Left to Right by David Crow

I read a section of the book Left to Right by David Crow. This is a book about visual culture. David Crow was a graphic designer and Pro Vice chancellor of UAL, up until his death in June this year.

The book looks at the shift from the written word to image in our everyday experience/ mass media. It also introduces us to the politics of language, for example how the rise of literacy played a part in the subjugation of women and feminine thinking.

Book cover for Left to Right by David Crow
  • Language has evolved from culturally specific roots i.e. the Japanese character for picture, combines the symbol for ‘threads’ and ‘to draw together’ > this is a reference to textile production. This demonstrates the relationship between language and technology.
  • In Chinese script, this is still the case, for e.g. Male = Strength + Paddyfield. This reflects the history of the culture which the script originates from.
Chinese characters.
  • Television= ‘The single most potent technological innovation since the printing press’. Television changed the way we generate language and consume information. Reading was a more solitary activity- the television allows us to receive information in groups, e.g. a family gathered around a TV. This invention produces a way of reading images unlike what books could provide.
Young boys watch television at Sun Village Orphanage Home.

Shifting from Left to Right side of the brain

When we read, our brains have to translate the words from symbols into an image, this is a longer process than seeing the image immediately on a screen for example.

The development of screen-based media has increased image-based use of language. The shift away from the alphabet-based language has left language makers, such as designers, artists, authors and schools, needing to re-assess how they communicate to a new generation who are used to this new way of reading/ taking in information.

Television Broadcast, 1972.

The written word has been the primary tool in communication for a long time. It has the advantage of being able to get across specific details in an unrivalled way.

…However, pictorial communication has other advantages.

  1. To speak across language barriers
  2. It’s cheaper to share across the world
  3. It’s quicker to share across the world

e.g. images on warning signs can be affective where language might fail to keep people safe.

1990’s

Technology in the early 1990’s allowed designers to design typefaces digitally and this meant a boom in design houses whose main focus was on designing and distributing typefaces- increasing the interest in post-modern theory.

These designers were experimental with the software, coming up with a new conceptual framework. Art schools and graphic design courses were beginning to look at semiotics and linguistics. The designer was looking to create a new relationship with the keyboard. This was a turning point. From this period, it seems that our visual landscape is being pushed towards the image.

Glossary of terms

From Left to Right, David Crow

The Origins of Writing

Ice age wall drawings are described by Adrian Frutiger as ‘an early attempt to visualise language’. It is thought that these drawings were only a part of the communication between people. They are the part that remain as a record of these ancient peoples. The body was used as a reference very often. These pictorial signs can be described as ‘protowriting’.

Ice age wall painting, thought to be a bisexual symbol.

Writing originally was needed to make a record of the exchange of goods.

Ice age painting on a clay wall, drawn with fingers, subject: oxen

Connecting writing with sound

A rebus communicates more detail than simply pictographic script. It represents sound associated with an icon. E.g. the image of a bee to indicate the Roman letter ‘B’.

James Francois Champollion discovered hieroglyphics were a mixture of semantic and phonetic signs.

Utopian Ideals

17th century philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibruz imagined a writing system using images to describe human communication. The idea was that it would avoid the use of the alphabet and therefore, would be able to span across all languages. (Similar to how music is understood universally).

Sound and thought cannot be divided.

Saussure & Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing

The meaning of a pictogram is likely to change from reader to reader, due to the individual’s cultural background. Pictograms are too open to interpret specific details. They lack sound and therefore, precision.

Isotype Institute

Otto Neurath was a Viennese philosopher and sound scientist. He came up with another pictorial writing system. His intention was that it would be:

  1. visually appealing and
  2. easily accessible.

This is because he needed it to be understood by a wide range of people across Austrian society. It became popular and was used to present public information.

  • In 1936, this language was renamed ‘International System of Typographic Picture Education’ or ISOTYPE.
  • In Oxford, Otto and Marie Neurath founded the Isotype Institute. The aim: ‘International promotion of visual education.’
  • Symbols of people, places, objects and actions were used in educational material.
  • They produced films, leaflets, posters etc for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War.
  • This pictorial language was intended to remove hierarchies and create ‘greater human happiness.’
from Only an Ocean Between, 1943

Personally, I find that these charts make the statistics easier to understand. One example is the charts made on the structure of the British government. They are able to simplify a system I find too complicated to understand when someone explains it verbally to me. (example below)

https://alphaomegatranslations.com/business-translation/translation-and-universal-icons/
  • Isotype= alternative to written and verbal communication. It focused on out commonality rather than our differences, being an international language.
  • The First World War highlighted the political nature of language.
The Shelly Camp, For Better Days!‘, Yarom Vardimon (1981). It was the main election poster for the Shelly Camp, a political party in Isreal.
  • Neurath was inspired by ancient picture writing systems, this inspired him to use few words in his system. He found words to be more immediate and forceful than words.
  • Their work grew from what they saw as a genuine social need to reconstruct Vienna after the war’s destruction of the city.
Political poster, 1936
(More Men! More Weapons! More Munitions!)

The Politics of Writing

The appearance of writing is linked with the appearance of hierarchical societies- even ancient scripts were used for propaganda. (Having authority over a group of people).

The Principles of Isotype Symbols

  • Neurath’s communication system was rooted in linguistics.
  • Images were intentionally mechanical for easy and quick reproduction.
  • The symbols were created by cutting the shapes from coloured paper.
  • They were then developed into letterpress blocks. This allowed them to be printed in different colours and sizes.
  • Isotype symbols are simple, geometric, with a machine aesthetic, echoing the industrial design/ architecture of the time.
  • He was in contact with the Bauhaus and friends with graphic design’s leading figures of the time- El Lissitzky and Jan Tschichold.
  • He was focusing on designing for the future.
Isotype Society Archive- Signs for the 5 groups of men.

Neurath had the intention of timeless design, but some have dated. For example, his symbol of a car is old-fashioned now (below). He knew they might date and acknowledged this. They have mostly stood up well against the test of time.

‘Numbers of motor vehicles in the world’ (USA and rest of the world). Even if one cannot read German, the subject reveals itself through the ‘speaking signs’ of the automobiles, each of which represents 2.5 million vehicles.

Neurath found that a sense of perspective in these images was unimportant. He instead decided on silhouette drawings.

Isometric projection= objects in foreground and background appear to be the same size.

Isotype & Colour

Specific colours were assigned to specific objects, for example men painted darker than women. The colour and tone are applied strategically, similar to Egyptian wall paintings.

Isotype used 7 colours: white, blue, green, yellow, red, brown & black.

Some colours were also sometimes mixed e.g. the red and yellow to create orange.

Assigned meanings:

Red > metal industries

Blue > textiles

Green > wood

(The system could be adapted for situations where only 2 colours are available.)

https://hyphenpress.co.uk/journal/article/copyright_in_isotype_work

Isotype & Linguistics

https://hyphenpress.co.uk/subjects/Hyphen%20news

Isotype is designed as a ‘digital language’, as in the alphabet we use. This means there is a fixed number of signs in the Isotype language system.

It is designed to be read from right to left and top to bottom. For example, the symbol that has a bell on the left and symbol for porter on the right, indicates the bell is used to call for a waiter. Changing the right-hand symbol would change the message to bell to call for ________.

Neurath acknowledged the value of using age-old symbols, such as the sickle to represent agriculture, since even though not used as an instrument today, these symbols are deep in the collective consciousness.

The arbitrary nature of language can sometimes fail in helping people comprehend a meaning, for example, the word ‘man’ bears no resemblance to a man. The Isotype symbol of a man however, resembles a man visually, making it practical/ successful as a symbol.

The picture language was not intended to replace written language, since symbols aren’t the most effective way of expressing emotions, feelings, giving orders etc.

Blissymbolics/ Semantography/ The Visual Language of C.K.Bliss

https://www.blissymbolics.org/

Also beginning in Vienna, Karl Kasiel Blitz (Bliss) was dissatisfied with the language used for science- he felt the language was a barrier for understanding. He experienced the problem of language during his childhood on the Russian border.

He was more drawn to/ comfortable with the blueprint images found in his father’s work as an electrician, e.g. symbols for bulbs, batteries, switches etc. He felt these were more logical compared to the alphabet.

Bliss came across Chinese script while in Shanghai- he was fascinated by its complexity. He later came up with ‘Semantography’, which was his version of an international language of symbols. This language combined 100 symbol elements.

The Book to the Film ‘Mr. Symbol Man’

The tourist industry boom around 1965 made his work relevant. (People found blissymbols useful because it bridged language barriers). However, he was often not credited with this work when research pages were written on pictorial symbols.

The 1970’s saw his work used in communication for children with speech and physical impairment, by the Canadian teacher Shirley McNaughton. This was documented in the film Mr Symbol Man.

In 1975, Blitz was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of his work. This work being for ‘Services to the community’ (children with learning difficulties).

An excerpt from Bliss’ book, Semantography: A Logical Writing for an illogical World

Neurath and Bliss were motivated by personal experience. Bliss, by his experience of WWII. He saw language being used to control people, this is why he wanted to create an alternative.

Election poster with drawing of eagle, the state’s symbol, on a swastika, before a large crowd of mostly young people and students (fraternity-uniforms), in posture of the Hitler-salute, (1933)

Words serve as a useful tool for making a political statement, since they can express specific details and do not require drawing skill:

Questions New York Moscow Part II: What is the Line Between Us?, Douglas Davis, 1976 (During the Cold War).

Bliss’ aim was for effective communication. He had the ‘original desire to design something that would improve people’s lives.’

Using simple shapes makes the symbols easy and quick to draw.

Blissymbolics consist of:

  • Basic geometric shapes: circle, square etc
  • Additional shapes: heart, house, chair
  • Arrows and pointers (in 4 directions)
  • Arabic numerals
  • Standard punctuation marks

Guidelines published by BCI- The Fundamental Rules of Bissymbolics: The marks are arranged on a matrix square with earthline, midline and skyline.

Blissymbolics/ Linguistics

Similarity between Isotype and Blissymbolics:

  • Improving human experience and breaking down linguistic barriers.

Difference:

  • Bliss claims his system as a language, whereas Neurath saw his system to work alongside text.

The mixed reaction to Blissymbolics was due to its ambitious claim to be its own language. Blissymbolics requires readers to learn the symbols prior. The system is a mixture of iconic signs, ideographic signs and arbitrary signs. The size of the sign is also significant.

Larger circle = sun

smaller circle = mouth

It is inflexible as a language. Any changes have to be approved by the BCI – not allowing the language to develop organically as would be the case with most languages. But the logic behind the symbolism has been called ‘charming’, ‘admirable’ and ‘interesting’ by critics. It is easier to appreciate this system as a set of symbols and ideographic pictures.

example:

Cool= slang + ice

Adrian Frutiger

Typographer and designer for international corporations, Adrian Frutiger designed Univers, the widely used corporate typeface:

Univers poster by Rokaya Shenasa
Type, Sign, Symbol by Adrian Frutiger (1980)

In his work, he needed to consider international communication issues. He designed pictograms to accompany his typefaces. His work with exploring the Indian script of Devanagari, allowed him to explore cultural context as well as letterforms.

Frutiger’s pictorial script is symbolic and needs to be learnt, unlike Isotype signs, which are more intuitive since they represent the object visually. Frutiger’s symbols are more abstract and based around ‘life, love and death’.

The reader needs to understand the basic code of the symbols, so they can understand the meanings based on the sign’s scale and position. Some metaphor is also used.

Graphismes by Frutiger, Monotype House, 1964

These symbols have been described as beautifully balanced symbolic marks, reminiscent of 20th century artists, the likes of Miro, Klee and Picasso. I have to agree. Using scissors and paper as tools enabled the artist to create shapes that flow, since the artist is not able to control the line very well.

These shapes are signs because each is distinct yet they are similar enough to be visibly connected. His experience in type design gave his symbols ‘economy of form’.

Frutiger also developed sequential drawings to be read as a narrative. For example, those depicting growth and birth in the natural world. These drawings reflect the way images are shown as a sequence on screen. These signs are more iconic- the scale changes to represent the growth of the plant.

Central to Frutiger’s work is technology and its relationship to human issues – the various ways we receive information. Putting people first, improving communication in a world where the expectation/ tendency is to subordinate man to technical progress.

4004: Barbie Presentation

In the final week of the semester, I had the slides prepared to deliver on Thursday. I used InDesign for the slides and exported it to PDF for the presentation. I included links to 2 videos within the slides, therefore needed to select ‘include hyperlinks’ when exporting the document.

I needed to ensure the presentation had a narrative arc that makes sense. I did this by opening with the mention of Barbie being controversial and their influence on me as a child, moving on to explaining other controversial elements of the dolls, then ending with the same mention of the issue with Barbie and the effect on children.

Barbie presentation full script

Slide 1

This is me when I was 6, as you can see I loved Barbie dolls and anything with Barbie on it.

Slide 2

Barbies have always been controversial, This has mainly been because of their unrealistic body shape that has a negative influence on young girls especially. The body shape actually changed in the early 00’s. From this to this.

*Hand around the dolls so people can see the difference for themselves*

Slide 3

To demonstrate how Barbie was at the time and some of the issues I have, I want to show you this advert for Sleeping Beauty Barbie, from 1999.

Slide 4

I have an issue with how gender is portrayed in this advert. I feel like the advert re-enforces negative gender stereotypes where we see barbie as the helpless princess and Ken is the strong rescuer. And this can normalise unhealthy relationship dynamics, especially to this younger audience.

Slide 5

Another issue that  can be seen in the advert, is , as you heard at the end of the advert, the ken is sold separately. So when the child sees the advert, and sees that ken is an important part of the story, that both characters are sort of, needed, they’re gonna ask their parents for both. But because they are sold separately, this strategy gets people to pay twice the price, which can be an issue for working class families who struggle to, especially at Christmas, to afford these presents that these children are asking them for.

Slide 6

I also saw this class issue in the advert, with the actors. We have this blonde girl who’s at the front of the frame and she gets to hold Barbie, and her attitude is calm and entitled. Then we have the Asian girl who seems impressed and amazed at the doll and she never gets to hold Barbie herself, and Barbie is the one everyone wants to be. There’s a bit of inequality there and this girl physically resembles Barbie with her blonde hair.

Slide 7

What we didn’t see in the advert was the black sleeping beauty barbie, who was also sold at the time.

Slide 8

And if you look at both the dolls together, they’re the same in every way, as in they have the same dress, the same type of hair, the same body shape and the same mold was used for the head , meaning that their facial features are identical and the only difference is the colour and so this doesn’t represent much diversity and means the company is still angled towards the Eurocentric beauty standards. Mattel is the company who makes Barbies and they designed her in the 1950’s, based on a German doll, which explains why the blonde hair and the blue eyes became Barbie’s classic look.

Slide 9

If we compare the back of the box, this is the back of the box of the white sleeping beauty barbie and the back of the box of the black sleeping beauty barbie  What do you notice?

Slide 10 & 11­­

You might say ‘that was the 1990’s, that was a different time.’ But I was shocked to find this blog post from 2010, where the blogger was in the shop target in America, she walked down the toy aisle and  she took many photos, showing the same thing. What can you see in these pictures?

Slide 12

And finally, this video shows a psychological experiment that has been repeated several times in history. It addresses the issue of racial prejudice in children

Slide 13

You might say ‘It’s just a doll’, ’it’s just a plastic toy.’ but to a child these are representations of women and in a girl’s eyes, who they are expected to be as a woman. For a boy, how they can expect women to look.  Barbie’s are modelled on perfection. Something that is unachievable. This doesn’t need to be the case. Mattel have addressed this and are now producing wider representation in their designs. This is a good start.

Optional ending:

To give an example, in 1999, the same year as the advert, I remember being at school and being asked what I want to be when I grow up. Me and my friend both said ‘super lady’ since that covers all bases. We drew the same picture: a blonde woman wearing a pink suit.

The 2 videos I included, to support the presentation:

I was able to buy vintage Barbie dolls fairly cheaply on eBay. I bought 2 of each body shape (newer and older) to demonstrate the change of shape to the audience. I plan to pass the dolls around in the room. Being able to see them physically adds an interactive element to the presentation. Buying dolls from when I was a child also tied in how I relate to the topic and made the presentation more personal. I find speakers who can speak from experience, more interesting to listen to. This is why I chose to include the photo in the opening slide.

vintage barbie dolls to be used as props in the presentation.

I typed out the script into shorter notes so I could easily read them as bullet-points when presenting. I glued these onto pink card to go with the theme of Barbies.

For the slides, I included the Barbie font, downloaded from the internet, named simply ‘Barbie’. I also downloaded the ‘sparkle’ vector to add to the theme:

I included the Barbie colours in my slides also. I did this by placing the colour scheme into InDesign, then making colour swatches from the image:

On top of using pink in the slides, I added a gradient to the pink, as this was the style in the 1990’s, and looks out-dated now.

(To add to the pink theme, I wore a pink Barbie-esque jumpsuit when presenting.)

Narrative structure

My presentation has 4 main parts to it. I chose to stick the notes onto 4 cards, so that the points are grouped into their section of narrative.

  1. Introduction- What I will be discussing and why, handing around the physical example- showing the first video
  2. Discussing this video- What issues have we come across by watching the ad (mainly class and gender)
  3. Discussing race- where the company are coming from- the black sleeping beauty doll
  4. The effect on children- the evidence of racial prejudice around us – the future of the dolls

I needed to cut down the amount of slides I included in the presentation, as I needed to make sure I stayed around the 7 minute mark. I dropped the slide about the song Barbie Girl by Aqua:

I also chose to remove the mention of the video game that accompanied the sale of the sleeping beauty Barbie doll:

I only needed 1 slide when talking about gender. I therefore removed the slide with this photo:

I already included 2 photos from this blog post. I therefore removed the third photo:

Typography & meaning

Type is essential for effective communication.

Type can:

deliver a concept or express an opinion.

The way text is displayed will add meaning to the words themselves.

By changing layout, spacing, punctuation etc, we can portray a certain message. For example, the boldness of ‘Kindness’ in the sign below, suggests that kindness can be bold and robust. The height of the word ‘Strength’ illustrates strength itself.

design by Anthony Burrill

British graphic designer, Anthony Burrill is well known for his prints which often contain bold statements that are punchy and effective.

By repeating the word ‘Justice’, Burrill is making a statement about the importance of justice. When people are passionate and certain about something, they repeat the sentiment. This is further emphasised by the black and white. When something is in ‘black’ and ‘white’, metaphorically it means there are no doubts about it. Here Burrill is using this in the literal way.

Words are powerful.

They invoke emotion, feelings and ideas. They are powerful because of their ability to encapsulate a concept.

Words can be transmitted from person to person, often in an instant format. This is why memes are powerful. Because of the speed they can be shared and the way they need to be understood quickly, means they are also put together in a way that is simple and concise.

In a small space, a lot of meaning can be packed. This includes imagery and experiences. Stories can be packed into a few words.

Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion are a movement set up to tackle the climate change problem.

They use guerilla marketing strategies to get their message across, for example civil civil disobedience and demonstrations. They create a disruption, sometimes spreading flyers where they aren’t allowed to.

They use bold, big statements in uppercase type. The typeface they use is similar to Futura, but with rounded edges. Sometimes images function as letters, i.e. skulls.

Their symbol is an abstracted hourglass. This emphasizes time running out and the circle is a symbol of the Earth.

Black Lives Matter poster (left)

This poster was designed by the anti-racist advocate Sophie Williams. She puts her message outside in the street for the public to see.

She uses repetition, different angles and spacing to add emphasis to her message.

Climate Crisis font by Helsingin Sanomat. This is an example of variable font.

Helsingin Sanomat, abbreviated HS and colloquially known as Hesari, is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. 

Variable fonts are an evolution of the OpenType font specification that enables many different variations of a typeface to be incorporated into a single file, rather than having a separate font file for every width, weight, or style.

The typeface is based on real arctic sea ice data and gives us a visual representation of the loss of sea ice on Earth.

Typefaces tell stories. Sad, complex, pretentious…

Sa Soriano

‘For the Museo Morelense de Arte Contemporáneo Juan Soriano (MMAC), we designed a sans-serif typeface with a display character, inspired by features of the museum’s architecture. The specific reference is the windows and openings drawn on large-scale plans, gestures that were replicated in the typography through cuts and gaps, alluding to positive-negative, interior-exterior, window, landscape space.’ 

This is an example of form follows function.

The content can lead what the type looks like, or the type can follow the content of the project.

Incomplete without the T campaign, Grey London. With the aim of raising visibility of trans issues, Grey London came up with the idea of removing the letter “T” from a range of different texts to highlight the erasure of a letter from “any word, in any language”. This means reducing or removing both the comprehension and the unity behind it – “and the same is true when you remove the T from LGBTQ+,” states the magazine. 

Studio Dunbar

Erasing parts of the word ‘Alzheimer’, represents how the memory is erased in people with Alzheimer’s disease. It also simulates the frustration experienced by people with memory loss, by giving us the experience of reading the word with difficulty.

Pentagram- Maholy Nagy Foundation

This is an example of analogical techniques being used to create type.

Maholy Nagy was an artist from the Bauhaus. He worked with experimental photography and was one of the first people to experiment with photograms.

For this book cover design, Pentagram have used water to give the type a wavy effect.

Age of rage– The Guardian’s guide to anger. This is another example of design that uses analogical techniques.

Linguistic tricks

Linguistic tricks can make a phrase more memorable. They can be used when writing headlines.

Examples of Portmanteu:

Examples in English include chortle (from chuckle and snort), smog (from smoke and fog), brunch (from breakfast and lunch), mockumentary (from mock and documentary), and spork (from spoon and fork). A portmanteau is a suitcase that opens into halves.

(combining 2 words to create 1 new word)

A Palindrome is a word that reads the same backwards and forwards, for example:

Alliteration makes a phrase more memorable. It is often used in brands and advertising, for example:

Rhymes

Neologism are new phrases that have been recently made up because their use has become popular, for example:

‘Google it’

‘Tweet about it’

Acronym

Computer key – LOL

Denotation is the literal meaning for example, a cross.

Connotation is about our associations. In relation to a cross, it would be Christianity, hospitals. etc.

Project 2- Group work

Using the skills we learnt from this week’s lecture, we designed expressive type around an article about deforestation. We were placed into groups and needed to each design this heading. ‘We Need Trees’ works as a heading because it is snappy and uses rhyme.

I first read the article carefully, underlining key words. I then scribbled my ideas in my notebook, focusing on the key themes.

I sketched visual ideas for the heading:

I designed the heading in Illustrator. I typed the heading into a text box and changed the font to ‘Impact’ :

I used this photo of a tree canopy. (below) I bitmapped the photo by opening it in photoshop, converting it to greyscale and then selecting bitmap> diffusion dither.

I placed the group’s designs into InDesign and exported the document as a PDF. This would allow us to present it to the class easily in the next lecture.

Below designs by:

1)Ben 2) Ben 3) Ben 4) Holly 5) Demelza 6) Demelza 7) Demelza