Abstract

Initially advertising began purely as an informative communication for the public in which products were differentiated by their specific features. Over time companies started to use more influential methods of persuasion to sell their products, such as celebrity endorsements and stretching the truth to not only sell goods, but to inform the consumer of how this product could benefit their lifestyle.

In later years, advertising developed into more than a product focused communication tool and began to exploit the psychological thoughts of consumers by creating an experience that they can become a part of. Thus altering the consumer’s perceived nature of the product and through association, how they are viewed by others.

Currently consumers are responding to these tactics with the emergence of the movement known as the participatory culture. Many brands and corporations have responded back by embracing consumer input to come across as more trustworthy.

The participatory culture is the active communication, co-operation and circulation of ideas between the masses, this allowing the public to act not only as consumers but also as producers and contributors. This culture has emerged from the recent advances of technologies mainly personal computers and the Internet, the absorption of this technology has created opportunities for the average consumer to create, archive, appropriate and publish media content usually through the Internet.

This leads us to our research question, with participatory culture emerging into mainstream media, how can the users input; interact, influence and contribute towards the design process?

This will be investigated by finding examples of ways that the participatory culture is impacting on different areas of design. We will explore how participatory culture can be used, adapted and applied to various platforms.