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Making Meaning

Making Meaning. Visual Literacy AAD4002. Making Meaning Visual Literacy AAD4002. Dr Angela Tinwell. Making Meaning. Visual Literacy AAD4002. The aim of this module is to explore the mechanics of our visual language Looking at theories and terms, visual signals and concepts

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Making Meaning

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  1. Making Meaning Visual Literacy AAD4002 Making MeaningVisual Literacy AAD4002 Dr Angela Tinwell

  2. Making Meaning Visual Literacy AAD4002 • The aim of this module is to explore the mechanics of our visual language • Looking at theories and terms, visual signals and concepts • Today we will consider: visual communication in imagery; colour theory; signs and semiotics.

  3. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • What is happening here? • What is their relationship? • What has she just said? • What may he say in response? • What is going to happen next? • How do you know?

  4. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Is the person in Picture 1: • Happy • Sad • Agitated • Calm • Aggressive? • How about Image 2?

  5. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • So, how about Graphical Images? Do they carry multiple messages?

  6. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Line Drawings

  7. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Ink Blots What do you see? Some are harder than others…

  8. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • MauritsCornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the worlds most • renowned graphic artists. • Playing with visual communication • was an obsession. • At first this seems like a realistic • building, but take a closer look… Ascending and Descending, lithograph print, M. C. Escher, 1960

  9. Making Meaning: Visual Communication in Imagery Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Escher experiments with perspective and vanishing points. • How many vanishing points can you identify? Ascending and Descending, M. C. Escher, 1947

  10. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Major issue with colour is poor selection • It is important to consider if a particular colour is appropriate in the context of the given design problem • Colour can make or break an artefact and can say a lot about the product without the need for text • It can convey emotion and tell us a lot about an object without reading text

  11. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Colour can also show emotion through its symbolism • Let’s take a look at some colours and consider their effect…

  12. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002

  13. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Yellow depicts sunlight and is an uplifting colour.

  14. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002

  15. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Because of its associations with fire red is perceived as a warm colour. • It may also be used to communicate a warning.

  16. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002

  17. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Blue reminds us of the sea and sky and may be perceived as a cool colour. • It can have a restful effect and is often used as a background colour.

  18. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002

  19. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Green is associated with grass and foliage so is perceived as a fresh ‘healthy’ colour.

  20. Making Meaning: Colour Theory Visual Literacy AAD4002 • The web site at the link below has the same text content, but with different CSS style sheets applied to it: • http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/ • The different colour schemes allow us to see how content and wording become irrelevant (as it is the same for each site) and it is the colour and imagery that primarily defines the ‘look and feel’ of the site. • For each different example consider: • What first impressions does the site make from colour alone? • Is this an effective colour palette? • Does it work with the images used on the page?

  21. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Semiotics means ‘the study of signs’. • Taken from the Greek word for sign, Sema. • What do we mean by ‘Sign’?

  22. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Signs are everywhere and help us read messages when there isn’t time to actually read reams of text. • Road signs are the obvious example • Semiotics therefore is the study of visual signs and can expand to the following: • Drawings • Painting • Photography • Words • Sounds • Body language

  23. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Discourses that Semiotics may apply to:

  24. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Humans have the ability to read this meaning without the need to have the experience of the object itself. • Semiotics is influenced by culture manipulated by: Religion; Government; Education etc.

  25. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • “Something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” • Charles S. Peirce on Semiotics, 1955 • In this definition the sign needs to be interpreted and we use sign and signification of objects in three main ways: • ICON -Pictorial representation of an object, used heavily in multimedia (we will explore these further) • INDEX – Indirect linkage like smoke to signal fire • SYMBOL – Direct linkage (i.e. text). ‘Dog’ allows us to visualise just that.

  26. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Multimedia uses a vast array of imagery to make representations, both photographic and abstract. We use three different methods in multimedia based semiotics: • Icons – represent an idea symbolically • Picons – take this further and make a clearer representation, mostly through photography • Micons – move into animation (animated gifs, flash etc) • Semiotics may occur to understand a navigation system

  27. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Learning Activity Icons: • Self Assessment Question • Exercise • Problems • Key Information • Supplementary Information • References to Set Text • Suggested Reading • WWW Research • Internal & External Links

  28. Making Meaning: Signs and Semiotics Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Meaning? • Icons may be associated with branding.

  29. Making Meaning Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Now, consider how you as a designer may use these concepts in your work! • How may you implement the principles of colour theory, signs and semiotics and our visual perception of images in the design decisions that you take?

  30. Making Meaning Visual Literacy AAD4002 • Thank you for listening, any questions?

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