In today’s class…1) Icebreaker2) Checking in– questions about the syllabus, about class,

from the long break since last we met, etc.3) A little visual fun4) The readings– some discussion and an activity5) Report back/break6) Introduction to Print Project7) What people talk about when they talk about talking to a

community partner8) Missy: she’s missing9) Homework

Breaking the ice.For today…Share your name, obviously, and tell us what the oldest thing you own is (excluding antiques… the thing you’ve had the longest, presumably acquiring new or newish).

Mine…It’s a talking Alf doll (it took cassettes, like Teddy Ruxpin). I got it for my 9th birthday. Interesting– perhaps—fact. I used it as a guest speaker as part of my senior capstone presentation.It’s from 1986. Which means it’s older than most Miami students. *cringe*

Random digression: does my dog look like Alf?

So, to start us off…As I mentioned last class, each time I want to start us off with a sort of interesting visual document. I’m going to cheat and do two this week because I have a better example of after-image.

So that’s coming first. Then, following it, there are a few slides with something else. I’m going to show them on the projector, but for maximum effect, you should open these on your own screen. The light pollution that makes the projector sort of dim also diminishes the visual impact here.

Nifty, right? The reason we get after-image is that when we stare at an image for a certain period of time, the rods in our eyes (and the cones, sometimes) start to adapt to the color (the same way our eyes adapt to a dark room). But their goal is to sort of blunt the intensity of the color, so when you look at a blank—white– surface, the opposing colors appear faintly, coming more completely into view if you blink, as it is the motions of your eyes that aid in the color being dispersed.

Now check THIS out.

So, the readings…I want us to engage the theory readings (the two Wysocki pieces, the Benjamin, the Barthes and the Kress) and really sort of grapple with them, but as you might guess, if we tried to grapple with every part of all five of those readings we’d end up sitting here a long, long time grappling with a big ol’ bunch of ideas.

So I’m going to suggest a strategy– pull key ideas and illustrate how they work/see if we can convert them to a sort of tool, or a roadmap, if you will, to understanding visual rhetoric.

Walter Benjamin wrote:

“The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition. This tradition itself is thoroughly alive and extremely changeable. An ancient statue of Venus, for example, stood in a different traditional context with the Greeks, who made it an object of veneration, than with the clerics of the Middle Ages, who viewed it as an ominous idol. Both of them, however, were equally confronted with its uniqueness, that is, its aura.”

Key idea: “Aura”“The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition…”

Aura, then, is what, precisely? Let’s look at two images and talk about their aura and what that means to our understanding of visual rhetoric.

We talked a bit about movie posters when last we met. This is one of the less common ones for Inception.

What I want you to think about here is the aura difference from the painting on the previous slide to this one.

How’s this whole “aura” concept work?

Roland BarthesBarthes challenges us thusly:

“Now even– and above all if– the image is in a certain manner the limit of meaning, it permits the consideration of a veritable ontology of the process of signification. How does meaning get into the image? Where does it end? And if it ends, what is there beyond?”

What?

This is a famous logo/icon in Western culture.

Anyone know what it is?

Anyone know WHY it is what it is?

Paging Barthes, Dr. Roland Barthes…

…According to Charles Baldwin,

an environmental-health engineer who contributed to its development: "We wanted something that was memorable but meaningless, so we could educate people as to what it means.“

From: Ye Olde Wikipedia

To quote Cobb from Inception…

We have to go deeper.

Help me, Gunther Kress, you’re my only hope!

Gunther KressKress tells us:

“The approach from Social Semiotics not only draws attention to the many kinds of meanings which are at issue in design, but the “social” in “Social Semiotics” draws attention to the fact that meanings always relate to specific societies and their cultures, and to the meanings of the members of those cultures.”

So if Kress is right, everyone in the room knows what this image means.

But… why?

And we know this dude.

And this one.

And her.

And probably this fella, too.

So combine the ideas…And we’re saying images hold meanings embedded in them by cultures.

Let’s look at a few.

Here’s an iconic image from our culture.

Fun fact: the torch was once meant to be a functioning lighthouse (awesome, right?)

Other fun fact: if you never looked closely, the tablet she’s holding is meant to represent the declaration of independence.

Third fun fact: like the Coneheads, she came from France!

What happens to the same iconic image in a different treatment here?

Oh, that nutty John Cena!

What’s he doing here?

This U of Michigan gymnast seems to be following suit.

Hey, that guy from the TV is doing it, too!

Wait a minute… didn’t Desmond Howard get a trophy that looked sort of like…

This, for those not into sports, is the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best college football player in the nation.

Striking his pose when succeeding– not just in football, but most predominantly in football– has become the new version of the baseball called shot.

Let me throw it back to the BAMF-in-Chief for a final illustration…

Soooo…Images carry meaning. That meaning is rhetorically constructed and often richly cultural.

Here’s one more thing to consider…

“Because we have all grown up in densely visually constructed environments, usually with little overt instruction or awareness of how the construction takes place, it is easy to think of the visual elements of texts as simply happening or appearing…as though… television sitcoms were the result of a camera crew following a typical family through their day.”

Anne Wysocki reminds us…

Here’s a movie teacher.

And a TV teacher.

And a movie Profes…

Wait a minute!

An actual teacher.

TV young folk hanging out, as you would on the quad with your classmates.

College student on TV.

College student on TV.

… to ask why. Think about why those images are chosen.

And maybe more importantly… why don’t people think about it/why isn’t it sort of a big deal to most Americans?

Wysocki challenges us…

Break into five groups. That should mean 4 or 5 per group. Once you’re grouped, from my podium going clockwise around the room:Group 1: KressGroup 2: BarthesGroup 3: Wysocki, EyesGroup 4: BenjaminGroup 5: Wysocki, Meaning of Texts

Pick no less than 1 and no more than 3 main ideas, support them with source quotes, and find examples for discussion. As you finish, email me your materials: alexanp3@miamioh.edu

Your turn

To switch gears, let’s talk just a bit about our print based project, which we will begin in earnest next week when Dr. Jim Porter visits class to discuss the needs of the American Culture and English (ACE) program.

Instead of me repeating what’s already on the web, let’s look there, then talk about what questions you might have.

The TL;DR take away for the print project assignment is this: ACE needs materials for publicity and recruitment (I want us to be aware of what they specifically ask for but also to cast a wide net– think about needs) and we’re going to provide that, as a class.

The Print Project

…to this whole process is to know how to speak to community partners. Dr. Porter will be with us for the start of next class. Some key things we’ll need to do, then:

1.Be on time (duh!). You don’t want to walk into a client meeting late. 2.Read over whatever you can find about ACE (I’ll place some stuff on my blog for you to take a look at) and try to become familiar with what they do/provide.3.Think about what you would want to know, for example, to make a poster for them. To make a data sheet. To make, say, varied versions of a one-sheet recruitment flier to mail to potential students in various nations. Come with questions, but make sure they’re specific and thoughtful.

One key…

…is respect. Whenever we deal with a community partner, remember that you, as a student and participant in this course, represent:

1)Our university2)Your respective programs (particularly PW and IMS folks)3)The class4)Yourselves5)Me

Behave as you would expect a professional designer to behave with his clients, and be courteous. Listen carefully, take good notes. Call him Dr. Porter, for example, not “Jim” (unless he tells you Jim is okay).

Another key factor…

…we will transition much more into talking about the readings from the books and will move away, at least to a small degree, from the more theoretical underpinnings of the early part of class.

That theory will persist; it’s not leaving us. We’re just about to take the step over the threshold into practice.

To that end, I want to look at what I think might be one of the most informative, if not horrifyingly snarky (and okay, hilarious) design lessons you’ll ever get.

This is also a moment where…

http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

1) Every week you have a writing response and design prompt due on your Tumblr at the time we meet for class. Since we got a little mixed up with the huge break, I’ll give you a few days to get everything done, but make sure you have the first set of things up by mid-week (let’s say noon on Thursday).

2) That means you should, for next week, complete design task 3 and a response to what you are reading for that class.

3) Read for class: Kimball & Hawkins Chapters 3 and 4, Golombisky & Hagen chapters 4-6, and Norman “Why Designers Go Astray” from The Design of Everyday Things (on Niihka)

4) Remember that our first hour (roughly) will be spent talking to Dr. Porter about the ACE element of our print project.

So, reminders…