Visual Experience

Introduction Thefirst thingthatcameintomymindafterknowingthebriefwastocreatemypersonalportfolioofdigitalconceptdrawingsandpaintings.UponunderstandingthebriefmoreIhavechangedmy idea to conceptualiseaproductdesignthat can be used for sport. The inspiration came from thegraphicdesignerstudentthatcreatedamobilephonecasingthatcanbemassproduced.Withthematerialsveryabundantindifferentplaces,thushavinghisdesignchosenbyfactoriestobeusedforthephonestheyproduce.AftersometutorialsI then again had to changemy ideas and started readingthe recommendedbooks. Then I stumbled upon interestingtopics like Ideograms, Pictograms, and Semiotics of visuallanguage, signs and symbols. The books I based myresearchonare:DesignWritingResearchbyEllenUpton,SemioticsofVisualLanguagebyFerdinandSaint-Martinandbooksoncolourtheoriesandresearch.

Todayasapart of adigital cultureanyonecan takeupany role. Images are created, digestedand evenmanipulatedtobeviewedbyanaudiencethatbelieveswhat they see on the TV, here on the radio and readon thenews.Pictogramsarecreated tobeunderstoodby everyone without ambiguity. Made me ask myself

how someone created them that almost everyone canunderstandthem.Makingthemisatasktodobutgatheringinformationofpeoplewasmoredifficult.Withthehelpofthenew media I used the social media platform to generateopinions of different perception on how people perceiveimages that we see on TV or trending news online. On theinspiration side of designing I looked at artist and designerPippoLionni.Hisworksconsistsof installations,animationandimagebasedbooksthathelpedmecreatemyproject.Alsogathereddifferentideasfromdifferentartanddesignwebsites.

Research Design Writing Research has greatly influenced meoncreatinganewsetofpictograms thataregeneratedbypeople’sopiniononline.Weallhavedifferentvisualperceptionof different images. In the book, an image of a circle andanothersmallerinthecentreofitwasdescribedasaMexican,How canwe perceive that it was aMexican? Stereotypingisoneof theanswersofgenerating suchassociation to thatspecific image. Films,musicand societyhaveplayeda roleofcreatingthisnewwayofvisualcommunication.Pictogramsarecreatedso thateveryonecanunderstand themwithoutambiguity. These images are very effective on differentplaces. Likean imageof themaleand female figureona door connotes that it is a toilet or a carousel on themotorwaysignconnotesafunfairoraplacewhereyoucanfindcarouselorthingsalike.

The perceptive function is as much at work in the case of both, since the producer is not only the first perceiver of his work but also perception is inherent in the production process. Both producer and perceiver are

equally dependent on their perceptual relations with the functional elements of this language, the visual variables.’

- Saint-Martin, F. Semiotics of Visual Language (1990). From the book Semiotics of Visual Language by Saint-Martin I

learned that through the process of creation or production of such image the perception of the designer and of the receiver plays an equal part. Going back to the main design problem of how do we, as part of a digital culture, perceive images that are easily manipulated by the mass media. I decided then to create and explore these issues. Visual language was a wide range of field to research. One of the points I have included is colours. Colour has the power to communicate emotion and the essence of the product inside. Without words, colour can communicate sexiness, fragility, durability, youth, freshness, and leading-edge concepts. Some colours convey universal messages, while others may vary by ethnicity, region, or socio-economic background. -Fehrman, K. and Fehrman, C. Color the Secret Influence (2003)

Artist Influence Designers like Xu Bing and Pippo Lioni helped melookedmoreintopictogramsandmakingthem.XuBing’sBookfrom theGroundandPippo Lionni’s Factof Lifewasoneofthemajor influences inmakingthisproject.HisbookFactsofLife - Pictogramsare supposed tobe selfevident. This is theperversionofcomfortablestereotypesunderstanding.Theyusewhat is“withoutadoubt” toproducedoubt, the“universal”to talk about specificity, what is simplistic and dead to talkabout life,andwhat isabstract toemancipatethepersonal“I”fromthegeneralised“man”–fallingmanisreallydancing!’Makingpictogramsmoreabstracttheytendtobeperceiveddifferently,butbecauseofaudience’sexperiencetheywillalwaysviewthatcertainimageasanobvioussymbolismto it. His process ofmaking it as an installation,motiongraphicsandbooksinspiredmetocreateanewgroupofpictograms.

Therearetwosidesofeachstory,andmanipulationcaneasily change our perception of truth. With the massmediacontrollingwhat’scomingoutofthemainstreamnewsonTV,Radio,Newspaperandarticlesandwebsites.Itmademelookathowweuseandreadbooks.Weflipontothenextpagetocontinuewhatwereadandsometimes

wegetsoexcitedandwanttoknowwhat’sgoingtohappennext on the next pageor chapter, know thewhole story ofthenewsorstoryofanovel.Thisway,formyprojecttohaveanimpactofeachpictogramIwillbeshowingtheimageinonepageandthedifferentopinionsofpeople’sperceptionof that imageon thenextpage, so that the readerwill seethattherearealsoloadsofdifferentwaysofseeingthatimagefromdifferentaudience.

Process TheimagesthatIhavechosenareoftheonesweseein thenews, trending imageson social networkingwebsites,imagesonthenewspaper.Thiswaypeoplecaneasilyrelateto it. But I thought would it have the same effects on thepeople in different country? To generate this opinions frompeopleofhowtheviewthesecertainimagesIsetupablogsothatpeoplecancommentandtheycanalsocommentonpeople’sopinions.Thiswaythereisatwowaycommunicationoftheparticipantratherthanbeingjustansweringandlookingatpeople’sanswers.Ithenpostedalinktotheblogonsocialmediawebsites.Withalotofpeoplebeingonlinemostofthetimepeoplecaneasily shareandenjoydoing so. Todayin a digital culture everyone loves to create somethingandsharingittoanonlinecommunityworldwide.SinceFacebook and Twitter are one of the best platformsforsharingthis typeofgeneralquestion, I thenstartedgeneratingpeoplefromaroundtheworld. WiththeimagesIhavechosen,whicharephotographs,

I had the task of creating them in pictograms. Afterreading the books of Ellen Upton we generate suchperceptiononimagesthroughstereotypingandofwhatwenormallysee.So,oneachimagesIpickedwhatisveryobviousthatmakesitthatpicture.Itisquitedifficulttopoint

out some of these traits of an image but because of theopinionsthatpeoplehavebeen listing Islowlysawwhytheywrotesuchanswersandmadeitclearformehowtotransformthemtopictograms.

Sketches|Prototype

Theideaofhavingwindowedpages is to let the audienceknow that there is anotherstory on the next page. It isdesignedsothatitrepresentsthe meaning of the saying“There are 2 sides of eachstories”. The1stpage iswhatwe literally seeonthe imageand covers the 2nd pagecoversthewordsthatpeoplehave associated the imagewith.

Outcome Abookletofcutoutpictograms thatwasgeneratedby people’s opinion and perception of current images weseeonlineandonTV.Socialnetworksaspartofnewmediahelpedmegatherthisnewsetofpictograms.Thebookasamediumtoputacrossthemessageofeachpictogramshelpsbecause of the pages. Itmakes the audience flick throughthepagesandseewhatisnext,anddiscovermoreaboutthepictograms.Coloursareassociatedwiththegeneralisationoftheirmeaningi.e.redmeanspower,anger,orlove.Iputitintocontextwhereitismoreofthepoliticalcontext.

I had come across problems in creating thepictograms because of technical issues. And I had tocreatethesepictogramssothatitwillbeeasilyunderstoodbytheaudience. Inall I learnednewprocessesandaboutcolourtheoriesaspartofthevisuallanguagefield.