Context of Practice Lecture 2

Visual communication

Is this an apple?

Our job as designers is to solve problems and communicate through art an design. 'Visual communication' is based on a world wide understanding of signs, symbols, gestures and objects.
This is like the universal symbol for male and female, which can be altered to mean male and female toilets. Pictures can be read. You can create universal instructions using images.
 'All that is necessary for a language to exist is an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing can stand for another'. I think that is a very good quote. When you think about it, it's strange that people have different languages that they have developed because of agreement. For example sign language is like a visual representation of this. You can see that one movement means a word and people have learnt to understand this. Its all very interesting! it started off with drawings on caves and things sending messages of danger of people being attacked, and now we have alphabets in all different languages!

It's also interesting that symbols can mean multiple things until put into context for example ...+....could mean plus, and, religion, hospital, etc but when you put it with ...+-x... it can only mean plus.

Colour is also information for example red is danger, green is good.

Visual syntax is the way the image is framed/ constructed. It can be read in different ways but the way its constructed defines this. for example a picture of an egg. a picture of an egg in a cup, a picture of a fried egg, a picture of a fried egg with a fry up. They're all eggs, yet they're all telling different stories.
This fits into our social ideals. Somehow, we have all agreed that certain things look good, and certain things don't. This can be to do with the colour, lighting, placement, quality. If these elements are wrong, people subconsciously don't like it. It can be the same thing but if its positioned better and lit better- it is better.

Visual semantics is the way images fit into our cultural process of communication. Created through form and meaning, for example, road signs. Most people know what they mean because they have been taught, they are everywhere, they are familiar.

Semiotics is the study of signs and sign process.  Sometimes signs can look like one thing but stand for something else. The apple, is it just an apple? it could mean new York-the big apple! it could mean apple computers, but all when put into context.