Image Analysis//CoP Studio Task 3

Context of Practice: Studio task 3 – Image Analysis

Although the two images were made forty years apart from one another they have similar elements that clearly differentiate them from modern graphic design. The most obvious is the illustrative style, which makes the image the centre of each design with the type overlaid on top. Savile Lumley’s First World War propaganda poster has a single strapline of italicized type at the bottom of the image. Although it is intended to be a question from the little girl to her father, the use and emphasis of the word ‘YOU’ in combination with the direction of the father’s gaze puts the question to the audience. In contrast, the ‘Uncle Sam Range’ poster has several different typographic elements, which almost blend in with the image – the product name is the focus along the floor in a gold, Wild West style type, with extra information below it. The ‘Feeding the World…’ virtually acts as a product slogan, yet is in small type underneath the table. There is also writing within the illustration – such as the Bill of Fair list, and the named children at the table representing different parts of America.

Although the propaganda poster is not selling a product, it is similar to the Range advertisement in that it is promoting an idea, which ultimately leads to an aspiration. The poster in some ways sentimentalises the war by showing the family illustration in a home setting. This is comparable to the Range image, depicting a wealthy, incredibly patriotic American family in a lavish home setting with a black slave cooking at the stove. Both families are centred around the father figure giving the designs a patriarchal tone, which fits in with the 19^th and early 20^th century contexts, and therefore target audiences.

The images portray middle class families and encourage the audience to strive for a romanticised dream: either achievable (somewhat bizarrely) through the purchase of a new range, or through enlisting in the War. The Range advertisement has an emphasis on nationalism, with the ‘Uncle Sam’ branding, the American flag colours and symbols throughout, the American Eagle, and the Philadelphian Centenary Hall in the background. The clock above the mantelpiece shows the date of the image (1876) above the date of American Independence (1776) which further suggests the idea of the American Dream one hundred years on from the establishment of the country. This idea of American greatness is accentuated by the ‘Bill of Fair’ list that the World figure is reading, which shamelessly racially stereotypes other countries in a condescending fashion. Although the slogan ‘Feeding the World…’ may imply the oven’s versatility within cooking, it also hints at a cultural superiority the USA has over the rest of the world.

This idea of greatness can also be found in Lumley’s poster, which one year into the War is already suggesting victory which will be looked back on by future generations as ‘great’. It insinuates that it is the father’s role and duty to go to war, and that when he returns it will be with pride and affluence. This plays on the emotions of the audience to feel guilt, in a much more subtle style than the Range image.