“Few things will be more valuable to your practice than critique, whether hit comes from your own critical reflection or from peer / client / public commentary.”
Critique is important an important tool for you
When you are working on your own, you need to learn how to approach your own work and ideas with a critical mindset. Freely ideate and come up with possible solutions, then explore them but often take a step back and review them. Be honest. Does what you’re producing address the brief, the problem, do you understand the context in which the design will exist, can you do better, are there angles you haven’t explored?
When working with a team, you need to practice being open and honest with your critique of others work. The goal is not to “be negative” but rather to see where improvements can be made and to use your alternate perspective to inform a better outcome.
Criticism should have something to say but doesn’t necessarily provide the answers—it provides space for an informed discussion that might lead to further exploration. This is part of the reason why I, as a tutor, will ask more questions than I answer when critiquing work.
"Critique is the informed judgement about the value and performance of design in context."
Anecdote regarding the rebrand of the Government organisation Capital City Committee.
Quote from Chris Thornton: “A designer can do nothing (at least with confidence) without first defining and understanding exactly who the audience is."
They wanted to be rebranded to have an identity of their own, and a way to celebrate the work that they do in bringing together the South Australian Premier and cabinet together with the Adelaide City Mayor to do better for the city. To gauge how they perceived their role we asked their staff members and stakeholders (people who are invested in or work with the Capital City Committee) a number of questions. Two of the questions were:
1. If you were a car, what car would you be and why?
2. If you were a colour, what colour would you be and why?
The responses were interesting.
1. Volvo—we’re not flashy, or known for going fast, but we’re safe and reliable and will get you there on time.
2. Beige—we provide a neutral background against which other departments are able to shine, like how you paint the walls of a house beige and allow the decorations and contents to provide context.
Definition of what is a designer?
So, you might amend your personal definition of “What is a designer?” to incorporate this suggestion that a designer is someone who also practices and engages with criticism.
Ellen DeGeneres participates in a critique of Bic Pens for Women by developing a mock-advertisement
This also seems to be an issue for Bic in missing the mark when it comes to making social commentary, as evident in their National Womens' Day image in South Africa, 2015, which featured an image of woman alongside the text 'Look like a girl. Act like a lady. Think like a man. Work like a boss.' This image received much negative feedback.
If the goal is to celebrate International Women's Day, what critique might you make of this image?
Bic’s failed attempt at celebrating women in the workforce on International Women’s Day followed immediately by BOSS’ critical response
Two methods of reading and interpreting images
Semiotic Theory with Charles Sanders Peirce
Signs and Codes
Image of Sign chart from van den Broek, et al. (2012, Chapter 5)
Iconic Signs
Demonstrates similarity with something else. Eg. A painting, photograph or pictogram which bears resemblance to the thing it refers to.
Indexical signs
Sign and object less closely related. Strong similarity to object but not a representation. For example, smoke meaning fire, scratchy red skin as irritation, fingerprints identifying a criminal
Symbolic Signs
Connection between object and sign is not obvious and interpretation of meaning is constructed through social agreement
Denotation and Connotation with Roland Barthes
Image of Denotation and Connotation chart from van den Broek, et al. (2012, Chapter 5)
Denotation
Initial reading of an image—what is it? Base understanding developed with own understanding.
Connotation
Refers to an additional layer of meaning developed at a cultural level that may also imply the emotional value of an object. For example, what does the colour pink mean for you in the context of the Bic for Women? Each person will have a different interpretation.
Requires a number of levels:
1. Primary or objective denotation
2. Secondary or intersubjective denotation
3. Primary or cultural connotation
Then individually, secondary or subjective connotation.
Hearts collection (semiotic analysis)
Questions regarding hearts
Are these images iconic, indexical or symbolic?
Are they all the same?
What do each of these hearts mean?
What is their agreed cultural value?
Does this value shift depending on context?
Vietnamese image has shorthand for atrocities of Vietnam War
This powerful image stands in for the horror of the Vietnam War, fuelled by Americas decisions to participate in what was previously an internal conflict. The second image is produced by the street artist Banksy, who’s work is often seen as social critique. In ‘Napalm’ or ‘Can’t Beat That Feeling’ (which is a slogan used by McDonald’s fast-food restaurant), the image becomes a provocative critique of corporate America’s globalisation and expansion from the 1970s onwards.
Activity
Discuss the Banksy image and / or the American flag through the lens of Semiotic Theory then Barthes’ Layers of Meaning (denotation and connotation) to discern the statement and its effectiveness.
If you have time, can you compare and contrast the message of both?
Is the message the same or are there subtle differences between them?
How to use rhetoric to get what you want by Camille A. Langsten
Rhetoric is the art of seeing the available means of persuasion and is today applied to any communication.
Forensic (judicial) rhetoric establishes facts or judgements about the past, like a detective finding facts to describe an event.
Epideictic (demonstrative) rhetoric makes a proclamation about the situation.
Symbouleutikon (deliberative)which focuses on the future and is the rhetoric of politicians arguing about the future and the positive or negative effects that will result from change. For example, Dr. Luther King presenting an argument that "I dream of a day when children will be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."
Good rhetoric according to Aristotle incorporates three persuasive appeals:
Ethos is how you convince an audience of your credibility
Logos is the use of logic or reason, employing analogies (this is that, or this like that), examples, citations of research and statistics. Can also be the structure and content itself. Use factual knowledge to support an argument. False information which is believed to be true can be used to manipulate, such as vaccines causing autism. (Also, not this concept of a belief returns from our discussion of culture. You can build a culture around a belief, even if it is not factual).
Pathos appeals to emotion. Often the most effective mode in modern media and can be irrational and unpredictable, rallying for peace or war. Beauty products might relieve insecurity or cars make us feel powerful and rely on pathos to succeed.
Understanding rhetoric provides us the tools to develop persuasive communication while allowing us to recognise and understand how rhetoric is being used on us.
What Aristotle and Joshua Bell can teach us about persuasion by Conor Neill
Example of Joshua Bell playing in a sold out theatre versus playing violin to nobody in a subway station.
Ethos is reputation, or what you're known for.
Credibility asks do you look and act professional, or, at least suitable for the role. Eg. a lawyer might be expected to wear a suit and tie, a doctor or scientist to wear a lab coat, a tradesman to have overalls and a tool belt, an artist or creative to be covered in paint or look eccentric.
Trustworthiness requires the listener to believe you care about them as much as yourself, that your motives are clear and understood.
Authority is confidence and decisiveness with a clear, strong voice.
Logos states the idea should make sense form the audience's point of view, different from the speaker's point of view, so should be made relevant to the audience if it will succeed. Good arguments should make logical sense to the audience.
Pathos is emotional connection, often created through narrative structure. The right emotional environment must be created for the audience and be ready to receive the informaiton.
In Joshua Bell's situation, ethos is reduced as the concert hall confers trust in the audience that the talent on stage should be respected whereas we don't have the same understanding of trust within a subway. A concert hall also provides the emotional space, pathos, preparing the audience to develop a connection with Joshua Bell's work, while the hustle and bustle, daily lives and transitionary space of a subway isn't conducive to emotional connection with a static musician. We might hear the music, but we're not prepared to listen to it.
Also, not similarities here between hearing and looking and listening and seeing, as discussed in relation to visual literacy.
Looking or hearing (biological) is directing one's gaze in a specific direction.
Seeing or listening (cognitive/interpretive) is perceiving with one's eyes; be or become aware of something from observation; discern or deduce after reflection. The way we see is affected by our culture and society.
Activity // Define
Ethos
Character
Credibility
Persuasion
Information
Visual Language: Perspectives for Both Makers and Users by Van Den Broek, Jos et al.
Van Den Broek, Jos, Willem Koetsenruijter, Jaap De Jong, and Laetitia Smit. ‘Visual Rhetoric: Images That Persuade’. In Visual Language: Perspectives for Both Makers and Users, 88–120. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, 2012.
Classic rhetoric according to Cicero has the speaker (rhetor) employing five devices to successfully persuade an audience:
Inventio – You should choose content, arguments, examples and anecdotes appropriate or your objective and your public. And be sure that what you choose matches the circumstances and the time (kairos is perfect timing).
Dispositio – You should be smart in how you structure the content of your speech and your arguments.
Elocutio – You should express the content with great feeling for style, with humor, or with unusual examples of language use, such as comparisons, repetitions and plays on words.
Memoria – You should make sure you are familiar with the story by practising well – maybe with PowerPoint, Prezi or autocue – and check whether it reads well and flows smoothly.
Actio – Finally, you should present the text. You can increase the impact of your speech by maintaining eye contact with your audience, by effective use of your voice, being convincing and employing appropriate gestures.
While this relates to speaking, it was also considered important to employ visual language and metaphors to illustrate important points. This assists the audience to imagine and contextualise the argument making them more susceptible to persuasion:
"[...] images of things that are not actually present made so visible in thoughts, that it appears as if we can see them with our eyes and have them close by us. Anyone who empathizes will in this way also achieves the most emotionally."
A renewed interest in persuasion arose in the 1950s and 60s following World War II, with Hitler and Mussolini as subjects, in a bid to understand how they employed persuasion. This coincides with an increase in media, photography, radio and television—the rise of mass communication and mass media.
Who is the rhetor (speaker)? In traditionally rhetoric, the rhetor was more clear—it was usually the person speaking. In visual communication the speaker is less clear. Using the example of news journalism, the speaker may range from the journalist or photographer, to the editor or photography editor, editor-in-chief, or the publisher. In advertising agencies, is the speaker the subject of a photograph, the designer, copy writer, photographer, illustrator, senior designer, creative director or the client and the values they represent?
"The relation between the viewer and the rhetor remains more abstract and impersonal than in a speech situation with a speaker who makes gestures and seeks eye contact."
Ethos, pathos and logos in images
"A speaker makes use of ethos (to increase credibility) if he refers directly or indirectly to his own qualities; pathos relates to appealing to the emotions of the public, and logos to the arguments he uses to try to persuade his audience."
Ethos is "the credibility of the rhetor, the person or institution who wants to persuade the viewer of a message by means of an image" which may be employed using signs within the advertisement, such as lab coats on scientists, or using brand ambassadors to align themselves with a particular value. Sports brands use elite athletes to demonstrate the performance and value of their products, for example, or when charities use celebrities as their ambassadors. Those may also be established through more subtle design elements, such as a professional looking website as opposed to one which looks outdated or tacky.
For example, see the Space Jam and Marvel websites below, and note the various design techniques and how they differ between the two.
Pathos is an appeal to emotions such as sympathy, happiness, anxiety or joy, and which doesn't necessarily rely on substance or factual evidence. For example, an image of a juicy looking tomato may make the mouth water but is not evidence of its taste or juiciness (and may have been falsified in production) and an image of a leader holding a small child doesn't necessarily mean they care for that child at all. And, when these attempts at appealing to our emotions are unsuccessful they are easier to identify, such as footage of PM Scott Morrison's recent handshake attempt during the recent Australian fires of 2019/2020 as opposed to Russian President Putin high-fiving the Saudi Prince at G20.
Logos is about establishing rational arguments. This is more easily achieved using photographic evidence and illustrations incorporating statistics which are seen to present factual information. A photo "can show that something exists (probability) and that it is attractive (desirability). Before and after photographs are a good example of this, where unflattering lighting and angles may be used to highlight the undesirable qualities of an person while flattering light and angles may be used to highlight the now desirable qualities of the same person after a particular treatment such as hair or weight. Deducing the argument and effectiveness of images is not simple as "the scope for interpretation is greater than with language, but very often text from the environment provides sufficient points of contact for an argumentative interpretation."
For example, the illustration below is a 3D rendered design of the new restaurant Chao Chow on Gouger Street. The photographs below are photographs I have produced of the same venue. While the photographs look gorgeous, it took hours to set up the restaurant to ensure that it matched the vision of the original designs. In reality, the restaurant feels incredibly busy and cluttered when there are people sitting in the space. And compare it to this the image below from AdelaideNow of restaurant owner in the busy space.
Kairos: the right moment relates to the way "the speaker modifies his message to suit perfectly the present circumstances and the present time" and "the sense that this ist he moment; not in a couple of months or year, but now." Especially important to photography, "kairos is selecting that one perfect photo from all the instants he has shot." This can also be referred to in photography as the decisive moment as stated by Henri Cartier-Bresson, famous French street photographer. Kairos in advertising might be able taking advantage of a particular feeling, sentiment or movement in popular culture or recent event. The idea of "reading the room" or "missing the mark" in the case of campaigns which should have been withheld. For example, after the recent volcano eruption on White Island, New Zealand where 19 people died, my Facebook feed promoted an advertisement to climb volcanoes in Vanuatu. As a country mourning the death of citizens in a volcano eruption, this is incredibly inappropriate. This reflects negatively on Flight Centre Australia and on Facebook.
And, sometimes you can get the timing right but completely botch the argument and tone, eroding credibility of the argument. For example, this iconic image was captured at the Baton Rouge Protest as a reaction to the shooting of young black man Alton Sterling. And the advertisement by Pepsi was released in response to the image shortly after, though the tone missed the marked.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and relating to design this is the ability to not only create awareness but to create and motivate action whether through encouraging, changing or altering a persons actions, beliefs and behaviours.
Creating resonance, or a particular feeling or experience you can associate with a design artefact, is the goal of the communications designers and helps instruct, delight and motivate.
The goal of the new rhetoric in visual communication, set aside from Aristotle’s rhetoric, is defined by Chris as “the effective use of reason” to “urge for the better” and “dissuade from harm”.
He provides the example of the stop sign.
Find your greatness video
Consider the Find your greatness video by Nike from the lecture (first minute only).
Chris says “when married with the emotive power of narrative to transport, move and inspire empathy in us, the resonance of design rhetoric can be a powerful motivator.” I’m going to break you off into groups for fifteen minutes and I want you to discuss the following questions. Be ready to provide some answers when we come back to the main group.
who is the jogger?
what does he symbolise?
how does he symbolise this?
what is the narrative?
what is Nike saying?
who is Nike speaking to?
what action, belief, behaviour is Nike trying to encourage in this advertisement?
does this advertisement create a sense of resonance within you?
Three kinds of rhetoric Deliberative: (political, advisory): addresses the future, the kinds of which are ‘exhortation’ and ‘deterrence’. Forensic: (legal) deals with the past, the kinds of which are ‘protection’ and ‘defence’. Display: deals with the present, kinds of which are ‘raise’ or ‘censure’.
Within each kind, the audience is a judge:
in deliberative rhetoric: a judge of the future.
in forensic: a judge of the past.
in display, the audience is more spectator
Design is considered deliberative because change is encouraged for the future, though deliberative rhetoric can draw on the past and display the present. Consider the effect that using facts and graphs might have in establishing a change in the future?
Consider the Find your greatness advertisement again. As a small group, discuss and then define a single deliberative statement that summarises Nike’s intent within the advertisement. You might begin “Nike is arguing that… to encourage people to…”
You have ten minutes.
When dissecting design artefacts, being able to identify the core argument of a piece of communication will help you to analyse it. In the future, knowing how to express this argument during the design process will help you to develop effective communication.
Modes of appeal ethos: (voice) character, integrity, credibility: the design creates a relationship of identification with an audience/user.
objects such as white coats (doctor / scientist)
celebrity endorsement (sportsman for sneakers)
content of publication
layout, typeface, colour
pathos: (feeling) appeal to disposition (emotions): how well a proposition ‘fits with’ an individual or community of users; ‘touching the emotions’.
images that are provocative
violent, soft, quiet, misfortune, happy, attractice, etc.
cropping of photograph (or manufacture)
historical relevance of images (relating one to another)
metaphors
logos: (credibility) reasoning and logic: structure of the design argument, draws together ethos and pathos
realism and evocative power of photographs and illustrations
kairos: (timing)
When is the right time to express a particular sentiment?
When should an image or advertising campaign be released?
Likecholic illustration by Asaf Hanuka
We’re going to focus on Logos and a number of additional concepts which include: rhyme / alliteration, tropes / irregularities, metaphor / synectics, which help bind the arguments of ethos and ethos to create effective communication.
I have uploaded an image and a text document I would like you to download, which contains a list of the different elements mentioned above. As a group, look at the image and try to define and list the various visual characteristics used in this argument. You have fifteen minutes.
work through the list and make a note of any of the devices used within the illustration
discuss and then define a single deliberative statement that summarises Asaf Hanuka (the illustrator’s) intent or argument within the advertisement
how do the devices above contribute to this argument?
Representation and language
How we construct meaning through systems of representations
Key concepts
Representation and language in regards to culture
Culture is:
The intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development(s) of a socially connected group of people; and
The way of life (or living, ways of doing) of a socially connected group of people
Visual Culture
‘Visual culture is concerned with the visual events in which information, meaning, or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology. By visual technology, I mean any form of apparatus designed either to be looked at or to enhance natural vision, from oil painting, to television, to the internet’.
Nicholas Mirzoeff, 1999 p.3
We construct a complete picture of our world in our mind through our eyes, ears, touch. Representation 'connects meaning and language to culture' and is 'the production of meaning through language.' Stuart Hall, 2013. 'means using language to say something meaningful about or to the world meaningfully to other people. We do this through the use of our visual and verbal languages like gestures signs and images that stand in place, represent or re-present the thing we're trying to communicate.'
“Language can never be a wholly private act, rather, it is a social convention.” Myra
It is through engagement in symbolic practice that we are able to understand and we generate representations of these things through our minds. We create meaning together.
1. Reflective approach where meaning lies with the object, person, idea, event but makes it impossible to discuss drawing on abstract principles like beauty.
2. Intention approach where meaning lies with the speaker and is imposed on objects, persons, ideas, events but there's no way to guarantee the receiver of the message will understand the intended method.
3. Constructivist approach where meaning is constructed by social groups through interaction with each other and with social environments (containing objects, people, ideas, events) and that it is through symbolic practice which generates meaning. Meaning resides in shared language and culture.
To represent is to describe (verbally) or depict (visually).
A representation is a sign that symbolises, stands in for, or acts as a substitute/surrogate for things (objects, places, people) or concepts (abstract ideas, feelings).
'Were there not some cultural consensus about the meaning of signs and symbols [that make up language] among members of a linguistic community communication would not be possible.' Davis, 2012.
Signs Iconic signs (semiotics) demonstrate relationship of similarity or bear a visual resemblance to the object in which they refer (eg. photograph, drawing of object). Indexical signs (semiotics) share no visual resemblance to the thing in which they refer (eg. letters, characters, gestures and speech). Symbols (semiotics) rely on a conventional agreement (eg. the written word 'cat').
Remember visual literacy
Visual literacy is the ability to accurately interpret visual representation in both form (what is it) and meaning (what does it mean/say).
This is a skill and must be learned.
Mental Imagery
Systems of symbols and signs we mark surfaces with and a system of sounds we string to sounds, words and phrases as an attempt to communicate.
Principles of similarity or difference in establishing identifying factors to share common meaning. For example, Stuart Hall discussing a bird or a plane. Classify whether it can fly, then whether it’s man-made or not. We might also discuss cause and effect so the meaning depends on the relationship between things. We compare, contrast, look for similarities and differences in order to form a net of representation.
Consider the variety of different cows.
Thought is not language, it is quasi perceptual because we hear, see, smell and feel things through our mind. However, this is highly personal which causes issues with communication. It’s clumsy. A reinterpretation of our own feelings.
This is also sometimes why we look to or integrate words from other cultures into our own language. For example, schadenfreude a German word which means “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune”. Also consider the word “representation” which for you has now come to incorporate a more complex meaning because we’re building on your understanding.
Why language causes problems
‘Any sound, word, image, or object which functions as a sign, and is organised with other signs into a system which is capable of carrying and expressing meaning is… ‘a language’.”
Stuart Hall, 2013.
Conceptual map or mental imagery and then our set of signs or languages which stand in for concepts or things.
Meaning does not exist in things but rather in people, otherwise it’s just a thing.
Meaning ‘is constructed, products. It is the result of a signifying practice – a practice that produces meaning, that makes things mean’.
———
This does not just apply to English but also to all forms of communication we use. Consider the difference between seeing the English word in print versus Braille and how spoken words are reinterpreted into Auslan (Australian Sign Language) which is different from Western Country to country.
What about slang, memes, regional dialect? Grouse, heaps good, poppa, fruit box, dunny, not here to fornicate with spiders, arvo, crook (sick).
More recently
“sanny” for Sanitiser
“iso (eye-so)” for isolation
“‘rona” for Corona Virus
“magpies” for people who flock in and hoard items at shopping centres
In use:
Original: ‘My boss tested positive for coronavirus or COVID-19, so now I'm in self-isolation.'
Slang: ‘I’m in iso ‘cause my boss tested positive for The Rona. Can you drop in some Westies (or red tins)?’
Original: 'I went to Woolworths to get some hand sanitiser, but it was sold out because panic buyers had bought every last bottle.'
Slang: ‘Some pricks’ve magpies the sanny at Woolies. Headed for Bunnings instead.’
Lime Scooters were the first electric scooters to be based in Adelaide. They provide an inexpensive and convenient way to travel through the city as a "pedestrian" without needing to own a bicycle or carry a helmet. However, they posed problems within Adelaide street with people riding them on the road unsafely, travelling too quickly on footpaths without regarding for other pedestrians, not wearing helmets, going down hills at speed, and leaving them across footpaths and access ways prohibiting other people's movement.
Ms Davidson-Park said both Beam and Ride met safety and usage requirements to the highest standard.
"One of the most important things is that their geo-fencing works, the safety of the scooters works, and the customer interface will be of a high quality," she said.
"Customers will be getting an incentive to park in preferred spaces, leave their e-scooters in an upright manner, with their helmets, and they'll also be penalised if they leave it in inappropriate places or if they leave the geo-fenced areas.
There are also concerns regarding electric scooters of all varieties regarding the impeding of movement of those with disability restrictions.
If you’re a wheelchair user, or a blind person, indeed a human being, I predict these two wheeled electric scooters, will become very annoying. They seem to be abandoned, in the middle of the pavement, everywhere I go. I saw three from the station to my hotel. #disabilitypic.twitter.com/7UyeRCpben
Similar concerns are raised about the provision of bicycles such as the yellow ride-share bicycles which were distributed throughout Australia. In Melbourne, they ended up in rivers as pedestrians frustrated with them being left in the middle of footpaths threw them into the Yarra. Others were found in trees.
In China, the development of the ride-share bicycles also led to massive increase in their production followed by a massive dip in their distribution and usage meaning there are now piles of them being unused in China.
So, a product has been designed to solve a problem.
What problem is being solved?
What solution has been provided?
How was the solution implemented?
What are some of the biggest issues regarding this solution and what hasn't been considered?
What is a designer? Consider the personal, social, cultural and environmental dimensions that inform our practice.
What do we do, why, who/what does it affect, how?
What experiences have influenced you in your decision to become a designer, why?
What does 'being a designer' mean?
Cross, N. (1990). The nature and nurture of design ability. Design Studies, 11(3), 127–140.
What is a designer?
A designer “is not” an artist. However, they share the same toolbox.
A designer “is not” a scientist. Though we draw on their methodology.
A designer “is not” an engineer. Though we design structures.
A designer “is not” a Magical Creative”. Don’t buy the myth.
Design thinking – tool kit for tackling new problems.
Another form of human intelligence.
Design is not just a tag line to sell a product, it is about “resolving conflict without compromise” in quality or function.
Everything is designed.
Design conscious is good for business.
Discussion of Assignments 1 & 2.
Tips for summarising sources and things to consider to achieve a clear and well structured essay. Refer to support materials for assignment writing under the 'Additional Resources & Readings' tab above. Identify working groups of around three people per group for Assignment 2, agree on a group pseudonym to develop your blog under.
Assessments
State and support a position for argument
Aim:
Write a well-structured and coherent essay that clearly states and outlines your position on what you think a designer is and what it means to be a designer.
Learn to find and think critically about relevant design literature. Determine what ideas you agree with, which you disagree with, and why. Think about how the themes relate to how you approach your design practice. Practice summarizing and citing sources accurately and consistently.
Objective:
Think critically about what you think encompasses a designed object and what design as a practice is. Identify how this way of thinking influences how you think about and approach your own design practice. Consider how you think of yourself as a designer and what is important to you and how you practice design. Present your position on what you think a designer is and what it means to be a designer. Support that position with evidence from the literature and your own practice where relevant.
Method:
Start by revisiting texts about design you have read to date and look at those that have been assigned in this course. Further your investigation by exploring and reading academic sources that you have identified on our own and consider to be relevant to your specific practice and design interests. The assigned reading for week 1 is a good starting point.
Think critically about what the authors are saying. Are their arguments similar or different? How? Determine whether you agree or disagree and why. Is there a particular author that you admire or identify with? Have the ideas presented by these authors influenced your practice in any way? How? Think about your social environment and how design influences the way you live and interact with others. Are you driven, influenced, or affected by design in any way (e.g. how you communicate with others, media you engage with, environments you find yourself in, etc.)? How does your personal experience align with the arguments presented by authors you have read?
Structure your essay initially using outlining. To do this you must write three sentence statements that form the key points of your argument. These should assert your opinion and be based on what you have read. The next part of your outline should then elaborate on why each of those three statements is true (according to your view) and must be supported (ie. quotations from) your reading sources. This initial outline plan should be no more than 1 page.
The remainder of the essay should work outwards from this outline. It must include an introduction that identifies what you assert and how you will argue your view. The main body of the essay should logically state, in your own words, the key reasons for your views, how they relate and support them with reference to your reading sources. How and why have the ideas you have read about influenced your thinking? Your conclusion needs to summarise your argument, bringing it into clear context with the question you began with. As you write, always check that your argument remains relevant to the question. Lengthy deviations can waste time and words and can confuse the reader. Remember to cite (reference) your sources correctly using an appropriate citation style, Chicago is preferred (see the section on 'Writing & Citing' for clarification.
Assessment:
Submit a 1000 word essay (minimum) + references and bibliography formatted in an appropriate and consistently applied referencing style of your choice (Chicago preferred). Use images as necessary. You must submit your file using the learnonline site as a Word (.doc or .docx) file only. An essay template is provided for you to download and use accordingly. You must draw on at least 3 relevant sources and cite them correctly. Summarise and state why you deem these to be important and relevant. All sources must be credible academic peer-reviewed texts. You have been provided with an extensive course reading list of authors who meet this criteria.
This assignment is worth 20% of your course mark.
It will be submitted no later than 11pm on Wednesday 25th March via learn online only.
Emailed and hard copy submissions are not accepted.
Notes
Next week you’ll be reading Csiksgentmihalyi “Enhancing Personal Creativity” which is an interesting, almost spiritual, understanding of human nature in relation to creativity and what we are capable of producing and why. And what limits may or may not be placed on our ability to think creatively. When you read this piece, really think about it in terms of your own practice and personal approach. For example, “some of us are exhausted by too many demands” or “easily distracted and have trouble learning how to protect and channel whatever energy we have.” (For me this would be YouTube or Netflix.) “Laziness, or lacking discipline for controlling the flow of energy” and “not knowing what to do with the energy we have.” This last one is particularly important—if we know what we love to do and why we do it, then we’re more likely to spend the creative and restless energy we have working towards something we love. So, what is it? What do you want to achieve?
Are there any authors you agree with? I love Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes who discuss photography and modern mythology and it gives me strength to continue creating art when I think I should stop. And, are there any ideas you truly disagree with—understanding what you don't like is sometimes as valuable in defining yourself as what you do. But, you need to figure out why you dislike them and respond to it. (Nikon versus Canon.)
Email through Note-taking template for students based on VSAR 1102 course curriculum.
Individual Case Study Weekly Blog
This assignment commences in week 1 and finishes in week 12. For it, you are asked to work in a group of three or four to maintain a written, critical account of your course material and what you are learning from it. This will be done online in the form of a weekly Blog which you can set up on any of the free blogging platforms - Google's Blogger service is good, as is WordPress. Each group member will require user name and password access. Please ensure your Blog's 'view setting' is set to public so that staff and peers can access your site. You should consider writing under a group pseudonym so as to keep your identity private. Once set it up, email the URL of your Blog to your tutor along with your chosen pseudonym and the full names of your group members by the beginning of week 2. Your tutor will monitor your progress. You may also like to share it with others in the class so that groups may follow each other.
See the sample below of how your Blog for this course might look:
The blog should be laid-out as 12 entries, as per the course structure. Each entry should be completed weekly through collaboration with your group and the whole Blog submitted for assessment at the end of week 12. This assignment is worth 40% of your course mark. To view the assessment criteria, go to the 'Assignments & Submissions' tab on the course page and click the Weekly Blog link to access the Feedback pro-forma file.
In your Blog you are expected to demonstrate the following:
Organise the section headers of each of your pages to follow the weekly course structure.
Within your tutorial groups review and summarise each weekly reading, what do you think it is trying to say and why? How does it apply to your experience of design?
Take relevant notes from the video lectures and tutorials. Discuss what relationship these share with the course readings?
What do you notice of today's visual culture, what examples of design relate to your weekly blog entries, how and why?
We suggest you organise the division of work as you see fit — you could each contribute to the Blog every week (about 120 words a week each) or take it in turns weekly to contribute all of the content. However this is done, you are all expected to individually complete the weekly reading and engage in tutorial discussion so as to generate your critical content. You can bring in images, artefacts and other articles that are of relevance to your discussions. Even consider making short video critiques together of examples of design that are relevant to the weekly topics. Your over all, personal contribution to the Blog should be around 1500 words.
What you write and reflect on here will inform the kind of designer you each become. Your aim is to develop skills in critical and collaborative thinking and writing. To do so, consider the ideas and issues that resonate with you and why? In what ways might the weekly readings, lectures and tutorials connect with each other? How do they relate to your own experience of design, culture and society? Compare, contrast and question what you notice—what ideas arise? What opinions do you form? How do the views of other designers and writers compare with yours? What evidence is there to support your views? How can they be argued?
Where relevant to your writing, you can include additional images and video links, and format your work in the way you prefer. Please practice writing in complete, coherent sentences rather than abbreviated notes or bullet-points alone.
Correct referencing is expected, please use either the Harvard or Chicago methods. We recommend the Chicago Manual of Style.
Minimum word count: 1500 words per student (ex. footnotes and bibliography and quotations) .
This assignment is worth 40% of your course mark.
It will be submitted no later than 11pm on Friday 5th June via learn-online only.
Emailed and hard copy submissions are not accepted.
Notes
Mark down quotes and ideas as you complete each reading and then respond to these quotes and ideas with your own words, bringing in examples from your personal life and environment. Linking the ideas you find in your readings with real-world examples relevant to you will improve your ability to think critically and apply theory in practice. Write in whole sentences in order to learn how to form and structure your ideas so that you can communicate them to other people. Dot points are useful for providing and collating information but they are not persuasive in argument.
When providing some of your own thoughts and opinions, include images and video to illustrate your points. It's not uncommon for us to quickly pull out a phone to search for an image to support and idea in conversation, provide this for the blog. You may provide your own images too, if you're inspired to create something in response to what you've read.
Complete each blog entry weekly. It is easy to fall behind and forget what to cover while also placing additional pressure on you towards the end of the semester when you'll want to focus on studio or computer practice. I'll be checking your progress weekly to make sure you're up to date.
It is up to you how you share group work but I'd recommend that you contribute something of your own each week. It may be that you agree to quickly meet and update your blog before or after each lesson. Quickly discuss what you'd like to include.
Reading
Cross, N. (1990). The nature and nurture of design ability. Design Studies, 11(3), 127–140
Is drawing an important part of the design process and why?
Denys Lasdun:
“I draw something. Even if it's 'potty' I draw it. The act of
drawing seems to clarify my thoughts.”
“thinking with a pencil” — also take notes and make notes. Demonstrate thinking and record ideas in words as well as images.
Design ‘implies the action of intentional intelligence’.
Intuition or experience?
Jack Howe:
“I believe in intuition. I think that's the difference between
a designer and an engineer.”
How do you develop a strong sense of intuition when designing? Perhaps its an innate ability or perhaps its something you can develop and nurture by creating and acting. For example, riding a motorcycle or taking a photograph. At first you must be conscious of the action you take but over time the actions become muscle memory.
Give the client what they need, not what they want.
Learn how to better define the problem WHILE searching for solutions.
Darkes:
“The greatest variety reduction or narrowing down of the range of solutions occurs early on in the design process, with a conjecture or conceptualization of a possible solution. Further understanding of the problem is gained by testing this conjectured solution.”
Akin:
“One of the unique aspects of design behaviour is the constant generation of new task goals and redefinition of task constraints.”
What examples can you think of where you’ve redefined the constraints of the brief on your own terms?
It is only be creating and testing hypothesis and new designs that you can begin to define the real issue you’re facing and find better solutions.
“The reliance in design upon the media of sketching, drawing and modelling as aids to the generation of solutions and to the very processes of thinking about the problem and its solution. The process involves what Schon has called ‘a reflective conversation with hesitation’. From this observations of the way design tutors work, Schon commented that, through sketches, [The designer] shapes the situation, in accordance with his initial appreciation of it; the situation ‘talks back’, and he responds to the back-talk.”
In other words, you can only find the best solution by generating as many possible solutions as possible. Each new iteration provides the opportunity to improve and hone in on a better option.
Try and try again. There is no perfect solution but there is always a better solution.
Designers
resolve ill-defined problems
adopt solution-focussing strategies
employ abductive/productive/appositional thinking
use non-verbal, graphic/spatial modelling media
Design ability is found in all people and not all people refer are called “designers” who might be using design-thinking. For example, “craft-based societies craftspeople make objects that are not only highly practical but often also very beautiful.”
There are also cases where art and beauty can be found simply in an attempt to solve a problem, such as the movie posters from Ghana used to sell cinema seats. These posters are often hand painted and based on the film itself, though often events were imagined if the film was too boring.
Six examples of “human intellectual competences.”
• linguistics
• logical-mathematical
• spatial
• musical
• bodily-kinaesthetic
• personal
Agree or disagree?
Modern education owes to the Bauhaus 1920/30s
Encouraged movement such as dance and physical exercise into daily lesson routine. Also forced collage and other assembly from found junk
Perhaps consider it a holistic approach to arts education
Aim
Identify and describe the elements and structure of visual arguments as they exist in the world (i.e. social and cultural settings) and write an analysis outlining what you think the argument is proposing and what the desired response is.
Objective
Write a 1000 word visual analysis considering the message, audience, intent, and context of a piece of visual communication and its message.
Method
Review the visual communication examples provided on the learnonline site. Select one and, in a written analysis, examine the visual argument using the following set of 4 criteria:
1. Form: consider what the object is (e.g. its form or intended form) and what you see within the boundary of its form. Examine how visual elements are arranged or configured within that space and how meaning is generated as a result. Thinking about the following:
The visual elements you see and how related to one another.
What technique has been used to create the visual elements you see (e.g. photography, painting, drawing, etc.)?
Are there similarities or differences across the elements?
How is colour used?
Point of view or the vantage point of the reader.
Are you looking up to or down on something?
What is included in the picture frame and has anything been cropped or cut out?
What is the focal point?
Are you looking at elements from a distance or close up?
How the visual space is used.
Is the picture plane crowded or empty?
Which items are large and which are small?
Are they close together or far apart?
Are elements layered on top of one another or are they separated by space
Is there an order to the visual elements determined by their placement?
2. Function: think about what the object is trying to communicate. Consider:
The verbal language (i.e. words/text).
What are the words telling you?How does this relate to how they are depicted or what they look like?
The pictorial language.
What do the images tell you?
What do they look like and what does the way they are depicted tell you?
The combined message.
Is communication enhanced?
Would a complete message be possible if either the words or the pictorial elements were absent
3. Context: observe the kind of communication object/medium you are looking at. Determine:
Where one would see it.
How do readers typically engage with objects of this type (e.g. in a quiet place or on a busy street)?
How much time is there to read the image?
Is it read from a close or far distance?
Who the audience might be.
Must readers be familiar with certain concepts to understand this message?
Is it drawing on visual elements/languages that are used in specific ways or to relate to specific audiences (e.g. young, old, genders, uni students, professionals)?
Does it exclude readers?
4. Intention: think about what the desired response to this message is.
Is the intention to change minds, to convince readers to take action, or to inform?
Draw a conclusion on how the form, function, and context of use work toward this intent or whether they work against it.
Assessment
You will be assessed on the level and depth of your analysis and whether your ideas are supported by evidence drawn from your observation of the image and its individual elements, society, and related reading. You must use the Chicago Manual of Style to format your references.
Your assignment must consist of:
A 1000 word written visual analysis submitted to learnonline as a Word (.doc or .docx) file and using the provided Word template;
At least 2 relevant academic references. You can draw from the reading resources provided for this course and/or choose to read more widely. Do not rely on websites or other popular media sources to support your position.
Full and correct references, clearly cited in your text, whenever you draw on someone else’s ideas or you use direct quotes. Use the Chicago footnoting referencing system.
A bibliography containing all sources cited in your essay, listed alphabetically. You must adhere to Chicago referencing system.
DUE: Monday 23rd March 2020 by 11pm via learnonline.
Knowledge
If you do not understand something, don't just make a guess, do the research and find out so that you know, then demonstrate that knowledge. For example, do you understand all the different types of camera angles used in a video? If not, look for an online resource or book that helps you understand them. For example:
Do your analysis before you begin to write your assignment. Write down the criteria required to address the assignment then breakdown the image according to this criteria. Address the questions posed by the assignment, think about your own interpretation, connect these ideas to the theory you encounter and then, when you have an understanding of the advertisement, make a plan for what you want to say. This preparation forms the structure of your assignment from which you can proceed.
Research and Reference
Make sure you provide some sort of academic reference or support for your statements. If you are going to use words such as "subculture" or "counter culture" in your analysis, then provide a definition from Baldwin and Roberts ‘Culture: The Theory’ in Visual Communication: From Theory to Practice. If you want to discuss how the reader might interpret a particular element within the image you might quote or reference from Van Den Broek et al ‘Why Images? The Functions of Visual Language’ in Visual Language: Perspectives for Both Makers and Users. We provide resources and references for a reason—read them and understand and then demonstrate your knowledge. It is also helpful to read ahead and read broadly.
Illustration
When discussing visual argument ensure you include a visual reference or illustration of the image you are talking about. If this is an advertisement, include the best copy of the advertisement you can find, if it were a video, you might include stills from that particular film. Ensure the reader understands what you're talking about. Never assume the reader has seen the image you're discussing.
Direct Statements
Make statements which clarify your perspective of and be direct with them. Write with confidence. If you are not confident in your views, you need to do more research, think and discuss your ideas with peers, until you have a firm understanding of what you want to say.
Colloquialism
Avoid using common slang and some verbal utterances in writing, such as "really" as in "this is really good" and "simply" as in this simply is." These statements do not contribute to the strength of your writing which should be direct and to the point.
