Actively observing numerous logos throughout my day prompted me to reconsider the extent of our exposure to advertisements, not only in physical spaces but also across digital platforms like social media. I then came across a 2023 video on the Morning Brew YouTube channel, where the host meticulously counted every advertisement he encountered in a single day. He identified 78 ads but noted that this figure represented only those he consciously recognized. This observation suggests that the actual number of ads we are exposed to daily, without active awareness, is likely much higher, closer to 100.
Inspired by this insight, I used Photoshop’s Smudge Tool to obscure a handbag advertisement by smearing it 100 times. The resulting image became highly distorted, with only the color palette remaining discernible. It illustrated how pervasive advertisements are in our environment, ubiquitous yet often unnoticed, existing in a blurred state just beneath our conscious perception.
Funnily enough, though the aim was to completely distort the image, I still think there’s a certain beauty to them in some way.
Spy pixels: I actually found this out during my cross-year studio: spy pixels are tiny, transparent images tucked discreetly into the code of HTML emails. Barely the size of a dot, these hidden trackers are anything but harmless. The moment you open that newsletter or brand update, the pixel pings back data: when you opened the email, where you were, what device you used. It’s surveillance disguised as design.
Here the question arises again: who manipulates whom?
Can you find the bags in these pictures? The tiny little pixel bags.