Politics

I have worked in different McDonald's all over the country for over four years now as a part time crew member, to get me through university without a huge loan. Over the years with interacting very closely in the business side of things with my bosses i have seen many different advertising posters and ways, some that have not been seen in New Zealand yet. We were told to pick just one, but i couldn't as McDonald's have so many strong advertising ways that have political and ideological messages. The first one i picked was a cow on a trampoline, showing that their milkshakes come from our back yard, without any additives; this is promoting that the milkshakes are healthy and with the help of imagery it also has a very Kiwi feel to it. The other advertising poster i chose was of Ronald McDonald's shoes smoking, everyone knows who Ronald is, he is one of the most famous business orientated mascots/figures in the world. The smoke is coming from the shoes like Ronald was blown from them in amazement from the food being so hot and delicious, as well as being 'hot' as in being the BEST you can get from a fast food restaurant.
McDonald's are the leading fast food business in the world, because they keep up with the times; they are trying to be healthy to lower the obesity rate that the world is having and also they create their advertising to adhere with the current political views and ways. Keeping things fresh and new, changing their product and bringing in new ways that bring in new customers.
Political and ideological messages in design and branding today have advanced in huge amounts since the cold war in 1940's. You can see this when looking back over the years of McDonald's advertising, as the first store was opened in 1937 and they now have restaurants in about 117 different countries all over the world. they all advertise in different ways, as every culture is different and has different products that are based on their own countries ways. Like New Zealand McDonald's advertise that almost everything you buy from them is from our products that we kiwi's have made or grown, this supports our people and our communities in ways that we can live on our own two feet as a country.

http://thedesigninspiration.com/articles/40-clever-advertising-campaigns-of-mcdonalds/

Who are you as a designer?

As a child i read, went to school, played the piano and played on the farm. I had a very hard childhood in most peoples eyes as i grew up losing everyone i loved, this has helped as a designer, because i can know look deep into something, study it; its way for me to forget about the past and just think about what i can be doing for the future.

All i knew until i came to university was the farm and small schools, like primary schools no bigger that 80 students and a high school with less than 500. This has had a huge influence on my life as I did not have many choices on who to make friends with, so I got to know everyone, learn about their different cultures, where they came from and what they do now. Being brought up on a farm with the dairy industry forming in my district, i have meet many different cultures who want to learn the art of farming.

Everything in a persons life happens for a reason, i believe this very heavily, so my design has the influence of farming, mechanics and the people i knew or know now. We are a small country and need all the help we can get for the future and as designer i want to make the easier.

Technology + Progress

After reading this weeks reading "The Werkbund Debate" and Technology and "Technology and Progress at the Bauhaus" many similarities in the philosophy and methods of modern design education between the first year design program and the Bauhaus became apparent. I did all my first year design papers last year except for this one and I learnt that one of the most important similarities is the importance placed on workshop learning, trail and era. We learn while using our hands and brains together in trailing ideas and crafts in different designs.

Maholy-Nagy said in the "Technology and Progress at the Bauhaus" that versatility and open-ended experimentation with materials and technology led to greater creativity in design. I agree with this idea, as have found it particularly relevant to the First Year Design course that i took last year. In those courses we had to experiment and explore different materials and use them in abstract compositions; finishing with visually creative and interesting work, that showed knowledge of past designers and that we have really explored the materials properties.

I also believe the Vorkurs is similar to the first year design programme as well. The Vorkurs pedagogical focuses on "abstract compositions, drawings from real life that exaggerate a sense of rhythm in nature and relationships among geometric shapes," i believe this is relative to the different design courses i took last year. In Design 104 we had to pick a structure that had a nature feeling about it and turn it into a 3D computer model and from there we explored the different angles it had and then changed in multiple times, so we ended up with 81 very different models. Although this brief was conceptual, there was a strong emphasis on the relationship between each individual model and between design practise and the context. There are many similarities in this particular methodology with that of Vorkurs, whereby making connections between artistic activity and the unconscious reality.

In conclusion i believe that the first year design programme has used methods and philosophies from the Bauhaus to create a first year programme that covers everything and also in which we can fully explore and experiment with materials. This also gives us the chance to find our potential in the different design courses.