DAKE, D. (2005a) Aesthetics
Theory. In: K. SMITH, S. MORIARTY, G. BARBATSIS and K. KENNEY (Eds) Handbook of
Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates. pp3-22.
“Visual logic is defined here as a system of
visual relationships that encourages a developed internal sense of image
cohesiveness, integrity, and elegance necessary to attract attention and guide
the viewer to a sense of aesthetic completion and comprehension. Six
individual, interlocking principles guide the development of this sense of visual
logic.
These six principles are
(a) Ambiguity and Meaning, (b) Control of
Direction, (c) Ecological Relationships, (d) Tensional, (e) Unity, and (f)
Realism.
(a) Ambiguity and Meaning
(…) The ambiguity and meaning principle
suggests that, if aesthetic form and content are effectively related, the
visually literate viewer is able to extract relevant information by
concentrating on visible relationships and the nature of meaning-making in the
human brain. Multiple meanings emerge later from the layered relationships with
the other five principles.
(b) Control of Direction
(…) Individual viewers will arrive at some
degree of individual connection and relationship to the image based on their
individual wants, needs, and expectations. The individual image-maker can
control many aspects of ‘how’ the viewer’s perceptual system interacts with
visible relationships but not the final interpretation. The maker can direct
the viewer’s eye throughout the image’s significant areas through directional
clues, groupings of elements, and tensions. The maker can also choose to
emphasize certain aspects of the image and to subordinate others in order to
direct the viewer’s mind to significant matters. However, the sheer number of
visible relationships will quickly overwhelm the parsing and decision-making
functions of the brain. (…)
(c) Ecological Relationships
When interpreting the inherent visual logic
imbedded in an image, the maker (during the act of ideation) and the viewer (in
a process of perception) both become involved in an intimate reciprocal and
ecological [The study of living things, their environment, and the relation
between the two.] relationship with the image. The visual structure offers
parameters for perception of possible multiple meaning levels, as well as the
potential for fixation on one particular meaning or focused aesthetic response.
The maker, through trial and error, shapes this image, and the viewer must
empathize with this relationship while at the same time understanding his or
her ecological interactions with the structure. (…)
(d) Tensional
(…) the visual elements on the picture
plane’s flat surface have tensional relationships with each other, with sides
of image, and with its center of the image. The sum total of all tensions, both
explicitly perceived and implicitly apprehended, creates an aesthetic
impression of mood and a visible foundation for the communicated message. (…)
(e) Unity
(…) Without unity, the experience for the
viewer lacks cohesion, making communicative interpretation less sure. With
unity, the viewer’s own natural perceptual abilities can interpret visual clues
to determine the nature and type of visual message and its relationship to
reality.
(f) Realism
Application of the realism principle provides
a ground of information that is either believable and true or false and
manipulative. Informed visual communication must consider the medium of realism
selected by the message designer and its aesthetic and affective dimensions
created within the viewer.
”
(pp16-18)
Annotation:
The six
principles of a Visual Logic mirror a semiotic structure built on perception,
interpretation and meaning. The six principles of (a) ambiguity and meaning, (b)
control of direction, (c) ecological
relationships, (d) tensional, (e) unity, and (f) realism are complimentary to the semiotic process.
A semiotic
meaning-journey follows this path Sender > Intention > Message >
Transmission > Noise > Receiver > Destination. Principle (b) control of
direction sits
comfortably within the area that the Sender occupies. The designer is the sender, and as
creator they can “direct
the viewer’s eye throughout the [design’s] significant areas
through directional clues [visual affordances], groupings of elements
[visual hierarchy], and tensions [white space, layout, typography, image
and colour].”
The Intention, the Message
itself and the Transmission of it affect and are affected by the
principles of (a) ambiguity and meaning and (c) ecological relationships. The designer’s intention reflected in the design is
to facilitate the transmission of the message to the receiver (user). The “visible relationships” that a visual hierarchy
communicates helps the user to “extract relevant information” from
interpreting the meaning of these relationships. This process of interpretation
is a “intimate reciprocal and ecological relationship” with
the semiotics in the design visually communicating the intended message(s) at
that particular moment in the interaction with the design.
The
principles of (d) tensional and (e) unity clearly affect the Transmission
of the Message and contribute to the Noise that can prevent the understanding
and interpretation of the message. Principle (a) ambiguity and meaning also can become noise if the aesthetic
form is conflicted. If the message(s) being communicated semiotically through
the visual communication of the interaction are not cohesive and understandable
to the user; or if the “natural
perceptual abilities [of the user cannot interpret the] visual clues to
determine the nature and type” of the visual message then miscommunication
will occur. The noise that prevents the communication is a lack of unity
between the message, the chosen semiotic sign, and the transmission of it. This
noise could be attributed to the design choices in the layout and visual mood
of the design. These elements are what are referred to as tensional in the six
principles of Visual Logic.
Finally the Destination and Receiver
are affected by the principles (e)
unity and (f) realism. The level of or lack of unity in the semiotics of the
design obviously has a direct impact on the user (receiver) once the design
outcome has reached its destination (being used). The realism in the visual
communication rests with the perception
of the user as to whether they trust that the design will let them achieve
whatever outcome they require (contextual to the genre the design operates in),
such as does a corporate design reflect the business? does the design of an
eCommerce website communicate trust?
