On the Impact of Graphic Design

well guys
its time again...
yep. Time for class.

Back to the 3 hour long studios
(2 back to back, this semester, yuck)
And as anxious as I'm making myself,
I'm sure it will work out Just fine.
Time management, kim.

Then again...y'know........
I don't have to reach for keeping my 3.5 gpa
for any scholarship....
the only purpose for good grades this time is...
graduating 'with distinction' (blah) and the idea
that I paid shit tons of money, so I should do my
best to get Everything out of these classes....
But of course...the intrinsic parts, too.
Because I Love it.

Alas, I need to step back and think a moment...
about the impact of graphic design.
Taking a graphic design history course that spread itself
out over an entire year certainly proved that
Yes...graphic design can, rather easily, contort society.
scary.
I'm a year away from entering into ...a career in which
it is MY job to be part of a fleet that will BE history.
My views....WILL be implimented into people's head
whether they like it or not.
ESPECIALLY if I ever work for a large corporation......

which I wont...we all know I'd like to live in a river shanty...
but,
let me elaborate....

Think Nike
Think McDonalds
Target
Disney....
Virgin Records...


The true product is not the product.
Disney for example, reached brand nirvana...
proof of this = Celebration, Florida


where there are NO franchizes, rather
a disney town, where everything bought, sold, looked at....
controlled by Disney. Cozy as it sounds
and to a point...really nice and utopian seeming,
its Disney getting away with having a complete monopoly...
and why?
Because they've branded a family lifestyle.
There, CHOICE is seen as the enemy...which is why
there are no other 'brands' in the town.

With this, we have fewer and fewer places to be seen
as non-consumers (citizens...). In Celebration...every aspect
of those people's lives has been manipulated by an ideal.
(the disney ideal...they are all FULL CIRCLE consumers of Disney)

In our 'regular' society we're seeing this, too.
Public Libraries are looking more and more like
Barnes & Noble..... are they not?


And Barnes & Noble stores are looking more like libraries.
(Think of our very own Parks Library and the implimentation
of BookEnds Cafe.............)


What could happen with that (and hopefully
this won't be considered begging the question
though I'm pretty sure it is....)
is the same thing that happening with Wal Mart

whose ability to not sell albums with 'mature content'
can be seen as harmless, afterall 'its their right'.....
but as much as it is their right...it is leaving record
companies with NO choice but to make separate albums
with dulled down content.........because 30% of their sales
would be Lost if wal-mart didn't carry their product.
This is simply smothering out any idea of there being a 'choice'
for the record companies....
All so they can sell their brand image of........family.

If you draw the connection of wal-mart to libraries...
you could maybe come up with a similar concept: banned books.
Even a library needs to generate an audience
...needs to market itself....
Can we only hope that they don't begin reaching
for this similar brand-nirvana.....
A Library (state/government funded, yes?) selling its
WASP family ideals....within its branding....???
And forcing publishers to change book content...
or banning books all together?
Scary.

I can only hope
(as I drink my diet coke
post this via my Macintosh computer

retie my Adida's shoes
readjust my North Face shorts
while rechecking the time on my Timex watch
before grabbing a granola bar out of my Timbuk2 bag
and craaaaving a McDonalds cheeseburger)
That what I end up designing....
makes a statement
an impact
shares an ideal
......and Everyone becomes fun-to-hang-around-smart-cute-Cyclists.