We are human

We are human

We:

Dream

Imagine

Question

Wonder

Think.

Puzzle

Search for answers

We need images to communicate

Images are language.

There is a Hierarchy of Art Making

Fine art

Commercial art (graphic design)

Popular culture

These operate as code within a culture and are easy to decode if you live in that culture

But there are the sub cultures and special interest groups.

Codes change and we never stop learning them

Semiotics

Is the study of meaning.

Interpreting the meaning.

We use 3 part method that include:

Materiality

Formalism

Content:

            Denotation and

            Connotation

Materiality

Each culture has different materials available to it.

The artist or designer chooses them

For example the material (also read technology) for an iPods was not available in the culture of your grandparents. It belongs to your culture.

Formalism

We look at the formal elements

Line

Colour

Form/shape

Composition etc.

Content – Denotation

            What do you see? How would you describe it?

Content - Connotation

            What meaning do we attach to each of those things?

Another mode of reading images is cultural critique:

Social conditions and issues

The many ways we communicate non-verbally personally

·      The way we wear our hair and the clothes we wear distinguish us as belonging to a subculture or particular class, country or occupation to nae a few

·      The car we drive may say something about our income, class or attitude to life

·      The way w arrange the things we have chosen for house or room

·      Facial expressions and body language

·      Tattoos or make up

·      Where our trousers start and finish or the amount of flesh we reveal

·      The gifts we give family and loved ones

·      Greeting cards and much much more.

·      The culture we live in

Has produced many media forms for visual communication to be “transmitted”

·      Television

·      Cinema

·      Magazines

·      Films including special effects and animation

·      Photography

·      Advertising billboards and TV

·      Music videos

·      Internet

·      Computer games and animation

·      Merchandising in store and store windows

·      Road signage

·      All the things you as graphic designers will be responsible for creating