The first and second terms of Constellation studies have opened many new ways of thinking when regarding design, and in particular, they have widened my perceptions on how my discipline, graphic communication, can affect and shape the world. I came into constellation with a mindset of design first, then think, but as the first year of my studies comes to a close, I can argue that assessing the implications and effects of what I design is often more important than the design itself. This concept was one that was rooted within Myth-making, where we were encouraged to explore designs and media that held ‘myths’ – meanings and perceptions purposely crafted by a designer to influence the way we think about a product or concept. Alongside these new methods of approaching design, we were given the opportunity to learn new skills and hone existing ones when considering essay practises, such as descriptive and critical writing, forming arguments and adding integrity to them, and referencing correctly.
Initially, we approached the sessions by taking on a post-structuralist mindset to understand that everything we view is constructed – that the meanings we take from a piece of media are often meanings that someone has deliberately wanted us to take, thus influencing us to think a particular way. It was quickly realised however that the meaning someone takes from a piece of work entirely depends on their social context – who they are, their situation in life – and that even though a designer can set out with a particular ‘myth’ in mind, it depends entirely on the end user to construct a meaning. We were introduced to this concept by examining the work of Roland Barthes’, who argued this concept to be true within his Death of the Author theory. This concept is incredibly important, and though it seems obvious upon reflection, it wasn’t something I always thought about when designing – though now I certainly will be.
It became increasingly clear as the weeks went on that to be a graphic communicator, one has to be post-structuralist and consider the narratives we construct when designing – not only in a social standpoint, but in a commercial too. We examined a case study involving Absolut Vodka, where an ad campaign launched in the 1980s through to the early 2000s greatly boosted the commercial success of the vodka thanks to the thoughtful construction of mythologies. These mythologies created a narrative that portrayed the vodka as a luxury, high-end market item that everyone should get their hands on – hiding the reality that the over-consumption of alcohol can lead to far deeper problems. Whilst socially unaware, this choice of narrative created an incredible commercial success for the brand. This case study in particular emphasised to me that a designer has to make crucial decisions in a commercial context – be socially aware and design in the best interests of the people but risk harming the sales, or sell a product to be magnificent yet hide the darker truths behind it?
The sessions continued to provide many new ways of approaching my discipline, and as such, were incredibly useful. There were a few difficulties within the sessions, mostly centred around my own abilities to construct essays and formulate arguments, but as the weeks continued, these issues began to improve after continued practice. There was a strong emphasis placed on the formative and summative assessments, where we were instructed to pick an object, concept or idea of our choosing and identify and deconstruct the myths around it within an essay. This task, despite not being my forte, was genuinely quite interesting and a refreshing change from the design-focused tasks within graphic communication. I chose to examine punk subculture and the mythologies surrounding it, looking at both punks in the 1970s and punks today to compare and analyse how the mythologies shaped the culture itself and wider society’s views on it. The formative assessment, which consisted of a thousand words, was a step in the right direction for the overall paper, which would consist of three thousand words and be the piece I would submit for my summative assessment. Having a chance to submit a general idea of what the essay would look like and receive genuine feedback certainly helped shape the bulk of the essay, and I am hoping that my summative feedback will follow in a similar fashion. The task encouraged research and examining a variety of sources, such as books, articles and peer-reviewed writing, and coming out of it, my ability to identify a strong source and correctly reference it within a piece of writing has significantly improved from before. This ability will be crucial when writing a dissertation in third year, so I’m thankful that this task has provided the opportunity to work on that skill in advance.
Constellation has proven to be a very useful addition to my studies. Upon starting it, I feared that it would hinder my subject and field studies as my attention would be split between them, but after completing the first and second terms, I’m comfortable to admit that I was wrong – constellation has already affected my approach to subject and field tasks. Over Christmas, I tackled a collaborative task that included designing for a campaign based around men’s mental health. Because of constellation, I recognised that whatever designs we created and used to represent the campaign had mythologies attached – it was our job to identify these, and we frequently asked ourselves if they were the narratives we intended to put out whilst we remained aware of our target audience, and how they may have interpreted our outcomes based on Barthes’ Death of the Author theory. I’ll be using this blog to record my future projects and design processes, and I will continue to mention how constellation has shaped a particular decision or how it has added integrity and depth to a piece that would otherwise be created just for the sake of completing a project. I’m very eager to see how constellation continues to shape my approach to my studies within my second year and beyond; what else I can learn and what skills I can refine and get better at before tackling my dissertation – and I have high hopes that it will continue to be an incredibly useful component of my studies.
BA (Hons) Graphic Communication - Journal 