Art, science, and technology of outdoor advertising in Ghana

Abstract

Outdoor advertising has been the most popular form of visual advertising from ancient times till now. The craft has gone through various stages of metamorphosis from crude painted signs to the present highly scientific and technologically characterized signage visible in towns and cities across the world including Ghana. Even though, the craft is regarded as art in Ghana, a close study of the nitty-gritties of the practice of the craft in Ghana reveals that it has been characterized by multiplicity of artistic, scientific and technological processes and methodologies in design, construction and installation. Using case study research method, unstructured observation and interviews, this article delved into the activities of experienced outdoor advertising practitioners in some of the largest and highly developed outdoor advertising agencies in Accra, Ghanato examine the tools, materials and processes they used in designing, constructing and installing outdoor signage and to identify the extent to which they apply artistic, scientific and technological processes and principles in the production chain. The raw data collated were transcribed, coded and presented using the Focused-by-research question approach and analysed through narrative and descriptive qualitative approaches. The major findings that emerged from the data analysis were also discussed comprehensively through inductive and descriptive analysis. The analysis and discussions revealed that more scientific and technological process and principles are applied in the production chain of outdoor signs in Ghana than artistic processes and most graphic design professionals in the local outdoor advertising industry lacked comprehensive knowledge and skills in the scientific and engineering aspects of construction and installation of outdoor signs. It is therefore recommended that communication design curricular at Senior High School and tertiary levels must be reviewed to include the scientific and engineering processes and principles of signage production. Mandatory industrial attachment programme must also be introduced and properly enforced in the programmes, so as to link the curricular and training to industrial practice and production managers who have only engineering background must be given training in advertising, marketing, social psychology and graphic design