Graphic Design Visual Analysis
— by Rashwan Zaza
Introduction
As part of my studies in MA Communication Design and Creative Strategy at HMKW, Berlin, I conducted this research under the supervision and guidance of Prof. Dr. Jan-Henning Raff. I designed this poster in 2014 when I was a junior graphic designer at a local design studio in Dubai, UAE for Crescendo—a high-end restaurant located in a 5-star hotel.
1. Pre-attentive Perception
To assess the how people perceive the poster at their very first encounter—in other words, what they see before even realizing that they’re seeing or looking at the poster, I used the Tachistoscope. The Tachistoscope is a rapid viewer that flashes the desired graphic (the poster) for only a few milliseconds.
Findings
Sample size: 5
— Shapes
Shapes seem to take the primary spot in the participants' view, as they were quick to mention them in their responses.
Although outlined and not in the traditional form, all the participants seemed to easily recognize the shape of the hand in the visual.
- Hand shape: 100%
Moreover, a significant portion of them recognized the existence of writing or letters as well.
- Writing at the center: 80%
- Arabic writing: 40%
In addition to that, 60% of the participants recognized the circlular shape and identified it as a separate shape placed on the hand.
- Circle: 60%
— Colors
Colors were secondary to shapes, as the participants reported different shades of blue for the background and orange for the letters.
- Blue background: 60%
- Orange writing: 40%
- Hand as white outline: 20%
- Hand as green outline: 20%
- Hand as black: 20%
Based on the findings, we can emulate the visual that the participants saw in this experiment.
2. Emotional Assessment
Although a very hard to assess, I attempted to measure or gauge the emotional response the poster produces in the viewers.
Firstly, I used the Tachistoscope to flash the visual for a few milliseconds for the participants. Secondly, I asked them to assess their emotions on the below Semantic Differential.
Findings
Sample size: 13
The majority of participants viewed the poster as rather dark and cited the dominance of the navy blue in the background as the reason. Most of the participants also found the poster to be rather hazy which falls in line with the first finding of the poster being rather dark, since darkness is commonly linked to vagueness and mystery.
The poster was viewed to be rather friendly and didn’t evoke any feelings of hostility in the participants. A result that emphasizes the notion that smooth, rounded shapes convey a feeling of friendliness as was found in the preceding question.
Finally, the poster was viewed as rather easy to digest and didn’t demand a lot of interpretation or thinking, which is a good result since the purpose of the poster is to attract the attention of potential customers and invite them to the theme night at the restaurant. This result also emphasizes the notion that organized information is easier to digest, as found in the preceding question where the participants found the poster to be rather concentrated as opposed to scattered or chaotic.
3. Construction Analysis
By examining the visual against the Gestalt pincipals and analyzing its construction, we are able to deduce the following:
- The arrangement that is suggested by the format
Since the graphic design is using the portrait format, which suggests vertical stacking of elements. We can see that the design follows that arrangement with the title being the topmost element placed within the graphic shape, and the rest of the information stacked beneath it.
- Overall composition/balance
In terms of balance, the design looks fairly balanced as the elements are placed on the vertical Y axis. And although the body text is left aligned, it applies itself to the borders of the main graphic, giving the design a balanced look. However, the balance is thrown off slightly with the placement of the logo at the bottom of the design.
- Color contrast
The most prominent contrast in the design is the temperature contrast between the title and the background. Then there’s a contrast of light and dark between the elements and text color and the background as well as some contrast of proportion in the main graphic.
- Generative principles
The design elements are placed on the vertical Y axis, which generates a Doner shape stacking.
- Meaning
The vertical stacking of elements and the placement of the logo at the bottom of the poster emphasizes the importance of the event’s theme as an attraction in this communication.
4. Semiosis
To deconstruct this graphic design and determine how it conveys, or if it conveys, the function it is intended for, let us analyze the elements that it consists of.
— The background
Let’s start with the background. The background color – dark blue – was one of the most recognizable things in the Tachistoscope test. The poster is an advertisement for an event that happens at night. This suggests that the dark blue is derived from the color of the night sky. We are then able to say that the background color is an icon because it resembles the night sky when the event takes place.
— The hand
The hand was also one of the most recognized elements of the design. We can interpret the hand in more than one way: firstly, the ornamented design of the hand is the Hamsa (aka. Khamsa and Hand of Fatima) which is a popular amulet in Arabia and the East. In this case, the hand is a symbol of Arabia and serves the purpose of the poster in advertising the Arabian-themed night.
Secondly, the open hand also signifies the gesture to stop, in other words the stop sign. Therefore, we can also say that the hand is an icon and serves the purpose of the design in attracting halting the activity of the viewer to stop and read the poster. This is, however, a secondary and subtle effect.
In addition to the above, the placement of the title in a big circle inside the hand communicates the importance of the title, which makes the hand in this case an index as well.
— The caligraphy
We can also say that the font used in the title and the added ornamental shapes are a symbol of Arabia. This has been reported in the Tachistoscope test with 40% of the participants recognizing the writing as Arabic.
5. Aesthetics
The design takes its elements from the conventional Arabic/Middle Eastern cultural symbols and is inspired by the traditional and busy restaurant poster design style. It packages all those elements and presents them in a clean and organized flat-design aesthetic that attempts to subtly grab the attention of the viewer and lead their gaze vertically from top to bottom.
The design is not distinctive because it follows a traditional color scheme, layout, and theme. Therefore, it gives no pleasure in this regard.
It does communicate successfully, however, the theme of the event, which means that all the elements and the layout are there for the purpose of communicating the theme of the event. We derive, therefore, that this design has the element of dependent beauty.
-- Excursions
To explore how the meaning would change by changing one or more elements in this design, I created a few different versions of the poster and experimented with different styles.
6. Socio-cultural background
The poster was designed in 2014 to promote an Arabian themed night at a restaurant located in a hotel in Dubai. It was designed by a local design studio and offset-printed to be distributed around the hotel and attract the attention of the hotel and restaurant guests, as well as other visitors. The poster was completely designed in Adobe Illustrator by a junior designer.
In 2014, flat design was at its peak and was one of the major design trends that year. Clean and simple layouts were very popular in those days, too, as well as big typography. Parallax scrolling was also a trend in web design and if we look at the light pattern in the background, we can see a hint of that in the poster, too.
The poster is designed to attract customers to a restaurant to enjoy Arabic and international food and entertainment. It is a family event, and the restaurant is located inside a luxurious hotel. The guests of this hotel are of various international backgrounds and are visiting Dubai for tourism in most cases, therefore, they are looking for an authentic cultural experience that introduces them to the culture and cuisine of the city, as well as entertain them with their families. Of course, most and foremost, they need to eat.
7. Practices
To test out the graphic design in practice, I wrote an imaginary story of how people could interact with it in its intended environment.
"It was a nice evening out with colleagues. We went to a nice restaurant in a hotel on the palm. As always, the topic of what to do on the weekend came up and I suggested Leila Arabia since most of us were from a different part of the world and didn’t have much interaction with the local Arabic cuisine. How I came to know about this event was mere chance. I was at the urinals in the hotel and a dark blue poster of the event was hanging right on top of ‘em. Great location for advertising a theme night at the restaurant, I thought. I didn’t pay much attention to the design at first, but the big hand with the Arabic-looking font caught my eye. And since I was ‘taking care of business’, as they say, it provided good reading material. Initially, I didn’t care for the details. But when the topic of what to do on the weekend came about, I decided to ask the staff about it."
8. Final Thoughts
As an overall result, the research and analysis affirmed the effectiveness of the design in communicating the theme of the night and provided ample reasoning for using the different elements that make it up.
However, I found that had it been taken out of its socio-cultural context and displayed on a wall on the street, for example, it would not have had the same effect. Which leads me to conclude that the socio-cultural context must take high priority when we commence a design or communication project.
Finally, a note regarding the process and methodology of this research; this research has taken place online during the Covid-19 pandemic, which restricted the extent of research, tools and, interactions to a limited set of exercises and experiments.