Drawing upon historical, aesthetic and artistic material this module begins by looking at icons, signs and visual communication within a broad socio-historical context. From this starting point we will be looking at the emergence of branding and advertising as influential in relation to conspicuous consumption and how this has developed within the online/digital arena. Classic brand designs, strategies and notions of differentiation, humans as brands (Obama, Beckham etc.) all lead to a consideration of brands as vessels of meaning and tribalism. Key to this process is how to create and maintain brand loyalty.This module will conclude by looking at active user participation in brand identities (WEB 2.0), successful designs, the role and importance of both narrative and emotion and brands as fixed social entities.