Assignment 5A

In my previous essay I theorised that the general public is not aware of the true effects that the media has on their lives and everyday behaviour. However, I did not have any evidence to prove this and so investigated further into a journal called ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ by David Phillips and a book called ‘Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach’ by James Hull. The main aims of both of these was to prove that the Mass Media greatly influences human behaviour, in addition to the fact that it has a lot more control over us than we realise. They both present findings that have strong implications towards imitation and suggestion having an immense impact on social behaviour, individuals and trends within cultures. Not only did they put forward evidence to prove this, they also revealed that these concepts lie greatly within the modern society; with the media shaping almost every decision and action made by individuals on a daily basis.

Phillips had shown that the national level of suicides increases considerably for a brief period of time after a suicide story is published in a newspaper and that the increase only occurs after the publication. He shows that the more publicity a story is given the greater the effect; especially in the surrounding region of where it had been publicized.

Lull on the other hand uses historical events and recognisable brands of our modern age, to show how the mass media has had an effect on them. In turn, establishing how corporate giants such as Microsoft, would never have become household names without the media. He also reminds us that technology and the media vastly advances as the year’s progress and so the effect of cultural impact changes.

In order to prove my theory further i.e. that the mass media has an immense influential impact on the general public; there are numerous research methods that I could carry out. These methods would include interviewing and interacting with the general public in multiple ways, observing people and also trying to start trends myself, on a smaller scale. The majority of the research would provide qualitative information. Therefore, it will be up to me to delve into the research and figure out patterns, trends and any correlation between the mass media and their influence on the general public. I would also be using members from the general public i.e. strangers throughout my investigations as they will give unbiased answers and will provide a wide range of ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The first set of experiments that I would carry out would involve using photographs to find out information indirectly from the general public. In the first experiment of this type, I would gather around 5 photographs portraying different styles of clothing and outfits from a range of decades including our own. These would then be shown to a variety of people and they would be asked to put them in order of what they would be most likely to wear. This would be used to discover whether or not their answers correspond with the current trends in fashion and in turn could show that people are influenced by the media and what is seen to be “fashionable” by them. However, problems that could occur during this is the fact that every person has their own personal tastes and there will always be those who simply to do not conform to the norm. This is something that in reality cannot be controlled as people will always have opinions and some will always go against trends.

I would then conduct a similar investigation only this time I would select around 3 photographs, all with one type of outfit that are extremely similar. However, in one of the photographs a celebrity would be wearing the clothes. After showing people the pictures, I would ask them which outfit is their favourite or what one they are most likely to buy. This would allow me to see if people chose the photo with the celebrity, simply due to it being a worn by a celebrity. Therefore giving me an indication of how susceptible people are to celebrity endorsement and in turn the media. While this data could be quite informative there are problems, such as people deliberately not choosing the picture with the celebrity. Either due to not wanting to admit they are influenced by them or simply the fact they don’t like that particular icon. A way round this would be to have a number of these outfits all with different celebrities and test the exact same people to see how the results vary.

Observing people is another way of finding out information and is a means of viewing people acting naturally. If I were to observe a magazine stand, over a period of time, I could take notes on what type of women tend to buy each magazine. Creating this link between magazines and fashion trends would tell me what kind of impact the media is having through this medium and whether or not women are influenced on what to wear by shopping advertisements, celebrities and clothes advertisements within magazines. This would be a rather trustworthy source but a problem could be that some women don’t dress up to go to the shops and would therefore be creating a false impression. In order to tackle this I could observe them even more and take note on what type of casual wear they are wearing i.e. is it still fashionable items of casual clothing?

Another investigation I would carry out, that would give me a rapid link between media influence and people would be to get a variety of companies slogan’s and/or logo’s and ask people which company they belong to. This would reveal just how much people are being subliminally brainwashed by companies and their advertisements. In other words, revealing the power of media and the extents of it. As a source of evidence this would be extremely trustworthy as there is no reason for people to lie or hide the fact that they recognise brands.

I would also peform interviews with members from the general public and ask them about their thoughts on the topic of ‘Charity’. Using questions to find out how often they would normally give to charity and the effect that largely publicised and media hyped charity events, for example Red Nose Day, have on them. Consequently discovering if the media influences people to make donations and feel as though they should participate. This again would back up the media power of imitation and suggestion on people. However, due the delicate subject matter people could lie about their answers, as they will not want to be seen in a bad light and will naturally want to look good. The only way around this would be to engineer the questions so that they would be asked indirectly; meaning that the results are more likely to be reliable.

A final method I could use to really test the power of the media would be for me to become the source of publication. I could start a trend on a small scale, for example in my particular college at university, wearing a certain outfit a few of times a month. I would then start distributing a small number of flyers about the price of the garments of clothing or where to buy them. Insinuating, that this is the latest fashion trend and observe how many people start wearing either the full outfit or items from within it. Although this would only be on a small scale it would allow me to create a positive correlation between the affect of advertising and publicity on people.

In conclusion, all of these methods would provide me with extremely beneficial evidence towards proving that the mass media greatly influences our everyday thoughts and lives throughout all age groups and classes. They would also enable me to see which age groups or classes are most influenced.

Bibliography

Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Phillips, David P, 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press

Land Peel

I stumbled across this design and thought that it was quite extraordinary. We all know how uncomfortable it is to sit on a hard floor for an extensive length of time and it isn't long before your bum is numb or pins and needles are tingling in your legs and feet. This design by Shin Yamashita would stop this and allow you to sit at ease on the floor working with your laptop, reading books or simply just sitting watching television. It comprises of a flat three panel mat from which a table, seat or rest can be made simply by lifting and folding the panels.

How Do Salespeople Influence Purchases? - Assignment 4

My most recent assignment was to interact with the general public and carry out interviews with people that I had never met before. I would be carrying out these interviews with ‘ordinary’ people to find out their thoughts and attitudes towards a specific area of design that I had chosen. I prepared 15 questions for each person relating to how they felt about salespeople, as the question that I was trying to answer was ‘How do salespeople influence purchases?’. However, I wasn’t allowed to directly ask this question; I had to become a ‘detective’ as I knew people probably wouldn’t openly admit to being influenced by anything/anyone. Then once I had carried out my interviews and collected all the information I needed it was up to me to delve into their responses and try to discover discrepancies or running themes within them. This in turn would allow me to answer my question.

The 15 questions that each person was asked are as follows:

1. How do you decide what brand of product is best when you go to buy an item?

2. How do you decide what price range or budget you should stay within when purchasing something?

3. Do you generally ask for advice in shops from members of staff? Explain.

4. When you enter a shop and are looking around is there anything you notice?

5. What irritates you when you are shopping in a store such as PC World or Currys? Explain.

6. Does anything please you when you are shopping in a store such as PC World or Currys? Explain.

7. When purchasing expensive items such as laptops, cameras, TV’s, how much research would you do?

8. When purchasing your most recent car, what factors contributed most when choosing that model?

9. What are your thoughts on shopping channels?

10. What kind of impression do the presenters of shopping channels give? E.g. about things they are selling.

11. What is the most recent thing you bought? Did anyone advise you when shopping?

12. Are you easily persuaded into buying something? What are your reasons for this? Who would influence you most?

13. When choosing an expensive item to purchase who/what is your biggest source of knowledge? Do you trust this source?

14. How useful do you find staff in places selling more expensive items such as TV’s and computers?

15. When you are speaking to a salesperson what do you notice about the language they use? How does this make you feel?

Each person was also given a page with following images on it and asked to explain what each of them meant to them.

After collaborating all of my research together and reading through each of the interviews again a few patterns emerged but the majority of the answers were not out of the ordinary. Those who were bringing a large income into their home and didn’t have any financial commitments such as children tended not to do much product research and would ask salespeople for help when purchasing an item. However, this generally wasn’t for specifications or information about a product it was usually to find out which product was “in fashion”, “the best” or “most popular” at the time. This giving me the impression that because they can afford the latest items, they aren’t too concerned with the shelf life of a product, as they can easily replace the item or upgrade it. What this shows is that salespeople are involved with the purchase of goods even when they are considered to be relatively unimportant to the customer.

In the contrary, those who had a family or were of a younger generation would research a product thoroughly before purchasing through asking friends and family, searching the internet and reading a vast number of customer reviews. So due to either not having a lot of money to spend or having other financial commitments they tended be more aware of the fact that they cannot chance buying a product that isn’t right for them. This meant that when they entered into stores to buy the product they knew they wanted salespeople were classed as “irritating” and “annoying” as they didn’t really have any need for them.

Another theme that was presented to me from across the spectrum of ages was that salespeople in shops, such as PC World, tended to use a different language when speaking to their customers. This was ironic, in the fact that most people said they would generally only ask for help in shops that sold technical goods. Despite this, it was in these shops that salespeople tended to use a language that the everyday person couldn’t understand. If a salesperson is condescending, doesn’t give the information required or doesn’t directly answer the questions they are asked, people are put off and left confused. Revealing to me, that if a customer is confused or not spoken to properly they lose interest not only in the product but in the salesperson and would tend not to buy anything. In saying this, most people do find these salespeople rather helpful and admitted that “if they sounded knowledgeable I would be more likely to buy what they recommended” or “if they are enthusiastic about a product it would persuade me to purchase it”. Another factor that contributes to a sale is if a salesperson uses their formal language “correctly”. Referring to their customer as ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’ as this “makes you feel important” and therefore made people listen to them and believe that they had their best interests in mind when recommending products. Instantly this shows that salespeople influence purchases and are a direct link between customers and sales.

The results that I received from showing people the page with the images on it were rather similar and revealed what I had expected. The picture of the clothes shop was instantly classed with “not as much help on hand” but it was also said that this was not a bad thing as “you got time to browse in peace”. These are also classed as shops that you don’t require help in as you know what you want and like; therefore salespeople are not required. However, when asked to describe the image of the mobile phone shop it was immediately voiced that salespeople here “pounce on you as soon as you enter the shop” and are “irritating”. When asked why this was so irritating people said it was because they wanted to browse in peace or generally knew what mobile phone they wanted and therefore didn’t wish to be persuaded into buying something they didn’t need.

In conclusion, it is easy to see that people either find salespeople extremely helpful or a nuisance. It also shows that the way in which salespeople are perceived depends entirely on the type of shop and the products that they are selling.

Moss Tables

These tables, to me, are a bit bizarre. Although there has previously been living bath mats and carpets made from moss, this is a new design from a home furniture company called Ayodhyatra. The ‘Secret Garden Table’ is a mosaic of a variety of greens and textures from different landscapes all over the world; from Tuscany to the Amazon rainforest. These enchanting micro-landscapes are placed beneath glass to create a tabletop that you won’t be able to pry your eyes from. The moss is dried and not alive so owners of this furniture don’t need to worry about it disappearing when you forget to water it.

I find these coffee tables rather bizarre as it makes me ask the question, “Why do I want a table with moss in it?” but they are very unique and are a hassle free way of bringing the outdoors, indoors. So in a way, these tables are a rather nice way of bringing a touch of greenery into your house in style.

Solar Cities

As part of my current project, renovating an old Victorian house in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way, we visited a demonstration house that is owned by Dundee City Council in partnership with SCARF and Solar Cities Scotland. Together they have renovated it in a way that the house maintains itself and uses renewable energies. Here we were given a tour of the house and educated about each aspect of the energy efficient equipment within it; from the solar panels to the insulation. This house provides a focus for education, advice and information about domestic scale renewable energy and sustainable construction to households and the general public in Dundee and throughout central and the north east of Scotland. The aim is to showcase technologies, materials and methods of construction that can be integrated into existing housing. One of the main points that was emphasised today was the fact that before you start remodelling and installing energy efficient technologies into any building, you need to first understand how efficient it is as it currently stands. Then from here it is easier to improve its weaknesses, harness it’s strong points and incorporate new technologies.

Solar Cities Scotland aims are to develop and promote the use of renewable energy in all of its forms ; sun, wind, water, the earth and trees; to generate energy for Dundee. They have a campaign to “make Dundee Scotland’s green energy capital city with every citizen a green citizen”. The campaign is called ‘Dundee Sun City’.

To find out more information about this campaign you can visit www.dundeesuncity.org.uk

KitKat's Killing Orang-utans

All the over the news recently, it has been reported that one of the nation's favourite chocolaty, break-time treats may have a hidden dark side. The biscuits - KitKat's - are made by Nestle in York and it is said that about 1 billion are sold in the UK every year. However, it came out in the news this week that due to the methods of obtaining certain ingredients for this product, rainforests are being destroyed and in turn many Orang-utans are losing their habitats.

According to animal campaigners, Nestle is buying palm oil, one of the main ingredients in KitKat's, from a company that clears the Indonesian rainforest, forcing Orang-utans out of their natural habitat.

Greenpeace protesters have been out in force and have taken their message to the Nestle's headquarters. They were all dressed in Orang-utan fancy dress costumes, carrying placards with the words "Give me a break" and "Killer" printed in the brand's famous red and white. They have also produced a short advert playing on KitKat's synonymous slogan "Have a break. Have a Kitkat"; Greenpeace have changed the slogan to "Have a break. Give the Orang-utan a break". The video shows an office worker opening a KitKat, then biting into what looks like a chocolate-covered ape finger, which in turn begin oozing blood as he bites into it. This advertisement is extremely smart and powerful, it really does get the message across to it's viewers quickly. I also find it quite hard hitting as the blood and the effects are so realistic looking.

Since this extreme exposure to the Greenpeace campaign Nestle have tried to have the video removed from sites such as YouTube and later released a statement to say that they had replaced the Indonesian company that they were using, Sinar Mas, as their palm oil supplier and "will continue to pressure" suppliers to eliminate sources of oil that contributes to rainforest destruction.

However, this simply goes to show that you just don't know what adverse effects are being caused by the production of such non-necessity items that we humans buy. I have to admit that I am among those 1 billion sales of KitKat's but after watching and reading about this, I have been put off the company Nestle and I feel that although they have changed their ways, it shouldn't have taken a huge display of publicity for them to clean up their act. How did they not know what effects they were causing on rainforests and Orang-utans? Did they know and just didn't care? Are they simply changing their ways to stop their customers from leaving them? Some of these answers I will never know but I can safely say that my estimations and values of such a large brand and company have been extremely lowered.

Recycled iBook

I thought this was pretty cool looking and in a way it brings a whole new meaning to recycling and an end of life use for products. Today we are constantly trying to use materials and products that throughout their whole cycle are more environmentally friendly and even have a use at the end of their life. This can't always be achieved of course but when I stumbled across this Apple iBook that had been turned into a clock, it shows that even things you may not think have a use once they stop working, do.

This is a fully working clock made from an Apple iBook; even the mouse has been incorporated as a pendulum.

The keys of the Apple iBook have not been wasted either as they have been transformed into cuff links.

Observation - Assignment 3

The next assignment that we had to carry out was to watch and observe people carrying out everyday activities. The location that I chose to carry out this investigation was Dundee Botanic Gardens at their annual ‘Garden of Light’ event. This location would allow me to observe people easily and as it was an event that I had never participated in either, I would be able to sense first impressions and ideas just like the people I would be observing.

On walking to the gardens, it soon became apparent that the entrance was quite hard to see and it wasn’t automatically recognisable as an entrance. I noticed that this made people hesitant and doubt that they were in the right place. It became clear that most women where more vocal and open to say that they didn’t know if this was the right way to go and were quite cautious. Men on the other hand tended not to say they felt lost and simply carried on down the path to see where it took them. This possibly showing that men have a natural leading quality and don’t particularly like to admit to things that may make them appear weaker or less ‘manly’. Women, however, are a lot more vocal and open to showing emotion and feelings. I was with my boyfriend and even we reacted in this same way. I was hesitant as to where we were meant to go and was very open and vocal about this but he was more intrigued, not as concerned and took the attitude just to try this entrance and see if it was the right one.

We arrived early for the event and decided to sit in the heat of the gardens’ cafe until it was time to enter. The cafe was a small, cosy space filled with tables that were rather close to one another. When we entered the cafe everyone that was already sitting inside turned and looked at us and in general when anyone entered, everyone turned and looked at them too. But why as humans do we do this? Even when I had sat down and was in deep conversation when someone entered it seemed to be a natural reaction to turn and look at them. Is this just a natural human reaction to observe people and their surroundings? Or is it more to do with being intrigued and nosey? This reaction could also be a subconscious way in which we are looking to see if it’s people we know, to get recognised and convey a sense of popularity. It could also be a way in which we judge people on first appearances and know we can do so easily. This reaction occurs in various situations like this and is something that everybody does.

Most people that where sitting in the cafe were deep in conversation over a hot drink, however, with age the topic of conversation changed. Older members of the public sat chatting about older times that they remembered together and spoke of their families, for example their children and their grandchildren. Groups of families, on the other hand, tended to be talking about matters at hand but were also making sure the children were entertained and happy.

It reached 7 o’clock and it was time to enter the gardens. As we approached the doors there was a huge queue that had gathered. When we first arrived there weren’t very many people about and we were told that we were not allowed to enter early. Now we had to stand in an extremely long line of people, even though we where one of the first to arrive initially. Annoyance soon took hold and it was clear that those who had joined the queue in this same situation as us, felt the exact same way and were contemplating the fact of where they would be in the queue if they hadn’t went to the cafe simply to put in time. Even those that had just arrived and joined the queue where showing signs of impatience and annoyance of having to stand in a long queue in the cold, when it was time to enter. This possibly showing that in general people tend to be impatient and don’t like to be waiting around; they want things to run exactly on time. People also are quite inquisitive asking questions like ‘What’s the hold up?’, ‘Why are we having to stand here?’ constantly wanting to know more information; we don’t like not knowing what’s going on around us. An additional observation was that the majority of the people at this event were older or else families. There were a few younger groups there but the majority were older people. Along with this, those younger people that were there were wearing more fashionable clothing, not really the attire for this event and were possibly more interested in looking good rather than being practical. Everyone else tended to be wrapped up in all their winter woollies prepared for the cold night and didn’t seem too bothered as to whether they looked fashionable or not. They were more concerned with the practicalities and the fact that they wanted to keep warm.

Throughout the duration of the event and walking through the gardens a few trends were apparent. Women tended to be more ‘touchy feely’ with the plants and a lot more vocal about their appearance, using a different language from that of men. They were including words like ‘nice’, ‘pretty’ and ‘beautiful’ to describe certain things where as men tended to be less vocal about things they seen unless it totally amazed them. Men were also less likely to touch and feel the plants; they simply observed and kept their thoughts to themselves. This in itself shows that women tend to act differently from men and use a different, very descriptive, language compared to them.

Another thing that I noticed with groups of families was that the men were usually entertaining the children and keeping them occupied while the women were more concerned as to whether or not the kids where warm enough or were enjoying themselves; openly showing concern and their motherly instincts.

Bigger groups of people, including some families, seemed to think that because there were more of them they could take up a lot more room on the paths and walkways, making smaller groups, like myself and my boyfriend, walk in single file at certain parts to simply get past them. Whether this was simply ignorance on these groups’ parts, it generally tended to be this way, as if being in a larger group meant dominance and that they could do what they want.

In conclusion, the most noticeable trend was that men and women act in quite different ways both physically and vocally.

Cinderella's Chair

When fairytale meets furniture this is the result. Created by Anna Ter Haar. This series of chairs has been designed so that each individual chair has it's own personalised, to fit, glass leg. The first time I seen this I honestly thought "Why has someone given a chair a glass leg?". It understandably is a question you would ask yourself considering glass is a very fragile and easily broken material; which I truely didn't ever think would be combined with an everyday, hard wearing object.

Each glass support is custom made to fit a specific chair, much in the same way a prosthetic leg would be made to fit a human. The name has been given for obvious reasons but rather than wear a single glass slipper like Cinder's, the chair wears a blown glass prosthesis.

Despite, how the chair may look or you may think (like I did) the new legs are strong enough to carry weight, so the chairs are by no means strictly ornamental.

Garden of Lights at Dundee Botanic Gardens

On Saturday 27th February 2010, my boyfriend and I had bought tickets to go to Dundee's Botanic Gardens for the 'Garden of Lights' evening.

A few weeks ago we seen the posters advertising this event and thought that it would be something enjoyable, fun and hopefully spectacular. A way to see the gardens in a way that we wouldn't normally see them. The tickets were bought and we soon began hyping up the night and wondering what exactly this light show would be like. Also the fact that we were told that this only occurs two nights a year, with this being only it's second year, and the first being a roaring success, we thought we were in for a treat.

So Saturday came, we got the bus and headed into the gardens. The first part was quite interesting and entertaining but not exactly mind blowing. The atmosphere was great and overall we planned to have a good night no matter what. Gradually as the walk continued disappointment began to set in, my feet got wetter and wetter from walking on mushy, muddy grass and the lights got poorer. The gardens where in pitch black with random trees and bushes lit up. It was simply a few coloured lights stuck in the ground and pointed at certain shrubs to highlight them in the darkness. It was nothing spectacular, imaginative or exciting at all.

The night itself was an enjoyable experience and there where a few interesting parts on the lit trail but all in all I was truely disappointed with the event itself. Maybe due to the title and the idea I had in my head I was let down but in my opinion it was very poorly done and needed much improvement. The tickets were £8 each, which, to me, is robbing you blind. I could have honestly seen the gardens in a better light (excuse the pun), during the day without a fancy title and it would only cost £3 entry.

A lovely thought indeed, 'The Garden of Lights' but a big disappointment.

Sustainable Renovation Project

After completing the sustainable book project it was time to get my new project brief. My current project is to renovate and refurbish an old, ruined house. It is situated in Dundee on Seafield Road, currently surrounded by rows of old Victorian buildings. The house front is extremely old fashioned but has an attractive quality to it, however, the rest of the building is very uninspiring.

39 Seafield Road (The Building to Renovate)

We have also been given a client to aim this build in a certain direction. Our client Emma, is currently a book conservator working for the University of Dundee but is also part of a private practise. She has a nine to five job working with books, her weekends are free and she enjoys quite a lot of hobbies including snowboarding, yoga and Thai Chi. She had also told us that she spends a lot of her time outside of work entertaining friends and family including cooking dinner for everyone and having dinner parties.

This is only her social aspect of things, the studio also has quite a lot of items that need to be incorporated and a number of problems that need to be resolved. Certain areas will need to be created to make this environment practical and the large equipment that Emma works with also needs to be integrated within the design.

All in all, it is needless to say that she has a very long list of requirements for her building come studio. However, not only do I want to meet all her studio and personal needs; I want to create an exciting and inspiring design. I don’t want it to be plain old straight walls everywhere and ordinary. The other thing that needs to be thought carefully about near the end of the design process is Sustainability. Our final design has to not only be sustainable and as energy efficient as possible.

I currently feel quite bogged down with a lot of information, research and ideas and as this is our first major interiors project, it is daunting but I am also excited by this. In some aspects I am quite nervous as this is something I would love to pursue when I finish my years at university and this is kind of a sink or swim situation. But here’s hoping I’ll be swimming by the end of it!