An Examination of Aesthetic Intents

My friend Bill Sweetman has just concluded a gig at a large advertising agency and one of his last undertakings there was a recently launched web project entitled 'Aesthetic Intent: Where There's Passion, There's Beauty'. Bill is a very creative guy who knows a lot about aesthetics and how to work with the web as both an artistic 'medium' and as a business tool.

So it comes as no surprise to me that this project marries the two diverse fields of business and art in an innovative way and the result is ... well let's talk about that - it could be a marriage made in hell with the pointed corporate interests defiling the 'purity' of aesthetic contemplation. Or, it could be a gift of valuable insights into aesthetics, framed agreeably within a context of corporate sponsorship.

Which is it?

I was curious about this and so I took a close look at the web site to see where the balance lay. It's actually a single web page planted within the corporate environment of the GM Canada web site. But after just a few moments it was clear to me that enough careful thought and design effort had been put into this web project that one could look at it as a work of art in itself. The designers had a tough challenge and could easily have faltered by making the corporate message too strong and producing something too cheesy, or they could have underplayed the corporate message and risked the site never seeing the light of day.

Not an easy balance to strike but certainly an opportunity for me to have some fun in 'deconstructing' the piece to see what these marketing artists have done with it. So I'm going to share some of my observations with you because it's fun to see the handiwork of such clever minds.

First of all 'Aesthetic Intent' is a podcast. In case you are not familiar with the term, it is a web page that supports the delivery of short 'web radio shows'. These podcasts are a series of interviews with various artists about their thoughts on 'the connection between passion and beauty'.

I have to confess that I have some reluctance signing up for podcasts and listening to them religiously every day or every week is not on my agenda. But on this podcast site they've taken care of that problem. It's a limited edition of six interviews and I'm comforted by the fact that it takes a much smaller commitment from me to get the value from this project.

Also I find that knowing the podcast is limited to six episodes arouses my interest about what the topics will be and which artists will be interviewed. Perhaps this is a clever way to get people like me to bookmark the site and, who knows, even subscribe to a limited edition RSS feed. Yes, I'm willing to sign up for this one.

This initial episode is an interview between host Maie Pauts and Jane Martin an established visual artist and art activist who I happened to know back in my days as Director of SAW Gallery in Ottawa. Because I know this artist is the real deal I am impressed by the choice and once again I wonder who will appear on the future editions. Martin comes across in the interview as a very approachable and intelligent individual who believes passionately in the right of everyone to view, enjoy, and even acquire art. Throughout the piece she repeatedly advocates a non-elitist approach to the appreciation of aesthetic works.

But the very content of the podcast places us back on that edge of tension between the corporate interests of GM as a sponsor of this piece and the integrity of its content. The episode is a glimpse into Martin's perspectives on the creative process. She shares her thoughts about how active engagement in consuming (not just producing) art can educate us to become more aware of what we see and experience in life. This is a valuable lesson that I wholeheartedly believe needs to be constantly reinforced. But what does this have to do with the title of the episode, 'The Illumination of the Line'? Having played it three times I could not find any reference to that topic except at the end where the host says "This episode 'The Illumination of the Line' was inspired by the new Buick Enclave's graceful appearance and seductive lines."

We don't need tobenaive . This is a corporate ad. Of course the sponsor will glue their product to the content at some point. This one aspect of the site is perhaps the least successful (and most 'cheesy'). In fact I don't believe this apparently forced title was even necessary because the artistry of the designers of this web site manages to convey the corporate message in much more subtle ways. Let me explain...

Visually the design is sleek, smooth and evocative of the feeling of the interior of a new car (presumably a Buick Enclave). The colour is subdued - the hue matches the colour of the featured car - and the tonal shifts and highlights are suggestive of a glistening vinyl dashboard.

The selectors for the six podcasts appear in a horizontal row, not unlike the buttons on a car stereo. Of course only one button 'works' right now because only one podcast has been published so far. I look forward to pressing more buttons in the future.

The sense (however subliminal) that you are in a car is reinforced by the bright horizontal line at the top of the page. Your analytical brain will immediately recognize this as a menu bar that will take you to other places in the GM corporate web site. But your experiential eye may well first liken this light bar to the bright horizon line just beyond the hood of your car. Too far fetched? Imagine that you are in a car looking down at the stereo. On a bright day, your retina will be receiving similar inputs from the windshield as it would looking at this interface. Yes, these things are part of the subtle artistry of such a web site as this.

If our subconscious has picked up on this visual suggestion then we can consider that the logic of it is to place GM's corporate site in the space that you are moving towards. It presents itself as your destination. Very intriguing...

You could even look at the web page as a schematic 'plan view' of the car with the brighter menu and footer sections placed where the 'daylight' of the exterior would fall. The 'dashboard' and the medallion mounted on the rear door are placed in their logical locations at top and bottom. Using this visual logic does however place the Buick Enclave image, somewhat alarmingly, in the 'front seat' and the image of the guest artist (as well as the podcast itself) in the 'back seat'.

There are no visuals to support the subject matter of the audio. We are forced to imagine what Martin's work looks like as she speaks of it. I confess I was disappointed at this. Yes, I would have liked more content to be given, even at the price of another mouse click. Here again the balance shifts toward the corporate interest and the only image offered is a profile of the artist against a pretty messy palette which in turn is set against... of course, a new Buick Enclave.

The layout of the interface is divided into well seated sections separated by crisp, gleaming, horizontal lines. Our eye scans down, past the main title and the stereo buttons and the introductory blurb. Near the bottom of the page, next to the picture of the featured artist are two gleaming slivers that turn out to be the links for downloading and playing the podcast.

But the visual experience that I have when I listen to this podcast is simply the Buick Enclave. Why? Perhaps it is because the designers have cleverly placed the image of the car right across one of the illuminated divider lines. It is the only object on the entire page that is allowed to break the rhythm of these horizontal rules. No matter how hard I try, I cannot stop my eye from 'investigating' this transgression. It simply wanders up to that spot, possibly motivated by some deeply programmed survival instinct that ensures that we must constantly check unusual patterns in our peripheral vision.

My hat is off to the creative designers for coming up with such a rich amalgam of potentially polar opposites. It is an advertising campaign that is worthy of our time and attention because it does actually bring us some valuable insights into art, aesthetics and the quality of our lives and is generally quiet about its marketing intent. Jane Martin herself wisely takes advantage of the platform to make a plug for the value of buying art. She offers some very practical advice on how to start a collection and that is a real gift to not only the listener but also the community of professional artists such as herself.

So, is it a good marriage or not?

My own feeling on this is that art always needs some kind of sponsorship - that is the way of the world. Using a web site such as this to stimulate an interest in art while promoting a commercial venture is certainly, in my estimation, worth the effort. I believe that Bill Sweetman and his former colleagues at MacLaren MRM have devised an interesting method for bringing value to all concerned: the corporate sponsor; the featured artists; and those of us at the receiving end who visit the site with a desire to learn more about art and aesthetic intents. My hope is that in the future this can be carried further and that corporate sponsors such as GM could rest assured that, in the right creative hands, their marketing message can still come across even if we as users are able to wander off the main page to explore more extensive content.