Report about the analysis of a Graphic. It will be divided in different chapters and will analyze the work from the perception to the semiosis. The work has been developed following the course of Professor Dr. Raff from the master in Communication Design & Creative Strategies of HMKW Berlin, during the winter semester 2020-2021.
emerges that the 3 people in 25ms of time saw:
COLORS: 100% Blue (3) 100% White (3) 66,67% black (2) 33,33% grey (1) Blue and White are easily recognized, but also Black (present only in lettering) is recognized from the majority.
SHAPES: 100% of the tester recognized the nature of the shape: which are simple "blocks" rectangulars ("cubes//Blocks")
ELEMENTS: 100% of the tester recognized big lettering ("huge letters", "big lettering")
KIND OF WORK: 33,33% recognized that the graphic is a flyer
THE IMPRESSIONS:
"I saw a flyer divided in 4 cubes. 1 was blue, 1 grey, 2 white. Black huge letters."
"2 block of colors: white and blue, big lettering black"
"blocks colored white and blue with black lettering."
CONCLUSIONS:
The colors mostly perceived are Blue (rgb), White and black (only lettering) while grey is present only for 1/3 of the tester.
The big black letters are recognized by the totality, while the white are not mentioned by anybody. The design of the back ground is perceived in Blue and White blocks/cubes with some grey, black block is not mentioned by anybody.
PERCEIVED GRAPHIC:
After the Analysis of the poster emerges that the people perceive only 3 colors of background, divide in blocks (4). And the huge letters in black (nobody was able to see what was written).
So the graphic perceived 
is a flyer divided in 4 different rectangles with some big letters. The difference between colors helps to understand and define the shapes.
a diagram has been designed (using the Graffik.de example) that will bring out the semantic differences. The diagram is based on 6 different topics that could be coupled. The graphic has been showed
to 5 people for 5 seconds with the tacheitoscope. After that they have been tested on the survey: 
The voices of the survey are strictly concentrated on technical Perception and first "impression". To find out the Emotional that the graphic is able to give.
The couple of adjectives analized are:
ORDERLY-CHAOTIC;
FULL-CLEAN;
DIRECT-MYSTERIOUS;
CONTRASTY-SMOOTH;
BRUTAL-NICE;
FUNNY-SERIOUS;
THE RESULSTS:
CONCLUSIONS:
The graphic in just 5 seconds has been understood by the pubblic as something ORDERLY (5/5).
(4/5) say that it is CLEAN, so the graphic is easy to be understood.
The graphic is perceived as something CONTRASTY and BRUTAL, but at the same time also as something SERIOUS.
The original graphic is a poster developed for a talk. Since the goal is to communicate something "abstract", serious and "important" seems that the majority of the people are able to find catch it from the communication.
The format of the original graphic is vertical and the designer divided it into blocks.
These blocks could be easily moved and the could compose a diffirent format, using the same informations and the exactly same proportional blocks.
The vertical format is by the way more easy to read. *(more composition at point 5)
The composition is perfectly balanced.
The blocks have been divided into 3 different stages: A, B, C. The three are present 2 times and balanced as AA - BB - CC.
Constrast used:
1. Black on white: for the most important informations (extremely clear)
2. White on RGB Blue: very clear and direct, the blue is able to catch the attention of the viewer and the white is able to come out from this backgruound.
3. White on grey: not easy to read, used only for little text and not extremely relevant.
4. White on Black: used for relevant text, but as evinced in chapter 1 the white text emerge too much in the perception, so the eye see mostly a white square instead of a white text on black.
The grid is extremely simple and clear. It is based on the middle line of X and Y axes.
Respecting the grid and the "blocks" concept is possible to build different compositions, as shown in examples.
The composition chosen by the designer is clear to be understood. He/her decided to give an information in each block,
dividing them from dimensions and colors, giving so a different gerarchie to infos. *Has already seen at point one the grafich can work also in orizhontal and not only in a vertical format.
Let's concentrate on the left red rectangle. The composition of the blocks in the down part. Why did the designer divide it into 4 blocks of different colors? Is it just a weird Lego reminder?
why the rgb blue is used as background for the date of the conference? It seems that the designer used it to come out of the paper and remind the date as if it was more important then the entire conference.
What about the black background used for the place? Seems like the BUILDING NE49 at MIT should be a really dark and deep place, probably industrial, a bit scary. Does it fit with the topic of the Talk? "artificial intelligence ethics & philosophy talks"? It does not remind to this topic, but more at a club of techno music.
Now let's speak about the weird illustration on the right. The position doesn't help to understand: is it an illustration of Dr. Cunningham? A remind to basic variations? or a rapresentation of artificial intelligence ethics & philosophy? The image seems to be a cut face with a brain, or maybe an alien. It does not remind to any of the three text also because of the position in the graphic. Probably i should be removed by the poster because reminds at something fantasy and cartoon.
By the way i suppose that it should remind to artificial intelligence. But It's not really easy to get it if we look only at the illustration without the text remind.
Let's go now to other details with 
The main titles are really big. The black on white seems really serious and seems like a shout to the observer. But what about the space between the name of the Dr. and the name of the conference? What does it mean? why is divided? At first look seems to be 2 different events. And why the name of a doctor is important as the name of the conference?
Probably the gerarchie should be reviewed because it is super confused if all has the same importance and the viewer can misunderstand it very easily.
Let's look now on the right. Can we touch and critic the logo of the iconic MIT? Yes we can. Are there some blocks trying to compose MIT, but if we look at it thinking about gestalt... What can we see? some rectangles and Squares.
we can see how the flyer is stricht to the Grid System. Infact all the blocks strichtly respect a guide. The Big letters come from brutalist posters, using a sans serif font. The blue comes from the rgb colors and is now used in many graphic designs. But The origin of using it is from the advent of computers, that could be related with the topic of the conference. 
Thinking about how it works we need to ask ourself 4 questions:
1) Do I like something
because it shows how I conform?
2) Do I like something
because it sparks my imagination?
3) Do I like something
because I want to be seen as ...?
4) Do I like something
because I use it a lot?
There is not a precise answer to those questions and would be better to see it like: 
has been designed to sponsorize a talk about Psychology and artificial intelligence. It has been designed from a Freelancer designer for the MIT university. The poster is very serious but it's influenced by the modern style. Infact we can define it as a Brutalist design. It is really simple, but also simple can have it's appeal.
The purpose of it is really serious and the designer has been able to represent this context (usually boring and old school) in a fresh and modern style. Usually this kind of conference doesnt have good design and modern style, but something more classical and informative with stock pics and shades.
These are often messy bulletin boards where posters and other announcements are randomly stuck on top of each other. and how many students actually stop and watch them? Few! and hardly not at first glance. Probably an average student passes it 3 or 4 times before stopping to read.
But when the poster is well designed and the topic is cool! You will have the attention of super interesting students! 
.
Summarizing the life of one of these posters ....
"Poster felt alone despite being surrounded by other sheets that tried in every way to stand in front of him, overlap and cover him. Every day Poster tried to shout at everyone his ideas, even giving an appointment, but nobody listened to him. One day Poster was so fed up that he decided to dye himself blue and write his ideas in big letters. That day Poster managed to capture Student's attention. He was delighted because he understood that it was enough to be clear to be heard. "
But let's speak in general about posters. Usually what stop us during a walk in the street or in the Underground? Which is a good poster? 
A good poster is the one that you remember, that is able to capture a person and stop him/her during a fast walk. Is the color important? Yes. Colors are the first thing that distract people. But not only. The new brutalist wave is underlining that a poster works also with just text and 2 or 3 colors. So what is important? The message. The easy way to understand a poster, its contest and his message.
Is it easy to stop people in the street with a poster? 
No. Probably people need to see it for 3 or 4 times before stop and read. So what is important? All the details are important. Subject, typography, colors and WHERE the poster is located.
If we try to summarize it in a few verses ...
"I saw her walking
It was a Friday night
I wore the brightest color
To get his attention
I saw her turn around
I yelled at her my thoughts
The bus has arrived
And this is roughly the moment she walked away from me
Nobody likes you when you use Comic Sans
I changed the font
What the hell should I add?
My neighbors say I should recite my message
What is my message?
What is my message?
Then later
On her way home
I saw her again
I acted as an actor
She stopped
We didn't make love
But she called my boss
So I got a promotion
Now I'm at Aleksander Platz"
was an Italian designer, painter and architect. He graduated in architecture in Turin, and already in the thirties he participated in manifestations of the second futurism, and then approached geometric abstractionism and constructivism. He developed his own interests in the optical-visual field, conducting analytical research through not only pictorial but also photographic means.
Soon his developments were directed towards the study of perceptual procedures experimenting with photograms, photomontages, overlays and graphics, based on perceptual theories 
, in particular on the Psychology of form. Subsequently he entered a long period of experimentation on "virtual forms" by intervening directly on the image by distorting its form in a plastic way (rotations, torsions, splits, deformations) or dynamically (progressions, accelerations, exchange of direction and perspective reversals)
; by making natural suggestions and emotions emerge from the mind of the observer through "artificial" modifications and solicitations.
Grignani's work stood out for the creation of graphic models in which the object of communication is presented in its conceptual substance and not in its phenomenal reality, creating posters based on 'distortion' and visual perception. 
All of Grignani's work therefore focused on the search for new visual parameters, new models of vision produced by subjecting the image to tensions, twists, interpenetrations, in which linear and planar configurations are composed in complex spatial relationships.
Grignani was a visual researcher and the role that photography 
plays in his path was very important and decisive. He was convinced that photography and the processes connected to it allow us to see beyond what the human eye can investigate.
He said: “I seek what does not exist, what is beyond the real. The human eye has limits, at some point it does not go beyond. Our eye is also calibrated. Speed therefore forces the mind to intervene to make up for the difficulties, the uncertainties of our eye. So I alter the perspective, I look for impossible forms, I enter the labyrinth of distortions ”.
For Grignani, the image becomes a starting point, the space needed to meet other spaces, using blur and soft focus, overlapping to go beyond the reality of things, to penetrate them into a different dimension, to broaden their meaning. In his photographs a simple point becomes a trail and to deepen the principle of the dynamics of perception, from the taxi he takes up the streets and skyscrapers of New York. 
He will create experimental photographs made to stimulate intuition and perception, to lead us to transform reality into creative vision.
Grignani's work has profoundly influenced modern graphics. The distortion of texts and images is currently a trend for Graphic Designers. But the modalities have changed. If Grignani's research was deeply linked to photography, today's world is linked to the computer. This kind of works are often developed in 3D with various programs, to then be used in posters and advertisements. This is no longer a transition from analog to graphics. But from digital to graphic. In fact, with the means currently in use it is possible to distort the images and repeat them at will. But in this way all the "natural" part of Grignani's research is lost. 
Grignani's use of typography, inspired by photographs and light, is also a current trend. With the means available it is possible to distort the texts and create videos / graphics capable of giving a sense of movement. But if we compare them with those of Grignani of the 60s the result is very similar. In fact, optical art, a movement of which he belongs, can be said to be a pillar of modern graphics, as well as a great influence for the new brutalist wave.
But the question is: are we still able to use Grignani's theories or have we been totally carried away by technology? Do we still know what we stand for and where it comes from?
Many of the modern graphics seem to take into account only the aesthetics and not the actual content and its meaning. With photographic distortion we start analogue more manual techniques are used through exposure, lenses, focus. All these properties can now be replicated to the computer, effortlessly. But do we know where these effects come from? I believe that it is essential to know the properties of photography to be able to use these media in a sensible way, otherwise you will only create graphic jumble without deep meaning, but only aesthetically "correct" or "cool".
A good example of a contemporary artist who has managed to keep this tradition is Felipe Pantone. 
"Felipe Pantone evokes a spirit in his work that feels like a collision between an analog past and a digitized future, where human beings and machines will inevitably glitch alongside one another in a prism of neon gradients, geometric shapes, optical patterns, and jagged grids.
Based in Spain, Pantone is a byproduct of the technological age when kids unlocked life’s mysteries through the Internet. As a result of this prolonged screen time, he explores how the displacement of the light spectrum impacts color and repetition.
“Color only happens because of light, and light is the only reason why life happens,” Pantone says. 
"Light and color are the very essence of visual art. Thanks to television, computers, and modern lighting, our perception of light and color has changed completely.”
For Pantone, his art is a meditation on the ways we consume visual information. Drawing inspiration from kinetic artist like Victor Vasarely and Carlos Cruz-Diez — who both utilized the moiré effect (in which lines of contrasting color give the impression of movement) — his contemporary work produces the sensation of vibration as the viewer’s position changes in relation to the work. To achieve the desired effect, Pantone utilizes modeling software which allows for 3D insights into a project, which then can be translated into frescoes, murals, paintings, and sculptures which give tactile merit to what is occurring in the digital world.
“I grew up as a simple painter, trained as a painter, and now my biggest goal is to get clear of all the academic training and to be able to make art freely, with the tools that work best,” he says. 
Whether it’s exhibiting in galleries around the world, transforming a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette into something futuristic, or painting the largest mural in Portugal, Pantone’s diverse applications are united by the intersection of technology and fine art.
“I try to create things that are not supposed to be where they are,” he says. “To bring awareness of certain things, to move people’s thoughts elsewhere.""
After this brief excursus on the Spanish artist. We can say that Grigniani's graphics and mathematical studies influenced the development of a new "anti" pop art graphic line (for this reason the optical art movement is also called Op art). This has contributed over the years to increase the graphic style and the search for uses of photography within graphics. In fact, today photography is the protagonist of most of the posters. The tools we have at our disposal are many and allow us to radically transform photography, through filters, effects and distortions.
Over the last twenty years, typography has assumed a fundamental role. Many designers are able to mix typography and photography in the best way, finding original compositions in step with time. The Grignani distortions are now much more easily obtainable with both 2d and 2d programs and are increasingly common.
This is why it can be said that this modern style is the son of studies carried out in Europe and in New York during the 50s and 60s. I wanted to deal with this topic to deepen one of the main artists who influenced the world of graphics to which I feel particularly close. Furthermore, I feel I can say, after this brief analysis, that even the graphics analyzed during the research bring with them great influences from Op Art. Although it is extremely simple and regular, we can see how the study and the combination of colors is close to the one mathematically studied by Grignani. As well as the extremely simple, albeit regular, shapes.