Panopticism Task: 400 words

Task 

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 400 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

refer also to the lecture, 'Panopticism' (25 /10 /12), and the accompanying seminar.

The development of society, introduction of new technologies, growing urbanization and complexity of life resulted in the increasing need of brief but clear informing people about the direction they have to choose to find places they are looking for. In such a situation, the development of signage for public way finding became a natural process that accompanied the development of the modern civilization.

It should be pointed out that the need in the development of signage to improve and facilitate way finding increased consistently with the growth of large cities and growing migration of people to urban areas. In the result of the growth and development of infrastructure and complexity of architecture and design to find the right way became a serious problem and the use of signage could be the best solution of this problem. Often, it could be a big problem to find the right way even in a building, such as public library, for instance.

Taken a step further signage can be used to great effect in urban, industrial and retail organisations. One example which clearly demonstrates this discipline is Ikea. This company make effective use of signage and way finding to maximise the potential retail output of the store. The public are systematically directed around the massive store making use of the stores ‘way finding system’. These can be seen clearly in the shop by a line on the floor and signage, controlling the flow from sub partition to sub partition. The public are ‘docile bodies’ who follow the way finding systems through each sub partition rather than going straight to the check out. All though this system creates order and makes the store runs smoothly, it also has its commercial benefits, herding the public through displays that they would not have normally visited. This increases sales and is a clear example of how Panopticism is not only used to make the perfect flowing system but is also used to the benefit of suppliers. The signage is designed to not only direct visitors around the various sections but to also communicate IKEA as a fun and family location, further boosting its brand image.

IKEA wants customers to stay longer in the store and shop more. In an attempt to achieve that they use different methods to do that such as, the shop window, length and design of the walking path increases the time spent in the store, every time the path takes a turn products are exposed straight in front of you.

These methods obviously make customers stay longer, but do they actually shop all that more?

If they find it tedious, difficult and frustrating they might not be in a good shopping mood. It could be that the new service makes the customers stay for a shorter period in the store, but that has yet to be proven. It is also not certain that this makes them shop less. Perhaps they are in a better shopping mood if they find it effective and well organized, and maybe they will even stay longer just because of that.

Within Ikea the directional symbols were inspired by the toys and toy boxes that were sold there, with each toy sitting above a box giving direction in different perspective. The symbols for the different sections were inspired by the three dimensionality of the furniture’s at there.

This again represents how panopticism is deceiving as it has modernised an extended with technology a great example of this is how the way finding systems have been used to now manipulate customers IKEA is a great example of this.

Way finding is the process of using spatial and environmental cues to navigate through an environment. In its most literal sense, way finding is the ability of a person to find his or her way to a destination. It can also be defined from the standpoint of the designer or owner who is seeking to improve the function of a particular environment.

Way finding is not separate from traditional signage design, but is a broader, more inclusive way of assessing all of the environmental issues that affect our ability to find our way to a given destination.

A comprehensive way finding system can greatly improve your subject’s ability to not only finds areas of the environment they are seeking, but to direct guests and others to these areas as well. A clear way finding system can add to the accessibility and friendliness of the establishment’s buildings. Here are a few tips on way finding: Focus people on buildings by labelling them, avoid long directional signs that slow people down, divide the campus into distinct zones, use colour and landmarks to create bread-crumbs, make room numbers make sense and develop a simple map.

Further comparison can be found in the road network, herding vehicles and pedestrians into the city centres using ‘ring roads’, contra flow systems, single way systems and massive use of signage herding the population like ants in these concrete jungles. This creates a controlled and non chaotic but most of all controlling the chaos and creating order is the dream of the government a city of utopia that is self-exercising and hundred per cent productive, getting rid of all chaos.