Zeitschriftenartikel zum Thema „Logos (Symbols) – Scandinavia – Design“

This paper aims to present a research study concerning the graphics and symbols in logo design exhibited in an art program dubbed ‘Golden Ages of Art Nouveau and Art Deco’. It was important for us to understand these trends, their characteristics and graphics, to create many times beautiful masterpieces of art. We have noticed a lot of differences between these two art movements related to symbols, signs and colours which were used. It was ‘a special art travel’ to study, theoretically and practically, the field of logo design connected to these ages. Starting from our research study, we have tried to make ‘a basket’ of features which characterises each trend. We have tried to explain the diversity of elements used as an art graphic design focused on logos. And, of course, we have tried to create logos using the features of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Keywords: Art Nouveau, Art Deco, logo design, feature, symbols, colours.

The graphic world of logos is interesting and creative. In this paper, we have pleaded about ‘the graphic technique’ to design good logos using a few essential principles to do it. To draw a graphic representation, as a logo, somebody has to know a peculiar language made of symbols, signs, colours, geometric shapes and words. Because the typology of logos is interesting and allows to create icons, logotype and complex graphic representations. Our study has analysed a lot of logos to identify the main principles ‘to build’ them. It was a hard work of observation and explanation about logos using many examples. We think we have shown the power of graphics in our study.Keywords: Special graphic language, logo, principles, typology, creative work.

This paper is a study concerning the design of airlines logos all over the world, that is, what symbols, signs and colours are used to create this special identity. This study, which was realised on a hundred airlines, revealed interesting facts related to the main principles that govern the logo design. We were interested to see if special drawings that express a company are related to the represented country, because we found a lot of similarity in this. In the centre of the study was the logo, as an important graphic element to identify an airline company. We identified the typology of logos, known as iconic, logotype and complex logos. This paper is a plea for this wonderful graphic element, that is, the Logo. Keywords: Airline, logo design, typology, symbol, logotype.

This paper presents a study concerning the possibility to choose the right symbol for a logo. For a designer, it is a very hard work to see what symbol is necessary to represent the identity of a company. Our study realised on thousands of logos to understand what message can be conveyed only by a sign/symbol. Also, we have realised that it is not necessary that the symbol be in the field of activity of the company but, it has to be an expressive one for it. The directions of the study were focused to identify the activities for which it is necessary to have an adequate graphic representation and to assure a database concerning symbols used, especially for some activities. Keywords: Logo, symbols, logo design.

In the modern information era, communication between customers and designers must be efficient and systematic, streamlining the design process. Design processes should be interactive and effective. The Corporate Identity Information Service System (CIISS), based on a network platform, achieves this, allowing customers to participate in and evaluate the design of Corporate Identity Systems (CIS). This personalized information service system integrates corporate logos, terms and their application to merchandise, helping customers to visualize concepts and generate designs in real-time via the network. A network system was developed to support a customized commercial system for CIS design. Interfaces and object-oriented methods were integrated into an online real-time publishing information system with a database and search engine. Designers and customers are able to utilize digitized images of merchandise, corporate logos and wordings and retrieve relevant information on corporate logos, symbols, color schemes and specific wording simultaneously. This system provides rapid communication through a real-time display and customized information service, making the process of CIS design more efficient for both designer and customer.

Our study focused to understand the importance of graphic representations, as logos, in urban environment and to identify the principles of logo design used to create them. In this paper, we have discussed about logos in the historical centre of Bucharest and it was hard work, including walking by foot along the streets to identify all these logos which convey different messages to the people and to show what typology was used and what graphics were drawn. As it is known, daily, the people are assaulted by signs, symbols, colours, which are everywhere on panels, buildings, walls, cars, buses, etc. All these representations are ‘expressions of something which exist in reality’. In our research study, we have tried to see in what proportion is used a logo to represent a company, a pub, a restaurant, a bank, a pet shop, a theatre, etc., and the result for this approach was so interesting. Keywords: Logo, design, old city.

AbstractObjectiveTo develop health-endorsement logos (HEL) for food products indicating healthy choices based on the South African nutrient profile model and to pilot test these logos with consumers.DesignMultistage mixed-methods design.SettingCape Town, South Africa.SubjectsNine focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with adult consumers to explore what types of HEL are preferred and why. Based on the findings, ten HEL were designed by a graphic design team. A modified Delphi technique, conducted with experts in the fields of nutrition and food science, was employed to eliminate lowest-scoring HEL and to improve the design of the remaining logos. Participants from the initial FGD participated in pilot testing the improved logos.ResultsParticipants from FGD (n 67) were positive about a single HEL, stating it would make food labelling less confusing as they did not understand the various HEL used. Participants indicated the logo should include wording related to ‘healthy choice’ or ‘better choice’ and pictures/symbols related to health and/or food. During two rounds of scoring and comments by experts (n 19), five logos were eliminated and the design of the remaining five improved. Three of five remaining logos received overall rankings of 3·08/5, 3·28/5 and 3·39/5, respectively, during FGD (n 36) in the pilot-testing phase.ConclusionHEL were designed and consumer tested. Three designs were submitted to the national Department of Health to consider for implementation, after further testing, as a tool to assist in addressing the high incidence of non-communicable diseases in South Africa.

This study analyzes the principles of composition and symbolic meanings of university heraldry and guild heraldry in medieval Europe based on the concept of Thick Discription of Clifford Geertz, a champion of symbolic anthropology. Thick Discription is one of methodologies of cultural studies that helps to demonstrate cultural symbols and signs in the context used. It enables to elucidate complex conceptual structures, many of them superimposed on or knotted into one another, which are strange, inconstant and concealed. We will infer how medieval heraldry as a symbolic sign influences modern visual culture, especially symbol marks because modern university symbols and corporate logos have been rooted in medieval university heraldry and guild heraldry respectively. This paper provides useful academic materials that visual designers and design researchers can refer to.

Purpose Counterfeiting is a menace in the emerging markets and many successful brands are falling prey to it. Counterfeit brands not only deceive consumers but also fuel a demand for lower priced replicas, both of which can devalue the bona-fide brand. But can consumers accurately identify a counterfeit logo? This paper aims to explore this question and examines the accuracy and speed with which a consumer can identify a counterfeit (vs original) logo. Design/methodology/approach Seven popular brand logos were altered by transposing and substituting the first and last letters of the logotypes. Consumers then classified the logos as counterfeit (vs original) across two experiments. Findings Participants were faster and more accurate in identifying a counterfeit logo when the first letter (vs last letter) of a logotype was manipulated, thus revealing last letter manipulations of a brand’s logotype to be more deceptive. Research limitations/implications This paper comments only on the manipulation of logotypes but not of logo symbols. Similarly, findings may not be generalizable across languages which are read from right to left. Practical implications Counterfeit trade is already a multibillion dollar industry. Understanding the key perceptual differentiators between a counterfeit (vs original) logo can be insightful for both consumers and firms alike. Originality/value Research available on objective measures of similarities (vs dissimilarities) between counterfeit (vs original) brand logos is limited. This paper contributes by examining the ability of consumers to discriminate between counterfeit (vs original) logos at different levels of visual similarity.

In recent years, along with the diversified development of culture, two-dimensional elements in posters, posters, logos, and many other types of graphic design have become contemporary testimonies and symbols. However, many graphic designers have neglected to improve their structure and creative abilities and started to rely on the software and tools they use to produce art, leading to reduced quality of output and making everything look the same in our information-saturated world, which in turn impact the audience who has developed aesthetic anxiety and facing challenges to absorb the information they truly need in an ocean of images that is chaotic and fast-moving. In light of this, this paper analyzes the creative process and the application of contemporary graphic design. It discusses the problems in using two-dimensional elements and the corresponding solutions, such as starting from images, words, and colors simultaneously. These suggestions can significantly help to improve the effect of graphic design and creative industries to relieve the aesthetic anxiety of the public and provide them with better solutions and the ability to absorb the information they need.

In many countries with a multi-party system, there are parties that have adopted socialist ideologies. These parties, which are in the category of left parties, generally advocate a strong state structure and the equal distribution of the opportunities of the country to all layers of the society. Although they have a large party structure to be an alternative to right-wing parties in some countries, they do not have a significant value in the eyes of the voters as a marginal party that appeals to a very small segment of the society in some countries. However, changing conditions and especially the failures of those in the administration cause socialist and similar parties to gain value in society as a hope. It is the general characteristic of socialist parties that they often take a serious stance against the populist party understanding. In addition, their weak point is that they prefer more traditional and economic methods instead of election campaigns where large expenditures are made because they do not receive support from large capital centers. A party that wants to struggle in today's multi-party structure has to do what is necessary in order not to fall behind the others. In particular, corporate identity structures that are not made by the professional team create an image that is well behind the day. Emblems and logos, which visually create a meaning and message for people and are perceived instead of the name of the party, are of great importance. Socialist parties' preference for classic logos with symbols that reveal their characteristic mentality constitutes a structure far behind today's modern graphic design product level. In the article, randomly selected socialist party logos from different countries of the world were analyzed within the framework of visual communication concepts. Analyzes are universal concepts that visual communication has produced under its own conditions from hundreds of years of experience. However, when these concepts are used with a critical structure, it is inevitable that there will be differences in evaluations according to personal perception differences.

The aim of this research is to explore how semiotics is used by different brands in commercials in order to influence the audience and how much is their effect on them. Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols and colors. They all carry meanings which is difficult for a layperson to decode. Some kind of ideology is constructed by using these symbols, colors, and catchy expressions from which the viewer is unaware. The study adopted cross-sectional research design within the qualitative research paradigm. Simple random sampling technique is utilized for selecting the sample and purposive sampling technique is used for the selection of commercial. Interview is used as the data collection instrument. Since semiotics is not studied in Pakistan as a separate branch, hence many people are unfamiliar about this science. They unconsciously use colors, images, music, and other signs regardless of their implications on the receiver. This research shows that semiotics occupies a pivotal role in the overall success of commercials. It gives awareness to people in order to judge and see things through different and broad perspective, give them a critical eye to watch commercials with conscious mind, and to understand the certain ideology behind them (Sajid & Khan, 2020). Therefore, in this way, people can evaluate the implied meanings by paying attention to the ‘minute’ details like colors, sounds, signs, logos, and symbols which they neglect before

A company's brand is not just a name and logo, it is also the company's commitment to customers. Brand is a strategic asset, and therefore, when building a brand, the values, purpose, positioning, and personality of the company are also created. The psychology of archetypes understands the inner meaning of brands and products and helps marketers establish lasting concepts and identities. Archetypes are images, symbols, characters and myths that exist all over the world and transmit information in our collective unconscious. By using archetypes, brands have the ability to connect consumers' most basic emotions and motivations. Three archetypes were defined to develop three logos based on their concepts. The archetypes analyzed here are Mage, Jester, and Creator. A survey was carried out with the brand's target audience to find out if the logo was conveying the archetype's message and defined a positioning for the agency. The results obtained were that it is possible to develop a visual identity based on the concepts of archetypes and pass positive emotions and sensations through them.

This research discussed signs in terms of icons, indexes, and symbols on the variety show named NCT Life: Hot and Young Seoul Trip using the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce. The purpose of this research is to describe icons, indexes, and symbols related to tourism and interpret these signs with contextual meaning. The reason for doing this research is to look for signs that refer to persuasive tourism promotion activities contained in the variety show. This research employed the descriptive qualitative design with the findings on each icon, index, symbol, and contextual meaning presented in the form of a description. The results of this study indicate that there are categories of icons, indexes, and symbols related to tourism promotion in Seoul, South Korea. Icon has three categories related to brand ambassadors, tourist attractions, and tourist activities. The index has four categories related to the background illustration for NCT members introduction, expressions of feelings, figurative expressions, and gestures. The symbol has three categories related to logos, slogans, and additional information related to activities and tourist attractions. Then, the contextual meaning of the signs found leads to several contexts, all of which also refer to tourism promotion activities delivered through the media of variety shows. On this basis, the research suggests that there is tourism promotion packaged in events through variety shows carried out by NCT members as performers by visiting or trying various tourist activities around Seoul and recommending them to the audience.

The author analyzes the processes of culture globalization, in which standardization and unification con- trary to the traditional identity. The standardization of culture is prevailing; it is the influence of the media and diffusion of new consumption ways. Mass cultures wider introduce a new form of high cultures, that is, technological or scientific ones, which promote harmonization and standardization. The content of the mate- rial culture is more uniform than in the past, many newest practices are in widespread use on large areas. As a result of the globalization the high cultural concentration and mobility increasingly provoke cross-cultural encounters. In the field of intangible components in the current cultural situation, there is cultural clash of traditionalism and globalization, while in the sphere of material components of the culture the contemporary person is becoming more and more follower of the products of globalization. Food culture as a method of studying social and cultural transformations indicates that nowadays there is cultural diffusion and the Islamization of a global culture. Studies of food consumption show that there is a strong link between religion and consumer choice of food. The motivation and behaviour of each person is different because they are based on cultural characteristics, which is most evident in consumer shopping behavior. In modern consumer culture the symbols often appear in the form of logos and trademarks. Often, they choose for logos the modification of the widely known traditional cultural symbols which are based on recognizable cultural meanings and which, at the same time, design modern world-view, creating modern myths based on traditional. The most popular trademark of modernity is the Apple logo or “Bitten apple.” A modern interpretation of this symbol is based on the fact that traditionalism is strong, but the active person is always out of the local area. As a result the person feels lonely due to the weakening of traditional ties and looks for replace lost forms of identity.

This study is aimed at examining the visual signs found on the billboard of the Bali Arts Festival XLV Year 2023 using Charles Sander Peirce's semiotics approach. In an effort to understand how messages are communicated to the audience, an analysis is conducted on the icons, indexes, and symbols that appear in the design of the billboard. Through qualitative descriptive methods, the visual elements in the billboard are separated and observed, then analyzed using Peirce's semiotics framework. The results of the analysis indicate that the theme "Segara Kerthi" (Ocean of Harmony) is successfully represented in the billboard by using icons such as the illustration of Gajah Mina, which symbolizes the protector of the sanctity of the sea, indexes such as the rising sun, which depicts hope and a new beginning, and symbols such as government logos and social media icons that reflect support and technological advancement. These visual signs provide profound meanings related to the protection and appreciation of the sea as a source of life and civilization. In conclusion, this analysis provides a deeper understanding of how the visual signs in this billboard create a strong cultural identity, educate, and capture the audience's attention. This research offers a positive contribution to the analysis of visual communication works and has the potential to be further developed with diverse theoretical approaches and disciplines.

Packaging is the most important factor in FMCG company .with the help of packaging we are attract the customer to our products. Packaging and design of the product increase the sell in the market. If our customer is not attract our products then our sell is not increase so we make a strategy to build an effective packaging. Packaging of a product has many functions including containment, protection, convenience and communication. Product packaging servers to consolidate of unit loads of shipping, to protect the product inside during the period of shipping, to convey necessary information. Other than these functions packaging is also used in marketing activities. The labels on the product can be used to encourage potential buyers to purchase the product. Companies use attractive colours, logos, symbols and captions to promote that can influence purchase decision. Although the fundamental role of packaging is to contain, protect and preserve product content, it is also a strategically important marketing communication tool. This chapter provides an overview of the roles of packaging, with a particular emphasis on packaging as a marketing communication vehicle. This chapter first discusses the four functions of packaging: Containment, protection and preservation, convenience, and communication. It then examines packaging from a marketing perspective and presents research to support the effectiveness of packaging in influencing consumer behaviour.

The purpose of the study is to identify the possibilities of visual symbolism in the creation of a company image using a logo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Research Methodology. The historical, historical-comparative, analytical methods were used to conduct the research; art history methods — formal, figurative-stylistic, semantic analysis — were used to identify the figurative and symbolic language of the company’s logos late 19th – early 20th centuries. Conclusions. Based on the analysis of the works of foreign and national scientists of the 20th century, the symbol and mark are characterised as means of expressing the phenomenon essence, and the existing classifications of symbols are considered. The logos used in the late 19th – early 20th centuries in the world practice and on the Ukraine territory are analysed. The example of the Prudential Financial insurance company (the USA) shows that the use of a symbolic element remained unchanged in the process of its changes during 1860–1996. On the example of the trademarks of Ukrainian enterprises — the Ernst Mehlhose Agricultural Machinery Plant (1874–1923), the F. V. Alsop in Kharkiv enterprise, Luhansk Textile Mill (1904–2001), Kyiv Contract Fair (1797–1930) — the methods of visual identification are considered, the artistic means are determined; the comparative analysis is carried out. It is established that the image of the rock in the structure of the American company logo is a symbol of strength and security and appeals to its main characteristics. It is determined that in the means of visual identification of Ukrainian enterprises of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, there is a tendency to express clearly the company specialisation through realistic images of architectural buildings that belonged to them or produced products, as well as ordinary names with moderate artistic design.

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to identify the characteristic design features of the corporate identity elements used in school uniforms in Ukraine, which have developed under the influence of national and cultural traditions. The objects of analysis were samples of emblems and logos of Ukrainian educational schools, which are visual symbols of the school and part of the design of a school uniform. Methodology. Methodological basis of research is complex approach, methods of visually analysis of research object, systematization of varieties of emblems and logotypes of educational school of Ukraine. Results. The most characteristic artistically-composition decisions of emblems of educational school of Ukraine are analysed and distinguished: their basic types, characteristic symbolics and colour decisions. The typology of the graphical elements used in emblems, as means of communication, is offered by semantic value for producing an image and corporate identity of educational school. The basic types of the logotypes used in the design of school uniform suit of school of Ukraine. Scientific novelty.The imagery of emblems of educational establishments of Ukraine are systematized by their semantic value. Characteristic variations of combination of clip arts and colour combinations are certain in the brandname symbolics of educational establishments of Ukraine. The basic types of the logotypes used in the design of school uniform suit in Ukraine. Practical significance. Classification of graphical elements of emblems of educational establishments of Ukraine is worked out allowed to generalize the artistically-composition features of their brandname style and feature of their use in a design school service dress for visual репрезентации and translation of values and basic descriptions of educational establishment. Research materials can be used for development of brandname style and design modern school uniform

Visual identity as a sign system that is used consistently to communicate messages widely. This is very important to be a consideration in building positive branding. The design elements contained in visual identity should be able to be clear and specific in their function as sign systems. In STMIK STIKOM Indonesia as an entity, it has a logo and a symbol as its visual identity. The use of these two things becomes somewhat ambiguous when published to the public and can lead to confusion about the reception of the message. In this visual identity study as a sign system, data will be collected in various fields related to logos and symbols in various media created by institutions. So that the data can be analyzed taxonomically by considering the construction, fields, letters, colors, and forms of placement in various elements. The results of the study found that the inconsistency of the use of visual identity, the use of different colors on the logo or symbol, removal of some parts of the logo, and the destruction of the logo structure with a disproportionately step. The fundamental finding is the emergence of ambiguity in visual identity and the necessity of having standard rules through manual graphic standards as a reference for the use or utilization of agreed visual identity.

Purpose There has been substantial research on luxury globally, but there is a dearth of studies empirically investigating the key relationships affecting luxury consumption. The aim of this paper is to consider the role of consumer vanity and brand consciousness and to set their relationships in context of luxury consumption. Design/methodology/approach To measure consumer vanity, brand consciousness, attitude towards luxury brands and purchase intentions, pre-established scale items were adopted. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed through luxury exhibitions and festivals in major cities of India. A sample of n = 342 luxury consumers was analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings The findings support that brand consciousness is mediating the relationship between consumer vanity and luxury consumption. Luxury consumers are primarily driven by achievement vanity. They are likely to evaluate luxury brands based on their price, fame and their ability to portray their professional achievements. They incur unreasonable costs to acquire the expensive, famous and prestigious luxury brands and conspicuously consume them to display their success and accomplishments. Research limitations/implications The study provides an in-depth explanation of how consumer vanity is leading to consumption of luxury brands. The marketers may benefit by focussing on promotion of their brand's symbols and logos than on specific product features. Originality/value This is the first empirical examination understanding the mediating effect of brand consciousness as a mediator between consumer vanity and luxury consumption.

The First Amendment has long provided protections for artists’ creative expression and is a fundamental right for all United States citizens. However, with the rise of a predominantly digital world, those protections begin to blur with the introduction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Artistic creation often stems from an inspired source, and sometimes, that inspiration may come from registered intellectual property, specifically trademarks. Trademarks are everywhere we look, so it is not unusual for artists to be inspired by the logos, images, colors, figures, or symbols that are featured on billboards, magazine covers, or everyday items. When these trademarks are used in third-party artistic works, the situation often results in trademark owners gearing up to protect their marks and artists invoking their First Amendment rights to protect their creations. NFTs have become an extremely lucrative market, presenting a new route for artists to explore their creative ideas and an appealing business opportunity for luxury brands to enter into a unique space. Courts and practitioners must focus their attention on the rise of NFTs and trademark-related issues as litigation gradually increases. There has been a longstanding precedent formed by Rogers v. Grimaldi that gives courts some guidance on how to balance First Amendment protections and trademark rights, but with the introduction of NFTs, circuit courts are interpreting and applying the Rogers test in various ways resulting in inconsistent outcomes. This calls for another look at the Rogers test and a reconsideration of its design to balance First Amendment and trademark interests. This Article examines the nuances of First Amendment and trademark law to determine the effectiveness of the traditional Rogers test. This Article concludes that while courts have applied Rogers in unique ways, the emergence of NFTs requires a uniform approach that can only be accomplished by reconsidering Rogers’s application to the digital world. This Article encourages courts to include a more fact-intensive analysis in Rogers cases so fact finders can distinguish between expressive artistic works and ordinary consumer products while discerning the works’ true motives.

City branding is a means to achieve a competitive advantage to increase investment, tourism, and community development by strengthening local identity and citizens. City branding as a medium and message in marketing the city by using specific symbols and logos. The purpose of city branding is to build a city identity and increase the number of tourist visits. As an effort to build tourism in the city of Cirebon, it launched the City Branding tagline “The Gate of Secret”. The city branding strategy was chosen by the Cirebon City government as an effort to focus the tourism development program. Tourism is an important sector in the development of Cirebon City. Tourism is the driving force of economic activity and the locomotive of Cirebon city development. Through the city strategy, it is hoped that there will be an increase in the number of tourist visits to the city of Cirebon. However, city branding has not been able to increase the number of tourists in the city of Cirebon. In 2020, Cirebon city tourists only reached 40.5% of the target of 2.2 million tourists. Cirebon city branding has not been able to increase the number of tourist visits. The failure of the branding is because the Cirebon city government is still trapped in artificial activities. Where branding is just making a tagline and launching it. The tagline “The Gate of Secret” as a brand has not been integrated with the image of the city, tourist attractions, infrastructure, and society in the marketing strategy. The city branding strategy process has not been carried out by the Cirebon City government in developing city branding. To achieve the success of city branding, the Cirebon city government needs to do marketing. The presentation of tourism elements consists of an image, attraction, infrastructure, and people. These tourism elements must be integrated with city design, architecture, and spatial planning that form city branding. The city branding strategy is carried out by identifying what is owned and used as branding, setting city branding goals, communicating & interacting with various stakeholders with the city of Cirebon, and finally implementing which ensures all forms of communication from one city can be integrated.

Purpose This paper aims to advance our knowledge in how small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) communicate corporate social responsibility (CSR). It forms part of a larger research study that investigated how CSR-award-winning SMEs interpret, manage and communicate CSR practices, as well as drivers for and barriers to engaging in CSR. The objective is to develop an integrated CSR best practice management and communication model for SMEs so as to assist companies in managing and communicating CSR more effectively and strategically. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through qualitative in-depth interviews with 28 CSR-award-winning SMEs in Hong Kong and from a wide range of company information, websites, award applications and other relevant public documents. The data presented in this study were collected between 2012 and 2014. Findings CSR communication in Hong Kong SMEs was largely informal, direct, non-strategic and internally-focused. Both implicit and explicit approaches were identified. Some SME exemplars demonstrated use of strategic CSR communication by proactively communicated CSR practices and achievements to both internal and external stakeholders as a strategy to enhance their competitive advantage. In addition to traditional channels, many SMEs used social media and different forms of symbols such as award logos, stories, celebrations and CSR identity, with owners playing the role of CSR icons and advocates. Research limitations/implications The research subjects were purposefully drawn from the population of CSR award winners, with the results being biased towards best practice of CSR. This was done intentionally, to meet the research objective of understanding and building best-practice cases and the CSR model. The findings supported the proposed model that CSR communication played a dominant role in CSR management, serving as a driver, facilitator and enabler between the other themes of the model, and within the organization. The implications for SMEs were focused on integrating CSR communication within the organization instead of treating it as an afterthought. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing limited body of knowledge of CSR communication in SMEs, particularly in Hong Kong. The integrated CSR best practice management and communication model for SMEs, developed as part of this study, may help SMEs to manage and communicate CSR more effectively and strategically.

Vasyl Yermilov played a significant role in Valerian Polishchuk’s literary and artistic group Avangard, which was part of the Ukrainian artistic avant-garde. A series of covers for publications of the Avangard group, designed by Yermilov in the second half of the 1920s, is highlighted as a turning point in the development of modernism in Ukraine. Yermilov’s design style is characterized by constructivism, a movement that emphasizes geometric forms and rationality, and at the same time is distinguished by unconventional polychromy. The article emphasizes the geometric dominant in Yermilov’s typography and highlights the iconographic triad: a red rectangle, a black circle, and an accented letter. Yermilov’s connection with futurism, felt in his typography, is considered: despite the rejection of serifs in constructivism, their traces can be seen in the unusual plume of the letter “a”. The symbolism of the color red in typography is studied, from the point of view of its association with Soviet ideology and claims to imperial power; the dynamic and abstract qualities of the symbols used by Yermilov are discussed. The typography of the publications of the Avangard group appears as a reflection of the dramatic events in Ukraine at the end of the 1920s, in particular the Red Terror and the attack on the Ukrainian elite. The article analyzes a number of Yermilov covers for the group’s publications from the point of view of composition and symbolism, where the evolution of individual elements is traced. The culmination and transformation takes place in the sketch for the cover of the second issue of the magazine Avangard, where the letter “a” attacks the red rectangle “on the stage” illuminated by the black disk of the eclipse, the inverted sun of the avant-garde, which appeals to the “black sails of time” from V. Khlebnikov’s Manifesto, signed by the Kharkiv bohemians in 1916. The final edition of the third issue of the Kharkiv group’s magazine is perceived as a victory over the red rectangle, but at the cost of the loss of the Logos. The analysis of this typography series represents the changing dynamics and symbolic power of the avant-garde movement in this period, emphasizing the specificity of Ukrainian constructivism in its paradoxical connections with suprematism, visualized in the creative legacy of Vasyl Yermilov.

This study considers the urban branding of Tainan City, Taiwan. It explores how the city’s image continues its historical cultural milieu through the creation of a visual identity from the phoenix flower. The study analyzes a selection of logos used by organizations in the city, and the semiotic significance of organizational logos. From a sample of 67 logos, the form and content of the visual symbols are interpreted via morphological, content, and semiotic analyses. The logos are also categorized based on the following design features: pervasive symbols, cultural elements, typeface design, industrial embodiment, human body, decorative aids, and graphic design enhancement. Research indicates that Tainan uses the phoenix flower shape for design expression in logos, but because of a lack of uniformity in design norms, the logos are inconsistent. Therefore, standardization of the phoenix flower design used within the city environment would assist the Tainan city branding.

Aim of the article – to analyse the nature of corporate style and the development of logo, to take a qualitative research (case studies), evaluating specificities of the universities’ logo design in Latvia. This article studies and explains interrelated concepts of logo and corporate style. The analysis of Latvian universities logo shows the original unity of logo and national emblem which moving away over time. Logos of Latvian universities are characterized by a combination of symbols and fonts, visible in both location and the specialization and symbols of knowledge and growth. The logo design indicates trend towards minimalism that is successful, recognizable brand feature.

Purpose The purpose of this research is to understand how brand-building is used to lend credibility to investor information and to differentiate countries competing for foreign investment. Brand signals, such as slogans and logos, are frequently used by governments and their investment promotion agencies to enhance the presentation of information to potential investors interested in acquiring or establishing a business within their country. Yet, little is known about how governments use brand building to foster professionalism and convey their expertise in international expansion assistance and differentiate themselves from one another in an investment promotion context. Design/methodology/approach This research content analyzes the slogans and logos found in 55 months of print advertising and on the websites of 181 countries engaged in investment-seeking activities. Findings The research finds that slogans and logos are frequently used across both samples, but slogan use is greater in print advertising than on the Web, which is likely because of the greater effort required to develop an advertising campaign than to maintain a website. Regardless of medium, logo use is greater than slogan use. In the sample, slogans tended to be generic or undifferentiated and do not appear to facilitate brand credibility. However, logos were better designed than slogans and incorporated more territorial and cultural symbols and elements of expertise. Originality/value This study provides for a deeper understanding of investment promotion, especially, as it relates to brand building both on the Web and in print advertising. It also extends the author’s understanding of brand building within a specialized area of business-to-business organizational buying. From a managerial perspective, the research highlights the need for differentiated slogans and for logos using territorial and cultural symbols to better assist governments with appearing more professional, conveying expertise and differentiating their country from potential rivals.

There is no doubt that development is a human necessity and an urgent technical imperative that science imposes on all aspects of societal life. Especially in the field of graphic design, as logos are among the most prominent graphic achievements of an interactive nature with the requirements of the technical and functional era to serve the recipient and the continuity of interaction with him through a visual message sent to him constantly to remind him of what he interacted with in advance, which is known as visual identity, and during the process of developing logos especially And by providing designs that suit the contemporary technical and functional development, we often see the logo lose its visual identity. Therefore, the research presented a question that represents a problem that the research tried to solve, and it is as follows: “How can the institutional visual identity be strengthened through the design change of government slogans in accordance with contemporary requirements?The methodological framework included: the importance of research and the need for it, the purpose of the research, the limits of research and the most important terms.The theoretical framework contains two topics: the first topic: the concept of identity, the second topic: the relationship of form and content in designing the logo of the institution, and the indicators of the theoretical framework.The research procedures were: the research community: research models and methods of selection: and analysis of models:The research concluded with the results and conclusion, including:1. The general structure of the Logo Board, which was formed according to the circular body or something close to it in shape, as in Models 1 and 2.2. Logos are based on the shorthand graphic elements and symbols as in Model No. 1,2.3. Diversity of intellectual principles in designing corporate logos, losing the functional purpose of the slogan for the governmental institution

IntroductionThe knowledge accrued through research in the domain of crossmodal correspondences has had a significant influence on a diverse array of disciplines, including behavioral studies, neuroscience, computational modeling, and notably, marketing, with the objective of aligning sensory experiences to help shape patterns of consumer behavior. A study is reported that explores the extension of these principles to the communication of products having a notably complex sensory profile, specifically within the context of wine. The central aim of the project is to explore the feasibility of using crossmodal communication as a strategic tool to augment the congruence between the consumers’ multisensory expectations and their sensory experiences. For consumers venturing into the realm of wine selection without the advantage of prior tasting experience, it is of paramount importance to possess a robust understanding of the mandated information. This encompasses critical elements such as the wine’s origin, grape varietal(s) used, geographical indications, producer qualifications, and the potential implications of these factors on the final wine product. This level of comprehension stands as a necessary prerequisite, enabling these consumers to make informed choices that align with their preferences, even in the absence of previous sensory encounters. Nonetheless, semiotic investigations underscore the significance attributed to symbolic components such as signs, logos, colors, gestures, and linguistic cues. Research from the field performing multisensory studies, presents a counterpoint to prevailing communication paradigms, advocating for a heightened incorporation of metaphors, analogies, symbols, metonymies, and allegories. This alternative approach aims to enhance the efficacy of communication strategies, offering a more profound and evocative means of conveying intricate messages on a more holistic level.MethodsA questionnaire was sent to a specific group of engaged wine consumers (n = 329). Besides questions regarding demographics, purchase behavior, and consumption behavior, the questionnaire included examples of multisensory communication through a selection of symbols, as well as alternative wine information.ResultsThe results showed significant correlations between demographics, consumption behavior, and attitudes toward the tested multisensory symbols and alternative information, thus helping to gain a better understanding of the sensory properties that should be communicated on wine labels.DiscussionThe findings reported here highlight the effectiveness of visual crossmodal communication as a promising pathway capable of skillfully capturing consumer attributes, conveying multisensory experiences, and portraying the comprehensive timeline of taste evolution. As a result, it assumes a pivotal role as a communicative tool for intricate consumables, like wine, functioning at the crossroads of visual and sensory dimensions.

Packaging of a product has many functions including containment, protection, convenience and communication. Product packaging servers to consolidate of unit loadsof shipping, to protect the product inside during the period of shipping, to convey necessary information. Other than these functions packaging is also used in marketing activities. The labels on the product can be used to encourage potential buyers to purchase the product. Companies use attractive colors, logos, symbols and captions to promote that can influence purchase decision. According to Rundh (2005) package attracts consumer’s attention to brand, enhances itsimage, and influences consumer’s perceptions about product. Also, package imparts unique value to products. In this competitive environment packaging has become an effective tool to capture theconsumers purchase intention. Packaging perform the important role for attracting thecustomers. We can see the buying intentions of children. The design of the wrapper attracts the children, so organisations’ design the wrapper in such a way that it is attractive to their eye.

The purpose of the article is to reveal the features of visual identification of Ukrainian theatres by means of graphic design. Research methodology. The method of typology and techniques of figurative and stylistic analysis are applied, as well as the method of semiotic and visual-cultural analysis of brand symbols of Ukrainian theatres. A combination of the descriptive method and techniques of formal analysis are used to identify the means of artistic expressiveness used by the designer. The method of semantic and structural-semantic analysis help to clarify the cultural meanings of images created for the representation of Ukrainian theatre. The graphic-analytical method is used to visualise research results. Scientific novelty. Peculiarities of visual identification of modern Ukrainian theatres by means of graphic design were studied. The main attributes of visual identification of Ukrainian theatres – emblems and logos – were considered, their comparative analysis was carried out. The concepts of "emblem" and "logo" in the context of graphic design have been clarified; based on the structural and semiotic analysis of emblems of Ukrainian theatres, the spectrum of their visual images was characterised. Conclusions. The visual identification of modern Ukrainian theatres is a system of symbolic and graphic images, the logic of which is built to distinguish theatres by their purpose according to their types (musical, music-dramatic, dramatic, puppet, and others), as well as to differentiate each specific theatre within the defined typology. The emblem as a symbolic image of a certain idea encoded in a graphic form is the main visual image of the theatre, endowed with symbolic meaning, which conveys the main values of this cultural institution with the help of the graphic elements depicted on it. It is used for visual identification of the theatre in real and virtual space. The study of the emblems of modern Ukrainian theatres has revealed the following. Characteristic elements for the symbolism of Ukrainian theatres expressed in the emblems are elements of architectural origin (theatre buildings), graphic images of famous Ukrainian representatives of theatre, literature and art (Lesia Ukrainka, I. Franko, T. Shevchenko, M. Vodianyi, M. Sadovskyi, and others) and Harlequin masks as a symbol of the acting profession. Socio-historical and cultural factors are fundamental elements of concept formation. Emblems symbolically reflect theatrical, primarily acting activity. The conceptual solution of the corporate style also reflects the idea of the existence of the theatre and the values it offers in the space of modern culture: humanity, heredity, traditionality, and interculturality. Decoding symbolic images requires a high level of education and intelligence. Brand symbols can be built on a nuanced solution, in which all style elements enhance the effect of simplicity, complexity or an intermediate option. Keywords: graphic design, Ukrainian theatres, visual identification, emblem, logo.

Purpose This paper aims to provide conceptual clarity on the different approaches of place branding in the literature. It discusses three main approaches and provides a new definition of place brands that acknowledges the full multi-sensory experience of place brands. This paper also elaborates brand management within the three approaches. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual paper Findings This study identifies three co-existing approaches of place branding and provides a definition of place brands for each of them. The first approach conceptualises place brands as symbolic constructs that identify and differentiate places from others. Brand symbols such as logos and slogans are central, assuming that brand meaning resides in them. The second approach views place brands as images and associations in the minds of target groups, whereby brands reside in individuals’ minds (the cognitive). This paper aligns with a third approach that views place brands as experiential, multi-sensory constructs. Brands invite not only mental representations in people’s minds but especially also multi-sensory embodied experiences. The authors thus define place brands as marketing systems that consist of dynamic performative assemblages of symbolic, discursive, institutional and material elements that selectively invite certain multi-sensory and embodied experiences of place by stakeholders and target groups. Originality/value This paper contributes to conceptual clarity by providing an analytical framework identifying three main approaches to place branding. The authors further reflect on the implications of each approach for brand management. This paper also builds on recent literatures to provide a new and contemporary definition of place brands as multi-sensory experiences that encompasses embodiment.

ABSTRAKLogo adalah tanda grafik yang berfungsi sebagai identiti sesebuah syarikat perniagaan, pertubuhan, kelab, persatuan, organisasi atau kumpulan melalui aplikasi dan olahan elemen grafik. Elemen grafik sesebuah logo terdiri daripada gambar, warna, tipografi, komposisi dan paparan reka bentuk. Kajian ini bertujuan menganalisis reka bentuk logo dalam bidang seni visual, khususnya logo institusi pendidikan di Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Kajian ini membataskan sampel khusus dengan memilih logo Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu sebagai mewakili institusi lain di Kota Kinabalu. Kaedah kajian ini mengaplikasikan kaedah kualitatif dengan menggunakan pendekatan teori ikonografi yang diketengahkan oleh Panofsky (1972). Teori ini berasaskan tiga tahap analisis, iaitu peringkat deskripsi imej, analisis elemen formal dalam logo dan peringkat ikonografi yang menyatakan perkaitan makna atau mesej dalam logo. Faktor-faktor pemboleh ubah dalam kajian ini adalah bersandarkan imej, ikon, simbol, warna dan tipografi pada logo institusi pendidikan untuk mengenal pasti keberkesanan mesej. Kajian ini berusaha menjelaskan maksud yang terkandung dalam logo institusi untuk menjelaskan makna dan identiti institusi pendidikan tersebut. Kajian ini mendapati identiti sesebuah organisasi merupakan cerminan daripada visi dan misi yang divisualkan dalam bentuk logo dan mampu menyampaikan mesej atau maklumat. Justeru, reka bentuk sesebuah logo mampu memberikan sumbangan kepada institusi pendidikan untuk menjelaskan misi dan visi sebagai impak positif terhadap penyampaian moto atau mesej sesebuah organisasi. ABSTRACT The logo is a graphical sign that serves as the identity of a business, organization, association, club or group through application and graphic elements processed. The graphic element of a logo consists of images, colors, typography, composition and design display. This study analyzes the logo design in visual arts, especially the educational institution logo in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. This study limits the specific sample by selecting the logo of Bandaraya National High School, Kota Kinabalu as representing other institutions in Kota Kinabalu. The method of this study applies qualitative methods using the approach of iconography theory highlighted by Panofsky (1972). This theory is based on three levels of analysis, the image description stage, the formal elemental analysis in the logo and the iconography level stating the relevance of the meaning or message in the logo. The variable factors in this study are based on images, icons, symbols, colours and typography of the educational institution logo to identify the effectiveness of the message. The study attempted to explain the meaning contained in the institute's logo to explain the meaning and identity of the educational institution. This study found that the identity of an organization is a reflection of visions and missions that are visualized in the form of logos and capable of delivering messages or information. Hence, the design of a logo can contribute to educational institutions to clarify the mission and vision as a positive impact on the delivery of the motto or message of an organization.

This article investigates the prosthesis of identity through the process of branding. It examines cross-cultural manifestations of this phenomena from sixth millennium BCE Syria to twelfth century Japan and Britain. From the Neolithic Era, humanity has sort to extend their identities using pictorial signs that were characteristically simple. Designed to be distinctive and instantly recognisable, the totemic symbols served to signal the origin of the bearer. Subsequently, the development of branding coincided with periods of increased in mobility both in respect to geography and social strata. This includes fifth millennium Mesopotamia, nineteenth century Britain, and America during the 1920s.There are fewer articles of greater influence on contemporary culture than A Theory of Human Motivation written by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Nearly seventy-five years later, his theories about the societal need for “belongingness” and “esteem” remain a mainstay of advertising campaigns (Maslow). Although the principles are used to sell a broad range of products from shampoo to breakfast cereal they are epitomised by apparel. This is with refence to garments and accessories bearing corporation logos. Whereas other purchased items, imbued with abstract products, are intended for personal consumption the public display of these symbols may be interpreted as a form of signalling. The intention of the wearers is to literally seek the fulfilment of the aforementioned social needs. This article investigates the use of brands as prosthesis.Coats and Crests: Identity Garnered on Garments in the Middle Ages and the Muromachi PeriodA logo, at its most basic, is a pictorial sign. In his essay, The Visual Language, Ernest Gombrich described the principle as reducing images to “distinctive features” (Gombrich 46). They represent a “simplification of code,” the meaning of which we are conditioned to recognise (Gombrich 46). Logos may also be interpreted as a manifestation of totemism. According to anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, the principle exists in all civilisations and reflects an effort to evoke the power of nature (71-127). Totemism is also a method of population distribution (Levi-Strauss 166).This principle, in a form garnered on garments, is manifested in Mon Kiri. The practice of cutting out family crests evolved into a form of corporate branding in Japan during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) (Christensen 14). During the Muromachi period (1336-1573) the crests provided an integral means of identification on the battlefield (Christensen 13). The adorning of crests on armour was also exercised in Europe during the twelfth century, when the faces of knights were similarly obscured by helmets (Family Crests of Japan 8). Both Mon Kiri and “Coat[s] of Arms” utilised totemic symbols (Family Crests of Japan 8; Elven 14; Christensen 13). The mon for the imperial family (figs. 1 & 2) during the Muromachi Period featured chrysanthemum and paulownia flowers (Goin’ Japaneque). “Coat[s] of Arms” in Britain featured a menagerie of animals including lions (fig. 3), horses and eagles (Elven).The prothesis of identity through garnering symbols on the battlefield provided “safety” through demonstrating “belongingness”. This constituted a conflation of two separate “needs” in the “hierarchy of prepotency” propositioned by Maslow. Fig. 1. The mon symbolising the Imperial Family during the Muromachi Period featured chrysanthemum and paulownia. "Kamon (Japanese Family Crests): Ancient Key to Samurai Culture." Goin' Japaneque! 15 Nov. 2015. 27 July 2019 <http://goinjapanesque.com/05983/>.Fig. 2. An example of the crest being utilised on a garment can be found in this portrait of samurai Oda Nobunaga. "Japan's 12 Most Famous Samurai." All About Japan. 27 Aug. 2018. 27 July 2019 <https://allabout-japan.com/en/article/5818/>.Fig. 3. A detail from the “Index of Subjects of Crests.” Elven, John Peter. The Book of Family Crests: Comprising Nearly Every Family Bearing, Properly Blazoned and Explained, Accompanied by Upwards of Four Thousand Engravings. Henry Washbourne, 1847.The Pursuit of Prestige: Prosthetic Pedigree from the Late Georgian to the Victorian Eras In 1817, the seal engraver to Prince Regent, Alexander Deuchar, described the function of family crests in British Crests: Containing The Crest and Mottos of The Families of Great Britain and Ireland; Together with Those of The Principal Cities and Heraldic Terms as follows: The first approach to civilization is the distinction of ranks. So necessary is this to the welfare and existence of society, that, without it, anarchy and confusion must prevail… In an early stage, heraldic emblems were characteristic of the bearer… Certain ordinances were made, regulating the mode of bearing arms, and who were entitled to bear them. (i-v)The partitioning of social classes in Britain had deteriorated by the time this compendium was published, with displays of “conspicuous consumption” displacing “heraldic emblems” as a primary method of status signalling (Deuchar 2; Han et al. 18). A consumerism born of newfound affluence, and the desire to signify this wealth through luxury goods, was as integral to the Industrial Revolution as technological development. In Rebels against the Future, published in 1996, Kirkpatrick Sale described the phenomenon:A substantial part of the new population, though still a distinct minority, was made modestly affluent, in some places quite wealthy, by privatization of of the countryside and the industrialization of the cities, and by the sorts of commercial and other services that this called forth. The new money stimulated the consumer demand… that allowed a market economy of a scope not known before. (40)This also reflected improvements in the provision of “health, food [and] education” (Maslow; Snow 25-28). With their “physiological needs” accommodated, this ”substantial part” of the population were able to prioritised their “esteem needs” including the pursuit for prestige (Sale 40; Maslow).In Britain during the Middle Ages laws “specified in minute detail” what each class was permitted to wear (Han et al. 15). A groom, for example, was not able to wear clothing that exceeded two marks in value (Han et al. 15). In a distinct departure during the Industrial Era, it was common for the “middling and lower classes” to “ape” the “fashionable vices of their superiors” (Sale 41). Although mon-like labels that were “simplified so as to be conspicuous and instantly recognisable” emerged in Europe during the nineteenth century their application on garments remained discrete up until the early twentieth century (Christensen 13-14; Moore and Reid 24). During the 1920s, the French companies Hermes and Coco Chanel were amongst the clothing manufacturers to pioneer this principle (Chaney; Icon).During the 1860s, Lincolnshire-born Charles Frederick Worth affixed gold stamped labels to the insides of his garments (Polan et al. 9; Press). Operating from Paris, the innovation was consistent with the introduction of trademark laws in France in 1857 (Lopes et al.). He would become known as the “Father of Haute Couture”, creating dresses for royalty and celebrities including Empress Eugene from Constantinople, French actress Sarah Bernhardt and Australian Opera Singer Nellie Melba (Lopes et al.; Krick). The clothing labels proved and ineffective deterrent to counterfeit, and by the 1890s the House of Worth implemented other measures to authenticate their products (Press). The legitimisation of the origin of a product is, arguably, the primary function of branding. This principle is also applicable to subjects. The prothesis of brands, as totemic symbols, assisted consumers to relocate themselves within a new system of population distribution (Levi-Strauss 166). It was one born of commerce as opposed to heraldry.Selling of Self: Conferring Identity from the Neolithic to Modern ErasIn his 1817 compendium on family crests, Deuchar elaborated on heraldry by writing:Ignoble birth was considered as a stain almost indelible… Illustrious parentage, on the other hand, constituted the very basis of honour: it communicated peculiar rights and privileges, to which the meaner born man might not aspire. (v-vi)The Twinings Logo (fig. 4) has remained unchanged since the design was commissioned by the grandson of the company founder Richard Twining in 1787 (Twining). In addition to reflecting the heritage of the family-owned company, the brand indicated the origin of the tea. This became pertinent during the nineteenth century. Plantations began to operate from Assam to Ceylon (Jones 267-269). Amidst the rampant diversification of tea sources in the Victorian era, concerns about the “unhygienic practices” of Chinese producers were proliferated (Wengrow 11). Subsequently, the brand also offered consumers assurance in quality. Fig. 4. The Twinings Logo reproduced from "History of Twinings." Twinings. 24 July 2019 <https://www.twinings.co.uk/about-twinings/history-of-twinings>.The term ‘brand’, adapted from the Norse “brandr”, was introduced into the English language during the sixteenth century (Starcevic 179). At its most literal, it translates as to “burn down” (Starcevic 179). Using hot elements to singe markings onto animals been recorded as early as 2700 BCE in Egypt (Starcevic 182). However, archaeologists concur that the modern principle of branding predates this practice. The implementation of carved seals or stamps to make indelible impressions of handcrafted objects dates back to Prehistoric Mesopotamia (Starcevic 183; Wengrow 13). Similar traditions developed during the Bronze Age in both China and the Indus Valley (Starcevic 185). In all three civilisations branding facilitated both commerce and aspects of Totemism. In the sixth millennium BCE in “Prehistoric” Mesopotamia, referred to as the Halaf period, stone seals were carved to emulate organic form such as animal teeth (Wengrow 13-14). They were used to safeguard objects by “confer[ring] part of the bearer’s personality” (Wengrow 14). They were concurrently applied to secure the contents of vessels containing “exotic goods” used in transactions (Wengrow 15). Worn as amulets (figs. 5 & 6) the seals, and the symbols they produced, were a physical extension of their owners (Wengrow 14).Fig. 5. Recreation of stamp seal amulets from Neolithic Mesopotamia during the sixth millennium BCE. Wengrow, David. "Prehistories of Commodity Branding." Current Anthropology 49.1 (2008): 14.Fig. 6. “Lot 25Y: Rare Syrian Steatite Amulet – Fertility God 5000 BCE.” The Salesroom. 27 July 2019 <https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/artemis-gallery-ancient-art/catalogue-id-srartem10006/lot-a850d229-a303-4bae-b68c-a6130005c48a>. Fig. 7. Recreation of stamp seal designs from Mesopotamia from the late fifth to fourth millennium BCE. Wengrow, David. "Prehistories of Commodity Branding." Current Anthropology 49. 1 (2008): 16.In the following millennia, the seals would increase exponentially in application and aesthetic complexity (fig. 7) to support the development of household cum cottage industries (Wengrow 15). In addition to handcrafts, sealed vessels would transport consumables such as wine, aromatic oils and animal fats (Wengrow 18). The illustrations on the seals included depictions of rituals undertaken by human figures and/or allegories using animals. It can be ascertained that the transition in the Victorian Era from heraldry to commerce, from family to corporation, had precedence. By extension, consumers were able to participate in this process of value attribution using brands as signifiers. The principle remained prevalent during the modern and post-modern eras and can be respectively interpreted using structuralist and post-structuralist theory.Totemism to Simulacrum: The Evolution of Advertising from the Modern to Post-Modern Eras In 2011, Lisa Chaney wrote of the inception of the Coco Chanel logo (fig. 8) in her biography Chanel: An Intimate Life: A crucial element in the signature design of the Chanel No.5 bottle is the small black ‘C’ within a black circle set as the seal at the neck. On the top of the lid are two more ‘C’s, intertwined back to back… from at least 1924, the No5 bottles sported the unmistakable logo… these two ‘C’s referred to Gabrielle, – in other words Coco Chanel herself, and would become the logo for the House of Chanel. Chaney continued by describing Chanel’s fascination of totemic symbols as expressed through her use of tarot cards. She also “surrounded herself with objects ripe with meaning” such as representations of wheat and lions in reference prosperity and to her zodiac symbol ‘Leo’ respectively. Fig. 8. No5 Chanel Perfume, released in 1924, featured a seal-like logo attached to the bottle neck. “No5.” Chanel. 25 July 2019 <https://www.chanel.com/us/fragrance/p/120450/n5-parfum-grand-extrait/>.Fig. 9. This illustration of the bottle by Georges Goursat was published in a women’s magazine circa 1920s. “1921 Chanel No5.” Inside Chanel. 26 July 2019 <http://inside.chanel.com/en/timeline/1921_no5>; “La 4éme Fête de l’Histoire Samedi 16 et dimache 17 juin.” Ville de Perigueux. Musée d’art et d’archéologie du Périgord. 28 Mar. 2018. 26 July 2019 <https://www.perigueux-maap.fr/category/archives/page/5/>. This product was considered the “financial basis” of the Chanel “empire” which emerged during the second and third decades of the twentieth century (Tikkanen). Chanel is credited for revolutionising Haute Couture by introducing chic modern designs that emphasised “simplicity and comfort.” This was as opposed to the corseted highly embellished fashion that characterised the Victorian Era (Tikkanen). The lavish designs released by the House of Worth were, in and of themselves, “conspicuous” displays of “consumption” (Veblen 17). In contrast, the prestige and status associated with the “poor girl” look introduced by Chanel was invested in the story of the designer (Tikkanen). A primary example is her marinière or sailor’s blouse with a Breton stripe that epitomised her ascension from café singer to couturier (Tikkanen; Burstein 8). This signifier might have gone unobserved by less discerning consumers of fashion if it were not for branding. Not unlike the Prehistoric Mesopotamians, this iteration of branding is a process which “confer[s]” the “personality” of the designer into the garment (Wengrow 13 -14). The wearer of the garment is, in turn, is imbued by extension. Advertisers in the post-structuralist era embraced Levi-Strauss’s structuralist anthropological theories (Williamson 50). This is with particular reference to “bricolage” or the “preconditioning” of totemic symbols (Williamson 173; Pool 50). Subsequently, advertising creatives cum “bricoleur” employed his principles to imbue the brands with symbolic power. This symbolic capital was, arguably, transferable to the product and, ultimately, to its consumer (Williamson 173).Post-structuralist and semiotician Jean Baudrillard “exhaustively” critiqued brands and the advertising, or simulacrum, that embellished them between the late 1960s and early 1980s (Wengrow 10-11). In Simulacra and Simulation he wrote,it is the reflection of a profound reality; it masks and denatures a profound reality; it masks the absence of a profound reality; it has no relation to any reality whatsoever: it is its own pure simulacrum. (6)The symbolic power of the Chanel brand resonates in the ‘profound reality’ of her story. It is efficiently ‘denatured’ through becoming simplified, conspicuous and instantly recognisable. It is, as a logo, physically juxtaposed as simulacra onto apparel. This simulacrum, in turn, effects the ‘profound reality’ of the consumer. In 1899, economist Thorstein Veblen wrote in The Theory of the Leisure Class:Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods it the means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure… costly entertainments, such as potlatch or the ball, are peculiarly adapted to serve this end… he consumes vicariously for his host at the same time that he is witness to the consumption… he is also made to witness his host’s facility in etiquette. (47)Therefore, according to Veblen, it was the witnessing of “wasteful” consumption that “confers status” as opposed the primary conspicuous act (Han et al. 18). Despite television being in its experimental infancy advertising was at “the height of its powers” during the 1920s (Clark et al. 18; Hill 30). Post-World War I consumers, in America, experienced an unaccustomed level of prosperity and were unsuspecting of the motives of the newly formed advertising agencies (Clark et al. 18). Subsequently, the ‘witnessing’ of consumption could be constructed across a plethora of media from the newly emerged commercial radio to billboards (Hill viii–25). The resulting ‘status’ was ‘conferred’ onto brand logos. Women’s magazines, with a legacy dating back to 1828, were a primary locus (Hill 10).Belonging in a Post-Structuralist WorldIt is significant to note that, in a post-structuralist world, consumers do not exclusively seek upward mobility in their selection of brands. The establishment of counter-culture icon Levi-Strauss and Co. was concurrent to the emergence of both The House of Worth and Coco Chanel. The Bavarian-born Levi Strauss commenced selling apparel in San Francisco in 1853 (Levi’s). Two decades later, in partnership with Nevada born tailor Jacob Davis, he patented the “riveted-for-strength” workwear using blue denim (Levi’s). Although the ontology of ‘jeans’ is contested, references to “Jene Fustyan” date back the sixteenth century (Snyder 139). It involved the combining cotton, wool and linen to create “vestments” for Geonese sailors (Snyder 138). The Two Horse Logo (fig. 10), depicting them unable to pull apart a pair of jeans to symbolise strength, has been in continuous use by Levi Strauss & Co. company since its design in 1886 (Levi’s). Fig. 10. The Two Horse Logo by Levi Strauss & Co. has been in continuous use since 1886. Staff Unzipped. "Two Horses. One Message." Heritage. Levi Strauss & Co. 1 July 2011. 25 July 2019 <https://www.levistrauss.com/2011/07/01/two-horses-many-versions-one-message/>.The “rugged wear” would become the favoured apparel amongst miners at American Gold Rush (Muthu 6). Subsequently, between the 1930s – 1960s Hollywood films cultivated jeans as a symbol of “defiance” from Stage Coach staring John Wayne in 1939 to Rebel without A Cause staring James Dean in 1955 (Muthu 6; Edgar). Consequently, during the 1960s college students protesting in America (fig. 11) against the draft chose the attire to symbolise their solidarity with the working class (Hedarty). Notwithstanding a 1990s fashion revision of denim into a diversity of garments ranging from jackets to skirts, jeans have remained a wardrobe mainstay for the past half century (Hedarty; Muthu 10). Fig. 11. Although the brand label is not visible, jeans as initially introduced to the American Goldfields in the nineteenth century by Levi Strauss & Co. were cultivated as a symbol of defiance from the 1930s – 1960s. It documents an anti-war protest that occurred at the Pentagon in 1967. Cox, Savannah. "The Anti-Vietnam War Movement." ATI. 14 Dec. 2016. 16 July 2019 <https://allthatsinteresting.com/vietnam-war-protests#7>.In 2003, the journal Science published an article “Does Rejection Hurt? An Fmri Study of Social Exclusion” (Eisenberger et al.). The cross-institutional study demonstrated that the neurological reaction to rejection is indistinguishable to physical pain. Whereas during the 1940s Maslow classified the desire for “belonging” as secondary to “physiological needs,” early twenty-first century psychologists would suggest “[social] acceptance is a mechanism for survival” (Weir 50). In Simulacra and Simulation, Jean Baudrillard wrote: Today abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal… (1)In the intervening thirty-eight years since this document was published the artifice of our interactions has increased exponentially. In order to locate ‘belongness’ in this hyperreality, the identities of the seekers require a level of encoding. Brands, as signifiers, provide a vehicle.Whereas in Prehistoric Mesopotamia carved seals, worn as amulets, were used to extend the identity of a person, in post-digital China WeChat QR codes (fig. 12), stored in mobile phones, are used to facilitate transactions from exchanging contact details to commerce. Like other totems, they provide access to information such as locations, preferences, beliefs, marital status and financial circumstances. These individualised brands are the most recent incarnation of a technology that has developed over the past eight thousand years. The intermediary iteration, emblems affixed to garments, has remained prevalent since the twelfth century. Their continued salience is due to their visibility and, subsequent, accessibility as signifiers. Fig. 12. It may be posited that Wechat QR codes are a form individualised branding. Like other totems, they store information pertaining to the owner’s location, beliefs, preferences, marital status and financial circumstances. “Join Wechat groups using QR code on 2019.” Techwebsites. 26 July 2019 <https://techwebsites.net/join-wechat-group-qr-code/>.Fig. 13. Brands function effectively as signifiers is due to the international distribution of multinational corporations. This is the shopfront of Chanel in Dubai, which offers customers apparel bearing consistent insignia as the Parisian outlet at on Rue Cambon. Customers of Chanel can signify to each other with the confidence that their products will be recognised. “Chanel.” The Dubai Mall. 26 July 2019 <https://thedubaimall.com/en/shop/chanel>.Navigating a post-structuralist world of increasing mobility necessitates a rudimental understanding of these symbols. Whereas in the nineteenth century status was conveyed through consumption and witnessing consumption, from the twentieth century onwards the garnering of brands made this transaction immediate (Veblen 47; Han et al. 18). The bricolage of the brands is constructed by bricoleurs working in any number of contemporary creative fields such as advertising, filmmaking or song writing. They provide a system by which individuals can convey and recognise identities at prima facie. They enable the prosthesis of identity.ReferencesBaudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. United States: University of Michigan Press, 1994.Burstein, Jessica. Cold Modernism: Literature, Fashion, Art. United States: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.Chaney, Lisa. Chanel: An Intimate Life. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Limited, 2011.Christensen, J.A. Cut-Art: An Introduction to Chung-Hua and Kiri-E. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1989. Clark, Eddie M., Timothy C. Brock, David E. Stewart, David W. Stewart. Attention, Attitude, and Affect in Response to Advertising. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Group, 1994.Deuchar, Alexander. British Crests: Containing the Crests and Mottos of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland Together with Those of the Principal Cities – Primary So. London: Kirkwood & Sons, 1817.Ebert, Robert. “Great Movie: Stage Coach.” Robert Ebert.com. 1 Aug. 2011. 10 Mar. 2019 <https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-stagecoach-1939>.Elven, John Peter. The Book of Family Crests: Comprising Nearly Every Family Bearing, Properly Blazoned and Explained, Accompanied by Upwards of Four Thousand Engravings. London: Henry Washbourne, 1847.Eisenberger, Naomi I., Matthew D. Lieberman, and Kipling D. Williams. "Does Rejection Hurt? An Fmri Study of Social Exclusion." Science 302.5643 (2003): 290-92.Family Crests of Japan. California: Stone Bridge Press, 2007.Gombrich, Ernst. "The Visual Image: Its Place in Communication." Scientific American 272 (1972): 82-96.Hedarty, Stephanie. "How Jeans Conquered the World." BBC World Service. 28 Feb. 2012. 26 July 2019 <https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17101768>. Han, Young Jee, Joseph C. Nunes, and Xavier Drèze. "Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence." Journal of Marketing 74.4 (2010): 15-30.Hill, Daniel Delis. Advertising to the American Woman, 1900-1999. United States of Ame: Ohio State University Press, 2002."History of Twinings." Twinings. 24 July 2019 <https://www.twinings.co.uk/about-twinings/history-of-twinings>. icon-icon: Telling You More about Icons. 18 Dec. 2016. 26 July 2019 <http://www.icon-icon.com/en/hermes-logo-the-horse-drawn-carriage/>. Jones, Geoffrey. Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.Kamon (Japanese Family Crests): Ancient Key to Samurai Culture." Goin' Japaneque! 15 Nov. 2015. 27 July 2019 <http://goinjapanesque.com/05983/>. Krick, Jessa. "Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895) and the House of Worth." Heilburnn Timeline of Art History. The Met. Oct. 2004. 23 July 2019 <https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrth/hd_wrth.htm>. Levi’s. "About Levis Strauss & Co." 25 July 2019 <https://www.levis.com.au/about-us.html>. Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Totemism. London: Penguin, 1969.Lopes, Teresa de Silva, and Paul Duguid. Trademarks, Brands, and Competitiveness. Abingdon: Routledge, 2010.Maslow, Abraham. "A Theory of Human Motivation." British Journal of Psychiatry 208.4 (1942): 313-13.Moore, Karl, and Susan Reid. "The Birth of Brand: 4000 Years of Branding History." Business History 4.4 (2008).Muthu, Subramanian Senthikannan. Sustainability in Denim. Cambridge Woodhead Publishing, 2017.Polan, Brenda, and Roger Tredre. The Great Fashion Designers. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009.Pool, Roger C. Introduction. Totemism. New ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.Press, Claire. Wardrobe Crisis: How We Went from Sunday Best to Fast Fashion. Melbourne: Schwartz Publishing, 2016.Sale, K. Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1996.Snow, C.P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959. Snyder, Rachel Louise. Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.Starcevic, Sladjana. "The Origin and Historical Development of Branding and Advertising in the Old Civilizations of Africa, Asia and Europe." Marketing 46.3 (2015): 179-96.Tikkanen, Amy. "Coco Chanel." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 19 Apr. 2019. 25 July 2019 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Coco-Chanel>.Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions. London: Macmillan, 1975.Weir, Kirsten. "The Pain of Social Rejection." American Psychological Association 43.4 (2012): 50.Williamson, Judith. Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. Ideas in Progress. London: Boyars, 1978.

While the term “visual literacy” has grown in popularity in the last 50 years, its meaning remains nebulous. It is described variously as: a vehicle for aesthetic appreciation, a means of defence against visual manipulation, a sorting mechanism for an increasingly data-saturated age, and a prerequisite to civic inclusion (Fransecky 23; Messaris 181; McTigue and Flowers 580). Scholars have written extensively about the first three subjects but there has been less research on how visual literacy frames civic life and how it might help the public as a tool to address disadvantage and assist in removing social and cultural barriers. This article examines a forerunner to visual literacy in the push to create an international symbol language born out of popular education movements, a project that fell short of its goals but still left a considerable impression on graphic media. This article, then, presents an analysis of visual literacy campaigns in the early postwar era. These campaigns did not attempt to invent a symbolic language but posited that images themselves served as a universal language in which students could receive training. Of particular interest is how the concept of visual literacy has been mobilised as a pedagogical tool in design, digital humanities and in broader civic education initiatives promoted by Third Space institutions. Behind the creation of new visual literacy curricula is the idea that images can help anchor a world community, supplementing textual communication. Figure 1: Visual Literacy Yearbook. Montebello Unified School District, USA, 1973. Shedding Light: Origins of the Visual Literacy Frame The term “visual literacy” came to the fore in the early 1970s on the heels of mass literacy campaigns. The educators, creatives and media theorists who first advocated for visual learning linked this aim to literacy, an unassailable goal, to promote a more radical curricular overhaul. They challenged a system that had hitherto only acknowledged a very limited pathway towards academic success; pushing “language and mathematics”, courses “referred to as solids (something substantial) as contrasted with liquids or gases (courses with little or no substance)” (Eisner 92). This was deemed “a parochial view of both human ability and the possibilities of education” that did not acknowledge multiple forms of intelligence (Gardner). This change not only integrated elements of mass culture that had been rejected in education, notably film and graphic arts, but also encouraged the critique of images as a form of good citizenship, assuming that visually literate arbiters could call out media misrepresentations and manipulative political advertising (Messaris, “Visual Test”). This movement was, in many ways, reactive to new forms of mass media that began to replace newspapers as key forms of civic participation. Unlike simple literacy (being able to decipher letters as a mnemonic system), visual literacy involves imputing meanings to images where meanings are less fixed, yet still with embedded cultural signifiers. Visual literacy promised to extend enlightenment metaphors of sight (as in the German Aufklärung) and illumination (as in the French Lumières) to help citizens understand an increasingly complex marketplace of images. The move towards visual literacy was not so much a shift towards images (and away from books and oration) but an affirmation of the need to critically investigate the visual sphere. It introduced doubt to previously upheld hierarchies of perception. Sight, to Kant the “noblest of the senses” (158), was no longer the sense “least affected” by the surrounding world but an input centre that was equally manipulable. In Kant’s view of societal development, the “cosmopolitan” held the key to pacifying bellicose states and ensuring global prosperity and tranquillity. The process of developing a cosmopolitan ideology rests, according to Kant, on the gradual elimination of war and “the education of young people in intellectual and moral culture” (188-89). Transforming disparate societies into “a universal cosmopolitan existence” that would “at last be realised as the matrix within which all the original capacities of the human race may develop” and would take well-funded educational institutions and, potentially, a new framework for imparting knowledge (Kant 51). To some, the world of the visual presented a baseline for shared experience. Figure 2: Exhibition by the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Vienna, photograph c. 1927. An International Picture Language The quest to find a mutually intelligible language that could “bridge worlds” and solder together all of humankind goes back to the late nineteenth century and the Esperanto movement of Ludwig Zamenhof (Schor 59). The expression of this ideal in the world of the visual picked up steam in the interwar years with designers and editors like Fritz Kahn, Gerd Arntz, and Otto and Marie Neurath. Their work transposing complex ideas into graphic form has been rediscovered as an antecedent to modern infographics, but the symbols they deployed were not to merely explain, but also help education and build international fellowship unbounded by spoken language. The Neuraths in particular are celebrated for their international picture language or Isotypes. These pictograms (sometimes viewed as proto-emojis) can be used to represent data without text. Taken together they are an “intemporal, hieroglyphic language” that Neutrath hoped would unite working-class people the world over (Lee 159). The Neuraths’ work was done in the explicit service of visual education with a popular socialist agenda and incubated in the social sphere of Red Vienna at the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Social and Economic Museum) where Otto served as Director. The Wirtschaftsmuseum was an experiment in popular education, with multiple branches and late opening hours to accommodate the “the working man [who] has time to see a museum only at night” (Neurath 72-73). The Isotype contained universalist aspirations for the “making of a world language, or a helping picture language—[that] will give support to international developments generally” and “educate by the eye” (Neurath 13). Figure 3: Gerd Arntz Isotype Images. (Source: University of Reading.) The Isotype was widely adopted in the postwar era in pre-packaged sets of symbols used in graphic design and wayfinding systems for buildings and transportation networks, but with the socialism of the Neuraths’ peeled away, leaving only the system of logos that we are familiar with from airport washrooms, charts, and public transport maps. Much of the uptake in this symbol language could be traced to increased mobility and tourism, particularly in countries that did not make use of a Roman alphabet. The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo helped pave the way when organisers, fearful of jumbling too many scripts together, opted instead for black and white icons to represent the program of sports that summer. The new focus on the visual was both technologically mediated—cheaper printing and broadcast technologies made the diffusion of image increasingly possible—but also ideologically supported by a growing emphasis on projects that transcended linguistic, ethnic, and national borders. The Olympic symbols gradually morphed into Letraset icons, and, later, symbols in the Unicode Standard, which are the basis for today’s emojis. Wordless signs helped facilitate interconnectedness, but only in the most literal sense; their application was limited primarily to sports mega-events, highway maps, and “brand building”, and they never fulfilled their role as an educational language “to give the different nations a common outlook” (Neurath 18). Universally understood icons, particularly in the form of emojis, point to a rise in visual communication but they have fallen short as a cosmopolitan project, supporting neither the globalisation of Kantian ethics nor the transnational socialism of the Neuraths. Figure 4: Symbols in use. Women's bathroom. 1964 Tokyo Olympics. (Source: The official report of the Organizing Committee.) Counter Education By mid-century, the optimism of a universal symbol language seemed dated, and focus shifted from distillation to discernment. New educational programs presented ways to study images, increasingly reproducible with new technologies, as a language in and of themselves. These methods had their roots in the fin-de-siècle educational reforms of John Dewey, Helen Parkhurst, and Maria Montessori. As early as the 1920s, progressive educators were using highly visual magazines, like National Geographic, as the basis for lesson planning, with the hopes that they would “expose students to edifying and culturally enriching reading” and “develop a more catholic taste or sensibility, representing an important cosmopolitan value” (Hawkins 45). The rise in imagery from previously inaccessible regions helped pupils to see themselves in relation to the larger world (although this connection always came with the presumed superiority of the reader). “Pictorial education in public schools” taught readers—through images—to accept a broader world but, too often, they saw photographs as a “straightforward transcription of the real world” (Hawkins 57). The images of cultures and events presented in Life and National Geographic for the purposes of education and enrichment were now the subject of greater analysis in the classroom, not just as “windows into new worlds” but as cultural products in and of themselves. The emerging visual curriculum aimed to do more than just teach with previously excluded modes (photography, film and comics); it would investigate how images presented and mediated the world. This gained wider appeal with new analytical writing on film, like Raymond Spottiswoode's Grammar of the Film (1950) which sought to formulate the grammatical rules of visual communication (Messaris 181), influenced by semiotics and structural linguistics; the emphasis on grammar can also be seen in far earlier writings on design systems such as Owen Jones’s 1856 The Grammar of Ornament, which also advocated for new, universalising methods in design education (Sloboda 228). The inventorying impulse is on display in books like Donis A. Dondis’s A Primer of Visual Literacy (1973), a text that meditates on visual perception but also functions as an introduction to line and form in the applied arts, picking up where the Bauhaus left off. Dondis enumerates the “syntactical guidelines” of the applied arts with illustrations that are in keeping with 1920s books by Kandinsky and Klee and analyse pictorial elements. However, at the end of the book she shifts focus with two chapters that examine “messaging” and visual literacy explicitly. Dondis predicts that “an intellectual, trained ability to make and understand visual messages is becoming a vital necessity to involvement with communication. It is quite likely that visual literacy will be one of the fundamental measures of education in the last third of our century” (33) and she presses for more programs that incorporate the exploration and analysis of images in tertiary education. Figure 5: Ideal spatial environment for the Blueprint charts, 1970. (Image: Inventory Press.) Visual literacy in education arrived in earnest with a wave of publications in the mid-1970s. They offered ways for students to understand media processes and for teachers to use visual culture as an entry point into complex social and scientific subject matter, tapping into the “visual consciousness of the ‘television generation’” (Fransecky 5). Visual culture was often seen as inherently democratising, a break from stuffiness, the “artificialities of civilisation”, and the “archaic structures” that set sensorial perception apart from scholarship (Dworkin 131-132). Many radical university projects and community education initiatives of the 1960s made use of new media in novel ways: from Maurice Stein and Larry Miller’s fold-out posters accompanying Blueprint for Counter Education (1970) to Emory Douglas’s graphics for The Black Panther newspaper. Blueprint’s text- and image-dense wall charts were made via assemblage and they were imagined less as charts and more as a “matrix of resources” that could be used—and added to—by youth to undertake their own counter education (Cronin 53). These experiments in visual learning helped to break down old hierarchies in education, but their aim was influenced more by countercultural notions of disruption than the universal ideals of cosmopolitanism. From Image as Text to City as Text For a brief period in the 1970s, thinkers like Marshall McLuhan (McLuhan et al., Massage) and artists like Bruno Munari (Tanchis and Munari) collaborated fruitfully with graphic designers to create books that mixed text and image in novel ways. Using new compositional methods, they broke apart traditional printing lock-ups to superimpose photographs, twist text, and bend narrative frames. The most famous work from this era is, undoubtedly, The Medium Is the Massage (1967), McLuhan’s team-up with graphic designer Quentin Fiore, but it was followed by dozens of other books intended to communicate theory and scientific ideas with popularising graphics. Following in the footsteps of McLuhan, many of these texts sought not just to explain an issue but to self-consciously reference their own method of information delivery. These works set the precedent for visual aids (and, to a lesser extent, audio) that launched a diverse, non-hierarchical discourse that was nonetheless bound to tactile artefacts. In 1977, McLuhan helped develop a media textbook for secondary school students called City as Classroom: Understanding Language and Media. It is notable for its direct address style and its focus on investigating spaces outside of the classroom (provocatively, a section on the third page begins with “Should all schools be closed?”). The book follows with a fine-grained analysis of advertising forms in which students are asked to first bring advertisements into class for analysis and later to go out into the city to explore “a man-made environment, a huge warehouse of information, a vast resource to be mined free of charge” (McLuhan et al., City 149). As a document City as Classroom is critical of existing teaching methods, in line with the radical “in the streets” pedagogy of its day. McLuhan’s theories proved particularly salient for the counter education movement, in part because they tapped into a healthy scepticism of advertisers and other image-makers. They also dovetailed with growing discontent with the ad-strew visual environment of cities in the 1970s. Budgets for advertising had mushroomed in the1960s and outdoor advertising “cluttered” cities with billboards and neon, generating “fierce intensities and new hybrid energies” that threatened to throw off the visual equilibrium (McLuhan 74). Visual literacy curricula brought in experiential learning focussed on the legibility of the cities, mapping, and the visualisation of urban issues with social justice implications. The Detroit Geographical Expedition and Institute (DGEI), a “collective endeavour of community research and education” that arose in the aftermath of the 1967 uprisings, is the most storied of the groups that suffused the collection of spatial data with community engagement and organising (Warren et al. 61). The following decades would see a tamed approach to visual literacy that, while still pressing for critical reading, did not upend traditional methods of educational delivery. Figure 6: Beginning a College Program-Assisting Teachers to Develop Visual Literacy Approaches in Public School Classrooms. 1977. ERIC. Searching for Civic Education The visual literacy initiatives formed in the early 1970s both affirmed existing civil society institutions while also asserting the need to better inform the public. Most of the campaigns were sponsored by universities, major libraries, and international groups such as UNESCO, which published its “Declaration on Media Education” in 1982. They noted that “participation” was “essential to the working of a pluralistic and representative democracy” and the “public—users, citizens, individuals, groups ... were too systematically overlooked”. Here, the public is conceived as both “targets of the information and communication process” and users who “should have the last word”. To that end their “continuing education” should be ensured (Study 18). Programs consisted primarily of cognitive “see-scan-analyse” techniques (Little et al.) for younger students but some also sought to bring visual analysis to adult learners via continuing education (often through museums eager to engage more diverse audiences) and more radical popular education programs sponsored by community groups. By the mid-80s, scores of modules had been built around the comprehension of visual media and had become standard educational fare across North America, Australasia, and to a lesser extent, Europe. There was an increasing awareness of the role of data and image presentation in decision-making, as evidenced by the surprising commercial success of Edward Tufte’s 1982 book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Visual literacy—or at least image analysis—was now enmeshed in teaching practice and needed little active advocacy. Scholarly interest in the subject went into a brief period of hibernation in the 1980s and early 1990s, only to be reborn with the arrival of new media distribution technologies (CD-ROMs and then the internet) in classrooms and the widespread availability of digital imaging technology starting in the late 1990s; companies like Adobe distributed free and reduced-fee licences to schools and launched extensive teacher training programs. Visual literacy was reanimated but primarily within a circumscribed academic field of education and data visualisation. Figure 7: Visual Literacy; What Research Says to the Teacher, 1975. National Education Association. USA. Part of the shifting frame of visual literacy has to do with institutional imperatives, particularly in places where austerity measures forced strange alliances between disciplines. What had been a project in alternative education morphed into an uncontested part of the curriculum and a dependable budget line. This shift was already forecasted in 1972 by Harun Farocki who, writing in Filmkritik, noted that funding for new film schools would be difficult to obtain but money might be found for “training in media education … a discipline that could persuade ministers of education, that would at the same time turn the budget restrictions into an advantage, and that would match the functions of art schools” (98). Nearly 50 years later educators are still using media education (rebranded as visual or media literacy) to make the case for fine arts and humanities education. While earlier iterations of visual literacy education were often too reliant on the idea of cracking the “code” of images, they did promote ways of learning that were a deep departure from the rote methods of previous generations. Next-gen curricula frame visual literacy as largely supplemental—a resource, but not a program. By the end of the 20th century, visual literacy had changed from a scholarly interest to a standard resource in the “teacher’s toolkit”, entering into school programs and influencing museum education, corporate training, and the development of public-oriented media (Literacy). An appreciation of image culture was seen as key to creating empathetic global citizens, but its scope was increasingly limited. With rising austerity in the education sector (a shift that preceded the 2008 recession by decades in some countries), art educators, museum enrichment staff, and design researchers need to make a case for why their disciplines were relevant in pedagogical models that are increasingly aimed at “skills-based” and “job ready” teaching. Arts educators worked hard to insert their fields into learning goals for secondary students as visual literacy, with the hope that “literacy” would carry the weight of an educational imperative and not a supplementary field of study. Conclusion For nearly a century, educational initiatives have sought to inculcate a cosmopolitan perspective with a variety of teaching materials and pedagogical reference points. Symbolic languages, like the Isotype, looked to unite disparate people with shared visual forms; while educational initiatives aimed to train the eyes of students to make them more discerning citizens. The term ‘visual literacy’ emerged in the 1960s and has since been deployed in programs with a wide variety of goals. Countercultural initiatives saw it as a prerequisite for popular education from the ground up, but, in the years since, it has been formalised and brought into more staid curricula, often as a sort of shorthand for learning from media and pictures. The grand cosmopolitan vision of a complete ‘visual language’ has been scaled back considerably, but still exists in trace amounts. Processes of globalisation require images to universalise experiences, commodities, and more for people without shared languages. Emoji alphabets and globalese (brands and consumer messaging that are “visual-linguistic” amalgams “increasingly detached from any specific ethnolinguistic group or locality”) are a testament to a mediatised banal cosmopolitanism (Jaworski 231). In this sense, becoming “fluent” in global design vernacular means familiarity with firms and products, an understanding that is aesthetic, not critical. It is very much the beneficiaries of globalisation—both state and commercial actors—who have been able to harness increasingly image-based technologies for their benefit. To take a humorous but nonetheless consequential example, Spanish culinary boosters were able to successfully lobby for a paella emoji (Miller) rather than having a food symbol from a less wealthy country such as a Senegalese jollof or a Morrocan tagine. This trend has gone even further as new forms of visual communication are increasingly streamlined and managed by for-profit media platforms. The ubiquity of these forms of communication and their global reach has made visual literacy more important than ever but it has also fundamentally shifted the endeavour from a graphic sorting practice to a critical piece of social infrastructure that has tremendous political ramifications. Visual literacy campaigns hold out the promise of educating students in an image-based system with the potential to transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries. This cosmopolitan political project has not yet been realised, as the visual literacy frame has drifted into specialised silos of art, design, and digital humanities education. It can help bridge the “incomplete connections” of an increasingly globalised world (Calhoun 112), but it does not have a program in and of itself. Rather, an evolving visual literacy curriculum might be seen as a litmus test for how we imagine the role of images in the world. 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IntroductionOn 4 December 2016, a man entered a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor armed with an AR-15 assault rifle in an attempt to save the victims of an alleged satanic pedophilia ring run by prominent members of the Democratic Party. While the story had already been discredited (LaCapria), at the time of the incident, nearly half of Trump voters were found to give a measure of credence to the same rumors that had apparently inspired the gunman (Frankovic). Was we will discuss here, the bizarre conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate" had in fact originated a month earlier on 4chan/pol/, a message forum whose very raison d’être is to protest against “political correctness” of the liberal establishment, and which had recently become a hub for “loose coordination” amongst members the insurgent US ‘alt-right’ movement (Hawley 48). Over a period of 25 hours beginning on 3 November 2016, contributors to the /pol/ forum combed through a cache of private e-mails belonging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, obtained by Russian hackers (Franceschi-Bicchierai) and leaked by Julian Assange (Wikileaks). In this short time period contributors to the forum thus constructed the basic elements of a narrative that would be amplified by a newly formed “right-wing media network”, in which the “repetition, variation, and circulation” of “repeated falsehoods” may be understood as an “important driver towards a ‘post-truth’ world” (Benkler et al). Heavily promoted by a new class of right-wing pundits on Twitter (Wendling), the case of Pizzagate prompts us to reconsider the presumed progressive valence of social media protest (Zuckerman).While there is literature, both popular and academic, on earlier protest movements associated with 4chan (Stryker; Olson; Coleman; Phillips), there is still a relative paucity of empirical research into the newer forms of alt-right collective action that have emerged from 4chan. And while there have been journalistic exposés tracing the dissemination of the Pizzagate rumors across social media as well as deconstructing its bizarre narrative (Fisher et al.; Aisch; Robb), as of yet there has been no rigorous analysis of the provenance of this particular story. This article thus provides an empirical study of how the Pizzagate conspiracy theory developed out of a particular set of collective action techniques that were in turn shaped by the material affordances of 4chan’s most active message board, the notorious and highly offensive /pol/.Grammatised Collective ActionOur empirical approach is partially inspired by the limited data-scientific literature of 4chan (Bernstein et al.; Hine et al.; Zannettou et al.), and combines close and distant reading techniques to study how the technical design of 4chan ‘grammatises’ new forms of collective action. Our coinage of grammatised collective action is based on the notion of “grammars of action” from the field of critical information studies, which posits the radical idea that innovations in computational systems can also be understood as “ontological advances” (Agre 749), insofar as computation tends to break the flux of human activity into discrete elements. By introducing this concept our intent is not to minimise individual agency, but rather to emphasise the ways in which computational systems can be conceptualised in terms of an individ­ual-milieu dyad where the “individual carries with it a certain inheritance […] animated by all the potentials that characterise [...] the structure of a physical system” (Simondon 306). Our argument is that grammatisation may be thought to create new kinds of niches, or affordances, for new forms of sociality and, crucially, new forms of collective action — in the case of 4chan/pol/, how anonymity and ephemerality may be thought to afford a kind of post-truth protest.Affordance was initially proposed as a means by which to overcome the dualistic tendency, inherited from phenomenology, to bracket the subject from its environment. Thus, affordance is a relational concept “equally a fact of the environment and a fact of behaviour” (Gibson 129). While, in the strictly materialist sense affordances are “always there” (Gibson 132), their capacity to shape action depends upon their discovery and exploitation by particular forms of life that are capable of perceiving them. It is axiomatic within ethology that forms of life can be understood to thrive in their own dynamic, yet in some real sense ontologically distinct, lifeworlds (von Uexküll). Departing from this axiom, affordances can thus be defined, somewhat confusingly but accurately, as an “invariant combination of variables” (Gibson 134). In the case of new media, the same technological object may afford different actions for specific users — for instance, the uses of an online platform appears differently from the perspective of the individual users, businesses, or a developer (Gillespie). Recent literature within the field of new media has sought to engage with this concept of affordance as the methodological basis for attending to “the specificity of platforms” (Bucher and Helmond 242), for example by focussing on how a platform’s affordances may be used as a "mechanism of governance" (Crawford and Gillespie 411), how they may "foster democratic deliberation" (Halpern and Gibbs 1159), and be implicated in the "production of normativity" (Stanfill 1061).As an anonymous and essentially ephemeral peer-produced image-board, 4chan has a quite simple technical design when compared with the dominant social media platforms discussed in the new media literature on affordances. Paradoxically however in the simplicity of their design 4chan boards may be understood to afford rather complex forms of self-expression and of coordinated action amongst their dedicated users, whom refer to themselves as "anons". It has been noted, for example, that the production of provocative Internet memes on 4chan’s /b/ board — the birthplace of Rickrolling — could be understood as a type of "contested cultural capital", whose “media literate” usage allows anons to demonstrate their in-group status in the absence of any persistent reputational capital (Nissenbaum and Shiffman). In order to appreciate how 4chan grammatises action it is thus useful to study its characteristic affordances, the most notable of which is its renowned anonymity. We should thus begin by noting how the design of the site allows anyone to post anything virtually anonymously so long as comments remain on topic for the given board. Indeed, it was this particular affordance that informed the emergence of the collective identity of the hacktivist group “Anonymous”, some ten years before 4chan became publicly associated with the rise of the alt-right.In addition to anonymity the other affordance that makes 4chan particularly unique is ephemerality. As stated, the design of 4chan is quite straightforward. Anons post comments to ongoing threaded discussions, which start with an original post. Threads with the most recent comments appear first in order at the top of a given board, which result in the previous threads getting pushed down the page. Even in the case of the most popular threads 4chan boards only allow a finite number of comments before threads must be purged. As a result of this design, no matter how popular a discussion might be, once having reached the bump-limit threads expire, moving down the front page onto the second and third page either to be temporarily catalogued or else to disappear from the site altogether (see Image 1 for how popular threads on /pol/, represented in red, are purged after reaching the bump-limit).Image 1: 55 minutes of all 4chan/pol/ threads and their positions, sampled every 2 minutes (Hagen)Adding to this ephemerality, general discussion on 4chan is also governed by moderators — this in spite of 4chan’s anarchic reputation — who are uniquely empowered with the ability to effectively kill a thread, or a series of threads. Autosaging, one of the possible techniques available to moderators, is usually only exerted in instances when the discussion is deemed as being off-topic or inappropriate. As a result of the combined affordances, discussions can be extremely rapid and intense — in the case of the creation of Pizzagate, this process took 25 hours (see Tokmetzis for an account based on our research).The combination of 4chan’s unique affordances of anonymity and ephemerality brings us to a third factor that is crucial in order to understand how it is that 4chan anons cooked-up the Pizzagate story: the general thread. This process involves anons combing through previous discussion threads in order to create a new thread that compiles all the salient details on a given topic often archiving this data with services like Pastebin — an online content hosting service usually used to share snippets of code — or Google Docs since the latter tend to be less ephemeral than 4chan.In addition to keeping a conversation alive after a thread has been purged, in the case of Pizzagate we noticed that general threads were crucial to the process of framing those discussions going forward. While multiple general threads might emerge on a given topic, only one will consolidate the ongoing conversation thereby affording significant authority to a single author (as opposed to the anonymous mass) in terms of deciding on which parts of a prior thread to include or exclude. While general threads occur relatively commonly in 4chan, in the case of Pizzagate, this process seemed to take on the form of a real-time collective research effort that we will refer to as bullshit accumulation.The analytic philosopher Harry Frankfurt argues that bullshit is form of knowledge-production that appears unconcerned with objective truth, and as such can be distinguished from misinformation. Frankfurt sees bullshit as “more ambitious” than misinformation defining it as “panoramic rather than particular” since it is also prepared to “fake the context”, which in his estimation makes bullshit a “greater enemy of the truth” than lies (62, 52). Through an investigation into the origins of Pizzagate on /pol/, we thus are able to understand how grammatised collective action assists in the accumulation of bullshit in the service of a kind of post-truth political protest.Bullshit Accumulation4chan has a pragmatic and paradoxical relationship with belief that has be characterised in terms of kind of quasi-religious ironic collectivism (Burton). Because of this "weaponizing [of] irony" (Wilson) it is difficult to objectively determine to what extent anons actually believed that Pizzagate was real, and in a sense it is beside the point. In combination then with the site’s aforementioned affordances, it is this peculiar relationship with the truth which thus makes /pol/ so uniquely productive of bullshit. Image 2: Original pizzagate post on 4chan/pol/When #Pizzagate started trending on Twitter on 4 November 2017, it became clear that much of the narrative, and in particular the ‘pizza connection’, was based on arcane (if not simply ridiculous) interpretations of a cache of e-mails belonging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta released by Wikileaks during the final weeks of the campaign. While many of the subsequent journalistic exposé would claim that Pizzagate began on 4chan, they did not explore its origins, perhaps because of the fact that 4chan does not consistently archive its threads. Our analysis overcame this obstacle by using a third party archive, Archive4plebs, which allowed us to pinpoint the first instance of a thread (/pol/) that discussed a connection between the keyword “pizza” and the leaked e-mails (Image 2).Image 3: 4chan/pol/ Pizzagate general threadsStarting with the timestamp of the first thread, we identified a total of 18 additional general threads related to the topic of Pizzagate (see Image 3). This establishes a 25-hour timeframe in which the Pizzagate narrative was formed (from Wednesday 2 November 2016, 22:17:20, until Thursday 3 November 2016, 23:24:01). We developed a timeline (Image 4) identifying 13 key moments in the development of the Pizzagate story such as the first attempts at disseminating the narrative to other platforms such as the Reddit forum r/The_Donald a popular forum whose reactionary politics had arguably set the broader tone for the Trump campaign (Heikkila).Image 4: timeline of the birth of Pizzagate. Design by Elena Aversa, information design student at Density Design Lab.The association between the Clinton campaign and pedophilia came from another narrative on 4chan known as ‘Orgy Island’, which alleged the Clintons flew to a secret island for sex tourism aboard a private jet called "Lolita Express" owned by Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who had served 13 months in prison for soliciting an underage prostitute. As with the Pizzagate story, this narrative also appears to have developed through the shared infrastructure of Pastebin links included in general posts (Pastebin) often alongside Wikileaks links.Image 5: Clues about “pizza” being investigatedOrgy Island and other stories were thus combined together with ‘clues’, many of which were found in the leaked Podesta e-mails, in order to imagine the connections between pedophila and pizza. It was noticed that several of Podesta’s e-mails, for example, mentioned the phrase ‘cheese pizza’ (see Image 5), which on 4chan had long been used as a code word for ‘child pornography’ , the latter which is banned from the site.Image 6: leaked Podesta e-mail from Marina AbramovicIn another leaked e-mail, for example, sent to Podesta from the renowned performance artist Marina Abramovich (see Image 6), a reference to one of her art projects, entitled ‘Spirit Cooking’ — an oblique reference to the mid-century English occultist Aleister Crowley — was interpreted as evidence of Clinton’s involvement in satanic rituals (see Image 7). In the course of this one-day period then, many if not most of the coordinates for the Pizzagate narrative were thus put into place subsequently to be amplified by a new breed of populist social media activists in protest against a corrupt Democratic establishment.Image 7: /pol/ anon’s reaction to the e-mail in Image 6During its initial inception on /pol/, there was the apparent need for visualisations in order make sense of all the data. Quite early on in the process, for example, one anon posted:my brain is exploding trying to organize the connections. Anyone have diagrams of these connections?In response, anons produced numerous conspiratorial visualisations, such as a map featuring all the child-related businesses in the neighbourhood of the D.C. pizza parlor — owned by the boyfriend of the prominent Democratic strategist David Brock — which seemed to have logos of the same general shape as the symbols apparently used by pedophiles, and whose locations seems furthermore to line up in the shape of a satanic pentagram (see Image 8). Such visualisations appear to have served three purposes: they helped anons to identify connections, they helped them circumvent 4chan’s purging process — indeed they were often hosted on third-party sites such as Imgur — and finally they helped anons to ultimately communicate the Pizzagate narrative to a broader audience.Image 8. Anonymously authored Pizzagate map revealing a secret pedophilia network in D.C.By using an inductive approach to categorise the comments in the general threads a set of non-exclusive codes emerged, which can be grouped into five overarching categories: researching, interpreting, soliciting, archiving and publishing. As visualised in Image 9, the techniques used by anons in the genesis of Pizzagate appears as a kind of vernacular rendition of many of the same “digital methods” that we use as Internet researchers. An analysis of these techniques thus helps us to understanding how a grammatised form of collective action arises out of anons’ negotiations with the affordances of 4chan — most notably the constant purging of threads — and how, in special circumstances, this can lead to bullshit accumulation.Image 9: vernacular digital methods on /pol/ ConclusionWhat this analysis ultimately reveals is how 4chan/pol/’s ephemerality affordance contributed to an environment that is remarkably productive of bullshit. As a type of knowledge-accumulation, bullshit confirms preconceived biases through appealing to emotion — this at the expense of the broader shared epistemic principles, an objective notion of “truth” that arguably forms the foundation for public reason in large and complex liberal societies (Lynch). In this sense, the bullshit of Pizzagate resonates with Hannah Arendt’s analysis of totalitarian discourse which nurtures a conspiratorial redefining of emotional truth as “whatever respectable society had hypocritically passed over, or covered with corruption" (49).As right-wing populism establishes itself evermore firmly in many countries in which technocratic liberalism had formerly held sway, the demand for emotionally satisfying post-truth, will surely keep the new online bullshit factories like /pol/ in business. Yet, while the same figures who initially assiduously sought to promote Pizzagate have subsequently tried to distance themselves from the story (Doubeck; Colbourn), Pizzagate continues to live on in certain ‘alternative facts’ communities (Voat).If we conceptualise the notion of a ‘public’ as a local and transient entity that is, above all, defined by its active engagement with a given ‘issue’ (Marres), then perhaps we should consider Pizzagate as representing a new post-truth species of issue-public. Indeed, one could go so far as to argue that, in the era of post-truth, the very ‘reality’ of contemporary issues-publics are increasingly becoming a function of their what communities want to believe. Such a neopragmatist theory might even be used to support the post-truth claim — as produced by the grammatised collective actions of 4chan anons in the course of a single day — that Pizzagate is real!References Agre, Phillip E. “Surveillance and Capture.” The New Media Reader. Eds. 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Introduction Fashion has long been associated with resistance movements across Asia and Australia, from the hand-spun cotton Khadi of Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom struggle to the traditional ankle length robe worn by Tibetans in the ‘White Wednesday Movement’ (Singh et al.; Yangzom). There are many reasons why fashion and activism have been interlinked. Fashion can serve as a form of nonverbal communication (Crane), which can convey activists’ grievances and concerns while symbolising solidarity (Doerr). It can provide an avenue to enact individual agency against repressive, authoritarian regimes (Yangzom; Doerr et al.). Fashion can codify a degree of uniformity within groups and thereby signal social identity (Craik), while also providing a means of building community (Barry and Drak). Fashion, therefore, offers activists the opportunity to develop the three characteristics which unite a social or environmental movement: a shared concern about an issue, a sense of social identity, and connections between individuals and groups. But while these fashion functions map onto movement characteristics, it remains unclear whether activists across the world deliberately include fashion into their protest action repertoires. This uncertainty exists partly because of a research and media focus on large scale, mass protests (Lester and Hutchins), where fashion characteristics are immediately visible and amenable to retrospective interpretation. This focus helps explain the rich volume of research examining the manifestation of fashion in past protests, such as the black, red, and yellow colours worn during the 1988 Aboriginal Long March of Freedom, Justice, and Hope (Maynard Dress; Coghlan), and the pink anti-Trump ‘pussyhats’ (Thompson). However, the protest events used to identify these fashion characteristics are a relatively small proportion of actions used by environmental activists (Dalton et al.; Gulliver et al.), which include not only rallies and marches, but also information evenings, letter writing sessions, and eco-activities such as tree plantings. This article aims to respond to Barnard’s (Looking) call for more empirical work on what contemporary cultural groups visually do with what they wear (see also Gerbaudo and Treré) via a content analysis of 36,676 events promoted on Facebook by 728 Australian environmental groups between 2010 and 2019. The article firstly reports findings from an analysis of this dataset to identify how fashion manifests in environmental activism, building on research demonstrating the role of protest-related nonverbal communications, such as protest signage (Bloomfield and Doolin), images (Kim), and icons, slogans, and logos (Goodnow). The article then considers what activists may seek to achieve through incorporating fashion into their action repertoire, and whether this suggests solidarity with activists seeking to effect environmental change across the wider Asian region. Fashion Activism Fashion is created through a particular assemblage of clothes, accessories, and hairstyles (Barry and Drak), which in turn forms a prevailing custom or style of dress (Craik). It is a cultural practice, providing ‘real estate’ (Benda 7) for an individual to express their social roles (Craik) and political identity (Behnke). Some scholars argue that fashion became overtly political during the 1960s and 70s, as social movements politicised appearance (Edwards). This has only increased in relevance with the rise of far right, populist, and authoritarian regimes, whose sub-cultures enact politicised identities through their distinct fashion characteristics (Gaugele and Titton; Gaugele). Fashion can therefore play an important role in protest movements, as “political subjectivities, political authority, political power and discipline are rendered visible, and thereby real, by the way fashion co-establishes them” (Behnke 3). Across the literature scholars have identified two primary avenues by which fashion and activism are connected. The first of these relates to activism targeting the fashion industry. This type of activism is found in both Asia and Australia, and promotes sustainable consumption choices such as buying used goods and transforming existing items (Chung and Yim), as well as highlighting garment worker exploitation within the fashion industry (Khan and Richards). The second avenue is called ‘fashion activism’: the use of fashion to intentionally signal a message seeking to evoke social and/or political change (Thompson). In this conceptualisation, clothing is used to signify a particular message (Crane). An example of this type of fashion activism is the ‘SlutWalk’, a protest where participants deliberately wore outfits described as slutty or revealing as a response to victim-blaming of women who had experienced sexual assault (Thompson). A key element of fashion activism thus appears to be its message intentionality. Clothes are specifically utilised to convey a message, such as a grievance about victim-blaming, which can then be incorporated into design features displayed on t-shirts, pins, and signs both on the runway and in protest events (Titton). However, while this ‘sender/receiver’ model of fashion communication (Barnard, Fashion as) can be compelling for activists, it is complex in practice. A message receiver can never have full knowledge of what message the sender seeks to signify through a particular clothing item, nor can the message sender predict how a receiver will interpret that message. Particular arrangements of clothing only hold communicative power when they are easily interpreted and related to the movement and its message, usually only intelligible to a specific culture or subculture (Goodnow). Even within that subculture it remains problematic to infer a message from a particular style of dress, as demonstrated in examples where dress is used to imply sexual consent; for example, in rape and assault cases (Lennon et al.). Given the challenges of interpreting fashion, do activists appear to use the ‘real estate’ (Benda 7) afforded by it as a protest tool? To investigate this question a pre-existing dataset of 36,676 events was analysed to ascertain if, and how, environmental activism engages with fashion (a detailed methodology is available on the OSF). Across this dataset, event categories, titles, and descriptions were reviewed to collate events connecting environmental activism to fashion. Three categories of events were found and are discussed in the next section: street theatre, sustainable fashion practices, and disruptive protest. Street Theatre Street theatre is a form of entertainment which uses public performance to raise awareness of injustices and build support for collective action (Houston and Pulido). It uses costumes as a vehicle for conveying messages about political issues and for making demands visible, and has been utilised by protesters across Australia and Asia (Roces). Many examples of street theatre were found in the dataset. For example, Extinction Rebellion (XR) consistently promoted street theatre events via sub-groups such as the ‘Red Rebels’ – a dedicated team of volunteers specialising in costumed street theatre – as well as by inviting supporters to participate in open street theatre events, such as in the ‘Halloween Dead Things Disco’. Dressed as spooky skeletons (doot, doot) and ghosts, we'll slide and shimmy down Sydney's streets in a supernatural style, as we bring attention to all the species claimed by the Sixth Mass Extinction. These street theatre events appeared to prioritise spectacle rather than disruption as a means to attract attention to their message. The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre ‘Climate Action Float’, for example, requested that attendees: Wear blue and gold or dress as your favourite reef animal, solar panel, maybe even the sun itself!? Reef & Solar // Blue & Gold is the guiding theme but we want your creativity take it from there. Most groups used street theatre as one of a range of different actions organised across a period of time. However, Climacts, a performance collective which uses ‘spectacle and satire to communicate the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crisis’ (Climacts), utilised this tactic exclusively. Their Climate Guardians collective used distinctive angel costumes to perform at the Climate Conference of Parties 26, and in various places around Australia (see images on their Website). Fig. 1: Costumed protest against Downer EDI's proposed work on the Adani coalmine; Image by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0). Sustainable Fashion Practices The second most common type of event which connected fashion with activism were those promoting sustainable fashion practices. While much research has highlighted the role of activism in raising awareness of problems related to the fashion industry (e.g. Hirscher), groups in the dataset were primarily focussed on organising activities where supporters communally created their own fashion items. The most common of these was the ‘crafternoon’, with over 260 separate crafternoon events identified in the dataset. These events brought activists together to create protest-related kit such as banners, signs, and costumes from recycled or repurposed materials, as demonstrated by Hume Climate Action Now’s ‘Crafternoon for Climate’ event: Come along on Sunday arvo for a relaxed arvo making posters and banners for upcoming Hume Climate Action Now events… Bring: Paints, textas, cardboard, fabric – whatever you’ve got lying around. Don’t have anything? That’s cool, just bring yourself. Events highlighting fashion industry problems were less frequent and tended to prioritise sharing of information about the fashion industry rather than promoting protests. For example, Transition Town Vincent held a ‘Slowing Down Fast Fashion – Transition Town Vincent Movie Night’ while the Green Embassy promoted the ‘Eco Fashion Week’. This event, held in 2017, was described as Australia’s only eco-fashion week, and included runway shows, music, and public talks. Other events also focussed on public talks, such as a Conservation Council of ACT event called ‘Green Drinks Canberra October 2017: Summer Edwards on the fashion industry’ and a panel discussion organised by a group called SEE-Change entitled ‘The Sustainable Wardrobe’. Disruptive Protest and T-Shirts Few events in the dataset mentioned elements of fashion outside of street theatre or sustainable fashion practices, with only one organisation explicitly connecting fashion with activism in its event details. This group – Australian Youth Climate Coalition – organised an event called ‘Activism in Fashion: Tote Bags, T-shirts and Poster Painting!’, which asked: How can we consistently be involved in campaigning while life can be so busy? Can we still be loud and get a message across without saying a word? The iconic 21st century activist "t-shirt and tote-bag" combination is hard to miss these days! Unlike street theatre and sustainable fashion practices, fashion appeared to be a consideration for only a small number of disruptive protests promoted by environmental groups in Australia. XR Brisbane sought to organise a fashion parade during the 2019 Rebellion Week, while XR protesters in Melbourne stripped down to underwear for a march through Melbourne city arcades (see also Turbet). Few common fashion elements appeared consistently on individual activists participating in events, and these were limited to accessories, such as ‘Stop Adani’ earrings, or t-shirts sold for fundraising and promotional purposes. Indeed, t-shirts appeared to be the most promoted clothing item in the dataset, continuing a long tradition of their use in protests (e.g. Maynard, Blankets). Easy to create, suitable for displaying both text and imagery, t-shirts sharing anti-coal messages featured predominantly in the Stop Adani campaign, while yellow t-shirts were a common item in Knitting Nanna’s anti-coal seam gas mining protests. Fig. 2: Stop Adani earrings and t-shirts; Image by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0). The Role of Fashion in Environmental Activism As these findings demonstrate, fashion appears to be deliberately utilised in environmental activism primarily through street theatre and the promotion of sustainable fashion practices. While fewer examples of fashion in disruptive protest were found and no consistent fashion assemblage was identified, accessories and t-shirts were utilised by many groups. What may activists be seeking to achieve through incorporating fashion via street theatre and sustainable fashion practices? Some scholars have argued that incorporating fashion into protest allows activists to signal political dissent against authoritarian control. For example, Yanzoom noted that by utilising fashion as a means of communication, Tibetan activists were able to embody their political goals despite repression of speech and movement by political powerholders. However, a consistent fashion repertoire across protests in this Australian dataset was not found. The opportunities afforded by protected protest rights in Australia and absence of violent police repression of disruptive protests may be one explanation why distinctive dress such as the masks and black attire of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters did not manifest in the dataset. Other scholars have observed that fashion sub-cultures also developed partly to express anti-establishment politics, such as the punk movement in the 1970s. Radical clothing accessorised by symbols, bright hair colours, body piercings, and heavy-duty books signalled opposition to the dominant political ideology (Craik). However, none of these purposes appeared to play a role in Australian environmental activism either. Instead, it appears that Maynard’s contention that Australian protest fashion barely deviates from everyday dress remains true today. Fashion within the events promoted in this large empirical dataset retained the ‘prevalence of everyday clothing’ (Maynard, Dress 111). The lack of a clearly discernible single protest fashion style within the dataset may be related to the shortcomings of the sender/receiver model of fashion communication. As Barnard (Fashion Statements) argued, fashion is not always used as a vehicle for conveying messages, but also as a platform for constructing and reproducing identity. Indeed, a multiplicity of researchers have noted how fashion acts as a signal of what social groups individuals belong to (see Roach-Higgins and Eicher). Activist groups have a variety of goals, which not only include promoting environmental change but also mobilising more people to join their cause (Gulliver et al., Understanding). Stereotyping can hinder achievement of these goals. It has been demonstrated, for example, that individuals who hold negative stereotypes of ‘typical’ activists are less likely to want to associate with them, and less likely to adopt their behaviours (Bashir et al.). Accordingly, some activist groups have been shown to actively promote dress associated with other identity groups, specifically to challenge cultural constructions of environmental activist stereotypes (see also Roces). For example, Bloomfield and Doolins’s study of the NZ anti-GE group MAdGE (Mothers against Genetic Engineering in Food and the Environment) demonstrated how visual protest artifacts conveyed the protesters’ social identity as mothers and customers rather than environmental activists, claiming an alternative cultural mandate for challenging the authority of science (see also Einwohner et al.). The data suggest that Australian activists are seeking to avoid this stereotype as well. The absence of a consistent fashion promoted within the dataset may reflect awareness of problematic stereotypes that activists may be then deliberately seeking to avoid. Maynard (Dress), for example, has noted how the everyday dress of Australian protesters serves to deflect stereotypical labelling of participants. This strategy is also mirrored by the changing nature of groups within the Australian environmental movement. The event database demonstrates that an increasing number of environmental groups are emerging with names highlighting non-stereotypical environmental identities: groups such as ‘Engineers Declare’ and ‘Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action’. Beyond these identity processes, the frequent use of costumed street theatre protest suggests that activists recognise the value of using fashion as a vehicle for communicating messages, despite the challenges of interpretation described above. Much of the language used to promote street theatre in the Facebook event listings suggests that these costumes were deliberately designed to signify a particular meaning, with individuals encouraged to dress up to be ‘a vehicle for myth and symbol’ (Lavender 11). It may be that costumes are also utilised in protest due to their suitability as an image event, convenient for dissemination by mass media seeking colourful and engaging imagery (Delicath and Deluca; Doerr). Furthermore, costumes, as with text or colours presented on t-shirts, may offer activists an avenue to clearly convey a visual message which is more resistant to stereotyping. This is especially relevant given that fashion can be re-interpreted and misinterpreted by audiences, as well as reframed and reinterpreted by the media (Maynard, Dress). While the prevalence of costumed performance and infrequent mentions of fashion in the dataset may be explained by stereotype avoidance and messaging clarity, sustainable fashion practices were more straightforward in intent. Groups used multiple approaches to educate audiences about sustainable fashion, whether through fostering sustainable fashion practices or raising awareness of fashion industry problems. In this regard, fashion in protest in Australia closely resembles Asian sustainable fashion activism (see e.g. Chon et al. regarding the Singaporean context). In particular, the large number of ‘crafternoons’ suggests their importance as sites of activism and community building. Craftivism – acts such as quilting banners, yarn bombing, and cross stitching feminist slogans – are used by many groups to draw attention to social, political and environmental issues (McGovern and Barnes). This type of ‘creative activism’ (Filippello) has been used to challenge aesthetic and political norms across a variety of contested socio-political landscapes. These activities not only develop activism skills, but also foster community (Barry and Drak). For environmental groups, these community building events can play a critical role in sustaining and supporting ongoing environmental activism (Gulliver et al., Understanding) as well as demonstrating solidarity with workers across Asia experiencing labour injustices linked to the fashion industry (Chung and Yim). Conclusion Studies examining protest fashion demonstrate that clothing provides a canvas for sharing protest messages and identities in both Asia and Australia (Benda; Yangzom; Craik). However, despite the fashion’s utility as communication tool for social and environmental movements, empirical studies of how fashion is used by activists in these contexts remain rare. This analysis demonstrates that Australian environmental activists use fashion in their action repertoire primarily through costumed street theatre performances and promoting sustainable fashion practices. By doing so they may be seeking to use fashion as a means of conveying messages, while avoiding stereotypes that can demobilise supporters and reduce support for their cause. Furthermore, sustainable fashion activism offers opportunities for activists to achieve multiple goals: to subvert the fast fashion industry, to provide participation avenues for new activists, to help build activist communities, and to express solidarity with those experiencing fast fashion-related labour injustices. These findings suggest that the use of fashion in protest actions can move beyond identity messaging to also enact sustainable practices while co-opting and resisting hegemonic ideas of consumerism. By integrating fashion into the vibrant and diverse actions promoted by environmental movements across Australia and Asia, activists can construct and perform identities while fostering the community bonds and networks from which movements demanding environmental change derive their strength. Ethics Approval Statement This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Queensland (2018000963). 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