Communication Design And Commodification

(republished from 2005)

The evolution of graphic design from purely aesthetics to meeting functional, cultural, social and production requirements, helped to develop the change and growth in consumerism. Even in its early days graphic design helped advertise and separate products from one another, benefiting consumerism. Graphic design then brought in product innovation so more products could be produced and sold.

Recently graphic design is being renamed to communication design to reflect another evolution of design, one where it is now concerned with speaking to the consumer to address their personal needs and expectations. Research in to visual communication and behavioural studies have also helped evolve design and made it more effective at targeting consumers. This evolution is furthering consumerism because now products can build emotional connections with consumers by targeting basic human needs and acting as ways in which consumers can reflect their personal style and tastes under an illusion that they differ from others around them.

The media marketplace was created to help companies reach consumers. It uses a variety of mediums and provides information and entertainment as well as advertising other consumables. The media marketplace is currently expanding to include digital mediums; digital/interactive television, computers, internet, DVDs, PDAs etc. Consumers demand for news and information has dramatically risen of the past two decades, and now not only do the public consume products but also content. Consumers are used to products being customized to suit their needs and they want that with their information too —they want to chose and customize how they read content and communication designers have been assigned the task of shaping this content.

Media plays such a large role in shaping consumers beliefs of the outside world and designers are largely responsible for shaping this content, they also inherit the responsible for shaping culture to an extent as well.

Commodification takes actions that don’t rely on products, such a social or personal interactions, and associates a product with the action. Graphic design is responsible for this process in advertising, although it tries not to allude to that fact.