What is an aesthetic?
The term ‘aesthetic’ can refer to various things, and in this circumstance, it refers to the appearance of some form of content. The aesthetic of something assists in establishing a style, tone, mood or in the case of social media, it helps illustrate personality. From a theoretical standpoint, aesthetics is closely aligned with the philosophy of art, which explores the nature of art and how individual representations are evaluated or interpreted by others (Scruton & Munro, 2019).
Exploring aesthetics was a media niche I was interested in, so I ethnographically explored the glamour aesthetic. This aesthetic generally comprises photos with black and white shades. Observations of this aesthetic are primarily shown on platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest. It is used predominantly by women to give the appearance of wealth, high social status, and beauty. It is similar to being boujee, in its use of status symbols in its fashion and visuals (Glam Girl, n.d).
As I changed my Digital Artefact, I realised I wanted to focus on my own personal experience. However, I was able to extend my research to an audience exactly like me – a young woman with a love for everything glamourous. Personalities that suit this type involve someone who is confident, stubborn and extroverted, which I represent.
Epiphanies and Research
The field map of the diva aesthetic is extremely broad, so I decided to narrow it down.
The analysis of epiphanies was conducted through secondary research, coinciding with my own personal experiences, being reflexive research. After struggling with my topic, feedback given to me insisted I narrow my research down. I then decided to dive into 3 key epiphanies. These included
- Why am I drawn to this aesthetic?
- What persona am I portraying?
- Why are aesthetics useful
Examining my first epiphany
I observed my emotions towards the aesthetic and started to writing down how it makes me feel, making this research reflexive. (Dorothee et al, 2012) highlights that an aesthetic experience encompasses an affective process of aesthetic judgement and emotion experienced with an image. By jotting down my emotions, I was able to give a personal evaluation, coinciding with the reflexive paradigm, relating to auto-ethnography. Besides emotion, this epiphany was also broken down into two other components such as subject matter and visual composition.
(Crozier, 2018) states “an evocative visual style can spontaneously colour the experience and interpretation of subject matter.’’ The combination of sensation and meaning is fundamental to both aesthetic and affective experiences. Putting together the aesthetic (visual composition), I found photos with a similar mood and tone, creating a unity.
My second epiphany
Sources highlighted that a brand which manages to create “>meaningful images that fit into the overall aesthetic landscape of the medium, signals to users that the brand has an expertise in understanding the media landscape in which it operates (Colliander & Marder, 2018).
As attention spans decrease, incorporating aesthetics can also stimulate the mind to spend a little more time on what a business can offer, creating an experience that brings pleasure and simplicity (ewomennetwork.com). My aesthetic is a clear example of how people can market a product to be luxurious just by surrounding it with the related aesthetic.
I was extremely interested in learn more about marketing aesthetics and apply them to my future career. When I see a beautiful aesthetic on Instagram, through a business page, it automatically wants me to follow and buy their products, resulting in customer satisfaction and loyalty. A source highlighted that “Marketing aesthetics offers clear guidelines for harnessing a company’s total aesthetic outputs, its “look and feel,” to provide a vital competitive advantage,”(Schmitt et al, 1997).
My Persona and Online Presence
My portrayal of an online persona was another epiphany. The online persona that I developed was a Pinterest board of my own take on the glamour aesthetic. I called this the diva aesthetic. I initially started an Instagram page named ‘thedivatimes’ where I could create my own aesthetic but realised Pinterest was a better platform for me, as it was difficult to gain a following on Instagram and credit sources. Pinterest easily re-pins photos with the correct source, saving me heaps of time.
I was able to create the diva aesthetic by pinning photos and creating my own board. Finding numerous photos wasn’t difficult as Pinterest utilised algorithms which recommended similar photos.
The persona I created involved a glamorous nature. The persona was portrayed through photos involving expensive brands, celebrities, sparkles, glitter etc. The black and white shade scheme set the mood and tone to appear dazzling.
Autoethnography to critically reflect my experience
Autoethnography made me think more deeply about my experiences. It made me think about not only my feelings, thoughts and experiences as an audience member of a niche but also why. (Ellis et. Al, 2010) identifies autoethnography as the documentation of epiphanies that are made by participating in a culture- and then understanding why. Journaling my emotion allowed me to showcase how the glamour aesthetic provoked a positive emotional response between myself.
Through my observations, I noticed that images of celebrities induced emotions of fangirling, whilst images of various expensive brands stimulated a confident and styish feeling. Images as such are very prominent within this aesthetic, and all have a similar tone. These emotions are prompted even more when the photos are collated together to form a cohesive feed. And so, the answer to the question of why this aesthetic appeals to myself, is because of the type of emotions evoked. My experience in autoethnography has allowed me to understand that everyone’s reality is different, and that the aesthetic I designed will not be liked by others online.
Conclusion
To conclude, through both ethnographic, and auto-ethnographic research, I was able to answer my epiphanies. The diva aesthetic provided an insight into the world of Pinterest and Instagram businesses, which I will remain a part of.
Colliander, J & Marder, B 2018, ‘“Snap happy” brands: Increasing publicity effectiveness through a snapshot aesthetic when marketing a brand on Instagram’, Computers in human behavior, vol. 78, pp. 34–4, viewed 19th October, 2021 <https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/%27Snap-happy%27-brands%3A-Increasing-publicity-through-a-Colliander-Marder/3426d8a70e801ec34ab8eb133a3520c1e4331896>
Crozier, WR 2018, ‘Gerald C. Cupchik (2016). The Aesthetics of Emotion: Up the Down Staircase of the Mind-Body’, Empirical Studies of the Arts, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 114–121, viewed 20th October 2021
Ellis, C., Adams, T. E. and Bochner, A. P. (2010) “Autoethnography: An Overview”, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). doi: 10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589, accessed 25th October 2021.
Glam Girl n.d., Aesthetics Wiki, viewed 26 October 2021, <https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Glam_Girl#:~:text=Glam%20girl%20is%20an%20aesthetic>.
How Aesthetic Plays an Important Role in Business | eWomenNetwork 2019, eWomenNetwork, viewed 21st October 2021, <https://www.ewomennetwork.com/blog/ewomennetwork-1/post/how-aesthetic-plays-an-important-role-in-business-230>.
M Dorothee Augustin, Claus-Christian Carbon & Johan Wagemans 2012, ‘Artful Terms: A Study on Aesthetic Word Usage for Visual Art versus Film and Music’, i-Perception, vol. 3, viewed 19th October 2021, <https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.7a644208025a4b0dbcfdc0bf2c2d310e>
Schmitt, Bernd, and Alex Simonson. Marketing Aesthetics: The Strategic Management of Brands, Identity, and Image. New York: The Free Press, 1997, accessed 17th October 2021. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/researcharchive/articles/337
Scruton, R. and Munro, T., (2019). Aesthetics. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc, viewed 20th October 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/aesthetics
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