2. In todayâs classâŠ
1) Icebreaker
2) Checking inâ questions about the syllabus, about class,
from the long break since last we met, etc.
3) A little visual fun
4) The readingsâ some discussion and an activity
5) Report back/break
6) Introduction to Print Project
7) What people talk about when they talk about talking to a
community partner
8) Missy: sheâs missing
9) Homework
3. Breaking the ice.
For todayâŠ
Share your name, obviously, and tell us what the oldest
thing you own is (excluding antiques⊠the thing youâve
had the longest, presumably acquiring new or newish).
4. MineâŠ
Itâs a talking Alf doll (it took cassettes, like Teddy Ruxpin).
I got it for my 9th birthday. Interestingâ perhapsâfact. I
used it as a guest speaker as part of my senior capstone
presentation.
Itâs from 1986. Which means itâs older than most Miami
students. *cringe*
6. So, to start us offâŠ
As I mentioned last class, each time I want to start us off
with a sort of interesting visual document. Iâm going to
cheat and do two this week because I have a better
example of after-image.
So thatâs coming first. Then, following it, there are a few
slides with something else. Iâm going to show them on
the projector, but for maximum effect, you should open
these on your own screen. The light pollution that makes
the projector sort of dim also diminishes the visual
impact here.
7.
8. Nifty, right?
The reason we get after-image is that when we stare at
an image for a certain period of time, the rods in our eyes
(and the cones, sometimes) start to adapt to the color
(the same way our eyes adapt to a dark room). But their
goal is to sort of blunt the intensity of the color, so when
you look at a blankâwhiteâ surface, the opposing colors
appear faintly, coming more completely into view if you
blink, as it is the motions of your eyes that aid in the
color being dispersed.
Now check THIS out.
9.
10.
11.
12. So, the readingsâŠ
I want us to engage the theory readings (the two Wysocki
pieces, the Benjamin, the Barthes and the Kress) and
really sort of grapple with them, but as you might guess,
if we tried to grapple with every part of all five of those
readings weâd end up sitting here a long, long time
grappling with a big olâ bunch of ideas.
So Iâm going to suggest a strategyâ pull key ideas and
illustrate how they work/see if we can convert them to a
sort of tool, or a roadmap, if you will, to understanding
visual rhetoric.
13. Walter Benjamin wrote:
âThe uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its
being imbedded in the fabric of tradition. This tradition
itself is thoroughly alive and extremely changeable. An
ancient statue of Venus, for example, stood in a different
traditional context with the Greeks, who made it an
object of veneration, than with the clerics of the Middle
Ages, who viewed it as an ominous idol. Both of them,
however, were equally confronted with its uniqueness,
that is, its aura.â
14. Key idea: âAuraâ
âThe uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its
being imbedded in the fabric of traditionâŠâ
Aura, then, is what, precisely? Letâs look at two images
and talk about their aura and what that means to our
understanding of visual rhetoric.
15.
16.
17. We talked a bit about movie
posters when last we met. This is
one of the less common ones for
Inception.
What I want you to think about
here is the aura difference from
the painting on the previous
slide to this one.
Howâs this whole âauraâ concept
work?
18. Roland Barthes
Barthes challenges us thusly:
âNow evenâ and above all ifâ the image is in
a certain manner the limit of meaning, it
permits the consideration of a veritable
ontology of the process of signification. How
does meaning get into the image? Where
does it end? And if it ends, what is there
beyond?â
20. This is a famous logo/icon in
Western culture.
Anyone know what it is?
Anyone know WHY it is what it
is?
Paging Barthes, Dr. Roland
BarthesâŠ
21. âŠAccording to Charles Baldwin,
an environmental-health
engineer who contributed to its
development: "We wanted
something that was memorable
but meaningless, so we could
educate people as to what it
means.â
From: Ye Olde Wikipedia
22. To quote Cobb from InceptionâŠ
We have to go deeper.
Help me, Gunther Kress, youâre my only
hope!
23. Gunther Kress
Kress tells us:
âThe approach from Social Semiotics not
only draws attention to the many kinds of
meanings which are at issue in design, but
the âsocialâ in âSocial Semioticsâ draws
attention to the fact that meanings always
relate to specific societies and their cultures,
and to the meanings of the members of
those cultures.â
24. So if Kress is right, everyone in
the room knows what this image
means.
But⊠why?
29. So combine the ideasâŠ
And weâre saying images hold meanings
embedded in them by cultures.
Letâs look at a few.
30. Hereâs an iconic image from our
culture.
Fun fact: the torch was once
meant to be a functioning
lighthouse (awesome, right?)
Other fun fact: if you never
looked closely, the tablet sheâs
holding is meant to represent
the declaration of independence.
Third fun fact: like the
Coneheads, she came from
France!
31. What happens to the same iconic
image in a different treatment
here?
36. Wait a minute⊠didnât Desmond
Howard get a trophy that looked
sort of likeâŠ
37. This, for those not into sports, is
the Heisman Trophy, awarded to
the best college football player in
the nation.
Striking his pose when
succeedingâ not just in football,
but most predominantly in
footballâ has become the new
version of the baseball called
shot.
Let me throw it back to the
BAMF-in-Chief for a final
illustrationâŠ
38.
39. SooooâŠ
Images carry meaning. That meaning is
rhetorically constructed and often richly
cultural.
Hereâs one more thing to considerâŠ
40. Anne Wysocki reminds usâŠ
âBecause we have all grown up in densely
visually constructed environments, usually with
little overt instruction or awareness of how the
construction takes place, it is easy to think of
the visual elements of texts as simply happening
or appearingâŠas though⊠television sitcoms
were the result of a camera crew following a
typical family through their day.â
48. Wysocki challenges usâŠ
⊠to ask why. Think about why those images are
chosen.
And maybe more importantly⊠why donât
people think about it/why isnât it sort of a big
deal to most Americans?
49. Your turn
Break into five groups. That should mean 4 or 5 per group.
Once youâre grouped, from my podium going clockwise around the room:
Group 1: Kress
Group 2: Barthes
Group 3: Wysocki, Eyes
Group 4: Benjamin
Group 5: Wysocki, Meaning of Texts
Pick no less than 1 and no more than 3 main ideas, support them with source
quotes, and find examples for discussion. As you finish, email me your
materials: alexanp3@miamioh.edu
50.
51. The Print Project
To switch gears, letâs talk just a bit about our print based project, which we
will begin in earnest next week when Dr. Jim Porter visits class to discuss the
needs of the American Culture and English (ACE) program.
Instead of me repeating whatâs already on the web, letâs look there, then
talk about what questions you might have.
The TL;DR take away for the print project assignment is this: ACE needs
materials for publicity and recruitment (I want us to be aware of what they
specifically ask for but also to cast a wide netâ think about needs) and
weâre going to provide that, as a class.
52. One keyâŠ
âŠto this whole process is to know how to speak to community partners. Dr.
Porter will be with us for the start of next class. Some key things weâll need
to do, then:
1.Be on time (duh!). You donât want to walk into a client meeting late.
2.Read over whatever you can find about ACE (Iâll place some stuff on my
blog for you to take a look at) and try to become familiar with what they
do/provide.
3.Think about what you would want to know, for example, to make a poster
for them. To make a data sheet. To make, say, varied versions of a one-sheet
recruitment flier to mail to potential students in various nations. Come with
questions, but make sure theyâre specific and thoughtful.
53. Another key factorâŠ
âŠis respect.
Whenever we deal with a community partner, remember that you, as a
student and participant in this course, represent:
1)Our university
2)Your respective programs (particularly PW and IMS folks)
3)The class
4)Yourselves
5)Me
Behave as you would expect a professional designer to behave with his
clients, and be courteous. Listen carefully, take good notes. Call him Dr.
Porter, for example, not âJimâ (unless he tells you Jim is okay).
54. This is also a moment whereâŠ
âŠwe will transition much more into talking about the readings from the
books and will move away, at least to a small degree, from the more
theoretical underpinnings of the early part of class.
That theory will persist; itâs not leaving us. Weâre just about to take the step
over the threshold into practice.
To that end, I want to look at what I think might be one of the most
informative, if not horrifyingly snarky (and okay, hilarious) design lessons
youâll ever get.
55.
56. So, remindersâŠ
1) Every week you have a writing response and design prompt due on your
Tumblr at the time we meet for class. Since we got a little mixed up with
the huge break, Iâll give you a few days to get everything done, but make
sure you have the first set of things up by mid-week (letâs say noon on
Thursday).
2) That means you should, for next week, complete design task 3 and a
response to what you are reading for that class.
3) Read for class: Kimball & Hawkins Chapters 3 and 4, Golombisky &
Hagen chapters 4-6, and Norman âWhy Designers Go Astrayâ from The
Design of Everyday Things (on Niihka)
4) Remember that our first hour (roughly) will be spent talking to Dr. Porter
about the ACE element of our print project.