Abstract
In Visual Communication Design, significant emphasis on intercultural communication has aided the development of intercultural competence. This case study investigates how design education can develop cross-cultural awareness by focusing on how cultural frames evolve through experiences and societal perception while becoming increasingly layered and complex. To fully extricate oneself from one's cultural context is challenging, but raising awareness of its limitations and subtleties is achievable. Recognizing diverse cultural frames can broaden one's perspective, leading to a more nuanced understanding of both the articulation and consumption of messaging in visual communication. Two educators located in different socio-political contexts in the United States are working with a diverse student body to focus on intertwining storytelling and symbolic imagery through responsive design education. The educators presented the visual language of rituals as a thematic case study, grounding their approach in anthropological theory and cross-cultural research. By applying both emic and etic lenses, the method illuminated nuanced cultural understandings and contested conventional visual tropes. Students were encouraged to develop responsible and pragmatic value systems and critically examine assumptions and biases shaped by personal perspectives and rhetoric to illuminate both verbal and non-verbal communication pathways through visual communication design. By rethinking design education for a globalized world, this research offers actionable insights into teaching practices + principles, promoting intercultural perspectives in the classroom and contributing to the redefinition of design education principles to address the challenges of our interconnected future.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.045
Citation
Datta, A.,and Fortunato, A.(2025) Exploring Cultural Frames and the Visual Language of Rituals, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.045
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Case Study
Exploring Cultural Frames and the Visual Language of Rituals
In Visual Communication Design, significant emphasis on intercultural communication has aided the development of intercultural competence. This case study investigates how design education can develop cross-cultural awareness by focusing on how cultural frames evolve through experiences and societal perception while becoming increasingly layered and complex. To fully extricate oneself from one's cultural context is challenging, but raising awareness of its limitations and subtleties is achievable. Recognizing diverse cultural frames can broaden one's perspective, leading to a more nuanced understanding of both the articulation and consumption of messaging in visual communication. Two educators located in different socio-political contexts in the United States are working with a diverse student body to focus on intertwining storytelling and symbolic imagery through responsive design education. The educators presented the visual language of rituals as a thematic case study, grounding their approach in anthropological theory and cross-cultural research. By applying both emic and etic lenses, the method illuminated nuanced cultural understandings and contested conventional visual tropes. Students were encouraged to develop responsible and pragmatic value systems and critically examine assumptions and biases shaped by personal perspectives and rhetoric to illuminate both verbal and non-verbal communication pathways through visual communication design. By rethinking design education for a globalized world, this research offers actionable insights into teaching practices + principles, promoting intercultural perspectives in the classroom and contributing to the redefinition of design education principles to address the challenges of our interconnected future.