Editorials influence on the
gender gap in the design industry
Introduction
‘Graphic design is the communications framework
through which these messages about what the world is and what we should aspire
to.’ (Hustwit, 2007, 2:3, Helvetica) Editorial design
is a large part of the graphic design field relying on the design decisions of
layout and aesthetic within books, newspapers and magazines to communicate
particular things to the intended audiences. Editorial design decisions are
made based on what is thought to appropriately communicate a particular idea in
the most effective way to the desired target audience. So by focusing
predominately on magazines as a form of editorial design, I will explore the
ways in which the design decisions may or may not have addressed the evident
gender gap within the design industry. Spondé states that ‘anyone who wanders through the
classes of out art academies is surprised by the high percentage of women among
the students’ although there are now only thought to be 11% of
creative directors as women. Different theories explore the ways in which this
gap may have formed and been influenced by editorial design as an output.
The Feminist
waves have been shown to have influenced the editorial design decisions as it
became the most effective output for women to express their opinions on
inequality over the years. (explain
what it is…)
Deconstruction
is … It is
used as a way of reacting to the very uniformed and consistent ‘masculine’ editorial design style.
Hegemonic
masculinity addresses men’s dominant position in society ad why they maintain
social roles over women, which are perceived as ‘feminine’ in a given society.
Imposter
syndrome explored the idea that confidence in what is being designed is also
important to recognise as a reason for the gender gap that is present within
the design industry as it may be part of the reason why women are not striving
for the higher positions. The exploration of imposter syndrome in regards to
editorial design decisions will look at the ways in which confidence can be
promoted to women about their design work.
Gender gap
development - stereotypes
Until just a few decades ago it was
considered inappropriate for a woman to pursue a career, especially if married.
They were seen to be apprehensive about projecting an image of creativity and
self-assurance into the public realm. Gender stereotyping has always been very
influential within society and the ways in which individuals feel the need to
act. Editorial design in the past has been shown to communicate the expectation
on what distinguishes the two genders to be different. An example of this is
that women are seen to show traits such as sensitivity, dependency and
expressive emotions. But in contrast, men are thought to exhibit traits such as
bravery, independence and assertiveness. The gender expectations may be a
factor to consider as to why women are not in the higher positions within the
creative industry, ‘experiencing a double shift at work and at home (Perrons, 2003) face greater pressures and stress at work than do men’. In the same way
that gender is seen to be a social construction, creativity is often explained
in the same way. ‘Qualities such as creativity and talent are socially
constructed characteristics often associated with privileged masculinity’ (Parker 2008,
218) relating to the idea that gender orders human activities,
and it has ordered the status hierarchy of the creative department, which has
been developed and sustained based on a masculine paradigm; the biased system
of independence and assertiveness. The editorial influence
Revise
this section
‘The
individual as the source of creativity, focusing on factors such as
personality, intelligence, and intrinsic motivation’ (Csikszentmialyi,
1999) suggests that
It is
the violation of these social constructions that allow for change in society
and the change in gender roles over the last decade, particularly women’s
roles, have shown women to possess more of the traits traditionally considered
as masculine. The feminist movements have had a powerful influence on editorial
design decisions over the years, addressing the fact that past inequality has
happened but it should not continue into the future. “Feminist design looks for
graphic strategies that will enable us to listen to people who have not been
heard from before. […] Feminism is about bringing public, professional values
closer together with private, domestic values, to break the boundaries of this
binary system.” Sheila Levrant de Bretteville:
Dirty Design and Fuzzy Theory, interview with Ellen Lupton, Eye magazine, 1992. According to findings,
instrumental traits have become more socially desirable for women and
expressive traits have become more socially desirable for men. (Swazina et al. 2004) Although there is a gender
gap, there are now more creative directors than in the past and a higher number
of influential female creatives. Fact Before Graphic
Design was formalised as a profession, related fields such as decorative arts,
fashion design and art were still heavily dominated by men. (Women in Graphic Design book, pg 67) It was the introduction of editorial
driven exposure such as The New York Times, 1853 running a brief article
applauding the establishment of The Ladies Paper which was a publication that
employed women to create the ‘typography’ of its pages, that allowed for more
women to be recognised within the Graphic Design field. The design decisions in
relation to the creation of typography will be content driven and focus heavily
on the message needing to be communicated, making The Ladies Paper a successful
platform for the exposure of women in design. The journals, business management
and editorial content remained safely in the care of men, while the ‘merely
mechanical routine’ of typesetting was delegated to women, an arrangement
praised despite it still needing to be overlooked by male designers as it gave
women the opportunity for employment which would narrow the gender inequality a
lot more effectively than continuing to focus on the argument surrounding the
intellectual equality of the genders.
At the start of the 20th century,
women were starting to provoke ripples socially and then early forms of graphic
design played a part in making these ripples expand. It became apparent to the
suffragettes that design could act as a powerful form of communication for the
protest ideas on trying to gain the voting equality. Editorial designs
influence on the gender gap at this point in time was about providing a tool
for issues to be communicated and expressed to as wide of an audience as
possible. The first half of the 20th century began to have an
increase in social equality, but the design industry remained a male-dominated
world for many more decades.
Early editorial
design decisions
The conviction that designers should be
societally responsible developed concurrently with the idea that design could
play a role in changing society. Designers became more aware of their roles as
guardians of messages and the ability to bring about social change. In graphic
design, modernist forms have been defined by such elements as grids, basic
forms, primary colours, and grotesque typefaces. (design example) Modernism was also the era where a large
number of rules and norms in regards to design and typographic use became codified
and in present day modernist elements are thought to have conveyed and
represented patriarchal values. Editorial design has shown to challenge this
modernist, patriarchal approach to design with the second wave of feminism,
with women being more aware of the power design has as a way of expressing
dissatisfaction in regards to gender roles. (design example) The end of the modernist period
(1960/70) saw the second wave of feminism and women were more aware of the
power of design in order to express their dissatisfaction about gender roles,
particularly in a post-modernist style. Postmodern editorial design was able to
portray strong and clear messages by breaking the boundaries currently
associated with the very masculine approach to design. Neville Brody’s magazine
FUSE, a postmodern platform for experimental typefaces, published an issue
focusing on stereotypes. The Pussy Galore typeface by WD + RU was published in
the magazine as what Triggs + Cook describe to be ‘an opportunity
to raise awareness about women working in the profession whilst also critically
engaging through an experimental typeface with the language used by, for, and
against women.’ The colour choices hold the gender association of femininity
and the phrases explore empowerment, stereotypes, choices and bad language
associated with women. The contrast between the message and the design
decisions used to present the typeface shows an aggression that would not be
expected from females of this time period.
Deconstruction as an editorial design method
was gradually used more and more to react and test the very uniformed and
consistent ‘masculine’ design style of graphic design. A reaction against the
patriarchal, modernist design style was achieved by ‘reshuffling and
re-inhabiting’ the normative structures of mass media and design became a
critical tool to ‘expose and revise’ the mechanics of representation. EXPAND ON THIS
The first autonomous woman art director of a
mass-market American publication, Cipe Pineles was seen to be a part of the
editorial breakthrough when she was taken on by Condé Nast. The 1950s release
of Charm had a front cover with a well-groomed model and a design style which
seemed to personify the women professionals the magazine sought to reach. The
serif, high contrast typeface contrasted to the common use of Futura currently
favoured within editorial design during this time period. This editorial piece
began to address the fact that women should be seen to be smart, capable of
high powered jobs and that the once male dominated editorial studio hired a
woman art director of whom has become very successful. The design decisions
such as the serif typeface show that the content is being taken more into
consideration and that women are being represented in a more respectful manner
than before. Hegemonic masculinity theory is a ‘practice that legitimises men’s
dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women, and
other marginalised ways of being a man. Conceptually, hegemonic masculinity
proposes to explain how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women,
and other gender identities, which are perceived as “feminine” in a given
society.’ (Connel, R. (2006). Gender and power) Pineles obtaining a job as an autonomous art director at Condé Nast,
although being an editorial breakthrough in terms of the male dominance in this
industry, years later hegemonic theory helps to explain that it was still the
males dominant position within society that gave her this opportunity. Francesco
Maria Morettini explains that certain types of behaviour associated with
dominance and power create inequalities within and between genders. Despite
this, Pineles effectively showed how the consideration of content can
communicate much more than the overall style of an editorial piece. ‘She didn’t
teach style – she taught content. She taught you to start with the content of
the magazine and then world from there, rather than just think about what
design was going to look nice on the page.’ Melissa Tardiff.
During the
1990s there was a surge in the publications debating the lack
of flexible working in jobs in general and specifically in the creative
industries. Publications such as ‘Communications Arts’ brought the issue to the
light;
‘This is not a women’s issue. It is a design
issue. The need for flexible work schedules, family leave and feasible
childcare, affects both male and female designers but are particularly critical
to women who have traditionally been the caregivers.’ (Moira Cullen,
1993, p.27)
In the early stages of the realisation that
there was an inequality within the creative industry, editorial design
addressed the issue by giving the issue a voice and printed publications could
be distributed to a large audience of people.
Current
editorial influences – cross comparison
The exploration of design movements of the
years has highlighted that the design decisions are consciously made to ensure
that the inequalities within the creative industry are addressed and those
affected are given a voice. Nicole Killian states that ‘I
definitely believe graphic design inhabits possibilities to intervene, change
or create larger nuance in questions of inequality’. The design movements
explored show that the decisions made consciously celebrate the intelligence of
creative women and portray them to be more than capable of the stereotypical
feminine design outcomes. Editorial design is a powerful tool when needing to
intervene with the expectation that the design industry is male dominated and
decisions such as a change of typeface or image use, can really portray
creative women in a new light. Talk
about the past movements working and making a difference – suffragettes and
dada, but needs to continue in order for change to actually kick in.
Despite the past movements really addressing
the inequality within the creative industry, other factors such as imposter
syndrome need to be considered when looking at the gender gap in the work
place, but especially a creative one. Design decisions need to be made with
confidence and executed with content relevance in order to communicate
something particularly effectively. Professor Sir Cooper, psychologist says
that ‘quite a lot of women don’t think they are as good as other people think
they are … They often make an unrealistic assessment of their competences and
listen only to the negative feedback.’ Confidence in what you are producing is
important for the piece to be recognised and this may be something that is
holding women in design back. Editorial designs influence on the gender gap in
terms of the confidence of the women is in the promotion of the confidence
through the different design decisions that are being made. The content
surrounding this issue will need to be promoting confidence more than before if
the gender gap is to be narrowed within the design industry.
CONFIDENCE
Having a career as a woman until recently was
seen to be against the norms, let alone a successful one on design. It is these
stigmas that are still slightly present within society and the creative industry.
Magazines such as Riposte address this issue by valuing the intelligence of the
woman that they choose to be part of the magazine. The magazine is dedicated to
spotlighting issues and women across the disciplines in a different way to
previous editorial design styles. The founder Danielle Pender’s opinion that
‘girls shouldn’t think that what they do is lame, or what they want to do is
lame’ is supported by the decision to use minimal, typographic covers to
reinstate that it is the content as a focus and not the desirability of the
woman. The design decisions such as the bold splash of colour on the cover
successfully shows confidence in regards to the content and certainty that the
designers chosen are of positive influence to society. This is a huge contrast
to the editorial design decisions in the past that have relied on the sexual
attraction of the woman on the cover to appeal to the target audience. Design example ‘So you want to
publish a magazine’ Angharad Lewis discusses the anatomy of
a magazine and in regards to the cover an interview with Danielle Pender
further expresses the importance of it being able to set the ethos for the
content within. Riposte has been admired for its bold approach to cover design,
turning the conventions of women’s magazines on their head by relegating the
‘cover photo’ to the outside back page and putting typographic design on the
front. She defines a well-designed cover as ‘something that perfectly and
succinctly sums up the ethos of your magazine. Something that is bold and brave
and doesn’t follow trends.’ Similarly, The Riveter is a magazine focused on the
aim to change the way women are portrayed in print. A serif typeface is seen to
be classy, official, intelligent and legitimate; showing that the editorial
design decisions for this magazine have been made in order to influence the
gender inequality and show women in a positive light.
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