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Subculture and the Meaning of Style

28/3/2019

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Lecture Notes
Subculture
It is a minority culture that exists within a mainstream culture but deviates from mainstream culture often rejecting or actively rebelling against it's cultural norms and myths.

Internet Culture/Cyberculture

The internet allowed for the merging and meetings of distant subculture and cultures, in fact it would be more accurate to refer to the internet as having its own culture with infinite subcultures of its own. As each subculture has the benefit of being able to hyperspecialize into one field/topic, however a single person who engages with the internet is likely to be in numerous of these subcultures at any given time – be they lurking (present on a forum but not interacting with other users) or engaging with the subculture. Jakub Macek in his 2005 essay attempts to define cyberculture, in which he defines the following cultural narrative themes of cyberculture.
  • Technology as agent of change
  • Technology and freedom/power/empowerment
  • Technology and the formation of the new frontier
  • Technology and authenticity
Jakub Macek’s essay “Defining Cyberculture” http://macek.czechian.net/defining_cyberculture.htm
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Internet cultures can be spurred into action however, for instance on April 1st 2017 the website Reddit gave its users a blank canvas of 1000 square pixels and 72 hours to draw on the canvas, but one user could only draw on the canvas every few minutes. This limitation forced groups to work in collaboration to draw what they wanted and then to defend it from other groups/users.  Ultimately three major factions emerged Creators, Protectors and Destroyers.
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Creators – wanting to make evermore complex marks on the canvas
Protectors – Wanting to preserve their favoured marks
Destroyers – A group that wanted to paint the hole canvas black 
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The project itself appears to be a reference to the 2005 million-dollar homepage. Due to dimensions and similarity of the chaotic end result.
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The Graphic code of Comic Strips

21/3/2019

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Lecture Notes 

On Scott McCloud's Closure and Transition 

In this section, McCloud discusses what closure in comic books is and how it is used. Closure is the space between panels in which the readers mind can freely associate how one panel leads to another. This can be filling in the gaps in a walking cycle or the death of a character. The gutter is a space of infinite possibilities, that utilises the audience's imagination to conclude or connect panels. 
McCloud supposes that the amount of closure required of the readers imagination is dependent on the type of transition between panels. He then goes on to define six transition types (these are listed in the Lecture Notes under "the potency of negative space").

Art Spiegelman and Maus 

Spiegelman was born in 1948 in Stockholm, Sweden and immigrated with his parents to the USA in 1951. He began drawing cartoons in 1960 imitating the style he found in the comic books he owned. He studied art and philosophy at Harpur College. He began work on Maus, his most well-known work, in 1972 as a three-page strip for the first issue of “Funny Animals” he wanted to do the strip about racism choosing to write about the Holocaust that his parents had survived. His parents were Polish Jews, and both were imprisoned in Auschwitz, Maus drew from his father’s recollections of the Holocaust.
From 1980 Maus, was printed one chapter at a time as in insert in Raw (a magazine that Spiegelman co-edited). By 1986 Spiegelman published the first six chapters with Pantheon, the book found a large audience and was released in book stores rather than comic book stores, which were then main outlet for comics in the 1980’s. 

The panel transitions used in Maus
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1-1 = Moment to Moment
2-2 = Moment to Moment
3-3= Moment to Moment
4-4= Moment to Moment
5-5= Moment to Moment
6-6=Moment to Moment 
​7-7= Scene to Scene

The prevalence of moment to moment transitions on this page, emphasizes the the more relaxed nature of the scene, and the conversational tone there in. This allows the final panel to contrast greatly from the rest of the page more so that it all ready is, due to it's circular shape. I think the way in which the outer circles around the frame merge into the panels suggest that the past still pervades Vladek's life, especially into panel where his body is so dominant in the composition. This is compounded by his reluctance to talk about his life to his son, conveying the weight of his past.
1-1 = Scene to Scene
2-2 = Scene to Scene
3-3 = Moment to Moment
4-4 = Scene to Scene
5-5= Moment to Moment
​6-6= Scene to Scene

​
Notably the final panel has been pushed forward in front of the others, suggesting that the previous panels are nested with in it. This is a visual metaphor for the end of Vladek Spiegelman's (Art Spiegelman's father) life and in turn the end of the story which has been draw from it.
For additional content on the page design of Maus, I would implore you to watch the following Nerdwriter1 video essay, which focuses on the design of page 12 above. ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQEfL2BfUM 
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Decoding Advertising - Lecture 6 13/03/19

14/3/2019

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Lecture 6 Notes 

On "Rhetoric of the Image" by Roland Barthes, and analysis of Panzini ad.

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Barthes’ “Rhetoric of the image” describes the above advertisement. His reasoning for using an advertisement image to analyse is,

“in advertising these signs are full, formed with a view to the optimum reading” (Barthes, 1977)

In this framework advertising is the most overt with its signs and are rarely subtle in deliverance. The immediate sign that Barthes interprets is that of the surrounding text anchorage.
Firstly, we have the brand name, the Eye is immediately led to this area indicated by annotation 4 above, as this is visually the densest area of the image. The name “Panzani” is front and centre, and as Barthes states, this is not only the brand name but gives a link to “Italianicity”. To Barthes this gives the text two meanings, one of denotation and connotation but since they are connected to the same sign he counts this as one message. Also, in the area of composition annotated by 4 there is a clear diagonal flow which leads across the pasta, can and cheese where the eye then sees the “Panzani” sign three additional times, reinforcing the message and the brand in the viewer’s mind. 
 
Annotation 5 denote the bag in which the objects are carried in, the bag contextualizes the scene as a return from the market, this frames the produce inside as desirable.

“A signified which itself implies two euphoric values: that of freshness of the product and that of the essentially domestic preparation for which they are destined.”
(Barthes, 1977)
 Annotation 1 refers to the textual anchorage to “Pates Sauce Parmesan”, which is just used as a descriptor of the products on sale. Like wise annotation 2 is similarly overt as it is a descriptor of the product, but this makes a promise that the product is luxury Italian food.
 
Annotation 3 indicates the fresh produce that is not being sold but is used in the composition to suggest freshness of the ingredients used in the sauce, they contrast to the mechanical nature of the can. In the this the advert is selling the idea of freshness though association.
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Annotation 6 refers to the colour scheme of the piece which is white, red, and green. Barthes argues that for yellow over white as a predominant colour, however I would argue that the yellow have been desaturated so that they bend into the white tones. The tricolour of tones is use as a reference to the Italian flag but the low quantity of green to the other two seems to be possibly referencing the red and white of the French tricolour flag, as a means to link the two cultures through their similarities. ​ Admittedly this idea seems to be a bit of a stretch. 

Magazine Advert Analysis 

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​Textually the eye is first drawn to 1 but also to 3 which shares similar weight on the page, the pull between these two elements has almost a downward pull towards 1.  The text “Redefining liveaboard diving” firstly supposes that that the audience has an understand on liveaboard diving, secondly give the implication that the service will be above that of other companies.  3 is signifier of the tale of a whale, which provides a signified of a whole whale – an animal known as on the of the deepest diving mammal understood to science this knowledge of whales provides the sign of extreme deep diving, to a depth that is almost fantastical. 3 is the key sign of the advert both it and the anchorage at 1 work as a duel message, the text and image suggesting that this company provides a diving experience that will take the consumer deeper and further than any other in new ways.
2 is a somewhat subtle snap back to reality as it defines a definite depth and passenger size.
Interesting the motion of the tale creates an upwards verticality to the rest of the piece, indicated by 4. If one allowed their imagination to continue the movement the tail would move over the text at the top of the page.
The advert has very much an very minimal pallet as shown in 5 it is near a duotone with only the image pushing it to at most a tritone, the predominate dark tone serves to highlight the white text. 
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Semiotics part 2 - Lecture 5 07/03/19

7/3/2019

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Lecture Notes

On the “The Treachery of Images”, 1929 by Reni Magritte 

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The Treachery of Images, Reni Magritte, 1929
"The Treachery of Images" is a surrealist art work by the artist Reni Magritte. The image depicts a painting of a smoking pipe, notable a pipe which is in appearance well-crafted and can easily be associated with upper-middle to upper class individuals at the time period that the. Under the Image is the anchorage in the langue French “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.”, which translated to English reads “This is not a pipe.”. The piece presents a photo realistic image of a pipe, Magritte often used a level of photo realism in his surrealism paintings which seems to be for the purpose of proving a more relatable basis from which he can abstract, as a result his work often has dreamlike qualities. However, this does not appear to be entirely the function of photo realism in The Treachery of Images, the realism of the pipe is for more deceptive purposes, the image so closely resembles a physical pipe that it will be more likely to register as a physical pipe in the audience’s mind. The signifier has been constructed to be as indistinguishable as possible from the signified.  From this the caption/anchorage acts in an intersecting manner but works to counter the information provided by the image, as it disillusions the audience in reminding them that the image is merely a signifier of a real pipe. By reminding the viewer that the only true version of a signified is the signified, where as a signifier and a sign are illusions to the signified.
 
One can also interpret the painting as a reference to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, where in the image and the noun of the pipe are the shadows on the wall and the viewers are the prisoners in the cave. When the prisoners are spectating the shadows, they don’t see the real objects from which the objects are cast ­— they see only the signifiers made for the signified. The prisoners in the cave think the shadows to be the true object until they see the true object, then the shadow is nothing more than a symbol of the object. The perceptual experience of an object’s shadow is wholly different to the concept of the object which that shadow creates.
 
The following is a video essay on the painting by Nerdwriter1 may also be of interest I’d recommend watching the video for more context and viewpoints. 
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atHQpANmHCE

On "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud

The aim of McCloud's comic is to elaborate and provide examples of the uses of anchorage, the paring of text and image. 

Word Specific 
In this anchorage the words are used to provide the context where as image is used to illustrate the text
Image Specific
In this anchorage the image provides context while the text is used for flavour, the example given is to provide a soundtrack through the use of onomatopoeia. 
Duo-Specific 
In this anchorage the images and words tell the exact same message, think like a young child's story book.
Additive
In this anchorage the images and words work together to increase the impact of, or elaborate on the other.
Parallel 
In this anchorage the image and words are disjointed from each other, following different paths of narrative. This appears in narration or monologuing. 
Montage 
In this anchorage the words are treated as part of an image.
Interdependent
In this anchorage the meanings of the words and image are used to created a third meaning, which one could not display alone.

McCloud then discusses what happen when either words or image are the carrier of weight of clarity. When it is the images that carry the weight the images become more literal, but then words can be used for; monologue; advertisement; incongruous; or broader topics. Contrastingly when words carry the weight of clarity the image can; show fragments of a scene; abstraction/expressionism; emotional information; or to depict a shift in time. 
"The mixing of words and pictures is more alchemy than science."- Scott McCloud   
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    Design In Context

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    Daniel Thomas Coates, graphic designer based in the UK. Currently a student at the University of Cumbria, Carlisle. 

    This Blog is dedicated to researching design in context, primarily for my university module, but hopefully will encourage me to do more general research in design.

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