Publicity... As we see it.
Publicity … as it is.
Introduction of technology in today’s culture has lead to mass production and standardization, making advertising and publicity the most sought profession. Developments all over the world have lead to intermingling of cultures, thereby confusing the producers as well as consumers. The age of bewilderment stipulates competition. Competition within the production field as well as the consumer market commands baseless publicity increasing groundless consumerism.
The world has become a smaller place, well connected with a strong information database. The world now adorns a larger consumer base with higher buying powers. The economies are developing faster than before.
India being a developing country, its economy is growing rapidly. As India is closing in on the established superpowers, Indian consumers too want to be at par with its capitalist counterparts. With egoistic approaches, India now feels the need to “possess” and hence has the “willingness” to pay for the goods.
Publicity or advertisement sector involves three types of users. The manufacturers of luxury goods including the film industry, automobile as well foreign consumer products, publicize to ‘temp’ the consumer. Exploiting the ‘feel good’ factor, they aim at selling products that people actually don’t need. The western influences help the Indian market to exploit the weakness of its consumers. ‘To ape the west’ as they call it, to be at par with the rest of the world.
Low end producers increase appeal to the masses by spreading their market base at the place they belong. They aim at a particular sector of the society and hence their publicity stunts confine to regional, religious as well as social aspects of the segment they most cater to.
Social organizations as well as NGOs publicize their work to popularize their activities generating support, common opinions and charity through rallies, published literature as well as one to one interaction.
Publicity utilizes various methods of implication. Electronic media and print media both have expanded in a big way. Interactive hoardings, internet television, radio including the movie industry often leads to constant convincing through bombardment of advertisements even whilst day to day activities. For e.g. a person spends more time watching ads than those serials the television portrays.
Products after being established in the market, themselves become publicity names. For example Xerox, a photocopy machine has become a household name world over. Whisper, Google and Volvo are other such brands that have become activity, product representatives.
Advertisement or promotion is not just restricted to where the user chooses to see. Sometimes the consumer is brought to the product via publicity stunts of showcases and events by famous brand ambassadors. This is referred to as the ‘carrot and stick’ approach, which evidently persuades the ‘obsessive’ consumer to get attracted.
Each product has a ‘unique selling point’, an economic term used to niche the segment of users the product caters to. Each advertisement aims at playing on the users fantasies. Man has always been egoistic and unsettling. If the product implies the betterment of his or her life, it creates a desperate desire, hence enticing the buyer to ‘want’ the product.
Publicity has expanded to such an extent that it no more promotes selected products, putting one over the other. Now same products of different brands have equivalent promotion, hence offering the consumer such a wide choice that he/she is left baffled.
Indian society and its curiosity levels, unknowingly often backfires on people itself. Owning expensive, mostly useless products has become a status symbol. Feeding the ‘envious’ behavior of the society neighbors, the Indian buyer is suckered into falling for the products in spite of knowing that he/she has no such use for such things.
Publicity has certainly given an opportunity to a lot of manufacturers to establish them in the market and has definitely served the consumer by giving him a broader aspect of choice. But where is it leading to? Publicity evidently feeds on people’s unjustified desires and wants. It is plausible to assume that in the coming years, the world will see a presidential rise of such issues related to the people product relationship. Currently and quite obviously, ‘products rule the people, rather than people ruling the products.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
street graphics: inference
S G HIGHWAY – an overview…..
The SG highway in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is one of the important roads that is running across the city. This road at one point of time was the boundary of the city. Now in response to immense globalisation and urban development, the extents of the city have spread further away from the centre point or the core of Ahmedabad. The cultural activities have shifted their base to the peripheries of the city embarking upon drastic architectural, construction as well as planning developments.
Reallocations of cultural activities lead to a redefinition of the highway. It is now perceived as one of the major streets in the city. As we say, ‘city is where the people are’, visual identity of the road changed, bringing in investments from big brands, visually attractive shop facades and a trunk load of hoardings.
S G highway if looked at from a visual point of view, is cluttered and over burdened by gigantic hoardings.
According to basic categories of environmental visual communication, the road can be looked at from the following basic perspectives. Static graphics form a major part of the view, comprising of basic signages, logos of brands and signs with signals. Being a commercial hub, the road caters to a series of malls, all publicising brands and products of the modern age. A series of logos and publicity images hover over each junction, screening local as well as defined advertisements. From an ice cream laari walla with an umbrella with advertisements of local cellular company to the reliance mobile hoarding on the façade of the building, static or stationary hoardings form the visual language of the street.
Considering the fact that the so called highway caters to an intense gamut of traffic, the positioning as well the scale of the static graphics is imperative.
The hoardings have an urban scale to them with reference to the coming traffic as well as the cone of vision of the viewer viewing from a distance. Hence the scale of the hoardings adorns a definite scale and viewing distance.
Building facades on the periphery of the road have been treated to respond to the exposure to the public passer by. Facades have been treated graphically using structural materials itself. Extra large hoardings or super graphics have been strategically positioned on to the façade so as to be viewed from a far off distance. Responding to the direction of the coming traffic, reliance mobile advertisement follows a particular type face rotated to suit the context.
Significantly, the publicity items have used the primary colour as their base colour palette. To be noticed from a distance, the hoardings illustrate the use of neutral shades as their base colours, enhancing the material to be publicized.
As individual hoardings, the placement and the scales are quite appropriate. Unfortunately the collective picture is chaotic, clustered and scattered. The publicity arrangement does not follow a particular system or a specified pattern. Conclusively, the over powering, unorganized hoardings have destroyed the over all visual environment of the highway.
An initiative has to be taken to string the visual elements together. Road signages and dividers may follow a common colour code for better visual perception. The junctions have a series of small bill boards specifying the company responsible for environmental concern of that junction. This could have been indicated in a better way, incorporating landscape into advertising. The billboards on repetitive street light poles can become a part of a ‘street pattern’. The building facades can follow a particular system of facades so as to congregate the elements of street graphics. Let the street be a representative of developing Indian culture with an essence of modernity and globalization.
The SG highway in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is one of the important roads that is running across the city. This road at one point of time was the boundary of the city. Now in response to immense globalisation and urban development, the extents of the city have spread further away from the centre point or the core of Ahmedabad. The cultural activities have shifted their base to the peripheries of the city embarking upon drastic architectural, construction as well as planning developments.
Reallocations of cultural activities lead to a redefinition of the highway. It is now perceived as one of the major streets in the city. As we say, ‘city is where the people are’, visual identity of the road changed, bringing in investments from big brands, visually attractive shop facades and a trunk load of hoardings.
S G highway if looked at from a visual point of view, is cluttered and over burdened by gigantic hoardings.
According to basic categories of environmental visual communication, the road can be looked at from the following basic perspectives. Static graphics form a major part of the view, comprising of basic signages, logos of brands and signs with signals. Being a commercial hub, the road caters to a series of malls, all publicising brands and products of the modern age. A series of logos and publicity images hover over each junction, screening local as well as defined advertisements. From an ice cream laari walla with an umbrella with advertisements of local cellular company to the reliance mobile hoarding on the façade of the building, static or stationary hoardings form the visual language of the street.
Considering the fact that the so called highway caters to an intense gamut of traffic, the positioning as well the scale of the static graphics is imperative.
The hoardings have an urban scale to them with reference to the coming traffic as well as the cone of vision of the viewer viewing from a distance. Hence the scale of the hoardings adorns a definite scale and viewing distance.
Building facades on the periphery of the road have been treated to respond to the exposure to the public passer by. Facades have been treated graphically using structural materials itself. Extra large hoardings or super graphics have been strategically positioned on to the façade so as to be viewed from a far off distance. Responding to the direction of the coming traffic, reliance mobile advertisement follows a particular type face rotated to suit the context.
Significantly, the publicity items have used the primary colour as their base colour palette. To be noticed from a distance, the hoardings illustrate the use of neutral shades as their base colours, enhancing the material to be publicized.
As individual hoardings, the placement and the scales are quite appropriate. Unfortunately the collective picture is chaotic, clustered and scattered. The publicity arrangement does not follow a particular system or a specified pattern. Conclusively, the over powering, unorganized hoardings have destroyed the over all visual environment of the highway.
An initiative has to be taken to string the visual elements together. Road signages and dividers may follow a common colour code for better visual perception. The junctions have a series of small bill boards specifying the company responsible for environmental concern of that junction. This could have been indicated in a better way, incorporating landscape into advertising. The billboards on repetitive street light poles can become a part of a ‘street pattern’. The building facades can follow a particular system of facades so as to congregate the elements of street graphics. Let the street be a representative of developing Indian culture with an essence of modernity and globalization.
super graphics- an understanding......
Super graphics – an understanding…..
Super graphics are oversized graphics established for the urban setting. They are layers used to alter the environment.
Super graphics are a demonstration of how a simple image can amend basic human response to his immediate environment. It shows how design affects the behavior of people in different places.
Graphics plays an important role in the establishment of a product in the market. In this situation of groundless consumerism, branding, packaging and publicity Have the task of creating awareness about all that the market has to offer to the consumers. In response to the competition in the manufacture base, ‘the larger the ad, the better it is for the product’. That’s where the idea of possession comes into the picture.
Outdoor advertising is a constantly evolving medium of communication and super graphics so to speak. In fact, the entire concept has changed in recent times to Out-Of-Home advertising. It encompasses advertising not just on hoardings but in other places that get high pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Outdoor advertising today encompasses a whole gamut of vehicles, but hoardings and super graphics remain unassailably number one. Oversized headings command high-density consumer exposure as they target vehicular traffic. A case in context was the launch of Times group’s glamour and entertainment channel, Zoom. The persuasive hoardings with the sheer white background, contrasting red and black graphics and the teasing tagline, were all over Mumbai. What was interesting was that the advertisement itself did not need much customization although the billboards ranged in size and format from the traditional to horizontal bus shelters to vertical building façade graphics.
Brands label their market base aiming at a particular region or sector of the society. That calls for an entry of over sized graphics or super graphics. For example at SG highway junction, Ahmedabad, each cellular company has booked individual roads of the crossroads. The corner of the junction exhibits an oversized hoarding and the small boards follow the street lights on the street. Super graphics are thus, a representation of establishment or ownership of a brand in a particular place or context.
Super graphics are not only confined to advertisements and publicity. Street art, murals as well as architectural facades demonstrate the stimulation caused by over sized graphics in the environment. Graffiti or street art becomes a permanent exhibition of opinions on various important social cultural issues. Attracting the viewer using merely the scale of the image is the simplest way of generating response.
Supergraphics are often used as a second skin on an architectural set up. For example, the renewal or renovation of an existing building may incorporate Supergraphics as a decorative design element. This actually serves a dual purpose of advertisement of the owner of the building in terms of the logo of the company and the product as well as being a part of the building design itself. In response to the current world situation, this modernistic functional approach serves well, making the building an important part of the environment.
Overgrowing cities and never ending urbanization makes super graphics a major part of street signage. Often these become landmarks or identities of the street.
Super graphics deals with layering. Whether, it’s transforming the outdoor environment or interiors of a home. Oversized graphics form a major part of wall finishes in interior designing changing the complete perception of the space and hence human behavior. Restaurants have used Supergraphics as their identity as well as interior language. Interiors with peculiar graphics attract consumers and enhance the public image of the place.
Conclusively, Supergraphics add to the complete environment. Indoor or outdoor, street or a room, super graphics lend a language or an image to the projected. Supergraphics adorns a process of layering and projecting a message on a large scale for definite visual exposure.
Super graphics are oversized graphics established for the urban setting. They are layers used to alter the environment.
Super graphics are a demonstration of how a simple image can amend basic human response to his immediate environment. It shows how design affects the behavior of people in different places.
Graphics plays an important role in the establishment of a product in the market. In this situation of groundless consumerism, branding, packaging and publicity Have the task of creating awareness about all that the market has to offer to the consumers. In response to the competition in the manufacture base, ‘the larger the ad, the better it is for the product’. That’s where the idea of possession comes into the picture.
Outdoor advertising is a constantly evolving medium of communication and super graphics so to speak. In fact, the entire concept has changed in recent times to Out-Of-Home advertising. It encompasses advertising not just on hoardings but in other places that get high pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Outdoor advertising today encompasses a whole gamut of vehicles, but hoardings and super graphics remain unassailably number one. Oversized headings command high-density consumer exposure as they target vehicular traffic. A case in context was the launch of Times group’s glamour and entertainment channel, Zoom. The persuasive hoardings with the sheer white background, contrasting red and black graphics and the teasing tagline, were all over Mumbai. What was interesting was that the advertisement itself did not need much customization although the billboards ranged in size and format from the traditional to horizontal bus shelters to vertical building façade graphics.
Brands label their market base aiming at a particular region or sector of the society. That calls for an entry of over sized graphics or super graphics. For example at SG highway junction, Ahmedabad, each cellular company has booked individual roads of the crossroads. The corner of the junction exhibits an oversized hoarding and the small boards follow the street lights on the street. Super graphics are thus, a representation of establishment or ownership of a brand in a particular place or context.
Super graphics are not only confined to advertisements and publicity. Street art, murals as well as architectural facades demonstrate the stimulation caused by over sized graphics in the environment. Graffiti or street art becomes a permanent exhibition of opinions on various important social cultural issues. Attracting the viewer using merely the scale of the image is the simplest way of generating response.
Supergraphics are often used as a second skin on an architectural set up. For example, the renewal or renovation of an existing building may incorporate Supergraphics as a decorative design element. This actually serves a dual purpose of advertisement of the owner of the building in terms of the logo of the company and the product as well as being a part of the building design itself. In response to the current world situation, this modernistic functional approach serves well, making the building an important part of the environment.
Overgrowing cities and never ending urbanization makes super graphics a major part of street signage. Often these become landmarks or identities of the street.
Super graphics deals with layering. Whether, it’s transforming the outdoor environment or interiors of a home. Oversized graphics form a major part of wall finishes in interior designing changing the complete perception of the space and hence human behavior. Restaurants have used Supergraphics as their identity as well as interior language. Interiors with peculiar graphics attract consumers and enhance the public image of the place.
Conclusively, Supergraphics add to the complete environment. Indoor or outdoor, street or a room, super graphics lend a language or an image to the projected. Supergraphics adorns a process of layering and projecting a message on a large scale for definite visual exposure.
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