Today we went through the reading which we were set last week. It looked at both Sheldon Strykers Identity Theory in 1980 and George J. McCall and J. L. Simmons Theory of Identity.
Strykers view focused more on how the 'self' is changed by the environment in which it is immersed, "culture and social structure designate many of the identities held by the individuals". Where as McCall and Simmons theory see's the identity as improvised and created by the individual in order to realise and achieve their various goals and plans.
Strykers theory works around the concept that everything is dictated by an external structure. A structure which is created out of lots of different connected sections. The structures can be rigid or flexible, depending on the group of people depends on the leeway which the individual has in the character role. "...individuals designate themselves as objects in relation to their location in structural positions" The identity of the individual is objective allowing them to view the situation without seeing themselves in it. By making themselves an object they can have a better gage of how others in the group behave and then mimic this behaviour until it becomes habitual. By seeing others conform and receive extrinsic rewards for such behaviour it reinforces the type of behaviour expected and the individual then adopts a complimentary role.
On the other hand McCall and Simmons theory of identity is more subjective. You create the role for the place in society that you want to be in. "Role identity constitutes an imaginative view of oneself in a position, often a rather idealised view of oneself." A portion of this idealised view has links to the social structure and positioning as well as a fragment in the individuals imagination. Although they confirm the role they have chosen in their head they also need confirmation from other individuals for it to feel like a legitimate role. Even though they need a level of approval from individuals, they value self criticism as more important. They allow for a lack of approval from others and use several coping mechanisms which allows them to keep preforming their chosen role.
Both these theories can be related to graphic design in different ways. A Design can, like an individual, change its identity around different people to attract the most people. Certain characteristics attract one group of people which would not apply to another group, however just like a person can fit in with more than one social group so can a design. Different design aspects will appear prominent to different people, for example a child's toy could seem fun and exciting to the child but at the same time the parent could view it more as an educational product. The graphic design allows different things to stand out to the right people.
When Designing you should design for who the buyer aspires to be rather than who they are. They would only buy a product to enhance themselves to their 'ideal self' if they were not already there. This is much like McCall and Simmons theory where the individual creates a role which allows them to play the idealised idea of them self. They would buy the product to live up to their imaginative role. This really constructs an artificial identity which people would buy into.
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