Graphic Design and Gentrification: Is There A Link?: Part 2
Graphic Design and Gentrification: Is There A Link?: Part 1
The Language of Commerce is Embedded in Advertising and Graphic Design
The Language of Advertising
Graphic designers Adrian Shaughnessy and Michael Bierut wrote a survival guide for designers providing definitions for different elements that intersect with graphic design. Under Advertising Design on page 12, this statement says it all:
“In advertising, the message is everything. But the problem with this is that it justifies some of the dreariest design you’ll ever see.”
In advertising, the most important thing is the message. Ads placed in newspapers in colonial America were usually announcements for goods. Eventually, they morphed into direct appeals using headlines and illustrations (above). Newspapers allowed for a growing literate population to be constantly informed and the presence of ads began to address their personal and entrepreneurial needs. Although the advertising industry is a financial juggernaut today, many graphic designers are critical of it because of its lack of visual creativity and excellence. Although there are examples of brilliant design in advertising, it can be argued that many of the ads follow a similar narrow format.
I have spent considerable time in Black communities as a resident, a Christian minister, a youthworker and a graduate student. Based on my observations, study and experience, commerce in low income communities tends to primarily be based on utility and an informal local exchange economy, i.e., the careful management of available resources within a limited network. Guerrilla advertising is its main commercial expression. Cash, disposable visuals and word of mouth are king in this economy. So, the focus for most businesses is primarily on developing a singular message to compete locally. Look at the photo of Philly below. What do the types of businesses and their signs tell you about who may live in this community? What is the perceived singular message of each business based on their signs?
Utility and the informal exchange economy is a response to limited capital, community divestment and creative entrepreneurship. During my graduate studies, I learned about Sudir Alladi Venkatesh who spent ten years immersed in the informal and underground economy on Chicago’s Southside. His dissertation became his first book, Off the Books: The Underground Economy and the Urban Poor. He states in his book that impermanence rules in communities that need to react quickly to economic shifts. Although constant change can be unsustainable, inside a limited network, it becomes a competitive strength because there is no competition with outside market forces. So, a simple message makes sense because it does not have to travel far and can be communicated very quickly. This is how I learned about businesses in North Philadelphia that did not have a storefront. For example, my Uncle Frank’s contracting business was identified by his old red and black pick-up truck. (We called it the Sanford & Son truck. This was a 1970s Black sitcom about a junk dealer and his son.) He did not have a logo or a sign on it as a primary identifier but the community knew this was his truck. Although the signs on storefront businesses function like a permanent logo and overlap with graphic design, they still reflected an advertising sensibility making the name and goods/services simple and direct. This careful management of resources reflects the reality that a business can be here today and gone tomorrow. The values associated with this kind of economy are thriftiness, simplicity, exchange and necessity. (Sidenote: Today, young entrepreneurs in these communities are increasingly adopting the language of visual branding that they have grown up seeing from their favorite brands in the professional sports, music and fashion industries. Also, technology has made graphic design more accessible. This is allowing them to grow their business beyond their local community and networks.)
The Language of Graphic Design
In modern Graphic Design, the most important thing is the interplay between text, image, color and composition. Visual beauty and originality are sought after to help the consumer engage and interpret the elements which may have one or more meanings. American graphic design grew out of the advertising industry which was focused mainly on commerce. European graphic design was influenced by art movements and their understanding of aesthetics (beauty, purpose, perception, function, etc.) In Europe, graphic design is given the same respect as other art movements. Presently, modern American graphic design is an adaption of the Swiss philosophy of design championed by Paul Rand and a host of other European designers who immigrated to the U.S.
I have a BFA in Graphic Design and have been in the field for 20+ years. My career was influenced by Christianity’s emphasis on helping the less fortunate and learning how to observe and interpret the material and spiritual world. I also paid attention to the writings of one of my retired graphic design professors, Ken Hiebert, who understood the interdisciplinary nature of graphic design and its ability to help people. He was a designer, anthropologist, humanist and sociologist rolled up into one and allowed this to impact his design work and philosophy. Years later, these influences impacted my decision to attend graduate school and enroll in an interdisciplinary Urban Studies program. I have an Masters of Arts degree which further prepared me for service in disadvantaged communities emphasizing the social impact of urban planning and geography. Ideas are drawn from history, sociology, humanities, business and other facets critical to a well rounded education. A recent influence on my thinking about graphic design has been author and teacher Saki Mafundikwa. He holds an MFA from Yale University. In his native Zimbabwe, he founded the country’s first graphic design and new media college: the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts. He published Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika.
Based on my observations, study and experience, commerce in gentrifying communities tends to primarily be based on desire and a global capitalistic economy, i.e. the emotional management of choice and affluence in an ever expanding network. Graphic design and branding is its main commercial expression. Social capital, branding and formal communication are king in this economy. So, the focus for most businesses is primarily on using visual identity systems utilizing visual beauty and originality to compete beyond their immediate network . My son has an internship at a company in New York City and is living in Harlem for the summer. As we walk around the community, we discuss what we are seeing in terms of gentrification. Look at the picture below of Harlem in New York City. Have you noticed the contrast between the withered building and the very large clean affluent images? Who would consider the models in the ad affluent? Even though they are ads, how do they utilize graphic design? What is the layered message in the ad?
Desire and a global capitalistic economy is a response to wealth creation and consumerism in the western world. There are those on the positive receiving end, those who long to participate and those who reject this version of the world. After World War II, the American economy boomed while Europe was rebuilding. American corporations’ use of the television to sell its products was ushering in the era of mass visual communication. (Before this, the primary way to advertise was print and radio.) This was the beginning of a visual language dependent on words and images that was targeting mostly White middle class households who were the owners of homes, automobiles and televisions. As the prices of cars and TVs dropped over the years, mass media’s influence expanded to poor and working class Americans even though the words and images still largely reflected a White middle class context. This visual language also expanded beyond corporate business culture to higher education, sports and entertainment. The professional class understands this visual language of graphic design.
Today, cultural elites (who control our media, sports, higher education and entertainment industries) trust what graphic design can convey because their business interests have translated the message of prosperity it communicates across the globe. Because of globalization, brands are able to expand their network and truly be transnational. Interbrand London is regarded as one of the world’s top branding consultancies. Rita Clifton, the former UK Chairman states that “We now understand that brands are wealth creating, wealth defending and immortal. They are emotional and cultural – and represent the point at which the deepest recesses of our psyche connect with the entity being branded…”
This is why branding is everywhere and being used for everything. For example, in the last U.S. presidential election, candidate Hillary Clinton hired elite New York City graphic designers to develop visual branding and identity systems to promote her message. (Feel free to read my commentary on this.) Today, many political candidates are using graphic design that does not follow the strict Americana graphic elements used in the past.
The rest of us mere mortals have adopted the language of graphic design through educational attainment and/or exposure. The values associated with this kind of economy are playfulness, sophistication, consistency and aspiration. These values makes sense in a participatory global capitalistic economy where we tell ourselves there are no limits to our dreams.
The Causal Link
Gentrification has four direct beneficiaries:
- Real estate investors who build the homes make money. (Those who want to build and manage the properties like condos may receive a tax abatement.)
- Banks make money from the interest on the mortgages.
- Housing values increase providing accessible economic capital for the owner. Renters value cultural attraction proximity along with other possible short term benefits (job, etc.) since the only return on their investment is a place to sleep. (Owners may value this, too.)
- Real estate taxes increase making money for the municipality.
Who is not on the above list? The people (residents and business owners) who were in the community before any of the beneficiaries showed up.
Businesses in low income communities don’t necessarily need to use graphic design to succeed within their valuable limited network. But if they want to survive in a gentrifying community without civic help beyond their network, they need to use branding strategies to communicate the value of their business and community. Cornell Tech professor Mukti Khaire validates this reality in her book, Culture and Commerce: The Value of Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries. She states that markets play a central role in promoting cultural change.
This is a harsh reality.
No one wants to view where they live as a commodity. However, this is how most middle class homebuyers decide where to buy and how for-profit entities decide where to invest: They look at the long-term economic value of the neighborhood in terms of housing valuation, commerce, culture, geography, security, schools, etc. Some will see this connection to market forces as the evils of capitalism and extol the values of socialism. I encourage reading up on the history of socialism. It has its own evils as well.
I am not a fan of this present ‘let the market forces decide’ form of gentrification but it is happening more and more. Usually, this is how low income communities lose because they cannot compete against market forces without outside civic help. I believe capitalism needs to be buffered by the right kind of civic involvement to make sure urban planning and economic empowerment initiatives are put in place to benefit the native residents.
This shows that there is a causal link between gentrification that solely relies on market forces and the utilization of advertising and graphic design. Native residents often do not have access to all of the economic mechanisms needed to solidify their businesses as assets, evolve their community’s image and expand their network. Those who have this power do find ways to co-exist with native residents helping preserve local culture and add new expressions but this is not common. But they also have the power to marginalize and replace existing cultures in service to their own economic ends.
What do you think?