Identifying the social status of consumers to know their buying decision : a useful tool used by designers

I live in the households of college students. I am cool, trendy and minimalistic. Students find me stylish and friendly. They love spending time with me and look up to me for ideas. Students say to me that the greyish silver suit, which I wear usually to university, looks good and matches with my personality. It makes me look handsome, honorable and slim.

I am also a best partner for all the design professionals. My compatibility and hardworking ability inspires them. I allow them to multi-task and give them a clear view of the latest up to date information. They consider me crisp and clean.

For many businessmen, I speak of elegance, efficiency and intelligence. I am a commodity that is most sought after. Therefore, I keep working hard to keep up with the pace and inform them about the latest and upcoming trends.”  Mr. Mac Book Pro.

This was an exercise that we did in our graphic design class in order to identify the target audience behind a product. It was important to analyze what our consumers wanted, observing what social status they belonged too, and then start an advertising campaign for it. When I chose Mac Book Pro as my object of study, I described its character that fits to certain groups of people who have similar social status. Social status is the recognition attached to one’s position in society. It can be either ascribed or achieved. Ascribed statuses are those that are inherited at birth like gender, age and ethnic identity. While as achieved status is earned by living in the society. Like for example name, profession, income, education, civil and marital status are terms that we accomplish from our surroundings. I began by analyzing three target audiences: college students, design professionals and businessmen - and took their specific qualities to see how this object, defined as a character, socializes with them.

Furthermore, I interviewed some college students, design professionals and businessmen to see how their master status (dominant position) plays an intense role in their parts of life. By viewing the consumer’s characteristics, like their opinions, attitudes, interests, hobbies, needs, values and lifestyle I could easily motivate consumers to be friends with my character Mr. Mac Book Pro. This exercise helped me in designing an advertising campaign that was persuasive and targeted my audience. 

Similarly, with Nescafé, (my second object of study for the same exercise) I suggested a different name to my character according to its unique personality that targets a certain audience.

A slim young women with dirty blonde hair and a great athlete, Nariana knows how to take care of her physique. She is a health and fitness advisor, who not only conducts morning shows, (being a morning person) where she teaches exercises but also answers calls and gives the viewers beauty tips according to their skin type. In one of her interviews Nariana says " In order to live longer one should wake up early, do yoga, train and after taking a shower treat yourself to some healthy food." I think this best describes her true personality because she is always so active, full of energy, fresh and smells beautiful. Wearing a pure golden ring on her finger with fully manicured nails, Nariana looks fabulous. 

In this exercise, I had given Nescafé a different name and a character so that she could easily mingle with a young and active age group. This group believes in waking up early in the morning, starting fresh with their daily chores and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 

These exercises not only helped me design an effective campaign but also enhanced my power of observation and understanding of different social statuses that reflects on the consumer’s buying decisions. It also made me see how sociologists can divide people in groups according to specific social statuses, and see the buying power towards a particular product or brand. In sociology there have been a lot of discussions and in depth case studies on the social status of a person to identify their buying decision. Below here is a video that will further help to define my point of view to you.

The Luxury of Yoga

Many people can have access to hobbies like football, jogging or drawing painlessly. However, if you find yourself practicing the asana in a yoga studio, then you are very likely to be in a high social class. Yoga is an expensive practice. Most yoga classes take place in prestigious clubs and hotels and the fees for the class are pretty high. I have never been aware about the wealth factor in practicing yoga until I studied sociology and enrolled in a yoga workshop in the Yama Yoga Studio at the European Club led by the International Yoga Instructor John Scott.




The cost for the workshop was QR 1325 and it lasted for the entire weekend; starting from Thursday night, Friday’s and Saturday’s morning and afternoon. So we practiced in total 10 hours of yoga. The 80 participants who attended the workshop project an indicator that they have the money and the time to engage in such elite activities. It is impossible to see people from the working class in the studio because they can’t satisfy their basic needs and don’t have enough leisure time as they are usually exploited by their bosses. Apart from the money and time required to do yoga, the participants were elegantly dressed up in the most costly active wear brands such as Lululemon and Hugger-mugger. That even adds more to the constraints in pursuing your practice to its full potential.









But in this particular workshop, the status value of yoga has risen to an extremely prestigious level. As I mentioned earlier the workshop was led by John Scott. The owner of this studio Valerie Jeremijenko who is also the dean of student affairs in Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar had exerted considerable effort to invite such influential guru over for a workshop. There are many reasons why this man had the power to unite 80 practitioners from different backgrounds over the weekend. A) Speaking of his age, gender and race; he is a 54-year old white man from New Zealand. B) About his education, he has a bachelor degree of Applied Science in Industrial Design. And he has been a dedicated yoga student since 1987 and a direct student of Shri K Pattabhi Jois since 1989, who certified John to teach Ashtanga yoga since 1993. C) Regarding his spectacular achievements, John taught many national and international workshops. He has written the book “Ashtanga Yoga”- the essential step-by-step guide to dynamic yoga and also he produced a DVD of the “Ashtanga yoga primary series”. And to further bling his profile, John had taught Madonna and Sting.





All of these privileged ascribed and impressive achieved statuses have given him great self-esteem. Since when he first entered the studio cramped up with new faces in a country he has never been to, he did not show any sign of nervousness. He just walked pass by smiling to all of the participants and then settled in the middle of the studio and started chanting to greet us. His superior reputation clearly illustrates his confident and relaxed attitude. Prior the start of every session of the workshop, Valerie drizzled generous drops of the pricey high therapeutic grade Young Living essential oils in the diffuser to enhance our motivation to go beyond the practice. Notice so far, the people, the funds, the gear and the props the yoga community needs to conduct the wholesome process of yoga. It is definitely a practice for the people at the top of the social class hierarchy.







One may think that yoga is an extremely extravagant discipline. However behind all of these lavish investments, is a practice that can immensely improve your overall physical, mindful and spiritual well-being. For instance during the workshop, John had challenged us physically in the versatile sequences and postures of Ashtanga yoga which developed our flexibility, strength and balance. And for the mindful side of the practice, we worked on various meditation techniques to connect us to the present and overthrow the conditioned mind that cause us to continue repeating our old patterns, habits and addictions. Finally, for the spiritual aspect of the practice, John had dived into the limitless philosophy of yoga. In brief, John preached about the importance of having “Subject specific notes”, which means in situations like having a conversation with a friend or listening to a lecture at school, we should control our mind in allowing it to have thoughts, questions related to the current setting rather than thinking of irrelevant things like the game you want to watch tonight or the outfit you want to wear tomorrow. This subject-specific note mindset can tremendously improve the quality of our lives. He also emphasized on the power of group unity in a way that this workshop have brought together people from various cultural, religious, educational origins to a common purpose which was counting, moving, breathing and sweating together to construct a pathway for a profound sense of well-being. If people can apply this philosophy on a global scale, there is no doubt that the world can become a better place.




John, Valerie and I posing after the end of the workshop

Observing the Invisible

Qatar is a rapidly developing country; where day by day we notice a change in our surroundings. By the year 2011, 1,271,000 foreigners have been recruited in Qatar and 75%of these foreigners are unskilled labor workers. Due to this high percentage of workers, as a global society, we tend to neglect these workers and walk by them as if they are invisible. It has became a usual scene, to drive by a group of workers standing in line for the bus under the sun’s heat, to drink from a cold bottle of water when they drink out of an overused 7up bottle and no longer safe to drink from, to look out of our bedroom window while laying down and watching them sleep behind the wall. Because of the social conflict, we never stopped to think about their feelings, their families, or their problems.


During my junior year at VCUQ, one of our projects for print class relates to creating a “survival kit” for workers, we were put in teams to develop a product that would facilitate the workers. To accomplish this project, we went to tailors, gardeners, and waiters, we asked them a few questions to learn about their concerns and problems and to find a solution that would help them feel more comfortable in Qatar. The results from our interview led us to find out about the average salary and the places they spend their time on their weekends, which is for most of them, the corniche and the souq.

As a group of three, we cannot change the society’s perspective but we can open up opportunities for the workers to explore Qatar, we can teach them how to deal with the society. We looked at the workers as individuals who are willing to blend in with the society but the perception they have of locals pushes them backwards. Therefore, as a design solution, we used the visual language of the Indian culture which include the colors and illustrations. This would help them accept and trust the context because they would relate to it.

Our final package “fun weekend” is a wallet which consists of a Karwa map (which we further developed) to help them explore new areas in Qatar. The map also includes different packages as a guide on how to spend a small amount of money during a day out, as well as having fun at the same time.







This project was completed in a short period of time; therefore our research was not deep enough. This semester, we decided to complete and develop our research as an independent study group, which we are currently working on.

Our recent research has opened our eyes to how serious the worker’s problems are relating to their social status. We learned that because of the division of labor, the workers are assigned tasks which they do not know how to preform, this is a result of their language barrier and the lack of experience.



The video link at the bottom shows the living conditions of migrant workers in the Gulf where we see a pattern of problems, mostly because the workers lack education, they do not know their rights. The video also includes a story of an individual who faced financial problems and was in debt and eventually led to a horrifying ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMxbpsw_UTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOF97JrUej4&feature=relmfu

Judging by the cover

Judging someone by what they look like isn’t the right thing to do, in fact it is completely shunned against, but that does not necessarily mean that people actually follow that rule. On the contrary, it is a completely natural reaction for people to look at a passerby and quickly make assumptions about that person’s personality or profession and will immediately have something to say whether good or bad.

The eyes can reveal so much about a person and in great depth may I add. Just by looking at the way someone interacts with people, you can receive indications about that person’s personality.  

People, (and me personally) tend to critic what we see, and that is usually the way that person dresses or how he or she carries him/herself. It is incredible the amount of information you can get just by the wardrobe that that person has on. Whether it may be a uniform or a certain motif that connects him or her to an organization or an in-group if you will, you can get a sense of that person’s role and identify their position within the society.

When observing people you can naturally tell that persons age (in some cases that is), ethnicity, race and sometimes even their nationality. These elements all fall into the category of an ascribed status which simply means that they are social statuses that we are given at birth and are rigidly assigned to us without our personal choosing. Another example of that is our family background; we do not choose our families but are born into them.

In contrast, an achieved status is a social position which we as individuals have the freedom to pick and choose a role or position that ultimately best defines us and reflects our personality to others. Examples on these statuses are job occupations such as a doctor, fire fighter, teacher, student, worker, business man and many others.

These uniforms are status symbols. They identify what you are in the society. A high ranking officer is known from the amount of the merits he has accumulated and that are displayed on his uniform. A student is identified by his school uniform in the aforementioned school colors and so on.  Uniforms are a big part of our daily lives and they provide a sense of order to our life. We get dressed in certain “uniforms” depending on the roles we play and the places we go. A business man would dress in a smart suit and tie to his morning job and would probably slip into something more comfortable if and when the scene changes.  

Usually when it comes to sport teams, such as basketball and football, the members of the in-group are dressed in the same uniform and work together as one. Other examples of in-groups are the military or the army where there are groups of officials dressed in the same uniform and are working together to make the team function correctly and efficiently.

Status symbols can be very important in times of crises, because we can usually spot out the person we want really quickly. In the case of a robbery we can spot a police man a mile away from the car he drives and by the uniform he wears.

Doors, Doors, Doors!

We usually never pay attention to the way a door is decorated. When focusing on family and staff members in NU-Q (Northwestern University in Qatar), we can get a closer picture of their identity simply by observing their doors. This may sound funny, but we can get a wide range of information about that person just by looking at their office door and its surroundings. Such information includes their role, their achieved status, and their ascribed status.



What do those doors symbolize? After going around looking at the faculty and staff offices of NU-Q, we can see some sort of an emerging social structure. Since the faculty offices are dispersed around the CMU-Q Carnegie Mellon University arc, there is a difference between the first half and the second half of the arc.



One of the halves seems to be livelier than the other, having images of cartoons and posters on doors. Both halves represent professionalism, with articles posted on their doors. It is evident that quotes appear on more than one office. Some professors choose to have their office hours printed on a sheet of paper outside their doors.




As for name tags, each office has one placed on the right hand side of the door. Name tags symbolize achieved status, occupation, and different titles. The cartoons on doors symbolize humor, or can also highlight the professor’s hobby. One of the cartoons is cut out of a newspaper and it is about academia and academic jokes. This indicates his role, which is an academic, and other academics will get this humor. It is a status indicator.




When looking at the other side of the arc, we can see an interesting contrast between both sides. Most of the faculties on this side are journalism professors. One has an evil-eye door hanger. This highlights which culture they are coming from, believing in the evil-eye myth. Student works and photos are also evident, and along with that there are old flyers that have not been removed. In addition, some professors have book covers, ones that they have published, printed and stuck on the doors, also highlighting their social status.



An interesting observation is the use of a Northwestern print doormat. This is only apparent in the offices of both deans, showing that they hold a higher position in the professional hierarchy than the other faculty and staff members, highlighting their status.



Most of the office doors are open with the lights on. This tells a lot, that they are usually present in office and ready for anyone. When doors are closed with the lights on, the professors are usually busy doing something, or they can have their doors closed to avoid noise.



A number of professors have very little information on their doors, if any. They are careful as to what information they expose. In organizations such as Qatar Foundation, they do not give a list of what you can or cannot put on the door. Therefore, they have a free choice.



The student services section is much more vibrant and has a lot going on. Most offices have whiteboards on their doors, as well as paper clocks to indicate what time they will be back in office. Those are there so that students can find them at all times. One difference is a lot of the student affairs staff do not have office hours, which is why they have whiteboards and clocks. Those whiteboards show status and role of the staff member. The academics adviser has the busiest office, being very colorful. To me, I think that her office is the liveliest. She also has this coexist sign that symbolizes diversity and tolerance.






Therefore, we can say that even an office door can give off a lot of information about the person, representing their role and status in society.