Production and consumption—an ancient pair of human behaviors—have accompanied the course of human history for millions of years, but it was not until the 18th century that they experienced an unprecedented explosion.
As Adam Smith once remarked, “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.”
Since the onset of the 21st century, in the wake of industrialization and globalization, consumption has become increasingly diversified. Even among essential daily commodities, the price disparity between brands of identical products can be vast. Behind this phenomenon, consumption has evolved beyond the mere satisfaction of material needs—it has become a symbol of social status and personal identity. As Jean Baudrillard incisively observed, “Consumption is not just a passive absorption of objects, but a systematic act of the manipulation of signs.”
In today’s consumer landscape, supermarket shelves are overwhelmed with dazzling yet excessive products. Even when offered at discounted prices, many goods still fail to attract buyers. This paradox is powerfully captured in the photographic works of Andreas Gursky, where the meticulously constructed visual identities by designers often seem to lose their intended impact. This incongruity has prompted my own critical reflection.
Victor Papanek noted in Design for the Real World that, “We are often taught to design for a world that does not exist—a world of perpetual affluence, unlimited resources, and homogeneous users.”
In response, I have grounded myself in familiar, everyday consumer settings, conducting detailed data collection and analysis of various categories of consumer goods. Through visual language, I attempt to reveal the concealed disparities beneath surface appearances. Though the forms I use are composed of the most basic geometric elements in graphic design, they are firmly rooted in reality—recording and reflecting the world in its most authentic state. As Gursky once stated, “I am not interested in reality per se. I am interested in the construction of reality.”
Furthermore, I seek to reconstruct and iterate upon my project using other media, simulating the evolving arrangement of supermarket shelves. By invoking the most familiar—yet often overlooked—scenes of daily consumption, I aim to awaken fragmented, blurred memories and provoke instinctive contemplation of urgent contemporary issues.
Admittedly, graphic designers are merely translators of text and information within the cycle of production and consumption. Ultimately, the interpretation of a work depends on the audience, just as designers cannot halt the current decline of consumer enthusiasm. To borrow the words of Roland Barthes: “The text gains life in the reader’s mind; the author is only a premise, not a decisive factor.”
Perhaps it is precisely this contemporary shift in consumer culture that offers designers a renewed opportunity to critically examine the society they have helped construct, and to articulate, through their own visual language, a personal reflection on the pressing issues of our time.
Bibliography
01 Smith, A., 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, p.660.
02 Baudrillard, J., 1998. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. Translated by C. Turner. London: Sage. (Original work published 1970), p. 91.
03 Hattenstone, S. (2001) ‘Snapshot: Andreas Gursky’, The Guardian, 20 October.
04 Papanek, V. (1985) Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. 2nd edn. London: Thames and Hudson.
05 Barthes, R., 1986. The Death of the Author. In: S. Heath, ed. Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana Press, p. 143.
06 Gursky, A. (1999) 99 Cent Diptychon. [Photograph] Düsseldorf: Artist’s studio.
07 Gursky, A. (2001) 99 Cent II Diptychon. [Photograph] Düsseldorf: Artist’s studio.
Leave a Reply