visual propaganda

In William Leach’s Facades of Color, Class, and Light the display window is again immortalized as an essential tool in the department store business. The idea of advertising is a crucial component to the lively hood of the department store and it is through the visual display that sellers can best ‘sell’ themselves. The article focuses on a history of big name advertisers and their most effective forms of visual propaganda. Beginning in the nineteenth century the need to advertise has been apart of the consumerist agenda. From the photograph to electronic billboards and now through the visual display, advertisers see to knock out the competition through innovative techniques in visual therapy. This marketing tool has begun to change the image of the department store. Theses buildings facades are now designed as billboards from the street. With the glass façade we see a trend not only adopted by the department store but has also began to manifest itself at more grandeur level. Glass is now a popular medium in all types of design from education to residential and even high-rise construction. A trend that began in the retail realm has transcended commercial design and is now the status quo of mainstream cotemporary design. But like the department store, glass is used for its ability to advertise from the street, for the everyday person to gaze at what its interior has to offer. In a way, glass has become a propagandist tool and as we have seen, is a tool that has creatively manipulated its form and function to appease a very visual public. The rue of all this is that these glass facades have become a less inviting form of design that disengage and hinder interaction with the public. I feel that the glass façade is a human interface that does keep its public at a distance but allows one to gaze at its interiors in a passive manner. The glass façade invites the passing public inside while keeping itself from being completely exposed.