Kim Golombisky

Some interesting pieces, such as Carol M. Liebler, Li Chen, and Anqi Peng’s “Corporeal Commodification: Chinese Women’s Bodies as Advertisements,” about young women hired to tout various products and services, and Grace Diabah’s “The Modern Man in Ghanaian Radio Adverts: A Reproduction of or a Challenge to Traditional Gender Practices?,” which examined ideas about masculinity, income, and leadership shown in such ads. Patricia G. Davis’s “From Aunt Jemima to Beyoncé: show more Twitter, Consumer Agency, and the Transformation of the Black Female Image in Advertising” reminded me that “[a] significant aspect of Jemima’s brand appeal involved her life story as a former slave …. The major theme of this story, which involved Jemima rescuing her owner (or, in alternative versions, another man) from Union soldiers, became integrated into advertisements throughout the first half of the twentieth century.” Roseann M. Mandziuk’s “Driving Her to Distraction: Women, Modernity, and the Disciplinary Discourse of 1920s Automobile Advertising” discussed how car ads presented the car as offering freedom and also better performance of female responsibilities as mothers and wives. Gillian W. Oakenfull’s “Lesbian Consumers and the Myth of an LGBT Consumer Market” was refreshing in that, unlike most of the other contributions, it was directed in part at
actual marketers, arguing that it’s bad marketing to group “LGBT” consumers together.

Overall, the collection made me wonder what’s going to happen to future historians’ ability to understand the past when personalized ads and AI slop form so much of the field of meaning around us. show less

One of the very first books I picked up when I got interested in web design and development. The book provides a nice introduction to design across all domains. Since it covers many areas (design errors, layout, grids, typography, colours, designing for the web and print) the information contained is often relatively basic and is not aimed at the professional level. However for someone who has no grounding whatsoever in design, it provides a nice and gentle introduction, which one can then show more use to seek out further material to expand and build on the knowledge contained here.

The "try this" sections at the end of each chapter contain nice suggestions which enable the reader to apply the acquired knowledge in a practical context. show less

(81) A terrific primer on graphic design fundamentals for print or screen design. Includes templates for never-fail layouts. A good introduction for those interested in pursuing a career in design as well as a have-at-hand reference for amateur designers. Highly recommended.

Reviewed from a galley received from the publisher via NetGalley.com

A quick flip on the pages of this book and already I was changing my website. Hopefully this will turn into a valuable resource both as a pedagogical tool and a reference for my own 'designs'.