Dissertation PDP
Posted: February 2, 2016 Filed under: Dissertation, Other, Year 3 | Tags: constellation, dissertation, evalaution, experience, final, hand-in, PDP, research, review, submission, year Leave a commentTowards the end of second year, dissertation became of significant importance and initially I was intimidated by the idea of writing a 10,000 word thesis on anything that interested me. I had weekly seminars to help prepare research and direction into a chosen topic. From first year, I quickly took interest in modern technology and after attending one of the available constellations with Clive, the seminars looked at what made an object a tool or artefact. This was one of my first experiences of looking at the psychology of technology and it really sparked an interest which influenced later essays, and led me to learn about the Internet of Things during a field module in second year. The constellation seminars during second year highlighted past issues of previous student dissertations and gave me tips on what to avoid and include within my own dissertation research and helped me to decide on a topic which was relevant to my practise.
I chose to focus my dissertation research on advertisement and how the advances in technology influenced advertisement strategies. My initial inspiration for this was post-modern digital advertisement which we experience today, I wanted to learn more about tracking methods and how the wide web could understand my online behaviour and recommend me products, it was a scary thought and made me question the privacy I actually had when online. From here I was curious as to how advertisement had got to this point in time and where consumeristic advertisement originated from. Advertisement linked to my practice as a graphic designer and I felt that by understanding the previous ways of marketing techniques would enable me to prepare for a future industry which interests me as a career choice.
Today, we are bombarded with advertisement from posters to pervasive ads on mobile games. We are great at ignoring them and I can properly speak for the majority when I say we wait for that all important ‘skip’ or ‘x’ button to appear. However, in a world were advertisement is becoming more difficult to create brand loyalty and appeal to consumers, how do subliminal messages affect our behaviour. I was super interested in the Industrial Revolution which influenced mass consumerism and the golden age, the creative revolution and ultimately the digital revolution centuries later.
Throughout third year I have learnt a huge amount from researching and generally being curious in the history of advertising and how agencies use rational or emotional techniques to create a desire for a given product or awareness campaign. I researched a range of theories relevant to advertising and culture and some made me think differently after realising method behind the ideologies. One example of this is Technological Determinism. This was a reductionist theoretical framework which presumed that a society’s technology controlled the development of its social structure and cultural values. Originally coined by Thorstein Veblen, I have focused on a revitalised edition by Karl Marx who looks at productive technologies relevant to my area of research. It argues that technological development determines social change from the way people interact with others and how they think. This is an inevitable course and suggests that technology is uncontrollable and will continue to dominate our lives for the foreseeable future. Rosalind Williams describes the process as ‘a three-word logical proposition: Technology determines history’. However I argue that Advertisement is an initial governing force to promoting such technologies which creates the demand.
From writing my thesis, I have researched into wacky and useful topics that would have gone unnoticed otherwise. I have learnt a great deal from consumerism in the early 19th century to how Propaganda was used to create nationalism and encourage prosperity at a time of economic recession.In some cases however, I lacked the ability to link methodology and theorists to my thesis of technological advancements and felt I went off-topic through exploration in irrelevant marketing. After writing a basic draft of each chapter I revisited these areas and spent my time refining them, making sure they were referring to my question and discussed relevant theories throughout technological progression.
My main issue was finding relevant books on advertising strategies which were influenced by technology, this was resolved by researching journals and books online and reading case studies for marketing campaigns throughout different eras and comparing these techniques and analysing what remained the same. Another example of this is the theory of Homo-Consumercus by Gad Saad. In this theory, Saad suggests that advertisers target the biological instincts of the consumer to create emotion connections to desire.
Dissertation Progress
Posted: January 22, 2016 Filed under: Dissertation, Year 3 | Tags: constellation, deadline, design, dissertation, essay, fact, graphics, interesting, progress, psychology, research, review, work Leave a commentI’ve really enjoyed researching further afield in psychology. I have recently spent a lot of time studying Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development in children, which is made up with a series of stages;
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational period
which the child goes through from birth to post-adolescence years and beyond. An interesting fact, the child’s game ‘peak a boo’ was a perfect exercise to help a child understand that an object continues to exist when they can’t see it, this phenomenon is known as object permanence and targets the first stage: Sensorimotor stage.
As the child ages and advances through each of these stages, egocentric traits remain which prevents them from being able to reason and form logical conclusions throughout the preoperational and concrete operational stages.In relation to my area of study, this was a perfect opportunity for advertisements to target a given age range in the younger generation, various attention-devices were used such as: singing, rhyming and dancing. These methods were based on ‘non-verbal cues and mental imagery’ (Smith, 1995).
As for my dissertation, I am finishing up my final chapter and conclusion. I hope to proof-read a few times and make necessary changes this weekend, ready to be printed and bound on Wednesday.
Dissertation Progress
Posted: January 19, 2016 Filed under: Dissertation, Year 3 | Tags: advances, advertisment, constellation, consumerism, deadline, dissertation, essay, marketing, progress, review, stratagies, technology, thesis, third, year Leave a commentThe last few days have been a real push to add theorists and methodology to each chapter and to reassure myself that they have remained relevant to my discussion on how the advances in technology have influenced how advertisement targets its consumers. I have taken time out to complete my 1,000 word PDP already which I feel has lifted a huge weight for the next 2 weeks.
For the next week I will be maturing my chapters and making sure I have referenced correctly and provided evidence of my arguments. I hope to print and submit my copy a few days before submission deadline to avoid the last-minute rush. I have extended my dissertation across 4 chapters, each more relevant to post-modern consumerism than the last. I have looked at the work of Frued, Piaget, Skinner, Gad Saad, Vygotsky and I feel most importantly – Karl Marx, a reductionist who suggests that society and history is determined by advances in technology.
🤔
Dissertation Progress
Posted: January 12, 2016 Filed under: Dissertation, Year 3 | Tags: ads, advertisement, books, consumerism, consumers, deadline, design, dissertation, economy, innovations, library, market, progress, review, stratagies, targeting, technology, third, year Leave a commentOn the first day back of term I spent some time looking around the library for more relevant books on my thesis as I had slightly adapted my title and direction over the holiday. I wanted to find books which looked at how advertisement fuelled propaganda in the Victorian Era, the ideology and meanings in advertisements and how the industrial revolution helped the advertising boom of the 20th century. I feel it was worth doing and I now have a selection of books which are more relevant to my discussion in Chapters one and two. I have used online articles and journals as part of my secondary resources and feel these have been super helpful in learning about the progress of technology over the last 2 decades and how its journey has heavily influenced advertisement and strategies to targeting the consumer. I have a mentor meeting on Friday, and look forward to showing my progress and direction of the thesis and hope to get some final advice in regards to my conclusion and review.
Dissertation progress
Posted: January 4, 2016 Filed under: Dissertation, Other, Year 3 | Tags: advancement, advertisement, deadline, dissertation, draft, evolution, history, literature, progress, research, review, technology 3 Comments“I guess this is my dissertation, …welcome to graduation” – Kanye et al (2007)
Over the xmas holidays I have got stuck in with my diss and feel I have made a vast improvement with my progress. I am hoping to complete a draft before my next mentor meeting. Doing this along side 30hrs work a week gives me the motivation to step up to the challenge.
I have had difficulties finding a range of books which are relevant or uphold enough information for me to explore regarding my topic of technology’s influence on advertisement. However! I have researched and researched around many different advancements in technology from the industrial revolution through to the current day from online pdf books, articles, newspapers and similar thesis which focus on brand advertisement.
I have really enjoyed researching the evolution of advertisement and how computer technology has played a huge factor in its development. Technology is advancing so quick today, most of the techniques used go by unnoticed. Ever wondered how adverts on one website relate to something you searched for on a shopping site, consumer activity is being increasingly tracked and sometimes even predicted based on other consumer habits. Exploring how these algorithms have advanced is something I have a big interest in.
I have had a lot of support from my work colleagues, family and friends regarding my dissertation and feel I have adequate time to complete it before the final deadline in February. I was curious to see what my predicted grade is currently – by using an online calculator. I estimated the credits for each of the projects and dissertation (being 3 main projects & a dissertation which excluded our final project & exhibition). To achieve a 1st I would need to get 75% or higher in my dissertation or earn those final few marks in each project to secure a top end mark. I am optimistic that our final few projects will also bring the percentage needed down, thus I will be aiming to get 60% in my dissertation.
Recent Comments