There is an art to writing advertising copy.  Research suggests that minimizing the  number of printed words in an advertisement increases the amount of pleasure viewers feel about the ad.  On the other hand, an advertisement needs some text to anchor the images, to give a clue to the intended interpretation of the images in the advertisement.  In a way, an advertisement is like a visual puzzle, purposely leaving some relationships among images ambiguous to allow free play of the imagination to generate an interpretation, a solution to the question the advertisement poses.

For the final project of our Visual Culture and Design class, my group is creating a fashion magazine of the future, set in the year 2040.  We imagined that there would be fashion spreads, articles and advertisements just as there are in current fashion magazines.  The project presents cultural changes that will result from innovations in nanotechnology applications that are currently being developed, extrapolating into the future what might result from the widespread adoption of these technologies.

To have something to advertise, we needed to develop some products conceptually.  The first product I developed was color-changing automobile paint to be used as a standard feature on a vehicle of the future.   In fact, Nissan has already developed such a paint using nanotechnology, but has not yet put it on the market.  The second product I developed was nylon stockings enhanced with nanotechnology features.  Here is the draft copy of information about this product for our advertising team to transform into a magazine ad:

Our L’eggs fix your legs.

Remember laser treatments? Sclerotherapy?  These used to be the most trusted treatments for spider veins.  Until now.

L’eggs Sheer Energy is made from nylon fibers embedded with zinc oxide and special carbon nanotubes.  The nanotubes provide superior tensile strength to promote circulation, and the zinc oxide generates a piezoelectric effect when you walk.  Your legs literally charge up tiny motors that power the massaging action of the nanotubes. 

But the best part is that now L’eggs Sheer Energy can deliver Diosmin directly to your legs through microneedle-like structures knitted into the stockings.  Microneedle topical application of Diosmin has been clinically proven to eliminate or reduce the appearance of spider veins.  Now you can get the benefit of Diosmin with the massaging action of InTense Memory Yarn™  to make your legs both look and feel great!

L’eggs Sheer Energy.  Lucky.  Lovely.

This copy was transformed to make an exciting back page advertisement for the magazine.  Here is the result:

L'eggs Sheer Energy pantyhose ad

The next product I developed was a new way of coloring hair based on nanotechnology.  This required a fair amount of research into the way hair is made in the follicles and how special cells called melanocytes inject pigment into the hair.  It seemed to make sense that a nanobot could perform the same function, once one was developed that could integrate with the skin without causing irritation.  Here is the copy I produced describing this product:

In ancient Greece people used suspensions of lead nanoparticles to dye hair black.

Now nanotechnology has come full circle. Instead of putting color directly in the hair shaft, nanobots have been designed to mimic melanocytes, injecting pigment particles directly into keratinizing cells through structures analogous to dendritic processes. Annual treatments, once the province of dermatologists, are now available through your local hair salon.

Your stylist will apply a gel that is absorbed into the epidermis. The polymers in the gel provide a chemically friendly signal to accessory cells so that the nanobots can move to the area where melanocytes function within the hair follicle. The nanobots stay in place for about a year, after which they can no longer manufacture the pigments. A new application is necessary when a change in color at the roots is observed.

Melanobots by L’Oreal. Because you’re worth it.

FDA Approved.

This was transformed into the following advertisement:

Advertisement for hair coloring

Finally, I developed a product called the Zoloft 2.0 bracelet. This product includes an ingenious application of microneedles and is meant to be marketed as a Zoloft branded product. Here is the copy and the original images proposed for the product:

The Zoloft 2.0 Bracelet: Drug Fashion that Lets You Feel Passion

Recent advances in microneedle technology and molecular manipulation of SSRI compounds have made possible a great new fashion item that delivers needed drugs discreetly. Zoloft has been used to treat depression, anxiety and OCD for many years. Breakthrough research in 2035 produced a new version of Zoloft with a slightly different molecular structure and conformation. Zoloft 2.0, as it was called, treats depression and other mood disorders without the often noted side effect of diminished libido.

Now this drug can be delivered intradermally via microneedles. Rather than having to take a pill or swallow some bitter liquid, a patient can just store the microneedle array in a specially designed charm or bead, or in the case of our cuff bracelets, in a specially designed compartment on the inside of the bracelet. For the cuff bracelet, the silver in the bracelet acts as an antimicrobial so that no bacteria can enter the skin through the holes made in the skin. For the beaded bracelets, a sterling silver charm serves the same function.

The Zoloft 2.0 bracelet is offered in a variety of styles to suit your individual taste. A selection is represented below.

Pomegranate charm has microneedle dispenser

Fertility bracelet charts your cycle. Charm holds the drug.

Beads made from seed are the perfect hiding place for microneedles.

Rose quartz balances body and mind, and Kokopelli charm holds the drug.

Aztec fertility symbols adorn this cuff bracelet. Medicine chamber can be seen in back.

More options can be found on our web site: www.mymoodsarebetterthanyours.com

Wear it proudly, and congratulate yourself on having chosen the best quality minerals and metals available on the market. Keep the passion, love the fashion. Zoloft 2.0.

Here is the advertisement that the team produced. For variety, some advertisements were given less space.

Bracelet designed to deliver drugs

These advertisements are a part of a larger whole that includes articles and fashion spreads. Much of a magazine’s revenues typically come from advertising, but it is also an entertainment medium that must offer a plethora of beautiful images and thoughtful articles to hold its readers’ attention. Product development is the first step in a process of creating a niche within a marketplace, and advertising is one of the main methods for selling product. People have to know a product exists in order to buy it, and it must be presented attractively to make them want to buy it.

Our team continued to work on researching and planning the magazine.  We met Wednesday morning, Nov. 10, at 9 a.m. to select an idea for each of us to work on before our next meeting.  Don would do an article on possible changes in manners resulting from new products designed with nanotechnology, Lauren would do a fashion spread, and I would do an automobile advertisement.

We met again at Borders in Buckhead Saturday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m.  I had sent the copy for the “autonomobile” advertisement to Lauren the night before, as well as copies of four automobile advertisements that had recently appeared in Vogue magazine, and she created a beautiful layout in the same visual idiom as the current advertisements. 

The “autonomobile” is a concept car envisioned by the industrial design team Mike and Maaike.  It is a vehicle without a driver’s seat because in their vision of an improved life of the future, no one would have to actually drive a car.  Instead the car would drive itself, and the passengers could all enjoy the view through large glass doors on the sides.  The car would have conversationally grouped seating, a table, a bar, and a video screen for communication and navigation.  These cars would be able to communicate with each other, so that during commutes groups of them could form swarms to facilitate getting to their destination more efficiently.  We thought that color-changing nano paint would be a standard feature on these cars.  It has already been developed by Nissan but has not yet appeared on the market.

Saturday morning we continued to work, researching images from fashion publications to help with visioning.  During the meeting I drafted some copy for the fashion spread of Luli Fama swimwear.  The draft emulated the style and tone of some copy from a fashion spread in the current issue of Vogue that I had on hand, and incorporated fashion-oriented narrative that situated the wearer of the nanotech-fabric swimsuits in a festive and fun atmosphere. 

The next day Don made some significant improvements in the copy for the fashion spread, placing more emphasis on the nanotech capabilities of the fabrics.  Because our magazine is called Techstyle, this made a lot of sense.  Don also finished the copy for his article, and Lauren made yet another beautiful layout with good typography.

We presented our work to the class for critique on Monday, Nov. 15.  Our work was very well received.  People liked the humor in the catch phrase, “Global Swarming,” for the autonomobile.  There was a comment that we may need to work a little more on anchoring the images in the advertisement, but overall everything we did made a favorable impression.

We met again on Sunday evening, Nov. 21, to work out plans for the next stage.  Discussion centered around the next article idea, which would be about whether professional couriers who wear video screens in their clothing would be overly objectified.  Lauren showed us how to make a wrap-around image in Photoshop.  We decided that I would work on two more advertisements, one on pantyhose and one on hair dye as they might be different with nanotechnology.  And Lauren would work on a fashion ensemble spread with accessories.

On Tuesday morning Don introduced Lauren and me to Prof. James Meindl, director of nanotechnology initiatives in microcircuitry at Georgia Tech.  He explained the history of semiconductor circuitry, culminating with the contemporary situation in which the capabilities of silicon chips have nearly been optimized to the point that no further improvements in speed or storage capacity can be made.  The next step is to move into other semiconductor materials such as graphene, a single layer of carbon molecules arranged in hexagonal cells, which exhibits the potential for better thermal conductivity, better electrical conductivity, and a higher strength to weight ratio than silicon chips.   

Then on Wednesday morning Lauren and I visited Dr. Ioanna Skountzou, an immunologist at Emory University who developed the H1N1 vaccine, to discuss her work with Georgia Tech Prof. Mark Prausnitz to develop superior vaccines using microneedles made of a special water-soluble polymer.  The vaccines they are developing actually incorporate the lyophilized killed virus into the polymer.  When the microneedles are applied, the polymer dissolves into the skin, and because the vaccine is part of the polymer molecule, it passes more slowly through the openings between cells in the skin.  This way it is taken up by accessory cells that then migrate to the lymph nodes.  This slower uptake of the vaccine results in a more effective immune response, with less vaccine required to produce it.  Further, these vaccines will have a much longer shelf life, making it possible to send vaccine all over the world, even to countries without significant refrigeration, to be administered in a painless way that does not require a medical professional.  The significant improvement in world health that can result seems to me to be a cornerstone for a new global ideal of beauty that we can document in Techstyles.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I produced some copy for the pantyhose advertisement.  Much research went into the production of those three paragraphs!  Nylon is an important fiber for some nanotechnology applications that are being produced today.  The applications of carbon nanotubes and the use of zinc oxide were studied in detail, and the substance used for getting rid of spider veins is a real botanical extract being sold today for that purpose.  And to get the right feel for a L’eggs advertisement, I looked at many old commercials on YouTube, found some old magazine ads, and just recollected my childhood in Burlington, North Carolina, where pantyhose were invented.  Who knows, maybe my ideas will come to fruition some day . . .

For our Visual Culture and Design class, the assignment is to create some sort of design fiction project based on the science we have described in our research on nanotechnology.  We were given the opportunity to work either separately or in groups.  I chose to work with Lauren Langley and Don Fernandez.  Our first meeting on October 24 took place at the Barnes and Noble in Buckhead, and we discussed the possibility of creating a fashion magazine featuring products that were made with nanotechnology.  Lauren stayed on after the meeting and found a great book on futuristic fashion.   We used the cover of this book in our presentation to the class on November 3. 

Don was able to arrange for us to meet with Clint Zeagler, a fashion designer working in the College of Architecture on wearable computing, on October 27.    He described the work of Hussein Chalayan, who has designed clothing with led displays and lasers in it, and furniture that turns into clothing.  He gave us several references of web sites to view.  He also described the work of Maggie Orth, Ph.D., who has used conductive thread and thermochromatic ink to make ambient color change in fabrics.  A third application he showed us was using nanotube ink to make batteries out of paper.  This might unlock the potential for fabric and clothing to house computing applications.    Mr. Zeagler also explained the three-year process of trending in fashion design, and suggested that the idea of sustainable clothing made of natural fibers such as cotton would be important in the future since petroleum will likely become less available for making synthetic fibers.  We also had the opportunity to meet with Scott Gilliland, who is working on a project to create wearable computing by using cotton thread coated with conductive paint and embroidering patterns onto fabric.  He showed us how the embroidered patterns can be used as interfaces for a computer.  The fabric was “plugged in” to the computer with a special circuit board, and touching various parts of the embroidered pattern brought up images on the computer screen.

On October 28, we met with students from Prof. Yaszek’s science fiction class to discuss our project.

On October 29, we met again as a group and produced a draft of  a PowerPoint presentation for the following week.   Lauren refined our draft over the weekend to improve the appearance and make our slides more visually appealing.

The research we presented included several web sites describing various advances in nanotechnology.  There have already been fabrics made and used in general consumer products that use nanotechnology.   One example is a stain-resistant pair of jeans sold by the Gap.    The Cornell University web site showed some clothing that was designed in a project called “Glitterati” that used nanoparticles to make a dress with antibacterial properties and a denim jacket with anti-smog properties.  A site called Nanotec–usa.com described paint that had nanoparticles that self-assemble to make a surface textured like shark skin.  This type of pattern of self-assembly could potentially be used to make more streamlined swimsuits. 

Our goal in this project is to create a synthesis of what would appear to be scientifically realistic and what would also seem to be good fashion design, to create a visual and verbal representation of future lifestyles informed by nanotechnology.  Because we do not know what the future holds, it is necessarily a work of fiction.  But there is enough science and enough of an understanding of how fashion designers think today that it is possible to extrapolate in such a way that what we ultimately present will have a measure of truth about it.

We presented our PowerPoint to the class on November 3.  Here is the link to our presentation:

http://processpointstudios.com/blog/presentations/

We met again on November 5, to decide the format of our magazine presentation and to decide on the topics of 10 spreads to include in it.  We also discussed the need for a title.  On November 6, I proposed a title for our magazine to the group.

In November 2009 Felice Frankel and George Whitesides of Harvard University published their book entitled No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale (Belknap Press, 2009).  Dr. Whitesides is a professor of chemistry, and Ms. Frankel is a science photographer.  Their book shows the interrelationship of imaging with the process of discovery when doing research at the nanoscale. 

Frankel and Whitesides describe current research in nanotechnology in a report on the PBS Newshour on March 19, 2010.  In this report, economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the potential of nanotechnology for revitalizing the U.S. economy.  To view the report, see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june10/nanoscience_03-19.html.

Observing the sabbath is an important way to maintain a relationship with our Creator.  Taking time to rest and giving oneself time to wait attentively for the “still, small voice” places a limit on the distractions of everyday life.  Human beings need to quiet ourselves periodically so that our inner resources become available to help us meet the challenges of our week. 

In March 2010 a group launched an initiative called “The Sabbath Manifesto” to encourage people to take time off from stressful routines and create a healthier way of life for themselves.  They advocate ten principles to start people on a path to wholeness one day per week.  The first principle is to “avoid technology.”  The organization’s web site says that implementing this principle is a matter of interpretation, but even giving up one technological gadget for a day can count as “avoiding technology.”  The other ten principles, as well as press coverage, FAQs, responses from people who have tried it, can be found at the organization’s web site, http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org.

A professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Psychology has recently published a book entitled Cognitive Fatigue:  Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Current Research and Future Applications (American Psychological Association, August 2010).  This book is a collection of papers presented at a conference held at Georgia Tech in May 2009.  They are grouped under the following categories:  Historical Background; Neurological and Physiological Aspects of Fatigue; Motivation, Personality and Subjective  Fatigue; Work and Other Applications.  The conclusion documents an open panel discussion that addressed various topics within the conference. 

Most of us would agree that fatigue can alter judgment and performance.  Psychologists have found various ways to measure the effects of fatigue, and some have tried to find ways to improve judgment and performance in situations where a subject is experiencing a high level of fatigue.  It seems to me the best way to overcome fatigue is to avoid it altogether – in other words, get some sleep, America!

In the past six months, five articles about nanotechnology have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.  The most recent, in the July 6 WSJ, was about the development of an inexpensive water purifier in India made from rice husk ash and particles of nano-silver.  Other applications of nanotechnology mentioned in these articles include “memristors” or memory resistors developed by Hewlett Packard that present an alternative to silicon chips and perform equally well in a much smaller space.  A group in Silicon Valley named Siluria has found a way to convert methane to ethylene without needing the equipment and extremely high temperatures that have been used to synthesize ethylene from petroleum.  In Russia, a major leader in the privatization programs of the 1990’s is now leading Rusnano, a state-owned company developing nanotechnology solutions.  And Nexus Venture Partners apparently has a program to invest in nanotechnology product development in India, according to a June 22 WSJ article.  There seem to be infinite possibilities for application of these new technologies.  Nanotechnology promises to be the wave of the future that will improve how human beings accomplish their goals and make a better life for themselves.

In his essay, “What is an Author?” Michel Foucault treats authorship as though it were some kind of fiction.  It is, he says, a “function of discourse”  (Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, p. 124).  Discourse in our culture, he says, is “an action situated in a bipolar field of sacred and profane, lawful and unlawful, religious and blasphemous” (Ibid.) .  In other words, authors do not create their works; instead their works are ultimately the result of a discursive practice in which they participate by virtue of living in a certain place and time.  Other discursive practices produce other types of “author-function.”  I wonder how the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic artists understood their relationship to their work?

The Art of Decoding

In his poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,”  John Keats wrote:  “‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ –that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”  (1819).  Much commentary has been written about this expression and what it means.  The kaleidoscope was invented in 1816 by Sir David Brewster, a Scottish philosopher whose pioneering work in optics resulted in many important inventions such as the Fresnel lens used in lighthouses.  The name “kaleidoscope” was given to Brewster’s invention because it combined the Greek word kalos, which means “beautiful” and eidos, which means idea or pattern.  Could it be that Keats was inspired not only by a Grecian urn but also by this extremely popular invention? 

For more information on kaleidoscopes and Sir David Brewster, visit the web site of the Brewster Society:  http://www.brewstersociety.com.

Semiotics is the study of sign, signifier and signified.  A sign is a symbol or an icon, a signifier is the form a sign takes, and a signified is the concept a signifier represents.  Roland Barthes provided an example of semiotic analysis of an advertisement for Panzani food products in “La Rhetorique de l’Image.”  Following his lead, I will begin to analyze an advertisement for Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese that appeared in the July/August 2010 issue of AARP magazine:

This advertisement contains images that suggest a warm relationship of a married couple enhanced by comfort food easily available from a supermarket shelf.  The advertisement asks, “Are oven mitts the key to a successful relationship?”  Here the important sign is the oven mitt.  What is it a sign of?  Here it seems to be a sign of marital bliss.  What is the signifier?  This particular oven mitt is white with red polka dots.  The red polka dots are the same color as the words “successful relationship.”  They are also the same color as the Stouffer’s banner at the bottom of the advertisement.  This is an example of how an image is anchored by the use of color to signal related items in an image.  The signified is the concept that Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese can provide what is needed to create marital harmony and a sense of joie de vivre for a married couple.