What I want to dodge

Visual Hierarchy

Visual Hierarchy is useful for a Graphic Communicator. It allows them to structure out the design process of the entire piece pre-creation. This is important because it aids the designer’s judgment with what could otherwise look like a cluttered page for example. Not only is Visual Hierarchy important for the artist, it is also, more so important to the public, or client… The target audience.  In the lecture we looked at newspapers such as ‘The Times’ for example, the bold, formal, professional text at the top of the page could possibly be the first visual aspect at the top of the hierarchy. However, the size and content of the picture below this text is immediately eye catching. Purposely, the newspaper want to sell copies for their headlining story, therefore the picture will be enlarged by the designer for it to take the position of top of the hierarchy. Where images and photos are not so self-explanatory the use of text will become vital. The text will take the position at the top of the visual hierarchy and be bold, and attention grabbing. Likewise, if there is an image that is self-explanatory then text may not be necessary. In some situations such as the anti-smoking pregnant advert shown in lecture, the text could just be minimized to still add information that could be useful to a concerned or interested party, but it is far down in the Visual Hierarchy. Other design devices that create visual hierarchy are the specific typography; is it subtle, thin, bold, and what is it’s tone of voice? Also, colour; how much black text is necessary on the white background to make it appear bold enough to grab your attention? Why use a blue banner at the bottom, when yellow will come across as a warning colour and may grab the audiences attention more easily.

Tone of Voice

In Graphic Communication, tone of voice is important as it sets the basis of the entire piece of work as a whole before the reader looks deeply into any smaller visual aspects. For example, a poster advertising a children’s swimming class called “splash” would have a target audience of young people, to invite them to want to swim, and also to make them feel comfortable and happy around a swimming pool environment. This means therefore, the colours of the logo will be soft, neutral colours like light blue (for boy and girl). The play on the word itself “splash” has been used in the example below, the designer illustrated water to be rising up from behind the word splash, doing exactly what the word says itself. A matching colour of the text (yellow and blue) on the fish sets the tone off. The text is chunky but not forceful, it is playful, loud, gimmicky and fun. It is not bland, purposely; it suits children.  Bold texts are useful however,  sometimes if the piece of work is not being already occupied by a big or forceful image, or perhaps the designer may use both to set a specific tone, a clear, bold statement of aggressiveness interlinked with tastiness; We see this in the Lion Bar. 

An understanding and knowledge of ‘an audience’ can enhance and focus the communication.

What is the role of the audience? An understanding of the audience can enhance the focus and communication of a specific work. With graphic communication, this may require a lot of thorough research. A designer usually is required to solve a problem visually, to portray a message graphically, this means that the designer must ensure he/she has done enough preparation for their message to be portrayed and hit the audience with information, or persuasion. However, a communicator cannot just simply throw information at any audience. They must narrow down their target audience. In the lecture we were shown British Airline Sky Flyers design ideas and how they were all colourful, playful and cartoon, directly aimed at children who’s main concern is supposed to be having fun. Not all of the audience target groups are for commercial and selling purposes. Some are for social and human rights purposes, such as campaigns. In the lecture we were also shown images of illustrative designs and a final outcome on an advert for bullying. The image is colourful and soft visually but the overall message highlights bullying, it is attention grabbing to more than one peer group (children and parents) which is powerful. The soft colours of the picture make it “non-scary” however the anti-bullying message is still potent.

• The notion of ‘inspiration’ derives from constant inquiry, based on research, observation, recording and experimentation.

As a graphic designer, one should be constantly asking questions about the environment around themselves. Questions should spawn new questions and the designer should be constantly documenting his/her observations from the world around them. In this instance a sketchbook is useful as a designer can sketch down any interesting sightings they have noticed; from day-to-day travels to expeditionary endeavours around the world. Alongside the more obvious arsenal of a visual communicator, a graphic designer may require to observe more specific media around themselves such as leaflets. The inspiration gathered from general human interaction (viral communication) and actual graphic advertising is powerful. As this is the graphic designer’s field, they should be constantly collecting and observing leaflets, flyers, posters, adverts, symbols and logos to gain constant creative inspiration, effectively the visual consumption of other works of artistic advertising could help the designer solve future problems they may encounter.

However, as well as being an art based subject, artists can also use more commonly used, traditional market research.


Primary research – Researcher has to find information from scratch. This would require the researcher to do surveys, questionnaires, polls, interviews, even experimenting and documentation of the experiment process to help gain understanding.

Secondary Research – Researcher uses information that is already available. Such as online information from the web, books, magazines and leaflets with information on. Collectives in general may be handy as they give specific information and advertising on specific subjects that may be of particular interest to the designer.

Key Principles - Recontextualised Ideas

Recontextualised works can become contemporary. They may not appear immediately to the eye as a contemporary, original idea, but if the audience looks at the style of the work, they may notice bold similarities to those of hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.; the only difference being modernised use of materials, modern scenery and an overall general message perhaps, that reaches out to a social and cultural current target of today. In the lecture we looked at examples such as Lucas Cranach’s ‘Adam and Eve’ painting from the 14^th century. We were then shown an image of a 1980’s remake in a cubist-esque style. Finally, we were shown a 2009 catalogue which featured a male and a female model’s photo who pose in similar fashion to the 1520’s painting, however the overall modern aura of the photo (clear crisp contrast of photo, use of vibrant colour, common looking models of today) shows us it is intentionally up-to-date and current and not just a bad attempt at an classic remake.

Key Principles - The Notions of Originality

The term “originality” is a delicate subject for an artist to conquer; as usually all works of art have an underlying influence, either directly or indirectly. Often, these influences prompt us to create a pre-meditated outcome of work that may look directly similar to the outside influence, however, artwork may still be expressive with use of an exterior influence; which prompted the artist’s decision to create the given piece. For hundreds of years amazing works of art have been known for their unique qualities of singularity, when in essence they are not the product of solitary creation; more so the blend of different sources which influence many years of thinking in general. This enhances one’s use of creative energy Originality is rare, thus important that an artist/ designer references their influences of their work. . Recent examples are all around the audience, in the lecture we were shown images of Andy Warhol’s monumental high contrast reprint’s of Marilyn Monroe and shown a similar, more “modern” recreation by Matteo Bertolio (2004). Despite taking a different approach to the production of the piece, it is clear who Bertolio has taken the idea from.