Lecture: The Language Of Design (OUAN401)

Our very first lecture was about visual communication - how messages are conveyed through images, how a lot of us have a shared understanding of certain signs, symbols and expressions and why our generation is the most visually literate so far thanks to the rise of social media, texting and the internet which allows us to share emblems and images like memes and emojis with more people, more quickly, meaning that they permeate our entire culture faster.

The first thing that came to my mind when thinking about how our generation is very visually literate was the emoticon. A colon and a closed bracket next to each other have become a universally recognised symbol for a smiling face thanks to the way it’s been spread digitally. That in turn made me think about how emoticons exist for the sake of convenience as a quick means of expressing an emotion. I think visual communication will evolve to be simpler and sleeker to make things easier. This trend is also visible with company logos.

1995

2016

 But everyone in the universe still knows it's Microsoft.

We learnt that the reason why visual communication was important was because it transcends language barriers which is good for conveying important information like where a lavatory is, or what a command on a road sign means, or what something represents on a map. I had always taken simple things like these for granted until I was made to think about them.

I can apply this to animation because it’s important to get information across quickly. Widely recognised symbols or visual metonyms help to set the mood or location of a scene and let the audience know what’s going on. In animation, visual syntax is also crucial. The framing, texture or colour of something can communicate different things to an audience. A good example of this is how colours affect people. Universally, black is a more encroaching, cold colour whereas green is more restful. These are great aspects of visual communication that I can use in my work. For instance, if I wanted to give a setting a tranquil atmosphere I would use a lot of greens and blues. I would use good lighting and use particular pen strokes. The lecture helped to widen my perspective on what exactly visual communication is and how it is applied to every aspect of media. We are influenced by it literally all the time, both consciously and subconsciously.