Abstract
The study of visual/verbal design has not yet resulted in effective principles of practice and analysis for the designer because our reigning perspectives either recast visual messages as objects to be “read,” reduce textual elements to unexamined “background material,” or remove message interests altogether in order to focus on the “presentation” of ideas separated from the ideas themselves. Given particular goals, these reducibility assumptions can yield reasonable, if incomplete, analyses. This fact explains both the persistence and popularity of these assumptions in light of their limitations. However, these assumptions ignore the status of visual and verbal elements as sui generis – “of their own kind” in significant ways which should make the study of their unique contributions a matter of careful exploration.
Citation
Hagan, S. (2004) Visual/Verbal Meaning Collaboration in Redefining Interplay., in Redmond, J., Durling, D. and de Bono, A (eds.), Futureground - DRS International Conference 2004, 17-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2004/researchpapers/127
Visual/Verbal Meaning Collaboration in Redefining Interplay.
The study of visual/verbal design has not yet resulted in effective principles of practice and analysis for the designer because our reigning perspectives either recast visual messages as objects to be “read,” reduce textual elements to unexamined “background material,” or remove message interests altogether in order to focus on the “presentation” of ideas separated from the ideas themselves. Given particular goals, these reducibility assumptions can yield reasonable, if incomplete, analyses. This fact explains both the persistence and popularity of these assumptions in light of their limitations. However, these assumptions ignore the status of visual and verbal elements as sui generis – “of their own kind” in significant ways which should make the study of their unique contributions a matter of careful exploration.