Communication & The Mass Media

The idea of the term Mass Media is essentially a means of public communication that reaches a large audience. Things that we consider mass media are; radio, television, newspaper and magazines because these are types of communication that reach large portions of the population, and a large number of people in general.

The technologies that mass media is communicate through varies greatly depending on what it is. For example, broadcast information though mediums such as radio, television, film and recorded music is communicated electronically using the electromagnetic spectrum, or more specifically, radio waves using a one-to-many model. In contrast to information communicated this way, print media uses physical copies of objects such as newspaper, magazines, books or pamphlets to distribute to the general population. Furthermore, outdoor media comprises billboards, signs, shops and information posted on transport. In the context of a design school the kind of course you would be studying on to transition into the communication and mass media industry in a visual way would be;

• Communication Design
• Visual Communication
• Graphic Design

During the lecture, we were shown how communication and transmission of information has developed in the past 17,000 years or so. Firstly, we were shown cave painting from around 15,000 to 10,000 BC that was found in France. The image itself was of cattle and horses, and shows even this long ago early humans were documenting and taking note of their environment and surroundings. From here we were shown an image of a painting that was produced around the 14th century on a chapel wall, located in Italy. The interesting thing about this image was that it had a narrative to it and appeared to be showing an event or sequence of events. This kind of documentation allows us to investigate events that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago. Next we looked at a soap advertisement from the 19th century, and in a way the start of graphic design as we know it today. In 1922, William Addison Dwiggins said; ‘In the matter of layout forget art at the start and use horse-sense. The printing-designer’s whole duty is to make a clear presentation of the message - to get the important statements forward and the minor parts placed so that they will not be overlooked. This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art.' on the subject of design. In a sense this was the time when graphic design and layout started to be recognised and the importance of conveying the message through design became more relevant. Richard Hollis also said ‘Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea.’ Which is a very simplified idea of design or specifically graphic design.



‘Although graphic design as we know it originated in the late nineteenth century as a tool of advertising, any association today with marketing, advertising, or capitalism deeply undermines the graphic designer’s self-image. Graphic design history is an integral part of advertising history, yet in most accounts of graphic design’s origins advertising is virtually denied, or hidden behind more benign words such as “publicity” and “promotion”. This omission not only limits the discourse, but also misrepresents the facts. It is time for graphic design historians, and designers generally, to remove the elitist prejudices that have perpetuated a biased history’.

After looking at the origin of graphic design we were shown some propaganda before looking closer at logos and what they represent. Finally, we were able to look at the communication of messages through campaigns and how those type of advertising campaigns have developed up to modern day.