Fabio Bondi

VISUAL SUMMARY

DIRTY PLAYING ON HUMAN NEEDS

VISUAL SUMMARY

HUMAN NEEDS VISUAL IDENTITY SYSTEM

HUMAN NEEDS THEORY

Humans are meaning animals, so they tend to apply meaning to everything, that’s why at an irrational level we tend to

perceive stimuli like the sight of the “Apple“ logo triggers in our brain the same chemical reaction of an Iconic image of the Virgin...

Neuromarketing started to show us how our brain interacts with these visual inputs, but it doesn’t tell us why .The key to the reading of these dynamics that tend to categorize stimuli of apparently total different nature into something that works in the same way into our brain is to be found in human motivational theories.

One of the first theories relevant to understand why people buy was the “Theory of Human Motivations“ presented by the psychologist Abrahm Maslow.It dates back to the 1943 but is still the basis of present-day Marketing.

The basis of Maslow’s theory of motivation is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, which exist in an hierarchical way so that, normally, human beings tend not to be concerned about higher levels of needs unless they fullilll the lower ones (you don’t really think about your haircut when you are starving...)There are general needs which have to be fulfilled before a person is able to act unselfishly. The satisfaction of these needs is quite healthy, while preventing their gratification makes us ill (like anxiety, anorexia, complex of every kind) or act evilly (selfishness, envy...).

Courses in marketing teach Maslow’s hierarchy as one of the first theories as a basis for understanding consumers’

motives for action.

If producers design products (or communication) meeting consumer needs, consumers will more often choose those products over those of competitors. Whichever product better fills the void created by the need will be chosen more frequently, thus increasing sales.

This application of the theory, makes it relevant to the selling process.

Human needs are categorized into an hierarchical system called “The Pyramid of Needs“.

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Safety Needs

Love&Belongingness Needs

Self Esteem Needs

Self Actualization Needs

Self Trascendence Needs

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Physiological Needs

The most basic needs of oxygen, food, water, and reproduction.

Commonly satisfi ed in fi rst world countries, physiological needs are the only needs which can be completely or even over satisfi ed. These needs are continually recurring, so we must seek satisfaction of this basic need on a daily basis.

In Marketing:

People that are in this stage probably do not have a lot of money. Food and water must be their main priorities. They

will buy cheaper things even if the quality is not very good because they can’t aff ord better quality items. These people are attracted to anything that will save them money.Other things (luxuries) seem minor to these people because they know they need food and water in order to survive.

Safety Needs

Protection from harm, the need for law and order.Safety needs can never be over satisfi ed, when children do

not have their safety needs met, they tend to develop basic anxiety and may become neurotic adults.

In peaceful societies, safety needs are relatively easy to satisfy, but they become highly important during natural disasters, fi res, accidents, and other life threatening situation.

In Marketing:

Consumers in this stage need to feel that they will be safe in the present times and in the future. They will purchase

items to help them feel secure like retirement funds, self-defense classes, and a safe shelter. They will also buy things to help protect their families and possessions and to enhance their feeling of safeness.

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Need for Love and Belongingness

Human beings need to feel a sense of belonging, acceptance and identity, whether it comes from religious groups,

professional organizations, sports teams, social connections or, most important, the family.

Maslow states that this level is what the majority of the population remains at. The desire for friendship, the search for a mate and the desire to be part of a family are all reflections of this need.

In Marketing:

Acceptance and sense of identity are also big part of this phase. Everyone likes to fit in with other people, and

nobody wants to be labeled as strange, unusual or weird. People in this stage of life will follow the current trends so that they’ll be accepted by their peers.Stage three is also the stage where people desire to be with other people. At this stage, tehy will usually purchase anything else that will help them to feel a sense of identity like name brand items, and trendy clothes to help them fit in and be accepted by their peers.Particularly relevant to this stage are the relatively new phenomenons of social networking, that seems completely shaped around these needs.

Esteem Needs

All human beings have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents the normal

human desire to be accepted by others, gain recognition and to feel self-valued, be it in a profession or life.

Maslow distinguished between two levels of esteem needs : Reputation and Self-Esteem, fundamentally important to find meaning within your life.

In Marketing:

Once we reach this stage, we are ready to take better care of ourselves. Individuality is important to these people

because they are happy with themselves, have good self esteem and do not want to be like everyone else. These people will dress nice to attract praise because it makes them feel better about themselves and recognized.Consumers in this group want others to respect them, look up to them, and value them.People in stage four often purchase items like anti-aging cosmetics so they can look younger and have more control on the aging (or not aging as quickly) process,expensive clothes, cars, etc. so they will have the power to feel superior to others.

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Self transcendence needs

The need to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize self potential.

Maslow also proposed that people who have reached self-actualization will sometimes experience a state he referred to as “transcendence,” or “peak experience,” in which they become aware of not only their own fullest potential, but the fullest potential of human beings.He made the point that such individuals experience not only ecstatic joy, but also profound “cosmic-sadness” at the ability of humans to foil chances of transcendence in their own lives and in the world at large.

In Marketing:

This stage tend to be not totally involved in the Advertising’s gears.

The need to understand humanity, the world, or to help others could be easily confused with the features of previous needs like the Love for family or willingness to help others in a materialistic way (through charities for instance) that could be due to a need of self esteem or public recognition for instance.People, at this stage, have a superior understanding of reality, so they tend to be attracted more by the “pure truth” or pure utilitaristic functions rather than possibilities of self-projection offered by the way to market products.

Self - Actualization needs

“What a man can be, he must be.” This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need

pertains to what a person’s full potential is and realizing that potential.

People who reach this level are “fully human”, Maslow stated that only 2% of the general population and 1% of the college population is self-actualized.

In Marketing:

Sadly many people will never reach this stage, so more than people at this stage, it refers to people that want to reach

this stage, offering solution to fully develop their skills and potential, shaping the message as a promes of real evolution.However, the people that do reach stage five are happy with themselves, and the lives they have lived. They buy things that give them enjoyment and soul nourishing like art, flowers and travels.

“Man is a perpetually wanting animal”

Abraham Maslow

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first: Survival Needs (food, reproduction, sleep...)

The image of the apple and the snake expresses the concept of food and also draw on the archetypal imagery of the

“Primordial Sin”, reminding the reproductive function relative to this need.

The color is a Human Pink, and refers to the human body, human flesh and his basic needs.

second: Safety Needs

The image of a shell expresses the basic need of a shelt in wich find safety.

The color is a Dark Sea Green, colore related to the feeling of tranquillity of the spirit.

third: Love & Belongingness

The anchor is a symbol of belongingness, so the hart anchor represent the feeling of being loved, being part of

something.

The color is a dark Magenta. a color of passion and emotional health. it is associated with feeling of harmony; according to the psycholgy of colors: at its highest level it generates love, caring, kindness and cooperation, encouraging a balanced and harmonious outlook on life.

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fourth: Esteem

The sense of esteem is something we externally attribuite to things, is not an intrinsec value. That’s why a sparkling

stone has became the most esteemed symbol in the world imagery; and that’s why I choose this image to represent this need.

The color is a Golden Yellow. Yellow is the most powerfoul of every color, it enhance the perception of value, it relates to the head, not to the heart.

fifth: Self Actualization

The symbol of an human silohuette in the meditating position and the big eyes are archetypal of reaching awarness and

reachness of the spirit; stages of this need.

The color is Indigo, a certain shade of blu that refers to the symbology of the Intuition (represented in many cultures with the third eye) and spiritual knowledge, that are the main feature of the self actualization process. Also according to the theory of perception of colors it is associated with: introspection, integrity, structure and order, winsdom and sincerity.

sixth: Self Transcendence

This stage of the human needs involvse the feeling of wanting to understand the world and other people, transcending

our own vision of the things in search of a superior thruth.Two faces, one point of view. Two entities, one perception, this is the meaning I wanted to achieve with the design of this Icon.

The color is a Dark pastel Purlpe that connotates the spiritualism, emphaty and love for humanity.

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The poster presents the relative human need Icon and a brief explaination of it, also the overall color is its relative.

The background image is meant to create a visual continuity between the described need and a human imagery.

The image of a baby’s hand holded by his father refers to a feeling of protection and safeness, feeling seeked by

people at this stage of needs.

Here the imagery of love and belongingness is brought into the poster by the image of kid cloaking himself, according

to traditions of the community he belongs.

A girl putting her lipstick on is used here as a symbol of enhancing a sense of self esteem when in front of a mirror.

Self actualized people are not hat common.Most of people will never reach this stage, or at least not

at a young age. Winsdom is the main feature of this people, and this is what the sight of the old man in the background expresses.

Self Transcendence is about understanding a bigger picture rather than simply our position and goal in this life.

Transcendence of human dimension is here expressed with the absence of an human imagery.

Fabio Bondi