Mainstream culture is the culture that is held within a large amount of people residing in a society, or in other words, it is the culture that seems the most “normal” to those that live in a specific area of the world. The majority of members can accept this culture, such as the high-quality learning, something worthy of being learned and all the things that proceed naturally from it and that are accepted. People always think that culture should present a positive, healthy and beautiful overall style, but when there is a mainstream culture, there will certainly be other cultures. We cannot ignore the non-mainstream culture because most people do not like it. The supposed non-mainstream culture is only relative to the mainstream culture. With the transformation and reconstruction of the system, the division and reorganization of interests and the influence and infiltration of various social ideological trends, culture presents a complex situation, on the one hand, the rise of mainstream culture, on the other hand, the continuous breeding of non-mainstream culture.

People yearn for good taste and see beauty as something elevated and divine. They think that the relationship between taste and cultural identity is also very important. Culture is important because it influences an individual’s life in a variety of ways, including values, views, desires, fears, views and worries. Many people think that most people like is the good taste, while others like is the bad taste. So, there are so many subcultures cannot be accepted. Good taste is defined as something that is “socially constructed”. This means that good taste depends on “the intrinsic value that one has”, it means that people with a process or system create criteria for judging what is good taste.

Anyone can say that something is good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, in my opinion there is no criteria to judge the taste, the only thing we can say is whether the taste is in line with the trend of the times, which is similar to fashion. For example, the heavy metal fashion. Heavy metal fashion is the style of dress, body modification, make-up, hairstyle, and so on, taken on by fans of heavy metal, or, as they are often called, metalheads or headbangers. Regardless of the changes of the times, it has remained constant key elements like the black clothes, long hair and leather jackets.

Many people cannot understand heavy metal fashion, it is different from any fashion, but its distinct aspects of heavy metal fashion can be credited to various bands. The style and clothing of metal absorbed a wide variety of influences as diverse as the music genres borrow influences. Because of the link between clothing and the different sub-styles influenced by music influences that one can sometimes determine one’s particular taste for music simply from the overall appearance. Sometimes people do not like the dark fashion, obviously, everyone has his own understanding of beauty and his own view of good taste. No one can change that, because everyone is independent and cognitive. So, the good taste for the product design is not depend on the closed system and the fashion industry, it depends on some people who think it is good. One of the most obvious features of this culture is the studded style, like the studded leather jackets, studded bracelets, studded belts, spiked gauntlets.

Some brands have developed this feature into people’s lives, for example the brand Hades Footwear. Its motto is “inability to conform”, because we represent those who want to be different. As a strong promoter of individuality, they have put renowned designers and shoemakers together to form one of the most beautiful collections of shoes, each design having its own story and craftsmanship that is sure to make heads turn. In this brand, shoes always be the black with exaggerated ornament, use something that looks uncomfortable and it is different from the normal shoes. Many people cannot understand this style, however, if people focus on the role of the product for users and users, rather than what the product is, people will ignore the surface statement based on taste, rather than better understand the design. Sometimes people cannot understand, because each artist’s design works have different meanings, they may also include their experiences. When people cannot understand some artwork, maybe they don’t have the same experience or story, or the mood of an artist when he creates art.

In my opinion mainstream culture is widespread, the culture of most people and the normal way of action. But a subculture differs in one or more ways from the mainstream culture. Subcultures are norms and values which are distinct from the majority and a group within a wider society. When we have attention about mainstream culture, we also need to not ignore the subculture. It was also the conviction of another group of people, something they believed in.

References:

Christoforidou, D., Olander, E., Warell, A., & Holm, L. S. (2012). Good taste vs. good design: A tug of war in the light of bling. The Design Journal, 15(2), 185-202.

Gelder, Ken (2007). Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice, March 2007.

Seiler, Robert M. “Human Communication in the British Cultural Studies Tradition.”
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/british.htm

Huq, Rupa (2006). ‘Beyond subculture’, 2006.

Weinstein, Deena (5 August 2009). “Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture”. Da Capo Press. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via Google Books.

Pysnakova, Michaela. “Understanding the Meaning of Consumption of Everyday Lives of ‘Mainstream’ Youth in the Czech Republic” in New Perspectives on Consumer Culture Theory and Research, p64.

This artwork standing mirror is one part of Elliat Rich’s Other Places series of limited-edition furniture design. This mirror is showing in the NGV, the theme is designing women, by focusing on the work, histories and achievements of designing women, the exhibition reveals that female designers, in our culture they also have a number of iconic and thought-provoking work. When I first saw this mirror, I thought it was just a simple mirror to let people see their clothes neatly. Then I found that this mirror did not like the ordinary mirror that people usually use. Instead, it could not use very clearly, and had a very vague feeling. What’s even more surprising is that his mirror was green and blue. When people look at it, they have a fantastic feeling because they cannot see the picture very clearly. At that time, I did not realize the special meaning of this mirror. I just wonder why a mirror should be designed like this and about this exhibition why women cannot be acknowledged for their professional contributions.

In fact, people always ignore that women offer fresh perspectives on the contributions for the practice and profession of design, women designers have a very important development in design. People have a prejudice that women should not be in this industry. They think women will lose customers in many choices, they cannot coordinate the relationship between children, family and design, and they cannot tailor their working hours to fit their personal needs. It is clear that discrimination against women is much more deeply embedded across our culture. But design is certainly different. in nature It is not technically or managerially. First of all it needs foremost creative and involves special visualization skills. Little is known about women designers in the Australian graphic design industry, but Elliat Rich give a very beautiful example for the women design.

Elliat Rich want to inspire people to think, to have imagination for design. Then according to Philippa Nicole Barr, he writes, ‘All of the works upheld Rich’s fascination with the local landscape and her interest in using design to craft a new vision of the future.’ This artwork drawing on entitled draws on observations of the Australian landscape, inspired by Rich’s experiences living in Alice Springs and driving along desert roads, standing mirror reflects her observations of the distinct haze of the distant ranges. Women have a greater advantage in design, they will feel more delicately about what they see, and then design it. Elliat Rich’s design is trying to capture that and make it into something tangible. She thinks the feeling can become “their own mythical things” with “their own entity and presence”, so she create the standing mirror.

Standing mirror shifts from morning to dusk, from north to south. it is a musing on these observations. This mirror catches and bend the light, the colours blend, reflect, merge. Elliat Rich explains that on the one hand the mirror is a part of illusion, it is a solid gas, on the other hand the mirror is the shadow of a mountain, it is part thing as well as it is a space for reflection. Elliat Rich’s artwork creates an environment of inspiration, vision and entrepreneurship in her own communities. Standing mirror it allows people being to different kinds of thought including ideas, beliefs and values. Standing mirror opened people’s eyes to a way of living with both art and design. This design Based on people’s expectations of furniture, but beyond that expectation, it transcends function, sculpture and art and is just can expressed in design language. This is the beginning of an ongoing exploration into imagined myths, reminders of present wonders and desired futures. This mirror summarizes cumulative observations, Elliat Rich use a very long time to view different places to create this artwork. People always think that women are illogical and inexperienced that men are better suited to undertake this work，but they are more patient than men. For this artwork, Elliat Rich have spent a lot of years trying to name that colour, part emerald and part magenta, she wants to capture that quality. It is what Elliat’ve seen, and what Elliat’ve imagined, furniture that evokes and embodies the landscapes of Australia. It encapsulates accumulated observations, imagined myths, reminders of present wonders and desired futures, these are the meaning of standing mirror. In order to create, she went to a very remote place to observe, standing mirror use different materials and bound those enigmatic elements together in a magic feeling. All speak directly to an experience of and within the Australian landscape, the distinct Australian haze that renders the land mute but vibrant.

So in my opinion women are playing a more and more important role in the wider contemporary design industry. They also contribute a lot to the development of design, and they cannot be ignored. It also emphasizes the argument that the further popularity of female designers and the more gender-inclusive concerns of design historians are not negotiable. Male and female designers should have equal status, people should not repudiate them.

Reference:

Figure 1. Standing mirror, Elliat Rich, 2018, Photographs by Sean Fennessy courtesy of Sophie Gannon Gallery.

Bruce, Margaret. and Lewis, Jenny. April 1990. Women designers — is there a gender trap?

Connory, Jane. 2017. Plotting the Historical Pipeline of Women in Graphic Design.

Carolan, Nicholas. From the red centre to the heart, design that’s going places.

‘Designwork 02’ At Sophie Gannon Gallery, The Design Files. https://thedesignfiles.net/2018/03/designwork-02-at-sophie-gannon-gallery