LEARNING FROM TELEVISION

GRANT MCCRACKEN ! DESIGN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE ! ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS

LONDON, JUNE 12, 2014 !

1 2 NEWTON MINOW “TV IS A VAST WASTE LAND”

3 careers made out of attacking TV

4 a growth industry

5 for a long while, it looked like they had a point 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 AGAINST THE ODDS

17 THIS GUY

18 BECAME THIS GUY

19 THIS GUY

20 BECAME THIS GUY

21 22 23 TV GOT BETTER

24 THEY ARE NOT BINGEING

25 THEY ARE FEASTING

26 LOTS OF SMALL FACTORS

• rise of cable (smaller audience, smaller risk)

• deregulation of TV (cable uncontrolled by FCC)

• rise of women making TV (Ann Biderman, et al.)

• rise of “difficult men” (see Brett Martin’s book)

• early success of HBO (32 Emmys in 2004)

27 much more than Gladwell’s 10,000 hours

28 29 H.S. Bhabra

30 IN THE TEETH OF INTELLECTUAL SKEPTICISM AND SCORN (EVEN)

31 THIS CREATURE

32 BECAME THIS CREATURE

33 2

34 35 WHAT DOES THE TV REVOLUTION MEAN FOR DESIGN?

36 NO 1-TO-1 CORRESPONDENCE

37 OXYGENATE AND PROVOKE

38 YOU’RE THE EXPERTS

39 YOU DECIDE

40 THE QUESTION: WHAT COULD THE CHANGE IN TV MEAN FOR DESIGN AND DESIGNERS?

41 3

42 HOW TV CHANGED (IN QUICK SUCCESSION)

43 OLD CONTRACTS DIE

44 NEW FREEDOMS OPEN UP

45 1. THE DEATH OF “KEEP IT SIMPLE”

46 NEW COMPLEXITY

• reveling in complexity

• stuff that would have been overwhelming 10 yrs ago

• X-files

• Lost

• Boardwalk Empire

47 2. DEATH OF THE MAINSTREAM

48 FEWER STUNNED PROTESTANTS

49 50 51 3. DEATH OF GENRE AND FORMULA

52 53 54 WHAT USED TO WORK NOW “JUMPS THE SHARK”

55 4. BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

56 SPOILER ALERTS FOR • Game of Thrones • Luther • • The Good Wife • House of Cards • Nashville • Scandal • •

57 • Ned Stark (Sean Bean) on Game of Thrones • DS Riply (Warren Brown) on Luther • Nicholas Brody () on Homeland • Will (Josh Charles) on The Good Wife • Zoe (Kate Mara) on House of Cards • Peggy (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) & Lamar (Powers Boothe) on Nashville • James (Dan Bucatinsky) on Scandal • Moira (Susanna Thompson) on Arrow • Allison () on Teen Wolf

58 59 4

60 WITH CONSTRAINTS DESTROYED, NEW EXPLORATIONS ARE UNDER WAY

61 4.1 SMARTER VIEWERS

62 THE DESIGNER HAS MORE FREEDOM

63 YOU CAN TEST THE CONSUMER IN NEW WAYS, TO NEW DEGREES

64 AND YOUR CLIENT HAS TO LET YOU

65 secret messages scarcity pure play

68 Site specificity

69 70 embracing the historical original

71 faking the historical record

72 embracing a spirit of mischief

73 invading the world

74 quiet mayhem

75 4.2 NEW VERNACULAR OPPORTUNITIES

76 THE SEMANTIC ENVELOPE HAS EXPLODED

77

I’M NOT SAYING YOU WANT TO GO THERE

79 JUST THAT YOU COULD

80 OUR CULTURE IS EXPANDING

81 STORY TELLING IS CHANGING

82 sweeter

83 grimmer

84 funnier

85 “cringier" more irreverent

87 stranger

88 more super natural

89 4.3 NOW THAT CULTURE IS BETTER, A RICH RESOURCE

90 YOU CAN WORK WITH CULTURE IN NEW WAYS

91 CULTURAL ARBITRAGE

92 Ingrid needed a design for her music video Ingrid Michaelson (2014) Robert Palmer Simple Irresistible (1988) CULTURAL ARBITRAGE IN THE SERVICE OF FEMINISM

96 Low T

TREAT POPULAR CULTURE AS A RESOURCE, A LANGUAGE

! YOUR LISTENERS ARE MOBILIZED, WELL INFORMED, KEEN TO PLAY

99

5

101 SUMMING UP

102 smarter consumers give the designer more freedom a richer, deeper popular culture gives the designer more to work with THE CONSUMER WILL RISE TO WORK THAT IS

1. more playful 2. more complex 3. more secretive 4. more counterintuitive and unexpected 5. more participatory 6. more context specific 7. more difficult and complex

105 NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR MISCHIEF, PLAY AND ARBITRAGE

106 THANK YOU! @GRANT27

107