OUGD401 - Essay choice

As part of the context of practise module I am required to submit a 3000 word essay along with a body of physical graphic design. We were given 5 topics to choose from that included; 

• Modernism: “To what extent have Modernist design principles influenced contemporary Graphic Design?”
• Postmodernism: “How did Postmodernism impact on Graphic Design practice?
• Gender representation: To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?
• Social/political: “Discuss the role that Graphic Design has played in Political and/or social change in a specific period in history.
• Consumerism: “What is the relationship between branding and The Consumer Self (Ewen)”

We were given seminars introducing the basics of each title, in which we learnt the key ideologies of each topic and considered how it would form the basis of my final project. I  was then asked to independently choose a topic I felt I would be able to sustain across the essay and physical body of work and be able to articulate my reasons behind this choice. From  Studio Brief 3 in my context of practise module I had researched about Russell Brands views on Capitalism, found that this interested me as although his views were some what controversial he spoke confidently about how we could change our lifestyle to become less reliant on capitalist ideologies. I feel there was enough research and theories to be able to sustain a 3000 word essay and think I could create an interesting body of physical work to accompany this. For these reasons I have decided to choose the fourth topic; 

"Social/political: “Discuss the role that Graphic Design has played in Political and/or social change in a specific period in history."

I will use my interest in Russell Brand and his political views as a starting point however I think I will focus more heavily on theories from credible authors and theorists. To start my research I was asked to gather reading material from the library and reference it in the Harvard style as this is a skill that will later be needed when compiling my essay and bibliography. The books I have chosen to research include; 

Bylthe, J (1997). The essence of consumer behaviour. Europe; Prentice Hall Europe

McNally, D (2006). Another World is possible - Globalisation and Anti-capitalism. 2nd ed, Canada; Arbeiter Ring Publishing

Clarke, D Doel, M & Housiaux, M (2003). The consumption reader. London; Taylor & Francias inc.

Heath, J & Potter, A (2005). The rebel sell: How counter culture became consumer culture. UK; Capstone Publishing LTD.