Meaning 2 Excersize

 

Interactions Between the 3 Levels of Meaning

image by Stuart Thursby

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SUMMARY

This Visual Communication piece works to merge the representational, abstract, and symbolic levels of meaning in an exciting and thought-provoking way.

REPRESENTATIONAL LEVEL

On a representational level, this image is in itself a ‘design’. We see familiar objects in the letters we recognize, but they’ve been assembled together compositionally to form a bigger picture than the sum of their individual parts. The impact of this is strong, because the designer did it well. Again, you could say that what is being represented here is an interesting design.

The impact this work has on the viewer, I would say, is that of pleasure and intrigue. Pleasure in seeing such a beautifully composed piece, and intrigue due to the process needed to decode the message within.

Through the 3 levels of visual meaning, the ideas of ‘typography’ and ‘design’ are being presented – the words, on a representational level, abstractly in the composition of the page, and symbolically through the letters used to compose the image, which ultimately express an idea.

ABSTRACT LEVEL

The understructure of this image is contrasting black and white lines weaved against a bold red background. The kinesthetic quality of this is quite arresting, providing a direct emotional impact. The juxtaposing black and white against the saturated red makes this image feel powerful to the viewer.

The abstract elements used to compose this piece help fulfill the representational level’s goal of providing a design. This is called functional abstraction. Through the letters, (or essentially, lines) and colors, a calculated and interesting design has been achieved. The abstract level is working with the representational here by showcasing the words ‘design’ and ‘typography’ in an abstract way.

It is interesting to see the symbolic elements at play here. They aren’t fully exposed and immediately read. Instead, the viewer has to follow the weave of the pattern of letters to decode the phrase “Design is Typography.”

Again, Typography and Design are presented here representationally, symbolically, and abstractly because the image makes the viewer ponder the concept of typography and how we use it as designers to communicate ideas. It should be noted that this image could have been made with any number of typeface, but I feel the designer chose Helvetica because of its more simplified, symbolic nature and how that lends itself to composing this very active abstract design.

SYMBOLIC LEVEL

Symbolically, the image uses letters to express its message. In fact, the entire piece is composed of letters, or symbols, to create the design. These aren’t just arbitrary lines that were used to create this piece, but coded symbols assembled purposely to express an idea. The idea that “Design is Typography” is essentially proven here by the very nature of this piece.

The impact on the viewer, on this symbolic level, is quite exciting because it’s advancing the symbolic level of typography to both an abstract and representational plane through the way that this piece was constructed. Imagine if all our sentences were composed in such visually remarkable ways, rather than simply laid out in plain fashion on a straight line.