The writer comments that many designers are encouraged in the direction of commercial work in advertising as it pays the bills but this has resulted in designers labelled as being only able to do this kind of work – which is often termed as ‘inessential work’.

Many designers are becoming uncomfortable with the way that society perceives them. Designers are responsible for the way society responds and many argue that there needs to be a shift in public opinion. Other perspectives apart from Consumerism need to be expressed through visual languages and design.

In 1964 22 visual communicators signed a manifesto to put graphic designers skills to worldwide use. This was documented in ‘First Things First’. They saw the situation a very urgent and agreed that designers are responsible for ‘manufacturing reality’, that design is absorbed deeply by everyone in society and designers ‘make the way things are’. They discussed that the power of design is in the ‘ideas’

It evolved originally in the period when the British economy was booming, people were better off and buying comsumer goods and there was a upsurge in young entusiastic designers.

The manifesto was backed immediately by the wife of a Labour Party MP. Anthony Wedgewood Benn and was printed in the Guardian which then resulted in a TV appearance by Garland and affirmation internationally in support of his message. Design was able to take off as a confident ‘professionalised’ activity. The rapid growth of consumerism meant that there were many opportunities for for talented visual communicators in in visual communications in advertising, promotion and packaging.

Garland expressed his concern that ‘design was in danger of forgetting its responsibility to struggle for a better life for all’.

The manifesto made the critical distinction between 1) design as communication and 2) design as persuation. Jock Kinneir agreed that designers are genarally less concerned with persuation, taste and fashion and more concerned with information, efficiency and amenity.

Katherine McCoy argues that the decision to concentrate on corporate projects is a ‘political’ choice. The vast majority of design projects address corporate needs with a massive overemphasis of the commercial sector of society.

Also designers are often obsessed with ‘the form’ of things to the excusion of other factors. In the 1990’s advertisers adopted radical graphics and typography and many designers took global notoriety and credit. Many designers are obsessed with ‘how cool’ and add looks rather than with what it is saying.

Designers who have grown up in the commercial environment find it hard to understand that design might have broader purposes and ‘potential meanings’. McCoy says ‘we have trained a profession that feels political or social concerns are either extraneous to our work or inappropriate’.

The First Things First supporters advocate that we must continue to debate these issues before it is too late!

Adorno Summary

Theodor Adorno was a German social philosopher who produced a number of essays and writing from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. He was often referred to as a Western Marxist and wrote about his understanding of how the systemic nature of production and consumption had an effect on the content of cultures. His rather pessimistic view of modern culture was that the ‘masses’ consented to their exploitation by a powerful ‘few’. His analysis is confined to the mass produced music of the thirties and forties but he took no account of other music forms such as Blues, Jazz, Gospel or rock n roll.

Adorno’s criticism is widely respected today despite his narrowness of vision. He has created a simple model of popular music and culture which is useful and clearly defined but it does not take into account, cultural, social and linguistic differences.

In his essays, Adorno discusses what he sees as the distinct difference between ‘popular’ and ‘classical’ music types. The differences are not only musical but also have social implications. The division of the two types of music took place in Europe long before American popular music arrived. The main difference is that popular music is ‘standardized’ in that it follows very definite rules.

There is the rule that the chorus consists of 32 bars and the range is limited to one octave and one note. There is a standardization of types:- dance music and songs about mothers, homes, nonsense songs, nursery rhymes, types and laments for lost love. Also the beginning and ending of the song must have a repetitive beat to have an effect on the listener. The popular song is complete and remembered as a whole piece even though certain details of it will be remembered separately.

In classical music every separate detail is important to make up the complete work. The separate movements can be meaningless unless they are heard in context of the work as a whole and this can be made of many sections.

Separate sections of detail in popular music has no effect on the ‘whole’ piece. It is possible to use the dance themes found in classical music and relate this in a popular music form. However in classical music different dance themes are used to link the whole classical piece together to create drama and emotion. In classical music each separate part works together to bring a dynamic meaning to the whole piece. In popular music the detail of the parts does not affect the impact of the whole song.

I think there are examples within our more recent popular music, where composers have attempted to write popular music but have based it upon the more classical styles. In these cases there is less standardisation of the piece such as in Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen which is composed of several different themes to link the whole piece together more on the lines of classical music. However the piece was plugged as popular music but its different style and creative elements make it quite exceptional. Similar examples have been produced by Muse.

Comparisons between classical and popular music has nothing to do with one being more simple and the other more complex or more sophisticated. Popular music can be very complex musically, and use more complicated chords than classical music. The main difference is standardization in popular music, where even complex harmonies can be understood, as the listener is able to hear the simple pattern which lies beneath the complex embellishments.

The way popular music is composed, conditions the listener to hear only what is intended by the composer. It actually makes listening easier. The creation of a popular song is an individual process but its promotion is called ‘industrial’.

Popular music has developed a ‘competitive’ process. Many other popular songs are made as a result of one successful one. The success of certain popular songs dictates the rules and standards of popular music. This results in ‘revivals’ in popular music. The famous old hits set the standards. There are two demands in popular music. One is for something new to attract the listener’s attention and the other is for it to fit the conventional patterns such as is in nursery rhymes, hymns and ditty’s. Popular music is affected by the attitude of the audience and must fit within its established form.

The fact that something new and individual is created in new popular songs is really an illusion. It is important that popular music appears to be a ‘creative’ art in order to hide the standardization element.

It is questionable whether real creativity and expression is possible in a system that ‘standardises’ everything? Is popular music standardised to a point of pre-digestion?

In popular music there is no free choice, as what we listen to, is decided for us. In jazz the listener appears to hear ‘improvisations’ by the jazz artist but this is within such a rigid framework that there is very little freedom for individual improvisation. Jazz music has its own rules so any deviation into their own music is not possible. Improvisations are only really an embellishment of the underlying tune and not a deviation away from it.

In popular music there can be many different types and different bands and we can distinguish these from each other. These differences are based in ‘sociological’ issues rather than based in different music types. They can be promoted with different labels to make them individual such a Rock, Punk etc. but they obey the same standardization of popular music.

Popular music is constructed within a ‘standard’ form, it obeys the standard rules and can be described as ‘easy listening’. A composer is able to show his talents within these standard forms just like the greatest poets have kept within strict verse forms.

_{Adorno describes the meaning of ‘plugging’ in its basic form - this is repetition to the point of no-escape. This leads to the listeners reaching in the same way and makes the ‘plugged’ piece distinguishable from any other. The material must have certain minimum requirements if the ‘plugging’ is to be a success:-}

1) It must have a distinctive feature but be conventional and easy to remember. The distinguishing difference need not be melodic.

2) Glamour is important as it is bound up with advertising and commerce and success. Glamour is a means of lifting the mediocre and projecting it above anything else. It needs to be bright and “in your face”.

But Adorno also says that because we are surrounded by bright lights in our streets and theatres glamour becomes ‘commonplace’. Adorno see’s glamour as some sort of ‘trickery’. On the radio the DJ speaks in tones which draws listeners to follow in a certain direction and identify with the song.

3) The language of popular songs digs deep into ‘children’s language’ which has been laid down in nursery rhymes. So psychologically they are linking to early language learnt as a child. This also links with the trusting attitude learnt as a child and wins over the listener, even though what they are listening to may be strange and unconventional.

4) Within the song there are styles and personalities which are taken on board at the same time like the word ‘swing’ which has its meaning tied up with jazz. ‘Plugging’ is tied up with journalism which is linked to agencies and publishers. Journalists are not necessarily bribed to promote certain things but once the ‘plugging’ has been started all other promotion follows almost automatically. Often the most important musicians are the ones who are in the background and the credit goes to the people who face the audience.

Music popularity is based on repetition of something until it is recognized and accepted. Classical extracts are recognized as being part of a total musical piece like the meaning of a word is understood from its place in a poem. Some pieces of music are recognized by a part of it with which the listener identifies.

There are several factors involved in recognition which are intricately woven together :- Vague remembrance, achial identification, subsumption, self-reflection with recognition, psychological transfer of thought. There is a vague feeling of something familiar because of the standardization of popular music, every song follows the same general pattern. There is a sudden moment when a tune seems new and different before it is realized that it is the same as something heard before. The transition from vague remembrance to full awareness is a noticeable psychological ‘jump’.

Subsumption is when a tune is heard recognized and identified with a name. Many people will also recognize the piece by the same name which has social implications. The sense of success when a tune is identified from hundreds of others is often shown when music is hummed or whistled. When tunes are recognized they can be re-produced from memory. Familiarity with the music allows people to add extra beats or change it slightly to make it their own.

Listeners can transfer their own interpretations to the music. By owning the music this endorses your own appreciation of the music and the listener joins the ‘club’ by owning what everyone else has. In popular music private and public ownership converge. It is understood that the copying of music is illegal but this is regarded as being just casual fun. The plugging of tunes over the ‘air’ is acceptable but not when it is repeated privately, repetition over the air is associated with success.

Popular music is linked to leisure and entertainment which takes us away from reality. Relaxation does not demand the efforts of concentration. Entertainment helps the process of relaxation, no effort is required as the music has already been processed and participation is not required. Commercial entertainers believe they are providing what the public wants but infact they are molding what the public hears.

The cycle between work and leisure time is perpetuated by music producers. Leisure time provides an opportunity for popular music to fill that space with something that takes no effort to listen to. Popular music is sold by making it familiar to the people by ‘plugging’ but ironically if the song is known too well it will not be accepted. Therefore the market is constantly searching for something new.

Listeners of popular music do not generally understand music technically and are not assessing the music at a deep level but appreciate it either through it’s ‘rhythm’ or the ‘emotions’ it conveys. Young people are more drawn to ‘rhythmic’ music. There is no political distinction between types of music. Any political group can be drawn to any type of music.

Youth are drawn to all types of rhythms such as marching rhythms that suggest obedience to an overriding ‘beat’. Even classical music and composers have expressed an anti-romantic emotion in their work which is often expressed by strong underlying ‘beats’.

Emotional appreciation of music is not a naïve belief in the ‘fairytale’ types of emotions but it is understood by the listener that this kind of music provides a temporary release of emotions. Music provides an outlet for them to feel emotional. Often this emotion is actually frustration. Popular music appears to be self-enjoyment in a simple way but is infact very complex. There are two sides to popular music which is tied up with the term ‘obsolete modern’. What is currently very fashionable can quickly appear out-of-date and lose popularity. Anything out-of-date will suffer being called ‘corny’.

The musical tastes of an individual are outweighed by the opinions of the millions of people because of the ‘plugging’ of the music. It is difficult to resist the power of public opinion. Resistance is diverted rather than eliminated completely and will show itself as ‘spite’. Listeners will not admit to being ‘won over’ to comply with the majority of people. In entertainment, the message is freedom of taste but in reality this is not the case but individuals prefer to proclaim that they have freely chosen to enjoy the current popular music of the day.

The musical term ‘jitterbug’ associated with jazz describes how man is compared to an insect mesmerized by something like light. Enthusiasm for popular music comes from people who are not musical experts but consciously decide to follow the masses. Followers of popular music are more than enthusiastic. They cannot be open to critical considerations but must follow the popular music ‘craze’.

Adorno notices that when listeners dance and move to popular music such as jazz, facial expressions and movements show a kind of ‘mock’ humour. There is a paradox between following the masses with the fascination of popular music which is almost against their will. To like popular music doesn’t mean that you have to submit to the pressure from society to do so. It is not just blind acceptance. The words used in popular music are just as important as the music and fix the whole song into the minds of the public. This can be seen particularly in radio advertising. The repeated music includes the names of products.

The music used in stores and shopping malls is known as ‘audio wallpaper’ nowadays, as it is all around us but we are not really conscious of the music or what effect it is having on us. Adorno suggests that part of the problem with popular music is that it is often tied to other elements of society such as clothing and language.

For Adorno, who was himself a musician and composer, music was more than music, - it was instead, the very essence of ‘communication’.