The Research Journey

Creative research - for inspiration and problem solving. None linear and exploratory. 
Academic research - seeks to answer the question or solution to a problem. Research rooted in theory. 

Visual analysis - study of media / artefacts
Social studies - surveys, interviews etc
Practised based - research by doing

Abstracts 
Aims of research - Explore how shadowed characters are represented 
Methods used - Look at two texts, analysing illustration and writing. 

Quantitive Research 
-Surveys, counts, questionnaires
-Roots in science
-Can't answer how or why 

-Open or closed questions?
-How to target the audience?
-Careful questioning

Qualitive Research 
-Interviews, focus groups etc
-Good for asking how or why 
-Deeper insight

Research methods 

Primary 
- Knowledge through activity and reflection eg. theories, issues, interests are investigated. 
- Approaches may include; experimentation with materials and processes, sketchbooks, formal analysis. 

Secondary 
- Reading through existing sources, locating key texts to the subject.
- Literature review and comparison between studies.
- Finding useful case studies. 

Post Modernism and Visual Culture - from 1980s to present? Time we're living through but not defined?

Modernism:
- Roughly 100 years - Mid 19th century in Europe to late 1970s in America. 
- Sustained period of innovation in the arts - linked to changes in industry, science, media, etc. 
- Context - overarching political and power constructs. 

Key themes:
- Rationalism.
- Technology > culture.
- Belief in grand narratives.
- Foreground of high (elitist) culture. 

Post truth culture:
- Distrust in fact/expert opinion.
- Truth is relative, contested, not absolute. 
- Replaced by authenticity. 

Anti Modernism:
- Complex reaction to failure of modernism > conflicts, holocaust, ecological disasters etc. 
- Anti foundational - reject rationalism, truths, etc. 
- Scepticism of grand political schemes of modernism. 
- Feminist views to modern media. 

Hyper Modernism:
- State is constant, incomplete. 
- Cyclical culture. 
- New media and technology.
- Technology acceleration. 

Visual culture 

 Mutations of public space:
- Urban or fantasy architectural spaces, eg. theme parks are hyper reality. 
- Global/cultural hybridity. 

The unstable image:
- Real/untouched
- Bricolage, parody and pastiche. 
- Intertextuality and double coding. 
- Hybrid genres and recycled narratives. 

The real, retouched or recycled:
- No longer trusting images as a true representation. 
- The degradation of image, reading representation and not meaning. 
- Semiotic overload. 

The society of the spectacle:
- Mediation - life lived on and through a screen.
- Complexity and simulation is the new reality - more information but less meaning. 
- Multi-modal narratives. 

The Cultural Village - Whole world, global network 

- Shared common destiny - health, environment etc. 
- Cultural change - mix or local and indigenous culture with global influence. 
- Cultural imperialism - disproportionate effect of one culture over another. 
- Post traditional community - economic and technology, impact on community relations. 

Traditional Community - being rooted to a sense of belonging and fixed local work patterns.
- Also have historical ties, for example the length of a family's residence.
- A fixed spacial environment of public/private space. 
- Shared rituals, collected celebrations and community events. 
- Moral certainty - respect for community hierarchy?

Post Traditional Communities 
- Transient connections, people moving more frequently for work and leisure. Generational shifting. 
- Changing spacial environment, town planning reflecting social economic change. 
- Digital integration, growth of online communities, individual and global narratives via new world technology. 

Trade without borders - Turbo or late capitalism 
- Since 1980s, growth and emphasis on global economics. 
- Movement in the west from manufacturing to service base economics.
- Global brands, rise of transitional corporations. 

The corporate brand 
- Signifier of the image/lifestyle/myth.
- Designed - corporate identity. 

- Growth of fashion franchises. 
- Growth of high concept advertising.

Anti corporate movement 
- Growth since 1990s.
- Growing awareness and consumerism. 
- Use of adoption of social media, subcultures and communities.
- Use of design as a weapon of propaganda, subversion and culture. 

Creative resistance strategies
- Brandalism 
- Detournement and subverting - production and alternate texts. 
- Pranksters and intervention.
- Ethical / sustainable design / arts practice. 

Ethical design
- 'First things first' - 2000 manifesto. Rewrite of 1964 document. 

Sex and Gender 

Sex - biological difference between male and female. Official documents/legal requirements etc. 
Gender - the cultural roles of masculinity and femininity - social constructs.

Definitions of gender are specific to time and place, they change over time and reflect broader cultural change (political, economic, scientific and social etc. It's reflected in visual culture. 

Key debates on gender 
-Gender and power structures (eg. cultural patriarchy)
=Essentialism (nature) vs structuralism (nurture) 
-Political, economic, scientific, and social attributes that effect gender.

The male gaze
- Reduces women down to objects.
- Viewed by three perspectives; the man behind the camera, characters within the film representation, the male viewer. 

Erving Goffman - Gender Advertisements 

- 'Binary' representation of men and women.
- Presence of a woman is different to a man.
- Men are seen as assertive, decision makers (instructors)
- Women in supportive roles (instructed)

The Tiger Who Came To Tea

- Children's book written in the 1960's, still in publication today
- Reinforces gender stereotypes - ordinary family life, with mother in kitchen cooking/cleaning before father comes home from work. 
- Power dynamic of male / female roles. 
- No other female roles outside of the mother and child - every other role is male; milkman, delivery boy, father, etc. 
- Male tiger is disruptive, gluttonous etc. Father is seen as the hero, saves the day. 

Style magazines 
- Leisure vs work - magazines occupy the world of leisure.
- Status, focuses on selling a future, or a happier self.
- Consumerism, content that links to gender identity with consumerism (advertising)
- Sexuality - 'normalised' heterosexual relationships, attitudes to sex are being redefined. 

Cover analysis - Tom Holland GQ vs Khloé Kardashian Cosmopolitian 

GQ Tom Holland 
- Colour scheme is more dark and serious, more sophisticated. Also reflected in the typeface. 
- Text positioning is more coherent, more organised. Adds to serious feel. 
- Bust shot portrait, gender roles reinforced with suit. 

Cosmopolitian Khloé Kardashian  
- Colours are brighter, subject matter is more personal and less about the wider world. Gossip like?
- Text placement is more spontaneous, messier looking. Less serious. 
- Casual clothing, full body position, showing off whole body. Reinforcing gender roles and femininity.

Regressive argument?
- Heterosexual in context and outlook.
- Reinforce/obscure patriarchy.
- Link gender and consumerism.
- Unrealistic role models.

Progressive argument?
- Post modern texts, irony and humour. 
- Provide sense of community. 
- Encourage dialogue between man and woman.
- Provide cultural place for gender identities to be explored. manipulated or preserved. 
​

Mainstream culture is the hierarch of society, it is shaped by prominent political, media, social and corporate interests - its the parent culture or dominant culture. Mainstream culture reflects the interests of powerful social groups. It can only operate through a consensus. 

Subculture is a minority group that stands apart from mainstream culture. It occurs when there is a refusal to participate in mainstream culture, or to subvert, parody or disrupt elements of mainstream culture. Breakdown of consensus?

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Case Study 1 - The Beats - 1950s America. 
Subculture elites; Mostly white, young educate middle class etc
Frame of reference: 1950s America, post world war two. 
Beat as in 'beaten' - symbolising alienation from mainstream media. 

Beat literature themes;
- Anti mainstream, 1950's culture, materialism and consumerism.
- Opposition to cold war politics.
- Anti censorship, moral ambiguity, liberal attitudes towards sex, gender and relationships. 
- Underlying spirituality. 

Beat literature form and process; 
- Iconoclastic 
- Freeform and experimental prose.
- Expressionistic. 
- Links to abstract paintings, jazz music etc. 

Cycle of subculture 
-Self promotion by the Beats writers
-- Popular with young college audiences - disenfranchised by Eisenhower's America
--- Attracted audiences outside the USA > Europe, French new wave
---- Absorbed in mainstream media
-----Evolving into other cultures - The Beatnik, The Beat-Chick

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Case Study 2 - Punk - 1970s Britain
- Influence of subculture elite
- Punk dress code and rituals 
- Cultural capital - DIY designs 
- Detournement of mainstream texts

Punk dress code 
- Anti taste - reflecting social dislocation 
- Use of collage and bi-collage - use of safety pins
- Provocative 
- Subversion of cultural signs
- Cross gender dress

Cultural capital - DIY design and demystification 
- Participation and creation
- Amateurism, signals authenticity 
- DIY culture (music, design, etc)
- Anti corporate / anti elitism 

The Punk visual lexicon / semiotic code 
- Energetic / urgent 
- Crudely produced but often well composed 
- Cheaply printed, restricted colour
- Lettering, the stencils etc. 

Themes class; consumerism, urban decay, sexuality, criminality, anti mainstream.
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Detournement - 'aping' the mainstream culture, appropriation and altercation of mainstream media.

Absorption - subculture being absorbed into mainstream media, villainised, parodied etc. 

There are many characteristics of comics that need to be understood before they can be read. Such as panels - positive space, and gutters - negative space. The relationship between one panel and the next is fundamental. Negative space is 'active' and still an interactive medium. 

Thought and speech bubbles (form and design) are separated in their appearance, allowing the reader to distinguish the two. Thought bubbles are usually rounder, while speech bubbles are more pointed. They need to be attached to something that is capable of thinking. 

Sound effects and symbolic icons (onomatopoeia and cultural variants) refer to how information is presented to help the reader understand what is going on. This can vary for different cultures, as the use of z's to show sleep is used in the west, while snot bubbles are used to show sleep in Japanese manga. 

Character abstraction is a tool used to simplify characters when drawing out small panels, but still keeping them distinguishable. 

Encoding -the creating cognitive reasoning in the selection and arrangement of a comic. 
Decoding- reading, understanding and making connections (anchorage) between the image and text

Plurivectorial flow - term given to erratic way of reading comic pages. Unlike other media, past, present and future is all shown at the same time. 

Negative space closure - the reader must enter the negative space in their imagination to make sense of the whole story and the passage of time. 

Types of closure:
Moment to moment -  small passage of time.
Action to action - different action / same scene, some closure needed.
Subject to subject - different subjects, same scene/idea/ Needs more reader involvement. 
Scene to scene - different location, different movement of time and space. Deductive reasoning needed. 
Aspect to aspect - scene shifting - no apparent time shift. Shows different aspect of the same scene.
Non- sequitur - no logical relationship between panels? Closure?


Junji Ito - Slug Girl 

​Myths: refers to sites in mainstream culture. They reflect societal norms or dominant ways of thinking about people or places. They are structures to send or propagate messages which may be ideological (politically motivated). 

Advertising and Myths:
Ads are particular to a time and place - reflecting political, social, or cultural ideas and trends. Ads reinforce particular cultural myths. They are presented as natural but represent cultural or dominant ideology. 

Examples:

Moral Values - Cultural norms and ways of behaviour - eg family units. 
Representation - gender, race, ethnicity 
Reinforced attitudes towards consumerism and status. 
Aspirational selling - Reflect target consumer.
                                  - Plant 'seed of need'.
                                  - Link status > consumerism, 
Concealment - hide / don't show production or economic structure. 

Advertising business is competitive - many who make the advertisements are highly educated and aware of cultural trends and use of semiotics to convey meaning. 

Semiotic analysis; 
Separates linguistic and image signs in the advertisements. 

Linguistic message;
Non coded - (Literal meaning of linguistic signs)
Coded - (Connotations of linguistic signs)
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Image message:
Non coded - (Denotative reading of image signs)
Coded - (Symbolic / connotative reading of image signs)


​Panzini Advertisement

Linguistic message:
Non coded - Literal meaning 
Branding; fonts, labels, brand name etc.
Caption; 'the luxury of Italy' - knowledge of the French langue needed. 

Coded - Connotations
Luxury - quality, expense etc
Brand name/font used - italianicity 
Placement - the unseen hand of the designer

Non coded - Image denotation
Photograph (iconic sign)
Collection of signs: food, vegetables, etc
Domestic setting (table/worktop)
Hierarchy: top left to bottom right - emphasis on tagline. 

Coded - Image connotation
‘Studied spontaneity’ - hidden process - carefully composed photographic image (studio)
The string bag: authenticity - connotation of the fishermen's net, a ‘fresh catch’, straight from the market - makes the product appear more natural and less processed.
Spilling/abundance: you have everything you need to cook a fine meal etc. 
Colour connotations - red-white-green - Italy - authentic Italian food. 

Dior perfume - Weekend Guardian February 2019

Linguistic Message;
Non coded - Literal meaning
No tagline: the text/design on the bottle is repeated to form the ‘anchor’ for the advert.
Emphasis on brand name 'Dior' — well known brand.
‘The new fragrance’ — common phrase, introducing / announcing new product.

Coded - Connotation
Joy - conceptual 
Brand construction - repetition - intertextuality 
Typography - stylized (plane of expression)

Image Message: 
Non coded - Denotation 
Image hierarchy - product placed in bottom right of image (fits with western reading function). Female model: head and shoulders (close-up) - emerging from water - natural light.
White ethnicity/blond/blue eyes are direct engagement with photographer/viewer/consumer. 
Editing of product and model - enhance the look of fashion. 

Coded - Connotations
Posed - not spontaneous. 
Association - apply the look of femininity, beauty etc to the product.
Model encourages projection - psychological benefits.

Intertextuality
Celebrity as a potent sign - reflects other media texts (eg Hollywood film) - The lifestyle status of celebrity. 
Previous campaigns, creates branding and identity among Dior brand. 

Images are iconic signifiers, they resemble what they describe and are usually learnt, viewed or experienced before learning words. Many things can effect the way images are read, one example is the plane of expression; this is how an image is rendered can alter the meaning. Another is through anchorage. This is used to describe the relationship between text and image as well as when they are separate. 

Anchorage - describes the relationship between words and visuals - relationship between text and image. The different types of anchorage are;

Word Specific -  words provides all or most of the information needed to decode the image. 
Image Specific - image provides all or most of the information needed to decode the image. 
Dual Message - both words and image convey the same message. 
Interdependent (or Convergent) - words and images working together whilst contributing information independently. Coveys and idea that neither could do alone. 
Parallel or Divergent - words and images that follow different paths or communicate ideas that do not intersect.  

To be able to make sense of words and images, both the denotation and connotation is needed. Denotation is the primary meaning, the immediate and literal deduction often with broad opinion. Connotation is the secondary reading, for example, in a illustration the reader may pick up on the style and what that means in reference to the image. This would allow them to link to other ideas and concepts, expanding on other connotations and the denotation of the image or text. Intertextuality link between one text and another coded interpretation - and can also add context. 

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

Text denotations:
'This is not a pipe' - French langue. Written as a statement or fact. 
Slogan/signature is in a handwritten style. 

Text connotations:
Key signifier - 'pipe' - associations with the object.
Handwritten text associated with informality, personal form of expression. Yet appears sophisticated.  
Statement suggests certainty where concept/idea does not. 
Signature - ownership over idea, signals that its a piece of art - value. 

​Image denotations:
Medium of the painting - oil paint on canvas
Realistic painting of a pipe.

Image connotations:
Painted carefully/skilfully - 2D representation of 3D object - photographic realism. 
More masculine looking pipe, dark colours, bold shape.
Status, more upper-class - authority.  
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Anchorage
Interdependent/convergent - text and image work together to give meaning. Would not make sense on their own. Contradictory messages. 

Frame of reference: 
Painted in the 1920s, cultural reading dependent on time and place. Meanings change with context and when painting is seen. Presentation/representation. 

Semiotics is the study of signs and sign systems within society, that have been influenced by culture. Signs are anything that are capable of conveying meaning, whether that be words, image, clothes, gestures, symbols, etc. Semiotics are used to understand the world around us, and develop and underpin understandings for different ways of communicating. 

Signified + Signifier = Sign 
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Signified -  the mental concept - a response and understanding (cognitive reading)
Signifier - physical representation - stimulus (verbal / text)

Language is ideological (political and socially motivated) - made up of different signs, spoken or written. Words are symbolic, and work because of a difference between signs. For example, we know dog is different to dig because of both the signified, and the signifier. 

Saussure (1857 - 1913) - linguist academic, more interested in language existing as a state in a moment of time as opposed to in history. He believed the key to language was through the communication of minds. Language is full of signs, whether written or spoken, and it is the difference between signs that allows language to function. 

Roland Barthes -Mythologies (1957) - Myths refers to something present in mainstream culture. They reflect dominant ways of thinking about things, eg. place, product, thing etc and may be ideological (politically or socially motivated. Barthes was heavily influenced by Karl Marx.  

Semiotics in action:

How is the role/ character of each wrestler defined and communicated to the audience?
The characters are introduced to the audience straight away, describing everything from physique to reputation. This allows the audience to easily pick up on which character is the 'hero' and which is the 'villain.' This is done through the different expressions present on each characters face, and reflected in the audience as they boo for Giant Haystacks, and cheer for the hero Big Daddy. 

What is the role played by the commentator?
The commentator is there to describe what is happening in the ring, all while being enthusiastic about what is playing out in front of them, in hopes to make the audience at home just as excited and entertained. 

What about the role of the referee?
The referee is there to provide as much entertainment as the two wrestlers. His smaller physique allows the viewer to clearly see how much larger the two wrestlers are in comparison. Even in the background the referee is able to direct the viewers attention to which ever wrestler is of more importance at that time, essentially making him a tool for the story to unfold. 

Crowd response is the action in the ring clear to follow? If so how is this made possible?
The majority of the action is easy for the crowd to follow. Over exaggerated actions from the wrestlers help the action be seen more easily. For viewers at home, the commentator adds to the clarity, serving as a narrator for the action. 

Based on observation would you classify wrestling as a sport?
With the pre-determined result, wrestling is nothing more than a theatre production, with pre-planned stunts to help the story of hero vs villain unfold. Wrestling doesn't stand up to the spontaneity and competitiveness of other sports. Even if it has all the qualities of other sports, such as in the commentator, referee, etc. Wrestling simply creates the image of passion without the dangerous consequences. 

*scan in notes