Visual Communication in Advertising and How It Meets Form Follow Essay

Visual Communication in Advertising and How It Meets Form Follow Function Criterion - Essay Example Although there are many functions that can be applicable to various forms, this paper will be geared towards messages conveyed by still graphic designs in signs and advertisements. Why The Interest on Form and Function in Graphic Design and Visual Communication? The reason behind choosing advertising was based on the fact that the advertising sector can be viewed as the most competitive area where an object of design has to capture audience’s attention and inform effectively in the shortest possible time through correct application of elements of visual communication. I believe that role of visual communication is vital in modern advertising culture where people are bombarded with visual information through various media channels. It is possible that at this stage the balance between ‘form follows function’ becomes shifted more towards emphasis on ‘form’ as a factor that will secure audience’s attention and response. This may lead to exaggerate d and imaginative design efforts aimed at describing an item with simple straightforward function. This overemphasis can be observed in many modern TV commercials where the entire story line and acting and special effects can be deployed to promote something as trivial as new variety of a morning cereal. However, the question now is if such efforts towards the production of form serve the function of selling the product. Review of Literature Graphic design is defined as â€Å"the ‘art’ of communication – to inform, educate, influence, persuade, and provide a visual experience†(Resnick, 2003, p. 15). Lawrie (2008) claims that the visual communication of ideas or concepts is the primary function of graphic design while evoking feelings, either emotional or kinaesthetic ones, are considered its secondary function. Graphic designers intend their designs to effectively carry out its meaning and that its target audience clearly understand it. For this to be effe ctive, the designer should know how his target audience ascribes meaning to the design, so he is required to adopt to their perceptual views and share their experiences (Lawrie, 2008). A simple example would be the separate icons for toilets for men and women. The most basic icon of a woman with a flared skirt posted at the door of a toilet can be easily identified by anyone so women know it is the toilet for them and men will not enter that door because it is clearly not for them. This basic example shows the effectiveness of the relationship between form (simple icon for gender) and function (to identify which toilet is for women and which one is for men). However, going a step beyond the basic design such as putting in more feminine details for the female icon and masculine details for the male icon may trigger a stronger emotional or kinaesthetic response. An example would be giving the effect of feeling like royalty when they enter the toilet with the icon of either a king or a queen at the door. These two kinds of icons have different forms, and the function of identifying which toilet to use is the same, however, the second example may evoke a more personal meaning and experience. The previous examples illustrate Hollein’

Literture Review of 2 Articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Literture Review of 2 Articles - Essay Example According to previous researchers, the supplementary schools aim at developing the ethnic and cultural identity of the child, as well as boost their self-esteem and confidence. Another major aim of the schools is to ensure the good performance of minority and ethnic children that school in state-maintained schools. Through obtaining data from electronic databases of the British Education Index (BEI) and Education resources Information center, ERIC, the study researches on the aims of the supplementary schooling programs. The research uses questionnaires for purposes of investigating the thoughts of the young people on the supplementary education. The outcome of the research is that there was the establishment that the pupils were happy with the supplementary education to a higher extent than their satisfaction with the mainstream education system. In the article on early childhood special education, the main aim of the research was in exploring the different ways in which teachers of the early childhood special education can support the social behaviors of the children in the context of their preschool classes. In the research design, there was the collection of data from six children in a natural classroom observation. The researchers coded the data from the children and analyzed it for emergent themes contained in a qualitative framework. Among the outcomes of the research revealed the fact that there existed a variety of behaviors and strategies applied by teachers of the early childhood special education. These strategies helped the teachers and their assistants to respond in a social manner to the children in their classrooms. In surveying the views of the pupils attending the supplementary schools in England, the researchers were conducting the first part of a major and wider research project that intended on evaluating the role of the