Design Issues

Zach Kaitz

Women begin to represent the “machine” starting with the invention of the typewriter. The typewriter, which had replaced the responsibilities of a traditional clerk who was traditionally male with a stenographer and a secretary, was now traditionally female.
I do not know how to write this without being too male so take these words lightly as someone who thinks women are his equals. Men have been the Generals of the workplace since there was an office. The traditional roles of men and women have had a master and subservient quality to them, which I find only healthy on occasions. This attitude enters the workplace as well. Men use their new technology to hire young woman to do machine like tasks and so the men can be the thinkers all the time. The stereotype of women as docile, quite, small, agile and nurturers carries over to the workplace, women are performing repetitive tasks in small areas never having their thoughts used or ability of moving up in the company. They become part of a male architects vision of a workplace where the woman need less room and move ability and men need the opposite, “Because women don’t spread out like men” (Sallie Tisdale “the weight that women carry”). In the ads for women’s office supplies or just office supplies, women are symbols of the machine because they are the limbs of communication for men or are happy with their chair that gives them impeccable posture. This communication reinforces the woman as secretary and not executive. Later women related work is threatened by machines. But no need to worry the Dictaphone doubles the body of the secretary letting that woman job be replaced so the woman can go on to another repetitive task.
The visual aesthetic used to “construct” the modern woman is a mix of a fetish for surrealism and functionalism of the new technology. His spreads of white space, full bleed out of focus photographs of a new independent woman; asymmetrical typography and formal abstraction modeled the high cultured fashion contained in the magazine and vice versa. Ads for dresses were placed in between famous artists essays and photos. The magazine put women in high culture making them readers of it and fans, their desire is now attached to them being a beautiful, fun and powerful woman.
The two similarities in hygiene product advertising/packaging for both sexes are staying within your genders colors and the prospect that if you don’t use some product of status you will be a shlub. Having no problem with being a shlub I have still found products I enjoy for functional reasons; there is shampoo that invigorates your scalp with a cool feeling it smells really minty. Other products I have bought that I felt were unstereotypically (which isn’t a word) gender oriented was a pair of light pink sandals size Men’s 11 only to discover that summer that Fat Joe was wearing a light pink polo shirt on MTV; now real men wear pink. And the Shirley Temple is now Mountain Dew CODE RED so everyone can enjoy!
 

Zach Kaitz

Women begin to represent the “machine” starting with the invention of the typewriter. The typewriter, which had replaced the responsibilities of a traditional clerk who was traditionally male with a stenographer and a secretary, was now traditionally female.
I do not know how to write this without being too male so take these words lightly as someone who thinks women are his equals. Men have been the Generals of the workplace since there was an office. The traditional roles of men and women have had a master and subservient quality to them, which I find only healthy on occasions. This attitude enters the workplace as well. Men use their new technology to hire young woman to do machine like tasks and so the men can be the thinkers all the time. The stereotype of women as docile, quite, small, agile and nurturers carries over to the workplace, women are performing repetitive tasks in small areas never having their thoughts used or ability of moving up in the company. They become part of a male architects vision of a workplace where the woman need less room and move ability and men need the opposite, “Because women don’t spread out like men” (Sallie Tisdale “the weight that women carry”). In the ads for women’s office supplies or just office supplies, women are symbols of the machine because they are the limbs of communication for men or are happy with their chair that gives them impeccable posture. This communication reinforces the woman as secretary and not executive. Later women related work is threatened by machines. But no need to worry the Dictaphone doubles the body of the secretary letting that woman job be replaced so the woman can go on to another repetitive task.
The visual aesthetic used to “construct” the modern woman is a mix of a fetish for surrealism and functionalism of the new technology. His spreads of white space, full bleed out of focus photographs of a new independent woman; asymmetrical typography and formal abstraction modeled the high cultured fashion contained in the magazine and vice versa. Ads for dresses were placed in between famous artists essays and photos. The magazine put women in high culture making them readers of it and fans, their desire is now attached to them being a beautiful, fun and powerful woman.
The two similarities in hygiene product advertising/packaging for both sexes are staying within your genders colors and the prospect that if you don’t use some product of status you will be a shlub. Having no problem with being a shlub I have still found products I enjoy for functional reasons; there is shampoo that invigorates your scalp with a cool feeling it smells really minty. Other products I have bought that I felt were unstereotypically (which isn’t a word) gender oriented was a pair of light pink sandals size Men’s 11 only to discover that summer that Fat Joe was wearing a light pink polo shirt on MTV; now real men wear pink. And the Shirley Temple is now Mountain Dew CODE RED so everyone can enjoy!
 

Zach Kaitz

Women begin to represent the “machine” starting with the invention of the typewriter. The typewriter, which had replaced the responsibilities of a traditional clerk who was traditionally male with a stenographer and a secretary, was now traditionally female.
I do not know how to write this without being too male so take these words lightly as someone who thinks women are his equals. Men have been the Generals of the workplace since there was an office. The traditional roles of men and women have had a master and subservient quality to them, which I find only healthy on occasions. This attitude enters the workplace as well. Men use their new technology to hire young woman to do machine like tasks and so the men can be the thinkers all the time. The stereotype of women as docile, quite, small, agile and nurturers carries over to the workplace, women are performing repetitive tasks in small areas never having their thoughts used or ability of moving up in the company. They become part of a male architects vision of a workplace where the woman need less room and move ability and men need the opposite, “Because women don’t spread out like men” (Sallie Tisdale “the weight that women carry”). In the ads for women’s office supplies or just office supplies, women are symbols of the machine because they are the limbs of communication for men or are happy with their chair that gives them impeccable posture. This communication reinforces the woman as secretary and not executive. Later women related work is threatened by machines. But no need to worry the Dictaphone doubles the body of the secretary letting that woman job be replaced so the woman can go on to another repetitive task.
The visual aesthetic used to “construct” the modern woman is a mix of a fetish for surrealism and functionalism of the new technology. His spreads of white space, full bleed out of focus photographs of a new independent woman; asymmetrical typography and formal abstraction modeled the high cultured fashion contained in the magazine and vice versa. Ads for dresses were placed in between famous artists essays and photos. The magazine put women in high culture making them readers of it and fans, their desire is now attached to them being a beautiful, fun and powerful woman.
The two similarities in hygiene product advertising/packaging for both sexes are staying within your genders colors and the prospect that if you don’t use some product of status you will be a shlub. Having no problem with being a shlub I have still found products I enjoy for functional reasons; there is shampoo that invigorates your scalp with a cool feeling it smells really minty. Other products I have bought that I felt were unstereotypically (which isn’t a word) gender oriented was a pair of light pink sandals size Men’s 11 only to discover that summer that Fat Joe was wearing a light pink polo shirt on MTV; now real men wear pink. And the Shirley Temple is now Mountain Dew CODE RED so everyone can enjoy.!
 

Kevin Casanzio

In Susan Sellers article on modern fashion in the post war era, Brodovitch’s style relates to a changing modernist movement that gave women of that time a new identity. While Brodovitch was invited to America to start an Advertising Program at an Art School, A.M. Cassandre, Leo Leonni, and other European designers were commissioned by the U.S. gov’t to Create War Posters. There seems to be an incorporation of Bauhaus, and Swiss design styles that these immigrants used to give fashion magazines a new identity. Brodovitch and other European designers used abstract photography, which borrowed from the Surrealist movement. This surrealist style gave the readers a dream like fantasy of the new modernist women that at the same time liberated the consumer from the post war monotony of every day life. In the article, Brodovitch described Avedon’s abstract photography as a “vacation from life.” Seller’s describes the modernist movement in fashion as an impulse motivated by a lack of tradition. Maybe the post war Americans were just more eager to leave behind wartime memories and move on to a new beginning with new traditions.
In the Clinque case study, I am in agreement that men’s product advertising is based more on facts of the product and women’s advertising connects more with a women’s feelings and desires to look pretty. Almost all hair and makeup commercials show the worlds top models selling their products. The average women can’t help but to have a desire to look more pretty. On some similarity, allot of men’s products show well built men with their shirts off selling aftershave and shaving gel. I believe this also creates a desire in men to look and feel a certain way. Also, traditional housewife’s who do the shopping for men relate to sex appeal with these products. However, one product branding campaign that stands apart from other men’s deodorant products is Axe Body spray. Axe advertisements are completely based on sex appeal, rather than product reliability and information. Even imprinted on the individual containers is the Axe effect statement that says Axe may result in unrelenting female attention. But at the same time, the packaging of the bottles are uniquely colored to stand apart from other men’s products. The black packaging separates from the traditional dark blue and red colors associated with men’s bathroom products. Most importantly, nowhere on the package are the words “for men.” Like women’s cosmetic products that rely just on the brand name, Axe has created a new marketplace for the more educated men’s consumer.
 

Alyssa Crick

Even though a typewriter is a hard, metal piece of machinery, the role of a secretary and the woman in this role became part of the actual machine. The typewriter existed to assist the male business executive, with his secretary as its operator, she lost all form of individuality. Female jobs in the business world were repetitive and uncreative, the lowest paying and with a quick turnover of employees. Women were not kept around long enough to advance in the company and contribute their own ideas to the business decisions. Much like a machine, a secretary was a business tool only valuable while it was efficiently working and as easily dispensable as she was replacable.

Alexey Brodovitch constructed his ideas about modernism on the magazine page. White space, photographs instead of illustrations, and the use of the sillouette were visual devices of his design. Women reading Harper's would not only benefit from the articles, but could place themselves into the images portrayed. A fantasy-scape was created because the abstraction of a hand or foot in the image allowed the reader to imagine that it was hers. While this utopia-like technique was imagined, it intended to attract and educate women about what being modern really was.

Product advertising and product design, especially in hygenic products, clearly market themselves to men or women with the use of color, size, typography, and photography. Clinique claims to break out of gender stereotypes by marketing products to men, but are strengthening them by creating such clear divisions between the pastel, type-free female advertisments and the direct, informative, powerful male advertisments. The constructed image of the modern woman promotes a break away from the pink, silent, secretary at her typewriter notion. So while some advertising has attempted to break stereotypes, much of it is not encouraging to the modern woman and her advancement in the world.

Recent products that have been moving away from gender roles can include some car and suv companies. Companies like Jeep have been using women in their tv commercials, not to attract male audiences, but because they have realized that women drive their vehicles too.
Marketing towards women as the driver of the vehicle rather than the passenger is an old concept but a new idea in car advertising.
 

Yun Wa Chan

One way women begin to represent machines is discussed in Ellen Lupton’s Mechanical Brides. When the typewriter was invented, women were able to get jobs as typists, clerks, and secretaries because typing was a new job and free of gender associations. As more and more women became typists, clerks, and secretaries, these jobs began to be seen as women’s jobs. Because they used typewriters, women began to represent the machines. These women assist their bosses and become their bosses’ link to the typewriter/machine. In this way, women also began to represent machines. In Susan Sellers’ essay, she compares the streamlining of machines to the creation of the feminine woman. Streamlining was a modern trend that recreated the image of the machine and hid its inner workings. Harper’s Bazaar’s recreation of the modern feminine woman is similar to the way machines are streamlined. Through the ideas of progress, functionalism, and surrealism the machine and the woman are transformed into something new.

Brodovitch used modernist ideas of progress, surrealism, novelty, film, and photography in his construction of the modern woman. He represented the new woman as parallel to the ideas of progress and novelty by using new styles of photography and typography. One of his most effective methods was the use of photography. The photos he used were usually surreal and took away the specificity of the model, so the image can represent the general category of “woman.” He used magazine spreads similarly to film to create a narrative, which was basically a fantasy that women can place themselves into. Brodovitch constructed the modern woman mostly through the way she looked and what she wore. Harper’s Bazaar appealed to women by selling them the idea that they can become more modern and cultured by dressing and appearing progressive. These techniques create a fantasy-scape for women because they began to see progress as improvement. They told women that as long as they followed the advice of the magazine, they can be modern and feminine. Although they might be suburban housewives, they can also join high society and culture. So these techniques convince women that they can become someone else: the “modern woman” who is so much more cultured.

Product/advertisement design is similar to the constructed image of the modern woman because they uphold this constructed image. Products and ads also tell women to be feminine, tasteful, and cultured. If a product is made to look modern, women will want to buy it so they will also be modern. The products and ads appeal to women’s desire of progress and functionalism. At the same time, there is a major difference between designs for women and men. As Pat Kirkham says in his essay, women’s products and ads are more colorful, pastel, and less informative. Women are feminine, so their products should be in “feminine” colors. Women have already been instructed on the purpose of skincare products, so they don’t need any instructions. On the other hand, men’s products should be in muted colors and more informative because men should be masculine and know less about skincare. So even though women and men embrace modernism, they occupy different roles. Although Clinique tries to sell their traditionally feminine products to men and women, the company doesn’t really break away from gender roles. They still continue to construct the recreated images of the modern woman and man through the use of specific colors, language, type, etc.

Some recent products/technologies that seem to move beyond gender roles are computers, clothing, and accessories. The general use of computers isn’t generally seen as a masculine or feminine activity and computers aren’t generally designed to appeal to either gender. Apple computers and the new ipods seem to be designed to appear more modern and stylish, but they appeal to both genders. As Zach mentioned above, some clothing seems to move beyond gender roles. I’ve been noticing that men’s clothing seem more “feminine” now. For example, they come in pastels, pink, orange, etc. Even the cutting moves beyond traditional men’s clothing. At the same time, women’s clothing has been appearing more masculine. They come in colors such as black, blue, army green, etc. Recently, it has been popular for women to wear army coats, pants, etc. Although these types of clothing seem to create new categories of feminine men and masculine women, they do break away from traditional gender roles. Some clothing accessories, such as bags and watches, also seem to move beyond gender roles. Examples include unisex messenger bags/backpacks and watches.
 

David Bellari

In the article Construction of the Modernist Woman, by Susan Sellers, we learn about a change in the American woman’s role and fashion. Post war, women began working and containing more influential positions in the economy. The invention of the typewriter allowed woman to obtain jobs in the business field. Women became important figures in the workplace. The Brodovitch style became present in women and gave them a new outlook. Brodovitch was an influential designer that set up an advertising school in the U.S. Throughout this period, this style helped women in undertaking new identities. It wasn’t solely Brodovitch that helped bring about this change, other designers such as Leonni and Cassandre played vital roles as well. These designers all contained similar modern styles, with influences of Bauhaus and European design. Previous to this, design during the war was bland and ordinary. People wanted to forget about the war and its troubles. These designers brought about a change in how Americans viewed design. They added a surrealist vibe into everyday magazines through the use of abstract photographs. This new, dream like, vibe portrayed women in high fashion and on a new pedestal. People began accepting and enjoying this new idea of the modernist woman.
This new modernist role of women changed the way woman products and goods were advertised. Woman products began to be advertised based on appeal and feeling rather than the products themselves. One is likely to see a shampoo commercial with a nude woman in the shower moaning rather than telling the consumer the benefits of that particular brand. Sex appeal is a widely used to sell products. Women want to see a commercial and feel that the product being sold will make them sexier or more beautiful. Because of this notion we see top stars selling makeup and supermodels selling perfume. This type of selling has become more evident with regards to male viewers as well. Male products are likely to be portrayed by male models or actors in order to give the product more appeal. I believe the Brodovitch style paved the way for modern advertising. It changed people’s views and attitudes and brought about a desire for the modern and the new. It provided an emphasis on fashion and the beautiful. Much of its theory is in modern day advertising and promotion.
There are cases where gender roles are not as prominent in advertising. With the invention of new technology and high-tech products we see a new growing field of advertising. Many new devices or technologies do not focus on gender roles in their advertising. They do not want to attract only one group so the products will be equally used by both genders. They focus on the heightened level of technology rather than gender. An example of this would be the new Apple Imac computer ads. Apple focuses on the sleek, high-tech design of the computer in its pure form with little distractions. The viewer sees the computer and is not confused by excess material or information.
 

Steve Voutsinas

Prior to the 1880, males dominated all of the clerical occupations. However, by 1890 woman held 60 percent of all typing occupations, and it increased raipdly to 90 percent by 1920. This was due to the fact that the men who had those jobs were advancing in the roles of the job. This is why woman begin to represent the "machine". Not only is the typewriter or now a computer just called the machine, but its come to the point in our society where when we think of a typewriter or computer when it comes to secretary work, we immediately think woman. The typewriter doesnt work itself, and therefore woman are actually considered part of it. I don't think its right to call a woman part of the machine, they are just doing their jobs, but it's become accepted in our society.
Brodovitch's style used extreme excess of white space, simple typography, eliminating almost all ornamentation and depended completely on typographic composition to express values of currency. White space was the key to graphic materialism. Using this white space, as well as reducing his models to formal abstractions, he "constructed" the modern woman. This allowed woman to be able to see themselves in each image, rather then what we see today with gorgeous woman all over the place and other woman seeing them and rather envying them then seeing themselves as them. This is a really big issue in our society.
This brings me to my next point about advertising. If you look in magazine ads or at TV commercials for hygene products, especially for woman, you will always see a beautiful woman (most of the time a famous beautiful woman) selling you the product. Because of our society, woman have a need to become more beautiful. Products for men do this as well, where you will see a good looking man shaving with his shirt off and stuff like that, so theres a similarity to that however men really don't care as much as woman I don't think. Personally I cannot remember a time I bought a product because the guy in the comercial looked better then me and I wanted to be like him. And thats b/c there isn't a demand for us as men to look good, not like there is for ALL woman to, and that goes way back to my 1st paragraph talking about the woman as the machine. Thats where it all started and where it will continue to grow from here, these sterotypes towards woman.
I think that a lot of gatorade and nike ads trangress gender roles because pretty much in ever TV commercial you will see a woman athlete, as well as male athletes. I don't know if this is recent, but thinking about that last question the 1st thing to came to mind was those two products. They are a really great example of saying hey woman can do it just like men and it definately is a good thing because men love sports, so involving woman too is a great step forward.
 

Megumi Hattori

After 1880, women began to represent machine by invention of mechanical object such as typewriter, telephones etc. According to rising women’s educator and rising demand for clerical work, women became a center of clerical works. Increasing of feminism in office work, the design of business machines and their environment has been changing. Designers created much different kind of typewriters that forms and colors catch the attention of women. Not only typewriter but also the design of office desk and chair has been changed. These objects were created to make women’s worker comfortable and encourage them.
Brodovitch constructed modern woman through the fashion magazine that he designed. He concentrated photography which leads him to the profession of graphic design later. His aesthetic ideas were based on European modernist movement. He constructed magazine by using typographic, photo graphic and editorial techniques. The use of white space and asymmetric typography with cinematic photography liberate women from the tricky fashion world and give them fantastic dream and realistic. Brodovitch’s photo implies both functionalism and surrealism taste that are crucial for aesthetic devices in his style. His photography and use of technique in the magazine gives ideas to be modern, and also express the general women’s style.
The way of creating advertisement between men and women is different. In Clinique case study, the women’s products are using colorful packages while men’s products are not so colorful. Not only product itself but also the packaging and advertisement that create luxury and sexual emotion are important for women. Male consider usefulness and convenience more than emotion and feeling, so the advertisement for men looks more informative than the women’s. The similarity between men and women’s product advertisement is that they both use model who emphasize their sexuality by using the product. Cosmetic advertise use typical models whose looks represent the consumer’s desire. Women have stronger desire to be like the model of advertisement than men, and they may also have desire to their husband, boyfriend to be like the male model by using certain products.
I think an exercise machine is one of the products that go beyond the gender role. In the past decade, the fitness and muscle training were popular within male, but it is now popular both male and female. When the TV commercial introduces exercise machines, we see both male and female models doing exercise. These kind of commercial and advertisement suggest that women can work as men, another word; women get closer to be an equal to men.
 

I believe that these readings pertain to the classification of qualities to all products ranging from cosmetics and magazines to chairs and desks.
Both, The Mechanical Bride and The Gendered Object
refer to obejcts that clearly represent female and
male boundaries. In the Gendered object I understood
that an important part to keep to growth of
consumerism is by studying well what will sell and not
sell a product. I think women were openend a breach to get into the
'man' business world, and while they were slaving away in repetitive
and monotonous typing for much less than minimum wage, men
were satisfied because other man's jobs were not taken by women.
Women typists, receptionists, secretaries, etc, remained without a
voice. The women of the office lent their bodies to the realization of
words on paper, were not permitted to provide any input. Thats when
women began to represent the machine.

I believe that the Gender Object presents a point that we have all experienced in our everyday lives. We all perceive how objects are sold to both sexes by stressing the use of certain colors, music, different photogaphic styles, languaje, etc. We begin to see how objects are given an indentity that we desire.
 

Niki Zengerle

Women begin to represent “the machine” with the introduction of the typewriter. This new form of office equipment had no established sexual history and was therefore not considered to be gender specific. In addition, because the role of typist was new in the business arena, female typists were not perceived as displacing any pre-existing male roles in the marketplace. The typewriter helped to automate the workplace in the same way modern machinery did the factory: the job of generating “a huge volume of legible, uniform documents” could be produced using the low paying, cost effective, female clerical worker. (I know this was perceived at the time as a great boon for women, a kind of promotion into the business world, but a room full of 1000 female typists chained to their desks in Frank Lloyd Wright’s new “clerical desk & chair” from my perspective is the perfect vision of hell – nauseating at best. The mental image alone gives me a headache!) However, as more and more office equipment became automated – phones, typewriters, faxes, filing systems, women transformed their care giving qualities from the needs of men at home to the needs of the men in the office place. I don’t see much difference between the 1950’s role of the little wife who always knows where her husband misplaced his glasses to the 1950’s little secretary who can immediately put her hands on that missing file for her male boss. Truthfully it only seems to me like a change in location and visual environment, not any real breakthrough in roles for women. In my opinion, the only real advantage was that women were now making their own money. It has been acknowledged throughout civilization that money is power, so in this way women finally began to become a force to be reckoned with in the growing commercialized world.
Harper’s art director Alexey Brodovitch wanted to construct the modern woman as “the well dressed woman with the well dressed mind”. He acquired the services of photographer Richard Avedon to assist him in creating a new feminine mystique. Using blurred out-of-focus images he emphasized “color, movement, and carefree, incidental gesture to suggest freedom and spontaneity.” He also employed the use of silhouette photography to compel the reader to insert herself into the empty shell of the silhouette and thereby become the beautiful, mysterious, individualist. Brodovitch created the image of the Harper’s woman as an abstract, cool, formal, refined and elegant creation. Employing modernist techniques of san serif typefaces, plenty of white space, full color photos that bled off the page, and simplistic bold designs he exuded elegance, simplicity, and a distinct femininity on the canvas of the magazines pages, as well as on the models themselves.
With reference to how this gendered image affects product advertising and product design, I think the stereotypes are obvious. Woman’s products appeal to the senses: sight, touch, smell, where as men’s products appeal to the intellect. We begin to establish these rolls from the first moment of birth; the boy babies will be wrapped in the blue hospital blankets while the girls are wrapped in the pink; little girls will play with dolls and adopt care giver roles while little boys build things or play with toy soldiers and kill each other. We applaud the unemotional attitude in little boys while comforting and indulging the emotional responses in girls. I’m not saying that these rolls are absolute or that I in any way agree with them. In fact I don’t care for the stereo typing of children much at all, but it seems extremely hard to escape. Thankfully things do seem to be changing. I think we are becoming more accepting of the crossing and blurring of rolls in our society, and we are beginning to move towards transgendered design, even though I still think that the change is slowest in the products for children. I was thinking of the advertising and packaging of cell phones as an example. They really don’t seem to be aimed at attracting one gender more than others (at least at the present moment. this may not have been true when they first arrived on the market.) Instead, they seem to attempt to reach consumers based on more of an age demographic rather than on a gendered one. This is refreshing to me, and seems emanately more practical.
 

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TRAVIS APTT

After reading the Sellers article, it seems that the idea of women representing “the machine” is quite evident. I feel that not only have women represented the machine throughout the past, but clearly do in the present and probably will into the future as well. Yes, I agree that the idea of the women represented “the machine” began with the typewriter and a secretary taking notes and answering phone calls, etc, etc… Any time I can remember a show or movie depicting a courtroom… the woman is always the stenographer and the male is always the bailiff. But I think it is even bigger than that these days. I think that the meaning of “the machine” is to believe that women are this type of machine that have been bossed around and told what to do throughout the years. And if you associated this with a machine, it is right along the same lines. What do we do with a machine? We program it or direct it what to do according to what we want. In no way am I saying this is what I feel personally, but I definitely feel that this is how it has been and still is today. Sadly, it probably will never change, but I would say that progress has been made.
Gender roles in product advertising/product design and the constructed image of their objected market field are clearly evident today. While clinique has stated that they have tried to break out of traditional marketing ways and market many of their products to men it doesn’t seem that it works that well. About 3 years ago, I purchased clinique products… not because I liked them or thought they were for men, but because my doctor recommended them. The way that they were marketed though, made me feel that they were solely for women. It was inside a Kaufmanns in which I was completely surrounded by women’s perfumes, creams, sprays, and whatever else they use. Of course all the products brand names were Neutrogena, estee lauder, and many other well known famous brand products on the women’s line. Granted if I was not shopping with my mom I would have not stepped foot near the counter, but if they claim to market to men as much as women, maybe they should look into changing their images somewhat. Not to mention the “pastel-ish” colors of the bottles of stuff I purchased. They don’t exactly personify a manly image. Overall I felt that the issue to me was that it was recommended to me by my doctor. If something is going to help me… I could really care less if it is in a pink bottle… I am going to buy it. On the other hand that is necessarily the case for the rest of society.
 

Carolynn Giordano :o)
Well this whole article reminds me of the phrase "behind every great man is a good woman." In the article Women and Machines from Home to Office by Ellen Lupton it compares a woman to a typewriter. Many women were then trained to sit at a desk and type all day long for the men of the office. Like the households of this time women did the "dirty" work. Every job that was considered time consuming was done by a woman, cleaning, cooking, laundry, taking care of children was all the behind the scenes work of a great mans family. When the typewriter was brought about as a new form of office equipment it seemed to me that no man wanted to take the time to sit there and type up all his documents, so what better way to get a time consuming job done but to start hiring women to do this job for a man in the office. Throughout history and even today the gender roles have improved giving women more power in the work area, in most places women now are in charge of men, but has anything really changed? There are two genders in life for a reason, one being women and the other men, both are different and both have different roles in life, today this is not necessarily a bad thing. For the most part women choose what role they play wether it is the working woman or the housewife, and in my eyes both being equally respected.
Gender roles in design today are definitely marketed toward the women gender, however a man with taste might notice the great design even on a pink bottle. Most products out there today are designed in a way to say "look at me" and, most people who do the looking at me shopping or have an eye for these products are women. Personally I love buying stupid things like soap, and shampoo just because its in a cute bottle. Most men do not think this way, what they care about is how the product works, and as long as it gets the job done and, in every gender there is exceptions as well. The whole gender issues over all give me a headache. In my opinion I think no matter how hard women try to be equal to men it simply will never happen. Women are naturally the nurturer and that is the role that has been assigned to them in life, women have come a long way through the years. Without women, men would not only be a mess but to a greater extent not even exist.
 

Eda Karahan
Women have been representative of the "machine" since the invention of the typewritter. Before then men were the only ones in the office doing all the work, until it got to a point where they thought why not give the "dirty" work to the woman. Women started to represent the "machine" because of men, they just turned women into their little "machines" to do all their work. I believe that there is always going to be differences between gender roles, no matter at the workplace or socially. Women have come a long ways, I highly doubt that back then they never thought they would actually being working with men, let alone working at all. Today there is more equality then there ever was, because now in some places women are ordering the men around, or women are getting higher paid jobs then men, but in the end I can admit that no matter how far women go that stereotype will never disappear.
When it comes to similarities and differences between gender roles in product advertising or product design and the constructed image of the modern women there are always way more differences. The article by Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller about Cliniques toiletries states, "the difference between advertisements for male toiletries and those for female toiletries are marked and, to a certain degree, conform to certain binary oppositions which are generally accepted to relate to men and women." The differences in advertising for men is that the product basically needs to be careful of mens feelings and make sure to be very explicit and to the point so there is no misunderstanding. However, when it comes to advertising for women they do not need to go so much into detail and be so percise with what the say and what colors they use. Now, I understand that from what the reading says, mens products are this way because they are not informed of these details from when they are little like girls are. But, if you think about it, I believe that it has more to do with the fact that if it said something to soft, sensual or delicate, they would think twice of purchasing the product because of what others would think of him and that he would not be as masculant anymore. I really do not think there are any similarities between gender roles in product advertising except the actual product just twisted and turned depending on the gender.
 

It is clear in the reading by Ellen Lupton that through women’s ability and willingness to supply the work place with routine work they became an asset in the office. Women begin to represent the machine as a symbol of the objective according to Ellen Lupton’s the Mechanical Bride. The office politics displayed that a man’s job should not be handed to a woman and therefore secretary work or typing/the keyboard gave neutrality in the feminization of the work place. Men would serve their role as the executive and the final thought process. Women serve as a machine in the sense that there is a need for them but it comes only in a purpose of an office supply necessity, a tool for the men to use in their daily work.
Brodovitch makes use of powerful white space to counterpoint the full bleed photograph and deliver a seamless “cinematic” view. Brodovitch applies a contrasting nature of surrealism and functionalism as an essential part of his design for Bazaar. His fascination with visual innovation is a driving force in Brodovitch’s attempt to reinvest everyday images with intrigue and the mystique of distinguished culture. Brodovitch took modern design along with the office space and brought them into women’s homes. Women that were the homemaker’s in 1910’s gained with his designs the ability to look at themselves with elegance and cultural sophistication, despite the tedious everyday life.
Gender roles do place an importance in the advertising of products. The men do not typically venture out to buy a wide variety of products and therefore these factors play into the design of the packaging of certain products. The typical factors of gender distinction in advertising are color, black and white photo for male versus softness and pastels meant for the female consumers. The amount of information included in a package is also a gender factor, meaning that a male product package typically carries a significantly larger amount of information. Female products are usually established plenty with just a label but on the other hand the article by Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller suggests that companies feel that male products advertising requires much more than a title/label. The only similarity that I found between male and female advertising is the use of gender specification. As far as products that transgress the ancient gender role specificities, perhaps Kitchen utilities geared towards male appeal could be one and even carpentry tools are being produced with feminine appeal tactics.

Jessica Young
 

Kristina Nosal

The artical "construction of the modernist Woman" by Susan Sellers,talks about how woman roles changed after the war. Women became part of the economy. Woman were no longer sitting at home cooking and cleaning all day, they began to get jobs during the war becuase the men were in the war and we needed workers, so after the war ended they continued to work. Woman began to be represented as the machine "the typewriter" specifically becuase they were the person behind it. They were the ones that got jobs typing, and doing secraterial work, for the man. Women have moved up the working world, but i feel as tho we will never as a whole make as much as a man. The stereotypes are changing alot, but they will still always be there.

I have to say that there are different ways to get a womans attention in design and a mans attention. Most hygeine products are designed to be appealing to the woman, Sometimes more elegant and colorwise, for a man its usually completely different colors and more ruggid looking. I know that in the projects i do for class, i somehow seem to fall into the same stereotypical design strategys & stereotypes. I do try to break myself of this alot, but it is soemthing that has been instilled in our minds since we were born: Pink=Girls, Blue=Boy. Its hard when designing to break that stereotype, what if you do venture off that course, and make soemthing completely supposably "not appealing" to woman? Do you lose sales, will they still buy it?

I think that alot of products are appealing to both genders nows, but is that because woman have begun to break the stereotype? Or is it because we have learned to design so that it can be appealing to the man and the woman? I think that cars, SUVs are an example, they used to be advertised for the man, but now we see woman driving them in commercials, and they come in purple now to appeal to the woman driver.
 

Doug W Pashley

The whole topic of gender is something I never thought much about until I became an art student. It is amazing how much time and thought is spent on gender issues! I say that not with a condescending tone, but rather an amazed one. I know that I never really thought about the gender dynamic much and how it affects people, even in the day to day. Which brings me to my next point: since I have explored and discussed the issue in my four years of being an art major, my eyes have been opened to see how gender issues work in the real world. For example, a main idea that I grew up with and never questioned was the roles of males and females. Boys like blue, girls like pink. Boy play baseball, girls play ‘house’. Boys are tough, girls are delicate. Boys don’t cry, girls always do. These are gender roles put into place by stereotypes. But how do those stereotypes get reinforced? I think gender stereotypes get reinforced by other people who pass them on by how they think and live. For example, my dad was always saying “Be a man” when I got hurt. For me, my gender role was put into place by my dad. There were other factors too, like school for example. They were always propagating the “girly” and the “boyish”, especially in decoration, nametags, colors of folders, pencils, and others. These gender roles are well defined and laid out for everyone at a very young age, and to deviate from that creates chaos and will merit being ostracized. Gender roles continue throughout life and get more rigid as we age, as seen in The Gendered Object article, which analyzed the Clinique product line for men and women. What I never realized is how men and women’s products are designed to enforce the preexisting gender roles: men’s products are “thicker, bolder and somewhat squat” whereas the women’s products are “thinner, more elegant and sophisticated”. This definition of gender roles via the packaging design holds true in most all products that target both men and women. Even the words used to create the product identity enforce gender roles, as the article mentions. My question is who is behind this rigid definition? It’s the company who creates the product and the designers who created the product identity. These people are the ones who enforce the gender stereotypes and roles that they have been forced to walk themselves.
Another area of life that gender roles dictate is the workplace. It’s clear in the Mechanical Brides article that the role of women is restricted to the roles of secretary and stenographer. Even though that in itself is a milestone in the movement of women towards equality, it is still not very much at all—there is still the positions of power held by men. The positions of power have changed today, in that they are more equal than in the early twentieth century, but still men control and dominate. I by no means agree with an overthrow, a reversal of roles, but fully support equality of men and women. While that is happening more and more today, (and to the betterment of society as a whole, I might add), complete equality is still a long way off. The article mentioned a lot about the hierarchy of power being preserved, displayed even in things as simple as the type of chair the boss got versus what the secretary got. The display of hierarchy perpetuates in the business environment today, as does the dominance and abuse of power. As far as gender is concerned, there is still a lot of opposition to women getting high-paying jobs. What the root of the issue is, I think, stems back to the enforcement of gender stereotypes. Men are stronger, smarter, and able to make command-decisions, whereas women are weaker, less intelligent than men, and break under pressure. While this is completely false, it continues today, perpetuated mostly by men who realize they are on the favorable end of the gender stereotype and choose to abuse this already-abusive situation. When will that stop? When all people, men and women alike, are united under the common goal of equality and press on to achieve it by working side-by-side. Or when Hell freezes over. One of the two.
 

KRISTIN SORO
In Lupton’s article she speaks about how women were not even considered a part of the urban community, and that idea was also brought into the office work area. Lupton’s compares the women to office staples such as a desk or a telephone; they were trained to blend in with the wood work. Machines are used as an extension of the human body, they allow for more efficient and productive work for which our own body would be tired at the lengths of doing the work manually in comparison to that of the machine. The typewriter was then an extension of the woman hands, however they were producing the work of there bosses, therefore the combination of the typewriter and the woman were combined into one machine for the purpose of the execution of the mans productivity.

Brodivitch used the idea of “white space” to construct an elegant “good design” for the modern woman. At this time in history as cities were expanding and fringes developing women were no longer in the urban setting as they once were with there husbands. They were now segregated to the out skirts of were the “work” was being done. They had there homes to take care of and new homes were beginning to be designed or redesigned to fit the functions women needed. The women were now in charge of creating the space in which functioned most efficiently for there purpose. Brodivitch realized that women were the decision makers in the designing of there homes and spaces and utilized this market in targeting the modern women. The suburban lifestyles for the women were at times mundane, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. However, Brodivitches design of Bazaar became a fantasy – scape for women because if its design. Advertisements were placed in the beginning and the end which enabled women to choose if they wanted to be subjected to the reality of there lives that were being targeted by the advertisers. It also allowed women to loss themselves in the content of the magazines design, art, and culture of the magazine, which was an escape from there everyday mundane lives.

Gender roles in product advertising/product design are similar in the case study of Clinique in the way the brand name speaks of high quality. Clinique uses words that instigate the actions of “convenience, simple, no fuss, and unscented” to target men, the information content on packaging for men will tend to be more descriptive towards the products functions and features, colors will be often bold read as masculine. It is said that men want to be “educated” about what the product is and does. Women on the other hand have been taught at an early age what the products functions are and how to use them; therefore design is based mostly on the aesthetic and visual representation of the product. The design is done in a lighter more feminine way, with pastels, and transparencies. Women designs are softer and lighter than that of the men’s, however it is a misconception that women do not also look for convince, no fuss and simple, as it is said for the men’s designs. Products are improved to function better “thumb print in foundation bottle” or “opened lipstick” to help with application and spills. Design advertisements are also different for targeting men and women. Women designs are again full color and feminine, alluring to emotional appeal and habitual buying patterns. Men’s advertisements are highly contrasting with the use of just black and white to keep it simple and to the point, more likely to use a cognitive approach to approaching the possibility of purchase. Another market is men buying for women and women for men, the marketing scheme does not change in these conditions, however the perceptions of the other party changes. The mind set in purchase behaviour is altered based on who will be consuming the product post purchase.
A recent product or advertising scheme currently running ads it the swiffer mop. The commercial is shows the traditional role of the women cleaning the house to the man's work. The commercial shows the man coming into the bathroom scaring his wife by opening the show curter while she’s showering to show her how amazed he was that the mop picked up parsley. This advertisement does suggest that he obviously doesn’t do much of the house cleaning often however the product is being portrayed as easy, efficient, simple to use (even by the unbelievers, or dullards). The endorser for this product is a typical person endorser which is portraying the average male 30-45. This age group would be considered the typical working male. The lighting in the commercial might suggest it is early morning, perhaps the woman is getting ready for work and he discovered the new product and just had to show his wife how efficient it cleaned the floor. This might have typically been the excitement of a women’s day at one time. The women in the shower seams to be unimpressed with her husband’s findings. The husband never once looks at his wife and continues to point out the bits of garbage on the mops disposable top, then just walks away still amazed at the products design.
 

Women began to represent the machine by being the “conduit” for male communication. As a typist, they relayed their boss’ thoughts to another male supervisor by putting the words in impressed ink. The relatively short turnaround and low pay made it virtually impossible for women to gain a foothold in the marketplace, lacking capital and the necessary time to gain corporate contacts to secure a higher position and status in the business world that was especially necessary in a male dominated business world as it was. Even the technology advanced to replace the woman worker as the conduit to male thought has been met with a great deal of resistance, Dictaphones, and more recently computer voice recognition systems were designed to replace the secretarial position, but still have yet to replace the customized service and human interaction that a worker provides.

Brodovich used plenty of white space and bleeds to produce a new fantasy for women. His silhouettes allowed women to imagine themselves in the pages of Harper’s Bazaar much easier than the previous cluttered illustration that accompanied the magazine layout. In placing grainy black and white photos where once had been these complex illustrations, it was easier to evoke a more visceral emotion in women.

Gender roles in modern product design are exemplified by the shape and color of the product. A curvaceous shape denotes a woman’s body and is more likely to attract a female because of a more identifiable shape to a woman’s frame as opposed to a more angular male form that also calls for it’s own identity in a larger, more robust looking product. The gender stereotypical colors associated with male and female are also very prominent in differentiation with products, with pastels and soft colors being the top feminine associations with color. An interesting part that I found was that there was almost an information glut for male products as opposed to female products even of similar origins. A greater word of mouth “campaign” from friends complemented by women being barraged by brands at earlier ages, enough to be at very least brand conscious, but more likely to be brand loyal due to this extra early brand and product “training.” Being a much more educated consumer than their male counterparts in many products, especially stereotypical products such as toiletries is underscored by similar products having a great deal less information on female related products than male products, but in unfamiliar products, female versions get just as much information on the package to help educate females on that particular product.

The voice recognition industry is trying to do what the Dictaphone tried to do only doubly so, in replacing the secretary all together. The software being in it’s infancy still does not reach it’s expectations and due to human languages dialects and nuances it has a very long time to go before perfecting language enough to get more than a couple of sentences correct in translation.

Greg Everhart