| This dissertation is an exploration of the realm of cultural production associated with graphic design. Graphic design is a ubiquitous, yet largely invisible, professional practice that nevertheless contributes substantially to the make-up of our visual culture. Drawing on emergent strands of enquiry associated with the critical cultural studies and especially with ethnographic approaches to the study of cultural production, Graphic Design/Graphic Dissent investigates the ideological limits to agency of graphic designers by focusing on calls for greater social responsibility emanating from within this milieu.;It begins by drawing on Richard Johnson's model of the circuit of culture (Johnson 1986/87), a conceptual schema intended to represent the production and reproduction of meanings and values within culture. A modification of this model---called the "short circuit"---is proposed as a way to account more fully for the rarefied habitus (Bourdieu 1984) associated with the cultural intermediaries. Graphic designers, then, like ad creatives (Soar 1996; 2000a), fashion designers (McRobbie 1998), and radio (Henderson 1999) and television (Dornfeld 1998) producers, embody a series of contradictory impulses, which are both institutional and subjective.;Graphic Design/Graphic Dissent also reviews the body of critical, historical, and journalistic writing emanating from within graphic design culture, evaluating it for both its advancements and limitations; a key strand of debate within this discourse relates to the politics of feminism and professional practice. Chief among the graphic design interventions explored here are: culture jamming and Adbusters magazine; and, the First Things First Manifesto 2000 (a formal call for greater social and professional responsibility among designers). Also discussed are the following groups and individuals: Gran Fury, Queer Nation, RTMark, Women's Design and Research Unit (WD+RU), We Interrupt the Programme, Jan van Toorn and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. It is ultimately argued that a formal distinction must be made between the notions of "politics" associated with high-profile, even spectacular, interventions, and those relating to more modest, local, and marginal initiatives. |
