Symbolism and Semiotics with guest lecturer Martin Hosken
Martin Hoskin's guest lecture was really interesting. It focussed on symbolism and semiotics. I think my biggest takeaway from this lecture was the idea that the success of the message delivery is based on how the person receives the intended message - therefore the success of communication relies solely on the message received and not the one sent. This made me look at this in a different way - having worked on a communications team for just over a year I have always thought the message depends more on the way it is sent and the intention behind it. I found this interesting because people use cultural and environmental knowledge to decipher messages, so what is said can be taken one way in one area and a completely different way in another area. This is definitely something to be considered when designing for global audiences - which with technology is happening more and more.
I also found it really interesting that the meaning of symbols can be so greatly changed depending on who uses them. An example of this would be the swastika - originally it was a symbol was from the Sanskrit svastika, means “conducive to well-being.” [1] However, it was then taken by the Nazi Party and now the only connotations are extremely negative and the symbol is no longer used. This shows a heavy reliance on context to the meaning of any symbol or message in general. Hosken goes on to say you can find bottle tops showing swastikas on Cornwall beaches - a brewery used the symbol pre World War II then had to get rid of them all as soon as the meaning changed.
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols, use and interpretation. To have a successful sign you must have a signifier and and a signified. For example, a red traffic light is the sign, the signifier is the red light and the signified is stop. I thought breaking down a sign in this way was really useful and it made me wonder how the same sign can have the same signifier but signify different things depending on the location.
This hand gesture in the UK for example, means okay, all is good. It's often used casually amongst friends. However, in Brazil it is the equivalent of giving someone the finger, and is usually used when disagreeing with people. It is also having changing connotations in the USA - originally it meant okay also, however now it is being linked more and more to white supremacy groups. [2]
Red is another example of something that has vastly different interpretations in different cultures. For example, red is the most important colour in Indian culture and has a lot of meanings; fear and fire, wealth and power, purity, fertility, seduction, love, and beauty. However, in South Africa is means grief. In Thailand, red is for Sunday and associated with Surya, a solar God. [3]
The clap emoji in most of the world means well done, or a round of applause. However in China, it actually symbolises sex. In this case, the sign is the emoji, the signifier is the clapping hands and the signified is the element which changes depending on where you are - clapping in the UK, sex in China.
This lecture was really interesting and I think it has helped in understanding communication of messages and how the way they are received may vary.
Case Study
This lecture by Tom was a really interesting way at looking at aspects from the lecture in practice. For example, the way different countries interpreted the brief to brand their Olympics. Everyone recognises the Olympic rings so seeing them designed in such different ways yet remaining recognisable way brilliant. I also found learning about the different approaches taken very insightful - from the systematic approach, to the emblematic approach and ending with the abstract approach.
I remember the Olympics pretty clearly from 2000 onwards and my favourites have always been the London Olympics and the Beijing Olympics. London possibly because it's where I live but I remember the Beijing designs really capturing my imagination. It's interesting that my two favourites are two different approaches - the emblematic and the abstract, although I liked them for the same reasons - they are representative of where they are and also both such recognisable brands even all these years after the events.
I also thought Tom's comments about design not needing to be so literal when people have preconceived knowledge. This was really interesting because the modern Olympics has been going on for 125 years, since 1896, which means currently, no one knows a life without/before it, therefore a maximum amount of preconceived knowledge. This could be why the more current design leans more towards abstract, it is already a thoroughly understood event.
Patrick Thomas Breaking News 2.0 Installation at the London Design festival
I really wish I could have seen this exhibition in London - it is such a valuable and interesting concept. I think Patrick Thomas reflects society extremely well - people creating their own headlines really echoes the current climate on the internet specifically. Anyone can write a story and spread misinformation - just look at all the falsehoods currently circulating by anti-vaxxers, they base their stories on opinions rather than facts but their headlines get the same coverage.
I took from Patrick's exhibition the idea that something doesn't have to be true to make headlines, people can write anything they want and it is accepted as truth, both in the exhibition and online. I also think that by questioning if you can trust the news that will hopefully make people think next time they see a conspiracy theory, for example. Hopefully people who saw this exhibition become more willing to question what they see.
The random graphic shapes Patrick uses to decorate the post adds a really interesting layer, the fact they are random could also reflect the randomness of the 'news' itself. I think it adds an interesting level to the exhibition which is full of both truth and lies.
Design literacy - Understanding Graphic Design
This reading [4] was a great way to discover designers and artists I had never come across before. I especially liked the Racism New York City poster by James Victore (left). The illustration really makes you eel the meaning of the word and that is what message and typography is all about. It was designed after the 1993 race riots where Victore thought the media were overusing the word racism and therefore portraying an incorrect version, he thought it was voyeuristic and instead wanted to raise awareness of the real issues. I think political activism is one of the best motivations for boundary pushing design.
After the BLM movements of 2020 [5] and the continuing racist undertones of western society we need this kind of design now, unfortunately for similar reasons as then. Does this mean nothing has changed? The Black Lives Matter logo also has a rebellious punk feel to it, similar to the Racism poster discussed above. It's done in a way that makes it easy and cheap to reproduce making it accessible to everyone. This is interesting because design that is intended to be replicated and used in protests has been a constant.
The Votes for Women signs from the early 1900's have a similar typeface and look to the Black Lives Matter logo. [6] This is because it is easy to replicate and print. Although these are different to the Racism poster, they are all designed with a rebellious punk feel. I love looking into the political motivations behind graphic design as I think it is key in pushing forward and breaking boundaries, like the previous three designs have done. This reading really gave me the chance to explore this further as that is where my interests lie within design, something I have only realised since starting this course.
Adam Curtis: Hypernormalisation
Hypernormalisation [7] was a BBC documentary about all of the bizarre things that happen in the world and why we cannot explain them. It alleges that people in high up positions (politicians, financiers etc) have built a simplet fake orld to cover up the fact that no one understands the complexities of the real world. I thought this documentary was an incredibly deep look at the way the media and politicians spin stories to make the public believe what they want us to.
At first, I must admit, I thought this video was a bit conspiracy theory-esque and was quite sceptical. However, after watching it does make you wonder about all of the things we are shielded from. It also makes you realise the media controls everything, from support to uprisings, from wars to treaties, we think what we do because of the information out there. In the digital age this is a scary thing. As I mentioned earlier in this post, so much information is put out by people with no qualifications or sometimes knowledge of a subject, you don't know what to trust.
Further Research
Zines
From the lecture and resources this week I became really interested in the way rebellious groups and people who don't have an official voice speak out against or for something. The James Victore Racism poster was my main inspiration behind this research. I wanted to look more into zines and fringe culture. This has been on my mind since week three, when I looked into the punk era in London. Zines originated as fanzines in the 1930's as sci-fi self published stories. They continued to grow until technology made them easier to create in the 70's and punk culture adopted it as an expression of counter culture, they were home made, cheaply produces and chaotic in their design. [8]
Sniffin' Glue and Slash are great examples of London produced Zines that comment on music, movies, politics, basically everything that influences culture. [9] What I like about these zines in particular is they have a point of view, they are uncensored and not afraid to give a commentary on culture. The most exciting design to me is design that is honest and takes a side - there's nothing worse that sitting on the fence, you should stand up for what you believe in and zines are certainly a way of doing that.
A lot of the Punk zines filtered out in the late 70's early 80's however there was a resurgence in the 90's with zines such a Riot Grrrl which went against the male driven history of punk and encouraged girls and women to get their voices heard by being creative. Riot Grrrl was also seen as a feminist movement which helped young girls find their voices and identity.
Zines are still going strong with the internet making them essentially free to produce. They are based on such a variety of topics and genres. This does make me feel as though the fringe aspect of zines has been diluted and they are mainstream now. Although on the other hand they give everyone a voice and are accessible to everyone.
Moxie Movie
Coincidentally the same week as I was researching trends and becoming interested in zines, I watched Moxie on Netflix. [10] It was directed by one of my all time favourite women, Amy Poehler and is about a high school girl who creates a feminist fanzine as a reaction to the inappropriate behaviour of boys in the school. It is a brilliant film that captures the rebellious nature of the zine and how it can be used to bring people together in order to have their voices heard.
Workshop Challenge
When I found out what the workshop challenge was going to be this week, I was really excited. I've always been fascinated with the way stories are portrayed by the media, and especially at the minute as media bias is such a hot topic. I also want to stick to recent headlines because it will be an interesting take on the world right now - an up do date view through the lens of 2021. My first thought was to list the major news stories in 2021 that spring to mind no googling, just what I remember. Here's my list:
Covid-19 Vaccine roll out
The Insurrection of the US Capitol
Biden becoming President
Boris Johnson saying "Let the bodies pile up"
Aldi being sued by M&S over Colin the Caterpillar
Prince Philip's death
Harry and Megan Oprah Interview
Sarah Everard's death
Oxford Astra-Zeneca causing blood clots
The Super League
My next step is to pick the top two that interest me and research them further before deciding on my final choice for the workshop, here is my reasoning:
Covid-19 Vaccine roll out - Too general
The Insurrection of the US Capitol - Yes - the difference between the left wing and right wing countries will be interesting
Biden becoming President - Not that interesting
Boris Johnson saying "Let the bodies pile up" - Too recent to dig into too much
Aldi being sued by M&S over Colin the Caterpillar - Local to the UK
Prince Philip's death - Largely reported in the same way
Harry and Megan Oprah Interview - Yes - looking for the difference between the US and UK specifically
Sarah Everard's death - Quite local to the UK
Oxford Astra-Zeneca causing blood clots - Lots of different articles it would be hard to compare
The Super League - I have zero interest in this and I'm not really sure what it was about
My next step is to look briefly into all three before making my decision.
The Insurrection of the US Capitol
UK
Australia
Italy (Once upon a time in America)
Harry and Megan Oprah Interview
Australia
USA
UK
Summary
I found it interesting looking at a the insurrection story and the Royals side by side and their different treatment in different countries. It was clear to me that the reports of the insurrection were dependant on the view of the countries political system. However, the Royal story seemed to be only negative in the UK, with sympathy from other countries. After looking more into this I am going to concentrate on the Capitol riots for this workshop task because I am fascinated by the link between political leaning and the media.
The Capitol Riots, 2021
Newspapers
Websites
I have collected stories written from all over the world both in newspaper form and online. I noticed the following differences:
The American Newspapers and online sources seemed more concerned with who to blame. For example, Fox News blames innocent Americans and 'Antifa'. Newsmax claimed it was far left protesters and Breitbart news' first story about the riot was referenced China's views on democracy.
There was no question whose fault the Capitol Riots were in Europe and Australia - Donald Trump. Every newspaper (mainstream) I found from Europe all named Trump as the man who incited the riots - no question.
The papers considered more left wing (such as the Dallas Morning News, Yeni Asir and La Stampa), tended to use more violent language for the riots, for example "attack on democracy", "Trump mob attacks the Capitol" and "Invasion". Whereas the more right wing papers used softer language possibly downplaying the drama.
In conclusion, the differences in how the story is told differ according to political leaning more than geographical location, which can be translated into the broader politics of that country. For example Australia leans left and every newspaper I found had a headline with violent language saying Trump was the perpetrator with no question. Whereas sites such as Breitbart news which is extremely right wing, ran a story about China's response - laying no blame at the feet of Trump.
The Final Three Newspaper Articles
Australia Spain USA
My 500 Words
The news story that I chose to explore for this week’s workshop task was the story of the USA Capitol Riots from January 6th, 2021. Donald Trump incited his followers and fans to storm the Capitol, after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, which they did, endangering the lives of members of congress and killing five people. I was interested in this story because it reveals a lot about political leanings and takes the temperature of the cultural climate at this point in time.
I was inspired to choose this story after watching the Hypernormalisation documentary, in it, Adam Curtis explored inexplicable events and the effect of living in a time of great uncertainty and confusion. The Capitol Riots struck me as an event that happened for exactly this reason – people are confused and uncertain about what the future holds.
The story was a polarising one in many aspects. Some people assumed it was down to Donald Trump, other people insisted it was left wing ‘antifa’ protesters, while other people described it as “five or six people going into a building”. The images printed and seen online could easily be mistaken for a dystopian movie, people wearing American flags breaking down the doors to an historic building, they were extremely emotive. So how did this story differ around the globe and across the political spectrum?
The three articles I have chosen are from the West Australian (Australia), El Diario (Spain) and Breitbart News (USA). One of the major differences I noticed with the headlines of the articles was the right-wing Breitbart news failed to mention Donald Trump at all, instead it focussed on turning the reader’s attention to China, pointing towards a different enemy. The Western Australian is a left leaning newspaper and put Donald Trump at the front and centre, with no doubt he was to blame. El Diario, also a left leaning paper, went for the sinister “assault on democracy”.
It seems like the newspapers from Australia and Spain have taken the story far more seriously than the site from America, even though that was where the riots happened. I think this must be down to the political leanings and the need for the right wing to suppress what really happened because it makes it clear that Donald Trump was to blame. This theme carries on throughout the articles too; El Diario and West Australian using violent language with vivid imagery as opposed to Breitbart News which instead uses softer language and more triumphant imagery.
The design of these news sources also informs you about the views of that country/paper. The West Australian has as image of Trump looking like a movie villain over the Capitol. This is very effective along with the headline “Last Days of Trump”. El Diario went for a picture showing the scale of the Capitol riots whereas Breitbart News went for a triumphant image of one of the rioters in the building. I think the images chosen are representative of the cultural commentary the news outlet is putting across.
In conclusion, the differences in how the story is told differ according to political leaning more than geographical location, which can be translated into the broader politics of that country.
Designs
Considering the subject matter I wanted to go with a rebellious aesthetic, echoing the research into fanzines I conducted earlier in the week. I illustrated the most recognisable picture from the riots (left), used the texture I created on the stripes for the background of the text (centre) and used the same stripes to cover Trumps eyes and mouth and put the title on. I think this links the pages together nicely. I then decided to mock it up like a magazine editorial.
After mocking this up I realised that it was far too clean cut for what I am trying to do. It looks like a Time magazine article rather than the rough, ready, rebellious anti government piece I intended. While I like the content I do not think this is the right format for my 500 words. I think the only way to tackle this and make it the outcome I have in my head is to (like in the movie Moxie) make my own fanzine...
I cannot express hope much I enjoyed this process and I really started to look at it in a different way. I wanted to get across the chaos and disenchantment in America right now. It was an interesting way to design, and again like last week, it was quite inspiring to get away from the screen and go back to making things with glue and paper. This was my finished fanzine...
I am really happy with this, I think it really gets across the fanzine vibe, it looks very homemade and chaotic which is what I was going for. I went for a satirical witty approach by using my favourite quote from the riots "they pushed me out and maced me" (see video right) and adding in handwritten notes like the title and back page. I want to push this one step further however, when you make fanzines the goal of this is to distribute them and to do that you need to photocopy them in black and white. After around an hour and many a fight with the printer, this is how it turned out.
I really love the authentic fanzine feel of this! Some bits could definitely be improved - like the alignment of the pages, however I think that adds to the fanzine idea. In reality fanzines are made cheaply which means black and white photocopies which aren't always perfect.
This seemed a bit too neat and tidy for a zine - the opposite of the chaotic counter culture feel I want to go for.
This is more like it! After altering the rotation of the images I think this is far more successful. Put on the colourful background of the segment of the American flat I think it is successful in being a rebellious anti government zine.
Final Workshop Challenge
Although I preferred the aesthetic of the colourful fanzine, I chose to go with the black and white photocopy as my final piece. This is because it is more true to the genre of fanzine and sticks closely to the process this would have gone through if it were to be made. Inspiration from Riot Grrrl, Sniffin' Glue and Moxie was really helpful in choosing my final response this week and I am really pleased with it.
Summary
What an interesting week of content. From the start of this week I thought this would be an insightful and interesting and I feel like I got a lot out of it. I think the content this week was a great springboard to conduct my own research and work out what I was really interested in. The idea that the message relies on being interpreted correctly was pretty eye opening and made me look at the challenge in a new way, making it more about the person reading it than the person creating it flipped it on its head.
My research into zines was my main inspiration for my workshop challenge and I think this was my favourite outcome so far. I loved printing it out and creating it away from the screen and I think although there are some flaws it is successful in getting across my point of view. Zines were such an inspiration because I think that having a point of view is one of the most important things in design, saying what you believe and standing by it is sometimes the ultimate rebellion. I took a satirical look at the Capitol Riots by choosing quotes such as "they pushed me out and maced me" and doodling over Donald Trump, you definitely know how I feel from this zine. The fonts I chose echoed fonts used in the BLM logo and Votes for Women posters as a wink to some of the things Donald Trump stands against - equal rights for both women and people of colour.
If I was to develop this idea further I would make sure the photocopying was more lined up, or as an alternative not paste any text across two non-middle pages as I found out after the fact it was extremely difficult to line up. I would also print out more so I could make it look like a stack I was planning on handing out. With the content I am pleased with my 500 words, however I originally wanted to use a Russian or Chinese newspaper to see what some one from the opposite end of the political spectrum said. I found quotes but no full articles and because I don't speak either of the languages, couldn't translate the longer articles.
I am really pleased with this weeks research and workshop challenge. I feel like I made every decision about the final piece was backed up with research and solid reason.
References
[1] Hogeback, J. (2018). How the Symbolism of the Swastika Was Ruined. Available: https://www.britannica.com/story/how-the-symbolism-of-the-swastika-was-ruined. Last accessed 9/5/21.
[2] Solis, D. (2020). Top 5 Hand Gestures With Different Cultural Meanings. Available: https://www.languagetrainers.co.uk/blog/2020/10/07/top-5-hand-gestures-with-different-cultural-meanings/. Last accessed 9/5/21.
[3] SmarterTravel. (2017). What Colors Mean in Other Cultures. Available: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-colors-mean-in-other_b_9078674. Last accessed 8/5/21.
[4] Heller S., (1999) Design literacy (Continued) Understanding Graphic Design (Links to an external site.). Allworth Press, New York.
[5] Black Lives Matter. (2021). About. Available: https://blacklivesmatter.com/. Last accessed 10/5/21.
[6] Lane. L. (2019). Women and the 1918 Election. Available: https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/women-and-the-1918-election. Last accessed 10/5/21.
[7] BBC. (2016). HyperNormalisation. Available at:https://vimeo.com/191817381. Last accessed 8/5/21.
[8] Arnold, C. (2016). A Brief History of Zines. Available: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88911/brief-history-zines. Last accessed 10/5/21.
[9] Savage, J. (2016). Fanzines: the purest explosion of British punk. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/may/06/fanzines-purest-explosion-punk-music-british-library-exhibition-punk-1976-1978. Last accessed 9/5/21.
[10] Moxie. (2021). [Online]. Directed by Amy Poehler. USA: Netflix [Viewed 06/05/21]. Available from Netflix.
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