. For

this reason. I am not proposing The Oppositional as a separate genre as it was

throughout most of the history of the modern movement (Hall.1986:5-13). The

incorporation of the oppositional position is one of the great conundrums of the

postmodern period for the graphic designer who must realize that his production as a

designer exists inside capitalism and not outside status quo production as oppositional

art did in the modern period.

2 The Anti-aesthetic Style

The anti-aesthetic publication would account for the great majority of what is produced

in contemporary/postmodern graphic design; in terms of both volume of production

and number of projects. The anti-aesthetic dominates the commercial world of the

newsagent, supermarket, drugstore and letterbox in both mass market publications

and commercial packaging. There is a unity to the aesthetic that produces advertising,

mass produced consumer products, mass market magazines and commercial

television which has invented a design code which incorporates most of mass

production. This is an advertising created and reinforced habitus in which a large

proportion of western populations live their lives.

The anti-aesthetic has an ideological logic to it. It is the binary opposite to good

taste. Its social logic is as a label, to classify and distinguish one class from another,

giving stability and adhesion to the social status quo. The logic of the anti -aesthetic

enables constant manipulation through industry and the media; in graphic design

terms, by always having the inside knowledge of what the anti-aesthetic is always

opposed to. The anti-aesthetic is inherently an inferior position and yet its adherents

are encouraged through saturation, consistency of presentation codes and self

identification to adopt it as a preferred position. The anti-aesthetic design code is in

Western Cultures delegated to the proletariat who, by enthusiastically taking it on. are

aesthetically marked and controlled through advertising and the ever increasing fields

of consumerism. Needless to say, graphic design education despises most fields

(except advertising and packaging) of anti-aesthetic design. The publishing industry

itself prefers to train its own designers in the codes it created and best understands.

Conclusion

Postmodern Graphic Design has been incorporated into the sign production of the

aesthetic continuum which has successively colonized taste in consumption

throughout contemporary developed societies. The role of Graphic Design is to

segment and identify the market creating cultures of taste which can be successfully

* Note that I am using oppositional here m ine sense of challenging, code expanding innovation not in the sense of polai opposition, which would m the context

of this argument be represented by the anti-aesthetic

76

exploited for economic gain. I have identified two principal polarities - pro and anti the

modern aesthetic and in this codified structure, identified patterned elements which

constitute a finely tuned, thoroughly manipulated code of sign production.

In Chapter 5 I will analyse a range of Australian and international publications,

chosen to demonstrate the consistency and diversity of the codeCDO

77

Chapter 4

Methodology

Introduction

This chapter describes the rationale for the research methods I use in the following

four chapters of this thesis in order to establish, explore and extend the Graphic Design

Code. The Graphic Design Code is explained as a system of signs and sign production,

demonstrated to be still an active and influential phenomena; against the claims of

some leading postmodernists who claim the signs they observe in the contemporary

environment have become void of meaning in the sense that they have lost the

systems of association that in the modern period, ascribed particular significations.

In the literature review, I expose major flaws in the cultural analysis of postmodern

theory in relation to sign production; sign production being precisely the area in which

the graphic designer operates. Since Barthes announced 'the death of the author' and

Baudrillard and Jameson the 'evaporation' of the sign into hyperreality, the locus of

power has come to be perceived to lie with the sign reader rather than the sign

producer. Sign production is the primary role of the graphic designer and this has led

me to study codes or patterns of sign formation in a key field of the postmodern media

- magazine design. I also describe magazine production as being the calculated

product of large, highly organized publishing companies which are addressing

particular social groupings largely through servicing the market needs of advertisers

who provide most of the profits in this field of publishing.

In this context there are two basic areas of research that need to be explored and

established in this thesis. First, to describe the structure of the Graphic Design Code

that has been developed to service and maintain the identity of magazines in the

postmodern marketplace. Second, to verify the outcome of the magazine analysis by

questioning the magazine art directors about the code and to discuss the signification

of the signs they manipulate. The interview material should give access to their design

decision making and give some indication of what it is that gives dynamism to this field

of sign production I also wished to explore why and how the art directors related to

their personal design values.

Roland Barthes's use of semiotics in his analysis of media and cultural products had

been one of my primary motivations in choosing this topic, so it was logical that I choose

semiotic analysis for the development of the structure of the Graphic Design Code and the

analysis of its content. Barthes's analyses in Mythologies (Barthes, 1973) of numerous

cultural phenomena was my principal model. In the area of sign production Eco was most

influential (Eco. 1976). Semiotics is also the only analytical system that accommodates

the transfer of meaning from one sensory input to another as it is primarily about the

transaction of values between signs regardless of their original medium.

In Chapter 2 of this thesis, I argue that it is likely that most of the signification

implied by the elements of graphic design, is experienced at a subconscious level.

One of the most complex and common components of graphic design is type

design. Typography needs a highly specialized knowledge and understanding to be

professionally interpreted and yet it is one of the most common signs experienced in

79

the contemporary mass media. As such, it relies on a subliminal understanding that

applies accent and nuance to other, narrative, verbal or display based texts, rather than

drawing attention to itself as a primary center of interest. Because the role of graphic

design is often experienced at this 'secondary' or 'subliminal' level, it is often ignored

as a phenomena; certainly it has been ignored as one of the primary givers of meaning.

Barthes and the later social/socio-semioticians would have described graphic design

on the level of metasigns - governed by logonomic rules which give the structure social

relevance (Barthes, 1973: 124; Hodge and Kress, 7988: 4-5). I believe that my exposure

of the underlying codes of presentation in graphic design through semiotic analysis,

demonstrate a new insight into the presentation of all information; that it is formed by

both function and marketplace and this recognition underlies the presentation of all

postmodern information.

In Chapter 5. I conduct a semiotic analysis of the graphic design of a range of

magazines. I developed a detailed and systematic structure for my investigation

through breaking graphic design down into five essential elements; it is through the

repetitive discipline of this analysis, that it's reliability lies as a form of social inquiry.

In Chapter 3 I had developed the five elements of design, being space and grid,

typography, illustration/photography, colour and materials of presentation. In Chapter 5

I conducted a semiotic analysis of the design and content of a wide range of Australian

and International magazines. In chapters 6 to 9 I wanted to test and reinforce my

semiotic reading with the readings of a range of art directors of a similar (in some

cases the same) magazines as the ones I had analysed; these being the key informants

in this area of production nationally. The art directors I interviewed were all the

individually credited art directors of national Australian magazines. As such, they are

regarded as operating at the top of their field of publication design and are members

of a very small and elite group. Although I interview only ten designers, it should be

understood that this is not an insignificant number given the relatively tiny range of

production from which I had to choose. I should also stress that the art directors I was

able to interview represent the major publications in terms of circulation figures, and in

the area of women's magazines (which constitute about 70% of national circulation

figures) I covered the field in major monthlies and weeklies.

To give a stronger sense of the corresponding fields being explored, I interviewed

the art director informants with an interview schedule using the same design elements

that gave structure to my semiotic analysis. As well. I explored the values the designers

ascribe to the signs they manipulate in their professional-industrial and private-social

roles. The interviews were then transcribed and broken down into the small categories

that demonstrate the minutia of the code. At the end of Chapter Five my analysis

exposed a strongly polarized Graphic Design Code where I compare and contrast the

statements (and hence the values) of the sign producers, divided according to the

Code's polarities, in order to check their corresponding social values. This method is

based on a precedent (see Game, 1991) and it works effectively to demonstrate and

articulate the code and as well, allow the reader to test and compare the veracity of the

informants' contrasting statements. Semiotic analysis, deriving from Saussure,

recognizes that binary principles constitute one of the fundamental causes of sign-

value formation (Hodge and Kress, 1988:30) and this separation is clearly demonstrated

in the polarities of the Graphic Design Code.

80

Research Design

The methods described in this section relate to the analysis used in chapter 5 where I

seek to establish a systematic and universal structure for the analysis of the graphic

design used in the production of a wide range of commercial magazines.

Towards this end. I developed a typology of design elements, universal to the _

presentation of all visual information; encapsulating the variables that constitute B-o

graphic design. Described in this way, graphic design is seen to be a structure based &o

on material elements, indeed each graphic design can be described as a unique "

organization of variables based on both traditional usage and innovation. Traditional

usage is a concept that acknowledges time and the past, but is much more than a

history of aesthetic epochs. This emphasis is in keeping with the importance given to

the element of time in social semiotics (Hodge and Kress, 1988:35). Also considered

are grammar and syntax, the subject matter of content and the history of the

publication itself; from it's institutional identity to the design of the issue before last.

The design elements are more fully described in Chapter 3, but can be summarized

by the headings Space, Typography. Image. Colour and Materials of Presentation.

Together they cover all aspects of magazine design (and indeed, most graphic design)

and provide a systematic structure for the semiotic analysis of what might appear on

the surface to be a widely varied range of publications. Using these main headings, I

methodically analysed these elements, identifying similarities and differences in the

way elements are used, noting especially, that it is more the logonomic systems that

pattern relations between elements that is most significant in graphic design, rather

than the infinitely variable individual elements, which viewed in isolation tend to lose

their signification. In the semiotic analysis of any graphic designed product, each of

these design elements carries value of a positive/negative nature; meaning that a sign

might be found to be as or more significant by it's omission than by it's inclusion.

Hence the usefulness of the binary structure of the semiotic code.

Within each of the categories of Graphic Design Elements there were some more

general themes explored and these I developed through my analysis of the magazines

themselves. One of the major themes that developed in each of the categories was

one of discipline/abandon (anything goes!). This category, applied across the board,

proves to be one of the most significant design variables whether it be interpreted

through layout grids, typeface, point size of type, colour and so on. So the structure of

the code and the significant categories of difference that developed effectively grew

out of the material under analysis.

The choice of magazines analysed in Chapter 3, was made mainly from Australian

publications because it is my intention to interview at least some of their art directors

in the next stage of my research. I included a range of magazines that might sample

the complete range of the marketplace. For this reason, I have included magazines in

my analyses from the mass market, middle market and the up-market. I have also

included a couple of American magazines in my analysis because they are influential

in terms of their design internationally - Ray Gun and National Enquirer, one being

representative of the contemporary avant-garde and the other the style leader of the

mass market. These two magazines are often referred to as models by the Australian

designers interviewed. I was necessarily selective as I analyse 12 titles, but the choice

is broadly representative of the commercial magazine field. The titles range in price

81

from $2.00 to $12.00 covering a range of magazine styles representing the mass

market, the middle market and the exclusive prestige fashion and lifestyle market.

Semiotic analysis, despite it's systematic and structured inquiry is, in the end. the

reading of one person. It is my intention here to provide a more rigorous and objective

overview of this field of sign production in graphic design, so for this reason, I wanted

to construct a methodology that would both check and support the findings of the

previous chapter and then take them further by being able to comment on personal

and institutional characteristics which I could not have access to through content and

structural analysis of their designed products alone.

The Interviews

Because I wanted to test the code that I had developed out of the individually observed

semiotic analysis, I developed the next stage of my research using a different

technique of inquiry but relating this to the structure of my previous analysis. This part

of the research design relates to the analysis and findings covered in Chapters 6. 7, 8

and 9 of the thesis.

These chapters are based on interviews I conducted with ten of Australia's leading

magazine art directors/designers. I have chosen to interview art directors because in

the field of magazine graphic design, they are the key informants - the ones with the

power and responsibility to both produce and arbitrate over the design decision making

in their publication. Although 10 is a small number of interviews, if you take into

consideration that art directors in Australia are an elite group in a limited market, then

this sample is not insignificant.

The interviews were loosely structured around the design elements as described in

the previous section and were able to extend into the realm of personal values in

regard to their own training, social background and the institutional structures and

traditions within which they operate. The latter part of the interview schedule was

inspired by and designed around the interview schedule design by Pierre Bourdieu for

Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984).

The interviews were designed to last for about one hour duration and were only

loosely structured around a list of key headings (see p.217 where the Interview

Questionnaire Schedule is included). The interviews were semi-structured because I

wanted the respondents to answer the questions in their own words, and let them lead

the discussion along paths that they found most relevant to the topics I raised. I

conducted them in their studios or at a location conducive to talking and being

recorded on tape. The interviews were then transcribed in full and broken down into

topics as appropriate. The open-ended interview is a standard approach in most

Qualitative Sociology because it values an inductive role for research, allowing the

research to expose both the field and the explanation.

" . open-ended responses permit one to understand the world as seen by the respondents. The purpose

of gathering responses to open-ended questions is to enable the researcher to understand and capture

the points ol view of other people without predetermining those points.of view through prior selection of

questionnaire categories." IPatton. 1982:28)

82

At least half of each interview was taken up discussing the art directors' values

relating to the design elements. Here I used the same order and themes of analysis

that I had used in my analysis of the magazines in Chapter 5; space and grid,

typography, image, colour and materials of presentation. There is a strong correlation

with the analysis of Chapter 5, reinforcing the polarized values of the Graphic Design ^

Code. More sociological questions about the nature of authorship, personal power, s-o

institutional nurturing and influence, the role of the reader, personal values, class and §;o

taste extend the range of the material analysis of the magazines into the social and <

political realm. The questions relating to their work as an Art Director and as a senior

professional in their respective publishing houses were answered consistently and

confidently by most of the designers, but the later more personal questions on lifestyle

and personal taste proved to give a more variable response. The interviews were

probably not consistently successful throughout the range of topics but even the more

wayward later answers serve to reinforce that graphic design is a cultural production

that springs out of both the art directors' business and personal life.

Probably the most difficult decision to make regards methods in this thesis was how

to process and handle the interview material. I wanted to keep the 'spoken word' quality

of the original interviews as I felt this was the only appropriate way of handling quite

detailed and complex material. Also, because this is a sociological thesis, the details of

the design structure are most significant in their polarized consistency to the groupings

in which I had place their publication in the binary design code. For this reason I chose

to divide the magazines according to the polar aesthetics of the Graphic Design Code;

what I called the pro- and anti-aesthetic. This binary polarization was the major outcome

of my earlier analysis and it is the major hypothesis I chose to test in the thesis.

The inspiration for a binary form of analysis came from Ann Game's study of secretaries

/bosses relations (Game, 1991:115-129) where she contrasts their opposing views by a

simple juxtaposition into two columns while managing to let them define their situations

in their own words. I too wished to keep a loose structure which allowed self expression

yet schematically depicts the contrast of opinions and supports the contrast with it's

simple binary structure. This simple structure in presentation has a logic that stems

directly from the structural analysis of semiotics and from the binary nature of the Graphic

Design Code as I have developed it. In these sections I have simply summarized the main

themes and/or disagreements as raised by the interviewees and then presented relevantt

( excerpts from the interviews as raw, unaffected data. The interviewees are not identifiedC by personal name or publication name but are listed at the beginning of Chapter 6i

[ identified only by the name of their generic type of publication; after that, they are always

l given the same consecutive number which corresponds to the publication name.

? The binary code was determined by my finding that there is, more than anything else,; a strongly class divided element in the Graphic Design Code which I have called the

| 'Dominant or Pro-aesthetic Publications' and the 'Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic

I Publications'. These polarities represent a contrasting style of presentation and I believe

! they give strength to the original hypothesis, as well as strengthening the internal logic

of the interviews themselves. Social semiotics identifies these sorts of codified

formations as logonomic structures identifiable at the semiotic level of the metasign; as

such, their role is to both mark and divide society into structures that give both social

and market identification that is effective for both dominant and subordinate groups in

society. The code is usually controlled by the dominant class and is strongly ideological.83

'Just as individual acts of semiosis are organized by systems ol signifiers of power and solidarity, so also

are the relationships between groups in a broader social formation These broader signifying systems are

essential for the smooth operation of systems governing particular semiotic acts. They link the social

organization of semiotic participants with the social organization on a larger scale. Any group of any size

needs markers of group membership to give it identity and cohesion, and to differentiate it from other

groups ... Typically, groups are marked not with a single label but with a cluster of them. Some of these

markers will have a common meaning ... these sets of signs not only act as markers ... they also define

what constitutes group membership ... they declare a specific version of social relations ... an important

instance of the ideology of the group concerned. We call a set of markers of this kind a metasign." (Hodge

and Kress. 1988:79)

Data Collection and Analysis

The graphic design of magazines has not, to my knowledge or literature search, been

the subject of semiotic or social analysis. As I have already explained, I did not want to

study the design elements in isolation (because that is not their relation in the real

world) so chose to study them using semiotic analysis which has the twin virtues of

seeing meaning primarily deriving from relation and also, is able to cope with meaning

that derives from composite sources, such as the visual, the literary, the spatial, the

typographic, colour, political, economic etc.

A semiotic analysis needs a structural foundation, so for this reason I developed the

Graphic Design Elements (in Chapter 3) and use them as the basis my data collection

in both of my methodological sections (in Chapters 5 and Chapters 6 to 9). The

publications described and categorized in Chapter 5 use the Graphic Design Elements

as the structural foundation of their analysis. Likewise in Chapters 6 to 9 where I

interview the 10 art directors, the Graphic Design elements form the structural basis of

the interview questions. In the interviews however, I have a chance of questioning the

art directors beyond their role as mere sign producers and try to ascertain the

organisational and social influences on their sign making.

In this thesis data collection happens in one of two ways. In Chapter 5, data is

collected via the systematic description of the design elements as they appear in each

of the selected publications According to these descriptions they are grouped into

two major categories of publication - the Pro-aesthetic and Anti-aesthetic. Grouped in

this way. what becomes most obvious in the publications, is their similarity and

difference to the other magazines under analysis. My main model for the description

of Chapter 5 were the early essays on cultural objects in Roland Barthes's Mythologies

(Barthes. 1973) where the significance of objects is seen to come from all aspects of

their cultural presentation and use, rather than being understood as objects with one

correct, even if intended, signification. The strongest pattern to emerge from the

contrasting design aesthetics are the oppositional styles of graphic design which

consistently address different taste and class markets. The systematic analysis of

Chapter 5 reinforces the pattern formation in the material under observation and

guarantees that the repetitive phenomena is accounted for and observed in each and

every case.

In Chapters 6 to 9 however I had a chance to take the analysis of the magazines

further. By interviewing the key informants, the art directors, I was able to test the

veracity of my reading in Chapter 5 with the readings of the sign producers themselves84

on the production of the very same design elements. For this reason, I structured the

interview schedule around the design elements in the same order as my earlier

analysis. This structural similarity gives a strong sense of comparison and contiguity.

However, in the interviews I was able to go beyond the analysis of the material content

of graphic design into the motivation of sign production - institutional, hierarchical, ^

historical, social, personal lifestyle etc. 5-o

The outcome of the analysis of Chapter 5 clearly suggested a strongly polarized ao

aesthetic in the field of magazines under study. For this reason it seemed logical that "

this polarization might become the basis of the presentation of the interview material

in the later chapters. Inspired by the presentation of similarly polarized material in her

study of basses and secretaries, I derived from Ann Game's device of parallel

presentation a system that emphasizes the polarized positions of the material, but also

to test the veracity and consistency of the art directors across the breadth of their

interviews and indeed, the presentation does make you more aware of consistency and

variation. Inconsistency does occur in the interview material, but the presentation in

parallel columns does tend to make the reader more generally aware of the general

ideological positions represented by the polarized aesthetic groupings. The rationale

for these columns is largely supported by the general consistency of responses,

however inconsistency is for the same reason made more obvious as a form of false

consciousness diverging from the general trends of the polarized ideological types.

It has already been stated that this is necessarily a qualitative research exercise, so

depth rather than breadth of information is what was regarded as being most

important. However, since I had the time and resources to carry out only a small

number of interviews it was important that they be well chosen and useful to the

overall exercise. This was one of my reasons for choosing to look at graphic design

through magazine art direction in the first place. Unlike say web site design, magazine

design is, in Australia, a relatively small industry and if you look at it sector by sector,

has very few players. For instance, in womens' mass market publications there are only

three major players and I interviewed two of them. Newspaper design would have

been just as appropriate to the study, but the limited number of institutional producers

would have forced me to reduce the number of possible interviews. The choice of

interviewees was really determined by the first study and the initial formation of the

Graphic Design Code presented in Chapter 5. It is often the case in qualitative research

that the interview technique and schedule is worked out as the research design

develops through practice and application and that was certainly so in this case and I

believe it demonstrates logical consistency and acts as a check to the individual

analysis of Chapter 5. I can relate to both of the following quotes about concept

formation in qualitative research because they genuinely describe the development of

the research in this thesis.

"Qualitative researchers can look for patterns or relationships, but they begin analysis early in a research

project, while they are still collecting data. The results of early data analysis guide subsequent data

collection Thus, analysis is less a distinct final stage of research than a dimension of research thai

stretches across all stages." fNeuman, 1994:405)

85

data analysis means a search for patterns in data - recurrent behaviors, objects, or a body of

knowledge Once a pattern is identified, it is interpreted in terms ol Social theory or the setting in which it

has occurred The qualitative researcher moves from the description of a historical event or social setting

to a more general interpretation of its meaning ... Over time, or after several iterations, a researcher moves

from vague ideas and concrete details in the data toward a comprehensive analysis with generalizations

A researcher begins with research questions and a framework of assumptions and concepts. He then

probes inlo the data, asking questions of the evidence to see how well the concepts fit the evidence and

reveal features of the data." (Pattern, 1982:411-4121

The Limitations and Justification of the Research Design

In any study of the mass media there would be a tendency to try and work on the scale

of the media itself, that is quantitatively. This was my first response to the subject

matter, but as I got closer to it, refining my topic for investigation, I came to realize that

it was the qualitative changes in the design that the study must be sensitive to - things

really too subtle for questionnaires or short answer interviews to cover.

I now feel confident that a semiotic analysis was the best approach to take to this

kind of material as it has proven versatile in analysing the material at a number of

levels; at the micro level of signification and the macro level of codification. What's

more, semiotics demonstrates the link between the two levels of existence of the sign

showing the relation between the individual page and the codified genre. As well,

semiotics makes you aware of the different levels of production and consumption in

the invention and life of a sign.

As I was carrying out the analysis of the magazines in Chapter 5, I became aware

that my interpretation of the signs provided by the magazines under analysis might be

an intensely personal one. I have spent 15 years of my professional life working as a

publication designer, much of it in the field of magazine design and the signification of

the magazines and their parts came easy to me because I am familiar with the field So

it might be claimed that my analysis is a very personal reading based on my

professional experience and background. There is an equally strong argument however,

that even the most empirical research must be highly selective in every area of it's

investigation and that again, the interpretation of the researcher is highly personal in

attributing a particular significance to certain phenomena more than others. It was

because of these concerns that my research design have a reliability safeguard; so that

my analysis can be tested against the views of ten leading Australian practitioners in

the field of magazine design.

Certainly, when the respondents are interviewed on the same subjects as my earlier

analysis (on the design codes) then my findings are largely reinforced. However, once

I stray to new topics beyond the signification of the signs of graphic design to

institutional issues, but especially those more personal issues like taste and lifestyle,

my interview based method of investigation proves to be too clumsy and unsubtle a

form of investigation to actually expose what I am looking for.

There are more subtle forms of investigation and data collection more suitable for

material such as class and lifestyle like simple observation, which, if minutely

observed, can provide sufficient variables for a more balanced and finely tuned reading.

86

o.o

In my case, I extended the interview method to topics of more random expression,

which would expect a more diverse response. This interview material is not so

satisfying because of it's less precise focus. I am not claiming that Chapter 9 is a

complete failure, but I am acknowledging that this sort of subject matter would benefit

from a different approach. At least the interview method I used has the benefit of

continuity (with the earlier, more successfully applied subject matter) and relative

brevity and simplicity. The investigation of taste and class in my study was inspired by

Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984) which was based on questionnaires and to

statistical analysis and observation, and although only the questionnaire is reproduced

in the book one can only assume that observation is what provides Bourdieu with the

detail of his analysis. The questionnaires alone would simply not supply the depth and

detail exhibited by the analysis in the book.

Ethical Issues

Consent was approved by The La Trobe University Ethics Committee on 26/11/1996.

The submission is included as part of Appendix A

1 Intrusion In my research design it was necessary to arrange interviews with the art

directors of a range of contemporary Australian magazines. For this reason I developed

a loosely structured Interview Schedule based on the semiotic analysis of the previous

section which was administered by me to ten art directors. They willingly co-operated

in the interview process and participated on the understanding that they would only be

questioned about their design values and functioning of their professional practice.

This is not intrusive subject matter as they are simply being asked to give up general

information relating to the signification of page layouts and design. At the latter part

of the interview, some questions were asked revealing the personal taste of the

respondents, but these were always prefaced by an optional proviso; but the nature of

the questions are so general that not one of the interviewees took exception to any of

the topics raised. (See Interview Schedule on pp.217-219).

2 Confidentiality It is important that confidentiality of recipients be assured at all times.

For this reason, the names of recipients and their related publications have been

omitted in the thesis: their personal name and publication name being replaced by

a generic name for their type of magazine publication e.g. News, Photographic.

Futuristic, Fashion, Lifestyle. Women's, Sport. Readers' Interest, Popular Music.

3 Privacy is protected by the generic naming mentioned in the previous point and the

omission of proper names.

4 Consent The consent of the participating interviewees was obtained through an

introductory letter requesting their co-operation for an interview for material to be

used in the writing of a thesis. I received the complete and unreserved co-operation

of all requested interviewees.

5 Protection from harm Participants are protected from harm in two ways. 1. The title of

the magazine on which they work is named only by the generic type of magazine

category that it occupies and 2. The name of the art director is omitted and replaced

by the generic name of the publication. By omitting names and replacing publications

by their generic types ensures any direct identification of participants by readers of

the thesis. I do not believe that the interviews are in a contentious area but often

87

interviewees are frank in admitting personal opinions and discussing company policy

and these opinions might be held against them if directly acknowledged; so causing

professional harm. Identification by generic type hides none of the significance of

statements yet protects the interviewee from inadvertent embarrassment.

- , e Possible negative use of the research against those who participated The material explored

5 in the interviews is of a very non-controversial nature; mainly it is concerned witho§; patterns of placement of design elements in a publication and since the title ando

5 identity of the designer has been changed or deleted there is no way that the

subject could be traced back assuredly to a particular individual. There is some frank

dismissal and criticism of company research and policy in some cases, but here too.

anonymity will protect those who participated.

7 Benefits, if any, to the participants It is my intention upon completion to send a copy of

the relevant sections of the research to the participants. I would hope that it would

offer them new perspectives and insight into their industrial role and the nature of

their professional practice.

> Benefits to the wider community The subject matter of this thesis is important because

of the 'cross-over' qualities between different academic fields. It's greatest

significance lies in it's exploration of a very significant but neglected area of visual

sign production - graphic design. In postmodern theory the consumption of the sign

has taken greater precedence over the production of it and this thesis proposes that

the balance of production and consumption be restored. This 'shift' of focus makes

the production of visual language a very central part of cultural production and

demonstrates it to be tied strongly to the postmodern marketplace. This is a

significant change of emphasis sociologically speaking.

In terms of Graphic Design Theory this study is of far more importance because it

explores graphic design as cultural production. There have been very few

sociological studies of graphic design, certainly none that I have been able to locate

on this scale. Used in the teaching of graphic design, this thesis has the potential of

redefining the field of graphic design and providing new insight into the social,

economic and institutional roots of what it produces.

9 Data storage and disposal The interview material recorded and transcribed for this

thesis will be kept under lock and key in my office for five years.

10 Unnecessary replication work All research materials used in this thesis are original,

not replication.

88

studyContemporary Magazine AnalysisDemonstrating the Graphic Design Code

Introduction

The following chapter is the first of the research chapters of this thesis to explore and

analyse the postmodern Graphic Design Code as it was developed in the previous

chapter. I have chosen to concentrate on magazine analysis because they contain a

heavy quotient of graphic design and because they are the only form of print media

which is not declining but currently increasing their market share; so. in a way

represent the spirit of the postmodern marketplace. The primary motivation of graphic

design can often be seen to be the competition between titles for the lion share of the

market. This helps explain the surprising lack of difference between directly rival

publications and the strengthening of the language of the code.

Many of the elements of graphic design are conservatively preserved by publishers for the

public because they form the structural foundation of the code. Most of these elements

must essentially remain constant in order for the reader to maintain their familiarity to a

particular media. Familiarity is the key. Familiarity provides an acknowledgement of the code

which becomes a habituated part of any media form. The serial nature of magazines enables

this tradition' to become established and in a very real sense, creates the most important

aspect of magazines as commodity forms - their friendly and familiar appearance. Viewed

as commodities in their totality, a magazine's design is its identity; its literary and illustrative

contents, while they may even be featured on the cover, are less important to the continued

success of the magazine than the firmly established identity given by graphic design.

This chapter will then proceed to enunciate the graphic design code through the

presentation of a series of magazine analyses arranged to demonstrate the structure of

the code. These analyses are divided along an aesthetic continuum into various

categories of graphic design. Their grouping and analysis reinforce the idea that there

is a strong structural basis to the graphic design language employed by the popular

media. This can later be broken down into a series ot binary oppositions.

Why magazines?

The magazine is a particular media form which developed historically out of newspaper

production in the late nineteenth century. Like the newspaper, the magazine carries

articles and photographs or illustrations of many different sizes and subjects, but is

issued less frequently though at regular intervals and generally, to more specialized

publics. Because of its mix of text and illustration, the magazine has developed

primarily as an entertainment medium and secondarily an information medium. (The

newspaper by contrast, reverses that order, though it must be admitted that the

entertainment qualities of newspapers are certainly being amplified in the postmodern

period.) There are also physical differences with the newspaper. The magazine is

usually of a smaller format, printed on better quality stock, using colour printing and a

more sophisticated form of binding like saddle stitching or perfect binding. Like the

89

newspaper, the magazine is heavily dependent on advertising for revenue and with its more

highly segmented markets, could be seen even more than the newspaper as a product of

advertising and free enterprise competition, so perfectly is it tailored to suit market needs

In this thesis, I have chosen to specialize in the analysis of magazines for a number of

reasons. Magazines have seen a remarkable growth in the postmodern period, unlike

any other section of the print media. This continuing growth, proliferation and popularity

makes them a vital indicator of contemporary trends and developments. Magazines are

also useful to this thesis because they give a very high profile to their graphic design; as

they allow the exploitation of a great variety of elements, both textual and technical

which allows the designer maximum scope for expression. There are always interesting

and important comparisons to be gleaned from analysis in different media, but it is

necessary that this thesis be limited in range and many of its claims, regards the

Graphic Design Code, are applicable across different categories of media.

Magazines: their serial nature

One of the strongest points of emphasis when discussing magazines is that they are

serials which occur and recur at regular intervals. Like the newspaper, they are

experienced almost as you experience friends and acquaintances: YOU choose to interact

with them, they are familiar through regular acquaintance, they have familiar appearance,

content, sequence, interests and characteristics which maintain interest by subtly

changing over time. These serial qualities contribute to the structural analysis of the

magazine at the level of langue-the level that builds on tradition, pattern and regularity

Because of its serial nature, the magazine carries very strong historical links. A

magazine is experienced (by a regular reader) as a product of a tradition; not just of the

issue that preceded it (and the ones before'that) but also of the whole range of the

marketplace to which this particular publication belongs, which of course, has an even

wider and longer tradition to which it relates more generally. For this reason, the

magazine is always a field of changing values, but it is also highly controlled so as not to

overstep market expectation and in order to manipulate the change of public taste in

keeping with production and market expansion. So history is always acknowledged and

exploited in the magazines and this is as true with the subject matter of its content as it

is with its design. The graphic design of a magazine must reflect its historical

antecedents with absolute precision. There is no other media form that is as dependant

on a purely graphically designed image than the magazine; just as the magazine

dominates the print marketplace, so the graphic designer dominates the magazine form

with its natural tendency for visualization and serial formatting.

Since the magazine form has a heightened visualized personality (through the

familiarity of frequent contact and its opportunity for quality and lavish presentation) the

magazine tends to develop a highly codified market; a market which could be both

outspoken and traditional. The role of graphic design in this. is. over time, to develop

regulated systems of presentation that can cope with a myriad of changing content

elements and yet give continuity to the form of the magazine as a whole. This is

undeniably a myth-building role; one reinforced by repetition

"... repetition of the concept through different forms is precious to the mythologist. it allows him to

decipher the myth: it is the insistence of a kind of behaviour which reveals its intention." (Barthes,

1973:129-130)

90

What Barthes is discussing here as the deciphering of the reader, is even more the

functional imperative of the graphic designer as sign producer - as it is also the

functional imperative of the editor, journalists and photographers involved in the

production of the whole publication. Eco describes this sort of cultural phenomena as

programmed stimulation. _,i"

"... when a given effect is clearly due to a cultural association ... (not)... a natural' and 'universal' structure £•Q.

of the mind but because of a conventional and coded link between the signal and the feeling: ... (we)... ~*

can speak of programmed stimulation." (Eco. 1977:204)

Magazines then carry structured meaning at different levels. First of all, at the level of

content/articles, the magazines' signs can be read for content and meaning of a primary

and specific nature; but secondarily, magazines also hold their own identity which must

hold across time and specific content, being a much grander agenda. In addition to the

stimulation of interest at a content level is the stimulation of interest/desire at the level of

the formulaic program itself - for the package, in the case of magazines.

The Competitive Marketplace of the Magazine

The magazine can be understood as a formation of signs which can be accessed at

both the levels of text and visual sign of the contents; but it must also be understood

as an entity in itself, in exactly the same way as any other product on the supermarket's

or newsagent's shelf. At this level, the role of the code is specifically important. It is

here that the personalization of the code has its most striking effect. Here, working

broadly within the elements of the code is a specific formation of signs that gives a

particular character to the magazine as a product in itself. It is THIS character which is

important in the marketplace in creating individuation and definition - in the case of

magazines a purely coding visual device - as its textual content is constantly changing.

"In the themes of competition and 'personalization' we are better able to see the underlying system of

conditioning at work. In fact, the ideology of competition, which under the sign of 'freedom' was

previously the golden rule of production, has now been transferred entirely to the domain of consumption.

Thousands of marginal differences and an often formal differentiation of a single product through

conditioning have, at all levels, intensified competition and created an enormous range of precarious

freedoms. The latest such freedom is the random selection of objects that will distinguish any individual

from others." (Baudrillard. 1988c:10-11)

The elements of the Graphic Design Code, manipulated to create a unique identity for

the magazine therefore, form the crux of a magazine's identity maintenance - a

constantly controlled and manipulated zone of sign production at the interface of the

producer and the consumer, driven by the exigencies of the marketplace.

In the case of magazines, the code can be described as being structured along an

aesthetic continuum which defines the succession of the code into aesthetic-value

based categories in keeping with the cultural arbitrary of good/and (its natural

antithesis) bad taste. In the case of magazines and the graphic design that they

produce and reproduce, it is interesting that the aesthetic values portrayed are totally

arbitrary. Most magazines are produced by large publishing houses which will, over the

range of their publication list, try and cover the whole marketplace and with this wide

scope, the whole range of taste. The design of particular titles therefore is governed

91

almost totally by cultural factors related to history and class; but in the age of

postmodernism and the mass-market publication, there has also occurred a greater

aesthetic polarization, all created and emphasised by publishers and advertisers to more

easily differentiate the market. As one charts the role of market share in the development

of particular magazine products (just as one might chart the sales of shaving creams) so

it is possible to see the crucial role of the graphic designer in the magazine title's

particular interpretation of the code and the positioning of its product in it.

The market AND the consumer therefore are products of the competitive productive

system. By manipulating and creating new formations of aesthetic values so whole

publics are being maintained for consumption.

"... objects are categories of objects which quite tyrannically induce categories of persons. They

undertake the policing of social meanings, and the significations they engender are controlled. Their

proliferation, simultaneously arbitrary and coherent, is the best vehicle for a social order, equally arbitrary

and coherent, to materialize itself effectively under the sign of affluence." IBaudhllard, I988c:16-17)

In the case of magazine production, it would have to be argued that the aesthetic

values of particular titles are entirely controlled by the publisher who not only creates

the market but the taste of the market. There is no chicken and egg problem here. The

only restriction to change in the postmodern marketplace is the natural conservatism

of the public who can only absorb a certain/connected degree of change at a time. The

values themselves however, are totally constructed by the producer in the competitive

marketplace.

In her discussion of variable literacies, Janice Radway identifies particular

interpretive communities which might be another way of seeing the construction of

particular codes of meaning in contemporary mass culture (Radway, 1991:465-466). It is

most convenient for producers to be able to treat the masses categorically and in a

number of areas of cultural production this is precisely the way the producers have

come to see us and how we have come to see ourselves.

"Individuals do not move about in social space in a random way. partly because they are subject to the

forces which structure this space (e.g.. through the objective mechanisms of elimination and channelling).

3nd partly because they resist the forces of the field with their specific inertia, that is. their properties,

which may exist in embodied form, as dispositions, or in objectified form, in goods, qualifications etc."

(Bourdieu. 1984:110)

Bourdieu is here describing the patterns that characterize the habitus of classes of

individuals; patterns that in effect create identity and difference within and between

the different classes of society. The graphic design of magazines is certainly reflective

of and sensitive to these very same forces, but given its central and co-ordinating role

in a highly visualized media, it is obvious too that the art direction of magazines is also

one of those objective mechanisms of elimination and channelling which is

proactively manipulating the values of the society it is simultaneously being marketed

to. Reinforcement of graphic design with the values of habitus are most clearly evident

in the content and design of lifestyle publications such as Vogue Living - they are a

completely co-ordinated graphic design/interior design/lifestyle package.

92

The Structure of the Graphic Design Code and its Role in the Aesthetic Continuum

The elements of the Graphic Design Code have already been described in the previous

chapter. It is now my intention to use these elements as the basis of a semiotic

analysis of magazine design. For this reason I would like to differentiate the Graphic

Design Code as they fit into the key semantic categories of language (langue) and

speech (parole) (Barthes. 1968:25).

Langue - consistency and discipline: Langue is the systematic and semantic level of

meaning that derives from the past and traditional expectations. As such, langue is

more interested in giving meaning through presentation than it is in content and is

therefore the primary field of expression for the graphic designer. Langue is very often

recognised in words more often used by graphic designers like style or genre which

are all period coding terms/devices - characteristics which can be recognised through

patterns of presentation rather than specific content.

I shall now move on to the elements of the Graphic Design Code that most relate to

langue; locating the more specifically structural qualities which give meaning to design.

The grid is the basic underlying structure of the page. It determines the size of

margins around columns of type, the width of columns, the space of the gutters that

run between them and most importantly the copy area of the page. The grid is invisible,

defined by the position of graphic elements and its regularities recognizable only after

a series of pages (within an edition and between editions) have made the reader aware

of the pattern of its existence. The grid gives meaning to the page by consistency and

gives a strong foundation (or conversely by constantly changing grids, a radical

reinvention of the code). One of the most strongly connoting qualities of the grid is its

use of space. White space is one of the primary values of modern design and its use

and/or absence has become one of the strongest aesthetic markers in contemporary

design. Space and grids are therefore tightly controlled throughout publications and

forms one of the most consistent elements of magazine design. It is probable that the

grid is appreciated by the public as a largely sub-conscious phenomena.

The elements of typography that most relate to langue are contained in all of the

earlier listed elements of typography but they relate to the general rule of consistency

and discipline (or conversely variety and abandon) implying a particular pattern of

usage which restricts (or sets free) the elements of the typographic code to a

predictable variety of ingredients. All of the elements of type might also relate to

speech, but it is those elements which become naturalized into the tradition of the

magazine's presentation, that most strictly belong to langue.

The other elements of the Graphic Design Code most belonging to langue are colour

and material form of presentation. These elements are equally subjects of consistency

and discipline. Colour is the element most typical of the highly stratified code as I

describe it. It is restricted in range and variety at the pro-aesthetic end and riotous at

the other. Stock and binding generally change little over the life of a magazine, but they

do tend to vary over the stratified marketplace with a heavy, usually glossy coated

stock depicting the expensive up-market and thin machine finished magazine offset for

the down market end. Square finished, perfect binding is also more typical of the up-

market range. The element under least control is illustration which by its primarily

figurative nature has a more specific tie to the changing content of the text than it does

to the more constant content of the format.

cQ.

93

CO00

Parole - the embellishment and enunciation of the text: Parole, or speech refers to those

elements of the text of magazines that give it textual/visual content: content that changes

from article to article and issue to issue. In many ways this content also has elements of

langue (eg articles in a lifestyle magazine are restricted in taste and subject to a particular

generic range of topics) but it is also always modifying and changing. Indeed it is in the

category of parole that each new edition must be defined and difference pronounced.

Grid, body copy, regular features, mastheads, stock and binding are relatively

unaffected by parole. Parole is most active in feature article spreads especially as it

relates to display typography (headlines), colour, illustration (photography). It is clear

that it is in the feature articles and the advertising that each new issue of a magazine

establishes its difference to the issue before. Most of the other elements belong to

langue and maintenance of a constant identity.

The Division of the Aesthetic Continuum in the Postmodern Marketplace

In earlier chapters I have described the postmodern market as a highly stratified and

differentiated one. This goes against the idea of classlessness suggested by theorists

such as Baudrillard. Nevertheless it is supported by other theorists such as Bourdieu

that an increasing simplification of the class structure continues to polarize

contemporary societies into highly stratified taste cultures maintained and possibly

even created by the mass media in its own interests of servicing the market.

Certainly magazine markets in Australia suggest that the largest groupings of

publications are at each end of the aesthetic spectrum with fewer publications seeking

a middle ground. Those that do occupy the middle ground tend to do so by making

reference to the strongly coded values at each end of the continuum; a touch of radical

chic introduced by a particular new typeface, or the informal scatter of snapshots from

a society opening.

By far the largest chunk of the magazine market belongs to the mass market

(roughly accounting for about 70% of magazine print production in Australia). These are

unpretentious, mostly weekly magazines seeking mass circulation with cheap cover

prices on mostly uncoated. machined finished magazine offset stock. Their aesthetic is

an anti-aesthetic, in that it exists in opposition to the modern bourgeois aesthetic of

discipline, cleanliness and spaciousness. The remaining 30% of the market is made up

of a myriad of small circulation, relatively expensive, special interest magazines and

contains the leading up-market magazine publications which are often well known but

have a relatively small distribution.

Most magazines in Australia are published by either of two main publication houses

Australian Consolidated Press (Kerry Packer owned and dominated) and News Limited/

Pacific Publications (Rupert Murdoch). Both companies publish across the aesthetic and

class spectrum, so clearly the aesthetic style of a publication is seen by them to have a

strong class and market correlation. The recent 'sensationalising' of Women's Day and its

victorious and spectacular increase in market share strengthens the idea of this correlation

of mass market aesthetic with a deep vein of mass/working class taste. The role of binary

opposites (an idea developed in Chapter 3) is pertinent here, because in terms of the

Graphic Design Code and the dominant modern aesthetic, the mass market style is the

binary opposite of the dominant aesthetic; thereby ensuring its inferior status and helping

maintain the superior position of the bourgeois-dominated status quo.

94

Pro-aesthetic Design - Elite Maintenance

i The Neutral Publication

There are thousands of this type of publication, these days almost exclusively produced

by the desk-top publishing method, but still betraying their history in hot-metal (letterpress]

production which was traditionally responsible for their multi-columned layout style and _,

lack of illustration or decoration. These are publications where the text is most important £,

so the lack of attention to any other designed detail signifies a concentration on textual J -

content and a de-emphasis on presentation beyond textual comprehension. These

publications traditionally feature a cover with a simple typographic masthead and a

contents list in a similar size to the copy of the interior pages. Inside, the text occupies

most of the page, most often in two justified columns of type with simple, usually larger

or bolder typography for the heading and author. Except for the cover (where two colour

printing is common) black and white printing is used throughout.

Example 1.1: The Australian Universities Review

The Australian Universities Review (AUR) is designed to look as though it is part of the

academic tradition of publication. In its institutional field, the academic journal is a

publication of enormous value and prestige. Most important is that it be accredited and

access controlled and managed by a prestigious, highly qualified Editorial Board

responsible for controlling the quality of writing admitted into the publication. The

academic journal is one of the gate keepers of academic life and as such is primarily

concerned with the maintenance of prestige in its professional area. Since academic

journals are about recording the development of knowledge, it is viewed very narrowly as

being about the presentation of text, because the academic readership believes that in

text is constituted ideas. The only allowed elaboration of the text are tables, graphs,

equations or formulas which are all approved forms of presentation of ideas in particular

fields of study. It is not surprising that conservatism (in terms of not changing over time) is

perhaps the strongest characteristic, in design terms, of the academic journal. Constancy

to a format, in a sense, symbolizes the sacredness of the ideas it records as well as the

sense of being above the superficiality of visual fashion. Even the quarto proportions of

this and many other journals, ate decidedly old fashioned (in this A^ dominated, now

metric age) and symbolizes again, the academic journal's resistance to change.

Layout grid: The grid of the academic journal is nearly always totally standardized. Its

primary value to maximize the copy area of the page. The grid is mathematically centred on

the page with only a 13mm margin on each side (and slightly wider at the bottom only

because it also has to carry the folio inscription). The body copy is set in two columns

throughout in close set 8 point type, with the only variations being for section headings,

article titles, author(s). article headings, abstracts, footnotes and references. These

elements are totally standardized from article to article; even reviews and letters are treated

in the same manner. Articles always start at the top of the page following the conclusion of

the previous article. The cover and contents page also reflect the same grid even though

their functions are quite different from each other and the text. The only white space

evident in this journal is quite functional and there only because there wasn't text to fill it.

Typography: As implied above, all elements of typography are kept totally standardized

throughout the journal. The only variation in face occurs on the cover, imprint and contents

pages. Here a slightly more elegant and modern serif face is used for banner, headings

95

and text. In the body of the journal (the articles) Times is used exclusively in bold and

medium weights and a standardized variety of sizes. It should be noted at this point, that

the text is set small, with the lines closely leaded making it subject to eye strain and

difficult to read. All headings are set range left and all other text justified. On the cover

there are listed the contents of the issue and in this case only, copy is centred.

Illustration, Colour, materials of presentation: These elements have virtually no relevance

to the journal. There is a second colour used as part of the standardized format of the

front cover - but a stipple of the same colour could be just as easily used to similar

effect. Otherwise all text is black. Most journals are stapled, but one gets the

impression that if they are perfect bound it is only because the page extent was too

great for saddle stitching. In the case of the AUR it uses a matt, textured buff cover

stock (again part of the academic and certainly the AUR tradition) and a newsprint text.

Again, these austere materials of presentation reinforce that the words are the primary

value and that design is of secondary consequence

Example 1.2: TIME Magazine

I have chosen TIME because it is one of the best known magazines in the world. TIME may

not have the highest distribution of any magazine, but it does represent a certain benchmark

of American journalism, bland but reliable quality. Australia now prints its own edition of TIME

but mostly it uses international articles culled from the current American 'international'

edition with a fairly token inclusion of local content. The design of TIME Australia must also

be described as a clone of its American parent as it is reproduced in exactly the same style.

TIME is an excellent example of the international magazine and the solidity and reliability of

the magazine is as much represented by its international style of graphic design as much as

its content. The relatively unchanging consistency of TIME is necessary to its acceptance as

a reliable source of objective, factual information. It is TIME'S consistency that puts it into the

neutral category of magazine design, it has become an industry standard against which other

magazines are naturally measured. TIME Australia sells for $3.50.

Layout grid: The layout of TIME is almost entirely consistent from issue to issue. This

is heralded on the front cover and then followed by an equally consistent editorial

section. TIME'S cover is always surrounded by a warm red border, slightly wider at the

top to allow headlines and consistently set across the top of the picture box is the

TIME banner. These two ingredients rarely change.

The text pages of TIME are always fairly tight with margins of roughly 12mm.

Hairlines are used throughout the magazine along with 4 point rules across the top of

most editorial pages. TIME is a heavily structured magazine, with most of its sections

and categories subtly designed to differentiate one section from another. The regular

features (called To our readers. Chronicles, Milestones and Olympic Monitor) and The

Arts and Media section are all contained within a hairlined copy-box, with hairlines also

running vertically between the columns of text. The largest section of TIME is the news

section featuring articles sent in by reporters from all over the world. These articles all

use hairlines between columns but no copy box. This style is also followed in the main

features of the issue. All categories feature the 4 point rule across the top of all pages.

The time grid contains a two and three column option.

Type design: TIME uses type in a very regulated and structured way. All body copy in

TIME is set in the same face and point size. This is a conservative, conventional face, set

96

fairly tight and married consistently to a bold, slightly condensed san-serif companion

face, used in various forms; condensed for headlines and inset quotes but set normal

bold weight for captions and by-lines. This absolute consistency gives an extraordinarily

strong character to the magazine, giving it an unforgettable visual identity.

The cover of TIME introduces the sort of fairly rigid consistency one expects inside

the magazine. Inside the consistently red border lies the TIME banner, centred at the

top of the picture box. The cover of this issue is entirely typographic and centred

(except for the range left paragraph of smaller introduction). The mix of typefaces used

on the cover are exactly the same as those used in the editorial pages of the magazine.

On the editorial pages there is some flexibility in headlines; sometimes more

important articles are set off with larger than usual headlines set in capitals, rather than

the usually smaller upper and lower case typography. Only for the major features is

there allowed a variation in type face. For instance in the issue dated October 9. 1995

only the cover article The EQ Factor was allowed a mix of faces in its headline (but

even here it was the condoned TIME serif and san-serif mix); the other feature, the

Fashion Special Report - isle of style uses the bold serif face exclusively for its

headline banners, but this time allows a variation of colour. Typography in TIME is used

with discipline and repetition but it is undeniable that the main features have been

liberated in terms of both their typography and layout compared to even a few years

ago. It is not unusual these days, for TIME'S main features to be set vertically across

the page or for columns to be set around inset or deep etched photography. These

things are used most sparingly, but it is enough to suggest that even TIME responds to

the new possibilities of setting allowed by digital technology.

Illustration and typography: The principle forms of pictorial content used in TIME are

colour photography, illustrations and computer-generated and illustrated tables and

graphs. The photography in TIME represents the high quality of professional photo-

journalism, an interesting contrast to the now more popular snap-shot style of

photography used in the popular mass media. Illustration in a range of contemporary

styles is used when appropriate for columns and features. It is usually featured fairly

large to capture the reader's attention. Tables and illustrated graphs, usually computer-

generated, are also popular adjuncts to the textual telling of the news in magazines like

V.ME.

Colour: TIME is printed 4 colour throughout and yet colour is rarely used except for

the nearly universal presence of colour in the photographs and illustration, and graphs.

Nearly all the typography and line work is in black and white and so of course ads stand

out against this fairly bland and universal restriction.

Material of presentation: TIME is printed on a good quality, machined finish magazine

offset paper of a fairly light weight. Despite its 132 pages, TIME is only bound by

staples, but it does have a glossy art paper cover of a moderately heavy weight which

gives a brighter finish to the cover as well as a quality look and feel.

2 The Pro-aesthetic Publication

The pro-aesthetic publication is generally a conservative style of publication produced

to a modern aesthetic. As such, it forms the elite end of the Graphic Design Code

where it's thoroughly good taste and at times radical expression sets the pace in the

magazine marketplace.

97

Example 2.1: Vogue Living

Vogue Living Australia is published for the middle to upper end of the consumer

market. Vogue Living Australia clearly exists as part of the Vogue stable of publications,

published internationally by Conde Nast Publications Pty Ltd, the name Vogue being

established early this century first in America and later in Europe as the sophisticated

women's fashion journal.

Vogue Living Australia {VIA) moves the concept of fashion consumerism from clothing

to architecture and interior decoration, precisely incorporating those other main areas of

personal consumption immediately beyond, but complementary to, our personal

appearance. The general tone of VLA is definitely up market, this fact confirmed by the

advertisers who include Bang & Olufsen, Antique Merchants. Ikea and Australia's leading

ceramic wares, white goods and tiling manufacturers. The general tone, even for those

more mundane and domestic products, is sophistication, VLA is a style bible where

imagination is the limit rather than cost. For the middle class consumer VLA must

engender fantasy and desire rather than be genuinely affordable as a lifestyle, VIA comes

out bi-monthly and sells for A$4.90. It is a beautifully printed magazine, on glossy art

paper in full colour throughout.

Layout grid: The VLA has a generous format 286 x 220mm. The front cover nearly always

features a full page bleed photograph (usually of the interior of a home featured in a

feature article) with type superimposed around the perimeter of the page - the general

impression is uncluttered, co-ordinated and thoughtfully chosen spatial elements.

The interior grid has a built-in asymmetry to it, subtly presented, reflecting the

mathematical austerity of modern design with a touch of traditional good taste through

the suggestion of the golden mean in the carefully selected marginal variations

incorporating generous white space, especially at the top and often at the opening

margin of the grid, VLA uses what can only be described as an unstructured grid

incorporating a new freedom in layout grids won by popular and once avant garde

designers like Neville Brody in The Face in the 1980s. Most of the main editorial articles

are set in an asymmetric two column grid, but that general rule is there only to be

broken if the designer feels it necessary - probably the ruling principal is to maximize

picture impact and presentation and let text column width conform to those dictates.

VLA is not a copy dominant magazine. One gets the impression that it can be

absorbed primarily as a visual experience with captions encapsulating most of the

necessary descriptive information. Text is largely congratulatory or listing stockists to

be read only if you swallowed the visual hook. There is a heavy emphasis on the full

page bleed photograph or composite full pages of photographs in feature articles with

double page spreads nearly always presenting an asymmetrical balance. Articles in the

main compartments of the magazine (called Decoration and Design and Features in

VLA) are all heavily illustrated with lots of small photographs and deep etched (cut out)

details encouraging a scattered, informal effect incorporating lots of generous white

space. Backgrounds are nearly always white, which in this case is the ultimate colour

of restraint and understatement. White backgrounds acknowledge the 'good taste' that

says any more is unnecessary.

Type design: VLA cover typography sets the tone of restraint and good taste for the

rest of the publication. The VLA masthead is, in a sense, a summary of the VLA code in

itself, VOGUE AUSTRALIA are set in the traditional VOGUE international masthead in the

modern style serif face, itself called Modern; chosen no doubt, because of its elegant

98

shifts between very bold down strokes and extremely light cross strokes, giving an

overall lightness, while still being noticed. As its style/name implies it is modern but in

thoroughly established good taste, LIVING on the other hand, is set in bold, san-serif

italic capital letters and is superimposed over the much larger VOGUE suggesting a more

modern period of design (good old International Style functionalism) but superimposed

in this case because of the new layered postmodern style adopted in the 1980s, from

Dada and so suggests a later period of style than the typeface alone would suggest.

The remainder of the cover copy is mostly in the same face, point size and lower case

with the major sub-head being featured in the same face but a slightly larger size and

all in capital letters to give it priority. Use of colour in typography is tightly restricted to

two tones (white and a warm yellow) which gives an easily encapsulating balance and

harmony to the cover and of course, harmony with the background photograph.

The typography of body copy in the text of VIA is nearly all uniform light serif, with

large serif dropped-capitals and bold san-serif captions. Text is always justified and

captions and intros set ragged. Headings for regular features are set horizontally in one

syllable of serif small capitals with another syllable set in a larger lower-case bold-italic

(inserted for a touch of postmodern irreverence for the modern tradition). This is a clever

combination of elements, because it gets the proportions of the magazines values just

right; 99% good taste and 1% slow change. The typography of the editorial pages is still

highly disciplined in respect of variety of faces, but in most of the important feature

articles, typesize is treated playfully, blocked or juxtaposed in order to maximize formal

typographic discipline. There is only one occasion when a san-serif face is used.

Illustration and photography: VIA has a total reliance on photography, in keeping with its

subject matter of incorporation and imagination through consumer acquisition. In this

sense, this sort of lifestyle magazine forms an extended advertisement so photographs

of the product are the most validating representation of the product's existence. Of

course this does not mean that products are shown as purely material objects but

always products shown to advantage - by controlled use of colour, professional

lighting, studio - lit sets, by luxurious or austere or natural backgrounds (whatever is

deemed most advantageous to the product). House/building interiors are always taken

by name photographers and one gets the impression that reputations and careers are

on the line here with the superlative lighting and carefully art directed and captioned

extras and general lack of clutter or chaotic domestic details. These are fantasy houses

designed for style not people.

Colour. Colour is an important component of lifestyle magazines. In combination with

the high quality art paper it presents its contents with a gloss and finish that can only

enhance the contents. Full colour throughout allows the VIA designers to use colour

with extravagance - but also with restraint. White space is probably the dominant

colour of VIA and harmonious colour would probably describe the next most dominant

elements - the typography. In VLA'S typography, the colour key is taken from the

photographs or subjects being portrayed in the spread. Typography usually mimics or

harmoniously contrasts the colour schemes of the interiors on display. So colour is

used here to complement the real contents - the photographs - rather than attract

attention in their own right.

Material of presentation: VIA is printed on high quality, white glossy art paper that

maximizes the quality of colour printing and allows the reader to appreciate the quality

of the materials on which the magazine is presented. The weight of the stock is around

99

CD

CO

a.•<

110gsm, which is noticeably heavier than most other publications and has no show

through, VIA uses a cover stock of a much heavier weight with a plastic coated

cellosheened finish and square edged perfect binding which all adds to the quality

finish of the magazine in terms of production and finish.

Example 2,2: Black and White

Black and White (B&W) is a publishing phenomena in Australia. Commencing

publication in 1992. Baw is ostensibly a magazine of contemporary art photography,

however it has quickly come to realize that a large quotient of sexually explicit

photography nets them a much wider market than contemporary photography of non-

sexual subjects would normally give them. (The very recent spin-off from Baw called

Blue, sold to an explicitly gay market but in an identical format, suggests that Black and

White may soon be seeking its own explicit heterosexual orientation as well.)

At A$12.00 a copy Baw is an expensive magazine and everything about it reinforces

the quality end of the graphic design code. Most important to Baw is its format and

materials of production. At 325 x 240mm (nearly 30mm larger than A4 at top and sides)

saw is an impressive size which stands out in the newsagency. This scale plus the

exceptional quality of its printing, images, matt art paper stock and perfect binding

makes this title exclusive looking and unique in the Australian and even the

international marketplace.

Layout grid: Baw is a magazine that wallows in and maximizes white space. Compared

to it, Vanity Fair and even Vogue look crowded; it is almost as if Baw was designed in A4

and then framed in white in a larger format. Overall, Baw is a conservatively designed

magazine with a slightly asymmetrically placed copy area with a very wide outer margin

of 32mm, inner gutter of 25mm. 30mm at top'and bottom. This copy area is generous -

even if there were a lot of copy; but when one realizes that Baw is largely pictorial and

that what copy there is. is laid out to eccentric asymmetrical slipped layouts (which

allow even more white space into the copy area) then its white space is quite excessive.

Layout space is coupled with often huge and spaciously kerned headings, so clearly Baw

is relying very strongly on grid to give good old Modern style good taste and white

space to the page. Baw is a magazine with many strong and simple graphic design

elements - white space; remarkably simple, strong, mostly black and white

photography; avant garde postmodern typography and very restrained and subtle

colour. Of all of these elements, probably the most dominant, over the art direction of

the whole magazine is white space and simple, modern style asymmetric balance.

The front cover of Baw has developed a strong house style. Nearly always the close

up of a face (usually black) the Baw cover goes for simple, usually only two or three

colour, with a large black and white image behind coloured type and a colour bar. The

inset patches of full colour images that were included up to issue 8 have now been

abandoned, probably because they detract from the classy simplicity of asymmetrically

placed type and black and white image.

The text pages of Baw are strongly standardized on a generous grid and nearly

always features text accompanied by photography. The regular feature section of Baw

is called REM [rapid eye movement] (which are single page picture previews of up and

coming photographers work) and SAS [short attention span] (which are mostly written

essays or reviews from a number of areas of the arts and writing).

100

In REM each photographer has one page to show their work; usually with a maximum of

white space and a standardized typographic mix in a postmodern face, sometimes a quote

from the photographer and a caption in 8point. The headline name features reversed out

type out of a contrived, digital offcut banner, which gives a random, very contemporary

finish to the layout, complemented by the asymmetrical placement of the type. _,

SAS follows REM and has the role of being more serious as it contains most of the text £,

in the magazine, SAS also contains the serious, experimental layout of the magazine. The Q-

body copy of the articles mostly sits around/on a two column grid, but great liberties are

taken, in the postmodern design style (see 3.3 Raygun analysis) with column width,

copy area alignment and frequently replaced grid rules included as a smart device to the

reader that while it is minimal it is not underdesigned. The strongest design element in

SAS however is the typography, especially the headlines, which breaks all rules of syntax

and kerning in a derivative postmodern style, but even these radical headlines seem to be

subservient to the overall respect shown to white space.

The feature section of Baw is called FEATURES AND GALLERIES and constitutes the bulk

of the editorial section of the magazine, FEATURES is distinguished by carrying some

copy (rarely more than two pages, a characteristic it shares with most mass market

magazines) and a chance to make a virtuoso design statement with the introductory

heading of each feature article, but once again, the face used for headings in this issue

are all completely standardized in face if not pattern of application. The GALLERIES

section is made up of very generously spaced portfolios of recent work by

contemporary photographers. These sections are mostly standardized in typography

and layout with special care being given to the most sensitive placement and setting of

captions under pictures. The captions signify that nothing should be taken for granted

in a magazine with the design sensitivity of Baw. It is usual for there to be an image/

white space ratio of about 50/ 50 in GALLERIES.

Typography: The typography of Baw is never taken very seriously. One does not get

the impression that type in Baw is ever playful in its styling or intent - always full of the

ponderous wonder of artistic creation through typography and photography (it is here

that it is hard not to be a bit cynical given the almost uniformly naked, human subject

matter!). The typography reinforces the artistic pretentiousness of the editorial copy

and photographic subjects of the magazine.

The cover of Baw has changed its character only slightly since the inception of the

magazine. Whereas some covers signal the magazine's interior, Baw now seems to be

slightly schizophrenic. The Baw banner for instance, with its fairly traditional mix of serif

and sanserif faces and the rest of the tiny amount of cover copy in 14 point Helvetica

reeks of minimalist typography of the modern era. The only exception is the mix of

faces in the banner and this is so tasteful it describes the magazine as a thoroughly

conventional object, which it is not, but this contradiction is one the magazine still has

to resolve.

Headlines in Baw 14 are all in a typeface that is useful because it has a very stripped

back, minimalist, modern feel, while simultaneously being recognised as a

contemporary, very digital face. This gives Baw a chance to be progressive in taste but

simultaneously to obey one of the first rules of quality magazine art direction and that

is. that there is unity and strength in limiting the number of faces used in a single issue

- especially those with the same function e.g. of headline, text or caption. Headlines,

especially in the SAS section are particularly daring with syntax and kerning. Here, they

101

are never incomprehensible, but they do require the considerable labour of deciphering on the

readers part and I wonder how many persist. The persistence with which the designer

overlays the text with extra design elements which are mostly decorative shows an

ambiguous relationship between the graphic designer and the text; though this layered

typography would be one of the most universally understood qualities of postmodern graphic

design. There is a special, sensitive relationship between the image and the caption in s&w.

Captions are often set in different, sometimes carefully chosen decorative faces and are

placed under the image with care and sensitivity to balance, theme, asymmetry and subject.

Illustration and photography: All illustration in BBW is not surprisingly photographic. As

BBW is a magazine for professional and art photographers it chooses images within a

limited range of subject matter (usually naked) using an impressive array of techniques

and approaches. With its emphasis on fine paper and print quality, Bbw is able to

present these images with absolute precision in reproduction. Colour printing appears

to be available to enhance the usually black and white or sepia toned prints; this use of

colour again tells of the seriousness with which the magazine treats its photographic

subject matter, consistently suggesting that this subject matter is high art.

Colour: Colour is available throughout BBW and yet it is probably used less than any

other such magazine. As the title of the magazine suggests, black and white is the

prevailing theme in the subject matter and the graphic design. White is the dominant

colour of the background and the layout and black, of the type and the images. When

other colours are used they are used with great restraint and subtlety. The only place

that colour appears to dominate is in the advertising, a fact which the advertisers seem

to be taking full advantage of - especially near the front of the magazine.

Materials of presentation: Quality defines all elements of BBW. Its larger than usual size,

beautiful, coated matt finish cover, striking imagery, quality printing, perfect binding and

restrained colour all constitute an expensive, up-market product.

Example 2.3: MM - Australian Mult/Media

Australian MultiMedia is a relatively new publication, being only one year old. Started as

an independent magazine, Australian MultiMedia was quickly bought out by Murdoch

Magazines and is now consolidated as a popular new-media journal. Only 275 x 210mm

in format. Australian MultiMedia is an elegant yet entertainingly presented magazine

with a high standard of graphic design and production value. Australian MultiMedia aims

at a young, affluent market interested in (and probably able to afford) digital technology.

The affluence of the market is reinforced by advertisements for up-market sports cars,

top-of-the-line hardware, software, colour printers and the like. The design of Australian

MultiMedia is far from conservative, but on the other hand, is never confrontational or

confusing to the reader efficiently leading them through a text which is itself a virtuoso

demonstration of digital design technique - an extension of the multimedia theme of the

magazine itself.

Layout grid: Australian MultiMedia has generally a well organized grid system which

underlies a strong, systematic and consistent layout. At the same time it pays homage

to postmodern digital graphic design and fully exploits programs like Quark XPress and

Photoshop in the production of the graphics for the magazine and so works also as an

example of 'the layered vision thing' (Mills, 1994:129) which has become the principal

characteristic of postmodern graphic design.

102

CD

CO

The cover of Australian MultiMedia is consistently simple in presentation, usually

featuring an appropriate single large image (that bleeds off on all sides) with overlaid

type of a restricted range of contemporary designs and colour. In the case of Australian

MultiMedia Vol2/Number 5 the image is computer enhanced and generated and deep

etched into a white background. It has become an Australian MultiMedia tradition to _,

inset small boxes of images along an outside edge to herald one of the feature articles.

The colour of the cover typography indicates a tasteful yet effective limited palette of

colour which highlights the different features, yet creates balance and harmony overall.

The text of Australian MultiMedia has diverse but consistent layout grids. It is

necessary to differentiate between the different sections of the magazine in order to

see the regularity of the structure. There is a layout grid option that conforms to the

general pattern that differentiates the more 'serious', longer articles from the shorter,

often more promotional or newsy 'items'.

ITEMS are differentiated as a group on the contents page by taking up a narrow

column on the right hand side of the page, highlighted by a panel of colour. This

allocation of space symbolizes the important but minor ranking these 'regular features'

deserve in the magazine as a whole. However in the layout of Australian MultiMedia,

ITEMS is a zone of maximum freedom exploiting both freeform model grids and more

tightly regimented ones according to whether it has primarily a pictorial/promotional

function or a review function, in which case Australian MultiMedia uses often a more

regulated layout style and even restricted range of printing colours. The Editorial (p.6)

wittily presents two texts, interlocked but reversed with one running from top to

bottom and the other upsidedown from bottom to top. This overlaying is a common

contemporary device and yet in this case it cleverly uses the trick to justify a dual

presentation of editorials. The next ITEMS like Product News, Kitchen and On Line

however use no regular grid, which allows the designer to maximize pictorial elements

and exploit a variety of column widths, headings and graphic elements. There is a

margin of 11mm used consistently throughout Australian MultiMedia, which is small,

but white space is built consistently into layouts, especially a tendency to float irregular

headings in the upper 40mm of each page which tends to connect/flow into deep

etched illustrations, featured quotes and ragged columns of type. In the reviews

sections at the back of the magazine, there tends to be more regularity. The CD

Reviews are positively conventional, occupying five regular columns to the page and

while film does not adhere to that format it does repeat the grid most dominant in the

features section of Australian MultiMedia.

FEATURES and ARTICLES are the sections of Australian MultiMedia which carry the main

editorial copy of the issue. As feature articles they tend to be longer than ITEMS though

most would not exceed two pages in length, though some might approach eight

pages. What they do share however is a mostly consistent grid of two major and one

minor columns on each page; an asymmetric grid, as the minor columns is nearly

always reserved for quotes, illustration or white space, which, in combination with the

40mm usually left free of copy at the top of the page, creates a light and airy layout

style overall. This asymmetric grid has echoes of the golden mean which consistently

implies good taste and a traditional structure for the reader.

Type design: Of all the graphic design elements used in Australian MultiMedia

typography is used with the greatest freedom - especially in the headlines. Again, the ITEMS

sections of the magazine have the greatest freedom with the mix of faces, weight,

103

point size and colour in order to maximize impact and meaning. Layered typography is

common throughout Australian MultiMedia giving the magazine a strongly contemporary

feel, but it is also used usually to express a mood or feeling for the subject being discussed.

So restricted variety is the pattern in the headlines, but the ITEMS text copy is much more

regulated with a mix of only three faces - all sanserif; one slightly condensed, a bold face

for optional text and a condensed face usually reversed out of a panel for headlines.

The body copy of FEATURES and ARTICLES however is always set in a light modern serif

face with small cap introductions which in fact forms a fairly conventional presentation of

text. This is an easily readable typographic solution (if conventional one) but tends to be

offset by the use of a recently designed, digital face, often overlaying a far more informal

digital script. Layering is a common device in headings in this section, mixing faces and

colours which gives spontaneity to an otherwise conventional spread.

All body copy in Australian MultiMedia is set with open standardized leading giving

great regularity, clarity and consistency throughout the issue. Leading is one of the

most subliminal of the typographic elements and yet it is remarkable how well a

magazine like Australian MultiMedia takes advantage of it as a device to give

consistency and strength to it as a publication.

Illustration and photography: This field of design is most important to Australian

MultiMedia. One consistently gets the impression throughout the magazine that every

photograph has been computer-enhanced, modified, 'photoshopped' or vignetted. The

modification of photographic elements carries the sign of Multimedia itself; it is as if

the slickness that digital enhancement gives to the real world is a sign of the

technologically optimistic future. Every piece of hardware or image making displayed is

viewed through a sort of enhanced hyperreality - the digital equivalent of airbrushing.

Coupled to this use of photographic images is an even greater preference for computer

generated images; which seem to either imitate nature in their portrayal of three

dimensions or present more in a line drawing, comic book style. Again these are logical

styles for a multimedia magazine but they also reinforce the notion of digital processes

by being an obvious product of this technology itself. Of course the other main source

of image making is reproductions from the CRT screen itself - heavily pixilated images

of CRT transmitted graphics which by their very texture suggest the media form which

is the subject of the magazine. There is another nostalgic form of illustration used in

Australian MultiMedia, the images of the hick 1950s - the pre-postmodern. These sorts

of images are cleverly and wittily used usually in association with editorial and

housekeeping - but they tend to have the effect of making the magazine and the

technology more user friendly and unintimidating.

Colour: This design element is used with a good deal of restraint in Australian

MultiMedia. Most headings, especially in the FEATURES and ARTICLES sections, use black,

grey and white. So even when overlaying and superimposition is taking place in the

typography, restricted and tasteful use of colour is restraining the impact. There is

plenty of colour in the photography and images reproduced in Australian MultiMedia

and probably quite wisely colour is otherwise used with restraint.

Material of presentation: Australian MultiMedia is printed on fine quality paper with a

glossy, heavy weight cover and matt art internal' pages. It is a perfect bound magazine

and also has an eight page insert on matt paper printed in only two colours. The quality

of printing is excellent, suggesting that the magazine is probably sheet fed to achieve

high production values.

104

Example 2.4: 21.C

21.C is an Australian magazine published at first by The Commission for the Future and

now by Gordon and Breach Science Publishers - an international science publisher. A

rare phenomena by world standards, let alone the Australian market. 21.C has

managed to survive despite its many transformations of design, format and

management. 21.C is a future and science based publication that clearly aspires to

communicate its subject to a wider market. Its subject matter is technological in

orientation and concerned with the relationship between technological change and

social and cultural production. 21.C enlists an impressive number of contributors, both

Australian and international, introducing its readership to many obscure issues and

personalities - hardly the stuff of the popular press - so one can only assume .21. C has

developed a small but devoted market for its highly specialized and elaborate product.

21.C has an unusual, large square-ish format (265 x 245mm); printed in full colour

throughout on high quality, heavy weight matt art paper, with a fairly high picture/

illustrated content.

Layout grid: 21.C is an unusual hybrid of modern and postmodern style grids. It

certainly carries a dominance of white space and large, predominant illustrations, most

often being full page and even double page spread bleeds. The copy area of the text

pages sits within generous margins between 16 and 20mm for most layouts, but a

minority of layouts carry unconventional, asymmetric grids which leave whole column

widths of white space and often even wider margins.

The regular features (Pleasuredome, Thunderdome and all the sections listed in a

separate column under Scan on the Contents page) share a regular 3 column grid and

typography. Because of their regularity, these sections do not need to draw attention

to themselves through their layout and while illustrated, do not carry images of great

size (more likely single column width, inset or deep etched).

The feature articles, which constitute most of the magazine however, are another

matter. They use two styles of two - column grid which are either symmetrical (with

normal margins) or asymmetrical (with a massive margin on the outside of the page)

and occasionally only one, extra-wide asymmetric column is featured. Overall. 21.C has

a fair degree of variety in the grid but also consistency and structure; though you would

have to admit that consistency comes more through other elements like typography

and illustration style. The placement of main headings in features is one of the most

varied and elaborate features of 21.C. Headings might vary in size enormously and be

placed in a wide range of often unexpected positions (placement determined mainly by

illustrative details). It is usual for features to commence with an opening one and a half

or double page spread that bleeds off on most sides and is superimposed by type.

Often this is a composite, computer-generated or photoshopped image that might

constitute 60 or 70% of the overall publication area. There is a passion for the full page

bleed in 21. C but there is also an equal tendency to make small inset photographs;

possible, because of the high quality of the printing. The most elaborate parts of 21.C

are the titles and introductions and often these seem to be treated as separate entities

to the articles they precede.

105

3 The Pro-aesthetic Innovative-transgressive Publication

This category of publication signifies a major zone of innovation in design. In the

modern era this type of design might have been designed as oppositional, testing the

limits of the acceptable; but in the postmodern era, this sort of more progressive

design simply feeds the consumerist marketplace, providing symbols of progressive

change which in turn motivates more consumption.

Example 3.1: Juice

Juice is the most successful magazine produced for the young adult/youth culture

market in Australia. It is a highly derivative magazine, modelled on the success of

magazines aimed at similar markets overseas like The Face and ID in Britain and Raygun

in the USA (see 3.3). Nevertheless, in the Australian context. Juice is an important

magazine which is packed with textual and graphic content of a high standard. Juice is

a larger than A4 format measuring 300 x 230mm.

Layout grid: Juice is a typically postmodern magazine which shows the influence of

international youth publishing, so it is surprising to see, once one puts it under analysis,

that it in fact carries a very conventional grid. Juice carries wide margins varying

between 20mm at top and gutter, to 25mm at the side margin and bottom of the page.

Margins of this dimension guarantee a fair bit of white space, but most of the magazine

carries a lot of copy set in two columns of justified, closely leaded serif type.

The cover of Juice, while it features a large duotone photograph that bleeds off on

all sides, is pretty much covered with copy, mostly restricted in colour and range of

faces used, but nevertheless, paying little respect for the photograph underneath.

Juice gives the impression that it is full of content; more of the spirit of the mass

market than it is of tasteful aesthetics of the homemakers' magazines.

The contents of Juice are divided into FEATURES and REGULARS and again these general

categories are important in terms of the division of the grid in the magazine into two

major categories. The REGULARS features an irregular grid which varies from a regular

three and two column grid to an entirely irregular grid - even in the review pages the

only regularity is irregularity as far as grid is concerned. The FEATURES on the other hand

all feature a two column grid notable for its regularity.

Typography: Juice appears to specialize in typographic statements. Most of the

graphic design work in this magazine goes into the production of covers and headings

which present up to the minute typographic ideas which are largely derivative of

contemporary digital typographic designers.

The body copy in Juice is standardized. Body copy, in both the REGULARS and the

FEATURES is always justified. The only unjustified copy occurs on the contents page and

with all captions, REGULARS also uniformly features a sanserif face throughout its

sections though it occasionally changes faces to bold, wider leaded copy or a digitized

face; the variation is designed to give difference to each small section, FEATURES on the

other hand uniformly uses a serif face with bold sanserif paragraph starts at irregular

intervals. The point size is small and closely leaded and always justified.

In its headlines Juice experiments with the postmodern canon of layered and closely

juxtaposed (deleaded) typography in a restricted mixture of digitally generated

typefaces. Given the otherwise fairly conventional body copy, Juice manages to

106

achieve a progressive 'radical' feel, through the typography of its headlines, wh ich

keeps the magazine attractive to its young, contemporary market. The radical/

imaginative treatment of a headline appears to be sufficient to influence the reader's

impression that the design of the article and indeed who le publication is also radical.

Juice employs a number of postmodern typographic devices in its headlines. First is _,

its choice of contemporary faces. There has been a resurgence of new type design £>

since the advent of the Macintosh and designer friendly software that makes the .a-

development of new type designs easier than it has ever been in the past. Juice uses

these new digitally generated type designs and exploits the contemporary values they

automatically impart to the publ icat ion. Juice Issue 31 uses mainly t w o faces

throughout the issue, but exploits their possibi l i t ies of combinat ion through

juxtaposit ion, superimposit ion, dropped shadow or combined through addit ional

keylines. The use of the restricted range of faces gives strength to the design of the

issue through overall unity but also provides difference between issues by the change

of dominant typeface combinat ions. Juice Issue 31 also only uses lower case letter

forms in its headline design.

The most imaginative aspect of the heading typography in Juice Issue 31 is its

placement and juxtaposit ion both w i th other words in the heading and repeated

juxtaposit ions of the same word . These devices have become a sign of

postmodern ism, pioneered by designers like David Carson (see Raygun 3.3).

Nevertheless, despite this internationally popular t rend. Juice manages to develop a

style which feels fresh and inventive. Common in Juice Issue 31 is the superimposit ion

of headlines over randomly shaped 'cut-out ' patches wh ich form continually

unpredictable and therefore refreshing design elements. Also common is the

elimination of leading and the substitution of a decorative keyline (see next paragraph).

Probably most radical though, is the superimposi t ion of typefaces. Here different

versions of the same type font (such as italic, outl ine, negative) are of ten

superimposed. Alternatively different faces might be treated in multiple ways but also

incorporate colour. At various t imes lettering is 'photoshopped' into ghostly shadows

which are in turn superimposed by keylined lettering.

A common device in Juice Issue 31 is to el iminate the leading in headlines and

substitute it wi th a keyline where the baseline and the x height of the letters abut each

other. This keyline is often curved back on itself to the height of the ascender line of the

letter form. This keyline device is entirely arbitrary on the designer's part as it is entirely

decorative in intent, but like all decoration, it is there as an embell ishment to meaning

which can be read in this case to mean progressive, postmodern, cutt ing edge etc.

An unconventional mix of asymmetric al ignments is another important characteristic

of the headings in Juice Issue 31 . Headlines are placed freely in an unstructured way -

based more on the principles of asymmetry than conventional balance. This lack of

al ignment might apply as much to the article's introduction and featured quotes

extracted from the text for emphasis.

Illustration and photography: All of the illustration in Juice Issue 31 is photographic and

closer in spirit to the mass market style. The magazine's dominant style of photographic

image-making is more in the spirit of the unpretent ious snapshot than of studio lit

perfection. This principal style could be described as documentary photography relating

to grungy real life rather than glamour. Part of the anti-establishment rebellious streak

107

CDCO

of Juice seems to reside in this lack of pretension. This spirit is as much

reflected in the fashion spreads in the magazine which ignore international designer wear

and portray instead the street style of affordable clothing depicted again as belonging to

the raw inner city rather than sophisticated middle class locations. The complete absence

of illustration from Juice Issue 31 is interesting, however it should be noted that in fact

art is represented in this magazine by the imaginative intervention of postmodern graphic

design; for example, the stepped pseudo black and white image for Chicago Suave

{Juice Issue 31. p.56) or the 42 small frames of images incorporated into the fashion

spread The Naked City (Juice Issue 31, p.89) or the 9 frames for Better Get a Lawyer

(Juice Issue 31, p.40). Computer modified images are also popular in Juice as typical

signs of contemporary youth culture. This often has the effect of roughly pixelating

images to make them appear either computer generated or altered or combining them in

such a way that they have been obviously processed [Juice Issue 31, p.48).

Colour: Colour is used with some restraint in Juice. The main use of colour functions

to attract attention to headlines. Nearly all editorial copy and captions are presented in

black, so the role of colour is to attract attention to new article commencement pages.

There is no colour scheme throughout the magazine, although different articles usually

have co-ordinated colour for their duration. In a predominantly black and white

magazine, it is interesting that colour stands out most in the advertising.

Material of presentation: Juice has a glossy, heavy weight art-paper cover, perfect

bound to 114 pages of magazine offset. This formula of paper stock, binding and

format is virtually the same as The Face magazine, so Juice fits entirely into the market

expectations of a whole genre of youth publications.

Example 3.2: Interview

Interview Magazine was started by Andy Warhol in 1964 and sold by the Andy Warhol

Estate in the late 1980s to Brant Publications, Inc. Interview became famous for its uniquely

literal and unstructured interviews, its large format portraits (mostly in black and white) and

its unusually large format and paper stock which were tabloid in style and quality. Interview

was really an extension of Warhol's obsession with stars and celebrities which were and

still are the magazine's staple fodder. The magazine had a strong tradition of minimalism in

layout, relying mostly on photographs for graphic interest, and Warhol's colour treatment

of the celebrity on the front cover was. along with colour on the inside and back covers, the

only full colour work in the issue. It is interesting that despite the radical persona of Andy

Warhol and the Studio there has rarely been published a magazine with such a powerful

and enduring langue in terms of the elements of its design.

Since taking over the magazine. Brant Publications (under the Creative Direction of

Tibor Kalman and now Richard Pandiscio) have trimmed the magazine down slightly in

size to 344 x 270mm; improved the paper quality to a machine finished magazine

offset: printed it in full colour throughout and had it perfect bound instead of saddle

stitched. The design of the new Interview constantly comments on and echoes the old

magazine. The new design is very different, but it exists because of the strengths and

weaknesses of the old publication and constantly refer to them.

Layout grid: The front cover of Interview November 1993. bears two major similarities

with Interview's traditional format, keeping Warhol's script masthead and a full page

108

bleed, close-up portrait. It differs by making the photograph black and white and

superimposing simple, colour co-ordinated sanserif headlines in asymmetrical balance.

Like the Interview of old, the text pages are characterized by a preponderance of full

page bleed black and white and colour photography, with ads following suit. The new

magazine has diversified its text layout grid allowing the freedom of mixing anything _,

from one to five column grids on one page. This is the major contrast between the new £,

and the old Interview format. White space is also a prime value with generous margins ^

and spaces between columns and a tendency towards wide leading and erratically

spaced headlines. Interview cannot really be described as chaotic when it comes to

the grid but variety is kept at a premium, keeping repetition purely for articles where

layout themes are allowed to develop to give continuity. Copy is often allowed to float

as a minor spatial element on a blank page suggesting that in this magazine the

designer rules and his whim is given the greatest value.

Type design: This aspect of Interview is perhaps the most complex and therefore the

most difficult to describe. The cover is traditional only when it uses the old Warhol

scripted masthead. The 'old' Interview never used superimposed cover copy, so even

its inclusion marks a difference; the copy, in austere sanserif, introduces the strict,

typographic theme of the editorial pages, which overall, has only one transgression

typographically speaking, using Bold American Typewriter. So. the cover design cleverly

marks out the new ownership from the old, but also brings the magazine more into the

mainstream of trendy American lifestyle magazines who have been using similar

restricted composites of elements on their covers for years.

It is in the text pages that the new Interview really comes into its own as one of the

most progressively designed magazines of the moment. The design of Interview is one

where the typographic code has been creatively manipulated to give both a conservative

predictability to the overall design of the magazine (choosing to use one type face

almost throughout for both headlines and text) and a radical freshness and

unpredictability to other elements (those to do with scale [point-size], layout [placement]

and especially colour. By almost holding constant the face, strong unity is held

throughout the magazine (a very successful, even safe design decision) but by so

daringly rewriting the code in the other areas. Interview gives the illusion of being on the

cutting edge of the acceptable. This clever manipulation of the typographic code is

certainly the strongest element of Interview's design and precisely positions it as a

reforming avant garde publication while not actually threatening the dominant modern

aesthetic - the cultural arbitrary. Unlike other of the innovative members of the code.

Interview tends to derive its typographic innovation more from advertising, packaging

and the mass media than it does from the more digitally inspired typography of the new

wave designers. This tends to make Interview more accessible - perhaps because it's

innovation is as much inspired by the familiar, commercial media rather than the avant-

garde in much the same way as Warhol was in his pop-art creations of the sixties.

Illustration and photography: Interview like its equally successful English counterpart

The Face, is almost exclusively interested in photographic portraiture; nearly all of an

extremely high quality - even when the subject matter is a junkie, unshaven and of the

street. Beautifully lit studio photography is the norm. Once again. Interview is able to

present quality material, but use the design of the magazine to process it into a trendy

/groovy package acceptable to the more progressive market the magazine attracts and

so achieve a radical edge subtly through its design. Colour or black and white are

109

chosen probably at the art director's or photographer's whim - since colour is available

throughout the magazine, use of black and white is a sign of style, as it is extravagant

not to use colour when it is universally provided - colour becomes significant by its

omission. Illustration is used only once or twice to illustrate written pieces of editorial,

but in a sense illustration is replaced by two far more important elements of the

magazine's design - its typography and its advertising. The typography is so

expressively and dominantly arranged and coloured, that it performs the role of giving

character and extra meaning to an otherwise simply designed and photographed

spread. And the role of advertising in the magazine is one that fits harmoniously into its

design style and uses colour availability far more often so that the editorial parts of the

magazine, in a very real sense, provides a counterpoint to the ads which is neither

clashing nor overwhelming.

Colour: Black and white photography was the hallmark of the old Interview except on

the front cover which was always hand coloured in a characteristic way. so the reversal of

this system in this issue, with a B&w cover photograph and a coloured text is. in a symbolic

way, depicting the radical changes that have gone on since Warhol's ownership.

I have already discussed the use of colour and black and white in the photography

of the magazine, but it is probably in the area of the text that the use of colour in

Interview is most interesting. For a start, given the dominance of black and white

photography, colourful typography is often the only colour on the page; which gives it

greater significance. In this issue, contrasting some previous ones, most of this colour

has a muted/faded quality, which, while the layout is often chaotic, provides continuity

and a house style overall. The raison d'etre behind the use of colour in typography

appears to be mostly expressive, giving emphasis, wit and contrast to the underlying/

juxtaposed image.

Materials of presentation: Interview is published in a format midway between its old

tabloid size and the smaller more conventional magazine format closer to A4. This in

itself gives a sense of continuity but difference. The hallmark of the old Interview

however was the use of newsprint stock for its text pages. The new Interview however

uses a white matt finished stock of medium thickness and perfect binding - an unusual

combination which still gives the magazine maximum presence and a strong sense of

identity compared to other up-market publications.

Example 3.3: Ray gun

Raygun is, in the Australian context, an obscure American import. Though it has gained

a reputation internationally for its avant garde graphic design, Raygun would have a

relatively small circulation. Obviously I am including Raygun in this survey not for

statistical reasons, but for aesthetic ones. Like Neville Brody (graphic designer of The

Face in the 1980s), David Carson (graphic designer of Raygun) has become the

benchmark avant garde designer of the 1990s and probably the most admired and

copied graphic designer working today.

The significance of Carson's design is that it demonstrates an aggressively

postmodern deconstructed style of modern period graphic design, manipulating all of

the graphic design elements in a playful and inventive way - often risk taking and witty.

Carson's design is clearly playing with the boundaries that separate art and design in

the way that he sometimes abandons comprehension of the text in favour of visual

110

innovation and often treats typography as if it had not evolved over 500 years but could

be reinvented on every page. Like The Face in the 1980s, Raygun has set itself the

seemingly impossible task of making change and innovation the magazine's main

design constants. The pressure of being the pace-setter and front-runner must be huge

for Carson and one keeps looking for signs of burn-out and resignation in his work.

While there are signs of staleness. one can still detect a playful obsession, especially

with grid and type in Raygun though it recently appears to be married to a continuing

acknowledgement of modern style simplicity and white space.

Raygun is a larger format magazine measuring 306 x 255mm. It is printed in the USA

on a semi-glossy stock in full colour throughout. The analysis that follows is based on

Raygun 26 May 1995.

Layout: It is almost impossible to describe the grid in Raygun because it is so varied.

There are most often side margins and gutters of 16mm, but the margin at top and

bottom are infinitely variable and fluid as indeed are the sides if necessary. Column

widths are also infinitely flexible throughout and it is not unusual to have columns of

three or more different widths appearing on one page. On the other hand, some of the

spreads in Raygun 26 are more tabloid in look and format, set on a six column grid

which is tight and fills most of the page with a very small margin. It is interesting that

layout is not a tightly controlled element in Raygun and so is probably not where the

magazine's art direction gets most of its unity and strength of concept.

Overall though, the most lasting impression with Raygun is that it has a very

generous allowance of white space, a phenomena heralded by this particular front cover

(which is about two thirds plain white) and echoed in most of the editorial spreads

which on average constitute nearly 50% white space. Overall there is a tendency for the

regular feature/contributors and review sections to be set in the narrow six column size

and the larger widths (hardly ever standardized) for the main feature articles. It is difficult

to talk in these divisions however, as Raygun does not differentiate between types of

articles on its contents page, and nor does it rigidly hold to the tendencies I have

highlighted above. In the Isaac Hayes feature article, copy is set in what at first appears

to be two column widths of copy except that one runs up to the trim of the page. On

reading it. you discover that in fact the copy line runs over the trim and onto the next

page and to read the page you have to keep decoding the games offered by the layout.

Other articles e.g. Deep Ocean, Vast Pete overlaps, slips and fuses columns of body

copy all devices highly characteristic of postmodern graphic design and showing the

collapse of tradition and convention of the modern style.

Typography: David Carson would probably be recognised as being primarily a

typographic graphic designer so it is not surprising that in this issue it is the styles of

typeface and general placement and layout of it that creates one of the strongest visual

themes in the magazine. Carson usually designs using his own typefaces. These are

mostly computer-generated and can vary from fairly conventional looking serif style

faces to idiosyncratic and inventive faces of various designs most often of nostalgic

influence by an elite list of contemporary typeface designers.

Much of the text in this issue (especially in the regular feature and feature section)

are set in a typeface that is a fairly classic looking serif face, until you look at it closely.

Close observation shows that it has playfully substituted as many letter forms as possibly

could by letters, figures and those optional/additional condensed letter forms like

ampersands. For instance the capital letter E is substituted by a reversed figure 3; S by an

ca.•<

111

inverted figure 5; L by an inverted and reversed 7; p by an inverted & and lower base b by

the figure 6 This face is semiotically very rich. Not only does it have to be decoded by the

reader, it deceptively feels very cosy and familiar, especially as much of this face is used in

a very small, underplayed point size (probably 7 point) forming mostly fairly conventional

looking columns of copy. It is interesting that in this issue, even headings, while sitting a

generous line or two above the copy block, are set only in 8 point - echoing modern

movement typography in its simplicity and constraint. Despite the typeface's eccentricities,

these spreads would look conventional if it were not for their ever changing variety of layout

grids. When you compare these usual treatments with the Rabelasian without a clue page

you see Carson's rule breaking creating an avant garde edge suggested entirely by the

placement of typographic elements in irregular columns and the superimposition of

headlines and body copy, which hardly encourages legibility but does create interest. All of

these options are taken using the same codified type face, which despite the abandonment

of so many other conventions, creates a strong unity throughout the magazine and even a

conventional tone. There is a sanserif typographic option in this issue which is a slightly

condensed face. This face seems to be used to punctuate the other style of setting and to

create a difference for certain articles, a motivation also suggested by the way he doesn't

mix faces of the classic and modern types. The sanserif pages (such as New Bomb Turks

vs. Gaunt and Pizzicato Five Big in Japan) have a much tighter, messier tabloid feel which

evokes quite a different form of design code.

The article given the boldest treatment is Monster Magnate an interview with

Roger Corman. Here the headline is created using a typically confusing range of super-

imposed type of varying faces, sizes, inversions and colour with often special

treatments like dropped shadows, keylines and filled in letter spaces - all of these sorts

of layout need the labour of decoding in order to discover the sense of the subject. The

body copy is then set in thoroughly conventional four justified columns of copy and

apart from the overlay of wild orange graphic shapes is quite a conventional layout. The

Raygun Reviews form the final section of the magazine and are treated in much the

same way every issue - as six columns of very generously leaded sanserif type of quite

a small point size, interspersed by the pictures of album covers.

Illustration and photography: Raygun is a strongly typographic magazine. Its main

emphasis is on type and pictures are definitely of secondary importance. Many of the

images would be supplied, which accounts for the great variability in quality, however most

of the feature pictures are definitely of the snapshot variety; at times even focus is doubtful!

The extreme, usually asymmetric cropping of pictures, with details almost disappearing off

page, tends to reinforce the almost random recording of events into a very casual ephemeral

record. In The Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson these obliquely framed images are

even overlaid by 8 point body copy rendering the text barely decipherable and the integrity

of the images messily destroyed. Even the fashion spread appears to have a snapshot

quality, with their lack of professional/extra lighting. In Moby Eats Orb three snapshot type

images are superimposed again reinforcing that photographs in this magazine are there to

express feeling and atmosphere above picture quality. The irony is that only the photography

in the advertising stands out in Raygun. The advertisers in Raygun appear to realize this

contrast and maximize it. Every issue of Raygun also carries a feature folio of art - usually

painting. The painting is usually presented in a fairly conventional style - either bleeding off

all sides or generously framed by white space. They are usually however, images in

sympathy with the contemporary tone of the magazine and so are quite complementary.

112

Colour: Raygun tends not to rely on colour in many of its layouts. It is most often

used as a flat second colour in the line work and most often for the full colour

reproduction of coloured photographic imagery. But the usual pattern is type/line work

in one or two colours.

Material of presentation: Raygun is a larger format magazine. It has pages of fairly low

grade magazine offset and a glossy cover of a slightly heavier weight. It is printed four

colour throughout.

Anti-aesthetic Design - Massmarket Maintenance

In the Australian magazine marketplace there is of course a competitive jostle for

market leader. The Australian market is dominated by three publications which

between them take around 40% of commercial magazine sales. Since its takeover by

ACP in the late 1980's, Woman's Day has become the market leader by radically

altering all its elements through sensationalism. This 'make-over' has been described

as a dirty trick by its competition (mainly New Idea), for indeed the graphic design of

the magazine has changed as aggressively as its subject matter. Even the demise of

Truth Newspaper (Australia's tits and bums tabloid) has been blamed on Woman's

Day's move into the smut and gossip market.

Through the 80's Woman's Day (then a Fairfax Publication) and New Idea (always a

Murdoch/Southdown Press publication) were constant rivals producing magazines

which were difficult to tell apart. Competition was intense and was fought out not

through rival ideological platforms but through playing the same formula better; always

breaking the scoops, the latest photos of the royal bust-ups or Fergie's misdemeanors.

The first move happened in the late 1980's when ACP took over from Fairfax many of its

very similar former rival publications (one of which was its most successful Woman's

Day) and had to start creating a greater differentiation between titles of its own and so.

of course, also affecting its competitive relations with its rivals.

The market leaders in Australia were then New Idea and The Australian Woman's

Weekly. The Weekly was made to go monthly (so while it has retained high sales is no

longer a competitor in the same category as the weeklies) so Woman's Day became

the natural rival of New Idea and ACP were quick to plot a shift in market needs and

went sensational. On 20/6/1995 it was confirmed ihat sales of New Idea had dropped

by over a quarter of a million copies - roughly a quarter of its print run. Woman's Day at

around 1,200,000 copies is now triumphant as the largest selling magazine in

Australian history. The 'shift' that accelerated Woman's Day's success is identified by

most people as being mostly concerned with content/text but it has been accompanied

by a similar shift in graphic design values; now presenting editorial layouts that even

tend to overwhelm the advertisements it carries.

On June 24. 1995, New Idea launched a new self - but one they had been preparing

their readers for months in advance. New Idea is trying to take the moral high ground

by positioning itself as being ideologically opposed to the smut and opportunism of

Woman's Day and standing up for good old family values.

113

(I

GO

4 The Anti-aesthetic Publication

Example 4.1: Woman's Day

I have already mentioned the recent evolution of Woman's Day (wo), an Australian

weekly women's magazine published for the bottom end of the socio economic market.

wo is in a genre and format which has become international in style being duplicated in

most Western countries. It sells for only A$2.40 and is printed on poor quality machined

finish magazine offset in 4 process colours throughout. The content of wo is also

standardized, being largely interested in the private lives of a small constellation of stars.

royalty. Australian and international celebrities, with the remainder of the magazine

being taken up by regular features which are mainly introspective guides to personal

health, love life, wealth and relationships with a few domestic guides thrown in. Few

articles run longer than two pages, clearly indicating a magazine that needs only a short

attention span. In form, the contents read like gossip and advice and echoes what may

once have been discussed over the working class back fence.

Layout grid: wo is a small magazine, measuring only 200 x 275mm, a size very

economical to produce. The most striking thing about the wo grid, is that it is very tight

with a standardized margin/gutter on only 10mm. showing very little white space. The

basic grid of 3 equally spaced columns to the page is almost universal though very

occasionally four columns are used. Photographs are often reproduced quite large, often

bleeding off the side of the page or across three columns of copy. It is also common for

photographs to be reproduced as deep-etched or partly cut-out images and to be

stripped in crooked, or on a diagonal axis to the vertical columns of the standard grid.

Type design: The general theme mixing serif and bold and condensed type faces

commences on the cover of wo. The italic serif Woman's Day logo surrounded by a

keyline and dropped shadow, stands as the only serif face on the cover offering strong

contrast in style to the sanserif headlines and in scale by crossing the top of the cover.

The mostly condensed san-serif faces of the headlines are scattered like captions to an

equally busy number of small photographs of feature articles scattered around the

central figures of Di and Fergie. The lead headline Di and Fergie cavort with toe-

sucking Johnny, distinguished by scale, centrality, diagonal tilt, contrasting keyline and

positioning, reinforce with sledgehammer subtlety the lead article. A major component

of the design however is raw colour, raw in printing terms because it tends to

concentrate on the pure process colours of cyan, magenta and process yellow aiming

for the maximum contrast of complementary colours which, though gaudy, at least

restrict the range overall and serve to unite the graphic elements despite their

disparate content and general busyness.

Body copy throughout most of the editorial pages of the magazine is in one standard

roman serif face. Captions and most introductory paragraphs are in Helvetica bold (a

sanserif) providing standardized and clear contrast. Headlines however share the least

discipline of all. The most common headline typeface is a computer-generated

condensed bold or heavy sanserif but often serif or decorative faces are substituted.

The governing motive in headline face choice is probably textual appropriateness; a

decorative serif for royalty; a bold inlined and outlined American Typewriter for Demi's

Hell sex, DRUGS AND SURGERY; a tartan patterned san-serif for DRESSED TO KILT!; a

decorative display face for romantic fiction. The most dominant theme for headlines

however is the standard computer-generated stylistic processing of type faces; the

most popular of which is the one or two point keyline and contrasting (usually in black)

114

dropped shadow. Keylines and dropped shadows are usually in compl imentary

opposites to the letter forms themselves and so provide max imum contrast w i th the

background, whether it be photographic, whi te or coloured.

Regular Features tend to have different faces for each contr ibutor 's column as if to

individualize them. These formats are repeated in each edition along wi th standardized _,

borders and colour schemes. Rawness of colour is also a feature of the editorial £>

section's typography, keeping a loud and bright theme dominant throughout the J .

publication. Leading and kerning are generally tight. Body copy is nearly always justified,

leaving unjustified setting for captions, introductions and some regular features.

Illustration and photography: is most strongly codified in this genre of publication. Even

when the subject matter is sophisticated, wealthy or royal, the photographs (and images

are nearly all photographic) are consistently of a snapshot quality rather than

emphasising the studio lit portrait so typical of other genres. This snapshot quality is

even emphasised by graphic design devices of random, diagonal 'scatters' of often

smallish photographs often imitat ing the photograph album (even to the anachronistic

inclusion of photo 'corners' and borders) or the casual spread of snapshots on the

tabletop' of the page. Ripped or torn images, deep etching and overlapping of images

are also used to intensify the informality of presentation. These devices give the images

an emphasis on content over style of presentation - often the reverse of the approved

aesthetic. Illustration is only used to accompany romantic fiction and in advertisements.

Colour: A bright, basic and contrasting colour scheme (most often in complementary

colours) is one of the major styl ist ic themes in Woman's Day. This sort of colour

scheme so successfully competes wi th the advertising content of the magazine that it

almost overwhelms it. I have already described colour in relation to the typography but

it is used throughout the graphic design of the articles and features to link, combine

and identify articles etc. as units. A common device is the use of the same colour

combinat ion of the headline as keylines around the il lustrations of the articles or to

highlight the introduction. Colour str ips, panels and backgrounds are also featured to

contrast w i th headlines, body copy or both. Computer graded tones of colour are also

popular in headlines and backgrounds.

Example 4.2: New Idea

New Idea was, until 1994 the market leader in mass market women's magazines in

Australia. However since since 1994, in competit ion wi th the rejuvenated Woman's Day,

New Idea has dropped in excess of 250,000 in distr ibution, being one of the most

spectacular losses in Australian magazine publishing history. The role of graphic design

in the supposed rejuvination of New Idea is demonstrably important as a supposed

'moral' shift in content has been accompanied by an obvious 'cleaning up' of the graphic

design elements - simplifying them and making the presentation more straight forward.

There is an unspoken observation on my part that New Idea is also resigning itself to an

older, baby boomer plus market, leaving the sex obsessed Women's Day to the under

forties. New Idea sells for $2.40 (the same price as Woman's Day). The analysis that

fo l lows was based on New Idea June 24. 1995; since that date, none of the design

elements have changed to any great extent. The most recent development is that the

old art director of That's Life! has been brought in to make the design of New Idea more

reader friendly generally making it a lot more colourful , bitty (especially w i th many

115

small features and articles) and literally screaming out for attention. It has continued to

lose market share

Layout grid: The layout grid of the rejuvinated New Idea has not changed substantially

from the design that preceded it; indeed it is also very similar to Woman's Day, so in

_, that respect, New Idea is still very much a mass market publication. The copy area is

^, tight, leaving only a narrow margin of 12mm at the top of the page and on the inside

J- gutter and 14mm on the outside and bottom margins. New Idea is set in three 55mm

columns throughout with a very narrow 5mm gutter between columns.

While it is still unusual to have full page pictures in New Idea it is not unusual to

have only one picture to a page and to have it bleeding off on two sides. This means

that generally the layout is more simple, with larger elements being manipulated. When

there are more than two pictures on a page, while they might be inset one over the

other, they are always set at an angle of 90 degrees. This gives the overall layout a

much tidier, neater appearance.

New Idea is still divided into many different regular features and these are identified

in a much more regulated way - usually by colour bars running either in red down the

outside trim of the page, or across the top in a colour co-ordinated pastel tone.

Typography: The new New Idea now has a totally co-ordinated typography having

virtually eliminated variation in type throughout the magazine. The magazine headline,

introduction and body copy are all set in the same face which is a two weighted,

slightly serifed face; safe, because it looks traditional and modern at the same time.

Using different weights of the same face throughout of course gives enormous

stability to the design concept of the magazine and of course creates maximum

contrast to the variety and colour and dynamism of Woman's Day.

The cover of New Idea sums up the changes to the newly styled magazine. The new

banner is a bold and chunky sanserif with a very small dropped shadow reversed out of a

hot pink colour panel across the top of the page. The rest of the cover is occupied by a

single, if busy image with three inset small photographs down the left hand side. Apart

from the banner and So much more (centred just below the banner) all typography on

the front cover is in the same face. The cover copy is mostly set ragged in three different

point sizes - each headline standardized in setting. Even the main feature headline is set

to the same typographic formula but set larger and the slash set larger still but the face

unvaried. This sort of typographic discipline is unknown in Woman's Day. Colour on the

cover is also thoroughly co-ordinated being in either the hot pink, purple or white.

The feature articles in New Idea are set exclusively in the same serif face. The copy

is set in 10 point with about 12 point leading, larger than most equivalent magazines.

The body copy of feature articles is always justified. Headlines and introductions are

set usually in bold but in larger point sizes. Some headings are set in a variety of point

sizes usually with the intention of filling a space with type rather than leaving white

space. Captions are set in Helvetica bold throughout.

This strict type regime holds for most of the regular features but not for the eight page

liftout, Great Idea, which uses a slightly bracketed serif face and a sanserif headline and an

even more condensed sanserif for introductions. Otherwise the same sanserif face is used

in the heading of every regular feature. Often particular key words are emphasised by larger

point size; this usually happens when a column width is available to be filled rather than

leave white space. Colour is nearly always co-ordinated in these sections to combinations of

black and warm red. The body copy of regular features is always set ragged right.

116

Illustration and photography: The quality of photography in New Idea is similar to most

magazines of this genre; it is there for its content, not its style, so they are nearly all of

the snapshot style in spirit and quality. About 90% of the illustration in New Idea is

photographic, the rest are cartoons and charactertures in a cute and friendly style. The

only highly rendered illustration is for the romantic fiction Welcome Back. _^

Colour: Throughout the new New Idea colour is used with co-ordination and restraint ^

- in the same spirit as the other design elements. Most of the headings of the main Q.

features are in magenta, warm red and black, but occasionally they are set in process

blue or purple. The regular features are set in a variety of colours and black - but

usually these colours are in a deep, dusky tone of similar intensity; they change their

colour mainly for the sake of differentiation.

Materials of presentation: New Idea is a self covered magazine printed on magazine

offset of 120 pages. New Idea is saddle stitched but has glued into it a 16 page advertising

supplement Your New Idea Victorian Market printed on newsprint in four colours.

Example 4.3: That's Life!

That's Life/ is the ultimate mass market publication. The content of this magazine is

contributed entirely by the readers, so it is the ultimate form of gossip, where readers

speak directly to readers like themselves about themselves. The subjects of stories in

That's Life! are always personal; dieting disasters, near death experience, love stories,

children, stories of personal difficulty, true stories. Readers are paid for their

contribution which is rewritten by That's Life! journalists into a house style. Selling for

only $1.40 (which makes it one of the cheapest full colour magazines on the market)

That's Ufe! is a weekly full of competitions, give aways and regular features of the

question and answer variety. It is roughly an A4 format. The issue being described here

is dated June 3, 1995.

Layout grid: The copy area of That's Life! is set very tight with a margin of only 10mm

on all sides. Most of the body copy is set on 4 column grid though 5 or two column

pages are not unusual. That's Ufe! specializes in small and irregularly shaped

photographs set at angles, overlapping other pictures, nearly always bordered by bright

and contrasting colours. Often the pages of That's Ufe! are divided into two or even tiuee

regular columns or articles distinguished by bold, bright, contrasting colour backgrounds.

The cover of That's Life! alerts the reader to what lies inside. Featuring a large

background photo, is also features a pink colour band at the base of the page, a title

banner which is reversed out of a red panel, 11 photographic inset panels and 19

headlines reversed out of the background, colour panels and one set in a drop

shadowed sunburst. The inset pictures are set at both right angles and an angle and

two are deep etched into the background and keylined in white.

It is difficult to generalize about the design of the text of That s Life! as it is so varied.

There is a rule that tries to maximize the impact of every story making the best of the

pictures and subject matter contributed by the readers. There is a standard four

column layout for feature articles, but it is usual for pictures to be inset breaking the

text into irregular column widths.

Typography: The main criteria of the typography in That's Ufe! appears to be to attract

maximum attention at every possible opportunity. The cover is indicative of the

typographic values of the inside of the magazine. The cover uses about ten different

117

faces (all sanserif) which are each given graphic treatments such as reversal, dropped

shadow, outlines, inlines, condensing, expansion and often up to three of these

treatments are applied to one headline at a time. It is difficult to imagine a greater

variety of type, image, colour and insets combined into such a small area! Each title,

banner, headline, starburst and inset picture fight each other for attention. The features

most likely to catch your attention are the That's Life! banner reversed out of a red

panel in the top left corner. After that the face of the model (female, pretty but

unidentified in the magazine) is the only significantly large and centred feature. All other

images, headlines, reversals and insets are small in comparison and are generally

positioned around the circumference of the page.

That's Life! is never a magazine of large articles. It is usual for layouts of individual

articles to last for only one third to half a page; so one of the major tasks for the design

of the magazine is to be constantly differentiating between one article and another.

This is done by a number of means. Colour panels often differentiate articles through

contrast, but over these, type often changes between serif and medium and bold san-

serif copy. At the head of each article is a headline, most often in the same bold face,

but usually differentiated in a different way through colour change, underlining,

reversal, dropped-shadow etc. For the longer features. That's Ufe! always runs copy in

a serif face. Even though these might occupy say one and a half pages, a major feature

would never even constitute one solid page of copy; the space usually carries more

snapshots from the writer's family snapshot collection. Most of That's Life! however, is

not articles, but short tit-bits, help-columns, quizzes, competitions, crosswords, fashion

and cookery spreads. These short, regular features use the same devices I mentioned

for the short features, colour background changes accompanied by differentiating

changes in typeface - between serif and bold and medium sanserif. Occasionally type

is reversed out of a dark background colour for maximum contrast or short sections

highlighted by contrasting colour framing. The irony is that in all this busy rivalry the

main casualty seems to be the advertising which is mostly barely distinguishable from

the editorial unless it goes simple, which some choose to do, but most are probably

happy to merge with the busy editorial style.

Illustration and photography: That's Ufe! specializes in unpretentious snapshots

throughout the publication. The snapshot phenomenon is something you notice in all

the mass market media, but in That's Ufe! it is even more appropriate as most of its

articles are contributed by readers about themselves, so that their personal snapshots

reinforce the documentary, unpretentious feel of the text. Most of the feature articles

feature a handful of snaps of the main characters in the story, the unfaithful husband,

the heroic mum, the before and after shots, the beautiful baby that came from the

horrendous birth experience etc. Here, the lack of focus and colour quality is forgiven;

knowing that the photographs were sourced from the public gives an authenticity and

voyeuristic quality which is the special quality of this magazine.

Not all of the photographs in That's Ufe! are sourced from the public however. Most

of the remainder are of stars, usually of the Hollywood variety, who are presented, in

this case, mainly to demonstrate that they too have real life problems and

characteristics just like That's Ufe! readers; so these stars are presented in tiny, often

cropped and cameoed just like the photographs in the feature articles. The only

professional and studio shots, no doubt taken for That's Ufe! are for the cooking and

gardening regular features. These shots too are rather busy, abundant and colourful

118

looking bountiful rather than simply presented and perfectly framed. The unpretentious

crockery and rustic kitchen benches no doubt reflect the unpretentious interiors of the

That's Life! reader. The only illustration accompanies the very short story; a tradit ion in

most of the mass market magazines.

Colour: 77jaf's Life! has to be one of the least inhibited magazines in its use of colour. _,

That's Life! is very colourful and it uses colour always to attract attent ion. Throughout £>

the magazine there is no colour scheme that is held constant, however, over each Q.

double page spread there is certainly an awareness that colour discipline creates

harmony over the spread. It is unusual for there to be more than three flat colours used

(as wel l as black) in background panels, text, headlines and photo-borders. If you

compare the colour choice between spreads, even on consecutive pages, there is no

great consistency of colour scheme. Bright contrast appears to be the only rule.

Materials of presentation: That's Life! is a simple 64 paged, all colour, self covered

magazine printed on machine finished magazine offset.

Example 4.4: The National Enquirer

The National Enquirer claims the 'Largest circulation of any paper in America' and so

forms an interesting example of the internationality of the anti-aesthetic style. The NE is

a unique size 298 x 238mm - more like a mini-newspaper than a magazine. Everything

about the NE betrays its newspaper origins. It is however strictly a magazine format

being bound with staples though crudely t r immed, on a poor quality matt finished stock

and printed in grainy colour. The NE also has a self cover (printed on the same poor stock

as the text) which gives it a unique character which stands for unpretentious newsiness.

Layout grid: Again the NE betrays its newspaper origins. The front cover is sanserif

headline dominant in a typical tabloid style, w i th deep-etched and inset photographs

providing il lustration. Six major features are introduced and il lustrated on the front

cover so this extreme busyness prepares you for what is to fol low inside the covers.

Despite its larger than normal magazine dimensions, the copy area of the NE page

allows only an 8 to 10mm margin of whi te around the page. The grid layout is most ly

three, four or five column and it is not unusual for three of these column widths of type

to be included in the layout of one page. Typical newspaper devices of borders, super-

short articles, background stipples, star spacers and alternate bold/medium paragraphs

reinforce the newspaper layout thematic. There is absolutely no pretension towards

artfulness in the design of the NE. Articles and headlines determine the space

remaining to be filled in by photography wh ich rarely seems to fit the space and so is

super imposed where possible or awkwardly cropped if it isn't. Whi te space is non-

existent in this genre and obviously signif ies a waste of space and money - the

magazine meets the contract w i th the reader by filling the space no matter what.

Type design: The limited range of condensed, expanded and normal settings of one

sanserif face on the cover of NE sets the theme for the typography of the editorial pages

of the magazine. The inclusion of one headline on the cover in a brush script is also

preparation for the minor typographic variations to sanserif in the text. Limiting the range

of type faces in the NE is probably the only major form of discipline in type design.

Generally type appears squeezed and jammed into restricted spaces which has the affect

of suggesting that the NE just has too much news to print. The body copy of the NE is

119

exclusively in one standard, justified seriffed face in exactly the same style as the tabloid

press from which the magazine has derived.

The main function of the headline is to attract attention. Scale is the usual

typographic attention grabbing device (anything between 36 and 72 point type is

normal) with reversal out of a black panel being the next most popular and the inclusion

of bright and basic coloured typography would be the third most popular device.

Various brush scripts are used in a small minority of cases when attention is thought to

be lagging. Computer modification of type (like keylines and dropped shadows) are

used only rarely.

Colour: The most dominant element of the cover design after the typography is its

limited range of colour with warm red and blue dominant (consciously echoing the

patriotic colours of the American flag in the mast head) with yellow and white backing

up in a limited, but binding colour range. The consistent use of this basic primary

colour range, along with the typography and cramped layout style, offer what appear

to be the only consistent elements in an otherwise chaotic style of design where

packing it in looks like the primary production value.

The Enunciation of the Graphic Design Code in Binary Oppositions

The development of the postmodern Graphic Design Code can be most clearly seen

once one realizes the contrived and constructed nature of the postmodern marketplace

into convenient market sectors each enunciated by a particular attitude toward the

dominant design language. The degree of separation of design values should be

evident in the preceding analyses, nevertheless it is necessary to systematize them

into patterns they seem to naturally fall into.

Pro-aesthetic design

General

High cover price

The form of presentation is more important than the

textual subject

Designer's voice dominant

Anti-aesthetic design

Low cover price

The subject is always of primary importance

Designer's voice suppressed

Layout grids

Changing grids

White space maximized

Spacious grids

Wide margins

Layouts simple

Covers rarely use inset photographs

Interior grids loosely based on the mean

Interior layout maximize full page

Freedom to use unstructured grids

Multiple column widths incorporated page grid / layout

Consistent grids

White space minimized

Tight grids

Narrow margins

Layouts busy, complex and crowded

Covers nearly always use multiple inset photographs

Interior grids usually mathematically golden divided

Interior layouts use minimal full page bleeds

Unstructured grids very rare

Usually only one or two column into a single widths

incorporated into single page layouts

120

Pro-aesthetic design continued Anti-aesthetic design continued

Slipping, (using and overlapping of body copy

Small images are often deep-etched against columns

of copy or white backgrounds

Type design

Disciplined range of typefaces

Disciplined range of type sizes - tending to be smaller

in scale

Disciplined application of colour in typography

Cover typography harmoniously colour co-ordinated

Texl often subservient to image

Type is thoughtfully placed and complement subject

Headings are carefully kerned and spaced

Postmodern, digitally generated faces popular

Layered' headings and copy

Body / text copy often set with a wide leading

Typography achieves contrast through background

and colour

Conventional grid bound' presentation of body copy

Small photographs are often scattered over each other

to randomly fill a page - a jumble of images

Undisciplined range of typefaces

Undisciplined range of type sizes - tending to be larger

in scale

Undisciplined application ol colour in typography

Cover typography coloured to maximize contrast

While image predominates, its subject is always

subservient to the text

All subjects get basically the same designed

to typographic and design treatment

Headings conventionally kerned and spaced

Mostly conventional / modern faces used

Heading presented in a consecutive, straight

forward manner

Body / text copy set with normal leading (tight) leading

Typography is contrasted by its modification using

keylines. outlines, inlines. dropped shadows either

Singh/ or in combination

(D

• <

Illustration/photography

Strong, simple images

Photography - high quality studio lit

Full page bleed photography maximized

Full page bleed cover images nearly universal

Maximizing picture / image quality is a primary goal

in the layout

Busy, uncoordinated snapshots

Photography - snapshot quality paparazzi' style

Full page bleed photography minimized

Full page bleed cover images but heavily interrupted

by inserts

Maximizing variety, celebrity and curiosity is a primary

layout goal

Colour

Colour range restricted

Colour co-ordination harmonious

Typography and line work colour co-ordinated to

harmonize with photographs, therefore colour

is used to complement photography rather than

compete for attention.

Colour range unrestricted

Colour used to maximize contrast and catch attention

Type, line-work and photographs use colour to compete

independently for attention

Materials of presentation

Generous formats - wider and often taller than A4

- closer to A3

Top quality printing - often sheet fed

Economical formats - smaller than A4 determined

by plate /press size

Good, but mass produced Web offset quality

121

Pro-aesthetic design continued Anti-aesthetic design continued

Paper stock - quality art papers of relatively heavy gsm. Paper stock - economical poor quality machine

Inserts of different papers usually chosen for particular finish light gsm. Changes of stock usually to

finishes e.g. to look environmental/recycled. newsprint inserts.

Binding - more often perfect bound Binding - mostly saddle stitched

Covers glossy using special varnishes, coalings Covers often of glossier stock but lack additional finishes

and finishes

These oppositions should be understood as representing polar tendencies in the

postmodern Graphic Design Code. There are of course, publications (such as those I

have analysed) that represent the polar extremes of the code, but many publications

refer to the 'extreme' symbols of the code by reference only, which enables the

incorporation of the idea but not in a pure form. In a sense this knowledge of reference

is the graphic designer's stock in trade and demonstrates the richness of the language

of design in the language of general communication.

What it does demonstrate is a highly structured universe of symbols, signs and

codes where a competitive marketplace is manipulating publics in order to win market

share. What motivates these patterns, which I have demonstrated to exist

internationally at least across Western developed cultures, are forces mainly economic.

social and cultural in nature and are most clearly demonstrated in concepts like social

class which is where the economic and the social interconnect.

Conclusion

In this chapter I have analysed the structure of the elements of the Graphic Design

Code as it applies to the commercial magazine media. This analysis enables me to

place different publications along an aesthetic continuum which correlates to wider

social factors - especially those of class, which are in turn reinforced by competitive

market differentiation and market maintenance.

In the next chapter, the Graphic Design Code will be tested again; this time by the

designers who produce many of the magazines under analysis. Through interviews and

discussions on the meaning and motivation behind their design I will seek to more

clearly understand the sign production of the graphic designer working in the

commercial media.

122

studyThe enunciation of the Graphic Code as signproduction - Space and Text

Introduction to Chapters 6, 7 b 8

The following three chapters are based on the transcripts of key informant interviews

with ten of Australia's leading magazine art directors*. These interviews were

constructed around discussions of issues based on the five main elements of graphic

design as introduced in Chapter 3 and around some of the main issues raised in the

first two literature review chapters of this thesis; ideas such as authorship in Graphic

Design, institutional production and an attempt to associate Graphic Design values

with those of the habitus of the art directors involved.

The analysis in the following chapters follows the broad structure of the interview

schedule and is presented around the design values expressed by the magazines

representing the pro- (dominant) and anti- (subordinate) aesthetic polarities of the code

as developed in Chapter 4. The interviews are represented thus:

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

1A News Weekly IB Women's Weekly 1

2A Photographic Monthly 2B Women's Weekly 2

3A Futuristic Quarterly 3B Sport Weekly

4A Food/Lifestyle Monthly 4B Readership Interests Weekly

5A Fashion Monthly 5B Popular Culture Monthly

I did not consider it appropriate to give a structured questionnaire and instead opted for

open interviews based on general topics which the interviewees responded to in the way

they found most relevant. I could also test their interpretation for inflection and clarity,

which would not be possible in questionnaire analysis. The sample is small, only ten

interviews in all, so statistically cannot produce significant quantitative material. However,

these are key informant interviews with some of the leading media art directors in

Australia so represent the most authoritative opinion in their field. These interviews are

primarily concerned with values and methods of practice so depth was the most relevant

direction to go. Each interview lasted between one and one and a half hours.

Comments, when lifted from interview transcripts, will be presented using the

numbers and the polarized columns as listed above. Not all art directors are necessarily

represented in each category (only when relevant) nor need they be in polarized

conflict; so reflecting the contradictions and ambiguities of life and practice despite

their polarized output.

' The interviews were conducted in Apol and May 1996 in both Sydney and Melbourne. Each interview lasted between one and one and a half hows and has been

fully transcribed by the author Generally speaking the interviewees were accredited as Ait Director but on some publications were labelled Graphic Design. Design

or even Design Editor in one case In each case however, the designer interviewed was the one most responsible for the decision making m the design production

of the publication

123

Space and Text

In chapter 4 I introduced a structure of elements which comprise all graphic design.

This chapter will concentrate on the first two, space and text. Space is the most

abstract and most fundamental desion element and because nf its empty quality is

constantly inviting us to fill it with meaning. For this reason, space is one of the most

manipulated of elements, often working its influence not through what it is but what it

is not. The phenomenon of white space is identified as being one of the most powerful

visual signifiers of class; white space signifying prestige and wealth, crowded

obliteration of space signifying lower class value for money and colour and movement

In my analysis of the Graphic Design Code I have identified strongly polarized styles of

presentation that use space in strongly contrasting systems of presentation catering to

different taste markets. This process exposes a powerful role for Graphic Design in

taste manipulation through market maintenance. This chapter commences with the

most abstract quality of white space and then moves on the the obvious structural

framework of the grid.

Typography is probably the most universal Graphic Design element acting as the link

between the text and the design presentation. Again, this area reinforces the

polarization in the code through so many characteristics - some of the strongest

contrasts being the most general of areas - like discipline. Good taste prescribes

maximum discipline in every aspect of typography while the mass market encourages

diversity and gaudy, expressive typography. These polarizations are carried through all

aspects of typography; body copy, columns, headlines, kerning, leading and alignment.

White Space

Space was regarded as one of the most important and fundamental design elements

by all of the designers. Each designer, despite their personal preference, described a

special relationship between their particular publication, its subject matter and the

presentation of space. Within the pro-aesthetic grouping for instance, only News

Weekly denied white space on the grounds that it is primarily a news magazine with a

primary function to carry news based text; communication of information was

described as its particular prime value. Despite this professed value. News Weekly

made fairly generous allowance for space in special features often expressed by

photographic scale and generally simple and 'spacey' photographic composition.

Futuristic Quarterly espoused very similar primary goals of communication of

information and yet it uses a copy/picture/space ratio vastly more generous than that

of News Weekly. Fashion Monthly, Food/Lifestyle Monthly and Photographic Monthly

each expressed a far stronger primary role of visual entertainment and as such were

more insistent on a generous use of white space but always with a complementary use

of other elements - especially photography.

Among the subordinate aesthetic publications, the Women's Weekly 1 designer is

the only dissenter to a raucous, loud and busy style of layout. The anti-aesthetic

designers consciously limit white space, mostly in the name of good value {more text

but especially pictures equals better value) but also in the belief that a youth market

also appreciates these same values.

124

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) 'I'd love to have some white space though i

don't think it's appropriate (or News Weekly magazine

If you have white space in a news magazine it doesn't

look newsy. It's something that's become part of

magazines that are not so news focussed. it's just

become part of the visual culture A news magazine is

really dense and full and busy the whole way through."

"I really hang out for the days when we get a cover

story, because that means I've got enough pages to

have some space in there."

(2A) "Oh I'm the king of white space! I heavily

believe in lots of space. When I worked at Photographic

Monthly that was one of the things I found most

imporlan t... I used to keep openings quite sparse, quite

bold ... I guess for me scale is everything. Scale creates

white space plays off against scale, so probably,

more importantly. I work with scale |as a foundation |

and then white space would play off against that"

'Basically my reasoning for white space is ... to give

breathing space. People feel comfortable with it."

|3A) "I am often given a fairly open brief regards

Futuristic Quarterly, at least it was like that earlier and

perhaps | l | took an opportunity to use space very

lavishly; to allow the images to tell part of the story."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "Weli I like to have as much space as possiDie.

white space for example ... I find it [white space]

pleasing. I think that is what this whole magazine is at

the moment, pleasing to me ... This space we've got

here would have been totally not considered a few

months ago"

"Women's Weekly 2 is pure trash really ... people

love it and buy it but we were really hoping that in

cleaning our act (we are) making it more stylish."

(2B) "Basically we don't have much space in

Women's Weekly 2. We have too much copy and

pictures and too little space to allow it to be anything

else but very crowded and busy."

(3B) \Spon Weekly has been going through a lot of

changes recently! The basic difference is space ... A lot

more pictures and less space. Less ... white space in

the magazine ... I've bled everything... Hoping the kids

they like busy. busy, busy ... this is actually an

instruction from above to get as many pictures on as I

can they believe kids like colour, like action. That's

why I think pictures are good. I think anyone likes good

pictures no matter where you come from, but certainly,

pictures and headlines, things you use to break up the

text to make it more digestible."

a.<

(4A) "It's just as important as a shot (photograph],

white space, or as type. It gives you that balance or the

imbalance, whatever the need may be To me white

space is breathing space ..maybe if we have a full page

shot on one side, you will tend to have space on the

other side it's clean and easy to read. Space in this

sort of publication, is I think, very important - white

space"

(5A) "I think space is important... in various ways;

whether it's to separate the editorial advertising, or

whether it's to give emphasis to something or just

room to breathe I think too much white space can be a

problem as well, especially when you've got show

through and things like that to deal with I think ihe way

things are sort of laid ou t ... the trend at the moment

seems to be not to have a lot of white space, certainly

with the general run of magazines, but Fashion Monthly

has son of managed to sort of keep space as a too l "

(4B)" White space has very little value ... because

we've got very few numbers of pages and a huge

amount of information to fit in ... So we fill it up. Also

ihe readership is not the kind of reader who appreciates

white space ... Because it doesn't give any value to the

reader It's totally about giving value back to the reader

Information, inspiration, motivation and getting on

with their lives. That's what we're giving and white

space is white space It's none of those things."

(5B) "I never found space that precious in Popular

Culture Monthly ...You're very aware ol space as a

designer, because the type and the space around the

type is what makes it work ... I didn't want heaps of it...

whatever worked It was more of an intuitive thing I

think...some stories demanded more space "

"I'd often like to open feature stories with an

illustration with a full page (picture] but you wouldn't

often have that "

125

These excerpts do show a polarized set of values when it comes to the utilization of

space as a sign-function. News Weekly stands out as an exception to the dominant

aesthetic grouping, but in later extracts it will be revealed that News Weekly

compensates for a crowded layout with rigid and regularly controlled structure in its

design and a clever compensation in the feature articles which allow in some 'air' and

room to breath. Women's Weekly 1 is really the only exception to the subservient

aesthetic group with their supposed adoption of white space as a primary value. This

statement has to be understood in the context of the struggle between New Idea and

Woman's Day described in Chapter 4 and compared even to News Weekly in the

dominant group, her claims are strictly relative in practice, though important to the Art

Director of Women's Weekly 1 personally.

The most important distinction so far revealed is one of time and space. Space is

never articulated specifically as a component of time, but it is all the time being alluded

to as an agent and signifier of pace and mood:

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

11A) ... dense, full and busy'

(2AI". my reasoning lor white space is .. to give

breathing space '

".. basically. I found that clutter wasn't really that

inviting and that it was all too much trouble, so I

probably saw il as a bit of an attention seeker; just

letting people sort of cruise through it without being

bombarded with information "

(3A)".. an opportunity to use space very lavishly to

allow the images to tell part of the story."

(4A) "It also gives you a feeling of speed or of time

If you're looking at a page that's covered with different

elements and things, it creates a very busy, it's

stimulating, whereas Fashion Monthly has quite the

opposite affect: it's probably quite relaxing "

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB)". . we were hoping that in cleaning up our act

and making it more stylish, there was room for it."

(2B) " too much copy and pictures ... very crowded

and busy."

(3B)"... Kids ... they like busy, busy, busy ... colour

and action ... break up the text to make it more story."

(4B) "It's the space you have to leave to give

the reader a chance to stop, to finish one mind-set,

reading one feature or completing one puzzle and

move onto something new so that's a break. That's

the only time that we use any space at all ... they can

pace the information ... pace basically, that's what we

use space for"

(5B)" some stories demanded more space "

(5A)".. space is important to separate. ... give

emphasis or just room to breath."

Only the dominant aesthetic designers saw space enhancing the aesthetic qualities of

their magazines. The designers from Fashion Monthly were most articulate in this area:

(5A) "I think it makes a magazine appear more up-market and more creative and artistic because it's no t. .

more commercial magazines are just out to sell a lot and fill every bit of space with something: no matter

how banal it is, they'll fill it!"

126

(4A) "I've worked on teenage magazines where you do fill up the page. You fill up every possible space,

because the kids want information, they want it to look busy and chock-a-block. Whereas the more design

orientated the magazine, the less there is on a page, because you've got that feeling of space and

generosity and I guess with Fashion Monthly too. it gives you that feeling of indulgence to actually give

a photograph a double page spread. So it really depends on the market I think."

rr

There is a clear assumption here that there are class specific styles for particular markets; ~

in these cases spacious, uncluttered layouts for up-market readerships. The designer of "*

Futuristic Quarterly was less willing to adopt the idea of space being class or market

driven. He was insistent in seeing space as a purely functional foundation of the page but

even he described the different uses of space being part of a cultural dialogue:

(3A) "White space has a function. It's not because we have an inch of white space in the column that

somehow makes it high class. White space is purely there to define the space occupied by the elements

on the page and guide the readers through ... by filling the space, which is what Women's Weekly 1 and

other magazines do That's ... there's the cultural dialogue at work."

Space should not be understood purely as white space however. Many of the designers

saw space in photography, and the space occupied by photography, as also contributing

to the spaciousness of a publication. It should be understood that art direction also

involves the art direction of the photographers in a magazine. Photographers are usually

carefully chosen to complement the spatial values of a particular publication. Because

News Weekly is a primarily textual publication, the art director was keen to use the spatial

compositions of photography to give air to the layout of an otherwise dense page.

(1A) "It's not often that stories are picture driven but that one was because we had so much to work with.

Because we had the stuff there I could take the room to make space. It's really hard in a news magazine

to get them to allow that ... But always. I'm the only art person here lighting at an editorial level for space.

Most of the people I work with come from newspapers and they think ads go in space, you know. If you've

got any space over you put a picture in it. There's one picture for every story; that's what they're used to."

Grids

The grid was acknowledged as being the basic architectonic foundation of the

magazine page by all of the designers. There are however contrasting values when it

comes to flexibility and variation between the extremes of the aesthetic spectrum.

Generally, the dominant aesthetic designers have a much longer lead time for the

preparation of designs and artwork. This allows and encourages much greater creative

input on the designer's part and results in approaches to their work that might be

described as experimental and flexible; this flexibility affects the grid as much as any

other design element.

The strongest and most enduring aspect of the grid is that it belongs to the tradition

of the magazine. Nearly all of the art directors interviewed inherited a spatial structure

from the previous editions of their publication and this in fact forms a standardized

foundation for the page that most of the designers respected and were reluctant to

tamper with. It would generally be the case that the pro-aesthetic designers had far

greater freedom to vary and experiment with the structure and proportions of the grid,

but even so, they nearly all found themselves appreciating and continuing to use the

structure that already exists.

127

Again, News Weekly magazine provided the most rigid structure; the News Weekly

art director did not even see originality in design as being of value in the context of an

international magazine:

(1A) ". . on a one page story, there's no point in redoing the layout. There are about hall a dozen layouts

you can do and you can be pretty sure that among them you are going to find one that will suit the picture

... The layout is entirely up to me. but there are things I'm used to seeing I know they work better. It's kind

ol six of one half a dozen of the other: do we do them because we're used to seeing them, or do we do

them because we know they work better?"

Here is a designer who sees the primary strength of her contribution to a primarily

internationally designed magazine being the ability to blend and not stand out as a

separate author. For her strength is in consistency and respect for the international

design style. Other news magazines conform to this heavy formatting, in which the grid

plays such a dominant role but not so most magazines with a greater text/pictorial mix.

Even the most avant garde magazines of my sample showed a strong respect for the

tradition of their publication, though they did hold experimentation and permission to vary the

grid as a valued option. The tradition and tight production schedules of weekly magazines

seem to suppress experimentation as an option at all. The anti-aesthetic magazines value

heightened expression in many ways (see Typography and Colour) but it is interesting that they

are almost entirely standardized when it comes to the basic structure provided by the grid.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(2A) " Well when I got to Photographic Monthly there

was basically a two column grid happening. I changed the

body copy and everything, but pretty much, you know the

page numbers and a large amount ol the style was set up

already, the gutters and all that... the gallery section was

pretty much there when I got there and I went through

ways of, you know, putting them off centre, you know, little

things like that and in the end I came to the conclusion of let

galleries be galleries and just show them in the middle sort

of thing Jusc try and keep them really simple and clean."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(28)"... the grid always stays the same in each

section every week. It never really varies unless you've

got a big photo spread and the copy has to just

somehow fit in."

(3B) "Up until page 34. that's when the thing starts

and there are grids. This is where there is some text

rather than a whole mess of pictures ... So there is |sic|

three columns on each template that we call up .. like

a newspaper "

(3A) "21C is based on a gnd. The idea of a grid still seems

quite relevant We are still trying to communicate with an

audience and at the present time we want the reader to be

able to read it; it has a certain structure of its own. And what

we now want to do is to find a sympathetic way of laying

that out and the grid is still providing dual elements of

structure and flexibility... Its actually a five column grid which I

use either symmetrically or asymmetrically''

(5B| "Everything is basically very stick to the grid, have

your type very constant in the two columns and then you

could go wild with your headings to catch the eye . Like

a constant running through it. so you could follow the

grid"

(5A) "Grid is very important I think It should be quite

simple and there should be room to break out of it if

there's a good enough reason. But once you've got a good

grid and a good type style set. it should be flexible enough

and then you let the photographs tell the story."

128

There was one aspect of the modern aesthetic that many of the pro-aesthetic designers

found important enough to mention in relation to the grid - namely that of balance. The

anti-aesthetic magazines were all built on either a symmetrically placed two or three

column grid. Most of the pro-aesthetic art directors were careful to build a foundation grid

that at least gave them the option of constructing an asymmetrical design: _,(D

(2A)"... the gallery section was pretty much there when I got there and I went through ways of. you know. j?a.

putting them off centre ... and in the end I came to the conclusion of let galleries be galleries and just "*

show them in the middle ... Because that's how they all need to be represented. I experimented and tried

to do different thing in different issues ...You know I actually tried ... Basically I decided galleries are

galleries. Just try and keep them really simple and clean

(3A) "It's actually a five column grid which I use either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Originally it was

my intention to use no symmetry whatsoever in the publication which was a pretty tough brief to follow ...

The very squareness of the pages implies a kind of symmetry and more and more I've related to the

symmetry of the pages and the symmetry of some of the elements Sometimes I either design a very

symmetrical layout or I consciously make every element asymmetrical."

(5A) "... I quite like the flexibility where you have two wide columns and a thin column which is something

I'll probably pull in . so you can run the main text in the wider columns and then use that either on the

outside edge or an inside and play with the grid in that sort of way"

These extracts give an impression of the angst involved in the creative decision making

of the pro-aesthetic designer as they struggle with the grid, forcing it into a radical sign

vehicle. There is no such struggle mentioned by the mass-market designers. They

simply did not see experimentation with the grid as a necessary pre-occupation for

their design role where creative expression was much more strongly focussed in the

fields of typography and colour.

Typography

Typography is recognized by all of the designers as being one of the most important

elements in the designer's range of expression. However, there is very little

agreement over what is the primary sign function of typography between the

polarized groups of art directors. One of the Fashion Monthly designers, who moved

from massmarket magazines to up-market design most clearly identifies the

differences in need and approach:

(4A)"... on teenage magazines you use 50.000.000 different typefaces because often on a page you've got

so many different stories and there isn't that need for consistency or lormula. Every page must look

completely different. On this publication though it would look a mess: on something that isn't meant to

look like a mess."

In a sense, the mass-market magazines try to use typography more expressively than

the up-market ones, but they do so primarily by using less limited ranges of typeface,

point size and colour. The up-market magazines on the other hand, try and express

meaning using restrictions in all of those areas by using a limited palette of typeface,

size and colour, often concentrating on spatial compositions to give meaning.

129

Of all of the art directors, News Weekly certainly insisted on the most restricted and

disciplined typographic range, but interestingly. News Weekly was also the clearest in

stating its primary typographic function, that is. to communicate and to present a

consistent, authoritative feel which they claimed came through consistency. Confident

use of relatively unchanging typography, it was claimed was responsible for that effect.

So the sign function of typography in News Weekly is particularly heavily laden.

(1A) "News Weekly is really regimented all the way along. The priority is communicating and that ...I don't

know that it is particularly designed to present a style of reporting. I think it's designed ... most pages are

pretty much text dense stories The stories are long and they're very dense in the information that's in them.

That's a real feature of News Weekly journalism, there's stacks and stacks of information ... obviously the

body copy is designed for legibility, but the headline type and the caption styles change so much, that I'd

have to say that they're there to make the magazine look contemporary. News Weekly likes to think of itself

as a real leader in the field. To have a style that never changed, or that didn't have any flexibility in it. then that

wouldn't work for it. We don't redesign the magazine all the time ... I think it keeps itself up to date as far as

a news magazine goes. It does change, it's changed a bit since I've been here in the past two years "

The reader would need to develop an expert eye to detect the sorts of changes being

discussed here, but in areas such as news magazines, change is very subtle yet carries

a great deal of responsibility for fine tuning the readers sensibilities on important issues

like contemporaneity and authoritiveness. Generally though. News Weekly's Australian

art director was happy to be subservient to the New York art director's style and saw

the strength of her contribution in not being noticed. All of these feelings were

expressed and yet she still confessed her primary passion in design to be typography.

Discipline

Discipline, in the context of typography, refers to a restriction in the use of the range of

available typographic elements namely those of typeface, point size, colour, digital face

modification, kerning etc. A disciplined control of typographic elements versus a virtually

uncontrolled use of most of these elements typifies one of the clearest and boldest

polarizations in the design code. The following statements are discussing the various

designer's creative flexibility when it comes to typography; ironically, it is those with the

greatest perceived freedom who impose the greatest restriction on their own choices.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A| "I can do anything I want Regards typography)

only I wouldn't... because I'm dealing with a readership

that knows the magazine really well. I'm dealing with a

standard perception and I don't want to jar that."

(2A) "... if I wanted to change the body copy then I

could and if I wanted to get a bromide of it I could, but I

didn't have to do anything ... I could have left it exactly

how it was. You know everything was self initiated. If I

want to change it then I could but everyone would have

been quite happy if it just stayed the same."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(2B) "We are free really to use whatever we think

might be suitable for a story. Usually we will use Futura

but we might also use a script or a more decorative face

depending on what is most appropriate It must catch

the eye. You'll notice as you flip through the pages that

the size and position of the headlines keeps changing to

give variety and to keep the reader's eye moving so they

don't get bored ... We are very conscious of that. We

have to keep the reader's attention uppermost in our

minds when designing ... Apart from Futura. we have

have no restrictions at all. We can use whatever

typeface we think is appropriate "

130

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued

(4A) "Well once again, minimal number of fonts.

Unless you've got a specific subject that lends itself to

having something out of the ordinary, or what you

would normally use. But that's really the exception '

"... we wouldn't change our fonts more than once every

year... people like something that they're familiar with

and that they recognize, you cant... well we've learnt

from experience, that readers don't like too much

change, so it has to happen slowly, not too loud a clash."

(5A)"... it's all Firmin Dido and Gill Sans and the

body copy is Times. That basically runs all the way

through. We had a special Ultra Light version of Gill

cast, but that's what we stick to .... Because the

magazine has to have an identity, it has to have a look

It has to look different to other magazines and it has to

be legible: people are paying a lot for Fashion Weekly

as well, so they want something that looks like it's

worth the money ... the type and the images do not

need to fight, they need to be in harmony."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(3B) "Well, at the beginning ... we've got about 25

faces to choose from. In the beginning I found there was

no flow through the magazine. Every page looked

different. It didn't marry together I know a lot of

magazines want that. They want every page to look really

different. But also again for simplicity. I didn't want people

sitting back thinking right, which one is going to work

best here?' I want to say OK you've got just those three

to choose from. Just get it out!' Unfortunately, designing

takes a back-seat to production. Purely because it |ust has

to to get it out, with the deadlines we have. So anyway,

the whole design concept of this magazine is to try to

make it as busy and presentable as we can but not try to

make it too hard for the artists to do it."

(4B) "There are only about twelve typefaces actually

... which we pick right at the beginning and we've

updated with two or three [faces| each year... The

function of the limited range? To give the designers

less scope to work with ... The more options you give

a designer, the more the use and the longer they'll

take. The commercial production of a magazine of that

size when it comes out on a weekly basis, you need to

use all of the design skills that they've got in here Itaps

her head) well you need to limit them so they don't

spend, you know, like that has to go out today, and you

know if you're spending half the day deciding out of 46

typefaces which one should be the headline type

you're not going to get the job done, it's that simple."

a.•<

It is interesting that discipline varies according to the design elements under

discussion. In the area of grid variation, there was considerable variation allowed in the

treatment of the grid in the dominant aesthetic publications, whereas in the

subordinate publications the grid was treated fairly inflexibly as a standard element on

which to hang layouts. This difference is explained by the dominant designers as a

willingness, indeed an obligation to their self respect as designers to experiment; to be

creative. Not so their approach to typography. When it comes to typographic

experimentation, the dominant designers profess their strongest values to be in

restraint, although one or two of the variables might be let go. The subordinate

aesthetic designers on the other hand, tend to see typography as the area of maximum

flexibility in the construction of their designs; however, their flexibility is motivated by

attention seeking rather than creative experimentation. It is necessary to break

typography into body copy and headlines to more fully understand the two broad areas

of usage and further differentiate the polarities of the code.

131

GO

Body copy

Body copy is the typography that carries the text part of the manuscript. The text has

traditionally been regarded as the most functional element of graphic design. This

traditional notion was echoed by some of the art directors more than others. News

Weekly and Futuristic Qudrterly who saw themselves as having a more 'serious'

educational/communicative/informative role regarded the body copy as being most

important. Magazines that regard their primary function as entertainment (which was

most of the categories) are often fairly sceptical as to whether their publications are

read at all. in which cases, body copy might be seen to have the function of giving the

'serious intent' of the magazine credibility by the presence of typographic passages

while not actually needing to be read to impart any more substantial information.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(3A) "The word, the central word, which

I am starting to understand is the word

communication Like this magazine is all

about ... is so earnestly trying to

communicate and I think that some of the

questions about lor example the issues of

colour and type, and pngly ]angly. these

issues are all just purely trying so hard to

get any message across."

(4A) "Type is to portray what the story is

about, it's to. I mean apart from the shots

inviting you to read something, to capture

someone's attention, not necessarily by what

the heading says either, but to make it look

interesting and to make people stop to read it

and I guess that's where colour comes in too."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "Well I think text is very important. i( it's easy to read.

You know, it's got to be easy to read whether it's a novel or a

magazine or a newspaper... I think if they are going to read it

you've got to make it as readable as possible.'

"Well, because I wanted a serif face and I went through all

the typefaces and it was the one that appealed to me the

most ... I think it's easier to read ... We changed it back to a

serif type face - which is Palatine"

(4B) "The body type is pretty standard. Apart from the

column width ... there's not really much that can be done with

it. A nice simple type face. Keep it really clean."

(5B) "Garamond ... I chose ... because ... it was very

readable Then you don't have to think about whether or not

the text is working and ... you can concentrate on the other

elements to give a stronger design stamp."

Both extremes of the code seem to largely agree that body copy should be set with a

large degree of consistency in regard to typeface (indeed all seemed to prefer a

traditional serif face), point size, leading etc. The dominant aesthetic designers mostly

included greater leading; a factor reflecting their higher aesthetic priorities. The mass-

market designers had a tendency to see the carrying of text as being merely functional

and therefore were more space conscious and tended to want to squeeze it in.

Columns

Apart from wider leading, the only other area of significant contrast in body copy, is in

the area of regular/irregular grids in the setting of columns of type. Here the

subordinate aesthetic publications tended to remain constant. Even the David Carson

inspired Popular Culture Monthly carries strictly regular grids of body copy. Only the

designer of Readership Interest Weekly claimed to allow column/grid freedom, but this

was not evident in my observation of the actual material. However, the dominant

aesthetic group allowed for considerably more flexibility. Even News Weekly allows for

132

flexibility in the typographic columns of its feature layouts. Fashion Monthly and

Food/Lifestyle Monthly do not indulge in type column variation to any great extent,

but the licence is clearly available and it is noticeable as a sign of creative flexibility

and contemporaneity. Photographic Monthly and Futuristic Quarterly both indulge in

type column variety on a regular basis with avant garde layouts which consciously

flaunt their freedom to experiment.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "... on a one page story, there's no point in

redoing the layout. There are about half a dozen layouts

you can do and you can be pretty sure that among

them you are going to find one that will suit the picture

all those things, they're all described. The layout is

entirely up to me. but there are things I'm used to

seeing. I know they work better."

(2A) "Yes. Well I went through, basically mucking

around with columns. You know that sort of thing?"

(3A)"... the magazine is partitioned off into broadly

two areas The front end and the back end for

peripheral pieces. The features mostly use the same

Novarese font, the same size, the same leading and

within reason, the same two column width. Everything

else changes around it."

"Sequence is quite vital. It was written as a

continuous piece of text but it was quite distinctively

broken. So this was an opportunity then to accentuate

the way that the author was talking about different

people and the people were speaking about different

subjects. Visually there was no material, and nothing I

would have used anyway .. So I explored tha lext.

worked out where the breaks were, found out what the

key phrases were and used the key phrases and brought

those out... so that key phrase probably relates to that

and that relates to that. So it kind of progresses."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(2B) "... the grid always stays the same in each

section every week. It never really varies unless

you've got a big photo spread and the copy has to

just somehow fit in."

(4B) |Are these grids all standard?] "More or less

|lt is a four column grid isn't it?] No! necessarily. It

could be a three, it could be a five could be...that is

absolutely up to [the individual designer] ... The body

type is pretty standard. Apart from the column

width...there's not really much that can be done with

it A nice simple type lace. Keep it really clean "

I5B) "Everything is basically very stick to the grid,

have your type very constant in the two columns and

then you could go wild with your headings to catch

the eye ... Like a constant running through it, so you

could follow the grid ... everything was there but then

you could do wonderful things with the typography

It was always a struggle to provide a structured and

readable type that would communicate the text but

then provide a consistency ... That was my greatest

problem .. consistency."

"I don't agree with the way Raygun sets out their

Itext] it's interesting for designers but I don't think ...

I've never wanted to read it. David Carson treats the

page as a total canvas which is really interesting and

it's fabulous design, but we were faced with the fact

that we actually had to sell magazines to the market

it was too hard to do that in a commercial

magazine, too arty farty ..."

a.<

133

Headlines

The headline is treated quite differently to body copy within the graphic design code of

commercial publications. Again the polarization hinges on variety and discipline, but

the distribution is in contrast to the variation in columns and grid. The dominant

aesthetic designers all work very restrictively with a small range of typeface options in

their headings. This is in contrast to the mass market designers who maximize variety

and contrast in face, stylistic treatment, colour and placement.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

|1A] "Benton Bold Condensed is the new headline

face m the news section of the magazine, and there's

about five Caledonias for different headlines in different

places, for charts, cover type, subheads ... They're

pretty much in those two faces, and certainly the only

things that I do with type are headlines and captions and

that's a challenge but a good one "

(2A| "I went through a few phases, went through the

Emigre Fonts, eryou know, getting the latest font... fin

his headings, he was interested inj How people visually

break-up words and also try and get the reader to think a

little bit more. To challenge the reader a little bit ... that's

sort of the way David Carson designs. A similar kind of

concept, but not to the same extent."

". . what I wanted to do. was slowly evolve Din Triftin

into something completely different by five issues later

.. I |ust started to make slight modifications to Din but

there just wasn't enough time to completely evolve a

different face every issue. It's a pretty big task."

(4A)"... they are fairly conservative magazines, its

not like working on Oyster or Juice where you can

actually, you know, you can really go to town. But it

would scare hell out of our readers They |ust don't

understand. So in that respect, it's very conservative

type. We don't manipulate our type at all. we don't

condense it or extend it or layer things too much

because it loses that classic tradition. So you have to

do your funky bits in other ways or try and get that ...

look modern but try and keep it classic."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "It is Bodoni. yes! ... I felt that a serifed type

face was friendlier to the reader, but I still wanted it to

look modern, so I horizontally scaled it so that it is

wider than normal. So even though I think it looks

friendlier its more attractive and more modern."

(3B) "A guy from England came over last year, a guy

called Ian Pollard, who started the Boiler magazine in

Germany and he had all these little effects and he left

them with me and said feel free to use them. We are

trying to go for a sort of 3D effect there .. so they're all

very good tricks to jazz it up a little bit."

"... colour is crucial... it depends on the spread, but

we try to let the pictures have the colour: not to use

your text and your headline to take away from that... A

lot of magazines use their headlines, use illustrator and

go big wowie. zowie more than we do I think you have

to compare it to other sports magazines. I don't think

we can be compared to any other genre."

(<JB) [Display type] It's to grab your attention. To

focus on a particular element of the story ... It is totally

driven by the story. If it's a romantic story then you'd

use probably a serif type and softer colours ... The most

emotive colour that relates to that particular type of

story is what we use and then the typography follows

on Irom that. If it's a pink story you're not going to have

a huge .. great thing Grotesque slab headline."

(5B)".. the one constant thing on every page of the

magazine. I would usually play with type, especially in the

heading ... My philosophy with typography was to choose

a fairly simple typeface and just work with that... you can

work with them |more conventional faces?) yourself and

put your own stamp on it... just go for the best affect. It's

very much like abstract painting. In a way. You're just

using different materials ... I would generally try and make

the typography in some way respond to the story

134

Kerning, leading and alignment

Other characteristics of typography such as kerning, leading and alignment were raised

in the interviews but only the dominant aesthetic designers chose to see them as

significant. It is almost as if the mass-market designers see these things as 'refined' fine

tuning and are happy to let such details be handled by the computers by default.

Kerning was mentioned only by the designers for News Weekly and Fashion

Monthly. In each case it was mentioned as a characteristic of refinement and evidence

of a sophisticated knowledge of good typography, but it is also hinted that these 'old

typographic values' have to be defended and are under threat by the new technology

or neglect.

(1A) T m a typographer at heart Although I love ihe picture side of a magazine, type is what I ... llovel...

and it's a good magazine from that point of view because it's a magazine that really values type and when

an editor comes in and tells you that he likes your kerning, then you know that you are dealing with a fairly

responsive group of people Which is good I mean, to have someone else apart from the art department,

even to know what kerning is ..."

(5A) "We've lost good typesetters so everything kind of has to be done (by the designer on the computer]

... trying to explain to someone who does the accounts why you've got to get someone in to kern a

typeface when you've already paid for it: it's very difficult. We never used to have these problems in the

old days because the typesetters did the best kerning and that was fine."

Leading was not specifically mentioned as a manipulated typographic value by any of

the designers. Alignment was varied according to section in most of the publications

and seemed to carry the major function of section differentiation but was again not

regarded as being sufficiently important to raise comment.

Conclusion

Both space and typography emerge as strongly and consistently polarized elements of

the Graphic Design Code. As such they are strong markers of class treating their

subjects in ways that clearly expose their values from prestige to pack-it-in value for

money. The respondents, whilst supporting the ethos of their particular publications

largely support the semiotic analysis developed in Chapter 3. Likewise with typography.

Discipline seems to be the key to typography in magazines as it is maximized in the up-

market and relatively uncontrolled at the mass market end. This dichotomy applies to

every aspect of typography from typeface to kerning.

135

studyThe enunciation of the Graphic Code as signproduction - Image, Colour and Materials

Introduction

This chapter completes the analysis by the ten art directors commenced in Chapter 6

into the remaining elements of the Graphic Design Code - illustration, colour and

materials of presentation. No special significance is to be given to their division into a

separate chapter; this decision was made purely in terms of volume.

Photography and Illustration

Illustration, as explained in Chapter 3, is meant to cover any form of non-typographic

material that constitutes an element of the design. The sample of magazines covered

by the interviews in fact used very little illustration other than photography. This is not

surprising in the case of Photographic Monthly as it is fundamentally an art

photography, folio style publication, but all of the other magazines, except for Futuristic

Quarterly, photography was almost exclusively the only form of illustration used.

Futuristic Quarterly chose to use computer generated graphics (often incorporating or

deriving from photography) because of their 'difficult' subject matter; being mainly

futuristic. Futuristic Quarterly's designer found this form of illustration more suitable

because it was able to illustrate their often fairly 'abstract' concepts, give a sense of

the new and futuristic, but lastly, because their production budgets were so small that

they couldn't afford to use commercial photographers anyway.

I3A) "I lectured in computer graphics lor a few years and I know what the medium is capable of. A lot of

those ideas were appropriate. That was the subject matter - the subject was about technology. We are

capable of using technology to illustrate those ideas. There was a kind almost a natural relationship

between computer art and technology or a critique of technology ... I would like to use more straight

photography. There are two reasons why we don't One is because of budget .. |but] Clearly many of

our subjects don't exist or they are just not located at a place that we can get a photographer ..."

Photography, however, is the preferred form of illustration for contemporary

publications. The dominance of photography in contemporary magazines is due mainly

to technological development. Photography (and colour photography in particular) has

been available for the past 50 years but the coincidence of digital technology and the

related colour lithography has made high quality commercial colour printing and

photography natural partners.

137

The Sign-function of Photography

I attempted to get the art directors to prioritize the sign-functions of the various

elements in the design of their particular magazines. The most influential elements

noted by them were illustration and typography, representing visual and textual content

Most saw the visual as the most important element in the presentation of these sorts of

publications; the visual being the 'easy' hook to attract the reader into the content

whether that be on the macro level (of cover) or the micro level (of contents).

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) [So what do I look for in photographs?)

"Appropriateness for the story, I'd like to say news

value, but we don't have that many news stones ..

I'm a designer before I'm anything, so I'm looking

for a well designed photograph and the

photographers that I use. I probably have my

favourites amongst them because they are people

who are no! just recording an event but are using

all those tools that are available to photographers

as far as light, shadow and space in their photos."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "(What's the primary function of illustration?) ...

Interest. To make you look at it. |ls it more important than the

text?) Yes I think so ... I think you buy a magazine like this

and chuck it in the rubbish bin after you've looked at it we

try and get the best quality we can. It depends, if it's

fashion, it's a purely visual thing, your best shot. In these

sorts of papers it's more of an editor's choice. It's not really

me that would choose them, i ts the editor that decides

what the story is really about and what pictures would be

most relevant. In this one I was given those."

(2A)"... my opinion wasn't really you know like

... Marcello had this concept for this magazine,

and like you know, I'd tried to introduce some

other stuff and not make it so much nudity, but he

sort of sat me down and said that's the concept of

it. it's been like that, it will always be like that and

so you know, so those sort of things, you know,

you have to accept. He sort of had the final say

and there wasn't much point in me going in there

and putting in my two bits anyway. It was a waste

of time actually"

(4A) "From the letters we get from readers

some love it because it's a beautiful thing to look

at. others love the recipes, others like perving into

other peoples lives ... I think the beauty, the visual

aspect is probably number one. definitely ... They

initially pick it up and think 'Ah this is beautiful!'

but will they buy it again? So I guess visual

number one. the old cover thing, making someone

pick it up in the first place."

"[Photography is most often used]... especially

with food, because food is a visual thing and

people like to see food. That's why this magazine

is so popular because everybody ... generally loves

lood They just look at it and dribble."

(2B) "... most of our illustrations are photographs ... How

it relates to the story is most important. We always have to

read the article and then decide which shot does that best...

Usually (the choice is made|... with the editor or sub-

editor. We decide together which are the most important

shots and' usually give the biggest space to the main pic

Quality is important, but more important probably is content

There is no point in using a good quality photograph if a less

good quality shot says more about the subject even though

it might be a bit grainy or soft focus."

(3B) "Well to me it revolves completely around pictures

The headlines and the words have to complement the

picture ... grab your attention. To grab the reader and say

This is what the story's about ... the new philosophy is that

that's all they want is the captions and the pictures ...If you

buy a magazine I think you do want to look at it and get

something you don't get in a newspaper. .."

(4B)"... generally they (the photographs used in

Readership Interest Weekly) come straight from the reader,

from the reader's albums and personal collections.

Sometimes we'll go and we'll do an end shot or we'll

get a photographer to go out and take a picture of them

So we'll only have one good shot and the rest are the

reader's own. so you work around them and that's why we

138

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(5A) "Well there are three ... mam reasons. One take this cartoony approach, which shows what the

is to illustrate an actual product or concept So it pictures are about rather than worry about the quality of

works on an illustrative theme. [2] It works on the photographs ... most of our information is really

selling a product, because basically the advertising straight forward ... The motto of the magazine is Is the

is in some way linked to getting enough editorially thing for real?' it's like ... if it's a part of somebody's life it

... That's the commercial thing. And three. I think should be in there."

people just like nice things to look at. So they buy

the magazine to ... have good images"

The visual appeal of magazines is clearly of crucial importance in the attraction of the

reader, but clearly it is difficult to make more sweeping generalizations when the

magazines are divided into the aesthetic categories above. News Weekly for instance,

looks for a special type of news photograph that contain both strong documentary and

particular aesthetic qualities unique to that publication Photographic Monthly

reproduces art nude photography exclusively so it insists on both quality and a very

restricted subject matter. The other publications quoted above share the primary goal

of attraction but their explanations are strongly representative of the aesthetic

polarizations of the code; the dominant aiming to soothe and the subordinate taking a

more jostling, competitive stance.

Illustration versus Photography

The choice between photography and other forms of illustration proved to be pretty

much a non-argument; most used photography by preference because they saw it as

the best way of depicting their particular subject matter

The only regular exceptions to the photography rule each came from a tradition

adhered to in particular genres of publication. News Weekly for instance, had a

tradition of using specially commissioned illustrations of famous people on its covers

since its inception up until the 1980's. Covers of News Weekly these days are much

more varied but might still use illustration. The News Weekly's art director, explained a

distinction she made between the illustration of news reportage and opinion:

(1A) "I get a brief from the journalist on the story I would normally discuss it with the editor, we would

discuss whether or not we wanted a picture or an illustration They're pretty clearly defined, those things.

. News Weekly would have a preference for a photograph over an illustration usually ... It is generally

described by the kind of story ... It's going to be a more opinion piece which immediately says illustration

to me. because that's News Weekly's style: we like to have the illustrator put something additional to the

opinion. It's not to explain the story, but to add a second level to it ... unless the comments on a particular

person (if it was a panicular person it would be a photograph)... There's no such thing as a story in News

Weekly without a picture ... so there's got to be some sort of illustrative material with it. Unless it's about

a TV personality it'll be an illustration ... Personally I have a preference for illustrations on the cover but

they don't do as well for us. unless it's a particularly appropriate instance for an illustration, something like

Child Abuse or Domestic Violence when it's better to have an illustrative idea ..."

139

The only other generic ruling comes out of the mass-market tradition of women's

magazines, where romantic fiction is always accompanied by drawn or painted

illustration (seemingly, this is the only category of fiction that belongs to the genre)

(28) "We do use illustrations but only in certain sections; fiction, short stories and 5 Minute Fiction all use

jg" illustrations every week. I get to choose who we work with on those - they are all freelancers. But mostooJJ of our illustrations are photographs '-<

(48) [When would you use an illustration?)"... when you want to illustrate a point on a craft page, cookery

or whatever, to highlight a point of interest... [What about romantic fiction?) And the only other place, yes.

is the fiction page at the back of the magazine Usually the pictures we commissioned were of an overall

view of the whole story in one shot .."

Each of the pro-aesthetic designers however made a point of acknowledging the

freedom they had to use illustration but chose not to use it very often.

(2A| "I pushed thai as far as I could go as well Like I'd use my best Iriend; Photographic Monthly had

never seen a full page illustration before, so that was good. I'd introduced illustration .. it was a good

stage for me. because I could use different illustrators and find out who I liked and I sort of found

photographers and we'd complement each other's work ."

(3A) "Everything its appropriate to linocuts. which we have done: its appropriate to use watercolours.

which we have done . all of those mediums are appropriate, including both graphics and visual art. but.

the question I try to answer is which of those mediums are going to help me crystallize the visual idea and

more and more I'm relying on computer graphics."

(4A) "I don't even have an illustrator on my list ... When we have done illustration, they just don't seem to

fit in the context ol the magazine. For some reason, it's very hard to tell why we don't ... in our last

cookbook last year we used illustrations which were beautiful. But for some reason within the context of

this particular magazine, they just don't really work. I have just commissioned two illustrations for this

coming issue from somebody, for a wine story. Mainly they would feature too on our front pages rather

than Main Book, we would rarely illustrate the main book. It's often topics like, where the copy is not

maybe on the dull side but where to illustrate with a photograph would be boring, so it's getting someone

else's interpretation through an illustration that gives information through a different form."

(5A) "I'd like to use more illustration but i ts there's a general sort of move away from it. Even

photography's become illustrative.and illustration works in a different way now. The way Fashion Monthly

tends to work is probably not so conducive to the use of illustration as say ... a magazine about finance and

accounting where you've got abstract ideas that are really boring and you cannot photograph ... so you can

use illustration in that sort of way. I think for Fashion Monthly we can use very beautiful fashion illustration.

There are very few people around doing very good stuff, because in the world there is not enough outlet

for fashion illustrators to make a living. So as a result, we haven't got a huge amount of people to pull on..."

The illustrative option still exists in the repertoire of representational forms, though it now

seems to be seen as more problematic than the use of photographers. Both Photographic

Monthly and Futuristic Quarterly saw illustration as a generally applicable option. The two

Fashion Monthly designers saw it as being more problematic. It is interesting that the

Food/Lifestyle Monthly art director sees illustration as representing 'the personal voice' in

much the same way as News Weekly uses illustration to represent opinion.

140

Designing with Photographs

Given that photographs dominate the publication it is interesting to compare the way

the different designers approach their use in relation to the other design elements. All

of the publications give perhaps the highest value in photography to content. Even

Photographic Monthly has an insistence on nudity, despite its strong aesthetic

monitoring and high quality reproduction values. Yet only the pro-aesthetic group

appear to also care for aesthetic values like composition, tone and even a house style.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "Editors hate space, they just hate it

in pictures. They think like, if you cut that

picture off there they'll think i ts the same.

I'm lucky my editor here usually approves

my choice of pictures, but boy, did I have to

argue on that one! There's so much black

on that side and so much black and he lust

thought if I moved that pic all the way back

there I'd be fine."

"... the only time I've ever had a note

from an editor in New York It asked does

this picture actually have to be this big? I

was using it to spatially balance the page

because I'd had a very busy picture on the

opposite page. Spatially, busy pictures have

to be balanced by ones that are quiet. This

one here, was a great pic to go in between

the other two ..."

(2A) "Well probably. I mean what I found

hardest with Photographic Monthly was I

had probably a little bit of trouble pulling

baci>. and letting the photo stand on its own

... You know, that Photographic Monthly

consisted of photos text and type, whereas I

wanted a magazine with all those ingredients

working on the same level, whereas I think

this magazine didn't integrate all three [levels]

very well... basically it's nude photography

and then, well the articles are a bit highbrow

and a bit academic, which doesn't really

connect the two at all."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "The choice is between myself and the editor. We decide which

is the best quality. We get some terrible trannies but we still have to use

them because that tranme might be the only one available."

(2B) "How it relates to the story is most important. We always have

to read the article and then decide which shot does that best... Usually

with the editor or sub-editor. We decide together which are the most

important shots and usually give the biggest space to the main pic

Quality is important, but more important probably is content. There is

no point in using a good quality photograph if a less good quality shot

says more about the subject even though it might be a bit grainy or soli

focus."

(3B) "Well to take an example of a football spread now. there will

be a column down the side which will have the team up here ...

Underneath there will be a short paragraph ... and a general sort of

comment at the bottom. Thats the only text on that page. The rest ot

this is full of pictures as you see here , and there will be a headline

going through to sort of summarize the pictures like "Mighty Magpies"

or 'What a mark" that sort of thing Just a general thing to hold the

page together. But it is purely pictorial. Save for the odd sort of

paragraph there. And that's all that game will get Again, we can t

break stories because the papers will beat us. so they decided to fill it

with pictures. For that reason. I've taken off. I've bled everything. There

is no white. Hoping the kids...they apparently like busy. busy, busy ...

this is actually an instruction from above to get as many pictures on as

I can ... I found that it was just too busy You'd turn over and there were

just too many pictures. So I've since just taken a few pictures out to

make them just a bit bigger; so you still get that collage effect but

you've got something to focus on "

(4B) "I think the combination of the type and the photograph is

what is the most important thing. Its hard to know which one ... On the

page by deciding which was the most emotive shot that tells the story

best and using it next to; on top of, underneath, round whatever as

close to the headline as possible ... That link between that major shot

and the headline is important for telling that story because it might

have four or five other things going on at the same time."

141

Photographic Values

What constitutes quality in photographs is one of the most highly differentiated values

in the design code. It is in areas like this that aesthetic factors dominate, so it is not

surprising that pro- and anti-aesthetic values become more clearly evident. You can

detect a passionate love of photography as an expressive art form in the former group

which is almost missing in the latter. The art director of Popular Culture Monthly, is the

only designer in the latter group who displays an appreciation of the illustrators and

photographers she works with. Otherwise, the anti-aesthetic designers see

photographs purely as content, though none said they valued the 'snap-shot' qualities

of their photographs, even though this quality seems most evident in their lay-outs.

When the anti-aesthetic designers refer to quality (as the art director of Women's

Weekly 1 frequently does) she is in fact referring to technical qualities like sharp focus

or the capturing of a special moment or expression rather a formal value like

composition, tonal values etc.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "I get lo use the best photographers

in Australia because we've got that tradition

and it's really strong with photographers ...

There are some good people who's work I

don't use but it is a little bil important for me

to have consistency in the magazine so I try

and use people who are more familiar with

us. Our photographers ... the ones that I use

frequently, are on subscription, so that they

are aware of News Weekly's style It's not a

stated thing, it's a visual culture that were

all aware of. I'm really keen that they're

aware of it."

(4A) "Photographers and particularly the

photographers we use have very distinctive

styles and they really know how to shoot for

Food/Lifestyle Monthly because they've

worked with our editors for such a long time

and with us. If they went and worked for the

competition things Stan to look similar

Which has happened!"

(5A)"... it's the photography rather than

the design. Fashion magazines are probably

more about art direction than actual design,

in that we're not really going to break

boundaries with type all the time, but we

may with the way photographs are used."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "Well, we try and get the best quality we can It depends,

if it's fashion, it's a purely visual thing, your best shot In these

sorts of papers ... it's the editor that decides what the story is

really about and what pictures would be most relevant. In this one

I was given those ... we decided that, but um the pictures weren't

very good. We just needed people to stop and really look at it. If

we've got a really fantastic pic of Fergie. really good quality, then

we will make the most of that."

(3B) "... to me it revolves completely around pictures The

headlines and the words have to complement the picture."

"Purely just to get x amount of photos on a page yes. But there are

those standout photos on the spread ... as far as football spreads

go this would be one of the worst we've done Usually we do have

some good pictures ...I like to think we use them pretty well

We've grabbed a good photo out of each game and presented it

and said This is a good photo "

(4B) "The feature stuff is all from the readers The stuff that we

shoot, the fashion pages or the pu22les is all product shots. For the

prizes we like to connect the product with somebody's life generally

... The motto of the magazine is "Is the thing for real?" it's like ... if it's

a part of somebody's life it should be in there ... We send somebody

out to do it yes. It's bread and butter work for them. They don't see it

as very important, obviously it's not an artistic job. you know, in that

sense of the word that you make something really beautiful. But

having said that, it is an artistic job. because to get a lot of people

relaxed enough to take their shot, whether they're excited about

things, doing a supermarket grab and winning a prize, or whether you

are just taking their shot for a feature, that is an an form in itself."

142

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(5B) "My personal philosophy about photographers and

illustrators is that you get them to do what they do best. Their role

is just as important to me as the role of the writer of the story. You

have to edit the story a bit and you might have to come back to ^

the person and say this is not quite as far as you wanted it a.

pushed, just a little bit bland or whatever, but basically you know, if

they were chosen to do it. it was (continued) their idea, and I think

there should be enough room in it... and that's always annoyed

me about art directors who really set things out... you've got this

fantastically talented person sitting there being frustrated by this

person who thinks they know what they want."

Colour

Full colour is a universal component of all the magazines published by my sample. It is

indicative of the economy through automation of modern commercial lithography, that

colour is now universally available to the popular media. Indeed even Photographic

Monthly (the actual title of which denies the use of colour) is printed in four process

colours, so that its photographic images carry a warmth and richness that single colour

printing would simply not give it. This is the most indulgent form of colour printing,

where printing from multiple plates gives a 'feeling' rather than colour as we

understand it; a feeling, almost turned into a lie by the title of the magazine.

Colour Range

Range is. as in most of the categories above, one of the most polarized values in the

contemporary design code. Colour range may even be the the most polarized value of

all. Most of the designers seemed to be very sure about the role of colour. The only real

contradiction occurs in art director's strategy for Women's Weekly 1 but again I would

explain this as a personal preference contradicted by her later statement that insists on

variety (and therefore contrast) between the flow of the spreads throughout an issue.

Essentially the designers put polarized positions based on harmony and contrast. The

pro-aesthetic designers tend to include colours in a more controlled range of options

and hues, often in combination with black. The anti-aesthetic group tended to choose

a much wider mix of bright, contrasting colours choosing mostly to ignore black or

white except as dropped shadows.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1A) IDiscussing the use of coloured typography in News (IB) We can't rely on fantastic photography so

Weekly] "I can do anything whenever I want, it's just that I we often use colour just to make the page

wouldn't.. because I'm dealing with a readership that knows interesting. We rely on it a lot ..."

the magazine really well. I'm dealing with a standard "... We use colour depending on what the picture

perception and I don't want to jar that." looks like. I also have a situation where every

143

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

0 0

(2A) "Well I always found it a big problem with colour in

Photographic Monthly. Again I experimented with colour in one

issue and il just didn't work. You know, it just didn't lend itself...

what I found successful, what I really liked using, like this sort of

thing, like big pages of flat colour were really nice. But as far as

coloured typography ... I really don't like coloured type. I just

really like white type, you know?... Just really simple. I went

through a really, really simple phase ... Nothing else... just black!"

(4A) "We have working titles and working themes ... It really

helps. Rather than being too broad, it's nice to have a guide-

line ... Especially when you are going out to look for props to

shoots if you have a colour theme, or just a feel for something,

it makes all that so much easier In the end. it does make

everything hold together."

(5A) " it's the major Fashion Monthly ethos I think; keep it

pared down really, you know ... black and a colour Even on

these pages, it's the photographs that have the colour in them

and you keep the text... [subdued in black - implied]."

"... the value of the magazine is enhanced by not using too

much colour I think, because it's sort of restrained."

spread has to look different from the one

before, at the end ol the week we go through our

dummy and we check that each spread looks

sufficiently different [in colour] from the next one."

(3B) "Well this is exactly why we only have the

three standard type faces and standard layout, to

hold it together colour does that, but I personally

don't mind if every page has a different colour. I

dpn't deliberately set out and say. 'OK this is your

colours ' ft is purely picked up from the colours of

the pictures and it just happens that blue and red

are used everywhere"

(4B) [What is the main role of colour in

Readership Interest Weekly?] "To be emotive usually,

make it bright and friendly and ... The combination

of colours that we use and the tones of colours .

As bright as possible, as bright and bold and in your

face as possible Immediate impact... Using subtle

tones of the same colour doesn't work in Readership

Interest Weekly Magazine."

Colour Function

Just what is it, according to my sample of designers that motivates colour choice? This

again, turned out to be one of the strongest dividers in the code. This area of value

amplifies the difference between aesthetic values and those values based on factors

contributed by subject matter; factors less tied to and motivated by the pure values of

taste. An interesting difference between the two markets relates to time; the mass

market believe their readership are much more easily bored and use colour to continue

to 'hook' their attention through the use of coloured typography and background.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(I A) "We like red! [Laughs] There is a standard palette of

colours which we use through the type and for caption

boxes. It doesn't have the values that you would think, that

are usually ascribed to it; it can be anything from dangerous

to exciting to lively. For me. the value of red is that it's

attractive It's such a fabulously eye catching colour."

(2A) "... how I would choose a colour is how it would

complement an image, cause that's basically how I would

derive it. Like that one there, it's complimenting that

image realty, its basically using colour as white space."

144

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1B) "We like mainly red. well I do. red; just straight

regular colours I try not to do anything too clever...

sometimes we change it depending on what's going

[on| here [photograph| ... but as I said we realized that,

because the pictures are not that very good, we've had

to change that to 3 or 4 colour, because it looks

boring."

(2B) |0n the main role of colour] "Mainly to attract

attention and provide variety from spread to spread or

story to story. You have to keep the colour changing?

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(3A) "I've shifted a little. My first approach was to

use colour very boldly, and now I'm more interested in

more subtle accents of colour... For example, there is

this very subdued colouration here ... Most of the

illustrations are very collaborative. Many of them are my

ideas executed in collaboration with other artists.

Sometimes I have a colour scheme in mind. As with

this one here, we did colour tests in order to choose

the final colour scheme, but he was working to the brief

anyway. This Dataveilance it was driven a lot more by

Murray McKeish in that instance. He is interested in a

very subdued palate, so I'm already working with an

illustrator who is carrying some of that aesthetic."

(4A) [On the role of colour in Food/Lifestyle Monthly]

"To compliment rather than take over. It's secondary ...

on things like |regular headings!... we've adopted this

coffee colour for the last lew issues ... we do have

themes and we have certain colours that we use. There

was a story I did in the last issue which was orange, so

we got to use orange! So there are always exceptions.

But once again, generally like the typefaces we keep

the consistency there and) occasionally you break out

ol it. but i ts got to be special, you've got to justify it."

"With stories like the one I showed you before

of the grapes, and we chose a grape colour to

complement that. Sometimes black's too heavy

Where it's not we tend to use black. Colour is

definitely an exception Where we do use colour it's

in fairly small portions. Once again, we aie not a leen

magazine. You start to look very young when you use

a lot of colour"

... We go through the magazine at the end of

production and check the consecutive spreads and

will often change the colours if they are too the same

Sometimes |we colour key the colour of type to the

pictures on the page) but it is more important to create

variety so as the reader doesn't get bored."

(3B) "Well colour is crucial... it depends on the

spread, but we try to let the pictures have the colour,

not to use your text and your headline to take away

from that... A lot of magazines use their headlines, use

illustrator and go big wowie. zowie more than we do. I

think you have to compare it to other sports magazines

I think you'll find most sports magazines let their

pictures do the talking because people want to look at

the sport pictures for sport fans. They also want to read

about it. The reason why I'm using white boxes on

these pictorial spreads is to give some of the colour

back to the pictures. A few weeks before this you

would have found that there were no white boxes, and

this took away a bit from some very colourful picture

spreads ... We really are pictorial conscious and let the

colours of the pictures live."

(4B) "To be emotive usually, make it bright

and friendly ..."

|And colour and type? What's the (unction of the

way it's usea71 "It has to be within the context of so

many different things; the previous issues, what the

other magazines are doing, how they're doing it. the

colours that are running through that issue, what you

had the one before, market forces ... on a weekly, there

are 52 of them a year, it's very easy to get confused

between one week and the next ... They have to be

fairly different from each other. The easiest way to do

that is to do cyan one week and magenta the next. Not

that we make it that bland, but we do ..."

C/5

Q.<

145

Colour Values

Colour is one of the most subjective realms of signification By a subtle shift of shade,

the signified meaning of the sign can be altered or a tonal relationship be created. The

area of colour is understood by the designers to be a crucial part of their vocabulary.

Some of the colour values of the code however belong to the cultural arbitrary of good

taste and this too is understood, especially by the pro-aesthetic designers, but on some

occasions by the mass market designers, who also want to appear appropriate to their

market and realize that certain colour choices and combinations are most likely to do

that. In the case of Sport Weekly black and white are actually prohibited by the publisher

as being inappropriate to a mass market publication, even though the art editor sees this

prohibition at times as denying him the best option.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(2A) "I go through phases when I have a bit of a fave

colour and I see if I can use i!... you know I really love

like these kinds of colours, kind of sophisticated -

basically what I do is grab a Pantone swatch and look at

a colour and then go two shades lighter and that's what

I realty like. [Laughter) Like when you get a typeface and

you really like it and Ihen you go one point smaller."

[Asked to comment on his frequent choice of pastel, grey

tones|"... what I found successful, whal I really liked

using, like this sort of thing, like big pages of flat colour

were really nice. But as far as coloured typography I

really don't like coloured type. I just really like white type,

you know?... More sophisticated kinds of colours. Using

big. flat slabs of colour and not using coloured type

Coloured type tends to. like, look a bit cheap."

(3A( "Colour is the most complex of the visual

elements and I don't know if we all fully understand it

Bright colours for me are like eye candy They are a

jazzy, jangly media culture kind of audience. Whereas

subdued colours suggest a conservatism, a

consideration, cultured approach. But even within a

very harmonious, subdued palette colours can work in a

very. I was going to say aggressive but I should say a

pointed way. For example, the colours in this graphic -

those colours are contributing very much to the mood

and yet those colours themselves are very subdued "

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(3A) "Colour carries value in the look of it Certainly

that is why we wouldn't use black because I think black

... black can work really well and I have used black.

especially with Collingwood and Richmond, with their

black and white and black and yellow jumpers. Black

backgounds I've found are fantastic, we've had pictures

wuh a black background with black and white text on it

- it's worked a treat. We've had black covers, although

again I've a directive 'No black covers.' We've got one

or two through and they've sold reasonably well, but if

they don't sell well, they always say 'Black cover

doesn't sell.' It's too hard. And yet I find black a strong

colour and its a good masculine colour appealing to

me, but they want colour, colour bright and these are

the people who produce New Idea. TV Week,

Australasian Post they don't divorce Sport Weekly from

their philosophy. So you will find a lot of colour in there

but that's not my personal opinion "

|4B) "As bright as possible, as bright and bold and in

your face as possible. Immediate impact."

(58) [Asked to discuss associations between colour

and social class) "Yes I do ... when you compare the

circulations of Fashion Monthly and Photographic

Monthly they're more sophisticated and then when you

compare them with things like Cleo which have a

bigger circulation ... [but is more mass market)... their

going for the more ... [varied)

The art director of Futuristic Quarterly is the only one of the designers to expand the

meaning of colour beyond purely visual values; he expands the signification of colour

by using a musical metaphor.

146

(3A) "So colour is graphic arts equivalent of music. It has an immediacy, where some of its other attributes

like line, texture and tone don't have that same immediacy"

The pro-aesthetic group might also be distinguished by their obsession with subtlety;

the feeling that a fine gradation is significant and indeed important and worthy of time

consuming fine tuning and experimentation. There is also clearly value given by this

group to harmony of colour choice - a value which ties together the sections of the

publications as well as the publication to the portrayed subjects of its photographs.

CDCOcex

•<

Materials of Presentation

This area of production was actually out of the hands of most of the designers/art

directors I spoke to, though they were nearly always consulted. One gets the

impression that designers cannot be expected to give objective opinions in this area

because they will always go for the best quality, which is obviously not the answer that

the accountants want to hear. So this is one area of magazine production in which the

art director appears to have only marginal influence; the real decisions being made by

publishers and account managers who, forced to cut costs, will feel compelled to

reduce paper quality. In the intensely competitive market place of the nineties and the

current paper cost crisis all publications have seen their paper quality decline and in

some cases even their formats have been reduced.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) |When asked about paper quality and binding)

"None of them are questions for me unfortunately. It's

something that I know about, but I have a production

department and they deal with that. We buy so much of

it Our paper is such a huge expense ... Paper is one of

the biggest costs in the entire company, just the cost of

the paper for the magazine, so it is something that they

would never let an art-director in charge of."

(2A) "Well there were two papers, because you

know with the paper problem, we tried to get another

paper, because with the actual paper we used the cost

went up 100%, just skyrocketed. So we had to change

the stock So I had to go through heaps of different

stocks from overseas and everywhere ... really

high quality stuff, but I never knew the weights or at the

end of the day what it actually was or anything like that.

We used to have people ringing us up to ask us what

our paper was and they used to be really offended

when we said that we had no idea."

(3A)" the choice of stock, cover and format, are

really decisions that have come from the publishing

company itself which has a number of publications of

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB)"... for a while [the paper stock) went down and

we've talked them into bringing it back to what it was ...

The cover is heavier ... From a financial point of view

they might stick with that I think that we just have to

be realistic I live with that "

"Well we've upped our ink on the magazine. We

think that makes a lot of difference ... The ink is heavier.

so it makes it a little bit more ... They've increased the

dot ... it just makes it look a bit glossier if you >e using a

lot of colour You get a lot more out of it."

I2B) 'Women's Weekly 2 uses two paper stocks

The cover and outside I6pp section is on a heavier

and glossier, better stock than the middle pages

which are printed on a poor quality stock ... [this

decision making is| ... purely economic. Paper is

expensive, so the publisher spends as little as they

can get away with."

(3B) "... we have a thicker stock ... as of two weeks

ago. we're trying to jazz it up. to relaunch it for the

football season the first 16pp will now be on thicker

stock and that's to give it a bit of weight, and (also it

will help, the pictures reproduce so much better on this

147

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

oo

s

this size, weight and values. Futuristic Quarterly always

had high production values I think that translates to the

product that people are purchasing as a perception of

what they're buying. I think the current rationale for it is

that that's the style of the publisher."

(4A) "With the rise in paper costs, availability and

whatever, we've actually come down in size and we've

also reduced the quality of the paper For basically

costs the paper is just getting too expensive. So

when you reduce the paper stock quality, obviously the

paper isn't as white, the absorbency is different, the

show through is different. All those things have to be

taken into consideration as wel l"

(5A)"... obviously it comes down to budget

problems and also paper prices have globally gone right

through the roof. So you will notice the paper crisis has

made all magazines go smaller. This is about a

centimetre shorter than it was a year ago and about

5mm less wide ... Also the paper is getting thinner

around the world, which is a shame."

stock. There are also the posters in the middle which

are on the thicker stock as well but apart from that it is

all on a much thinner stock and that is diminished from

when we launched a year ago, it was on a much better

stock. To cut costs they've gone back to this Costs are

extraordinary for paper. Just going back onto that

[lesser stock| this stock saved us here 10 grand a week

or something."

(4B) |What sort of control do you have over the paper

stock?] "The accountant. When we started everything

was determined by price and the logistics of the print

process bul we have had and we've tried combinations

of stocks ... we actually went up onto a better stock

with the outside 16 (pages) to give the paper a bit

more impact... It's just to give it that flair off the news

stands because its sitting next to Woman's Day and the

Women's Weekly ... That was half a decision by the

circulation manager, half a decision by the publisher and

half a decision by the art director. The three people who

thought it looked shit and gray so we went to the

accountant and found a compromise "

While there is a general gnashing of teeth oh both sides, the pro-aesthetic designers

were more articulate as to why this was a problem. Thinner paper produces more show

through of image and this is clearly not the hallmark of an up-market publication. In a

well art directed magazine these changes in the conditions of reproduction would have

ramifications down the line affecting inking, types of photographs etc. that reproduce

best under poorer conditions and so on. The concern with inking mentioned by the

anti-aesthetic designers [above| comes f'orn their desire to give their images more

impact through brightening and intensifying colour, a concern very much in keeping

with anti-aesthetic colour values. The lack of control over material quality by all of the

designers demonstrates the limited role even art directors have, even in magazines

where one imagines quality to be paramount. So fine tuning production in all cases

represents a salvage job that tries to make the best outcome out of loss of value.

In this area material values have generally been compromised, so lack of approval and

distancing from certain decision making by the art directors is nearly universal. But, if you

compare the art director's actual values concerning material quality the two groups

essentially differ. The anti-aesthetic response is nearly always full of resignation,

suspension of responsibility and realization that there are indeed different qualities for

different markets so that working with cheap stocks is all they can expect. As far as

quality is concerned though the pro-aesthetic designers speak as if the sky was the limit.

148

' Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(2A) "It's really high quality and that's one of the

things that is really nice about it and I'm really pleased

to see it doing really well because people are

responding to the good quality In particular the paper.

People make comments on the paper."

(3A) "Just as an aside, if was a cheaper stock and

format I wonder if it wouldn't have to be different

design as well: because in a way. the manufacture of

the book or journal implies something about the

space inside, the way it can be used."

|4A) "So you start looking at. because there are so

many different film types, you have to work out which

shoots are printing up better because often they'll

come back as proofs and look OK and then it will print

up and look different again, so you have to reassess

what type of film stock prints better too It's amazing

the differences you know. Because this paper has a

slightly yellow look, more often they'll [the printed

images) go warmer, whereas the cooler prints tend to

retain their clarity."

"In terms o l reproduction it's very important,

because when you've got fabulous transparencies

and shots that you're dealing with, you want them

to print up as well as they look, or as close as

possible to their original state. So for reproduction

the printing is hugely important, therefore the stock

is very important too "

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) (This sort of paper stock is fairly standard

across these sorts of publications. With what you

were saying before about the reproduction of

photographs and so on. do you see this as a

limitation?) "I do. But I think that we just have to be

realistic. I live with that."

(3B) "So materials are very important, if this whole

magazine was on that [thicker cover) stock, well, it'd be so

much thicker with the same number ol pages. Well you'd

feel like you were getting more and be better presented.

You could use your pictures better. You are dictated to by

the quality of your scans and the colour centre who

produce them for us [and they) are still learning on the job

more or less. You can tell . how poor that is."

(48) "When we started everything was determined by

price and the logistics of the print process but we have

had and we've tried combinations of stocks ... to give the

paper a bit more impact... It just lifts the colour, the reds

and what have you. The three people who thought it

looked shit and gray so we went to the accountant and

found a compromise.

[And binding, is that important do you think?) On

Readership Interest Weekly magazine no1"

(5B) "Perfect binding. I wanted that because it

would make us a bit different to the others on the

news stand, a bit more substantial, it was a little bit

more expensive but I think it was worth it."

Sa.<

Conclusion

The art directors interviewed are generally supportive of the aesthetic trends posited in

the Graphic Design Code. The binary oppositions on which the code is based, are

reinforced by the opinions of the various art directors servicing particular market sectors.

It becomes clear that the art directors are not primarily servicing their own aesthetic taste

but those of the readerships. This is particularly so in the case of the designers of the

anti-aesthetic publications. It is this group of designers who claim the furthest personal

distance from the aesthetics of their publications. Generally in the pro-aesthetic group

there was a large degree of sympathy for the design values of their publication.

The analysis of the interview data will continue in the next chapter, but this chapter

concludes their personal interpretation of the values of each of the elements of the

Graphic Design Code.

149

ch,p,e,8 j h e s t u d y

The enunciation of the Graphic Code as signproduction - Authorship & Institutional Values

Introduction

Given that my sample was chosen and divided according to the binary design codes

proposed in Chapter four, this chapter forms a test of that dichotomy. To this point, the

interviews have been concerned with the art directors and their understanding of the

various elements of graphic design, covering much the same fields as my analysis in

Chapter four. This chapter explores broader but related aspects of their sign production

and is concerned mainly with issues of power and autonomy and institutional structure

and the degree to which these work related factors affect sign production.

The Graphic designer as author

The power of the designer

The notion of authorship is central to any field of sign production, however graphic

designers tend to see their role in a very functional light, one already compromised by

their participation in a productive team. In the case of magazines, the productive team

might involve the publisher, editor, art director, sub-editors and journalists and fellow

designers not to mention amazingly tight production schedules, especially for the

weeklies. In every case, the editor is the major collaborator with the art director and

together these two roles would be seen as the most influential in the content,

production and style of any publication. The Australian magazine scene was most

broadly assessed by the Art Director of [News Weekly]:

(1A) "I think it's a bit mote political than that. I think it's, well this is the way I see it ... it generally means

that you've got an editor who either doesn't appreciate design, doesn't allow the art director to have

enough room to make a solid design and generally the magazines I see in Australia, they irritate me on the

level of not being strongly designed, just because that's an editorial decision, that's not an art director's

decision. II you've got an art director who is confident in what they're doing and has 'heir own style, even

if they change their own style, because it's coming from one person, it's not going to change dramatically.

But. you can have the same art director for ten years, five different editors and you'll have five different

looks on the magazine, because art directors are never going to be more senior than the editor. You can

see so much between, about the relationship between an art director and an editor."

The power and working dynamic differs from publication to publication but I would say

that the art director's general assessment is a very astute one. Primarily the editor/art

director's role is seen as a power/political relationship and its attributes are such that

they give primacy of the word over the eye in publishing which derives from a literary

culture in journalism and editing.

I also tried to assess the importance of the design function to the designer. How

important did they they think design was to a publication as the principal giver of

character, ideological centre and chief point of identification to the reader? Or was it

secondary to the editorial/literary/journalistic content which was the primary subject of

the publication? On these issues designers are generally reticent and obtuse but one

obliquely sees these issues revealed.

151

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1 A) "I can do anything whenever I want, it's just that

I wouldn't... because I'm dealing with a readership that

knows the magazine really well. I'm dealing with a

standard perception and I don't want to jar that ... The

more you use a style the more confident it looks. I think

those things particularly apply to typography. It annoys

me when I'm reading another magazine that can't make

up its mind, what they want to do. When I see a

magazine that's had four art directors in 12 months, it's

like Can't they please make up their mind?'. Because it

says to the reader We don't know who you are either!'

When they don't know who the reader is and when they

don't know who they are . !"

(2A)" at the same time they've been exposed to

different design and that's probably going to lift everyone

designers in general... I think you educate the

audience by the time I left, he [the publisher] had been

educated into thinking like design's going to make me a

lot of money. You know, like this design things really

working He. I think, at the start, was pretty much purely

on the photo content and I think in the end was

educated into believing that really does sell it a lot more.*

(3A) "Well {Futuristic Quarterly] has always had high

production values so the perception in terms of this

magazine is that there has always been an expectation

from the audience point of view and probably from the

design point of view that it is somehow special. When I

was invited to do it it was a special opportunity and I've

approached it like that and I hope ... it would be great

if. (I'm a designer and allowed to have an ego!) it would

be great if it were recognized ... that it had its own

niche, in a time and place for \Futuristic Quarterly]

magazine. In the same way that Black and White

magazine is carving out a niche for itself, as is Wired

magazine, as the Bulletin did. Now these magazines

assume a reputation which traverses time and place. If

we can elevate ]Futuristic Quarterly] to that - fantastic!"

(4A) "... with computers and things everything's

changed again The traditional way of working on a

magazine is very different now from what it used to be

and involves a lot less people, to the point where I am

now doing what a typesetter, a designer and a finished

artist used to do."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1B) "I do compromise all of the time .. you have to I

think the editor and I think along the same lines up to a

certain point. We've reached a happy medium with it."

"... there are three magazines now. there's this one.

Woman's Day and New Weekly. Basically they are all

one and the same in my opinion and we thought, if we

can't capture that audience by being the same as them,

we have to try and really be a bit different and the only

way we can really do this is from a visual point of view.

Everybody carries stories about the same people, there

isn't anything they have that we don't really If they have

the pictures we get the story and don't get the pictures.

but basically they're all the same ... I don't think that

this sort of magazine that comes out every week with

trashy stories, maybe the design isn't so important."

(3B) "Design is crucial in that you've got to make ct

presentable. One of my philosophies in design is that you

have to have the reader in mind ... I believe you've got to

have a feel for the reader and especially with text, you've

got to let it flow ... Maybe its my journalistic background,

but I really believe in making it simple for the reader, which

may compromise the design a bit. but I'm not averse to

jumping. So I was trying to make it easy to read through "

(4B) "How important is design to a magazine? It's

integral, it's necessary totally and utterly. It's as

necessary as the words on the page and the pictures

You could not put a magazine together without

designers and artists."

"That's Ufe magazine belongs to me you know!

Because there's so much ol it... every magazine rs a

team effort and in every team you've got to have people

who are prepared to say OK this is the way we're going

to do it.'... To a certain extent the feature writers and the

editors, they have an overall idea of what they want to

say. but no idea of how they want to say it. and they're

led by designers. They don't have to hate it but they are

led by the designers, but I would say I am as responsible

for that magazine as the editor and publisher."

(5B) "... as we developed an identity of our own... I

would try and push it a bit . . Where I am now [Young

Women's Monthly} I'm learning a lot more from lots of

talented people ... whereas on [Popular Culture Monthly]

I was left to my own devices. But my approach to the

152

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(5A)"... the magazine has lo have an identity, il has

to have a look. It has to look different io other

magazines ... people are paying a lot for \Fashion

Monthly) as well, so they want something that looks

like it's worth the money. Which is why [Fashion

Monthly) tends to be the best printed and spends

more money on paper. So the type and the images do

not need to fight, they need to be in harmony."

market was a bit more ... exciting. I was. influenced by

some magazines from the States which were a bit

more interesting doing really interesting things with

type and it was an opportunity to do that here. And it

seemed to go down well. People in the older market

just didn't have a clue; they just didn't relate to it at all.

But the younger market really went for it and were

really quite excited by it. So it was interesting."

CO

•<

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept important to authorship because it contains that essence of

freedom necessary for creative sign production in any field. It is also a quality one

would expect to be dominant in the creative ego where personal worth might be

measured by the amount of autonomy earned through the success of past production.

I was interested in discovering how respondents measured their own personal

autonomy; freedom to assert their own values and be respected as a major contributor

to the image of the magazine.

There is a much greater value given to autonomy amongst the dominant aesthetic

publications, who. whether they choose to use it or not, at least see the chance of

freedom in their field of production. The idea of autonomy is a value therefore, that they

usually moderate with the expediency learned through the workplace. Autonomy is usually

a limited thing; it is moderated by the house style developed over the life of a publication

as well as by the knowledge learned about communication with particular audiences.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A| "I'm lucky I've got a very strong art director in New York,

who's very well respected . not only does he support me but...

he's made the position of art director in New York something

that's been given a lot of leeway, something that's given him

enough territory and I lust inherited that I guess. "

"... one of the conditions of my job that was made perfectly

clear to me when I started, that the one thing they were looking

for in a designer was not to be subordinate, but they wanted

someone who was prepared to work within the style. They gave

me the style manual and they looked at everything that I did and to

me the greatest accolade was when they came and the first

people out from New York said 'You look so fabulous. You look like

\News Weekly) magazine!' That makes all the difference to me. If

you can design with their style. I don't think that's any less."

(2A)"... when I got there I just saw the opening of what I wanted

to do and it was really hard to basically get the trust of... [the

publisher] to do it... but by the time I left I could do whatever I

wanted - but within those parameters of how it was already set up."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

|1A) "I'm beginning to think that design

isn't important at all in this sort of magazine

Well, I just think, if a million people buy

Women's Weekly 2. which to me. doesn't

have any design, and only half of them now

buy this one. then what do they like? Or do

they know? Do they care?'

(2B) "I just think Woman's Weekly 2 has

been going as it has for so long it has its own

tradition. You don't vary much from it really."

(3B) "I think the design outweighs

everything. Having said that. I think the

photograph would be number one. If you've

got a great photograph you can't mess it up

with a design Design skills come in when you

have an average photograph and you have to

make it work. So the first thing is dependence.

153

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

". something I needed to do at [Photographic Monthly] [was|

sit down and set my own parameters. It was pretty much. I could

do anything I want. It was only up to me to bring myself back and

say 'This was the right decision'. I could have made hideous

disasters I guess from that point of view you've got to have a

certain amount of responsibility on yourself as a graphic designer."

on the photo. After that, certainly the designer

would have the major say in the text... I think

that's where the designer comes in - to make

you want to read it To quantify that is hard,

bul I'd say 70%. You know this is coming from

an ex-journalist!"

(3A)"... we know that there are people, including the writers,

who are absolutely enthralled by the way their material is

presented. Our writers get very excited!"

"A lot of the material that we are working with is media and

culture based. Some of it is about the arts and some of it is

about the Internet Some of these things are very visual, so on a

certain level the design is responding to the visual culture In

another sense. I am interested in design dialogue being

something that the material is really a framework which one can

build or on which one can add elements of the dialogue all of

the material (in Futuristic Quarterly] so far has had a relation to

the content... and some of the themes explored in the design

also relates to the content. I think that's probably where the link

is. If the story relates to a certain idea about intertextuality then

there is a licence there or logic to take the design and push in

that direction and see what happens."

"... my suspicion is that [Futuristic Quarterly] from a design

point of view is being looked at and people are responding to it

From time to time we get a little bit of feedback. You know when

teachers have seen i t . and they are using it as an example, or

students are ringing me up Anecdotally people from all sorts of

areas have indicated that they are looking at it and being

influenced by it I actually hope that ultimately that effect is much

deeper than that, that I am engaging in a dialogue of design with

an audience and that that language or that dialogue will

somehow carry on into the future."

(48) [So are you autonomous?! Yes. [laughs]

... Yes and no I am. [Well what won you your

autonomy?! Getting it right. Getting it right,

doing your job and increasing circulation.

That's what wins them and they all come over

'See I told yal' But it's hard fought."

(5B) [Did you feel compromised by

working on Popular Culture Monthly?] No not

really. You have to bring in the commercial

aspect It had to be a commercial magazine

[So what was the most satisfying aspect of

working on Popular Culture Monthly?]

Just being able to change when I wanted. I

don't know if that's a good thing for the

readers, but I could just change it myself when

ever I wanted. It was the son: of magazine that

could do whatever it wanted in a way"

(4A)"... they are fairly conservative magazines. [Fashion

Monthly] it's not like working on Oyster or Juice where you can

actually, you know, you can really go to town. But it would scare

hell out of our readers. They just don't understand. So in that

respect, it's very conservative modern but you have to do your

funky bits in other ways or try and get that ... look try and keep

it classic."

154

Personal Design Values and Inspiration

Fundamental to the idea of authorship and autonomy is that the graphic designer can

express through their work what reflects their own identity and values. All of the

respondents gained a high level of satisfaction in just doing the job' of designing.

There is an obvious pleasure in the physical and creative acts of arrangement and

assembly, reinforced by the pleasure of approval by their peers in the industry and the

buying public on release of the publication.

The art director of [News Weekly], was the only designer who was prepared to put

values of communication ahead of personal expression and she explains this in terms of

the magazines primary function of communicating news. Apart from this case all of the

other designers see their function including an essential quotient of personal expression.

c<

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

11A) "I'm not really all that concerned about being a

designer, for me the priority of this job is to communicate

with the readers. So. much as I like all those gorgeous

things about... something that's really got a high design

priority like Black and White. I'm not interested in working

on those magazines I love to read them. But for me. I

want to work on a news magazine and. so much part and

parcel of that is wanting to communicate the news."

12A) "... the hardest thing I've found being a graphic

designer is that it's really personal and there is a really fine

line between your personal life and your work life. It's hard

for me. like it comes 5.30 and it's time lor me to turn off; it

doesn't really work that way. I don't think it can work that

way for most designers ... I thought I could bring to

[Photographic Monthly], you know, all those issues that's

something I've thought through, its totally personal and I

don't want to be mimicking anyone else's style or

anything, it's like just trying to do your own thing. I think in

the end it |ust became too much of a style thing. Too

much style"

"I think that's what David Carson has brought into that

realm. You know, it's really fine art. Really art based.

Because it's just become ... I mean, that's what art is to

me. it's really personal and it's really human. You know.

And that's what Emigre was really light, pretty

sophisticated, kinda sharp sort of stuff."

(3A) "... slowly but surely. I think I have brought to the

magazine something that I haven't seen before in

[Futuristic Quarterly] and I haven't seen this approach in

very many publications at all... I think it is urn ... a level of

interpretation. The analysis of the story. The direction of

the visuals. The layout of the typography is really quite

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1B)"... I am designing what appeals to myself to

make myself happy ... as far as I can ... the best

product ... There are definite limitations ... but I think

most people who design do design what they want."

"I'm always very unhappy with the cover... Yes they

have to say too much for me. I always buy a

magazine because of what it looks like not because

ol what the cover might say ... then I think we

would set ourselves apart from the other two mags.

It may not work but I think it would be worth a try.

but I doubt that that would ever happen."

12B)"... it's surprising really! We can each tell

each other's layouts by knowing the little details

that each of us [designersl give to the jobs we

do. For instance I always use subtle colour keys

in my layouts."

(3B) "The magazine as you see is not my...I didn't

wake up one day and say We've got to change this!

We need to get rid of white space That was more a

directive. Personally I love white space, if used well

... So I really respect and like white space. I don't

know that kids like white space. I think that it has a

connotation of being more sober, a lot of white

space, so we've had to sort of reduce it."

"I'm not a tidy person, so maybe these pages

reflect me. but having said that I would much prefer

the clean look, cleanliness. I am not sure how I can

see myself in this magazine."

|4B) "Is Readership Interests Weekly for me?

I love it and I love doing it because the opportunity

what I really get out of it as a designer is the

155

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

I would be interested to see il I gave someone else the

same fonts and the same formats if they would come up

with the same publication."

(4A) "It's wonderful to work with fabulous images and

to play with those and create your own story, the way you

see it and once again, it's your interpretation as well. I am

being presented with a number of different images and

how and what you will do with them ... I'm very

passionate about type and I try to be as aware as I can be

about what else is going on. by reading type books and

whatever, to know what's happening. And then,

interpreting that to suil your product. I can't design for me

I'm designing for a product or for my client."

|So does the art direction that you do here at [Fashion

Monthly] reflect your own values in design?] Generally

speaking yes. It's pushing yourself It's pushing a

photographer. It's trying with every story, to do something a

little bit different, or to take it as far as you can. you know?

Whether that's photographs that you have been supplied

with and pushing the layout or whether it's from woe to go,

Irom the actual shooting of something, but it's trying to be

conscious of pushing yourself and making sure that what

you end up wi th, cause at the end of the day you want a

product that you're proud of. That's really important"

(5A) "I think you sort of work a magazine in and maybe

you don't always do exactly what you would really like

because, you know, you cant be too risky. You've got to

be...it is a commercial exercise."

opportunity to communicate with 500.000 women

a week and tell a story to them that has something

positive coming out of it. All the devices, all the

typography, all the colours, all the styles, all the

shapes, all of that is just to serve that purpose ... So

yes I do love it. Is it my style? Obviously not! I do

connect with it in the fact lhat I do connect with

that many people and you're making a difference to

their lives in this way in a way that they really want

to receive it... Listen to what (hey say and just give

it to them. Let the market dictate."

(So why do you design as you do? I'm thinking

here of your motivation] "To communicate

something that I'm passionate about, that may help

change somebody's life. But that's a real female

thing. IChange somebody's life!?] Yes it has changed

mine. If it wasn't for my history of magazines and my

family I would have been suffering in the suburbs of

north-west London for the rest of my life. All the

dreams, all the things that you aspire to do. all the

sudden they become raw when you have a bit of

printed matter in front of you "

' (5B) "Most people there were into flannel shirts

and I wasn't like that! ... I don't think you have to

conform to ... I thought the whole grunge thing was

pretty funny actually, because it was this anti-

conform thing and everyone ... had to look the

same! But I just dressed to suit myself with jeans

and casual clothes '

Significant Others - the Editor and the Production Team

That magazine design is primarily part of a team production was made obvious in all of

the interviews. Traditionally, the editor is regarded as the most senior member of

productive team, responsible directly to the publisher and therefore primarily

responsible for the direction of the publication as a whole.

It might be generalized from my interviews, that the hierarchy of the magazine

production team certainly places the editor as the most senior arbiter of content and

taste; in fact the only individual responsible for both content and style in past, current

and future editions. The art director (designer or design editor as they were also called)

exists on the second rank of the hierarchy, immediately under the editor and is

responsible for the present and future styling of the magazine content, both in terms

of its design and its photography, illustration etc. This job necessarily needs a close

working relationship with the editor and the rest of the design production team. The art

156

director is effectively the interpreter of the editors wishes and the conduit between the

editor and design production The degree of creative freedom given to most art

directors is considerable, however, as is obvious in the extracts in the previous section,

that most art directors are happy to recognize the limits placed on design by audience

/reader perceptions and conservatism in regard to change; a modification of practice

supposedly supported across the production team.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "... in New York there is one art director, there's

about, any number ol designers who come in at the last

minute on Friday and put the whole thing together... it's

designed for speed and consistency over a short period of

time ... and it works so beautifully and we can design so

quickly with it because those things are standardized."

"I know my magazines [that I've worked on) look better

when I've had a good relationship with the editor, when

the editor has had a good relationship with the advertising

department and when you're not fighting all the time over

the pages and what the priorities of the magazine are

When you get to a magazine and it's got a really tight

budget and they're fighting to get ads in there, at the last

minute pages get redesigned because someone's stuck a

quarter page ad in the corner because the editor has

relented and let someone from advertising put a piddley

little ad in ... then you get design that's done in a real hurry

at the last minute and the art director's pissed off because

they've wrecked this page and he doesn't care anyway."

(2A) "Well... [the editor) held everything together. She

was great and we got along well. Probably from that

experience I'd say the editor and the designer working really

closely together is all you could ever do i=.ic| If you wanted

to have a really amazing magazine then probably more so.

We'd work in conjunction with each other but we always

had this overhanging force o l . . . (the publisher! behind us!

But... |the editor] would certainly hold the fort together,

because I'm a bit painful to work with. There were really

different personalities in there really. But I think that was the

way (the publisher) wanted it. He wanted you to feel that if

you put a step wrong you'd be out. There wasn't that feeling

of loyalty, like "We think you're doing a really great job and

we can see the positive things that are happening from it",

it's like, if it's not working, you're out of here pal!"

(3A)"... undoubtedly it is a collaborative effort, but ...

the person responsible for guiding the entire publication,

the person who makes the choice of selecting the stories.

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "I'm lucky in a way. that I am only answerable

to one person |the editorl It's great! (Have you had

feedback on your design?l Oh yes. Really positive

feedback. They really, really liked it. which is great...

when it came out in print they really liked it."

(2B) "The editor is probably the most important

person on the magazine They get to have a say on

nearly everything in the thing. (Does he ever try to

influence your design?) Yes. but only in minor ways.

He trusts us to do it. Bob Cameron has some pet

hates, like he hates yellow vignettes but mostly he

leaves us to do it. He concentrates more on the

articles themselves and of course more on the

cover... Everybody has a say on the cover -

especially the editor and even the publisher might

become involved. "

(3B) "The publisher was the man who hired me.

who I worked with ... Chris is now the publisher who

works solely for [Sport Weekly]. Our relationship is

that he can tell me what he thinks of it. although he

is the publisher he respects my opinion, his opinion

will win out at the end of the day He was the one

that was told from on high about this Boiler

magazine. Bravo magazine with lots of pictures He

then gave it to me and said 'I think this is the way we

should go.' End of argument.'

(4B) The influential people are the people ...

they're the art editor, the editor, the features editor,

production manager, the circulation manager, the

advertising account manager... The editor and

publisher would make the final decision on a particular

direction, given that they will have access to most of

the facts ... Actually the publisher, to start with, did

look at every single cover, in fact the CEO looked at

every single cover. People like to muck about with

publishing you know?... Everybody's a bloody good

157

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

selecting writers and selecting the designer must really be

the one who ultimately influences ... In this case the

person would be ... [the editor] but... doesn't come along

and suggest layout ideas as such. That's really up to me."

(4A) "I work directly with ... who is the art director of

this magazine and we work very much together.

Everything is always like, come up and have a look at this

... |As designer..how do you differentiate your roles with

the art director?] I think it is becoming less and less, but...

will do most of the negotiating with the photographers,

organizing their shoots and ultimately things are his final

decision ..."

(5A) "The editor is ultimately the most important,

because the editor has the say over everything. From the

art director's point of view, unfortunately it's not just the

art director. You are working with stylists and

photographers and everyone is trying to make their

statement. ILaughter]. You end up trying to make sense

out of everyone's (contribution) which can be really

annoying ... Ultimately the art director and the fashion

director and the editor are the three that should, sort of

have, within themselves the say. But they should be open

to other ideas. Everyone should be able to put ideas in. as

long as they are prepared to have them rejected."

designer aren't they? The CEO in my case at first was

an ex-footballer, need I say more, and the cover had a

headstone in it. it was a woman putting some flowers

on a grave, you know, not only was that page

redesigned but the cover and the cover lines were

redesigned, all around this one pin pointed idea that

somebody who was of a controlling nature and he

wanted to make a mark and that fat. ugly [unclear]

was the only reason why the changes were made

because a stamp needed to be put on it. And that's

ego And that drives me insane. Usually the editor and

the publisher have the best interests of the magazine

at heart and you may not agree with them but you

know that at the end of the day that they are on the

same wavelength and they are doing it for a reason

And usually they've got a good argument."

(5B) "There were two publishers, both of whom

trealed the publication which was small, like their

baby, they would have opinions and interfere on the

editorial side, but in the area of art direction I was

left to my own devices ... have heard in recent

years, on magazines like CLEO the editor has had a

very strong idea of what the visual side should be

like, but I'd never experienced that. They tend to

think that nobody now really knows what the market

is really like, no one really understands the market

and how to get the market (so they put more faith in

the art director thinking)... that they can do it!"

Generally speaking, the organizational structure of magazine production is strongly

hierarchical. I have already suggested that this might be due to the traditional

dominance of the word in what is still a print and word based publishing industry I

suggested to...the [designer of Fashion Monthly] that publishers tends to under-

estimate design even in such strongly visualized magazines as [Fashion Monthly]. His

answer suggests that this underestimation also applies to the material rewards which

reinforces the low priority given to the input of designers in the overall production.

(5A) "I think it is important that it is also a team thing and ultimately the editor is the author of the magazine,

but the art director should be just as open to the ideas for it ... I think that's true. You only have to look at

how the wage scale works, you know. The art directors are generally not paid that much compared to 'the

suits' of the company who arrange whatever the advertising is. You always find that the people selling the

advertising have got all the company cars, while the art room are sitting there without a bicycle between

them! They are underestimated generally throughout the world, in the way magazines are designed."

158

The Graphic Designer and the Reader

One prevailing characteristic of all of the designers' statements in this area, is a special

regard for the expectations of the reader. Generally they regard the readers as being

conservative and slow to change, but there is also, one detects, a degree of rapport

that occurs between the designer and the consumer which the designer obviously

regards as important and is happy to tailor or modify their creative bent in order to

cultivate that. Most of the designers have some idea of who their audience is and feel

they know their needs through constantly servicing them (though this 'conversation' is

rarely reciprocated by the readers). I was generally surprised at the limited market

research magazines did into their readership and how little of this seemed to be

communicated to the art director. This was less the case in the pro-aesthetic group (the

News Weekly being the major exception) and in the anti-aesthetic group Readership

Interests Weekly, because of it's content, provided plenty of feedback but not as formal

market research. Readership Interests Weekly is however, a special case, in that of all

the magazines, it alone takes its subject matter from the audience, so rapport is most

likely and most necessary dealing with this subject matter.

cCL<

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

OA) "We know a lot about our readers [News

Weekly] does a lot of research in Australia ... They're

people who are interested in international news ...

They've probably got an educational level that's quite

well defined. Certainly a lot of students ... secondary

level right through tertiary ... there's a big readership

there It tends to be more male than female, but not to

any great extent. Advertising would have you believe

that only triple A males over the age of 40 with huge

incomes We know from letters and calls that we get

from enquiries ... So I know that I've got a fairly visually

aware audience. I know that there are a lot of

photographers in Australia who read it There's kind of

little niches everywhere, but i do know that as an

audience they are a visually aware audience "

(2A)"... the interesting thing about {Photographic

Monthly\ is the market that it reaches. It does reach a

level of the pornographic sort of market, but it also

reaches an art based person So i ts really like right across

the board. That's probably why it sells in service stations."

"... for me as a graphic designer I was trying to bring

people in on a graphic level. You know I've got this big

thing about trying to educate Australia about graphic

design and I guess from that point of view, it was great

to have such a big distribution that I could do that and

people responding to it."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1B) "(Is there market research done?) Supposedly

there is yes |but| I have my doubts somehow ... I think

the magazine has been around long enough that they

have faith in i t . itself and they try and get the same

reader [as Woman's Day?). You see there are three

magazines now. there's this one. Woman's Day and

New Weekly. Basically they are all one and the same."

(2B) "[With such a huge circulation you are probably

one of the designers with the largest public exposure in

Australia. Do you get a buzz out of that?) Oh no. not

really! You get so used to it. I don't see myself as

particularly influential."

(3B) "... they just found that it really just wasn't

attracting enough men. so rather than lose them

they've got to get more, so the powers that be decided

that kids were the way to go. We found that a lot of

kids were buying it. though they seemed to buy one

and pass it round! That was the problem. So we've

changed the focus of the magazine significantly ... If

you compared it to 12 months ago you would not

recognize it as the same magazine."

"... we do try and survey people to find out what

they want. We found a lot of kids, a surprising amount

of women but we found that was probably because

they were buying it for their husbands and just having a

squiz themselves probably ... We get... a really loyal

support which has born out - there is a teal core of

159

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aasthetic publications continued

(3A)" We actually found that we had a readership

span tanging from 20 to 75. Depending on. where

people were in the spectrum there were different

responses to the visuality. Some parts of the audience,

not necessarily all of them older, but some parts of the

audience ... the most critical members of the audience

were older people and their view was that il was too

jangly. too noisy, too colourful. And there were people to

whom it was cool Broadly they seemed to be

students, professionals or middle management."

|4A)" I think you're trying to leach (he reader

something, while at the same time, appeal to their

senses o< their values their priorities or whatever. I

guess we are trying to tell them how things are being

done or how. maybe they should be doing things or

consider to do something this way. It's a teacher role

in some ways . . or you're directing them in a certain

way. or to think along certain lines ... You are still

appealing to people who live fairly conservatively,

which the general Joe Bloggs does ... they lead a fairly

normal life, and they have fairly normal homes and like

their normal food and you know ... From surveys thai

we have done recently, fairly reasonable salaries ... Yes

professional definitely They are generally fairly well

off and a majority have professional jobs."

(5A) "I don't think you want to re-design a magazine

every nine months You can lose the readers or confuse

them, so I think what it might be is a gradual

progression over three or four issues and actually tailor

m a re-design and that's my plan "

people that will buy the magazine, so we have

established a base."

(4B) "If the circulation figures and demographics

are not delivered to me I go and find them. | ... they

don't bring them to you?) No ... There are two. I think

schools of design, there's the megalomania and the

'I'm quite happy to sit and talk to the pictures' you

know. But if I design something. I want to soak myself

in all of the information I possibly can to get a real

feeling for who it is that I am designing for. You know,

which means looking at their buying habits and

working out their demographics and what age they are

likely to be and how many children they are likely to

have and what other things they buy and da de da de

da Some designers design in a vacuum "

(5B)"... the publishers worried that it looked too

young (What was the age group that Popular Culture

Monthly was aiming at?) 18 to 24 but we had readers

as young as 14 or 15 and they were concerned that it

was getting a bit young and so we were concerned to

keep it more mature and colour mattered there ... It

was one of those really hard things to do. because

sometimes you just needed to use a lot of colour to set

off against the illustration. And there wasn't a

particularly clear idea about what our market was.

what types of stories we'd cover and so on."

Gender is one of the readership groupings most referred to by the interviewees.

This is no doubt because most magazines are directed towards market groupings

divided by gender. Beyond this however the design differences are less well

pronounced. The dominant categories of magazines have traditionally had female

readerships and one of the problems most often referred to in the area of magazine

publication is spreading the magazine buying habit to the male half of the population.

Because of its dominance in the largest selling categories (i.e. mass market women's

publications) I imagined that the busy anti-aesthetic style might have a strong female

gender association. None of the designers however identified this as an

acknowledged tendency. The design editor of \Sport Weekly], saw the mass market

style as being youthful and being more closely related to age than to gender. [News

160

• Weekly] has apparently a strong male readership and interestingly, its art director

saw this as a market that is a hard one and not to be pandered to by obvious

masculine design styling.

(1A) "It tends to be more male than female, but not to any great extent. Advertising would have you believe

that only triple A males over the age of 40 with huge incomes. We know from letters and calls that we get

from enquiries ... So I know that I've got a fairly visually aware audience. |lts rare to have a strong male

audience isn't it for magazines, because they're not big magazine buyers | No. not at all. If we looked any

more designer I'm sure that we'd start to lose them ... I think they don't like to think that their design taste

is being catered to. It's kind of an anti-design thing and that is why Benton Bold is such a great typeface to

us because it is bold and newsy and it doesn't look like a designer typeface, when it does so many other

wonderful things. It's got a typeface, but it's got a real solid We're just telling the news here!."

Rather than associate the mass market style to gender, there is a much stronger

correlation of mass market style to social class. It is far more likely that the market place

be divided along class lines AND gender lines. It is rare to address any social grouping

across class barriers. The dominant market interests are most strongly defined by

expendable income and only secondarily by gender or the sectional special interests of

special interest groups. The existence of the plethora of titles in the womens' magazine

market are caused by economic difference much more than gender or age.

Change and its Motivation

As we have seen in the last few sections, change is a pertinent issue to the design of

publications. Mostly, readerships have been described as conservative as far as change is

concerned, locked into the presentation styles they have grown used to. So what is it that

motivates change? Competition and influence from rival publications in the same market

is a common motivation; especially in the mass-market end of the market. Many of the

respondents felt that competition should be more important than it appeared to be. mainly

because the Australian marketplace was so small that it never provided the competitive

rivals necessary to justify competition as their major reason. Photographic Monthly.

Fashion Monthly and Readers' Interests Weekly all felt that they didn't have any natural

rivals to motivate change. Some magazines saw their change of design as being pertinent

to seeking out and consolidating new markets, especially if there current strategies were

not successful. This was certainly so in the case of Women's Weekly 7 and Sport Weekly.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "I think we would change without the

competition I mean. Newsweek is the

competition in America and they are seen as the

competition by the people at [News Weekly]... I'd

like to say we are ahead. I think we are. I think

they respond 10 our changes. I dont think our

changes are forced by them in any way. That's

competitive in a way isn't it? I see little things that

happen in Newsweek which are obvious

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "In regard to Women's Weekly 2 I think it goes back

to what we were saying before. You cant look exactly the

same. You've got to be different... we want people basically

to buy ours and I guess we are iust trying to do the best we

can to make that happen. I'm within my limitations, trying to.

OK. 1 design what I like, but I'm hoping that other people will

like it too ... I keep making sure that it is continually fresh

The design is not set in stone. We might look at it .... we've

already changed things."

161

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

CD

C O

responses to changes that [News Weekly] made.

It's easy to spot over the last little while because

the changes have been quite dramatic. TIME has

changed itself."

(2A) "Oh I'm hugely competitive. I've got to be

out there doing the best stuff, the biggest stuff all

the time. If I'm not. I get really frustrated ... It's

really competitive I think, you know?... Not so

much with each other on a personal level, but on

each other on a working level- [... a lot of

magazines are competitive too aren't they?) I don't

know I didn't find that. Because I think

Photographic Monthly's on its own really. That's

really the beauty of it."

(4A) "I think change, like anything, is healthy.

You have to look back and reassess at certain

times. I don't know that there should be a regular

date for doing that. I guess when things start to

look tired or too familiar. Or when you feel that the

challenge has gone out of the design ... it has to

do with type and all sorts of things, of what's

happening around you and they change fairly

regularly ... Sometimes you actually find yourself

ahead of the times, you think - wow! we were

doing that 6 months ago. At other times you are

sub-consciously influenced by the things you are

looking at as well. You see something and you

think, great where is that from? Let's try and get

hold of that typeface! That happens as well "

(5A) "Everything should evolve. It's that simple

... evolution. So it should evolve rather than

change That's how it develops."

(2B) "We don't take much notice of any other publications

really. Oh. we look at what they do and sometimes we might

pick-up an idea here and there, but mostly we just design on our

own. [Women's Weekly 1) seems to be going in the direction of

Family Circle really. Our readers seem to be happy with our mix

of scandal and gossip. We're still way out in front with it...

There is a real [Women's Weekly 2\ style and you've always got

to be careful not to drift from that style ... We tend more to work

within our own style. Every article is different and keeps

changing in small details but the reader's don't like it to change

too much.

(3B) "I'll always modify it. I find it's just in my nature to get

bored doing the same thing I have 3 theory that you can't

keep changing; there will only ever be subtle changes ... I've

sort of seen a lot of the magazines from overseas and seen

the way they've done it: I've used solid colour to lift what is

predominantly black type So there are modifications. But I

think you'll find the magazine you see in two weeks time will

be pretty similar to the magazine you see in six months time I

don't think there will be too many changes. There are certainly

no plans for changes ... That is the good thing, if you get an

idea you can do it. you don't have to check it with someone.

My boss is'always keen for something new too. They don't

want to turn over and see the same page every week too "

(4B) "Evolution yes. I am the evolution queen. I love it! It has

to move forward ... You have to have some vision of where you

want to end up. obviously and then you make the changes

along the way. which I think some editors forget. There is

always the next issue. In the next issue for instance, there's

just been a holiday spread that we've fucked up so let's get it

right in this one and we've got a great chance because it's

going to Switzerland and we can make it really funky with lots

of red and white over it and make up for something that I feel

we didn't serve the reader well enough for in the last issue, like,

you know, but that's because I look at something and think yes,

where I want it to be in 6 months time or twelve months time

and probably one of my failings is that I want to get there too

fast. I don't allow the other people enough time to ..."

162

(5B) "I think, the thing with [Popular Culture Monthly] is

that the publishers were the old publishers of Rolling Stone

which was immediately their competition. There were a lot of

personal things there. But after about 18 months we all came

to realize that the two magazines were so totally different.

Subordinate or Anti-«tsthetic publications continued

They tended to carry more Australian content than we did.

but if they did a good issue and get raves we would naturally

think now what are they doing right?"

Design Inspiration

Where exactly do the art directors of Australian magazines go for inspiration? Mostly it

seems to the international media. It should not be surprising that magazines are their

preferred media of influence, certainly this was the case with our respondents. David

Carson, the art director of the American magazine Raygun, was a frequently quoted

influence on Australian (indeed International) design; this was particularly so among the

more self consciously avant-garde pro-aesthetic designers interviewed, but also with

the designer of Juice which services the same market sector as Carson in Raygun. But

I was looking here for inspiration, not just influence; the sort of influence that fires the

imagination, helps change direction and innovation. As the art director of \News

Weekly] suggests, inspiration might come from the most unlikely sources.

CL

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

|1A) "(Inspiration in your design, where do you

look for that? Is that simply answered by Vanity

Fair or what?| For inspiration but not aspiration!

Yes. and Paris Vogue because they look really

strong. I was thinking a lot about colours last week

... It occurred to me last week that probably we

were both borrowing from that fluorescent green

that's been used in shirts a lot lately and I've got

an iridescent green shirt! It's one of those really

subliminal things. Where did all that come from'

I'm wondering, if we do an anti-nuclear story in

four years time will we still be using something

else or would it have been yellow if there hadn't

been that fluorescent green and other fluorescent

colours ... with all those wonderful dies for all

those wonderful fabrics "

(2A) "I think that's what David Carson has

brought into that realm. You know, it's really fine

art. Really art based. Because its just become...!

mean, that's what art is to me. it's really personal

and it's really human. You know. And that's what

Emigre was really tight, pretty sophisticated, kinda

sharp sort of stuff."

(5A) "Inspiration? All over the place really. I

think a lot of the design magazines have inspired

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "[Your inspiration in design ... where does it come

from?] Just things I see. I mean urn I'm always looking ... with

Allessi products. I love everything they do. I like modern

things in everything. So um, I suppose. I try and be modern

here: as modern as I can be at [unclear| ... it sounds really

pretentious, but I just like modern things."

(2B) "[Where do you look for inspiration in your design?)

No-where especially. I know my job well and am happy to

work in that style. We look at the other magazines on the

racks all the time of course, to see what the others are doing

and sometimes we might be inspired by something."

I4B) [What magazine do you most admire that influences

your work on Readership Interest Monthly] That I most

admire? |What was the one that you mentioned before?)

Take a Break!... We don't refer to it now. I tell you what we

do refer to. the other English weeklies. Not the Australian

weeklies. They are so far off track and up their own arse that

there's no point, but the English weeklies. The English

women's weekly magazines have such huge markets and

they are trained in this tabloid style of giving the reader what

they asked for that they are a really good indication of what

might inspire a design, and they have to fight a lot harder for

their market position and their market shares. Their designers

have to work really, really hard and spin off each other all the

time. Which means it's very innovative, you know?

163

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

me a lot. like Eye and there's a Letraset one called

Baseline. I don't know il you can get that here ...

Emigre as well, though I find a lot of it gets boring

after a while. It's a bit sort of like rap music. It

bores me. It doesn't change much. It just sort of

goes on and on. I am completely eclectic."

(5B) "I don't go to any particular source. I just keep my

eye out for anything that's new or just a bit quirky, or of

interest... something that's just a bit more developed There

is nothing that I keep going back to. You just have to keep

your eyes open all the time ... You don't just follow the herd ol

what's trendy at the moment, you have to see what's going

on all around you and put together something that you think

is ... cause that's really all you are doing, you're just

reassembling what's around."

Job Satisfaction

The art directors I interviewed seemed to be a rather contented lot with their jobs; largely

due to the creative content of their task as a designer. Even those most bound by the

traditions of their publication's 'house style' found pleasure in the creative act of making

up a page Clearly the act of producing design has a cathartic effect on people in

otherwise hectic production schedules. As well, the art directors I interviewed appreciated

the creative 'rub' that comes from working with top professionals in their field, in particular,

the chance to commission and work with top professional photographers who are the

main source of illustration in the area of magazine artwork production.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1 A)"... the whole job suits me. I'm interested

in politics. I'm interested in general news and I'm

interested in an international angle on the news.

And I'm interested in the rest of the magazine, so

being able to apply communication skills, visual

communication skills to a news story is what

makes it worth while. When I have the chance to

make a non-news story really readable, that's a

good moment. That's what I really like A story

that people might pass by. if I can take that and

really push it to ... argue the pages out of the

editor... laughs ... turn a 2pp into a 5pp story,

getting a chance to make a story, my editor likes

to call them worthy stories, they're a good story

but have no sex appeal, but. they're the sort of

story [News Weekly] does to keep its credibility

level. Getting a story like that and making it look

visually dynamic, that's a really good moment and

that pulls together all the things, that's

communicating."

"I know that this is a very lucky job. It's got

things that if you're interested in the things that

I'm interested in. it really delivers. It considers my

pQSJtion to be valuable enough to give me the

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) (What's the most satisfying thing about your job?) Oh.

being able-to do a really good layout. Having the opportunity

... like the fashion pages, they ... I find really satisfying. Certain

pages just work and are good It doesn't really matter what

I'm doing. I get a lot of pleasure out of it."

(38) "That's what gets me up in the day. That's what gets me

working at 10.30 in the morning till 6arn - I love it I'm finding it a

dilemma at the moment, which career path to take. II the

magazine were to fold, would I pursue a design job or a

journalist's job. My heart says design, my head says journalism..

I get a real buzz when I get something good like this - good

words, good pictures: to make it work. I think it is a very

simple layout but I like simplicity. You can really overkill with

design I've always liked pages in magazines that just let it

breathe and this really has this in this magazine because it's

the only spread that breathes really. This is in fact our old style,

but I'll never get away from enjoying that. I'll get a lot more

satisfaction out of doing that in doing one of those pictorial

spreads. Even though the challenge is just as great, if not

greater to make that work but I don't think these work. But I

haven't done any of these, and thats the other thing, you could

say that was my final responsibility, which it is. I should make

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

freedom to do il properly. And I've got an editor

who I enjoy working with who allows that."

(5A) "I can't really judge an issue until about three

months after it's come out: or even six months later,

and then you look at it and can tell whether you liked

it or not. Being art director can be frustrating in that,

even now. I kind of thought I did a lot of my best

work in design and layout terms before I. like seven

years ago when I was in London, when I was a

designer and not an art director.

That can be frustrating, because you don't get

to finish anything, or rarely work on one thing.

You're doing lots of things all over the place."

them go back and do it again. It really gets down to the time,

that I've only got an hour to do it. I can't say that I'm sorry,

start again.' "

(4B) "Well... on a general level, being able to communicate

with over 500.000 people a week is just the most amazing ... you

know, as art director I could put in anything at the bottom of one

those pages, you know what I mean? I could speak to the editor

and say I want to put a letter in this, a personal letter in this and I

could do that. I wouldn't have to send in a letter and fighl five

hundred thousand other letters. I'd have the opportunity to do

that, not only that... what I really like is getting shots of real

people, looking really happy and really relaxed, that's something

from an artistic point of view, one of the things I'd really love to

do myself is portrait photography. Portrait photography?

Encaptunng [sic) the essence of somebody in one single frame

Not that we have the opportunity to do that so often."

CD

CO

cQ.

•<

Conclusion

Overall, the art directors in both polarized groupings are a fairly contented lot. The

creative side of their role (even though a relative and modified one compared to a fine

artist) is enough, in most cases, to lead to job satisfaction. Add to this the seniority of

my respondents who were all in senior and therefore powerful and influential positions

in company hierarchies. The power ascribed by seniority forces a level of commitment

and responsibility that is likely to diminish as you go lower down the chain of command.

It is interesting that the art directors (especially those in the pro-aesthetic group) saw

the conservative/conditioned nature of the reader as the most retarding or restraining

influence on change in design. However, all art directors saw the necessity of change

being generated by industrial factors; especially competition from like minded

publications and the fashion cycle.

The next chapter observes the art directors in terms of their personal taste and life

style and less as institutional operatives.

165

Chai"e'9 The StudyThe enunciation of the Graphic Code as signproduction - Personal Values

Introduction

This is the last chapter of interview material, but it has been grouped separately because

it is different in nature to the preceding three chapters. The material in this chapter

might be described as more personal as it is more concerned with the individual beliefs

and values of the recipients than it is with their design production and practice.

This material was inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984) where

he explores the cultural production, consumption and aesthetic values of different

class groups proposing a distinct relation between cultural practice and cultural

consumption. This proposition is of course a very interesting one to any study of

cultural production and it was an idea I felt worth including in my study. Bourdieu

reproduces the questionnaire he used in his study in an addendum to Distinction and

initially I thought I might conduct my inquiry in this style. (Bourdieu, 1984:503-518) I

quickly abandoned the formal questionnaire however, in favour of semiotic analysis

and a more loosely structured interview schedule (the success or otherwise of this is

able to be judged in the previous three chapters) but was still inclined to include the

sort of material that might illuminate the relation between the values of the private

individual and their professional production as designer and art director. Just how

much were these art directors reproducing their own values, expressing the design

code of their particular class set?

Of the four chapters of analysis to come out of the interviews I feel this last chapter

has been least successful, probably because the subject of class is much more

complex than I was able to assess or reveal in an interview of this length. It is one thing

to reveal values on design specifics, it is another to expect such assurity of opinion on

more general cultural and class related matters where formations of values differ

radically between gender, age cohort, matrimonial status, lifestyle etc. As I have

explained in chapter four, I chose to go for depth rather than breadth in my research

design, but in so doing, discovered that questions relating to class and consumption

needed a lot more establishment, development and exploration in the construction of

the interview schedule. As a result, the information I received has no chance to

coalesce due to the relatively minute size of my sample. The fine tuning of taste in the

general cultural consumption of our lives probably does contain patterns relating to

class, but ten respondents are insufficient to reveal anything of significance; especially

when they differ in such fundamental ways as belonging to widely different age

cohorts, being in family relationships or being single and being naive or sophisticated

about social concepts like class.

Having said that, I think the material recorded in this chapter is still of interest;

especially as we are able to compare the personal values professed by the recipients

in this chapter with the design values they elaborate on in the earlier chapters.

Generally they do conform to the Pro- and Anti-Aesthetic typology that I have

constructed for the study and one is able to record inconsistency in values, a factor I

have made a point of commenting on when it occurs.

167

CD

G O

The issue of social class was one of the most difficult issues for the respondents to

discuss Some professed not to believe in the existence of class but would later go on

to enunciate values of class or suggest its existence in other ways. Categories like

lifestyle, food, clothing, art, magazine and music preferences were generally answered

in a personal way. not relating these areas of personal consumption to class

consumption. This personal level of association is all I should have expected of the

respondents and indeed it is all I can attribute in a sample of this size. The final details

of age and training were not part of the interview schedule, but are interesting

statistics to relate to the subject matter of this chapter.

Social Class

Social class has to be one of the most difficult concepts for the art directors I

interviewed to comprehend and come to terms with. There is a popular postmodern

notion that class is dead (not one supported by this thesis or the area of magazine

production) but this was only ever referred to obliquely. Needless to say, one can only

assume that social class is a very confused concept. One cannot assume that class

means the same thing to all respondents.

More common is the notion that social class is one of those concepts that we find a

little embarrassing and pretend to think it doesn't exist. (1A) for instance recognizes the

literate readership and therefore, necessary degree of education necessary for

comprehension of a serious news magazine, yet refuses to acknowledge that class

might be a factor - because their mail and correspondence with readers comes from

such a broad geographical area. This statement refuses to acknowledge that the

relevant geography in the case of class, is a suburban one rather than a country wide

geographic distribution. (2A) starts by disbelieving in class but then goes on to

recognize its existence in the uneven distribution of wealth; clearly (2A) is forming his

ideas as he speaks, but does not see the need to rectify his now contradicted earlier

statement. (3A) generally accepts the idea that an educated market necessarily reflects

broader social/cultural factors like class, but he is not happy with a concept of class

that is too rigidly defining, because he quite rightly does not see material wealth as

necessarily representing any particular type of cultural asset. Both (4A) and (5A)

acknowledge the elite market they serve recognizing that their subject matter is

outrageously inspirational to upper class aspirations; even if their main market might

mostly be aspirational middle class professionals like themselves.

The Anti-aesthetic mass market publications all generally admitted that the tenor of

their publications was not very intellectually demanding and were therefore aimed at

the mass market with probably poor educational levels. They also acknowledge that

the role of their publications are primarily entertainments and distractions from

everyday life. This general impression is contradicted however by the first parts of the

statements of both (1A) and (2A) and I think, in the case of Women's Weekly 7 and

Women's Weekly 2, they, probably more than the other magazines, can claim to have

such large readerships that their appeal must be larger than to simply a working class

audience. (3B) and (4B) both recognize a more solidly working class audience.

Readership Interests Weekly in particular makes its contents its readership, so it, more

than any of the other magazines, sees itself tied to its particular market base and is

keen to reflect its values in every way. (4B) even claims an 'educational' role for

168

• Readership Interests Weekly in the way that it provides a voice for the battlers who

would otherwise remain mute; these goals expressed by a refugee from Britain who

finds social class abhorrent and would prefer to think it doesn't exist. (5B) recognizes

the importance of class markets for particular magazines, but goes on to stress that the

magazines she has worked on are aesthetically somewhere in the middle of the

Fashion Monthly/Readership Interest dichotomy.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

|1A) "It's a well educated market and whether

they are well educated or not they are people who

aspire to being well informed and that is something

I think that over-rides any category that might be

called class..It cuts across, certainly cuts across

income levels, it cuts across interest groups. There

is a thing about the loyalty of our readers. They

come from really disparate areas geographically ...

That's not a class or a social thing ... it's not just the

squatocracy that are writing us letters. It's people

who are interested in all sorts of different things."

(2A) "I don't believe in that high class, middle class,

lower class stuff anyway. I really don't agree with that

at all. You know. I really don't. In Sydney, it's really

interesting. Because you're exposed to high class,

middle class, lower class more so than Melbourne or

anywhere because there's a bigger difference Its what

I imagine New York to be like; there's a big difference

between people who have got stuff and who haven't

There's not really a middle class. I have never even

thought about that, designing to a ... to a ... I guess

that's what I'm on about, maybe appealing to ... you

know, it's not all high end stuff, you're not dimmy d( a

specific group of people."

"... the good thing about it [Photographic

Monthly] is that it is sold in service stations, which

isn't the high end. so that is really interesting the

way it does that. You know, on a quality level it's

aimed at the high end market but probably at a

nudity level it's aimed at a lower..."

(3A) "It's a very tricky area. It's [Futuristic

Monthly) not a magazine that says OK we're trying

to pitch at a particular group of people, with a

particular income in a particular strata of society. I

mean that is not actually happening. I think what

might be happening is that the cultural language of

the publication would appeal to people with a

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "I think it goes to all classes. I don't think it matters

who you are. It's something that just gets chucked in the

rubbish bin. I just think it goes across the board. |What

evidence do you have for that?) Oh well, just people I see.

You know, you see people in supermarket queues. I

haven't got any ... I don't know if any research has been

done into it. you know, people who have got lots of money

and education buy Women's Weekly 1 and then there

might be somebody who has no education."

(2B) [Do you believe in social class?| No not really. I like

to think no one is better than anyone else |ust because

they have more money. But our readership probably does

exist mostly at the lower end of the market. You don't

need much of an education to read it."

(3B) "I've never thought of it ... but I think if we live in a

society which recognizes class. I guess we do. (I'm not

saying I support that) but I think there's got to be classes if

you have your Tooraks and you have your Footscrays and I

think that has a big impact on our magazine. It is obvious

that we would be appealing to the lower class because

they're the people that sit in the stands and go to the

football each week. We have to appeal to them. I aon t ieel

as though we make any judgements on them. All my

bosses do live in Toorak but go to the football every week.

Hopefully these people would be buying it as well. I think,

coming from my newspaper background, where I've had

many arguments between the Herald Sun and the Age say.

do you produce a magazine, or a newspaper to sell or one

that gives people what you think they should be reading? I

always believe you give people one that will sell because

in the end of the day it's a business you have to make

money otherwise you're out! The same with the magazine,

we've got to find the biggest market we can and they

believe it's the working class (I hate using that term) but.

for want of a better expression, that pretty much sums it

up. It's the common man who we're trying to go for

because we think that's the market. If we were to try to lift

169

Sa.

•<

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

particular cultural dialogue and how they acquire

that dialogue is probably influenced by issues of

class and socio-political aspects. So there is a

caveat there. A person placed in the ... have not

category of the sociopolitical spectrum may have

highly cultivated cultural interests, whereas

someone with all of the trappings of life and the

technology and the easy street and rich earnings

may in fact be very narrow in their focus. I'm sure

that you could interswap people of those cultural

interests There have been from time to time. I

should give this person that copy of the magazine

and I've just picked it up and I've just thought, well

they actually won't find anything to read, so I've just

thought, what's the point... because of where their

cultural language lies."

|4A)"... there's a certain type of person out there

who does want to aspire to something, or does

have dreams of... some people don't, other people

do. I guess this would appeal to people who have a

certain sense of taste ... i ts hard to say this without

it sound-ing., who are aware of their surroundings

and like or take ... are passionate about that.

Passionate about things. I guess. [They must see

their material possessions as being extensions of

themselves ...] And if that's not important to you.

then this magazine would not appeal to you."

"You are still appealing to people who live fairly

conservatively, which the general Joe Bloggs does

... they lead a fairly normal life, and they have fairly

normal homes and like their normal food and you

know . From surveys that we have done recently,

fairly reasonable salaries ... professional definitely

Generally business and probably university too.

They are generally fairly well olf and a majority have

professional jobs."

(5A) "I think it's sort of. it's the difference I

suppose between pop music and classical music

It's probably rock ... It is about... were talking top

end of the scale, so the clothes are expensive.

photography's the best you can get in the world,

the models are the best in the world, the clothing's

the best you can get and so it kind of fits in with

the class of the magazine, say. and appeal to more well to

do people, we don't think they are the kind ol people who

would buy a spons magazine. I don't even think they'd be

seen dead with a sports magazine! So I think it does have

an impact on our magazine."

(48)"... do I believe in social class? No I'm... (Well

what class would the readers of Readership Interests

Weekly be?| I wouldn't know because I don't like the word

class. I think class is irrelevant in the 90's or should be.

The word should be buried ... as soon as possible. Its not

... everybody is trying to get along you know? Everybody is

trying to get along And where somebody was born and

what class they were born into means absolutely bugger

all. like as I said. I could have been lost in the north west

suburbs of London and been a housewife back there you

know but I chose not to [But do you think these people

are .?] They've got as many choices as any body else

does. And this is only showing them how many choices

that they have by telling the stories that we do. [As a

graphic designer, do you think graphic designers need to

be aware of class?) No. I think they need to target their

design for the market that they need to communicate with.

(Well why isn't that market representative of a class?)

Because class is a social structure. Magazines are about

communication, not social structure. In fact they're about

breaking down social structure by giving people

inspiration, motivation and space to move. Class is so

defining, it's an evil thing. |l think there's a ... because you

are English, and I think class is a much stronger thing in

England than it is here.| Why do you think I'm living here?

llaughs)"

(5B) "I think in design you care more about the age ... I

guess it does ... but it's not stronger than the other... I

think it's ... more in editorial I've never really considered it

a major factor or anything ... I think it's not only social, it's

kind of also what you want You know. I think you have to

be a kind of very visual person if you pick up Vogue a lot

of the time there are only one or two articles you can

read. Whereas, if you're on the train and you want to pick

up a magazine in the true sense then you pick up a

Woman's Day or That's Life', you know the gossip things,

the stuff that's very current. I think Vogue verges on being

books almost, so it's kind of almost... Definitely in

170

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

that You don't want to kind ot crash it with a load of

mass market. It's kind of like popular TV We're not

popular TV where sort of... we're art TV if you like.

The arts coverage in \Fashion Monthly] generally is

much stronger. That kind of art design is luxury I

suppose as well. It's money and i ts covering

intelligent things as well."

women's magazines there is definite class, but I think,

well there's Vogue and there's That s Life! but there are a

whole bunch of things in the middle ... in a way. That's

where I am now. We don't want to be too sophisticated

but then we don't want to be too trashy either. We're

almost in the middle."

Lifestyle

Lifestyle is one of those poorly defined terms which can be interpreted by

respondents with a number of different inflections. As all of my respondents were

senior designers (or Art Directors) it should not be surprising that most interpreted

their lifestyle as being strongly work dominated. This was particular so in the case of

time commitment. Also with a design dominated career, aesthetics play a strong part

in designers' definitions of 'lifestyle' as a concept. This was the case with nearly all of

the designers regardless of which category of publication they represented on the

code. Of course, the concept of lifestyle really needs to be tested and reinforced more

deeply by observation as well as interview, but nevertheless there was a fair degree of

unanimity of definition among the respondents. Some of the designers, in particular

(3A) but to a lesser extent (IB) and |3B). acknowledge the misfit between their

aesthetic ideals and the material reality of their existence; their aspirations being

upwardly mobile in each case.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) |... about your lifestyle outside here, how would you

describe it?l There is none! I've just had two enforced days

off because I've been in here |at News Weekly] so much. We

close the magazine on Friday night and it goes to print on

Sunday night... I just don I relax until Sunday night when . "

(3A) "I don't want to sound like a wanker but I made it kind of

a passion ... its become a passion, somewhat of an obsession

which started years ago. a long time before I started working on

Futuristic Quarterly . to keep art and creativity at the center of

what I was doing. So that vein runs through everything I do. I try

to paint and I try to do my own artwork for example when I get

a chance and take an oblique interest in what's going on in the

arts. But in physical terms. I spend too much time in this sort of

environment stuck with all sorts of technical, physical problems;

because it is extremely time consuming."

"It seems that a lot me is in the magazine. I live in the

pages of the magazine: that's where I express my|seH]... No

more or less than an architect believes that a building is a

monument to itself. But in a kind of lifestyle sense ... feel

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "... my whole life is based round

aesthetics, towels, house, everything. I'm just one

of those sorts of people that that feel if it looks

good it's OK. I'll buy something because it looks

good or I'll notice something because of the way it

is designed even if it's in the supermarket. [Do you

see yourself as a Women's Weekly 1 reader?) No I

don't... No. but neither would any of us |So you

value different aesthetics to the ones the

magazine espouses?] Definitely. [Your partner,

does he ...?) He's the same as me basically. It's

not quite so important to him but my whole life

revolves around what looks good."

(2B) "I am a country girl really and live in the

country north of Sydney. I like country style things,

crafts, and doing things for yourself like making

cards and gardening and things. I've got a large

cottage style garden which I really love."

171

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

CO

to

that I have been working lor 28 days straight with a couple of

days off for R and R. I've been in this room for a majority of

that time with the blinds drawn thus and that's it. And I fee!

pretty terrible in a physical and emotional sense - and that

wasn't how I started six weeks ago. I was full of enthusiasm

and ideas. And it seems as though the life is drained from

me physically into the pages of the publication and the work

I feel, and the more that ends up in the ink the worse I

physically feel. This can't go on indefinitely! llaughter]"

(3B) "I like sport. I'm not a tidy person, so

maybe these pages reflect me. but having said

that I would much prefer the clean look,

cleanliness. I am not sure how I can see myself in

this magazine ... When I did the dummy, which is

my vision, they have not really been picked up

Elements were, but they seem to have moved

away from those, so. I'd have to say it's my

interpretation of someone else's philosophy."

(4A) (Do you think your own lifestyle is reflected in Ulestyle

Monthly?] Oh I wish! I try to. |Laughs| I can't afford half the

things in it. You do ... you become very greedy, or wanting.

You're constantly surrounded by things, you look in the

cupboard when things come in for shoots ...you've got a

stock cupboard of exsorbitantly priced products most people

cannot afford. It just makes you want, you know"

(5A) "I'm very sort of classic. I like classic type. I'm not

so fussed about things being trendy as being sort of.

good classic, well thought out beautifully spaced,

beautifully cut lettering, that's my kind of thing. That

hopefully will develop and work into the magazine. |And

would that be reflected in your living quarters and so on?]

Yes I think so I think it probably would. Although you kind

of ... yes. I think so. I hadn't really thought of that actually!

Yes I think it probably does ... the stuff you put on your

wall, you know I put photographs and pictures which

would probably be very related to fashion photographs

Obviously, if you are working with photographers you gel

pictures off them. So what you've got on your walls would

probably be from the magazine "

(4B) "Organized. I have to be organized. I've got.

it's a bit like the magazine. I've got so many different

things that I do. am meant to do and can do and

have done and da da da ... I do compart, you know,

put things in different compartments 'rom so many

different areas and deal with one thing at a time,

which is the style of that magazine to a certain extent

... I live in an apartment at the beach ... I suppose my

biggest lifestyle move has been to move right onto

the beach because that's something where I can

move right away from the rest of the world, you

know. My boyfriend's a surfer and I'm a swimmer

and a jogger and an English paddler. you know?... I

spend an hour, half an hour just sitting with your feel

in the water on the sand, it brings you back down to

earth, you know, all of this is ... brain stuff and that

brings you right physically back, it's great Now we

are that close. I can hear the waves at night... on the

shore. From the north west suburbs of England, to

be living next to that is just unreal!"

I5B) "I'm not a gym person! Laughs. But I do

exercise quite a bit. I did classical ballet for 17 years

which I still enjoy in a minor way. As well I do painting

in my own time and illustration which I enjoy."

Dinner

I felt it was necessary to test the idea of habitus with a number of diverse areas of

consumption; domestic, aesthetic and leisure based. Taste in food seemed too

complex for the moderately brief interview period I had been able to arrange, so I

went for a random variable - what did they have for dinner last night? In a way this did

reveal the necessary information, though clearly this subject could be explored with

much greater depth. The time specific nature of the question tended to be a bit of a

red herring but it did help expose the values of the designers about food. Most

described the consumption of good food as a particular passion and a surprisingly

172

large number also described the preparation of it as an equally great pleasure. The

aesthetic presentation of food was mentioned in a large minority of cases.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A| "Well this has to be the exception. I ate at home

last nighl. and ate something that I cooked. I generally eat

out What did I have, it was a cold and rainy day and I

made soup. I made soup on the weekend so it's still there.

But no, I generally don't eat at home. That's only the

second meal I've cooked since I've lived in that house. It's

been like a year."

(2A) "Well I'm getting into the cooking thing actually.

We made some pasta. Now that I'm running my own

studio I've got to ... Well. I was actually saving a lot of

money, because I knew I wanted to set up my own studio,

because I wanted to be David Carson! I wanted to do my

own thing No. Ian cooked last night. I went to the

supermarket last night. I really love supermarkets. I was

lust getting into the shopping thing, so um. I'd decided

that I would cook this really huge soup and that I would

bring that in for lunch, or I would make this huge spaghetti

Bolognaise so that I can have that for dinner for the next

six weeks,"

(3A) "I had a Vienna Schnitzel crumbed, with a lovely gravy,

mushroom, onion and vegetables cooked by my partner

who keeps me on life support during magazine production

time at about 9.30 which is a lot earlier... a couple of

nights before it was a Big Mac I think!"

(4A) [Are you interested in cooking? Is that passionate to

you?) Yes absolutely. Working with food, sitting down at a

light box at nine o'clock in the morning means that you are

always hungry ... constantly hungry. [Do you eat out or do

you cook for yourself?] Both I love eating out. I love a great

meal It doesn't matter who we're eating with or what we

are talking about, we always end up talking about food. But

it's not just a food magazine but i ts a large part of it."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) [What did you have for dinner last night?]

"Pasta. IDid you cook it?] Oh yes! |more laughter) [So

you didn't go out?) I would have liked to have gone

out but didn't '

(2B) "We had a roast. Mum cooked it."

(3B) "I had Thai take-away. A bad time to ask

because I was in the office and there is a Thai take-

away around the corner. I'll have either that or

Vietnamese. The others have pizzas, but I like food ...

I love to cook."

(4B) [What did you eat for dinner last night?)

A corn, sour cream and bacon tart with soup for start,

which I made ... [You made the whole meal?) No. The

tarts I bought from ... a gorgeous gorgeous deli and the

soup was Broccoli, cauliflower, potato, egg. cheese and

cream in the blender. That's what I ate last night. But...

But it's totally out of character. You just happened to

catch me on the right day! ... I hate cooking! It's not

something I take pride or joy in. [Do you eat out a lot?)

Its a necessity. Yes. Eat out. order in. easy food. I don't

have a microwave though, so I don't do that. I take

them out of the freezer and chuck em in the oven."

(5B) [for dinner last night?] "Stroganofl. which was

nice. I had dinner with my boss, my boss had asked

me over."

"I love groovy food ... I love quite complicated

food that looks good. Not too complicated that you

really get bogged down, but... things that look really

nice. That's why I like the Vogue Entertaining sort of

thing. Everything looks so beautiful. You open it and

you say I want mine to..."

CD

en

Clothes

As a measure of taste and consumption, this category could do with more specific

testing. All designers will tell you they love clothes, but exploration of this area really

needs more specifics; particular labels and especially being asked to differentiate what

they would wear to specifically different types of social engagement. Most addressed

the question as one relating to work and this failed to acknowledge that many people

173

lead (in terms of clothes) separate lives of work and leisure. Nevertheless, there was a

general acknowledgement that presentation of self through clothes is important to

designers and something of which they are always conscious in their presentation at

work. Again, most also recognized the material constraints on designers, who even as

art directors do not regard themselves as overly wealthy.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1 A) 'I've just been at Fashion Week for a week. There

have been lashion parades all week ... I think it is

important for me to dress well as a designer, I'm not

credible unless I dress well and that's a real consideration;

I have to think about what I'm going to wear to work every

day. mostly not tor the people who I work directly with,

but for people I work incidentally with. Meaning

photographers and illustrators. I go out to photo libraries

and meet with people out there It's important from my

work point of view, but I like the weekends when you don't

have to think about it. I like to shop! Don't we all?"

(2A) "It's funny, I go through stages. I'm going through,

you know, a bit of a skate scene at the moment. I guess

I'm a bit label-y sometimes. I really love Mooks. I really love

Mooks I wear heaps of that. Heaps. Last time we went

out. I had Mooks jeans on and a Mooks jacket and a Mooks

jacket in a bag. When we got there, to this house and it's

meet this guy and it's like this is the guy from Mooks. It

was really funny I really like clothes I think it's really good

and I'm really getting into snow-boarding a lot. I love all that

stuff. Were approaching Quicksilver and all of those sorts

of companies, you know, doing graphics for them."

(3A) Well here I am. Dressed in black I don't get out

much so I haven't bought any new clothes recently. Not

very recently and it's becoming a bit of a struggle to feel

comfortable in terms of looking after myself in a fashion

sense or in a day to day sense. So all my T shirts are too

small or gone gray or falling apart! [laughs) |Are they

always black?) No dark colours, grays or neutrals. Nothing

white No! Yes white t shirts, gray t shins, black t shirts,

and shirts with collars of the same colour. . My fashion

sense now is vastly different to what it was ten years ago

where I was sort of new wave, bright colours and a new

romantic sort of appearance. So if I was a really cool and

studied designer like some of the people I know I probably

would be a total thing."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(1B) [What sort of clothes do you wear?) "The

best I can afford. |Are aesthetics important there?]

Yes. [What sorts of aesthetic things ?| I think

classical clothes I like. I don't, .in this sort of job I ...

it's not important what I wear. I could come in jeans

if I wanted to ... I'm probably pretty casual"

(2B) "I don't have to dress up for work. |ust

something that's relaxed and casual is all that's

needed. Loose things."

(3B) "I love clothes. I buy anything that's

expensive! No! I can't anymore! I don't have a

brand. I go purely on design. I don't like anything

that's standard, well I do. but I like variations ... I like

classic styling ... something that gonna ... I'm not

into something that I'll buy now but next year I don't

wear. Although having said that... my suits ... I've

got one suit, the last one I bought was a woollen

suit, but it was a very sixties look So you could say

that that might last for three years but ... it's got

quite tight pants, not quite stovepipes, but quite

thin legs. But we are trying to save for a house at

the moment so all of those extravagances are now

beyond me. And since I've lost the CD column, that

used to fund that as well. But I like clean, plain

stylish clothes. Simplicity but effective sort of thing

But I will spend money on clothes. I would never

buy Roger David."

(4B) "I haven't bought a new garment for. and I'm

serious now. the past six months. When I'm working

and I'm involved in something, I buy what I need to

do my job. I'm not really, some people say that I

look a bit like a fashion bunny, with my leather pants

and what have you. but I wear what I need to wear

for my job. The rest of the time I'm in shons and

tracky daks. If you've got Ipatches on your jeans -

unclear] you know ... people remember you!"

174

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publication* continued

(4AI "A shoot today so I'm in my cheap clothes! But

not to the extent than if I worked on a fashion magazine.

I t s the same old thing, you know, you can't afford those

things that are out of reach or out of budget, but you

wear those things to adapt to what you can afford. But

yes. clothes are important as far as ... it's not the be all

and end all. but it's important to feel comfortable, and I

guess you do seek things that you've seen or are around

or are fashionable."

(5B) "I think they Iclothes) are important. I think

i t s one of those things that you. ..within the music

industry it's important to cultivate an image But I

didn't want to achieve in that industry. I wanted to

achieve at a design level I guess. I like classical

elegance, because I just don't have the money to

keep up with the main stream; something with a bit

of difference, not totally daggy. Sort of straight but

something that's quite classical."

CD

G O

S

Art Appreciation

This question was couched in terms of frequency of gallery visitation and was effective

in measuring the importance of fine art aesthetic values in the life of senior designers.

The pressure of work and family commitments were the most common reasons given

to explain the fairly low attendance of galleries by most of the respondents. This

infrequency however, was not meant to be interpreted as a real lack of interest. Some,

especially (1 A). (3A) and (5B) were interested in art, not just through gallery visitation,

but also through their production of their own artworks, in some cases leading to

exhibition in galleries themselves. Photography and Computer Generated Art were

described as being their preferred forms of art production - usually an extension of

their work interests.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) "I mostly go to photographic art galleries ... I collect

photography. This Ibehind her on the office wall] is but a small

collection here. No these were given to me by people, usually I

nominate them in people's folios or people send them to me. No. it

is a real passion. It's not something I do myself. I gave that away."

(2A| "I'm really funny when I go to exhibitions. Cause I rush in and

rush out really quickly. At Photographic Monthly we used to be

invited to all those things. But that's just how I like to view it. I don't

like to sort of stand back and ... but I love them. I really like it. I

actually feel as though I actually understand a bit more, just through

Ben and a whole lot of his friends are... its a whole different life style.

You know, they don't have any money. They live really cheaply and

that. They just draw and paint. It's just really amazing. I really love that

sort of stuff. I really love going to galleries ... [Not the Gallery of New

South Wales?] I've never been. Laughs. No more sort of little

contemporary galleries. |What was the last exhibition you went to?] I

actually went to a really good exhibition at the MCA. It was actually

called, a really funny name. Phantasmagoria, it was called. It was sort

of a Multi-media sort of thing, which I don't really like that much, but

um I got an invite and decided to go to the opening and

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) [Do you ever go to art galleries?) 'Not

really. But that is because of my lifestyle not so

much because I don't want to, it just doesn't

really fit in with working and children and all

that sort of stuff. [What sort of art do you like

most?j Abstract modern art. Although my

father is a fine artist, a realist, and I can

appreciate it. I suppose I like some of the

things but probably my personal preference

would be for modern art. But modern art is not

necessarily new art though ...You look at

furniture that's been designed in 1939 or

something. I believe that something beautiful

will last forever."

(2B) "Well, it (my home] is decorated with

country style furniture and crafts. I think my

strongest passion as a designer is with colour,

and you would certainly say that if you saw

the colour scheme of my home - especially

with blues."

175

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

really, really liked it. [Is it interactive?] Yes. I really loved it. You

should go. I actually stayed for a while. I was just sort of

mesmerized by some of the things ... I was more impressed by the

installations they've got there. You walked into it. It was really cool.

I actually did a couple of talks, and the guy who organized it is

actually a designer and does all the exhibition design at the MCA ...

his design was great, just so good, it was really organic."

(3A) "I have done some painting and I have dabbled recently. I

tried to keep a journal once. I am still very much a believer in the

immediacy of real art meaning real media. Aesthetically, computer

art is still really struggling because in a sense it is losing some of the

attributes that make an so kind of essential. It has lost the

immediacy of texture for example. It has the uniformity of

Photoshop algorithms for example but it is a sphere I'm working in

that is just easy for me to do |Do you see designing Futuristic

Quarterly as art?) No not as art. But it is an art form and I am an

artisan il you like To me the distinguishing line between art and

something like this is the immediacy of expression, the immediacy

between the artist and the work and then the work and the

audience and sometimes you can take the work and the artist and

the audience as the same thing. Here the immediacy is dulled by all

of the technical processes."

"I haven't been around to the smaller galleries very recently ...

The last one was the Frederick McCubbin. no Arthur Streeton I

actually took my mum and her husband along ... they liked the idea

of landscapes and they quite liked the McCubbin triptych, the

husband and wife which they could relate to ... oh sorry I went to ...

I exhibited in an exhibition at... and I went to another exhibition at

the same location, so I have been to a couple of minor exhibitions."

(4A) "Mad on galleries The most recent exhibition was

probably the Fauves. I haven't made it down to the Turner yet, but I

might... It's just a matter of getting down there for the weekend. I

do make it a habit as much as possible to pick up a friend and just

go round local galleries. There are a lot of galleries around where I

live. I love going out and trying to get to openings and things like

that. It's good to be aware of what's going on and see what's

happening out there. I think you have to be. You cant not."

(38] "I would go more if ... ah! good

question! No. But I would like to do it more. It's

not because I don't like them. I just haven't got

around to it. I went overseas two years ago.

through Europe, and went to a lot through

there. We were going to go to the Fauves but

haven't got to that yet. |So what was the last

exhibition you would have attended?] I can

remember going but can't remember what it

was. Unfortunately I miss most of them

because of my work. The last one I went to

was actually to do with music. There was

something on at that little ona at Southgate ...

that music place there. I think it was a Jimmy

Hendrix exhibition '

(4B) (Do you go to art galleries >| Haven't

recently, no. But I did in England and I have been

over here, but it's not something I do on a

regular basis. [What would be the last exhibition

you went to?] Oh my God! At the New South

Wales Art Gallery ... cant remember what it was

now. Isn't that disgusting! ... That's terrible for a

designer to say that, but I cant even remember,

but it was at the New South Wales Art Gallery

and I remember the brochure, a burgundy

brochure with such nice photography ..."

(5B) [What sort of galleries? Small ones or...]

"A mixture of both really. I loved the Fauvist

Exhibition, that really influenced me ... And also,

when I went to Europe last year. I was

absolutely amazed by the classical old

paintings. And I paint myself. I had an exhibition

last year of Icons of the Virgin. [Really! Religious

icons?] No not really religious. I only painted

Mary. I used to be very into it."

(5A) "I love all of that. I think it's important, you have to be.

You've got to see shows and exhibitions, because it's what it's all

about. It just kind of makes your job feel a bit sort ol like, you see

great photography or great painters and you think. What am I

doing? [Laughter)."

176

Other Magazines

It seemed obvious to explore the respondents' consumption of other magazines as

relevant objects of taste; especially as they might also be defined through the Graphic

Design Code. In the case of the Pro-aesthetic designers their taste in other magazines

was entirely consistent with the aesthetic of their own sign production. However, in the

case of the Anti-aesthetic designers, their preferred magazines for personal

consumption were generally up-market of the ones they themselves produce. The

exceptions were (2B) and (3B).

CDCO

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A| "I have to stop myself buying magazines. But I've got a

deal with the receptionist, or the editorial assistant that when

Vanity Fair comes in nobody else should see it before it gets on

my desk. Vanity Fair is just like ... I don't get the opportunity very

olten to do the sort of photography that's in it, but for me it's

really important to know what's in there because it's such a

leader in personality photography and it's a great way to keep up

... I occasionally buy interior design magazines, very occasionally

because they are interesting layout wise. One magazine that

really interests me as a designer magazine is Vogue Pahs I

haven't always noticed it. but stylishly it's so far ahead of

everything else."

(2A) "Well I'd always figured that I'd loved to feel them

|magazines|. look at them and open them I actually started

reading Bikini magazine and I really love the actual articles in

there because they were useful for me and also surfer magazine.

I could find out good spots to go. I'd actually found them on an

informative level which I'd actually never done before. I'd

always., it was a purely visual and physical thing."

CiA) "Well since I've been working in magazine desig" lewer

and fewer are inspiring. Wired is a big influence. World Art Terry

Hogan is obviously a big influence ... well ... apart from that

magazines I read as something purely for something to do. I'm

not really looking to other magazines now for directions '

14A) " I used to love English Marie Claire, just because ... it

had a bit of everything from the sensational to the beautiful. I

love Elle Decoration, the English version, a beautiful magazine .

very inspirational. There is this thing called Marcus Stuart Living

which is another beautiful magazine. It's beautifully designed,

beautifully photographed. It has a huge team working on it but it

is the whole way the magazine works, it's beautiful to look at and

you can learn a lot by reading it... Amazingly! I don't buy as

many as I used to."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) "To me the cover of a magazine is what

will make me go up to it and look at it. I'll look

at a magazine like Mode which has got this

incredible cover on it; I don't really care what

inside it. i just buy it because its beautiful. I

would buy Elle. Mode stylish looking

magazines. I love Elle magazine. I think it's the

best designed magazine in the world. I always,

if I'm in doubt about anything I'll go and look

through copies of that for inspiration."

(2B) "I don't buy many [magazines|. Other

ACP magazines of course. Marie Claire and She

are probably what I buy most."

(3B) "I'm into music enormously. I used to

buy, well I don't now. but I used to buy Rolling

Stone, I buy Mojo Magazine, which is an English

music magazine, that's my favourite magazine

The magazines I buy are music magazines I'm

a reader of magazines and newspapers not

books. Especially if I come home exhausted. I

like to sit down with something simple to read;

I don't want to sit down with a book. |These are

basically illustrated magazines that you go for?]

No text really. Because I am serious about what

I read. I'm really into music."

(4B) "I'm a mag hag. I buy ten different titles

a week. But different ones every week. Last

week I bought four surf magazines. Options

from England, the new. oh it's got Earnie Dingo

on the cover ... [Is it Get Away?] ... they've

done a magazine off the program which is

quite an interesting little mag. and it's a bit sort

of this market you know? What else did I buy?

177

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

(5A) "For myself, to sort of read. I get The National

Geographic. I don't know if you can get it here, but Sky and

Telescope. |Laughs] It's an American sort of ... [So this reflects

your other interests ... | I've only got a pair of binoculars, but I

always find the stars the most amazing thing ... But work wise I'd

have to say Harpers Bazaar, Italian Vogue. American Vogue,

Italian Marie Claire, a few of those kinds of things, just looking at

photographers really on that front."

"I think when you're looking at international magazines the most

influential designer by far has been Fabion Barron. whether he's

working in Italy or New York . Everyone looks around the world

more and you tend to actually look within your sphere, so people

designing Vogue or Harper's Bazaar will look at other Vogue's and

Harper's around the world. Elle's and Marie Claire's again within

that son of strata, because they're sort of one rung down on the

kind of... they're slightly more mass-market, put it that way. This is

a kind of top end. Just because it's sort of very expensive."

A gardening mag. my mum actually sent me a

couple last week, which is Family Circle and

Good Housekeeping. |And would you say you

were influenced by them?| Yes. They're

inspirations, definitely."

(5B) "I buy Vogue Entertaining because I

love cooking. In terms of work I love Details

just because I love what they do. They have

that quirky edge in presentation and

typography but they're also commercial - I

think exactly the right balance for today's

market. You don't want to be fed the same old

stuff, you want something that's a bit

innovative, but you also want it to be so we can

digest it as well... It's a men's magazine ... Its

American. It's won design awards in America.

It's very good, it's got some of the innovation

of Raygun in it's typography, but it also brings it

back so that it's quite, .it's really interesting

The images are great"

Music

Taste in music was fairly eclectic. There was a generally professed love of most of the

modern forms of popular music such as pop, jazz, funk, blues and world music, though

apart from (3B) and (4B). only designers of the Pro-aesthetic group professed a liking to

classical. It is difficult, from a sample as small as this, to come to any conclusions as

far as individual taste is concerned, but the generally high enthusiasm should be noted

as significant.

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications

(1A) [What sort of music do you listen to?) Pretty

eclectic, from classical to blues. Most of the stuff in

my collection would be blues and World Music. I go

to see World Music and Blues performances, not as

often as I like, but I've been to both WOMAO'S and I'll

go again! ... I don't have a huge collection [of

recordings) because I'm not home to listen to it very

much. I'm completely addicted to the radio. I listen to

Radio National."

Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications

(IB) [What sort of music is your favourite sort of

music?) Jazz and Black music ... [Are there any names

that come to mind?) Al Jarreau um ... Miles Davis ... but I

also like lunky black music."

(2B) "My husband is probably more interested in music

than I am. But anything and everything really. Classical,

country-rock ... but I find that if I am home on my own I

don't listen to anything."

(2A) "I'm really getting into music a lot. Funny

though. When I was at college a big Techno thing was

happening so we were all into that pretty heavily. Now

I've moved right away from that into the more sort of

(3B) "Up until last week I wrote the CD column for the

Herald Sun. I've done that for 4 years and I did it for 5 years

in Adelaide. My CD collection is enormous. It's easier to say

what I don't like. Rap. pop. heavy metal I don't like, don't

178

Dominant or Pro-aesthetic publications continued Subordinate or Anti-aesthetic publications continued

rock scene. I really love the Smashing Pumpkins!... I

like quite diverse music actually. I'm not really... I

actually quite like a lot of things. It's funny though, I'm

really like that, like the people I hang around with are

people who go and see DJ's and stuff, like and then

I've got a group of people who go to pubs and things

like that, so I'm not really...I find that frustrating

sometimes. I'm not really one or the other!"

(3A) "I'm not big on music at the moment. I don't

play any music her.. I've moved into this room from

the other room because the music is a distraction to

me. But from time to time I like a little Iggy Pop. Lou

Reed. I have in the past liked Scar. U2.1 listen to JJJ

Irom time to time but I haven't bought very many

records in the last ..."

(4A) (And music, what sort of music do you listen

to?] Well, once again something classic. I love dance

music. I love jazz. I love dance. I love pop. Very varied.

My boyfriend is a huge freak and music head and

loves everything from Neil Young to The Cure to Barry

Manilow. Music is a huge part of my life as well. I

can't resist a good CD."

|5A) |Whal son of music do you listen to?] God.

everything! Everything from the Smashing Pumpkins

to Mahler really! ... I like bands to have guitars. I just

sort of grew up with Punk in London, so my popular

music's got to be drums, guitars and bass and is sen

of Punk orientated I suppose. But then I love opera

and classical music, so I think between that... and I

like jazz as well. I'm not a jazz buff. I don't really know

all that much about it but I quite like John Coltrane

and all that son of stuff."

like rap. techno. Anything with a melody I like. I don't care

what form that's in, anything progressive I love, but it's got

to have a melody. I love classical too. If you looked at my

co collection it is so varied. [As a CD reviewer did you

review classical?) No ... I was in that Thursday HIT section

aimed at youth. But my tastes. I was told are too old., the

man who replaced me is 35.36. he's older than me. but his

tastes are really teenage. He reviewed a Kiss album this

week and I would never listen to that... It's just different

tastes. But that's not why I like it. I like it because I don't

work there. But I just love music. I find it very soothing and

get a lot out of it. My favourite musician is Bob Dylan."

(4B) (Who is your favourite composer?] Mozart. [Really?

And what is your favourite Mozan?) Don Giovanni I actually

love very emotionally. But that's a family thing. ]ls it? Do you

go to the opera?) I've been to the opera house but haven't

been to an opera at the opera house yet no. I used to go in

England ... My sister's a musician, yes ... she works in the

music industry and she's a very. very, very talented flautist

She's at the Royal Academy of Music. It's a very universal

language, meaning that we change our voice patterns and

we change our speech but music cuts through class, race,

creed, colour the whole lot. People, they hear the War of the

Worlds or they hear, you know ...or Beethoven's Fifth and

you can't not recognize it. it doesn't matter who the hell you

are. Or at least say 'What the hell was that?' you know."

(5B) "1 really like that sort of Airport Lounge stuff, sort

of in-flight! ... [Astrid Ghilberto!?) Something like that!"

"1 think music was really the driving force behind the

magazine. It sets the tone of the youth culture represented

by the magazine but I don't think that's the case any more.

There's a lot more fashion and street style that influences

the culture these days."

co

Age and Training

Most of the art directors interviewed were between thirty and thirty five. However the

art directors of both Photography Monthly and Popular Culture Monthly were in their

early twenties, in each case, this being their first job out of college. It seems to be fairly

typical that an art director might reach professional maturity by their mid thirties.

Creative professions such as this, dominated by fashions and essentially targeting

youngish age markets, should probably expect to be dominated by designers of a close

or related cohort. Both of the younger designers mentioned their relative immaturity and

inexperience in the job and mentioned that they were, to begin with, out of their depth.

179

As with age. training is another of those variables which would need a statistically

significant sample in order to be relevant as data. Nevertheless, the key informant

qualities of my sample make this information of interest. In my sample group the

distribution of designers with a university BA qualification constitutes nearly half of the

group (40%). tertiary certificates or diplomas also 40%. The remaining two designers

are both industry trained (meaning no formal qualification) but one is also a qualified

and experienced copy journalist. In my sample, the pro-aesthetic group all have tertiary

qualifications; three degrees and two certificates. There is only one degree in the Anti-

aesthetic group, two certificates and two industry trained. This distribution of

qualifications pretty much falls as I would have expected given the values of the code;

the dominant aesthetic being the sort of design taught and valued by tertiary

institutions and especially degree courses.

Conclusion

Generally speaking the aesthetically polarized groupings (established through an

analysis of magazine design aesthetics) tended to be reinforced in these more personal

areas of value such as social class and areas of habitus such as lifestyle, food, clothes,

magazines, art appreciation, music etc. There are sometimes exceptions and

contradictions among the statements, and these exceptions are. of course, of interest.

Probably the strongest characteristic that typifies both groups is an almost exclusive

reference to dominant, pro-aesthetic design values as those of most worth, meaning

that the anti-aesthetic is recognized by nearly all of the group as having little intrinsic

value and especially not to the designers themselves.

180

Chap.erlO

Testing the Graphic Design Code -Research outcomes and their significanceto Postmodern, Sociological andGraphic Design theory

Introduction

Throughout this thesis I have sought to locate the activity of graphic design in the

major themes of contemporary sociology and postmodern theory. It is interesting that

graphic design has not been isolated for study by sociologists before, so it was

necessary to locate the activity of graphic design as part of language in the broadest

sense, so that the social forces that shape language in general might also be seen to

shape graphic design. Postmodern theory on the other hand is known to graphic

designers, though this knowledge is often superficial and stylistic, so it is interesting

here, to first of all summarize the findings of my research and then relate these to

postmodern, sociological and graphic design theory as it stands, to assess its

contribution, insights and shortcomings.

This chapter draws together the major themes raised through the semiotic analysis

in Chapter 5 and interviews with key participants in the commercial media in Chapters

6 to 9. There is a clearly articulated relation between the structure of the interviews and

the structure of the earlier semiotic analysis, so it seems logical that I should also

follow this structure when charting the research outcomes in this chapter.

In Chapter 5. after the individual analyses. I develop the Graphic Design Code with a

consistently polarized range of values. The extremes of separation and opposition are clearly

evident in the analyses, and one of my main reasons for designing an interview schedule

around the same structure of values, was to test the logic and validity of the first outcomes

summarized on p. 120. For this reason I group the interviewees' accounts around the same

aesthetic that I attribute to the style of design typical of their own publication. Here I was

testing Bourdieu's thesis that people reproduce their own class dispositions (Bourdieu, 1984)

and that the aesthetic of the publication on which they are art director, might express their

own aesthetic values in design and further, that their professional values may even reflect the

personal aesthetics displayed in their own life. I was initially surprised by the consistent

strength of the polarization of values expressed by the code. Not all design conforms to the

extremes and so must be explained by the code even though it fails to represent the code's

extreme or pure forms. Some design might make reference through subtle suggestion, so

the logic of the code is one where the oppositional values act as polar markers and anything

in between it; mere suggestions of the clearly recognized and acknowledged polarities.

Though aspects of the polarized code might appear to express restraint, you could hardly

claim that the polarities of the code itself are subtle. Subtlety is not usually the most

appropriate characteristic to be expressed in the commercial market place and it is this same

set of values that governs the references made by commercial graphic designers. The

articulation of this code is clearly the most significant outcome of the research in this thesis.

Its clear, almost simple logic, is all the more surprising because of its pervasiveness, not only

in the commercial magazine media, but in the whole commercial culture most often

181

articulated in advertising in any media. Once exposed, the Graphic Design Code

becomes obvious, but because most of us (unconsciously choosing from the codes

polarized values) select and stay within the comfortable aesthetic field of our preferred

media Our values lie within such an insular range that we hardly even realize that the

polar opposite of our preferred aesthetic represents value at all.

I commence early sections of this chapter by including the summaries of the code

from Chapter 5 and then test these oppositions against those enunciated by the

interviewees on the same subjects These parallels can only be applied when discussing

the material aspects of the design code, as more personal material must be treated

separately. Reference will also be made to the earlier chapters of literature review,

where more general theoretical issues were raised. Towards the end of the chapter, I will

reflect on the relevance of my research outcomes and observations to wider theory.

A Summary of the Analysis and Interviews Investigating

the Structure of the Graphic Design Code

As stated above, one of the most efficient summaries in my earlier chapters is the

codification of the graphic design elements in Chapter 5. I now propose to juxtapose

these summaries with the analysis of the art directors; to test the veracity of the initial

observations against those of the sign producers themselves Overall, their

observations are extremely supportive.

Layout/space/grid

The major themes enunciated here are contrasting values of space and discipline. There

is a maximization of space in pro-aesthetic design which is almost a complete contrast

to the crowded and busy layouts of the anti-aesthetic. Freedom is symbolized by the

varied and creative use of space in the pro-aesthetic grid, most evident in the diagonal

balance of modern design and the unstructured grid of postmodern designers. In

contrast the anti-aesthetic grid is formulaic in the repetition of its layouts and its

rejection of white space as wasted space (or loss of value). Following is the summary

from The Graphic Design Code on space and grids, first given in chapter five:-

Pro-aesthetic design

Changing grids

White space maximized

Spacious grids

Wide margins

Layouts simple

Covers rarely use inset photographs

Interior grids loosely based on the golden mean

Interior layout maximize full page bleeds

Freedom to use unstructured grids

Multiple column widths incorporated grid/layout

Slipping, fusing and overlapping of body copy

Small images are often deep-etched against

columns of copy or white backgrounds

182

Anti-aesthetic design

Consistent grids

White space minimized

Tight grids

Narrow margins

Layouts busy, complex and crowded

Covers nearly always use multiple inset photographs

Interior grids usually mathematically divided

Interior layouts use minimal full page bleeds

Unstructured grids very rare

Usually only one or two column into a single page

widths incorporated into single page layouts

Conventional 'grid bound' presentation ol body copy

Small photographs are often scattered over each

other to randomly fill a page - a jumble of images

These polarities are generally supported by the art directors I interviewed. Only the

News Weekly art director professed to use no white space in the magazine's design

because of the magazine's policy that, as a news magazine, they must appear to offer

value for money i.e. support their 'solid' content with 'solid' text and image. But even

here, feature articles in News Weekly carry the percentage of white space one would o

normally expect of an up market magazine; a fact, inadvertently acknowledged by the g

art director when she describes her passion for that rare opportunity: 5

"I really hang out for the days when we get a cover story, because that means I've got enough pages to

have some space in there." (1A)

All of the other Pro-aesthetic designers wax lyrical about white space as if it is their

paramount value (see pp.124-127). Not so. with the Anti-aesthetic designers! They all

found white space totally inappropriate for their market except for the art director of

Women's Weekly 7.1 can only assume that she mythologises her design, as her design

outcomes are mostly similar to its closest market rival - Women's Weekly 2:

"Well I like to have as much space as possible, white space for example ... I find it |white spacel pleasing

I think that is what this whole magazine is at the moment, pleasing to me ..." (IB)

The Women's Weekly 1 art director appears to be endorsing white space yet what she

was referring to was minor (compared to Pro-aesthetic publications) though clearly

even this token space bore significance in her reading of the design. Anti-aesthetic

crowdedness and clutter are described primarily as being governed by economy and

these art directors are quick to knuckle under to the dictates of the anti-aesthetic style;

as if it is the reader who dictates its proscriptions.

"We fill it all up. White space is seen as having only a negative value in our market. Our readers like to see

every centimeter of space filled with information ..." (4B)

In Chapter 6, there is an interesting correlation made by 9 of the designers between

space and peace, and between crowded elements and noisy busyness.

"It also gives you a feeling of speed or of time If you're looking at a page that's covered with different

elements and things it creates a very busy, it's stimulating, whereas Fashion Monthly has quite the

opposite affect: its probably quite relaxing " (4A)

These observations are also reinforced by Jacques Durand's theory of visual rhetoric

which also relates greater space between elements as symbols of higher class and

sophistication and the opposite, closeness, with the mass market and the every day

(Dyer, 1982:159-161).

Most of the art directors saw space in their designs as being market driven. Basically

magazines serve the markets of the advertising they carry (the latter, of course put far

more money and effort into understanding and defining exactly who and what that

market is). The equation between space and high class sophistication is the most

common one they make.

"I think it makes a magazine appear more up-market and more creative and artistic because it's not ...

more commercial magazines are |ust out to sell a lot and fill every bit of space with something: no matter

how banal it is. they'll fill it!" (5A)

183

So space can signify class at all phases of the spectrum. Sometimes it has more to do

with substitution. For instance, when you swap scale for space, photographic spreads

which might go for large scale and full page bleeds tend to stand in for sophistication

in much the same way as small, scattered spreads of images will represent clutter and

the everyday of the mass market. (See pp.127 for a discussion of the relation of image

to scale in reproduction.)

Space, especially when it is related to text, must be defined through its grid. More

than any other of the graphic design elements, grids relate to tradition, not just in

relation to how much space is built into the design by the grid, but also connecting to

deeper and more spiritual dimensions that are based in philosophy, rationality and

order. Certainly the modern movement was responsible, most recently, for reinforcing

these values in the name of rational use of materials (graphic design elements) and

being true to function (factors in graphic design such as prioritizing, textual ranking,

readability or clarity). Here we should also look for elements of placement, balance and

variety. Up market graphic design, even in the postmodern period, tends to reinforce

order and discipline (as far as grids are concerned) throughout a publication. Even in

more avant-garde magazines, when rules are broken, it is important that they should be

broken consistently. Grid discipline can be a hallmark of quality but only when it is in

conjunction with generous space and a consistently controlled mix of other design

elements. Mass market magazines can also be disciplined in their lack of variety, but

here, the other design elements would be more crowded and 'noisy' and so grid

consistency and repetition can also become a signifier of hum-drum, routine layouts

typical of the commercial mass market.

One of the major differences between the pro and anti-aesthetic group of designers,

was that the pro-aesthetic designers approached space as a major area of play and

experimentation. You can see how this is allowed for in their greater lead times before

publication indicated by reduced frequency - monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. The

weekly production schedules of most of the mass market magazines are cruelly paced,

hardly allow experimentation; but then nor do any of the anti-aesthetic designers

express frustration with fast paced production schedules.

Typography

In the area of typography, my semiotic reading of a variety of magazines exposed a

strong polarity of styles and treatments. Once again, the strongest element of contrast

is discipline. In the pro-aesthetic publications, discipline is imposed on every facet of

typography and is most strongly expressed through lack of variety; expressed in terms

of typeface, point size, leading and column widths. It is of immense significance that

we are looking at a code that expresses polar opposites of taste, because in the area

of typography, this is so easily manipulated, in terms of contriving popular taste; unlike

space, typography is not abstract but figurative. Type holds meaning in the relations

between its constructed parts - parts which are clearly identifiable through their

concrete existence (these characteristics are identifiable in typeface construction,

point-size and even spatial relations such as leading and kerning).

Following are the polarities of the typographic code I identified in Chapter 5. I will

then reconsider them in the light of the art directors' personal significations

184

Pro-aesthetic design

Disciplined range of typefaces

Disciplined range of type sizes - tending to be

smaller in scale

Disciplined application of colour in typography

Cover typography harmoniously colour coordinated

Text often subservient to image

Type is thoughtfully placed and complements subject

Headings are carefully kerned and spaced

Postmodern, digitally generated faces popular

'Layered' headlines and copy

BodyAext copy often set with generous leading

Typography achieves contrast through background

and colour differentiation

Anti-aesthetic design

Undisciplined range of typefaces

Undisciplined range of type sizes - tending to be

larger in scale

Undisciplined application of colour in typography

Cover typography coloured to maximize contrast

While image predominates, its subject is always

subservient to the text

All subjects get basically the same designed to

typographic and design treatment

Headings conventionally kerned and spaced

Mostly conventional/modern faces used

Headlines presented in a consecutive, straight

forward manner

Body/text copy set with normal (tight) leading

Typography is contrasted by its modification using

keylines. outlines, singly or in combination

In looking at the table above, it should be obvious that every aspect of typography is

disciplined in the pro-aesthetic graphic design code (and conversely, undisciplined in

the other). In Chapter 6 I was able to confirm that the art directors find typography as

one of their boldest and most eloquent fields of expression and that anti-aesthetic art

directors generally express their typography in an aural way; as if their typography was

the visual equivalent of speaking with a louder voice. The pro-aesthetic art directors

tend to put more emphasis on space for emphasis and expression, while the anti-

aesthetic designers tend to milk typographic elements of every last element of

expression. Where subtlety may be the typographic by-word of the pro-aesthetic

designer, producing typography that will scream out and be noticed at any cost is the

anti-aesthetic art director's chief tool of expression.

One of the great ironies in this area, is that the pro-aesthetic designers, who have the

greatest chance of freedom (due to the creative allowance built into their end of the code)

are the group least iikely to take it. This could certainly be said about mainstream pro-

aesthetic graphic design. The major exception however is with the postmodern designers (of

whom David Carson is internationally the best known example, see pp.110-113) who, in

deconstructing the code, have exploited the elements of typography in particular. This has

been particularly the case with a resurgence of, now computer generated typeface design,

but also affecting especially the composition of the grid, margin and 'safe printing area' of

the conventional page. There is also a tendency to layering of type over type and also of type

over image; all of which involves coloured backgrounds and foregrounds. All of these

postmodern values are of course expressions of freedom and creativity, but it is interesting,

that in the context of contemporary design, these radical expressions reach only a very

narrow market and percolate to the mainstream media as diluted expressions of radical

ideas which by this time have been appropriated to express whatever nuance of cutting

edge is generally being signified. Certainly all of the pro-aesthetic designers I talked with saw

their dominant relationship to typography being one of restraint. This was a self imposed

limitation governed mainly by elegance, functionality and readership/market expectation.

(See pp. 159-161 for a continued discussion of readership and its effect on graphic design.)

185

The anti-aesthetic designers on the other hand use typography to maximize

expression - they would almost define their typography as expressionist! These

designers guard against readership boredom as their greatest fear and if constant

change of face, size, position, colour and treatment is the way to counter boredom

then so be it. Anything is allowable typographically in mass market publications. It is

this sort of typography that has formed a new. computer generated vernacular.

Body copy was only regarded as important in my interview sample by News Weekly

and Futuristic Quarterly. These are both magazines where textual content is regarded

as having primary importance over visual appearance. Here, both art directors argued

for a functional significance for body copy. All the other designers saw their textual

content as being subservient to the visual, or at least a co-existent partner to the

visual. All publications argued for consistency in body copy face and style throughout

their publications.

Another aspect of body copy where there was some interesting variation was in the

area of grids or columns. Since discipline has been described as the dominant value

applied to typography we should not be surprised that it mostly applies here, however

the area of column regularity is one of the aspects of typography which has been

somewhat liberated in the postmodern period and it seems that art directors regard

column variation as one of the safer areas of typographic experimentation. Again the

model has been set by such American publications as Emigre and designers such as

David Carson so mere suggestions of the deconstruction of the grid usefully alludes to

the publication's awareness of the avant-garde without losing too much of its legible

sign function. Of the interviewees, none of the Anti-aesthetic group experimented with

column irregularity and while most of the pro-aesthetic designers dabbled, they tended

to use it with conservative restraint. Photographic Monthly is certainly the most

experimental and varied in terms of its grid and yet here image is dominant over text

(given the photographic subject of the magazine) and overall its text is fairly constant.

Futuristic Quarterly is probably most creative in the way it deconstructs the grids of the

text and it is probably to the credit of the designer that the text is only manipulated in

response to the structure of the text itself.

"Sequence is quite vital It was written as a continuous piece of text but it was quite distinctively broken

So this was an opportunity then to accentuate the way that the author was talking about different people

and the people were speaking about different subjects. Visually there was no material, and nothing I

would have used anyway So I explored the text, worked out where the breaks were, found out what the

key phrases were and used the key phrases and brought those out ... so that key phrase probably relates

to that and that relates to that. So it kind of progresses." (3A)

Headlines or display type is the typographic field where the Graphic Design Code is

the widest. Type, at each of the polar extremes, carry oppositional sign-functions. Type

discipline, in terms of the headlines of the pro-aesthetic designers, is in most cases

expressed by restraint - especially in terms of typeface variety (where in all cases but

Futuristic Quarterly, the subjects of different feature articles are often allowed to

suggest their own face to the designer) each issue of each publication keeps within a

very limited field of options. Even Photographic Monthly with its sophisticated

contemporary edge tends to limit its typographic range. News Weekly was easily the

most restricted of all the publications interviewed where headlines are completely

standardized. The designer of Fashion Monthly pointed out that they sought to present

186

classic typography not digitally condensed or distorted but appreciating the classic

purity of the original design. This is probably generally true of the pro-aesthetic style

(though not exclusively so) and again in total contrast to the other end of the code. The

pro-aesthetic also disciplines the use of colour in display typography either have a

limited house range of options or colour keying to harmonize with photography or other c

images. The important point here is that headlines are coloured to achieve consistency gCA

and harmony. It is as if these are consensus publications in complete contrast to the 5

opposite end of the market which is based entirely on competition.

The anti-aesthetic publication designers tend to use headlines as their first line of

attraction to the reader's eye - perhaps even more important than the impact of

images which in these sorts of publication tend to be smaller and of poorer quality

anyway. Headlines are usually enlarged to fill available space and typefaces are chosen

primarily to express the subject matter or mood of the narrative. So a copperplate

script might be chosen to signify romance, femininity or royalty, a brush script or bold

italic to suggest alarm or speed or Bodoni because it looks modern and friendly.

"It is Bodoni. yes! ... I felt that a serif type face was friendlier to the reader, but I still wanted it to look

modern, so I horizontally scaled it so that it is wider than normal. So even though I think it looks friendlier

it's more attractive and more modern." (1B)

But most uninhibited in the anti-aesthetic publications is colour. Here everything to do

with colour is to maximize contrast and so heighten the competition for the eye both on

the page but also throughout the magazine. The mass-market magazine is where

competition rules and colour is at the forefront to attract attention. Here colour is more

likely to be chosen because it is different/a contrast to the previous page and to the

pictures that illustrate the story. Up-market magazines use uniform colour ranges to hold

their design concept together. Mass-market publications achieve overall unity through

consistently busy layouts. Coloured headlines are an important element of that constant

variety. It is important to point out that colour is not being used here as simple flat

colour, but more likely up to four colours may be incorporated in one headline, maybe

gradated from one hue to another, outlined, inlined and drop shadowed! The designer

of Women's Weekly 1 tried to go against the hectic values in her redesign (to help

heighten the difference with Women's Weekly 2) but these ideals have interestingly

been let slip one year after the interview, no doubt due to that very same competitive

policy. Of the mass-market group, only the art director of Popular Culture Monthly

manipulated her own typography (or those of the contemporary avant-garde) for

headlines. This was for her a way of giving the magazine a contemporary edge which

linked it to the international youth culture most effectively. Unlike a truly radical

publication, only the headlines are experimented with here. Body text however, is kept

to a conventional two column grid.

Kerning, leading and alignment were only taken up for discussion by two of the pro-

aesthetic designers and even here in a respectful but cursory way. Given that omission

is as significant as inclusion these more 'aware' and 'finely tuned' aspects of

typography appear not to figure very strongly in the consciousness of the designers I

interviewed. To be fair to them, magazine design does run on very tight schedules and

fine tuning is not a big feature of this field of production if due only to time restraints.

187

Image/Photography/Illustration

Once again, the Graphic Design Code, as described in my earlier analysis is one of

polar extremes. The pro-aesthetic end of the spectrum is consistently aiming to

maximize quality by enhancing the production value of the original image, reproduction

and scale; all factors are intended to impress the reader. The anti-aesthetic, on the

other hand is designed to entertain (rather than impress) and if this needs variety,

maximum contrast, clashing colour and superimposed typography then let it happen

without inhibition. At the anti-aesthetic end of the code, design elements are

subservient to the media's primary function which is to attract attention and entertain.

Following is the summary from the Graphic Design Code relating to the image:-

Pro-aesthetic design

Strong, simple images

Photography - high quality studio lit

Full page bleed photography maximized

Full page bleed cover images nearly universal

Maximizing picturefimsge quality is a primary

goal in the layout

Anti-aesthetic design

Busy, uncoordinated snapshots

Photography - snapshot quality paparazzi' style

Full page bleed photography minimized

Full page bleed cover images but heavily

interrupted by inserts

Maximizing variety, celebrity and curiosity is

a primary layout goal

Of the art directors that I interviewed the sign function of the image differs from

publication to publication depending on its themes and genres. Photographic Monthly

is of course almost entirely dependent on photography because photography (of a

particular arty and sexy kind) is its central subject matter. However, photography was

the major form of image used in all of my publications. The only exception to this was

the illustrations (usually drawings) used by women's magazines to illustrate the

serialized love stories usually found in their back pages. Futuristic Quarterly used a lot

of computer generated artworks; appropriate, because of the magazine's futuristic

subject matter. News Weekly had a tradition of having illustrations on every front cover

but for over a decade now. it seems as though it is going through a backlash against its

history by preferring photography. So photography dominates across the spectrum of

the publications to which the art directors contributed.

Most important though, from the art directors' points of view, was that they each

saw the image as being the most important visual element in each of their

publications; most often described as a visual 'hook'. Of course the idea of the 'hook'

needs fine-tuning for each of the publications needs an appropriate but different sign

function in its images. News Weekly, for instance, needs photographs that work as

news summaries; Photographic Monthly needs photography of very high quality but

limited subject matter; Food/Lifestyle Monthly and Fashion Monthly mainly need

photography to harmonize with the rest of their themes and art direction; the mass

market magazines use usually a more raw. snap-shot style of photograph, more

interested in subject matter rather than stylistic technique, primarily to attract the

reader's attention. How the art directors actually design using the photographs was not

something many of them articulated, but you can generally say, that the pro-aesthetic

designers saw the positioning and juxtapositioning, sequencing and scaling of

photographs (and relating them to text and headlines on the page) a much more

thoughtful and angst ridden process than did the anti-aesthetic group.

188

This 'obsession' with quality is also something the pro-aesthetic designers bring to

the photographic values of the images they choose to incorporate in their design. For a

start, most of these designers extend their role as art director to the taking of the

images themselves. It is no wonder that co-ordination is one of the most disciplined

qualities of pro-aesthetic design. They also passionately love photography as an art

form (no surprise that many of this group included photography as one of their

favourite forms of fine art). The mass market anti-aesthetic designers on the other

hand, primarily choose photographs according to appropriate subject matter. It is

common practice in mass market publications to choose 'subject' over 'quality'; hence

those soft focus paparazzi shots of a half naked Lady Di, all the more tantalizing for not

defining the subject too explicitly. In the mass market, the photographs chosen are also

as likely to be the choice of the editor, rather than the art director. There is more

collaboration and autonomy over the visual field allowed at the pro-aesthetic end. The

art director of Popular Culture Monthly was also primarily driven by the choice of

subject, but it is clear in the design that the photographers were encouraged to

experiment in their photography and that the design was often built around maximizing

these visual qualities.

Colour

Discipline is also the primary difference applied to colour as a design element in the

Graphic Design Code. Colour is no longer a quality that only belongs to expensive

publications and printing processes. Developments in commercial lithographic printing

over the last twenty years have made the option of full colour nearly universal for magazine

design. My semiotic analysis of a range of titles resulted in this brief summary:-

Pro-aesthetic design Anti-aesthetic design

Colour range restricted Colour range unrestricted

Colour coordination harmonious Colour used to maximize contrast and

catch attention

Typography and line work colour coordinated to Type, line-work and photographs use colour

harmonize with photographs, therefore colour to compete independently for attention

is used to compliment photography rather than

compete for attention

Colour is clearly an important field of difference within the code. It is one of the

elements most subject to, or liberated from, aesthetic sensibility. The pro-aesthetic

group interpret colour as one of the most important, controllable variables. The anti-

aesthetic designers clearly feel liberated from these proscriptions.

The art director of News Weekly summed up the major contradiction of the pro-

aesthetic designer when she said when discussing her choice of colour in the

headlines of the magazine

"I can do anything whenever I want, i ts just that I wouldn't ... because I'm dealing with a readership that

knows the magazine really well. I'm dealing with a standard perception and 1 don't want to jar that." (1A)

The pro-aesthetic group of art directors are, by the rules of their code allowed freedom

of self expression, but in fact they refuse to adopt that freedom by exerting absolute

189

discipline over the colour elements of the code where utmost restraint is imposed as

the finest arbiter of taste. Once again, choice of colour and its fine-tuning, are seen by

these designers as a subject worthy of the greatest consideration. Most of them liked

to keep their use of colour

"molly >.':Tiple" I3A}

".. the value of the magazine is enhanced by not using too much colour I think, because it's sort of restrained." (5A)

In contrast however, the anti-aesthetic designer adopts absolute colour freedom except

for adopting the pro-aesthetic values of harmony and co-ordination.

".. we often use colour just to make the page interesting We rely on it a lot ..." (IB)

"... at the end of the week we go through our dummy and we check that each spread looks sufficiently

different [in colour] from the next one." (2B)

".. I personally don't mind if every page has a different colour." (3B)

Clearly colour range is one of those most codified areas, providing general laws of

usage and prohibition based mainly on discipline and abandon.

The sign function of colour is also defined quite differently at each end of the code.

The pro-aesthetic designers, when discussing the function of colour use words like

"attractive" |1A).

"... it's complementing that image really, it's basically using colour as white space " (2A)

"To complement rather than take over It's secondary" (4A|

Here colour is primarily given the role of the harmonizer. integrating elements rather

than being dominating or over-directing. This restrained role is contrasted in the mass

market publications where colour is instead allocated to maximize contrast. These art

directors often imply that their readers become easily bored and that colour is a sort of

visual antidote to boredom. Here is a typical anti-aesthetic discussion of colour

function:

" Icolour is used] Mainly to attract attention and provide variety from spread to spread or story to story ...

We go through the magazine at the end of production and check the consecutive spreads ...and will often

change the colours if they are too the same ... it is more important to create variety so as the reader

doesn't get bored." (2B)

The art director of Futuristic Quarterly summed up the general theory of colour

value like this ...

"Bright colours for me are like eye candy. They are a jazzy, jangly media culture kind of audience. Whereas

subdued colours suggest a conservatism, a considered, cultured approach." (3A)

All of the art directors I interviewed would basically agree with this statement. The pro-

aesthetic designers see colour as an immensely rich field of expression, a couple of

times equated with the nuance so easily achieved through music, yet they nearly all

talk simultaneously about restraint and the risk that too much variety or application of

190

colour might look cheap. Conversely, the anti-aesthetic art directors often spoke of

prohibitions placed on black and white precisely because they look too sophisticated,

implying that they target the wrong market.

Materials of Presentation

The materials on which publications are reproduced is another of the most defined

areas of difference within the Graphic Design Code. This is clearly obvious when one

'reads' the quality of materials as a reader of publications. Materials are part of the

code, but it turns out they are a part finally decided by accountants and publishers

rather than art directors. The materials code which derived from the earlier semiotic

analysis was as follows:-

ocV)vto

Pro-aesthetic design

Generous formats - wider and often taller than

A4 - closer to A3

Top quality printing - often sheet fed

Paper stock - quality art papers of relatively

heavy gsm. Inserts of different papers usually

chosen for particular finishes eg to look

environmental/recycled.

Binding - more often perfect bound

Covers glossy using special varnishes and finishes

Anti-aesthetic design

Economical formats - smaller than A4 determined

by plate/press size

Good, but mass produced Web offset quality

Paper stock - economical poor quality machine

finish light gsm. Changes of stock usually

to newsprint inserts.

Binding - mostly saddle stitched

Covers often of glossier stock but lack coatings

additional finishes

All of the pro-aesthetic designers discussed materials purely in terms of paper stock,

paper quality and its expense. Beset by the cost pressures of the 1990's, they all

bemoaned the changes forced on them by their publishers as all were having to cope

with lesser quality stocks. For this group nothing but the best is good enough for

publications they know are meant to reek of sophistication and quality reproduction.

Generally speaking, the anti-aesthetic art directors were already working with materials

of inferior quality. Often this type of mass market publication is already working with

the lowest grade materials and the only materials costs have been in a smaller trim size

(something most magazines have done in the 1990's) dropping or mixing paper quality

but using better inks to compensate; any compromise so long as it tries to maintain

the profit margin. This is one area where art directors were almost universally critical of

the decline in material values but all were able to suspend responsibility by blaming the

accounts branch for the decision.

This section of my analysis has demonstrated a close 'fit' between the semiotic/

structural analysis of Chapter 5 and the interviews with the ten art directors in Chapters

6 and 7. Essentially the views and values of the art directors support my independent

observations and have the effect of underlining the polarization of the code by making

discipline (or conversely, the lack of it) the strongest and most universal value in each

of the principal elements of the Graphic Design Code.

191

Discipline is clearly a value laden criteria in sign formation and one that relates to a

much wider realm of expression than merely graphic design. Discipline is related

primarily to the dominant aesthetic in Western (and even many Eastern) cultures at the

end of the Twentieth Century - one I would describe as Modernism Modernism has

been the dominant value in art for most of the Twentieth Century, but I believe the

analysis in this thesis demonstrates a common claim of the Postmodernists, that

Modernism has now ceased to be dynamic, now that it has been adopted as the

dominant style of the status quo.

The Production of the Sign

Up until this point there has been no attempt to go beyond the material products of the

graphic designer and it is output which has formed the basic structure of the code so

far developed and used in this analysis. With the opportunity to interview the art

directors of the magazines I also have the chance to transcend the material forms to

the level of motivation; motivation that works on two major levels 1. of personal

interaction and 2. of institutional structure, tradition and practice.

The Idea of Authorship

One of the major themes raised by Roland Barthes is authorship. Authorship formed

one of the starting points in the literature review of Chapter 2 and strictly describes the

role of the originator of the text; a written text in most semiotic theory, but authorship

is just as applicable to the visual realm of expression. Each of the magazines are the

product of production teams comprising at least a publisher and editor with the size of

the team of increasing with the frequency of the publication, so that weeklies might

have editors and sub-editors, journalists, production manager, photographers and a

whole team graphic designers working under the art director. Especially important is

the relationship between the editor and the art director. Editors tend to dominate

magazine publications. The editor's primary responsibility is to content, but editors

innately recognize that the visual presentation of content is perhaps as important as

the content itself, and since editors generally have the power of a Chief Executive

Officer over the publication, they generally adopt a fairly insistent stance when it

comes to the design and styling. They can also make the necessary appointments to

bring that about.

The art directors I interviewed universally saw their design as primarily appealing to

the taste of their readership. This was. for them, the primary sign function of their

design. In most cases the 'reader' was described as an ideal type; a type, not

necessarily like themselves, but one described by market surveys in the case of the

bigger distribution magazines and also by the magazine's content. Fine food, fine-art

photography, clothes and serious essays about the future are easy markers of class

and market in a consumer society. Generally designers see themselves as being

subservient to this concept of the reader realizing that their ultimate success is

measured by the reader/public's perception in every issue they produce. Only the

designer of Photography Monthly saw his role as an educative and uplifting one. The

rest of the pro-aesthetic group basically worked within the realms of established

audience expectations. The anti-aesthetic designers were more clearly focused on

192

catering to audience needs but were also more conscious of competitive difference

between like publications. In this group, only the art director of Popular Culture Monthly

recognized the possibility of being able to 'lead' the readership through innovation in

design instead of working only to satisfy conventional expectations. This more

proactive stance however is motivated again by the culture it feeds off; one attuned to c

the competitive cultural pressures of the youth market and attributing to itself a radical g

edge - by this sign it is signified. 5

Autonomy

Autonomy is, of course, a part of authorship. I have already described the team effort

that is necessary in the production of any commercial magazine but have not

specifically broached the idea of personal power through autonomy. Autonomy seems

like a necessity in a supposedly creative and expressive profession. Coupled with the

seniority of the post of art director in the magazine hierarchy, power is clearly a

powerful motivator in the function of their role. The pro-aesthetic designers generally

had a more analytical understanding of the degree of influence they had as designers

of a publication: one modified by the contingencies of the real world like target

markets, conservative readerships and traditions caused by past issues.

Overall, the anti-aesthetic designers are more ritualistic, detached and cynical about

their role function as designers.

"I'm beginning to think that design isn't important at all in this sort of magazine. Well. I just think, if a

million people buy Women's Weekly 2. which to me. doesn't have any design, and only half of them now

buy this one ... then what do they like? Or do they know' Do they care?" (1A)

It is worth noting that even here the primary oppressor is described as the corrupted

values of the readership.

So even though freedom is seen as something relative in the art director's role

function it is the chance of freedom that keeps a majority of the interviewees feeling

buoyant and in control. Freedom is mostly described in functional terms. Given the

coded hierarchies of values in contemporary graphic design, art directors adopt them

as their own; and each become a sort of coded functionary. Only three of the designers

(2A, 3A and 5B) even saw the possibility of 'breaking the code' by incorporating

innovative, risk taking design to a greater or lesser degree; more or less challenging

the readership to keep up, working with mainly young, student or professional

readerships. The other publications each had a more dominant resigned conformity to

the traditions of the publication and it's targeted readership.

The Production Team

The editor is undoubtedly the most powerful role in magazine production, according

to the ten art directors interviewed. The status of the art director lies immediately

below the editor's, but most would expect immediate access to editorial opinion, if

they felt it necessary. Most define themselves as independent professionals, trusted,

with an acknowledged status that allows them to work independently. Generally

therefore the art director operates from a position of trust and professional

competence. A much wider difference between the pro and anti-aesthetic polarizations

193

is in the art directors' regard for the readership. The pro-aesthetic group see their role

as either being simpatico with or operating from the idea of leadership. For them, the

magazine becomes a continuation of the readership's design education. Either way this

is a proactive stance where the perception of the readership is a dynamic one, an

audience capable of change with established values which are worthy of respect and

cultivation. In contrast, the anti-aesthetic group tend to see themselves working within

a stylistic straight-jacket where they were personally ineffectual to change either the

style of design or public taste and their design being extremely market driven. The

main issues associated with the readerships are gender, social class and age.

Change is defined as a major design value - especially in the pro-aesthetic group.

Competition with the design of rival publications is acknowledged as a major motivator

towards constantly changing your design, but often those most competitive areas of

the market (both the up and down market women's magazines) are the areas that least

acknowledge competition as their primary motivator. For instance the art director of

Australia's biggest selling women's magazine says

"We don't take much notice of any other publications really. Oh. we look at what they do and sometimes

we might pick-up an idea here and there, but mostly we just design on our own." 126)

One universal however is that change is realistically defined as ideally occurring in

incremental small steps so as to allow the readership to keep up. There is also a

personal satisfaction that is given as a reason for seeing change in design as a

necessity; sometimes this is defined as a palliative to prevent boredom, to lead, to

evolve design is given as an expected attribute of the art director.

When it comes to influence on design styling it would have to be acknowledged that

design is now an international phenomenon. International influences are acknowledged

particularly among the pro-aesthetic designers. The anti-aesthetic group are more

parochial, seeing their influences coming much more from their immediate rivals in

Australia rather than from similar overseas publications. However, there are exceptions.

Both OA) and (IB) feel their influences come through the whole culture, fashion and

industrial design as influences. (2A) and (5A) both quote David Carson and the

International Graphic Design publications as major sources of influence.

Generally speaking, the art directors interviewed were enthusiastic about their jobs

despite the frustrations often expressed. When it came to discussing their own jobs,

they generally express a very high satisfaction level, due. I suggest, to the highly

creative input necessary, even to the magazines with the most demanding schedules

and formulated layouts.

Personal values

Bourdieu's concept of habitus suggests that values of taste are demonstrated

throughout our lives in all of our personal expression and consumption and are

primarily learned through the family and education systems as hierarchies of taste -

largely proscribed by social c\ass.(Bourdieu, 1984:77) Initially. I had planned to

investigate these qualities as motivators of particular codes of sign production,

however by the time I conducted the interviews, the thesis had become broader in

scope and yet I never thought to abandon the issues of habitus raised in Distinction,

even though their field of investigation is markedly different to the rest of the interview

194

schedule. The questions asked in the latter section of the interview schedule are less

well suited to material which needs much more finely honed critical analysis and even

observational analysis to yield the sorts of results I was seeking. I say this, even

though the interview schedule was initially based on the one used for Bourdieu's

Distinction. I can only assume that the research for Distinction was supplemented by

detailed observation of surrounding physical environments and behaviors.

Social class

It is ironic that social class, which is one of the most powerful causal factors in the

theoretical development and structure of the Graphic Design Code, proves to be one

of the subjects my interview respondents were least able or motivated to discuss.

Their lack of discussion of social class exposed the inadequacy of the open ended

interview technique, once I moved from a recounting of job related sign production to

more personal issues; the questions I was raising were certainly relevant. However my

interview technique into recipients beliefs on social class would have been better

served if I had more time to allow recipients to respond more reflectively, picking up

inconsistencies and causing them to more closely define their concepts and

terminology. The relatively narrow scope of the open ended interview with a limited

time duration, in hindsight, is less well suited to the analysis of complex issues such as

class, which seemed to be open to misinterpretation and contradiction in the

interviewees' responses.

The postmodern view of social class, that the distribution of wealth is no longer the

primary cause of social division and has been superceded by a new social structure,

divided more by market sectors and access to information, was at times hinted at by

some of the recipients (3A and 5B were most articulate in suggesting a more diverse

range of stratification in their magazine' particular market place) however the general

consensus largely conformed to the high and low class divisions suggested by the

code. Many of the recipients preferred to think that class did not exist yet

acknowledged that they were working, or designing for a particular class or sector of a

highly segmented market. Ambivalence about your own class location is a common

phenomenon, especially when you are putting your own activities in a class context.

(1A). (2A) and (3A) were the most strongly opposed to the idea that social class might

be influential and that their readership might be divided along class lines. (4A) and (5A)

were both sure of the importance of class, both being fashion/lifestyle magazines and

clearly promoting the consumption of up-market products. All of the mass market

designers acknowledged the lower class status of their readership (despite their usually

expressed preference for class not to be important). (5B) virtually describes the strongly

polarized design code that I am hypothesizing in this thesis when she describes

magazine design as follows [(5B) had very recently moved to a young women's monthly

magazine that occupies the middle market in terms of its design style]

"... ir> women's magazines there is definite class, but I think, well there's Vogue and there's That's Life' but

there are a whole bunch of things in the middle ... in a way. That's where I am now. We don't want to be

too sophisticated but then we don't want to be too trashy either We're almost in the middle" (SB)

195

Designer 5B is in fact describing the Graphic Design Code perfectly! Being recognized

here are two polar extreme styles from which magazines in the middle of the class

range can sample design elements from each end of the code and so locating

themselves as being neither too high nor too .low.

There is another level though that needs to be explored here, essential to the

understanding of semiotic codes as they operate on the beliefs, values and ideologies

of all social actors, be they producers or consumers of signs. This has to do with what

Stuart Hall calls the naturalization of codes

'Certain codes may. of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be

learned at so early an age. that they appear not to be constructed - the effect of an articulation between sign

and referent - but to be naturally given ... even apparently 'natural' visual codes are culture specific. However

this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized.

The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and 'naturalness' of language but the depth,

the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently 'natural' recognitions

This has the ideological effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present." (Hall. 1980b: 132)

Viewed in this light, art directors are no more likely to escape their conscious

obscuration than are their readers, as both groups are attracted to the naturalized

codes that have become imperative to all who share the culture. It might even be

argued that self-awareness of ideologically related categories such as class should be

expected to be obscure to its members. Althusser is being quoted here:

"Ideology is indeed a system of representations, but in the majority of cases these representations have

nothing to do with 'consciousness': they are usually images and occasionally concepts, but it is above all as

structures that they impose on the vast majority of men. not via their consciousness'" (Heck. 1980:122)

Codes are. by their very nature, deep level signifiers. I have demonstrated the Graphic

Design Code to be integral to the broader organizing and identifying levels of

signification in the communication process. Since this identification has such a strong

correspondence to class in the naturalized code, it is hardly surprising that all

signification at this deep level be unconsciously accepted. Hence the interviewees

generally ambivalent response.

Habitus

Again, inspired by Bourdieu. I was interested in seeing how much the personal class

and taste of a designer/art director might be reflected in the type of design they

produce. But like class, these concepts were more difficult for the art director's to be

precise or self assured about; lifestyle was no exception. (1A) and (3A) felt that their

demanding job cut them off from society, substituting the life of an obsessed

workaholic for the lifestyle they would like to leading or> the outside. Only (2A). (4A)

and (5A) really seemed sympatico with the fit between their own lifestyle and their

design. None of the anti-aesthetic designers claimed to identify aesthetically with what

they produced although (2A) (describing herself as a country girl) seemed to fit quite

well in my observation.

Other aspects of habitus were also investigated. Their consumption of food was often

something compromised by their busy lifestyle. This affected how much control they had

over the consumption of food and often meant that they did not prepare it themselves

196

even though they enjoyed the preparation of food as an activity. When this meant that

they had eaten a Mac[Donald's Hamburger) on the run. they were nearly always quick

to correct the impression that this was from preference rather than convenience.

All of the designers agreed that clothes were important to them, though, to more

accurately read the significance of clothes, you would need much deeper probing as

well as observation to more accurately interpret their individual statements. Many of

the designers expressed a strong interest in clothes with the largest single group |(1A),

(4A). (5A), (IB). (3B) and |5B)] describing their preference for classically elegant clothes,

clothes that survived shifts in fashion. This preference was sometimes explained as

being restricted by a limited income. Generally, the pro-aesthetic group saw

presentation of self at work as being more important than the anti-aesthetic designers

who described their workplace as undemanding and casual in terms of dress.

Nevertheless a majority of this group described their taste otherwise. My observation

of what they were wearing to the interview would put them generally into the smart

casual style of dress. (1A), (5A) and (5B) were probably the most expensively,

'classically' and tastefully dressed, while (2A) and (3A) were most contemporary for

their age group and the rather more 'hip' status of their publications.

Nearly all of the art directors I interviewed expressed a high interest in art (not

surprising for senior practitioners in a visually aware profession) although if this was to

be measured in art gallery visitation, it would probably be closer to normal Most

complained that their busy jobs restricted opportunities for gallery visitation but that

this shouldn't be interpreted as lack of interest. Nevertheless, all of the pro-aesthetic

group claimed to be regular and enthusiastic gallery goers, while only (5B) of the anti-

aesthetic group claimed regular gallery attendance. Probably more exceptional was

that two of the respondents (3A) and (5B) were practicing and exhibiting artists, while

(1A) and (5A) described themselves as art collectors.

Needless to say. magazines were the preferred topic of conversation among all the

respondents, and one of their main areas of cultural consumption. All sought out

similar sorts of magazines to the ones they worked on except for (1B) and (5B) who

went up-market and avant-garde respectively - a direction, consistent with other

descriptions they made of their interests. Some bought magazines to inform other

interests such as music, cooking or astronomy.

Music also needed finer tuning to discover more meaningful information. All of the

pro-aesthetic designers were enthusiastic music listeners (and CD buyers) except for

(3A) over recent years. A majority of this group also specifically mentioned classical

music among their listening preference (though none mentioned regularly attending

symphony concerts). None of the anti-aesthetic group mentioned classical music as a

preference. (3B) actually reviewed popular music for a major Newspaper in Melbourne.

All of my respondents were aged between 23 and 35 and 80% had tertiary training

constituting the whole of the pro-aesthetic group (three degrees and two certificates of

design) and only three of the anti-aesthetic group (one degree, two certificates of

design and two industry training only).

197

I do not pretend that this section on the habitus of the art director is the most

successful part of my research; this part of the interview schedule yielded fairly shallow

results and hardly does the analysis of Bourdieu justice and yet. I have learnt a lot by the

inclusion of these questions. It has exposed to me. the limitations of my research

method and made me realize that I need information relating to class outside the

subject range of this thesis (information relating to parental occupations, secondary and

tertiary education, social mobility, a wider range of social values and interests, matters

relating to consumption, both past and future aspirations etc.). It has also exposed the

limitations of the interview as my principal method of gaining information. Recording

the observations of the art directors at both their homes and their workplaces would be

a more effective way of truly evaluating habitus. Likewise I needed a research tool for

evaluating contradictions exposed in the interview material, at least the opportunity to

go back to the interviewee for a more reflective and even critical evaluation of

inconsistencies when they appear to exist in their interview material.

Having been critical of the shortcomings of my own research, I do think it has raised

many interesting questions for the field of contemporary sign production, not the least

of which, is the attempt to see these signs as social and institutional products. I believe

the power of the productive institutional structures is shown to be extremely dominant

and reproductive in the production of graphic design. Much of the skill of the art

director is in negotiating a position for their own values within the expectations of the

productive institution as a whole. The art directors interviewed for the thesis have

selected the publications on which they work for a whole range of reasons, but after

reading and assimilating the findings of the interviews, you would have to admit that the

art directors essentially choose to work in an aesthetic range with which they feel

comfortable and to which they feel they can contribute. Certainly much more could be

investigated about the 'fit' of personal and institutional aesthetic styles, but in many

ways this thesis must be seen as a starting point, raising issues for future investigations.

The significance of production of the Graphic Design Code

to Postmodern Theory

In Chapter 2,1 conducted a literature review into the major themes of postmodern theory

that touch on the production of graphic design. My research puts many of these issues

in a new light, as graphic design has largely been ignored as a symbolic system of

communication, a surprising omission, as one of the undeniable trends in the

postmodern period is the shift towards predominantly visual/aural communications in

which graphic design provides the major visual structure of relationship. Correcting this

omission raises a number of problems with current postmodern theory, especially the

notions of authorship and the related de-emphasis on the material production of the sign.

There are many issues raised by my research that affect authorship. Roland Barthes

announced the author dead as the primary fount of meaning and positioned the reader

as the only socially significant source of significationYfia/t/7es. I977a:148) My study is

primarily about the production of signs through the graphic design sign function called

art direction, so my focus has been on the srgn producer rather than the reader.

However, at no time do I suggest that the reader is not important. I believe the reader

is the primary source of meaning formation. Certainly, the art directors' high regard for

their readership might be described as controlling, but ironically not always because of

198

their signification. The art directors do show an enormous respect for the readership,

they often suggest that there might be a kind of symbiosis between them, but it is one

based on an established mutually understood formation of signs (the Graphic Design

Code) which is as often restrictive through its mutually understood and accepted

(encoded) formats. Nevertheless, the most powerful inhibitory factor regarding the

readership is just as much economic as it is semiotic and has as much to do with their

own job security; through the competition for market share and the imperatives that

this imposes on authorship through continued effective communication, mostly judged

my market share.

In semiotic terms, the graphic designer should be recognized for their co-authorship

of the text, by expanding the communicating 'text' to one that has a literary AND a visual

dimension. The importance of the visual is acknowledged by both Barthes and Eco,

(Barthes, 1973:119; Eco, 1976:217) but it is never articulated as a central system of

presentation in the way that I have articulated the Graphic Design Code; which is a

system, central to nearly every presentation of information in all visualizing media;

arguably even more primary than the written text. The primacy of the visual is eloquently

discussed by Kress and van Leeuwen in Reading Images (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996)

and its lack of attention by the mid-century semioticians is eloquently explained and

criticized by Martin Jay Pay. 1993:588-589) Both books criticize the French semioticians

over their emphasis on the literary over the visual text; this constitutes an interpretive

blind spot. In the context of all presented texts, of which the commercial media are an

obvious example, the art director is worthy of the status of co-author in terms of the

construction of meaning. Barthes' over-emphasis on the reader, is however 'redressed' by

Eco whose semiotic theory gives equal emphasis to sign production, so it is to Eco that

I went for theoretical illumination of the sign production process in graphic designYEco,

1976:151) My frequent reliance on Eco is vindicated by the illumination his theory can

give to the design process - especially his notion of the aesthetic text and the nature of

codes, their stasis and change and the variety of invention the designer can bring to

them. Eco's theory of sign production accommodates a highly structured system of

communication like graphic design. Despite their strongly defined structural qualities. Eco

describes codes as being essentially dynamic, where change is as imperative as the

recognition of tradition. (Eco. 1976:261)

The Graphic Design Code, as it emerges in my study, possesses all of these qualities.

If anything, the leading art directors I interviewed claimed relatively little influence from

their readerships (especially in the form of formal market research, which is usually

more general in inquiry than the elements of graphic design) and instead relied on a sort

of intuitive notion that resulted from the serial nature of design production and perhaps

the coincidence of responsive sales figures. There is an undeniable code in operation

here. The art directors recognize it through their reproduction of essential forms from

issue to issue, and their care not to alienate readership through too rapid change or

transition. Nevertheless, there is also acknowledged that readerships will accept

change, but that this transformation will be carefully structured to take the reader at a

pace that allows a continuing association with the code. These are social preconditions

which predicate the best design outcomes. They are also the conditions that define the

limits of creative change within the commercial marketplace. It is the commercial need

to improve your position in the marketplace which largely curbs creative ambition in

commercial magazine art direction. Occasionally, and only usually when addressing the

199

youth market, do art directors gain the chance to be wildly and continually innovative.

Such opportunities are very rare and need an enlightened and encouraging publisher

and editor as much as an art director capable of delivering the goods. This has not

happened to any significant degree in Australia.

It was from Foucault that I took up the notion of author function (Foucault, 1991:

461). In author function Foucault emphasizes the importance of economic factors in

determining the ownership of the text and in turn, the text's author (and in the case of

the graphic designer: the designing co-author) as agents of particular types of

publishing institutions used to seeing the public as a segmented market place for

which they reproduce particular messages through familiarly packaged publications.

Much more could be done in the relations between publishers, editors, art directors,

graphic designers, their advertisers and their readerships than I have attempted here,

but even my limited investigation suggests that the power of the publishing houses

and their advertisers is immense and that publishing institutions essentially choose

designers that reproduce their proven aesthetic - an aesthetic proven by sales.

There is a pattern that emerges, even in my small survey, that graphic designers with

tertiary training are best suited to the Pro-aesthetic end of the code which services the

upper end of the market. In most cases, one could put the match between training and

industry location down to natural selection. The match of aesthetic dispositions is one

of the most obvious markers of design and designers.

The notion of author function is also influential in my being able to reject the other

postmodern death' - that of the death of meaning raised in Chapter 2 (See pp.8-14).

This demise of meaning is seen in Baudrillard's concepts of simulacra and the

hyperreal, but it is also a dominant theme borrowed by Jameson in his influential

theory of the postmodern condition (Baudrillard, 1988c:145-1'46; Jameson, 1991:46-

47). It is interesting that after assembling the art directors' interviews, one is left with

the impression that their cultural power is such that it allows them enough autonomy

to feel self assured and confident as aesthetic decision makers, but all within a highly

structured and institutionalized field of expression. Rather than being weak in structure,

the commercial media is formulaic and genre driven The highly polarized genres that

characterize commercial magazine design are clearly market driven The author

function of most art directors is to give familiar and shared meaning to text and image,

giving it overall identity, no matter what the disparity of the subject matter Baudrillard

and Jameson's postmodern world is characterized as a simulacra of signs or

hyperreality, in which signification ceases to be predictable - a death of meaning. In

keeping with the fashion of semiotic theory, their view is from a reader's point of view

which focuses on the textual subject rather than the general textual/visual aesthetic,

and in so doing, overlooks the dominance of a highly structured marketplace

masterminded by ever concentrating producers of commodities and ipso facto, sign

producers such as graphic designers. Graphic design works precisely at the sub-textual

level, giving structure and meaning to a disparate text in all the visual media.

The aesthetic text is what is provided by the art directors in their supervision of the

overall design of the magazines; a most important contribution to the particular

accumulation of signs which is a major part of postmodern sensibility described as

aesthetic reflexivity (Lash and Urry. 1994:4). It is arguable that the aesthetic codes

of the media marketplace are becoming the new cultural order and arbiter, perhaps

even more important than social class. Lash and Urry argue that the media are taking

200

control of meaning and the contexts of knowledge and are in the process of re-

orienting the acquisition of taste from family and class socialization to a more market

driven aesthetic driven by the media itself. This concept is compatible with the

postmodern notions of total commodification and the aestheticization of the whole

cultural realm. It is also compatible with the greater individualism encouraged in the o

postmodern period. 2mwO~

"... reflexivity is often seen to be a matter of individualization via the decreasing importance of social =•

structures, such as the family and class, and the concomitant freeing of social agents It entails the

replacement of social structures by information structures. Without the presence of information and

communication structures, enabling a certain (low a certain flow of information and accumulation of

information-processing capacities, reflexive individualization (and modernization) is impossible Instead,

what takes place is the replacement of socially structured space by unstructured space, the displacement

of tame-zones' by wild zones', of 'live-zones' by 'dead zones" (Luke. 1992)." ILash and Urry. 1994:111/

I would describe a different strategy that has developed to help the reader cope with

the deluge of signs that makes up hyperreality. In terms of their construction, signs are

assembled according not only to the coded rules of assembly but also to a highly

structured and constructed marketplace, one in which the media are serving the

advertiser whose market share more or less divides the social universe. Such a view is

not denying that this is a highly complex environment, but it is due to devices such as

graphic design that we learn to impose a general order on signs that helps give system

to the chaos. The formation of signs that I have exposed through my analysis of

magazines and their art directors is not one of incomprehensible chaos but one where

people are making complex choices, most often through pattern recognition and habit;

a form of manipulative coercion of the marketplace? The art directors I interviewed felt

fairly sure of their effective communication with their respective readerships, and their

effective communication is being constantly tested by sales and market share. Social

semiotics calls this level of signification and identification a metasign.

"Just as individual acts of semiosis are organized by systems of signiliers of power and solidarity, so also are

the relationships between groups in a broader social formation These broader signifying systems are

essential for the smooth operation of systems governing particular semiotic acts They link the socia1

organization of semiotic participants with the social organization on a larger scale. Any group of any size needs

markers of group membership to give it identity and cohesion, and to differentiate it from other groups

Typically, groups are marked not with a single label but with a cluster of them. Some of these markers will

have a common meaning...these sets of signs not only act as markers ... they also define whai constitutes

group membership.they declare a specific version of social relations ... an important instance of the ideology

of the group concerned. We call a set of markers of this kind a metasign" IHodge and Kress. 1988:79)

It is precisely the sense of the social which is missing from the postmodern critique

and yet it is this aspect of meaning that is so dynamic in giving to the Graphic Design

Code its motivation and appeal.

No matter how unresolved the consensus on the nature of postmodernity. there is

universal agreement that a near total commodification of human existence (in the first

world at least) has led to consumption replacing labor as the primary social/economic

function (Baudrillard 1988e:48). Graphic Design has some surprisingly obvious roles in

this commodifying process and in its maintenance; through advertising, packaging,

publication design, corporate identity systems, graphic design is a universally integrated

201

element. Graphic Design is the interface between the producer and consumer which

mediates between product and life style. As such, graphic design is usually the most

proactive element of a product, maybe fundamental to its design and form in the case

of a publication, or maybe just surface graphics in the case of a label; but always

reaching out to appeal to the decision making, arbitrating consumer, who far from

operating in a inchoate world make choices out of traditional practice of habit, taste,

preference and knowledge. Fiske argues that popular discrimination is not to be

confused with aesthetic discrimination (Fiske, 1989b: 129). I agree that there are many

other needs that consumption might service other than aesthetic ones, however, as I

have already argued, the Graphic Design Code is a deep level signifier and its aesthetic

elements cannot be separated from other needs as clearly as Fiske suggests. It is the

very nature of aesthetic appreciation to be an add-on rather than the primary function -

aesthetics is always part of presentation.

The world of the postmodern consumer is one already colonized by the Graphic

Design Code, indeed, most of it's language was already established during the modern

period. The main affect on Graphic Design in the postmodern period is to make it more

powerful as it has grown in tandem with consumerism as a totally commodifying

universal to everyday life, thought and practice. Mike Featherstone has described this

process as the aestheticization of everyday life (Featherstone 1991:66-72). The

dominance of an aesthetic in most of our decision making is one of the most powerful

and obvious phenomena of postmodernity. An aesthetic level of value making is a

learned and inherited luxury which was once applied to only a very limited area of

consumption (once the preserve of the rich and in only a restricted range of

consumption items). Aesthetic value is a universal value in postmodern society which

applies as much to the purchase of T-shirts and hamburgers as it does to oil paintings

Graphic design is precisely the field of social-interface which injects aesthetic value to

otherwise bland and inchoate products, forcing the individual purchaser at least to

position themselves as for me/not for me. This is the power of the graphic design

loaded aesthetic. Graphic design in magazines in particular must be recognized as one

of the primary reinforcers of taste and taste manipulation. Not only does graphic

design provide aesthetic models of organization of space and relations between things

it presents; through magazines, it links these values to the subject matter of lifestyle

itself. Again this is acknowledging the essentially aesthetic nature of the art directors

role; mostly to preserve the cultural arbitrary.

Control over reproduction is one of the principal shifts of power in the centralizing

and globalizing postmodern period and this study of magazine production

demonstrates how important it is to re-emphasize the production of signs as well as

their consumption. The control of sign production and reproduction (precisely the

realm occupied by the graphic designer) is particularly pertinent in the case of

magazines, which, like many of the popular digital and electronic media, might be

described as habit forming. Their serial and slowly evolving nature make them major

socializers. not just of knowledge and information, but through graphic design and the

images that design displays, of taste, which is finely tuned by the design code. Design

is indeed at last being acknowledged as the most important component of postmodern

communication systems:

202

"Production in the culture industries is design-intensive. We suggest a second, aesthetic dimension to

information and communication structures, of the How not of cognitive symbols or information but of

aesthetic symbols. These structures also contain spaces lor the acquisition of symbol processing

capacities, incorporating not just information processing, but also the processing (or better the

interpreting) of aesthetic symbols. What we are talking about here are the structural conditions for. not _

cognitive, but aesthetic reflexivity. Aesthetic reflexivity has its place in production and consumption in the <2

culture industries." (Lash and Urry, 1994:112)

Graphic design is arguably the sub-conscious core of knowledge which anchors and

organizes the myriad signs of the simulacra into chunks of information desirable or not

to our reflexive selves.

Given the strong divisions that have been identified in the Graphic Design Code it is

highly likely that aesthetic reflexivity is still subservient to deep level influences such as

class; even though, from an individual perspective, identity is fractured by other interests

maybe to do with lifestyle, recreation, entertainment, gender or sexuality. Hodge and

Kress would describe class as part of the macro structures which over-ride personal

expression. This level of expression is described by them as a logonomic system.

"In order to trace the relationship of micro to macro structures we need some mediating categories

Logonomic systems have rules that constrain the general lorms ol text and discourse Such systems often

operate by specifying genres of texts (typical forms of text which link kinds of producer, consumer, topic

medium, manner and occasion). These control the behaviour of producers of such texts, and the

expectations of potential consumers. Genre-rules are exemplary instances of logonomic systems, and are

a major vehicle for their operation and transmission. Like the category of text, genres are socially ascribed

classifications of semiotic torm.

Genres only exist in so far as a social group declares and enforces the rules that constitute them each

such genre codes particular1 relationships among sets o l social participants." (Hodge and Kress. 1988:6-7)

The social semiotic critique of postmodern concepts such as reflexivity that I am

offering here is one that supports the clear divisions of the Graphic Design Code and

yet can still accommodate the idea of greater aesthetic reflexivity in the postmodern

marketplace. I am not meaning to suggest that social class is any sort of static

formation, but rather a dynamic one; perhaps a concept that is moving away from

primary economic motivation to the information rich and poor. Nevertheless, these are

not fully separable categories, just as the economic and information fields of activity

are not separate

The relation between the art director and the readership is alluded to by the art

directors as the most powerful force in design. The relation becomes particularly clear

when the art directors contemplate the possibility of change. The reader is nearly

always described as a conservative force. This is even alluded to when the designers

describe themselves as educative (value changing and reinforcing) in function. These

more idealistic positions are expressed mainly out of frustration with the perceived

conservatism of the public, but this frustration occurred in only three instances.

Mostly, the ideological fit between the publication, its designer and the public is a

comfortable one

o

203

Except for a tiny avant garde (who these days, are mostly catered for as a market

unto themselves) most magazines exist to service the status quo lifestyles of the

majority, who collectively represent the full social spectrum, and are fully encompassed

by the Graphic Design Code as developed in this thesis. Viewed in this way, most

commercial graphic design is value reinforcing with just enough controlled change in

style and taste to keep the market 'in tune' for the new consumption dynamic. The

function of graphic design therefore is both ideological (value reinforcing) and mythic (in

the Barthian sense) in that it provides acceptable but contrived frameworks through

which we might be encouraged to see the world. The basic process of communication

in modern magazine design is precisely to bring about this linkage between the

publication and the reader - to connect the readership through their taste and social

interests to particular editorial and associated advertising. This is the mythic connection.

Where subjects and products, through presentation, are made relevant to yourself, the

reader. Eco calls this the aesthetic text (Eco, 1976:261) and married to the idea of total

commodification it forms a very powerful new force in the postmodern world.

The significance of production of the Graphic Design Code

to Sociological Theory

In Chapter 3 I survey some of the most important themes of sociological theory that

relate to the production of graphic design and it is interesting now to reflect on their

relevance to the concepts already discussed under the influence of postmodern theory.

Sociology and postmodernism co-exist in an uneasy relationship. Sociologists are

some of the most enthusiastic users of postmodern theory yet there is no easy

resolution of some theoretical conflicts that emerge. There is a general tendency

among postmodernists, such as Baudrillard and Foucault, that would describe the

structural and scientific' tendencies of sociology as being passe; lost in its grand

theory making and generalizing tendencies. I do not pretend to be able to refute these

claims on the strength of my research, however I do claim that the reality I have

described through the Graphic Design Code does give greater understanding to

contemporary media, and it exposes strong structural elements in communication that

challenges the concept of hyperreality and the dissolution of meaning rather than

strengthen it. The Graphic Design Code can be used to deconstruct meaning, but at its

foundation, it is shown to utilize structural patterns which can be seen to operate as

general principals/codes of presentation across media. It is this structure that visual

media have in common.

In this thesis I adopt the theory of material semiotics (a position like that proposed

by Anne Game, Gunther Kress and John Fiske and others) where structures of meaning

might be anchored to the sociological world through the patterns of their materiality

(Game 1991:189; Kress and van Leeuwen. 1996:5-7; Fiske. 1989a:7-ll). Graphic

design, as I have frequently claimed, has been largely ignored as a structural base of

meaning. My analysis exposes its structural foundations that give a mythic dimension

to the literal and figurative content it presents. As such, in sociological terms, graphic

design is performing social functions relating to socialization, class, knowledge and

social control; all issues which have been from its beginnings, part of the sociological

perspective. It is true that graphic design brings with it an emphases on taste and

204

aesthetics, value laden subjects that have not always been easily accommodated in

sociological theory, but then after Bourdieu. this area too has been colonized by

sociology, and I can only add to the challenging argument he has made by exposing in

graphic design, one of the strongest sources of the indoctrination of taste, one so far

largely gone unacknowledged (Bourdieu, 1984), o

Aesthetic dispositions are best learned through socialization (an important theme in g

Bourdieu's habitus) and graphic design, through the media, must be ascribed the role of §•

a most important visual aesthetic catalyst in the postmodern era (Lash and Urry, 1994:

4). Through its serial and reproductive nature, the magazine nurtures a responsive,

symbiotic relationship with its readership. This is evidenced in my interviews with the art

directors, especially when they are discussing autonomy and change; they recognize

the importance of 'staying in touch' with the readers expectation, with the pro-aesthetic

designers generally recognizing the freedom to innovate that they have, but the curbing

of this possibility of radical expression by the recognition that readerships move only so

fast and an art director out of touch with its readership is an art director out of work. The

carefully disciplined approach to pro-aesthetic graphic design demands a similar sort of

readership; one prepared to fill the spaces with their own imagination and enjoy the

thoughtful even playful balancing of elements on the page. In contrast, the anti-

aesthetic designer is almost entirely driven by the maximization of the affect of content,

both textual and visual and the invitation to use pro-aesthetic values non-existent This

reader is regarded as being neither sophisticated nor intelligent so this media adopts a

primary entertainment function rather than a value changing one. So in a very real sense,

graphic design can be seen to be having a primary role in cultural production and

cultural reproduction, to both create and reinforce a hierarchy of tastes. The socializing

role of graphic design is one that gives to graphic design a primary aesthetic function

which is central to the postmodern marketplace and so makes graphic design a highly

charged political functionary, reinforcing class and social structure through its

reproduction of hierarchical structure.

Fiske is interesting when describing this aspect of popular culture. I believe Fiske

would probably support the description of the Graphic Design Code as I have developed

it however might disagree with it in one important aspect. Fiske tends to see high and

low culture as chalk ami cheese - full of products produced for two separate markets,

whereas I have described them as being opposite ends of the same continuum, often

sharing their characteristics with each other to construct meaning, but essentially being

used in two separated (rather than separate) realms. I believe my refinement is a more

accurate assessment of the postmodern aesthetic, in the case of graphic design and its

sign function in the media. However, I do appreciate that Fiske is right to suggest that

the two readerships approach the media with a totally different awareness and

emphasis; one of aesthetic/qualitative discrimination, and the other purely out of need,

to be informed, pleasured, entertained, fantasized, satisfied etc. (Fiske, 1989b: 129-130).

When Baudrillard described the System of Objects in 1968 he constructed excellent

ground breaking sociology, connecting modern systems of production with newly

reinforced systems of meaning created by the ever increasing emphasis on

consumerism (Baudrillard 1996). In his later publications however, typified by Simulacra

and Simulations he claims that the sign producer has lost control; simply contributing

to an electronic media dominated reality, where its extreme variety of options makes

control impossible (Baudrillard 1988a; 167). This is the point that I would like to contest.

205

Rather than seeing consumerism of signs as a realm where sign producers are losing

control (through diversity of media sources and the supposed related lack of control of

meaning caused by diversity of input) I see the media as a realm of increased control -

especially if you focus on the broadest architectural structures of communication such

as graphic design offers to the visual universe. Postmodernists, of whom Baudrillard is

only one. are more interested in sign content: literal signs offered by the media and

find them less and less connected in hyperspace, while missing the underlying, usually

mythic structures of information (the sign function of graphic design). The whole idea

of the Graphic Design Code, as I develop it. is one that universally underlies structures

of presentation, and when this is combined with the 'aestheticization of everyday life'

(Featherstone. 1991:66-72) and the now total colonization of our lives by consumerism

(Jameson, 1991:4-5) then the Graphic Design Code can become a very powerful

organizational structure - an architecture of meaning.

One of the most important aspects of the Graphic Design Code is its polarization; as

a binary code of positive and negative values, from which the construction of all

graphic design adopts all of its values of expression. The most obvious explanation of

this polarization is made through another of those key sociological variables - social

class. I describe class as being the principal cultural arbiter in the code; describing it

as a bourgeois hegemony, the control of 'good' taste and conversely the branding of

the bad. In explaining the polarization in this way I have adopted Bourdieu's concept

of the cultural arbitrary and the social role of taste and discrimination (Bourdieu and

Passeron, 1977 and Bourdieu, 1984). The role of aesthetics in a totally consumerized

postmodern society is one of universal value inscription and encoding which has the

irresistible tendency to brand all taste with one set of values - even with the tendency

of globalizing them. So the Graphic Design Code does not only impose an architecture

of signs, but also imposes a set of structural values based on the status quo hegemony

of productive forces interested in maintaining mass cultures as consumption driven

market places on an ever more globalizing scale.

Social class is one of those concepts often contested by postmodern theory as lacking

contemporary relevance (see Chapter 2 pp. 45-59. for a more detailed survey of these

issues) and as such more relevant contemporary groupings should be considered; social

divisions such gender, age. sexuality, access to information etc. Yet in my analysis of the

Graphic Design Code, nothing has emerged that rivals the importance of class in its

influence and generally these social sub-groups have only ever shown themselves worthy

of being sub-groups to it. The major theoretical influences on this study, notably Barthes,

Bourdieu and Baudrillard. adopted an argument sympathetic to the Dominant Ideology

Thesis - that the ruling class control the ruling ideas of each epoch. Of these theorists,

only Baudrillard has now repudiated his earlier structuralist phase and adopted a sort of

semiotic anarchy where meaning, like the author before it, has now died in any structural

sense. In this study I have been able to demonstrate the order, logic and regular

patterning of design values as they appear in a range of magazine examples and have

shown the class of publication to be a much more defining characteristic than any

specialist sub category of publication (such as gender, sport, house decorating, nude

photography etc.) and see nothing different in the characteristics of postmodern Australia

that causes a change in this theoretical assumption that the main influence on aesthetic

judgement is related to class and its associated dispositions. What's more, I have been

encouraged in this explanation by some of the best sociological writing in this area

206

Reinforcing the theory of class is the concept of ideology, and in this concept I have

found some of the most useful definitions of a structural phenomena which best

describes the logic and function of the Graphic Design code. This was most eloquently

expressed by Marina Heck of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies:

o"Ideology is not a particular type of message, or a class of social discourses, but it is one of the many 5>'

olevels of organization of the messages, from the point of view of semantic properties. Ideology is JJ

o'therefore a level of signification which can be present in any type of message, even in the scientific 3

discourse" (Heck. 1980:123)

"There is. therefore, a level of 'deep structure', which is 'invisible' and 'unconscious', which cominually

structures our immediate conscious perceptions in this distorted way. This is why in ideological analysis, we

must go to the structuring level of messages - that is, to the level where the discourse is coded - not iust to

their surface forms." (Heck, 1980:122)

Here, described as the sign function of ideology is interchangeably the sign function of

graphic design, suggesting a common social function - that graphic design, through

patterning and channeling readers attention and behavior, unconsciously wins over reader

commitment to a presentation of text or ideas and thereby causing communication to

happen. Because this communication is class coded it indicates that this is a message

considered relevant to a particular class of person while at the same time causing that

person to be confirmed in their own class and social position. Given that we are also

looking at a highly polarized code of opposite values, the hierarchical strength of the code

is surprisingly unsubtle in its clarity and purpose. Here is a popular and sincerely held set

of beliefs which Marx thought would need to be reinforced by coercion - instead the

popular culture of late capitalism has been learned and valued through the media and

reinforced wherever bourgeois values reign supreme. Fiske locates bourgeois values as

being dominant throughout most social institutions but especially in those devoted to

teaching and the arts. Graphic Design teaching is a case in point.

Raymond Williams made a very important claim that media was often ignored as

part of production (Williams 1983:50). He claimed that it was often simply seen as

conduit linking sender and receiver and not as real' in manufacture as material objects

are 'real' (Williams 1983:51-53). The ignorance of graphic design as a system of

presentation can be partly explained by this general tendency to underrate media

generally as meaningful material production, let alone look beyond its superficial

contents to its structural basis. I believe the research in this thesis has been able to

establish that the signs that constitute visual media content are not only produced

literally, but produced materially according to traditions and systems of production that

are highly institutionalized amongst its producers and readers.

Graphic design is a sophisticated system of sign manufacture for communication.

The confusion caused by the teaching and study of graphic design as a part of fine art

has simply muddied the waters and further hidden graphic design's principal functions.

Fine art has certainly influenced the development of graphic design, but it should not

be described as the major influence. Fine art has had a stylistic influence in some

periods of sign production in graphic design history, but could never be described

as the primary motivator. By looking at the art direction of magazines I have been able

to locate graphic design function at the center of visual communications media. Though

much more is still to be done in this area of research, I have sought to locate the art

207

director as a key member of a productive team working within large productive

institutions. This underlines another important aspect of graphic design production

which is again a central characteristic of postmodern production - the production of the

team. Team production is also more typical of the postmodern era and is responsible

for the another aspect of the de-emphasis on authors - that in team production authors

largely remain anonymous.

Issues arising that relate to Graphic Design Theory

I believe this thesis demonstrates that graphic design is a rich field of symbolic

production and communication that offers the whole field of contemporary social

theory a new perspective. It is even more the case in graphic design theory that this

thesis expands the meaning, connotations and sign functions through its sociological

perspective, linking it to the social and commercial world in a way that is rare in design

theory; especially its relationship to social class and the sign functions that it implies.

Graphic design has largely been treated as a history of styles and movements related

to the developments in fine art. There has been little percolation through from Marxist

fine art theory which saw art as an expression of wealth and ownership. Most of

Graphic Design History has been tied up with the history of Modernism in the Twentieth

Century, so much so that the economic has been largely neglected in Graphic Design

Theory despite the fact that Graphic Design really only emerged as a popular title for the

activity in the 1970's. Prior to that it was known as Commercial Art. The re-classification

is indicative of the academic takeover of a field that was, before the 70's more openly

and blatantly commercial. Simultaneously graphic design education developed as

exclusive training grounds for fine designers in much the same way that art schools

exist to train and reproduce fine artists. For these reasons. Graphic Design Theory

desperately needs to be subjected to the critical eye of the social theorist who might

see this area of cultural production in a total 'anthropological' way, exposing the elite

nature of design education and the fact that they only exist to perpetuate/reproduce an

elite aesthetic rather than serve the whole industry and society.

Graphic Designers need to be subjected to the torch of social theory that exposes

their theory as mainly missing the main connotation of their design - that it is elite and

that in so being is branding most of the design consumed in modern mass societies as

inferior and bad. Not only do most university trained designers find the mass-market

style repulsive, they mostly choose to ignore it's existence. In a sense, to them it is not

graphic design. I have been able to clearly show that there are parallel streams of

graphic design and graphic design production and while these separate streams often

refer to each other, they recognize the gulf that mostly lies between them. Graphic

Designers and their theory need to come to terms with this as I believe the implications

for the ethics of graphic design production are immense.

Some graphic design theory has been concerning itself with the vernacular of late

and some with graphic design as a special sort of language (Craig, 1990; Butler, 1994,

Williamson, 1989) but none place it quite so centrally as I do to be at the heart of

modern life - a fixing of meaning that incorporates the whole range of design

production, because only then can you see that sign production in graphic design is a

universal activity in any advanced industrial society and one that is taking on a more

active social role as it links consumption with aesthetic dispositions. In this way. it also

208

links graphic design function to social function, a link rarely considered in terms of

class and social mechanics in graphic design theory. In postmodern theory the new

dominance of an aesthetic reflexivity in contemporary value judgement gives to

graphic design an even stronger, if invidious, social role. The incorporation of the

aesthetic into the commercial realm has made what the art director has to offer equally

captive.

Even the breaking down of graphic design into design elements is innovative as a

system of coded analysis. Semiotics are not new to graphic design, but it does not

generally happen in such a systematic way as a universal phenomena. Semiotic

analysis in graphic design is nearly always piecemeal analyzing individual examples of

design or movements, rather than considering it as a total field for analysis.

Conclusion

So graphic design, through the Graphic Design Code, takes on a central architectural

role in the presentation of the media. It could be argued that this has always been the

case and in the sense that graphic design is an essential part of all visual media, it has

always been there. But the conditions of the media and society have changed. With

the development of mass societies throughout the modern period, so wider publics are

being addressed in different ways by a media which was at first there primarily to

inform: now its primary function is to entertain and through the conscious and

unconscious choice of the readership take on values that promote and aid particular

sorts of consumption as are useful to industry and those other productive forces in the

postmodern world

209

Conclusion

Summary

There have been many new insights and perspectives gained through the development

of this thesis. Not least is the claim that the production of graphic design is the most

dominant and all pervasive area of design production in the contemporary world. Its

dominance has probably been there for most of this century, but the radical,

technologically induced shifts in media forms over the last thirty years, have reinforced

the importance of the information industries over those of merely material production.

For this reason, graphic design must be acknowledged as the area of primary symbol

formation in the postmodern era and to ignore it is obviously foolish. So why has

graphic design received so little attention and acknowledgement? Primarily this

oversight has been due to two major factors:

1. Familiarity. Information technologies have become so diverse, common and all

pervasive that we have tended not to see the wood for the trees. The real content

of the media has mistakenly been seen to be the text rather than its underlying

systems of meaning which computers can these days deliver by default.

2. Graphic design has commonly been conceived as an art form and not as a primary

system of meaning. By so doing, graphic design teaching and to a lesser extent

theory, has tended to isolate its vision to the elite end of the graphic design marketplace,

ignoring that graphic design (of a type, not of their liking) is indeed all pervasive and in

developed societies, incorporating the whole populations under its influence.

Graphic design tends to be hidden because at it's fundamental level it is hidden, in many

ways the structure that underlies the information itself. As such Graphic Design is often

subliminal, absorbed at a subconscious level, even overlooked by most semiotic

analyses. Although all of the listed elements of space, type, image, colour and text

have been described and analyzed extensively in Graphic Design Theory, there are no

studies to my knowledge that have described a Graphic Design Code as a system of

presentation where all of these factors must be analyzed in order to give graphic

design meaning. In the past, one or two of these elements have been described in

isolation, but never as a comprehensive theory. This has been one of the most

substantial achievements of this thesis. The Code, as it develops out of my research, is

strongly polarized and on a scale capable of covering the huge and diverse output of

modern mass society. I describe the Graphic Design Code as being primarily an

aesthetic code reflecting the polarized taste publics represented in strongly consumer

oriented postmodern society; from the mass consumption typified by the anti-aesthetic

to the elite consumption of the pro-aesthetic. Here is described a 'system' of taste

which is totally contrived and manipulated by designers reflecting the social divisions

of the postmodern marketplace. The marketplace is defined and subdivided by market

research and different publics identified and since the market has gradually become

near totally aestheticized; taste publics have come to be represented in design terms

which have most effectively set up patterns or structures of communication with which

they can identify through the Graphic Design Code.

211

One of the great contradictions in postmodern theory though is the generally held

belief that factors like social class are of decreasing importance as society supposedly

re-forms, becoming more individualistic and less shaped by lifestyles formed by

income, social position and inheritance. This study certainly suggests otherwise. The

wide polarization of the code itself suggests a corresponding polarization of taste

publics, where, if magazine production suggests anything at all, demonstrates that by

far the greater majority of society (the masses) consciously prefer to adopt the inferior

aesthetic position for a whole lot of often very egalitarian and democratic reasons

(such as good value, packed with information, human interest). What is interesting, is

that all of the elitist, non-egalitarian values have been loaded into the pro-aesthetic

spectrum representing extravagance, waste, along with ascetic discipline and these

have come to compose elite design. As such, the Graphic Design Code is a

systematization of taste based almost entirely of social values promulgated by a

consumption driven society where taste is mobilized as one of the markets most

manipulatable factors. In this scheme. Graphic Design has been entirely

commercialized as a marketing tool: a refined but all consuming latter-day device of the

Captains of Consciousness (Ewens, 1976).

This study places the emphasis on sign production rather than sign consumption In

my literature review it seemed for a long time that this was a very unfashionable

perspective to have in semiology as all of the emphasis has now been placed on the

reader as the principal arbiter of meaning. I agree that consumption of signs is important,

however I also think it is absurd to ignore production especially in the postmodern world

of increasing centralization of production at all levels. To be in control of meaning (as the

graphic designer increasingly is) has to define one of the major seats of power in a

postmodern society. Barthes' semiology and Baudrillard's simulacra both tend to

emphasize the reader/consumer of signs and so neglect the production of them. Not so

Eco. Eco gives equal weight to sign production as consumption. Applying his theory to

graphic design in this thesis, reveals a codified system of expression that is both creative

and manipulative showing a rapport with its readership, but through series production

and consumption, socializing its readership into taste publics ripe for exploitation. The

mobilization of aesthetic taste, both positive and negative, has developed as one of the

key characteristics of the postmodern era and graphic design is at the heart of it.

One of my goals in this study was to see graphic design as cultural production. By

returning graphic design to its industrial context in production, it is seen not just as a

product of industry, but also of purposefully trained and/or educated individuals who

work in formal production teams in order to produce serial industrial products; in this

case, magazines. My approach might seem obvious, but Raymond Williams has

warned that media production has long been overlooked as it is not material but

informational in output (Williams. 1982). This has led to media production being

underrated, regarded as ephemeral and immaterial. I believe graphic design has

suffered as part of this general neglect. Sociology and semiotic analysis has tended to

ignore the underlying graphic structure of information for the text and image as the

only, principal level of content. Graphic designers have tended to underrate the social

import of their activities through concentrating on the form of their output rather than

its general socializing impact. This study shows graphic design to be constructed and

controlled by industry at all levels as a systematic code which is valued because of it's

connection with all classes of the public that make up the postmodern marketplace.

212

Industry supports and trains the designers for the mass market while universities now

train the pro-aesthetic end of the market in elite design. Since I have a special interest in

Graphic Design Teaching at a tertiary level, I see this study as being especially important

in this respect because it exposes graphic design as a code {and training for production)

that is present in all graphic communication NOT just for the elite end of the market o

owhich fits the pro-aesthetic end of the continuum. This poses a real dilemma for people o.

c

like myself as I teach in a course that encourages only good taste in design and in so 5

doing condemns the mass market to academic neglect. The real issue for Graphic

Design in academia is whether there is a life for design outside commerce? Does

Graphic Design have a language in its own right? The sign function of graphic design

has been called into the service of consumerism in postmodern society and until this is

recognized by designers then they will simply remain as tools of a hegemonic system.

The stratification of the Graphic Design Code along with its reinforcement of

establishment values, points to a rather obvious role for Graphic Design in re-affirming

the cultural arbitrary, enforcing a bourgeois dominated social sphere where positive

and negative values are distributed disproportionately at each end of the spectrum. So

often mass society is described as democratic, exhibiting greater freedom and lately, it

is increasingly described as classless. The Graphic Design Code suggests otherwise.

The Graphic Design Code suggests a social sphere which is both a political and

ideologically charged space, rather crudely manipulated through dominant aesthetic

constructs of which the Graphic Design Code is one of the most important but most

neglected parts.

The Graphic Design Code is a system of aesthetic values based on polarized

oppositions. Its bi-polar composition is demonstrated through my analysis of a range of

publications along with the analysis of ten leading Australian art directors. The polarization

of values occurs across the field of Graphic Design Elements and is summarized on

pp. 106-108. From these findings one could generalize that the values of the Modern

Movement or International Style in design have been adopted as the arbiter of style by the

economic and intellectually dominant cla^s. The Mass Market Style (if that is the best way

to describe what is left) can only be described as representing those values in design

which represent the polar opposite of the Modern style and therefore, in social terms take

an inferior position. Not only does this build in values of social inferiority, the holding of

these values reinforces the status quo and its inherent superiority. Design therefore has

the effect of socializing values of rank into the taste and habits of individuals just as surely

as family once did and it does it by invading the private realms of the self; family life,

especially our spare, relaxation and leisure time, entertainment activities, sporting interests

or cultural activities. Each of these fields relate to us when we are relaxing, being

ourselves, following our own interests and yet each of these areas are now served by

media and services which address us using mostly serially consumed media - all graphic

designed. Just as Bourdieu exposed a commonality of taste affected by social class in our

consumption of nearly everything, so I suggest graphic design provides that commonality

of taste in the media we consume. It acts as a sub-conscious structure ...a preferred style

of presentation that media and product providers insist on providing to us across the

media, in advertising and editorial content, both print and electronic.

213

The Modern Style, though now of a past age. can best be understood as a style of good

taste and clear and precise communication. It is modest, in that it doesn't draw attention

to itself, relying more on quality ingredients to attract attention and subtle presentation

techniques such as shared colour schemes and type faces, quality photography taken

with professional skill and of course quality stock or formats to enhance presentation It is

interesting that one of the most common shared characteristics of the pro-aesthetic

designers was discipline in the way they used the design elements in their publication.

Discipline is another word for control and control is one of the most potent characteristics

of this style of design - it is a self conscious and self imposed imposition.

The only model for the Mass Market Style is advertising. It calls out for attention in

every way. The Mass Market style works in a way that is the reverse of the Modern

Style. This is a media style that is immensely appealing to the great mass of the

population. Earlier in the thesis I summize that in Australia Mass Market Publications

take up at least seventy percent of the magazine market. This means that it is

consumed by all of the working and most of the middle class in Australia and is

overwhelmingly the preferred style of presentation. It should be underlined here that

mass market readers are well and truly committed to the anti-aesthetic and hold us

values as positive. They see white space as waste of space and big full page pictures

of a model as boring - as do their art directors. Most graphic design is produced in the

style of the mass market, and though my sample is in no way statistically significant, it

would be interesting to see if my sample's trend of industry trained designer

apprentices for the mass market held true, and higher education and university trained

designers for the elite end. If this tendency holds true, then it is interesting that

University Graphic Design training is anything but egalitarian providing employment

exclusively for the upper end of the market. The size of the media industry and the

overall need for graphic design is therefore shown to be so immense that most

university trained graduates can find employment in a sector happy to accept so little

of the media market share. So although graphic design works to reinforce social

control through controlling taste I would have to state that my sample of anti-aesthetic

designers were naive to the idea that their designing was a form of control in a way

that the pro-aesthetic designers explicitly acknowledge. Pro-aesthetic designers often

stated that they curb their personal expression so as not to alienate the reader.

Future Directions

Overall, I would describe the scope of the theoretical approach to my subject as being

broad; partly this is due to the field of graphic design being an underdeveloped area of

study theoretically, hence having to develop my own structural system (the Graphic

Design Elements) with which to discuss the different titles of magazines. It would be

interesting in future research to apply the Design Elements across a wider range of

media and through detailed semibtic analysis test the system of elements to see if the

Design Code is repeated across media in the same way. I believe that my choice of

magazines was a good one given the limited scope of a thesis and given that it is a

strongly visual media that has recently responded to the postmodern technological

changes (mainly of colour, cheaper print production and computerized pre-press).

Nevertheless, the new electronic media, especially the Internet and television, are fast

surpassing print's market share and as such deserve analysis.

214

In my study I have concentrated on the production of signs. Semioticians argue that

the most important area of sign formation occurs with the reader. This is an obvious

area of research into graphic design. There has been very little analysis of readers'

perceptions of Graphic Design - especially from a semiotic and/or social perspective.

Readers' perceptions are central to graphic designer's production and yet the oo

relationship seems to be largely intuitive. Of course all graphic designers are also o_

readers, but the whole point of analysis is to discover how uniform that experience is. 5-

Semiotics implies that each signification is unique and yet the mass media is catering

for wider and wider publics, and if those hugely skewd distributions mean anything

they imply a considerable degree of success. Certainly the art directors I interviewed

feel a great rapport and understanding of the readers' psyches and modified their

design responses through this knowledge. Sign consumption is clearly a most

relevant area of further research.

Bourdieu's use of Habitus was an idea I was greatly influenced by when writing and

researching this thesis. Bourdieu's Distinction and its accompanying questionnaire was

a major catalyst in forming my research method. It was a disappointment to me

therefore to find that this information, when I tried to access it in my interviews, was in

fact the most inaccessible. In Chapter 10 I discuss that these more 'personal' questions

needed the support of follow up or observational information to more truly read the

veracity of their spoken observations. At times I pointed out contradictions in their

responses, but I do feel as though a better designed study might still be able to access

the fusion between personal and professional class and taste, and in the case of

Graphic Design practice this is uncharted territory.

One of the most important ideas that I would like to see tested by the ideas raised

by the Graphic Design Code is that of reflexivity. Lash and Urry's Economies of Time

and Space (Lash and Urry, 1994) is one of the confronting books I have read in the past

year and I feel many of its major themes are relevant to my principle themes in this

thesis. Most confronting are the ideas relating to reflexivity and accumulation,

aesthetics and individuality as they come closest I believe to explaining the

postmodern dilemma of the simulacra (they call it emptying out).

"Cultural hegemony of the dominant class in pre-modern societies was exercised through symbol

systems which were full of meanings, contents, peopled with gods and demons. In modern societies

cultural domination has been effected through the already emptied out or abstract ideologies of liberalism,

equality, progress, science and so on. Domination in postmodern capitalism is affected through a

symbolic violence that has been further emptied out. even further de-territorialized, whose minimal

foundations have been swept aside." (Lash & Urry. 1994:15)

This is a more credible account of the postmodern dilemma in my view and helps

account for the stratification of taste that occurs more now through the socialization of

the media than the family. Lash and Urry go on to say:

"We believe that the notion of reflexive accumulation provides a better account of contemporary socio-

economic processes (because they] ... are not really helpful in understanding the extent to which

contemporary socio-economies are based on services. Second, they do nol devote sufficient attention to

the extent to which knowledge and information are fundamental to contemporary economic growth. What

is not captured in the notion of flexibility is the extent to which production has become increasingly

grounded in discursive knowledge ... The opposition of materially based versus culturally based production

215

is more useful than that between flexibility and rigidity. Third, flexibility analysis is one-sidedly

'productionist'. By contrast we argue that social and socio-cultural processes enter as importantly in the

moment of consumption as they do in that of production. And finally, flexibility theory has not grasped the

extent to which culture has penetrated the economy itself, that is. the extent to which symbolic

processes, including an important aesthetic component, have permeated both consumption and

production." (Lash b Urry. 1994:60)

I have not read a better analysis of the contemporary condition that so opens up the

possibilities for the study of graphic design. Graphic Design could very easily be the

vehicle through which we might see all the levels of production, consumption and

provision of services as they all meet in this new socio-economic realm of aestheticized

information. The main outcome they propose is increasing individualization:

reflexivity is ollen seen to be a matter of individualization via the decreasing importance ol social

structures, such as the family and class, and the concomitant freeing of social agents...It entails the

replacement of social structures by information structures." (Lash b Urry. 1994:111)

This is an extremely sociological understanding of the media connecting with the

individual through the newly structured media universe. Here old structures of influence

are being replaced by new formations that connect and form in different ways My study

has often suggested these new formations and acknowledges their importance but there

is also continuity, especially of those polarizations that seem to be increasing around

social class - values, perhaps no longer formed entirely through social inheritance, but

perpetuated because they have become the marketplace's way of connecting with the

social world. Reflexive formations are still social formations, but perhaps structures like

the Graphic Design Code are the principal new carriers of social formation.

216

The Interview Questionnaire Schedule

The following schedule was administered to respondents over a period lasting usually

one and a half hours, mostly at their workplace, but on a couple of occasions at

locations deemed to be most suitable. All respondents were either the leading

designer or art director of the chosen publications. They were located in both Sydney

and Melbourne. The interviews were recorded and fully transcribed. The general

structure of the interviews kept to the questionnaire below in all cases but questions

were raised (or not) depending on the drift of the interviews. The recordings and

transcripts are held by the author.

The interview

1 Sign function in graphic design - the signification of the elements of graphic

design in magazine design:

Layout grid/space

Do you have any general rules regards the use and division of space in

[name publication)?

What determines the patterns of space utilization in [name publication]?

Try and rank reasons.

What value does white space have to you? Do you use it?

What determines the grid in [name publication) ?

Typography

Describe the typography in [name publication]

Why is it like it is?

What is the main function of type in [name publication] ?

What is its secondary function?

Do you think it is better to vary or restrict type face and type size?

Image

Do you have any control over the images/illustration/photography you use

in (name publication) ?

If not. who does? If so what elements of it can you influence?

What is the primary function of images? Give examples from (name publication!.

Do you have a preference for a particular sort of image making over another?

Which do you prefer? (Remember photography is a type of image making.)

Colour

What is the main role of colour in [name publication) ?

How and why do you use colour in |name publication) ?

Does colour carry value? Give examples.

What colours do you most like using?

217

Materials of Presentation

Why does |name publication) use a particular paper stock? Describe it.

What does paper stock mean in magazine design?

Is binding important to (name publication]? What determines it?

2 The notion of authorship

An author is the originator of the text. Do you feel like you originate your designs?

What is it that the graphic designer contributes to the text?

What sort of meaning does it give?

Are you autonomous? Is autonomy important to you?

What is the role of the audience/reader to you as a graphic designer?

Thinking of yourself as a graphic designing author - who are your most significant

others in the context of (name publication] ?

3 The motivation of the art director

Where does the graphic design tradition in which you operate come from?

Why do you design in this way/style?

How important is competition with other titles in your design of

[name publication] ?

How important is market share?

When you design are you aware of the historyAradition of (name publication] ?

Has your personal history influenced your design?

Has your design education been important in making you design as you do?

Do you like to change your design? Can you?-To what degree? Why and why not?

Do you believe in social class? What does it mean to you as a graphic designer

on |name publication] ?

Is social class important to you personally?

Is social class important to your readership of |name publication! ?

4 The productive team/institutional characteristics of [name publication].

Talk about your productive relationships:

within the publishing house.

within the production process.

to the publication [name publication].

to the public/readership. How influential are they? In what way?

Do you feel empowered as an art director? In what ways?

What is you workplace hierarchy? Discuss key influences, describing in what ways

different players influence the outcomes of your designs.

What influence does the rest of your publisher's industrial output have on your

design of [name publication] ?

(Consider other titles, the history of your publication etc.)

What would you say are the strongest values held by your publisher?

218

5 The values of the designer

Does your art direction on [name publication] reflect your own values

in graphic design?

What is most satisfying about your job?

How do you describe your lifestyle? _,

What did you eat for dinner last night? Who cooked it? CL

What brands of clothes do you most wear? |

Where do look for inspiration in your design? g

Do you ever go to art galleries? What was the last exhibition you attended? g

What magazine do you most admire that influences your work on |name publication]? 5"

Who is your favorite composer/recording artist? i .CDC/3OZTCDCL.

6 Statistics • "

Age

Sex

Years working as a graphic designer in industry

Years working as art director on (name publication)

Design education training received

219

Bibliography

Abercrombie, N.

(1980) Class, Structure and Knowledge: Problems in the Sociology of Knowledge Basil Blackwell Oxf ord

Abercrombie, N., Hill. S. and Turner. B.S.

(1984) The Dominant Ideology Thesis George Allen & Unwin London

Abercrombie. N. and Turner, B.S.

(1982) The Dominant Ideology Thesis in Giddens. A and Held. D. eds.

Classes. Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates Macmillan London pp.396-414

Adorno, A. W.

(1991) The Culture Industry Routledge London

Althusser, L.

(1969) For Marx Allen Lane London

Barth, F.

(1970) Introduction in Barth. F ed.

Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference George Allen & Unwin London

Barthes, R.

(1973) Mythologies Paladin UK

11977a) The Death of the Author in Image Music Text Fontana UK pp. 142-148

11977b) Elements of Semiology Hill and Wang New York

Baudrillard, J.

(1988a) Simulacra and Simulations in Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings Polity Press,

Cambridge pp166-184

(1988b) The Masses in Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings Polity Press. Cambridge pp.207-219

(1988c) The System ol Objects in Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings Polity Press.

Cambridge 1988 pp 10-28

(1988 d) Symbolic Exchange and Death in Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings Polity Press.

Cambridge 1988 ppi 19-148

(1988e) The System of Objects in Thakara. J. ed Design after Modernism Thames and Hudson.

Oxford pp l 71 -182

(1996) The System of Ob/ects Verso London

Beck, U.

(1992) Risk Society Sage London

Benjamin, W

(19821 Illuminations Fontana UK

Bennett. T.

11982) Theories of the media, theories of society in Gurevitch. M. et al. eds

Culture. Society and the Media Methuen London

Berger, A.A.

(1995) Cultural Criticism: A Primer ol Key Concepts Sage Publications California

Berger, J.

(1972) Ways ol Seeing Penguin UK

Bird, J. ex al eds.

(1993) Mapping the Futures: Local cultures, global change Routledge London

221

Bourdieu, P. 8 Passeron, J-C.

11977) Reproduction In Education. Society and Culture Sage Publications London

Bourdieu, P

(1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste Harvard University Press

ro Breen, R. and Rottman, D.B.

g1 (1995) Class Stratification: A Comparative Perspective Harvester Wheatsheaf Hertfordshireto

S Brunt, R.

~< (1992) Engaging with the Popular: Audiences for Mass Culture and What to Say about Them

script in Grossberg. L et al. eds. Cultural Studies Routledge New York pp. 69-80

Butler, F

( l 994) Reading Outside the Grid: Designers and Society in Bierut. M. et al. eds.

Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design Allworth Press New York pp. 91- 96

Chamberlain, C.

(1983) Class Consciousness in Australia George Allen 6 Unwin Sydney

Connell, R. W. and Irving, T.H.

(1980) Class Structure in Australian History: Documents. Narrative and Argument

Longman Cheshire Sydney

Connell, R. W.

(1977) Ruling Class Ruling Culture: Studies of conflict, power and hegemony in Australian Life

Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Craig, R.

(1990) Ideological Aspects of Publication Design in Design Issues Vol.VII No.2 pp. 18-27

Dilnot, A.

(1990) Wealth: From Least to Most in Australian Society Volume 9. Number 7 July 1990 pp. 14-17

Dunn, R.G.

(1998) Identity Crises: A Social Critique of Postmodernity University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis

Dyer, G

(1982) Advertising as Communication Methuen London

Eagleton, T.

(1990) The Ideology of the Aesthetic Basil Blackwell Oxford

Eco, U.

(1976) A Theory of Semiotics Bloomington: Indiana University Press USA

(1984) The Role of the Reader Bloomington. Indiana University Press USA

Ewen, S.

(1976) Captains of Consciousnes Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture

McGraw-Hill New York

Ewen, S & E.

(1982) Channels of Desire: Mass Images and the Shaping of American Consciousness

McGraw-Hill New York

Featherstone, T.

(1991) Consumer Culture and Postmodernism Sage Publications London

Fiske, J.

(1989 a) Reading the Popular Unwin Hyman London

(1989 b) Understanding Popular Culture Unwin Hyman London

(1992) Cultural Studies and the Culture of Everyday Life script in Grossberg. L et al eds

Cultural Studies Routledge New York pp. 154-173

222

Forty, Adrian

(1986) Objects ol Desire: Design and Society from Wedgewood to IBM Pantheon Books New York

Foster, H.

(1983) The Anti-Aesthetic Essays on Postmodern Culture Bay Press Seattle

Foucault, M.

(1970) 77ie Order ol Things Vintage New York

(1991) What Is an Author' in Mukerji. Chandra and Schudson. Michael eds.. Rethinking Popular Culture

University of California Press USA pp. 446-464

Fry, Tony

(1988) Design History Australia Hale and Iremonger Sydney

Game, A.

(1991) Undoing the Social: Towards a Deconstructive Sociology Open University Press Buckingham

Giddens, A.

(1973) The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies Hutchinson University Library London

(1982) Class Strucruration and Class Consciousness in Giddens. A and Held, D. eds. Classes, Power, and

Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates Macmillan London pp. 157-174

(1994) Living in a Post-Traditional Society in Ulrich Beck.et al. Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition

and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order Polity Press pp. 56-109

Giddens, A and Held, D.

(1982) V. Class Consciousness and Ideology: Introduction in Giddens. A and Held. D. eds.

Classes, Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates Macmillan London pp 353-358

Gottdiener, M.

(1995) Postmodern Semiotics: Material Culture and the Forms of Postmodern Life Blackwell Oxford

Hall, S. and Whannel, P. eds.

(1964) The Popular Arts Hutchinson Educational London

Hall, S

(1980a) Introduction to Media Studies at the Centre in Hall.S ed. Culture. Media.

Language Hutchinson London pp 117-121

(1980b) Encoding/decoding in Hall.S ed Culture, Media, Language Hutchinson London pp. 128-138

(1980c) Recent developments in theories ol language and ideology: a critical note in Hall.S ed.

Culture. Media, Language Hutchinson London pp. 157-162

(1986)Mec/» Power and class power in Curran, J et al eds. Bending Reality Pluto Press London pp. 5-14

(1994) Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms in Dirks. N.B. et al.eds. Culture/Power/History: A Reader

in Contemporary Social Theory Princeton University Press Princeton pp. 520-538

Ha/liday, M.A.K.

(1978) Language as Social Semiotic Edward Arnold London

Harris, D.

(1992) From Class Struggle to the Politics of Pleasure: The effects of gramscianism on cultural studies

Routledge London

Hebdige, D.

(1994) After the Masses in Dirks. N.B. et al eds. Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary

Social Theory Princeton University Press Princeton pp. 222-235

223

ro=r Hobson,D.

Heck, M.C.

(1980) The ideological dimension of media messages in Hall.S ed. Culture, Media, Language

Hutchinson London pp. 122-127

Hinkson, John

(1992) Misreading the Deeper Current: The Limits of Economic Rationality \n Areana 98 Melbourne

(1980) 7 Housewives and the mass media in Hall.S ed Culture, Media, Language

Hutchinson London pp. 105-114

Hodge, R. and Kress, G.

(1988) Social Semiotics Polity Press Oxford

Hunter, I.

(1992) Aesthetics and Cultural Studies script in Grossberg. L et al. eds. Cultural Studies

Routledge New York pp. 347-372

Jameson, F

(1991) Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Verso USA

Jay, M.

11984) Adorno Harvard University Press Cambridge. Massachusetts

(1993) Downcast Eyes: The denigration of vision in Twentieth Century French thought

University of California Press Berkeley

Jhal/y, S.

(1990) The Codes of Advertising Routledge London

Keedy, J.

(1994)/ Like the Vernacular... Mot in Bierut. M. et al. eds. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic

Design Allworth Press New York pp. 101-103

Kellehear, A.

(1993) The Unobtrusive Researcher: A Guide to Methods Allen 6 Unwin Sydney

Kress, G and van Leeuwen, T.

(1996) Reading Images Routledge London

Lash, S

(1994) Reflexh/ity and its doubles: Structures, Aesthetics, Community in Ulrich Beck.et al.

Reflexive Modernization: Politics. Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order

Polity Press pp. 110-173

Lash, S. 6 Urry, J

11994) Economies of Time and Space Sage Publications London

Leiss, W, Kline, S. and Jhally, S.

(1986) Social Communication in Advertising: Persons. Products (t Images of Well-being

Methuen Toronto

Lockwood, D.

(1982) Sources of Variation in Working-Class Images of Society in Giddens. A. and Held. D. eds.

Classes. Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates Macmillan London pp. 157-174

Lupton, E.

(1994) Low and High: Design in Everyday Life in Bierut. M. et al eds.

Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design Allworth Press New York pp. 104-108

224

Mack.R.W.

(1968) Race, Class, and Power Van Nosltand Reinhold Company New York

McGregor, C.

(1997) Class in Australia Penguin Ringwood

McGuigan, J. a,cr

(1999) Modernity and Postmodern Culture Open University Press Buckingham g-CO

McLuhan, M. | j

(1967a) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Sphere UK *<

(1967b) with Fiore. Quentin The Medium is the Message Penguin UK

McQuail, D.

(1994) Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction Third Edition Sage Publications London

McRobbie, A.

(19921 Post-Marxism and Cultural Studies: A Post-script in Grossberg. L. et al. eds. Cultural Studies

Routledge New York pp 719-730

Mann, M.

11982) 77?e Social Cohesion of Liberal Democracy in Giddens. A and Held. D. eds. Classes. Power, and

Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates Macmillan London pp. 373-395

Marcuse, H.

(1966) One Dimensional Man Beacon Press Boston

Marx, K. and Engels, F

(1970) The German Ideology International Publishers New York

Miliband, R.

(1991) Divided Societies: Class Struggle in Contemporary Capitalism Oxford University Press Oxford

Mills, M.

(1994) The (Layered) Vision Thing in Bierut. M. et al. eds. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic

Design Allworth Press New York pp. 129-131

Neuman, L.W.

(1994) Social Research Methods: Oualitanve and Quantitatrve Approaches Second Edition

Allyn and Bacon Massachusetts

Parkin, F.

(1972) Class Inequality and Political Order: Social Stratilication in Capitalist and Communist Societies

Paladin London

(1974) The Social Analysis of Class Structure Tavistock Publications London

Patton, M.Q.

(1982) Qualitative Evaluation Methods Sage Publications Beverly Hills

Radway, J.

(1991) Interpretive Communities and variable Literacies: The Functions of Romance Reading in Mukerji.

Chandra and Schudson. Michael eds . Rethinking Popular Culture University of California Press

USA 1991 pp465-486

Richardson, A.

(1993) The Death of the Designer in Design Issues Vol. IX No. 2 pp. 34-43

225

Robertson, K.

(1994a) White Space: When Less Is More in Bierut. M. et al. eds Looking Closer: Critical Writings

on Graphic Design Allworth Press New York pp. 61-65

(1994b) Spot the Difference in Eye Magazine No. 15 Vol.4 Winter 1994 London pp 36-43

w Rock, M.cr5̂ (1994) Typefaces are Rich with the Gesture and Spirit of their Own Era in Bierut. M. et al. eds

to

_g Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design Allworth Press New York pp. 122-125

"* Schwartz, H. and Jacobs, J.

119791 Qualitative Sociology: A Method to the Madness The Free Press New York

Scoff, J.

(1995) Sociological Theory: Contemporary Debates Edward Elgar Aldershot

Seidman, S.

(1994) Contested Knowledge: Social Theory in the Postmodern Era Blackwell Oxford

Smart, ft

(1992) Modern Conditions. Postmodern Controversies Routledge London

(1993) Postmodernity Routledge London

Van Leeuwen, T

(1988) Music and ideology: towards a sociosemiotics of mass media music SASSC Working Papers

10 (2): 199-220

(1991) The sociosemiotics of easy listening music in Social Semiotics 1 (1)67-80

Veron, E.

(1969) The semanticization of political violence in E.Veron et al. (eds.)

Lenguaje y Communicacion Social Nueva Vision Buenos Aires

(1971) Ideology and the social sciences in Semiotica. vol 3. no. 1

Williams, R.

11982) Means of Communication as Means of Production in Problems in Materialism and Culture Verso

UK pp50-63Williamson, J. H.

(1978) Decoding Advertisments: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising Marion Boyars UK London

(1994) Family, Education, Photography in Dirks. N.B. et al.eds Culture/Power/History: A Reader

in Contemporary Social Theory Princeton University Press Princeton pp 236-244

Williamson, J.

(1989) The Grid: History, Use and Meaning in Victor Margolin ed.

Design Discourse University of Chicargo Press pp.171-186

Winship, J.

(1983) Unit 6: Femininityand Woman's magazines: a case study of Women's Own -'First in Britain

for Women' in The Open University series The Changing experience of women

The Open University Press UK pp 4-73

226

Glossary of Graphic Design Terms

Colour Roughs: Colour sketches, marker renderings or rough photostat proofs from

digitally generated image making/assembly - all are to give the client an idea or

indication of what the finished design idea might look like.

Colour Separation: is the process of photographically separating the colours of

reproduction into the four primary printing colours of cyan, magenta, process yellow

and black. Overprinted in screens of different percentages virtually all photographic

colours can be achieved by overprinting.

Commercial Lithography: is now a totally digitized form of metal plate offset printing

commonly used for most contemporary printing. Offset lithography has dominated

the commercial printing field since the 1970's.

Finished artist: refers to the functionary who produces camera-ready artwork from the

graphic designer's roughs. The role of the finished anisi has also been subsumed by

the Macintosh but finished artists often survive by becoming computer operators who

realize the designer's roughs as computer generated finished art.

Laser-scanners: are high precision, now totally digitized colour separating devices for

colour separating into the printer's 4 process colours any photograph or coloured

piece of artwork

Paste-up/finished art: is also known as camera-ready art - this is usually black and white line

art generated by typesetting, photography (bromide) or computer ready for photographing

onto the printing plate, or if to be reproduced in colour, to be colour separated.

Plates: refers to the printing plates, produced photographically and used in commercial

lithography.

Pre-press: refers to those artwork, film and platemaking functions necessary before the

commercial printing process begins - in Australia, these functions have been

traditionally specialist roles performed by tradespeople within the printing industry. All

of the pre-press functions are now subsumed by the graphic designer working with

various software options in the Macintosh PC's.

Serif, the small bracket attached to most of the vertical strokes of particular families of

letter forms. The serif is thought to have originated in classical Roman times with the

chiselled letter forms of the stone masons. The seriffed letterform therefore often

carries classical connotations. With the revival of classical styles in the Renaissance

(precisely at the same time as the invention of movable type) the serif typeface became

THE traditional typeface of text communication; a relationship with readability often

regarded as sacrasanct in text presentation.

227

San-serif: simply refers to a style of typeface WITHOUT serifs. This style was an

invention of the 19th Century in response to new demands for attention mostly caused

by advertising. By the early 20th Century san-serif faces were often promoted as

having a special affinity with modernism and the spirit of the new century.

Typesetting: is the process of turning manuscript into a particular formation of type

designated by a graphic designer or art director. Traditionally this task has been

performed by a tradesperson trained specifically to execute that function. With the

advent of computers the typesetters function too is subsumed by the graphic designer

behind a Macintosh.

228

Ethics approval letter (photocopy)

OPSOCUCSCEKCES

tacuUy Human tjlnn Ctanmiilet < j t B^BTTN IVERSITY

TO Mr Keith Robertson-464 Queens Road, Nth Fitzroy, 3068

FROM: Ted Osboumc, Secretary', Faculty Human Ethics Committee

SUBJECT: Project:96/ 149- Codes «nd sign production in the graphic design industry

DATE: 26 November. 1996

The Faculty Human Ethics Conunitlee has considered your application for a research project involvinghuman participants I am pleased to advise that your application has been approved until 1 March1999.

Would you please note that the following standard conditions apply

(a) Limit of Approval: approval is limited strictly to the rcsearcli proposal as submittedin vour application

(b) Variation to Project as a consequence, if you wish to make any subsequentvariations or modifications to your project you must notify the Committee formallyusing the appropriate form ("Application for Approval of Modification to ResearchProicct"). copies of which arc available from the Secretary, Human Ethics CommitteeThe Committee will consider approval for the proposed changes If the Committeeconsiders that the proposed changes are significant, you may be required to submit anew application for approval of the revised project

(c) Progress Report: vou arc required to submit the attached Progress Report form lo theCommittee annually. or at the conclusion of your project if it continues for less than ayear Failure lo submit a progress report at the end of the year will mean approval forthis protect will lapse

II you have any lurihcr queries on these matters, or require additional information, please do not hesitateto contact the Secrctarv of the Faculty Human Ethics Conunitlee

Yours stitccreK. .•*"

229

32934021451184Bundoora General741.6 R651sRobertson. Keith.The sign in graphic designa sociological explorationof sign production in thepostmodern era