South African Metal Subculture

In this post I will be talking about the South African Metal Subculture. Its a subculture directly related and revolving around the music genre Metal. This is a subculture I can specifically relate to as I am part of it and have experienced it throughout my teenage life up until now. Unfortunately as far as I can tell it is a subculture that's in decline rather than one that's growing. Below are some images to give a feel and idea about the it:

As you can see its a subculture that is comprised of many different people regardless of race, age or nationality. The subculture tends to go against most things that in some way control people. There is no strict dress code and although wearing black is popular within the subculture its not binding. The subculture values uniqueness and strength in character. Although there will always be exceptions to the above mentioned general information.

Some things go hand in hand with the subculture as well, these are just some things besides for the music which one will often find people within the subculture like:

• Leather clothes
• Anime
• Gaming
• Art
• Anarchy
• Atheism
• Motorbikes
• Instruments

It is also worth being said that although personally most of the metal heads (this is a term commonly used to describe people of the subculture) I've met are atheist there are a lot that are still interested in their religion. There are in fact christian metal bands as well. There is also a stereotype that (although this is quickly fading as people have become less ignorant of the subculture) a lot of metal heads are satanist, this however is not true in anyway. In truth all the years that I've been exposed to people of the subculture I have yet to meet a satanist metal head although as with any other subculture I am sure there are some.

Art within the subculture is mostly reserved for album covers and bands although there is an ongoing style of grunge and illustrated artwork that is inspired by metal as a whole.

As far as what epitomizes the subculture it would obviously have to be the music. Metal is the foundation of what the subculture is. So long as the genre exists so will the subculture regardless of what trends come and go. 

The Digital Age

In this post I just wanted to create an interesting mood board that both tells a story and gives the viewer an idea and feeling of what this Digital Age we live in feels like:

An analysis of Konik, I. 2007

For this post I'll attempt to put Konik, I. 2007."Thematising the ugly side of sublime technological development in Sonzero's Pulse (2006) as an inadvertent critique of the 'technocentricism' of postmodernity" into my own words.

From what I can understand Konik seems to be explaining (in some rather overly complicated terms) how technology and the advancement there of in our postmodern society has changed us as a people. According to the article we have become so reliant on technology that we've changed and become both less social and less self sufficient and thus lost our soul in a sense.

The article also states that capitalism and technocentricism are directly linked in this post modern age we live in. Due to people being so reliant on technology we've allowed consumerism and thus promoting capitalism.

Lastly the article makes reference to the movie Pulse in which the director intended for the ghosts in the story who were caused by an advancement in technology who eventually destroyed society was in fact a metaphor for how technology in reality is inevitably ruining our lives and society as a whole.

Differences in Modernism and Postmodernism

This was just a brief table I made with the some brief differences in Modernism and Postmodernism

I got some of my information here:

http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/politics/ideology-politics/difference-between-modernism-and-postmodernism/

http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/modernism_vs_postmodernism.htm

http://www.critcrim.org/critpapers/milovanovic_postmod.htm

The United Colors of Benetton Campaigns

In this post I will be documenting the United Colors of Benetton campaigns from 1980's to 2000's. Throughout I will also comment on the changes and so on of the Benetton brand.

Firstly there's:

This was one of their earlier campaigns done for Spring/Summer 1982. While nothing may seem particularly peculiar about this image of an ordinary white man in some casual clothes with a simple green logo the actual changes will be more apparent as we go on.

Secondly there's:

This was one of their earlier campaigns done for Autumn/Winter 1982. Here the idea to cater is made clear by both the childish fonts below as well as the over all playful nature of the image of children being children. Lastly the skew logo also goes a way into completing the playful nature of the ad.

Thirdly there's:

This is another their earlier campaigns done for Autumn/Winter 1983-84. In this again they are simply advertising their clothing. They continued to use the playful skew logo however.

Fourthly there's:




This was an interesting campaign they did in 1989. In this campaign it seems to be less about selling their clothes line and more about promoting equality and there by promoting the brand itself. Here two men one African and the other Caucasian are cuffed to one another. The idea seems to be that both can be guilty of a crime regardless of race. The theme of racial equality seems to play through much of their following campaigns.

Fifthly there's:




This was another campaign done in 1990. Again the theme of racial equality comes into play once again in this one. Here two women of different race seem to be taking care of a child of yet another race implying that while people may have a different race or sexuality they will always be able to take care of one another.

Sixth there's:



This was a campaign done during the year of 1994. Here the subtle image of the word aids can be made out of a collage of images of people. The idea here seems to not only racial equality but also the fact that anyone regardless of race or creed can be infected with aids.

Seventh there's:



Here is a campaign from 1996. Here is another campaign on racial equality. The idea here is simply that all races have the same hearts.

Eighth there's:



This was a campaign done in 2001. This campaign seems to be more about promoting the good deeds of Nelson Gomez which the company finds admirable.

All images can be found here: http://www.benettongroup.com/40years-press/img_our_campaigns.html

Conceptual Design

In this post I will be taking three South African examples of conceptual design and discussing them.

The first is:

The infamous painting "The Spear". It created quite a bit of controversy back when it was first revealed to the public. It depicts our South African president Jacob Zuma with his penis very clearly displayed. The painting caused outrage among his supporters while others believed it was like most artworks simply an expression of the artist. It is a metaphor for power, greed and patriarchy. It was eventually defaced with black paint however the image will now forever exist thanks to the internet. (http://alextmgihistory3.blogspot.com/2012/08/south-african-conceptual-image-exercise.html)

The second is:



This was a conceptual piece done for the Save the Rhino campaign under the name Nothing Will Ever Bring Them Back. The message in this image is clear. Simply the zebra is being made to wear a false rhino horn in an attempt to bring back a false image of a rhino. The truth behind this image is that once we loose the rhino nothing will bring them back. (http://historyofgraphicdesigniii.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/south-african-conceptual-design-3/)

The third is:




This was a design created for the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in order to bring the message that alcoholism during pregnancy can effect the child far into their life and in some cases lead to a life of crime. (http://historyofgraphicdesigniii.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/south-african-conceptual-design-3/)

Personally I like conceptual design over that of commercial because it has a deeper meaning and often helps people to look at something in a different way rather than just attempting to mindlessly sell products and promote brands. There is a depth in it that makes it more of an artistic expression than just an ad campaign.

The Importance of a manifesto

For this post I'm going to discuss the importance of a manifesto. Firstly I'll be discussing two well know ones:

First Things First Manifesto 2000:
http://www.emigre.com/Editorial.php?sect=1&id=14

Incomplete Manifesto for Growth (Bruce Mau): https://wiki.umn.edu/pub/DF2TA/Tutorials/MAU_Incomplete-Manifesto-for-Growth.pdf

Both of these manifestos seem to have have an underlining theme among other things. It is to take responsibility as both a person and a designer for the work we do and the things we create and design. It seems to be against the current role society has placed on Graphic Designers. That role being a cog in the machine that is commercialism. In other words designing for companies and people regardless of whether the over all message goes against our beliefs or not. Both manifestos enforce responsibility above this.

I can understand their message and personally it makes sense although I have to say that there are still times that as designers we all need to make an income. But that is still possible while refusing some less apealling jobs handed to us. I for one would never design something that promotes capitalism or the destruction of a natural environment and these manifestos only enforce that. I would hope that employers and or clients can come to an understanding of something like this, after all one does not go to a priest and ask him to sin or a doctor and ask him to inflict injury.

Below are some other manifestos I went through, I'll briefly discuss them.

http://www.holstee.com/pages/manifesto
http://expertenough.com/538/the-expert-enough-manifesto
http://www.karimrashid.com/manifesto_fr.html
http://www.core77.com/reactor/04.07_chochinov.asp

All of the above has good advice on both life and design and while it also encourages responsible design it also gives some good advise on how to grow as a designer. It is because of all of this that I believe formulating a manifesto for oneself is as important as reading those that others have. It allows you to clearly state goals, opinions and beliefs all in one clearly defined document/ poster etc.