Hancock, pg. 3
7/24/2006
Cultural Studies and the World Wide Web as we see it
In Cultural Studies Theory, Victoria O’Donnell discusses the connection between culture and visual communication. O’Donnell defines culture as “the actual practices and customs, languages, beliefs, forms of representation, and system of formal and informal rules that tell people how to behave most of the time” (O’Donnell, 523.) Cultural studies offer an in-depth examination of how culture shapes the perception of the viewer. Although O’Donnell traverses many modes of communication in her essay, the World Wide Web (i.e. the Web), as a communication tool, is worthy of inspection as well. Web design, by virtue of its highly visual nature, is a new canvas on which cultural studies theories can be applied.
O’Donnell’s reference to the founder of the cultural studies movement, Raymond Williams, can be transcribed to current web design analysis. O’Donnell describes Williams’ analysis of an 18th century English pastoral painting that depicted a formally dressed little girl supposedly tending a flock of sheep. Williams used this example to illustrate that the painting excluded the workers that actually tended the sheep. Here, Williams emphasizes that “cultural texts should never be seen as isolated, but always as a part of a shared practice of making meaning involving everyone in a particular culture” (Couldry, 2000,p.24). Williams also asked two important questions:
1. How does a work (any work) relate to the shared living conditions of the time?
2. What meanings does a work have when it is absorbed into the lives of its audience? (O’Donnell, 524)
Using the Web as the medium of interest, Williams questions can be rephrased to ask, how does the Web relate to current cultural conditions? And subsequently, what meaning does the Web have for the lives of the audience?
While Williams opined that cultural studies should reflect the interests of everyone in a particular culture. Typically, the goal of web designers is to visually communicate information that is important to a culture in its entirety. Whether the design is successful depends on the audience. Nick Couldry, in 2000, wrote that culture is a concentration of voices that disable individual expression. When web designers approach a design for a particular audience, it is possible, according to Couldry, that the representation of the audience can mask the variations within. In essence, the imagery and design created for targeted audiences may not accurately reflect all of the components of a culture.
The Web allows companies, institutions, schools, and individuals to present information for a global audience. Large businesses that compete in the global marketplace, such as Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, have attempted to counter cultural representation issues by creating variants of their sites to accommodate multiple audiences. Prominent cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall theorizes that images are associated with power and that images have different meanings or they have no meaning at all (O’Donnell, 254) Applying Hall’s theories to the aforementioned companies, the imagery used on the variant sites changes according to the target culture. Could these images represent something in one culture, yet reflect nothing in another? According to Hall, the answer should be yes. Hall theorizes that images are not always received they way they are intended (O’Donnell, 254)
Culture shapes the lens through which an audience views the world. The same cultural lens is applied to the Web also. Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volvo offer the audience an array of choices when viewing their sites. Known the world over for automotive production, the site variants attempt to address the needs of a particular culture. For example, the Mercedes-Benz site designed for U.S viewers displays more color than any of the other variant sites. The viewer’s eye is immediately drawn to the shiny, red Mercedes-Benz in the middle of the page. The color of the vehicle provides a contrast to the muted blue and silver background, displaying the thoughtful use of analogous colors by the designer. Could this imagery have been used to entice the America audience with the image of a shiny red car? As a color, red has a number of connotations worldwide. In Russia, red means beautiful, in South Africa, red is the color of mourning, and in China, red is the symbol of good luck. In the U.S red is often used to represent power. This connotation can be applied to the placement of the red vehicle in the center of the webpage. As Hall suggests, the image and its placement has power, evoking an emotive response from the intended culture.
In a similar manner, the designers for the American Toyota website use a neutral background to showcase images of Toyota automobiles. However, the color used for the Toyota company symbol rests on a red background. True to analogous color theory, there are shades of blue infused throughout the website. This mixture of colors is very noticeable in the Toyota U.S.A. version of the site. The images shown for the English speaking site seem appeal to an audience with a sense of adventure. The image of the Toyota 2007 FJ Cruiser only appears on the English variant site. The 2006 Rav4 appears only on the Spanish variant site. The 2006 Sienna is also listed solely on the Japanese variant site. It is possible that the designers chose images of different types of vehicles to reflect the purchasing trends of certain cultures. While this may be a reasonable assumption, the images selected for the target audience cannot reflect the whims of every member of an entire culture. What is apparent is that the images attempt to reflect the cultural preferences of different groups.
The English variant of the Toyota website varies its website according to three languages: English, Japanese, and Spanish. Contrary to Williams’ theory that cultural studies should reflect everyone in a particular culture, the Toyota website presumes that viewer’s will understand one of the three languages. However, the Toyota Company’s website hosts links to different countries. Considering cultural theories, the U.S Toyota website could be perceived by others to insinuate a flawed grouping of languages. While Americans and other English speaking cultures are aware of the numerous languages spoken around the globe, the website could be perceived differently. There is the possibility that other cultures may think that English speakers only recognize three major languages. As Hall suggested, there is no guarantee that a website will be perceived in the manner that it was intended.
In the 21st century, English is regarding as the “lingua franca” of business and science. Accordingly, global organizations often create a universal webpage that is written in English. This is an example of how web design relates to conditions of the time to answer one of the questions posed by Williams earlier. Both the Mercedes-Benz and Toyota websites offer sites and images for multiple audiences. The variation in the websites gives the audience a certain power, but it also gives the web designer even more power. The information contained in a website, images, text, and design, are mediated by the designer. Referring to Couldry’s earlier statement, mediation can possibly silence the individuality present in cultural groups. The designers of the Mercedes-Benz and Toyota websites compromise by allowing the audience to view multiple variations of information. The mediation inherent in web design could also be the power that Hall associated with images. The availability of multiple language formats also gives the audience the power to choose as well. Although the designers choose the layout of the information, the culture of an audience determines just how successful a website will be. Variations in websites add to cultural appeal.
O’Donnell remarks “that Hall (1997) recognized that the audience is not passive, rather they are active consumers who decode messages and make their own meanings”(525.)
It is true that the audience actively participates in all forms of visual communication, be it art, television, film, and more recently, the Web. Web design is yet another avenue that the cultural studies can venture toward. Careful analysis of the audience will surely reflect web design that is culturally sensitive while still addressing the needs of the host organization. O’Donnell, aided by Williams, Hall, and Couldry, provides a wealth of theories that deserve substantial consideration in web design. Addressing cultural concerns is one crucial step in designing effective visual communication.
References:
Couldry, N. (2000) Inside Culture: Re-Imagining the method of cultural studies. London: Sage
O’Donnell, V., Cultural Studies Theory, course text