Food is increasingly sold with a story, and the majority of those writing about the branding process within industry agree that this story should be ‘authentic’; a ‘true’ representation of a brand’s value or personality. Across the broader field of branding, ‘authenticity’ has become key to a product’s marketing. However, much of the language used to describe and market food is very difficult to define or standardize – terms such as ‘local’, ‘quality’, ‘authentic’ and ‘premium’ remain confusing for the customer. Furthermore, in the context of branding and marketing, multiple genres of authenticity have been defined. Therefore, the food and design industries can use this lack of clarity to their advantage, emphasizing and embellishing some aspects of a product, and perhaps even deliberately omitting others. In doing so, they develop the narrative that will best connect with their audience. In this sense, the ‘authenticity’ of the brand or product is interpreted through this interaction and can be framed as a social construction. These issues are discussed in the context of a short UK-based case study focusing on the supermarket Tesco’s ‘fake farm’ brands that utilize the design and branding of the packaging to evoke specific aspects of ‘authenticity’. The visual material is analysed using a social semiotic approach enabling a discussion of issues relating to the communication of ‘authenticity’ in the practice of graphic design and branding, and the marketing of food with a story

No abstract

abstract. For many geographers, the printed page is no longer a productive tool to engage contemporary definitions of place or debates surrounding the nonrepresentational. There is a discernible shift within the discipline toward creative research methods, including using media such as film or sound, with a perception that they are less “fixed” in nature. In this article, however, I suggest that, by developing “geo/graphic” work that draws on theories and practices from both cultural geography and graphic design, the page can be recast as a liminal space, a threshold between readers and their understanding and imagination. I propose that a book has the potential to offer a multisensory, interactive space of exploration for readers and that the construction of such geo/graphic work also offers researchers an additional creative method with which to understand place.

As a graphic designer I had appreciated the design of maps, accepting them as graphic representations of space and an unquestioned truth. However, through this project I became interested in cartography, as it is the intersection between geography and graphic design. I wished not to pursue the craft of mapmaking to a purely aesthetic end, but rather to explore a geo/graphic approach, developing content and meaning, and engaging with the human dimension that seems lacking within conventional forms of mapping.\ud \ud The project was undertaken in New Basford, Nottingham, UK, which developed through the lace trade in the mid- to late 1800s. What follows is a selection from a series of maps generated by analysing signs of a vernacular, low-tech or personal nature. The work attempts to chart human intervention and traces of social use within the space

No abstract