Visual Communication – Taking Inventoryfuturehistory.aiga.org/resources/content/2/2/6/7/...Visual Communication – Taking Inventory Michael Renner Lecture for the AIGA FutureHistory

University of Art and Design Basel, Switzerland Visual Communication Department: Interaction | Imagery | Typography

Visual Communication – Taking Inventory

Michael Renner

Lecture for the AIGA FutureHistory Conference Chicago, Illinois Saturday and Sunday, October 16-17, 2004

Published in the Swiss Typographic Magazine 5|6 2004Zürich, Switzerland

Swiss Typographic Magazine 5 | 6 2004Visual Communication – Taking Inventory University of Art and Design Basel, Switzerland Visual Communication Department: Interaction | Imagery | Typography

Introduction

Poster for the Diploma Exhibition 2004, University of Art

and Design Basel. Color separations and final

poster produced with a three-color silk skreen printing

process (above). Design: Babara Frey and Michael

Renner, FHBB Büro für Kommunikationsdesign, internal

design office of University of Art and Design Basel.

Introduction Introduction

Visual Communication has developed out of a traditional craft with both a technical and an artistic bias. This craftis based on the professional practices of typography, photog-raphy, applied graphics and printing technology.

In the context of industrialization, the need arose to differentiate between an applied field of graphics (commercial art) and a pure artistic form of expression. Already in the late 19th century, the concept of consumer graphics came to designate a communic-ation-led, visually oriented art for print media.

Without going through each period in detail we can summarize design history as change and counterchange since the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement reacted to industrialization by producing books again in small printing shops. In longing for a more humane environ-ment, they returned to an aesthetic reminiscent of the gothic craft of typography1.

At various periods of the 20th century, graphic design was obliged to adapt to the prevailing consumer environments and either expand or modify its strategy. Today, we define Visual Communication as the creation and analysis of optical signs for the purpose of information exchange. This definition demands a broader orientation of traditional graphic design. In the past, three elements were responsible for the appearance of a graphic design product:

1. The personality of the designer2. The technology which was available3. The social, political, economical and cultural context

The following seven concepts assess and reflect upon the need for a future-oriented perspective in the field of Visual Communication.

If we are to assess the current situation in Visual Communication, we first have to analyzeit and understand how it is rooted in the past. This assessment of the prevailing situa-tion will enable us to reach conclusions about future developments and will allow us to determine the social relevance of Visual Communication. It will also provide parameters to conduct a Visual Communication Department and to educate designers in general.

Alan and Isabella Livingston: Graphic Design + Designers.

London: Thames and Hudson, 1992

To work with a printed medium means to

employ the technology of putting ink on paper

for the purpose of information.

1


The East-West standoff of the Cold War has given way to the presence of a single superpower, which enforces its global economic and cultural influences either directly or indirectly. A globalized economic area has developed in which cultural differences run the risk of falling victim to a general flattening out of visual expression. The postindustrial technologies are so mature that competitive products and services cannot be differentiated in terms of their price or quality as such any more. It is the emotional quality of everyday products that has become the key factor for success in the fight foreconomic survival.

In this context the use of pictorial statements with a high emotional quality is an important tool in the competition to gain attention in com-munication about products and services. Contrary to the standardized imagery, unified digital tools and flattened-out cultural characteristics,imagination is the central competence and power of designers when cre-ating visual communication products. The ability to develop innovative imagery is the foundation for the tasks of Visual Communication. Thepictorial worlds are not committed here to a specially defined aesthetic. In a pluralistic society the aesthetic can be diverse but not accidental. Wehave to insist on developing the latter from the specific context.

Imagination must be acknowledged as a central competence in education. The design of image state-ments has to be practised in process-led design studies. A curriculum has to give time and guidance forthese processes and experiments.

Imagination

Imagination Imagination

Create a Wall Paper! With this project students of the

second semester are creating imagery for a

specific room of their choice. In the design process they

experience the possibilities of graphic formulation

and exceed a purely aesthetic judgment by

reflecting upon the design in the specific context of the

selected environment.

Examples from left to right:

Computer Company; Sarah Graf

Funeral Home; Helen Bartenschlager

Dog Parlor; Olivera Sakota

Airport; Susanne Käser

Movie Theater; Simon Hauser Instructor: Rachel Mahler


Identity VisualizationThe development of society in our industrialized countries is typified bya trend towards individualism and pluralism. Demand for the visuali-zation of individuality and identity will increase in a globally unified cul-ture, which is threatened by flatness. This relates not so much to the implementation of conventional corporate design but more to the visualimplementation of the individuality of organizations, individuals, products and services. It creates meaning and provides guidance in an environ-ment which is flooded with stimuli. This involves more than the mere for-mulation of a logo type. The aim is to understand Identity Visualization asa cultural phenomenon.

Identity Visualisation Identity Visualisation

A modern education in the field of Visual Communication must in this sense deal with the visualization of identity. The rigid meth-odologies of corporate design have to be questioned and extended.

Corporate design elements for ‘Viper,’ an international

new media festival. It was the goal to visualize

the identity of the event with a readable and an unreadable

typeface (above) and a specific imagery captured

from videoclips (right page).

The poster announcing the festival is first hung

with the unreadable typeface (above left). In a second

phase the poster is presented with the black

imprint, which makes the type readable and solves the

mystery (above right).

Student: Nathan Aebi

Mentor: Michael Renner


Information DesignAreas of knowledge have become still more highly specialized. Knowledge of genetic engineering and nanotechnology and their use in society raise questions which cannot be answered by a small group of experts. A democratic society requires optimum pub-lic information in these areas. Simple access to data and its availability without any limitations in space and time will advance further with knowledge being transported by nanotechnology. As a direct consequence of this, demand for the processing of datainto generally understandable information will increase. Equally, the advancing specia-lization of knowledge requires means of making it understandable to the general public.

Information Design Information Design

The focus on visual communication dedicated to inform-ing assumes the need to teach an analytical method and a broad contextual knowledge. The awareness of dis-tortion in the process of simplification and selection of information has to be addressed.

Student: Cynthia Tuan

Mentor: Gregory Vines

The project ‘Intersection: 4 Cities, 360 People’ is based on a list of 360 people which

Cynthia Tuan has met and documented over the past four years. From this chronological list she

created different interpretations which provide furter information. One interpretation

differentiates the cities in which she has met the people (above). Another visualization shows the

interrelation between the people (right page), how she got introduced from one

person to the other or the color preferences of the different people she met. The result is typical

for a programmatic approach to image generation imitating the procedure of a computer.


Interaction Design

Interaction Design Interaction Design

Digitalization has brought about far-reaching changes for our channels of information, communi-cation methods and production processes. In an age of global networks, we can be on-line and live at nearly every event. Access to vast quantities of data is at our disposal through computer networks. We can be reached everywhere and can get in touch at any time.

The attempt to define the characteristics of the interactive media has been a focus of attention in recent years. These media still contain unusedpotential in accessing information or as a means of producing images. Meanwhile the exaggerated hype has settled down and we can begin toview this subject from a sufficient distance. The close bond between de-sign and technology is the central key to unlock the potential of the media.Through it, models can be developed for the meaningful use of the new technologies.

The focus on the design potentials of the digital media has resulted in many disappoint-ments. Many educational institutions began some years ago to set up study courses for the new media. These have now been downgraded into purely technological courses or have been integrated into visual design programs. Interaction design must be regardedas an extended field of Visual Communication.

In the near future ‘e-walls’ will be available everywhere and can

also be used as wall paper. This assumption was the point of departure

for Simon Stotz and his project ‘e-walls.’ He explored different

scenarios for interactive wall paper by writing programs which are altering

the images from a live video source in different ways. The ability

to write simple programs is essential for the design of interactivity.

Images above: ‘screen shots’ from the project ‘e-walls’

Student: Simon Stotz

Mentor Team: Viola Diehl, Leander Eisenmann, Roman Schnyder

Student: Simon Stotz

Mentor Team: Viola Diehl, Leander Eisenmann, Roman Schnyder


InvestigationIn our present social, economic and cultural situation the issues sur-rounding visual communication have become complex. They are too com-plicated to be resolved on a purely intuitive basis. Many tasks call for a scientific grounding. Design research should aim to develop knowledge, which can serve as the basis in the

design community for the solution of complex tasks. Design research makes its con-tribution in comparison to other established academic disciplines through a practical study of visual phenomena. In this respect, design research differs from the history of art, semiotics, cognitive psychology and computer sciences and can make a unique con-tribution of its own2.

Investigation Investigation

‘The Living Memory’ is a research project with the goal to extend the

possibilities of an image database for communication needs.

In collaboration with Novartis International AG and other partners, the Visual

Communication Department investigates the potential of an image

database to communicate a long-term project of a company or institution for

the diverse communication needs of today and tomorrow.

Image this page: random display of a selection of images from the database.

Image next page: sorting the selection by lightness from left to right,

and by time from bottom to top.

Interface sketch: Mark Schönbächler

Mentor: Michael Renner Brenda Laurel (Editor): Design Research. Cambridge/London: MIT Press 20032

‘The Living Memory’ Team:

Katharina Blanke, Dirk Koy, Andrea Näpflin, Roland Schär, Roman Schnyder,

Ivan Verovic, Andres Wanner, Valéry Wirz

Gregory Vines, Fabian Kempter, Angelo A. Lüdin, Michael Renner


Iconic TurnIn contrast to the growing importance of images, the examination of their impact and interpretation from the perspective of separate academic disciplines take place. However, most of the time the actual image is just a minor concern of those academic disciplines. This circumstance has been recognized at several university centers and has given rise to discourse about ‘Iconic Turn,’ ‘Iconic Criticism’ and ‘Picture Theory.’4 Naturally the study and examination of current images must be made from the perspective of art history, linguistics, cognitive psychology, cultural studies, but also from the point of view of the image makers. This discourse enables Visual Communication to make a unique contribution in the sense of design research. Participation in research regarding the effect and interpretation of images (and ‘literacy’ in images) must be important to picture makers.

The growth in the quantity of information, which reaches us through images, has a technological base. The global in-formation networks of television and the Internet enable the latest images to be disseminated at minimum cost. The effects are many-facetted. The book form created by Bruce Mau, which fits pictorial material together in a series, has fundamentally

changed the medium of the book3. In this form the traditional medium adapts to the viewing habits of the observ-er influenced by the Internet. We do not read his books through from the beginning to the end, but browse from image to image.

Latest news events which have an enormous impact on the forming of opinion, also testify to the importance and intensity of images.

Questioning the representation of reality in photography.

A series of manipulated photographs.

Student: Karin Rütsche

Mentor: Michael Renner 3 Bruce Mau: Life Style. London: Phaidon, 2000

Thomas Mitchell: Picture Theory. Chicago & London:

The University of Chicago Press, 1994

Hubert Burda (Editor): Iconic Turn. Berlin: DuMont, 2004

Iconic Turn Iconic Turn

4


InterventionVisual communication must be aware of the risk of distortion for propaganda purposes and must constantly question itself through the reflection upon its own resources. This attitude extends the potential of visual communication from service provider toauthorship. Today visual communication requires authorship in which initiative and responsibility must be an integral part of the designer’s work in an increasingly com-plex market. The authors need to be in a position to establish a differentiated relation-ship with their products and to take up different standpoints.

The Visual Communication Department at University of Art and Design Basel (HGK Basel) embraces the relevance of these seven key themes, and uses them to define its current profile for education, advanced train-ing, research and development.

Basel, October 2004, Michael RennerProf., Head of the Visual Communication DepartmentUniversity of Art and Design Basel, Switzerland

Intervention Intervention

The goal of Tobias Wyss was to visualize the

Swiss subsidies and to question how the money is spent.

Therefore he designed a 30 meter long stripe

on which every subsidy can be found. A million Swiss

francs are represented by a line of one millimeter width.

With large type the most contradictory subjects

are represented. One can find out for example that:

To further differentiate these issues and define additional questions we need more thana mere institution. I hope that in the near future visual communication will attract aninternational community of qualified designers who will reflect upon, and discuss common issues surrounding Visual Communication in a visual and verbal way. These reflections can lead to a common understanding and provide a methodology for the development of a discipline named ‘Visual Communication’ in the future.

Three cows get subsidized as much as a child going to

primary school. Alcohol prevention gets

subsidized as much as the wineries. The cheese

production gets three times more subsidized as cultural

activities (example above).

Student: Tobias Wyss

Mentor Team:

Viola Diehl, Leander Eisenmann, Roman Schnyder

Special thanks for the translation

of this article to Lucinda Cameron and

Gregory Vines

Contact:

[email protected]

www.fhbb.ch/vis_com

Thanks to all the students, who make teaching one

of the most rewarding activities.

Thanks to all my colleagues: Elise Co, Viola Diehl,

Leander Eisenmann, Marion Fink, Fabian Kempter,

Hansjörg Kunz, Angelo A. Lüdin, Rachel Mahler,

Reinhard Manz, Mathias Remmele, Roman Schnyder,

Philipp Stamm, Gregory Vines, Prof. Wolfgang Weingart

Assistenz: Ulrike Kunkel, Corinna Redwanz

Sekretariat: Yolande Terrapon

Documents

Visual Communication – Taking Inventoryfuturehistory.aiga.org/resources/content/2/2/6/7/...Visual Communication – Taking Inventory Michael Renner Lecture for the AIGA FutureHistory