Aesthetics, Branding and Power
“Aesthetics are the post-modern currency of power”
There’s that classic statement about the modern world that “knowledge is power” – characterised in the way that any product which has some kind of “scientifically proven” stamp or someone in a lab coat supporting it is instantly trustable. We defer to those who have more knowledge than us. Knowledge, if you like, is the main currency of power – organisations trade useful information for power.
However, in a post-modern or hyper-modern world (or whatever other term you’d like to use) we find ourselves in an environment where information is more and more freely available to anyone. Now it is no longer the information itself gives individuals or organisations power, but how an organisation markets or brands that information that gives it power.
