This extract talks about the practice of graphic design and how theory does not and cannot respond to the particularities of graphic design practice rooted. This extract argues that without. level of knowledge and ambition a graphic designer can't succeed in the practice. I agree and partially disagree. I feel that as a designer you have to have a passion and what you call an 'eye' for design. Although you cane taught skills within graphic deign that is fundamental to the practice, if you don't have the desire and want to do well and have basic common knowledge of what is current and societal skills to know what works and what doesn't I feel like the graphic design practice is something that you could struggle with. 

post modernism is a sustained period in time of innovated of the arts linked to changes. Rationalism, technological determinism and increased globalisation from 1980's and this meant no more grand or meta narrative. technology allowed experimentation with identity and personal narrative. Contested testimony and post truth culture and this idea that social media isn't authentic. Modernism has been shaped by dishonesty and contradictory attitudes to modern media. rational modernist and experimental cyberculture and the merging of high and low culture. Thus theme of global cultural hybridity, hyper reality and nostalgia culture.

Hyper real - the differentiation between real and masked is unclear
unstable image - hyper real and the order of simulacra 
Reality tv - a retouched hyper real 
Simulacra - 
1) reflection of basic reality
2) it masks and distorts basic reality
3) it marks absence of basic reality
4) it bears no relation to any reality 
Parody - loaded simulation 
​Patiche - images presented without relation or meaning

​In order to understand the Magazines you need to delve into them as a brand and discover what they are passionate about as a brand and how that is reflected in the stuff they choose to portray in their magazines. Cosmopolitan is a female orientated magazine that emphesies on beauty, sex and relationships and often celebrity gossip because hats what they believe their demographic to be interested with and associated with. Men's magazines idealisations and aspirations are some what similar but yet a whole lot different because their idea of men and women play on this stereotype and hope that the large majority of men and women are interested in the topics they choose to feature in their magazines. They have semiotic ways and hidden none spoken codes that allow perhaps the interest of both men and women and you can see this throughout their magazines. Their magazines have guidelines too that I am interested to delve into.

interlink themes;
The Global Village
Trade without borders.

The global village 
- shared common destiny 
- cultural exchange and hybridity
- cultural imperialism 
- the post traditional community 

​Cultural hybridity idegenous subculture mixed with pop. A traditional community is about being rooted and this sense of belonging. they have historical ties linked to the length of family residence. A fixed spacial environment and shared rituals. Post traditional community have this transient connections and this sense of a changing environment and digital integration. Trade without borders this is growth and emphasis on global economics, movement in the west, national borders and global brands. 

Naomi Klein in her book 'No Logo' was highlighting key facts about corporations and that they are a marked movement from production to branding and that a brand is an idea from the corporation. Corporations are; 
- immoral
- ephemeral 
- aggressively competitive 
- ehmoleon like.

- growth since the early 1990's
- growing politicalisation, awareness and anti consumerism 
- use of adoption of social media
- use of a design as a weapon.
- subversion
- cultural jamming 
- brandilism 
- urban environments

in this piece of the book Klein talks about culture jamming and how it badly rejects the idea that marketing because it buys its way into our public spaces but must be passively accdepted as one way information flow.

gender comes from ideas and societal constructs and perceived as 'gender norms'. 'Sex' Is to be the biological difference between men and women. Gender is this construct of cultural roles of masculinity and femininity. These are said to be not natural properties of men and women but social constructs we have devised and become the 'normality'. Definition of gender can be a depiction on a period of time. There are spectrums in which people place themselves that represents how they are as a person. 'Non - Binary' is a spectrum of identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. Judith Butler comments a lot on gender performance and how back in a specific period in time men and women has specific roles to play out. 

male gaze is the act of representing women in the visual media for the male appeal which reduces women to objects. The social presence of women is different:

- Men are seen to be assertive 
- Women are put to be in supportive roles 
- Men survey 
- Women are surveyed

A form of media where we see to seen these roles is in a classic children's book 'when the tiger calm for tea':

- the mum is attentive and offers food as she sees that as her 'duty' 
- the 'daddy' taking the authoritative role and charge of key decisions within the household
- the tigers 'gender' isn't revealed but we can see by the mannerisms and the way he acts he gives off a male persona and presence. 
- Roles like the 'stay at home mum' 
- the 'Daddy' goes out to work in order to supply the family.
- the mum bends over backwards to make sure her husband gets everything he wants and needs. 

and all of these points show a depiction and period in time where the men and women roles were very much prominent. but now in todays culture there is more of an adaptation of both roles. Men adopting more feminine roles and starting to become more affectionate and emotional that could back then be seen as a sign of weakness of a particularly feminine trait. Women are starting to stick up for themselves and beginning to become more independent and people are starting to accept women for being authentically themselves whether that adopting masculine or feminine traits. 

subculture refers to deviant groups of an urban underclass. Subcultures were often associated with 1945 youth subculture and the rise of the teenager. Subculture is where a minority that stands a part of the mainstream culture and the organisation of a society. This is often found in state institutions, government, laws and authorities and economic systems. Schools, work university and media and popular cooperations are places for visual culture and is where things like subcultures are often made. Mainstream is this dominant ideology that reflects interests of powerful social groups. Subcutltures breakdowns a consensus or a refusal to participate. It is a reflection of empowerment but an essence of impotence . 

The beats age were this subculture that started to rebel and emerged in America and got popular mainly in France before taking over other parts. These consisted of Young what males that were often educated and sexually ambivalent. They were anti mainstream and were very underlyingly spiritual and iconclastic in form. They were completely opposite and don't support the 'square values'. these were often to get a house and often people who have a fixed family mind set, often work 9-5 and have their life planned. The Beats had adapted their own traits and had their own type of people because they had so much influence. a 'Beat nick' absorption of a subculture. they often wore turtle neck sweaters, sandals and sunglasses. The ' Beat Chick ' often were classed as weird and spacey, very deviant and morally strong and sexually liberated. 

This is the era of the influence of the subculture at it's elite level. This is when punk dress and rituals started to begin in the 1970's British era. this sense of sub design and detournement of mainstream texts and its this influence of subculture. Straight values resembled this clockwork soul routines, television and intoxicated in this pop star culture. Punk Dress have this anti taste and often this provocative adaptation of fetish wear and this cross gendered way of dressing. 

The Way comics are styled encourage an appreciation of complexity of the creative process The level of panels have a relation not only abutting panels but to other multi frame. In comics their are specific and significant coordinates. the page In a comic on the page usually presents a partial visual story that tells and lets the reader allow their imagination to run with the story. The Drawn surface only represents. a portion.

Comics often have specific features to be classed as a comic and some comic artists break these conventions as a part of their style. Here is what comics often include;

- Closure - the reader must enter the negative space
- Action to action - when two things are happening at the same time that is action filled.
- Moment to moment - when the comic strip allows the reader to watch a moment between characters 
- Subject to Subject - where their is a shift in subject matter within the strip. 

​Here is a pieces of Charles Burns work. He has a unique style that is very recognisable to the eye and often he devotes his pieces to the horror or thriller conventional comics. Here is a sequence from one of his comic novels and this shows a pieces of 'moment to moment' as we are still placed within the same subject however we are given different moments of the same scene and we are seeing it from different angles and perspectives. 

Advertising and commercials are massive examples of how we decode and take in meanings for what we are presented in front of us. They are also pieces of history as and advertisement often reflect the cultural norms and withhold historical context behind each one. They reflect social norms and reflects a different time and place.They also reinforce cultural myths as well as values within the period. 

Maslow devised a hierarchy of human needs that shows what we need to be for filled and how advertisers use this to there advantage by targeting these needs. 

linguistics is defrentiating literal meanings such as denotation and connotation is where you have to think deeper into it and maybe have intertextual references that associate with the thing we look at. 

semiotics is a study of signs within pop culture. It is a critical method of deconstructing visual texts which practically means anything that is a symbol is distinguished as a semiotic code. Synchronic approach is a  focus on how we use language to communicate everyday. Each sign has two sides. A language system is made in up of words that are arbitrary and depend on difference. it is always important to remember that signifier + signified = sign. World of Wrestling showed us about. a key audience dynamic, body language is important in telling us a narrative as well as excessive gestures. Presentation shows a live event. Representation - mediation. Re - Representation is the re framing of the natural framework. 

Words are arbitrary signifier are things that don't resemble what they signify, require a knowledge of language, linguistics forms and rules. Plane of expression - effects the reading of the meaning. Sometimes and most often than not words spell pout almost directly what is going on. however sometimes words can have hidden meanings and aggenda's. 

images are iconic signifiers which means that they resemble what they and are a simple plane of abstraction said by Roland Barthes. This means that images can be captured In a rendered visual. But with times like now this theory can be deemed to be at fault, because of the power of media saturation and photo editing, pictures are altered and it is left up to the audience to perceive what is real and what is the this hyper reality created by the individual at the for front of the image. 

This is a visual culture and media it is rare that images and words aren't placed together. Pictures can be depicted or and illusion. Images framed with text like comics can defrenchiate meaning. Words providing all or meaning of the information needed to decode the image we have placed in front of us. If the piece is 'image specific' this means that the image provides everything we need to decode the message. A 'dual message' is a word with an image and is often found in early advertising. interdependent or convergent are words and images working together but contributing separately. Parallel or divergent means that words and images withhold different meanings on the piece. Barthes opinion on anchorage is that we need a signifier and a signified to decode meanings and messages. Different newspapers for example display different consrtuctalist views. 

Non - coded is where the immediate reading of the sign is detected. Secondary is where we are left to think of other concepts such as having intertextual references that allow us to decode what it is we are faced with and this is reflects are cultural capital.