The Globalization of Media and Graphic Design

It is not hard to see that the media are becoming increasingly global, and the advent of Internet connectivity and the World Wide Web dramatically redefined the way all humans live and communicate. Where cross-cultural interaction, relationships, and business practices once existed primarily for the wealthy and powerful, we now find these opportunities readily available to all. Critics of globalization have argued that globalization leads to unprecedented standardization and cultural homogeneity. The idea of homogeneity, finally, is, in the context of globalization theory, closely associated with the idea that cultural differences are disappearing as a result of globalization they argue, local cultures and languages are in danger of becoming extinct and, as a result, the world’s cultural resources will dwindle. Innovation will become more difficult. The global media industries have responded by deliberately creating diversity, producing global media in ‘local’ languages and integrating ‘local’ content in various ways. Theorists, too, have responded by arguing that global media products are not necessarily everywhere ‘read’ in the same way. People from different cultures will interpret and experience them differently, they say, thereby ‘indigenizing’ the global media, so that diversity is maintained after all, albeit in a less tangible form. Nation states have tried, and are still trying, to stem this tide, to preserve the unity of their national media and to keep out what they often see as threats against their beliefs and ways of life. For the moment it is clear that we live in a period of transition. Two worlds coexist uneasily: the world of nation states, with their national languages and cultures, and the global world with its emerging global language and culture carried, not by nation states, but by global corporations and international organizations. One major area that has been greatly affected by this transformation is the field of graphic design. Practitioners in graphic design, for the first time, find themselves in a position to work with an international clientele and to design for global audiences. As we begin to understand how existing cultures and dimensions help define our world, it becomes important to recognize how these differences affect the meaning and practice of graphic design. In order for designers to properly communicate visual messaging, they must first understand that their own individual ways of thinking do not represent those of the rest of the world. Taking into consideration the beliefs, traditions, and values of varying cultural audiences has yet to become a common practice, and some of the people currently responsible for the production of visual communication are unaware of this obligation. The central question of this research is: What are the consequences of media globalization in graphic design? This paper described and analyzed using selected examples from the works of graphic design as much as possible to answer the research question. At first examines the impact of globalization of media in graphic design and at the end of their proposed solutions will be presented. Data collection and sampling of documents is optional.