Chloe Metcalfe | Planned Obsolescence

Planned Obsolescence

The Brief

I was tasked to create a zine based of the text ‘Designing Things to Last’, in Works that Work, n.10 by Rich McEachran.

The text is based on the concept of planned obsolescence’s; this is the notion that products are designed to break so consumers have to buy replacements. I wanted this to be visually represented in my zine. I created the start to the end of my zine to reflect this idea of planned obsolescence as the pages become less legible and colourful as if the book is breaking.

Creating a zine based off the text ‘Designing Things to Last’, in Works that Work, n.10 by Rich McEachran.

Design Decisions

After researching the impact of planned obsolescence and the role it plays in our everyday life’s I decided to create my zine reflecting concept and ideas presented about planned obsolescence in the zine and use the imagery I created to present deterioration and a broken nature as the reader read through the zine.

As well as representing the broken and corrupt ideas about planned obsolescence I also wanted to experiment using the idea of a new product before it breaks by creating pages using geometric shapes and vibrant colours, in contrast the broken nature of the pages based on planned obsolescence and deconstruction/brokenness of the pages.

Patterns

Design Variations

These two pages show 2 initial design variations I created when trying to make my final page. I tried to use the words ‘planned obsolescence’ as a title in the first page on the black space on the page. I think tried to fill the black negative space with body text however this also took away from the main impact of the imagine. Finally, I decided to keep the image plain to create a bigger impact.

When creating my page spreads, I struggled placing bodies of text in the spreads in a visually pleasing way. This is something I played around with creating many different variations of my pages. I created page spreads using long columns. However, after listening to feedback these columns were hard to read and not very visually pleasing on a page. In contrast the other page was hard to read.

Text Analysis

The texts main messages and word repeated heavily throughout the text is about planned obsolescence and the impacts it has on our everyday. I think the articles main purpose is to be eye opening to the reader exposing them to issues they might not yet be aware of. I wanted this to come across in the overall message of my zine. The article as well as being about planned obsolescence also explores new products and the industrial industry. The article talks about well-known companies such as Ford and products like lightbulbs exploring how they play a part in planned obsolescence. I wanted to develop the idea of new products and how they break in my zine. Using the cultural references such as ford help the reader to relate and understand how much of an impact planned obsolescence.

Structure

First of all, I was going to base my zine off the final product/outcome of planned obsolescence, using broken pages and ripped paper. However, I decided to use the zine as a timeline to show the progression from a new product to how it breaks overtime. Visually representing planned obsolescence.

To help me develop my idea of visual disintegration I created a flat plan to map out how the pages flow together and how to bridge the gaps between the different styles on the pages.

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