2020.10.11
WHAT IS RESEARCH?
/ WHAT IS PRE-ATTENTIVE PERCEPTION?

Definition

The proper definition of research is:
“The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.”
Another definition from Archer B.: “Research is systematic enquiry.”

We can assert that research is a practice.
A practice in which we ask questions and always try to find new answers. Research needs materials and sources in order to analyse, suppose, agree, disagree before getting (or not getting) any conclusion. A research and its answers can always be questioned at any time. The reason is because our world and our society change very quickly and that nobody is the same. Conducting a research also means knowing the language and its nuances as well as the words and their definitions. The fact of having several researches carried out at different times but on the same topic allows us to notice a certain evolution or regression.

About Perception and Pre-attentive Perception

Perception is the process of getting information out of the environment (what is shown to our senses).
Perception is something we do. Perception is active. “Pre-attentive” because for anything to happen, we need attention.
Something that is going on and we don’t even realised it, like unconscious processing.

For this experiment, I chose a poster from the Swiss graphic Studio Feixen and showed it through the tachistoscope to 16 persons. People were able to see it once and during a few seconds only. Then they told me everything they had seen or thought they had seen.

To gather and compare the answers I did a super chart
and established 5 different categories:

Object / Form

Space / Position

Colours

Letters

Atmosphere and feelings

Based on the number of criteria within each category, the most noticed categories appear in this order:

The 5 most noticed characteristics within each category

Observation

• Even though the red color is the element that was the most noticed, the Object / Form category comes in the first place, counting 16 different criteria. In fact, people are first seeking for something physical, something like an object or a form on which they can put a precise name. In this particular case, 12/16 persons mentioned a Rubicube. But out of these 12 people, only 8 mentioned a cube and 4 mentioned squares. Now, as people first recognised a well known object (the Rubicube) they may have given up to analyse or to talk about the simple forms that they saw (eg. what rubicube is made of?).

• People's gaze is often drawn to language, to words and to letters, which here are the big R-A-N-D-O-M-E-R letters. Strange thing, two people think they saw numbers (8,7,3,9).

• The impact of the colours on people’s memory arrives in the third stage.

• In the fourth stage, they try to place this coloured object into a space.
Or to understand how the object appears physically.

• Last but not least, there’s the Atmosphere and feelings category which is the smallest. The five criteria in this category come from only 3 persons. This shows that people are, maybe, less used to talk about and describe atmospheres or feelings.

When you see something, you almost always describe what you see and not what you feel. Which is an interesting challenge for graphic designers and artists. Because our goal is I think, beyond communicating visually, also to make people feel things. I suppose the impact of a message, an image or whatever we show, is increased when linked to a feeling or if it awakens a personal memory.

To conclude this report

We can say that early perception does not deal a lot with atmosphere nor with space or position.
As early perception is often a guess, people’s mind needs to recognise something physical before being able to talk about colours, types and any other details. Of course, early perception can’t be exact and may contain mistakes and confusion.

2020.10.12
WHAT IS GESTALT PRINCIPLES?
/ WHAT IS GOOD GESTALT?

Definition

Gestalt Principles are principles / laws of human perception that describe how humans group similar elements, recognise patterns and simplify complex images when they perceive objects. “Gestalt” means “unified whole”. The first Gestalt Principles were devised in the 1920s by German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler who aimed to understand how humans typically gain meaningful perceptions from the chaotic stimuli around them. The Gestalt P. are helpful for finding mistakes in a design. You can find unwanted Gestalt. The Gestalt principles can help us to see without seeing.

They identified a set of laws which address the natural compulsion to find order in disorder. According to this, the mind “informs” what the eyes see by perceiving a series of individual elements as a whole.

Main Gestalt Principles

• Figure-Ground
We dislike uncertainty, so we look for solid, stable items. Unless an image is ambiguous – like Rubin’s Vase – we see its foreground first. When you use figure-ground well, alongside other considerations such as a careful application of colour theory, you’ll help guide users in their tasks and lessen their cognitive load.

• Proximity 
We group closer-together elements, separating them from those farther apart. So, when you cluster individual elements into
one area or group on your design, users will recognise it as one entity standing distinct from anything else on-screen. 

• Closure
We prefer complete shapes, so we automatically fill in gaps between elements to perceive a complete image.
That’s how we can see the whole first. 

• Similarity 
When things appear to be similar to each other, we group them together.
And we also tend to think they have the same function.

• Continuity 
Elements that are aligned with each other are perceived as visually associated.

Good Gestalt principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are part of a pattern which is a Good Gestalt.
That means as simple, orderly, balanced, unified, coherent, regular, etc as possible, given the input.

My poster analysis with the Gestalt Principle

According to the Gestalt Principle and the results of my experiment with the Tachistoscope, I analysed my own image to make a visual simulation of what people could have perceived of it and what went unnoticed. This is the result of the simulation:

Seeing the simulation's result, we can say that most of the people noticed the rubicube as a whole form.
They didn't pay attention to the lower part of the image, certainly due to the shadow. However, even if some elements went unnoticed (which is normal considering the few seconds during which the poster was shown), we can say my design is a good Gestalt because:
• there is no ambiguity between the subject and its background (figure-ground)
• the placement, and obviously similarity of the letters allows the viewer to recognise some of them (similarity and proximity)
• even if the rubicube is uncomplete, almost no one noticed it had a missing part;
→ people could understand almost unanimously and directly what was the main subject (closure)

Eye Movement and Eye Tracking

We have the illusion of seeing the world whilst we only see a tiny part of it. The foveal system of the human eye is the only part of the retina that permits 100% visual acuity. The line of sight is a virtual line connecting the fovea with a fixation point in the outside world. Without attention there's no eye movements.

Peripheral vision, or indirect vision, is vision as it occurs outside the point of fixation, i.e. away from the center of gaze. The vast majority of the area in the visual field is included in the notion of peripheral vision.

Saccades and fixations

This tiny area of acute foveal vision is extended by eye movements, so called saccades. We do five of these jumps per second. A fixation means we are attentive to something. To be able to tell where the fixations go in front of an image, we can use different methods of eye tracking.

2020.10.15
WHAT IS EMOTIONAL AFFECT?
/ WHAT ARE EXPRESSIONS?

Definition

“Emotion is a strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.”
We can define emotion as something immaterial that happens inside us. Something that is not visible nor physical.
“Expression is the action of making known one's thoughts or feelings.”
We can express ourselves with the language as well as with our body. Expression helps us translate a particular emotion.

In this new chapter, we're intersted in: How does something visual affect us? What impression does it make? How does something visual express itself to us? Which expression is it?

a. How does something visual affect us?

What we see, as much as what we hear affects us. It can have a small, big, conscious or unconscious impact. After seing something we can feel different emotions and sensations. We can also be remembered of something particular. The same visual won't necessarily affects everyone the same way. As people are different, so are the emotions and sensations provocated by an external element.

The affect grid can be completed by our six basic emotions:
• anger
• disgust
• fear
• happiness
• sadness
• surprise

These emotions are part of our facial expressions and technical tools exist to analyse them.

b. How does something visual express itself to us? Which expression is it?

Colours

Basically, we always see colours. The Impressionnist painters used colours to paint the world. But how can we define colours? How can we feel colours? What we feel with colours lays beyond the visual. For example, blue is described as cold but not cold physically as we can’t touch the colour.

Shapes and cross modal perception

Here, almost everybody would say that Maluma is 18 and Takete is 19. This is obviously not their real names but in that case,
the sound of the word is connected to the shape. We make here a cross modal connection.
Cross modal perception signifies that we don’t only see the visual aspects but also what they mean to the other senses.

c. What does contribute to emotional expression = how does it feel ?

Experiment

For this new experiment, I first made a semantic differencial which is a type of a rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts.
Here, the chosen adjectives are used to describe the attitude towards my poster. My semantic differencial is composed by 3x2 correlated pairs of adjectives:

Colourful vs Pale
/ Playful vs Serious

3D vs 2D
/ Concrete vs Abstract

Moving vs Static
/ Organic vs Geometric


Having my semantic ready, I showed again my poster to 5 people, during 5 seconds. Then I asked them to fill the grid, according to their perceptions and feelings of my image.
This is the final result:

Simple Facts

So what?

• In that case, the result doesn’t show a striking correlation between colourful and playful.
As 4 people found it colourful, only 2 people found it playful.

• As a 3D object, it appears in a way more real, more concrete.
We can also add the Geometric adjective here that echoes the concrete and 3D perceptions.

• There is a clear uncertainty on whether the image is static or moving. This may be due to the fact that people responded from different point of observation: is the whole design actually moving like a video, are there any real movements in the shapes and ligns? Or, does the form give the impression of moving? Here, I think we could feel something moves on this poster (as if the rubicube was thrown into the air) although it doesn’t really move. The correlation between static and geometric is then less obvious than expected.

2020.10.22
ABOUT CONSTRUCTION
/ COMPOSITION

Aspects we will look at

01

The portrait format suggests a vertical stacking of elements, making easier the hierarchy of information.
The horizontal format requests some adjustments, as a face to face arrangement that follows a flow from the left to the right and appears maybe as a more “equal” layout.
A square format requests more of a centred design.
In web design, the viewport is very suggestive of a horizontal format though the whole physical support is suggestive of a vertical format. → There lies the challenge of responsive design

02

Balance is not achieved by only balancing weights
but also by balancing colours.

03

The most evident colour contrasts by the Bauhaus teacher, Johannes Itten.

04

Looking at the generative principles of axes and grids helps us to understand what is the basis of the design. What is its skeleton, from which invisible elements or grid is it developed? If there's a grid, is it modular? what other layout possibilities may result from it?

05

A visual composition will always mean something to the public. Because of the colours, the shapes, the position of the elements… Visual elements have their first litteral degree of meaning and then a second degree of meaning that makes people feel or understand something in different ways. We often say that, especially in visual communication, it is important to keep a relation between the visual and the content. This concept echoes the famous book The medium is the message from Marshall McLuhan. The composition can (and should) carry and serve the purpose. The hierarchy of the elements and the way they are shown also plays a role in how the public will look, interpret and understand it. Looking for the meaning in composition is somehow to relate our own body and mind to the construction of the composition.

06

Taking into account the different points and aspects mentioned above, I made an analysis of my own poster.

01 Which arrangement is suggested by the format?

This is a portrait format, which suggests a vertical stacking of elements.
The design here follows this arrangement, as the two forms are on top of each other.
The information are spread out from top to bottom.
In that case, a horizontal format is less suitable because the hierarchy of the information as well as the placement of the letters would become then more flat and equal. The shadow would also be in the wrong place. The form of the object would seem less obvious and understandable.

02 Overall composition, balance

03 Color contrast

04 Generative principles of axes and grids

05 Meaning in composition

The visual subject on my poster is a rubicube which is a logic game you have to manipulate in order to reach the solution. The information follows the same idea as the letters are scattered on the different faces of the shape. You then have to look for the information / letters and put them together. In a way, you have to play with the design. Of course, they’re not placed in a random way but from top to bottom so you naturally reconstitute the RANDOMER word. The hierarchy of the information is also shown through the 3 different text sizes.

2020.11.05
WHAT IS SEMIO(SIS)TICS?
/ WHAT IS A SIGN?

Definition

A sign is something that stands for something else.
A sign is standing for a concept and not for a something.
According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the sign does not serve to associate words with elements of reality, but is based on the union of an acoustic image and a concept. The linguistic sign is therefore composed of two notions, one material (the acoustic image) and the other immaterial (the concept).

What is a…? And what is…? And…?
→ Signs need other signs
→ Semiosis is potentially endless

With Semiosis, things become transparent
because we want to say something with them.

Three possible relations of a sign to its signifies

The match example

Most of the time, traffic and warning signs make sense when placed in their context. It is indexical of the environment it applies to.

Often, a sign become a symbol to us.

Denotation and Connotation

Lazy multimodal analysis

Visual Rhetoric

Semiotic analysis of my design

We can say that:

• The colourful 3D form present on my poster stands by similarity (iconic relation) to a rubicube.
We relates this unfinished form to an object that is well-known across the world.

• This form we take for a rubicube stands by convention (symbolic relation) to a game / the act of playing.
Its connotation is about play and fun. Rubicube is also about strategy and cleverness.

• The letters and information present on my poster are conventional and therefore call a symbolic relation.

• Südpol is a cultural centre in Switzerland where dance, theatre, performance, concert and club are gathered.
→ The composition of the poster and its layout clearly and purposefully echo this atmopshere of play,
art and entertainment.

2020.11.26
WHAT IS AESTHETICS?
/ WHAT IS BEAUTY?

Definition

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
“Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is a particular theory or conception of beauty or art: a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses and especially sight.”

Aesthetics is never the same. It’s always moving, changing, evolving. It’s something that follows time. It’s in constant evolution and re creation. Every period until now has seen many different aesthetics. Sometimes completely independent from one another and sometimes connected in some ways.

When we think of something which is aesthetic, we automatically think of something that is beautiful.
But what is beauty ? How can we define it?

→ Beauty is undefined. Because it relies on a subjective judgment. Every human on this planet is unique, therefore we can see different beauties around us. Also, the Aesthetics of Ugliness claims that everything can be aesthetic and that we may find pleasure in everything. The aesthetic pleasure almost touches morality. It's the free play of senses.

Free Beauty

Beauty is not something we can impose.
Kant talks about two different kind of beauties:

• Free beauty presupposes no concept of what the object/design ought to be and therefore no concept of perfection.

• Dependent beauty presupposes a particular concept and the perfection of the object/design in accordance with it.

Pleasure

During class we did an exercise that was to select objects that we like. We then had to think and ask ourselves why are we fond of these objects. For me, I can say that I avoid conformism. I don't care about trends. I am attracted by things that spark my imagination, that are linked to memories. I like strange shapes, textures of all kind. I enjoy objects that are unusual and that can be transformed. The objects I like are mostly things for which I can find a purpose or a utility. But I cannot say they are all necessary.

Style

Through style we communicate our values, who we are or who we want to be. We communicate our personal belonging.
Pure aesthetics shouldn't have to do with the notion of distinction, whereas style does.

“Beauty is the form of the expediency of an object, in so far as it is perceived in it, without any notion of purpose.”
(Immanuel Kant)

SPACE(S) FOR
PERSONAL RESEARCH

About

Everything is about taste. Everything is first about taste, especially in graphic design. No matter what we say, aesthetics is a big part of visual communication. And we could say, a big part of our life in general. Aesthetics is something so undefined and subjective that it makes our life very hard, especially when it comes to judge or observe something in a neutral way.

In graphic design, as in art in general, what we create often comes directly – and perhaps unconsciously – from our personality. A personality full of tastes, opinions and visions. Our practise and its aim can be hard to define, as it is often a mix of self satisfaction while serving others. That means our own tastes have to get in touch and be confronted to other tastes and visions. This can be very challenging. In the end, there is no right and there is no wrong. There is no better or worse. Because this criteria will always depend on a human's opinion. And humans cannot be completely neutral. The only solution is to find compromises so the people engaged are satisfied.

Is Beauty necessary?

Does Beauty can go along with Utility?

Is aesthetics the driven force for graphic design?

Is Beauty enough?

I have so much questions in my head. But when I try to organise them, I realise they're linked and depend on each other.
You can't question one aspect without thinking of the other one. It's like a puzzle. Every answered question brings a new one.

If Beauty is necessary, that doesn't mean it can be by itself. And first, that Beauty is probably a tiny part of the millions of Beauties that exist. She comes from someone that, through his/her style and identity shaped this particular Beauty.

But are style and identity the same thing?

Do we express our identity through a certain style?

And then, Beauty cannot be left alone. We live in a world where people need purpose. They need. Having a beautiful design is exciting. But having a beautiful design that is useful and expresses a particular identity, isn't it the best we can achieve? I think so.

But is it possible?

Process

For my personal research I chose to interview six designers about what I call the triangular challenge of graphic design. In fact, as a designer you have to deal with different aspects while working. First, you aim your work to be useful. Then if this useful thing is also nice, it’s better. And finally, if you manage to put a personal touch in your work, that would be icing on the cake. So to sum up, Beauty, Utility and Identity are characteristics that are always present in the mind of a designer. To think of them is a first step. Finding the good balance between them is another story.

My interview is composed by 3 sections:

The 3 last questions of the interview are information about the interviewee him/herself, so in a way, his/her own identity.
I voluntarily kept the layout of each interview as I received them.

Beauty

In our daily life, we receive ongoing images and suggestions of what Beauty is. And surprisingly, it changes all the time and is never unanimous. On Monday, blond people with shapes are beautiful. On Tuesday, muscular boys are the best. The day after it’s not blond but tall, fit and redhead girls that are considered. On Friday, black and white photography is the most wanted. But a week later, it is coloured film photography that is trendy. Just yesterday, illustrated and funny graphic design was what makes people happy. But since today simple and monochrome graphic design is the coolest. We could go on with the list because there is no end and this is, in reality, a circle where all trends and ideals of beauty go back and forth one after the other. Beauty is something that I see, that they are looking for and that we try to define.

Here I challenge my interviewees to describe something that is very wide and to acknowledge their (non) reliance on it.
Something that we all have on the tip of our tongues but that we hardly can explain.

Utility

When talking about Utility we directly look for useful and practical things. The term Utility is not initially linked to any notion of appearance. The justification for the existence of a given object concerns its potential and what it can help to achieve. That is the initial definition. But we live in a society that has evolved and where we now produce and have a lot of choices for the same items. We can choose between things that have the same aim and that serve the same need but that are looking different. It is very hard nowadays to think only about Utility without thinking if only a little about Beauty.

This is an open and ongoing question, just as complex as the first one, to understand what a useful design means.
Is it possible? Does it even exist? We say graphic design is useful. But then, I am asking, how and for what/who?

Identity

Sameness, oneness, state of being the same.
What is Identity? Is it modular and changeable? Is it linked to the notion of style? Is it visual or abstract? Does Identity have a space in graphic designer? As we can guess, the word Identity conveys a lot of meanings and aspects. It suggests something deeper than Beauty and Utility. Something that maybe we can’t see nor can't use but we can feel. Something that builds our own existence, our visions and behaviour. Identity is different from Beauty and Utility by its very essence. Identity is hard to explain and justify. And maybe that what makes it the most important among the three.

Questions

Non-annotated interviews

Clustering and color codes

In order to take the best out of these interviews, I analysed and clustered my information within different categories. As words and their meanings are important because they translate your opinions as a person, I first defined 3 large lexical fields;

That way, I was able to see how many times a term appears and therefore how much attention each category received from my interviewee. When talking about these topics, we shouldn’t forget the subjects concerned behind them. The profession of graphic designer is such that the designer maintains an interdependent relationship with the client and, more widely, the society. That’s why I analysed the different pronouns my interviewee used to understand better how much space there is for subjectivity, unity and "the others".

Analysed interviews

01 Beauty Analysis

The word Beauty is not defined nor fixed. The answers I got were really broad; from physical things, to behaviours, to abstract perceptions, to feelings and to people. But what comes out of it is an additional proof to this saying: Beauty can be found everywhere. The definition of beauty and the way we pay attention to it is very subjective. A mix of I think, I believe, for me, I accord, I try, I like, I find, I guess… tried to answer my questions.

With this subjectivity comes also some uncertainty. We are not always aware of how much we pay attention to Beauty and the part it plays in our work. Almost everyone gave me a vague answer to question 4 – do you think your produced design are beautiful? Is it some humble behaviour? Or is it because we can’t say for sure what is beautiful? As we know, Beauty is about personal taste. Then, saying out loud something is beautiful can appear pretentious. Two people also made it clear that it was not always their decision, as the client’s idea of Beauty is also at stake. The pronouns, certainly unconsciously used, show that for Beauty to be acknowledged, I need to see it but they also need to see it and finally, we need to see it together.

In these interviews, the most common words used to talk about Beauty are:

beauty
style
aesthetics
pleasant
taste
attractive

Every interviewee agreed that, in some ways, they were paying attention to Beauty in their work. It is not necessarily the main goal but in the end it’s an aspect that cannot be neglected, be it consciously or unconsciously.

4/6 interviewees answered NO to question 3 – Is your goal to create nice-looking design?
The idea of creating something nice without any meaning is not approved. Form follows content and not the other way around.

Overall, when talking about Beauty (65w), my interviewees talked also about Utility (44w) and Identity (40w) almost with the same amount of words. In that case, Utility is shown as something that cannot be forgotten at the cost of beauty. The lexical field of Identity serves here to express personal feelings or perceptions that explain what Beauty could be.

02 Utility Analysis

Utility, as opposed to beauty raises less doubts, as almost everyone agrees that it is linked to practicality in the sense that its goal is to create something useful and helpful. In this research, I joined with Utility the notion of reflexion, intellect and goal. Because while creating something useful we have to use our mind before using our eyes. We have to analyse the need and think of the end goal. Therefore Utility goes beyond a visual approach and its finality can be as practical as intellectual.

Of course, some notions of Beauty find their way into the discourse because, as I’ve said before, we live in a society where it is nearly impossible to think and assess something only by its utility, without including the criteria of aesthetics. Concerning Identity, we see clearly here that senses and feelings are out of the subject.

The interviewees used a lot of verbs:

to express
to inform
to communicate
to explain
to deliver
to transmit
to serve
to help

to act

to research
to develop
to build
to fit
to improve

to sell
to understand
to remember

Certainly because Utility contains diverse purposes and in a way implies a notion of action. The other common keywords I clustered are:

identity
important
goal
communication
message
understanding
meaning

Also, compared to the Beauty section, we notice a bit less “I”, and a bit more “they” that represent here mainly “the audience” and “people”. Because what designers do is first of all for people in general. Of course, as design cannot serve everyone at the same time, people are then categorised in target groups. Without people, graphic designer’s work wouldn’t have any sense nor purpose to exist.

7 – What are the 3 qualities you require in a design?
I received in total:

• 8 words belonging to the lexical field of Utility
(purpose, new perspectives, situatedness, sense, meaning, quality, to fit the brief, understandable, call-to-action)

• 5 words belonging to the lexical field of Identity
(2x originality, surprise, different, timeless)

• 4 words belonging to the lexical field of Beauty
(visibility, beauty, a certain aesthetics and attractiveness)

Question 8 – Do you accord more importance to aesthetics or practicality? didn’t received daring answers as I hoped so.
We clearly feel an hesitation about what to answer. Aesthetics and practicality are strongly entangled and it is almost impossible to separate them from each other.

On the other hand, however, unanimous answer for question
9 – Do you want your design to be useful? Of course, the answer is YES, mostly for the audience it is made for. We still cannot be too optimistic; graphic design cannot serve everyone at the same time. It can be useful for a client, for a larger audience or for a specific target group.

03 Identity Analysis

Identity is what makes you, you.
I think that sums up everything. Despite your style, your look and the trend you follow, your identity goes beyond the surface. Identity is what makes you different, not only physically but internally. It is built on a lot of different attributes that constitute its roots. Identity can always evolve.

However, the borders between Identity and Beauty – in this part of the interview mainly named “style” – are very thin because the way we look, and what we show to the world around us is part of our identity. We can of course make this statement a bit more complex by arguing someone can have different identities; how you are in public is not necessarily your real identity. But, to stay with the first idea, our identity depends on two aspects which are one more visual (style, look) and the other more invisible (roots, visions). To express what Identity is, the interviewees used words and adjectives that are related to personal perceptions, such as:

identity
subjective
feelings
different
originality
passion

Here we awake our senses. We leave Utility behind and listen to what our heart is saying.

Uncertainty came back while talking about Identity.
More precisely, about the questions:


10 – What having a style means for you? is it important?
12 – Do you think a person’s identity is related to her style?
13 – Do you recognise yourself in your works?


While some say that having a style makes only the communication noisy, others doesn’t really know what to think about having a style and don’t like the idea of being categorised into an aesthetics. Some assure that having a style is important to be recognisable whereas others think the opposite. These opinions show how much the concept of style can be envied or despised. The fear of doing always the same thing or to be known because of… and at the same time, it can be reassuring and help the understanding of your work while clustering your clientele. A style can be controlled but it can also be something thats appears little by little, without being fully aware of it.

For 2 people, the condition for self-recognition in their work is strongly linked to the client; only if freedom is permitted, because the client is more important. For the other 4, yes, maybe it takes a while, but they finally reach a point where they are able to recognise themselves in their works, even if sometimes it requires compromises.

Interesting thing, while talking about Identity, every interviewee used the pronoun “you” a lot. This is only a suggestion but in that case, the “you” may be an “I” in disguise, as if I am adressing at the same time myself and the people around me:


There is nothing you have to follow…
When you have no more identity, you are lost…
How you tackle a brief…
If you do things that you love…
It’s all the elements that make you, you…


“They” are still present, mainly representing “people” and “the client”. In fact, Identity is not only a personal matter; people often approach or avoid us thanks / because what they perceive as our identity. Nevertheless, Identity can be hard to explain, exploit and also to show. We first need to aknowledge what is our identity otherwise we can easily get lost and confused. If we understand who we are, we can maintain more easily our social contacts. We can stand out from the crowd and use our personal experiences as a powerful tool.

For their part, trends do indeed exist. But according to the 6 answers I got, you don’t have to follow them. You can get inspiration and even use some of them if it makes sense with your project. I think the problem could be on the other side: the public and the client itself. When working in an artistic profession, you are aware that trends come and go and that it is not always the best thing to do to imitate and copy everything to be so-called “up to date”. But the public is taken into the flow and doesn't always manage to distinguish between something trendy and something actually good.

On this topic, here’s a link to an article from It’s Nice That.

Conclusion

As graphic designers, to acknowledge the part that Beauty, Utility and Identity take in our daily practise is not easy. First of all, because their definition itself is not certain, be it in general or within the profession of graphic design. Second, because there is always what we wish we do, what we think we do and the reality. In this reality, we have to take into account the will of other people, mainly the client.

01

After reading and analysing these interviews, I think we can say that the quest for Beauty is always present, be it consciously or unconsciously. This may not be the main goal but it is part of the process. As human being, we enjoy looking at and creating nice things. It gives a feeling of well-being and pride. However, the quest for Utility cannot be neglected. In total, the lexical fields of Beauty contains 113 words while that of Utility contains 122 words. This result shows how close the relationship and how constant the dilemma between Beauty and Utility are. We cannot say one is more important than the other because this result may change according to the people interviewed and on their number. But what we can be assured of is, as some interviewees implied and one even wrote:


Beauty is not enough.


Practices within the artistic field are strongly dependent on aesthetics. But we must differentiate art from graphic design. Because a design has originally a purpose. In most cases, there would be no designs if there was no need. The answer to this need is reached thanks to the intellectual work and researches, knowledge and engagement coming from the graphic designer. But then, for this useful design to be considered, it must somehow be attractive. And sometimes that is the point, when nice details are added, that reflexion is lost and covered by aesthetics. This is the problem we face today: there is hardly no more space for visual and reflexion altogether. One is always crushed by the other.

Even though graphic designers are often reduced to people who make nice things, the core of the work is not that. Beauty is an option whereas reflexion and utility are the motor of the process and its finality.

02

Yet still remains the question of how can design be useful? what can it solve? what utility in that case mean? This is a constant problematic and questioning. Because graphic design doesn't act, strictly speaking. So the notion of usefulness in that case is not linked to practicality in its literal term. My interviewees showed a lot of interest and importance about creating useful designs. So the notion and the wish for Utility indeed exists somewhere. We just need to understand in what form. For now, to take up the general idea, we can start by saying that graphic design is useful to transmit a message. To raise awareness. To gather and maybe to unit. It is useful on large or small scales. Designers have a responsability towards society, as we are in a way the carriers of messages and ideas. That’s why it is primordial that the message stays at the heart of the work, that it can still be understandable, reachable for people, and not destroyed by the visual language that conveys it. Otherwise, the aim is not achieved. In our society we are constantly seeing millions of images of all kind, that have or don't have any meaning. We lose ourselves in all this visual content, we get bored and lose track of what is worth it. Because there is a lot of crap. But there is also a lot of good stuff that shouldn’t be devaluated.

03

The third aspect, Identity, contains 101 words. It is less than Beauty and Utility because in this profession you sometimes have to let your personal feelings and opinions behind. But still, its presence is quite important and I won't be surprised in some cases that it can compete or even overcome Beauty and Utility. In fact, Identity is not to be forgotten because it carries your personality, your tastes and your interests. Without theses aspects that differentiate you from the others, all the works, with their aesthetics and goals would be the same. Identity is what supports you to create your own beauties, utilities and fight for what is important to you.

04

Graphic designer is a profession, the one that deals with words and visuals. But today we discuss – silently – the status of this profession. Some designers I’ve talked to confessed they feel it is not a job anymore. The problem with aesthetics is that it is at first sight about taste and not knowledge. Most people don’t imagine there are any rules or things to be aware of in graphic design. Everyone thinks they can do design. They can do nice photo. The democratisation of these mediums make their profession really fragile and less serious. With these interviews, we clearly see that the main dialog is happening between I (115) and They (37). Designers always have to think of the client and the audience of their work. This is an intern and extern dialog that guides the future choices of the design.

When a patient goes to his/her doctor, he/she never discusses the treatment he/she will receive. But when a client comes to a designer, he/she will discuss everything, because he/she wants this colour, this font, this and that. The client thinks visually, making references to of all the trends out there, whereas the graphic designer thinks conceptually first. The client is at the same time the one who makes your practise exist and the one who prevents you to fully exercice it. Of course, exchanges between client and designer can be constructive, as long as the roles are not confused.

05

Graphic design is about communication. It is about transmitting a message, in different ways. It has no power to change the world but it can raise awareness to contribute to that change. We will never get rid of tastes nor of aesthetics. We have to deal with it. As a designer, you have to trust your gut. You cannot always do what you want, but it is very important to make people understand that graphic design is not a hobby. It is not just art. The designer is the one who knows how to deal with words and visual expressions. 3 people mentioned freedom as something being important values both in their life and work. I think graphic designers in general deserves more trust and freedom while creating.

06

I am pleased to have started working on this subject for the Design Research class. It allowed me to think and find other points of view about questions that I’ve had for quite a long time. And I feel, after doing these interviews, that these topics are actually very important but still very unclear and confusing for every designer. The feedback I got from my interviewees is that it was a very good but not easy exercise. It gave them time and space to think about aspects of their work that are present but not always used consciously. It also questioned directly their position and their aim within their own profession and whether they are able or not for the moment to assume them. This is a research I’d like to take on further because I think the more I gather points of views and personal experiences, the more I’ll be able to understand what can be Beauty, Utility and Identity, how they are linked, interdependent and finally how they can be reflected through graphic design.

2020.12.10
SOCIO CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Questions

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Felix Pfäffi is the author of this creation. Felix Pfäffi and Raphael Leutenegger established Studio Feixen in Lucerne (CH). Studio Feixen creates visual concepts. As they say, they “focus specifically on nothing in particular”. From graphic design, interior design, fashion design, type design to animation, they stay open to different kind of work and challenge. This poster was designed for Südpol, a multi purpose cultural center in Kriens (CH). The center houses among other things a theatre, a symphony orchestra, a music school and rents out space for performances of music, dance, theatre, literature, digital arts and so on...


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The poster's size is 42x30cm and is printed using the Risograph technique.


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The precondition for construction in my design is regularity; the repetition of perfect cubique shapes makes it kind of constructive design. Constructiveness is attractive because out of simple shapes we can imagine and create a lot.
The pleasure of my design may be found in the idea of endless possibilities, offered by very basic shapes.

We can also observe a strange twist in the design. Like a rigid structure in a free movement.
This free movement echoes dance movements that are usually free and really pleasant.

The aesthetic of my design is not exclusive in the sense that the free play of structure and endless possibilities she's offering can find meaning in everyone of us.

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My poster announces a cultural event.
More precisely, a party. This kind of event can be considered as a leisure activity where seriousness and work are left apart. Pleasure here is about play, fun, music and no obligations. By its aesthetics, its connotation and the message it conveys, my design is trying to detached himself to the work’s sphere and boring life. This is not about earning money and even less about being the best at work or in life. This is about togetherness, sharing a musical moment with people and forgetting about everything else.

To conclude, I would say this design, that is living in a society focused on money and work, uses the fields of Culture and Art to catch people’s attention and open a different vision of our daily life, saying that having fun, sharing things together and freedom of the mind is still possible. It tries to spread happiness amongst people.

2021.01.07
PRACTICES

Observation 1

In this last chapter, we try to understand how graphic design appears in daily life and what part it has in our society.
What impact it can have, or not. We also focus our observation on the interaction between people and graphic design,

in films,

Mad Men
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Papyrus – SNL


in litterature,

Magazine Made Thought

in the street,

on social media,

Creative story

It was a cold day. I wish I could have stayed in my bed but I had to go out to give back some books at the library.
When I went out, I saw that the sky was grey and dark. I immediately thought I should have taken an umbrella but I didn’t want to go up the stairs again.

So I started walking, carrying in my arms my eight books. After twenty minutes walking, I passed by the cultural centre of my neighbourhood. I often go there to listen to conferences or music concerts.

I suddenly noticed my shoelaces were untied. I didn’t know where to put my books so I looked around me. I decided to put them on a low wall across the street. While I was lacing up my shoes, it started to rain. The rain then turned into hail. I ran in a random direction, looking for a shelter.

Fifteen minutes later, the hail calmed down and disappeared. I was very cold and I just wanted to go home.
I started walking back when I suddenly thought about the books. I had forgotten them on the low wall!

I immediately went back to the place but there was nothing left. I was tired and out of breath. I looked around and the only thing that cached my attention was a poster damaged by the rain. Desperate, I sat on a bench, next to the poster. I started to observe it, very quickly. I couldn’t focus my attention on it because I was thinking of the books. Only my eyes were unconsciously magnetised by the colours and the shapes.

Tired, I got up and went back home.

Observation 2

Graphic Design has many definitions but this one is quite complete: Graphic design is art with a purpose. It involves a creative and systematic plan to solve a problem or achieve certain objectives, with the use of images, symbols or even words. It is visual communication and the aesthetic expression of concepts and ideas using various graphic elements and tools.

By reading this definition we could imagine graphic design as a powerful tool to communicate and achieve great things. It is partly true. Graphic design has a long story and a lot of uses. It is used of course for advertising but has been many time used as a tool for protest, revolution and even propaganda.

On the other hand, graphic design can also be neglected and unseen. This last observation relies on real experiences I’ve seen. In the street of a city, we can almost find graphic design everywhere; posters, logos, pictograms, shop windows… but in general, only a few people accord some seconds to that. A glance here and there, nothing more. Nothing that can stop people in the middle of their action. Or very rarely…

I think it depends also on your affinity with the brand, group or whatever is communicating something. If you already know it and like it, there's a good chance you'll recognise him through the chaos of the city. But otherwise I feel people are too busy and running out of time to be stopped by a poster.

Nevertheless, we can’t generalise and put all graphic design in the same basket. What I mean by that is there are different kinds of graphic design. Graphic design is almost everywhere. In the street alone there are many of designs. Just to mention a few…

• Advertising, whose aim is to sell a product and encourage consommation, the best tool for capitalism.

• Logos, that are here as points of reference for people.

• Communication towards a cause like Red cross, Amnesty International, WWF… whose aim is of course getting financial help for their fights but above else to sensibilise people.

• Communication about a cultural event

• Protest signs that call for a change, directly addressed to people as individuals and not consumers.

• Street design that is punctually created by people themselves. As an ephemeral decoration or denunciation.

• Some thoughts that open reflexion

• And so on…

Observation 3

Creative song

Conclusion

Graphic design can have a short or long term effect. Even the design that you see without really seeing, may find a place in your subconscious. Still, it remains very difficult to reach, touch and catch people's attention with only a design. Because many aspects (work, personal issues, environments…) come into play, diverting the attention elsewhere. To transmit a message needs some time. And time is something too precious nowadays.

My naive opinion is that if you address people as consumers, they won’t pay attention to you, unless they are looking for something specific to buy. But if you address people as individuals in order to inform them, sensibilise them by using uncommon images, sentences or interactive / moving design, they’ll want to pay attention more easily. I admit that as a graphic designer I tend myself to notice and even stop in front of some designs that are in the streets. I examine them, I judge them, I like or dislike them. I try to make my own opinion of them. How would I have done it myself? This is a game I like to play, also because it trains my gaze and my judging process.

Graphic design is made for people. And if it succeeds in creating interactions or provoking reactions with the public, this is a great success and achievement for the designer. But again, for a design to be considered, it needs to have special conditions that are not all linked to the design itself. Even if we have an incredible poster on the street, it may not be considered. Because it depends directly on the person, her interest, her current mood… It depends on the context, the environment, the time of the day, the weather… It depends on so many aspects that are uncontrollable and unpredictable. Usually, graphic design is something you decide to look at or not.

Graphic design has control over the message it conveys but its power stops there. Who wants to take the time to receive this message is free to do so.