Images of age: a reflexive process

Images of ageing are important for designers, as they reflect changing cultural trends among older people and the impact of older people on societies obsessed with youth and physical health. Stereotypes of ageing have been changing over the century and this can be reviewed by studying postcards and photographs. Content analysis of individual magazines is a sharper instrument for reflecting the change over past decades. These studies lead to the identification of style as the current keyword, set within the historical trends of the rise of consumer culture and the acceptibility of personal fulfillment in the Third age. They also lead to a realization that we (designers and image makers) can influence social understandings and expectations of age, not only for older people but for ourselves in later life.