1 / Revisiting
Compendium Writings
2 / Searching & Gathering
Of New Readers
3 / Current Readers
4 / Other Readers
5 / Curated Key Point Of References
6 / Current Research Topic
REVISITING COMPENDIUM WRITINGS
Referenced Articles and Readers
that supported my compendium research
Image: Screenshot
of Compendium
Research pp 4–5
Design Systems 101
Fessenden, Therese. Design Systems 101. Nielson Norman Group. 2021.
The
Rhetoric of Typography
Brumberger, Eva. The Rhetoric of Typography: Effects on Reading Time, Reading Comprehension, and
Perceptions of Ethos. 2004. Technical Communication. pp.14-23.
My Typographies
Elliman, Paul. My Typographies. Spring. 1998.
SEARCHING & GATHERING OF NEW READERS
Finding the subject matter
for the research topic
I looked into multiple various topics that could potentially be the essence of the research topic. Firstly, I’ve considered these factors:
Does it relate to generative visual systems?
Can generative visual systems work as a medium for expressing this subject?
Is this subject matter interesting to me?
Next, I moved on to down select some keywords that interest me
Keywords:
Senses
Emotions
Personality
Tecxture
Patterns
Visual language
Communication
Identities
From there, I started to search up books related to these areas of studies and attempt to create the three pillars
CURRENT READERS
Establising the Three Pillars
Sensory Design: Explores different methods of engaging sensory experiences through materials, space, sound and light, colour etc to understand how these factors affect our senses.
Lupton Ellen, Lipps., Andrea The Senses: Design Beyond Vision. Chronicle Books. 2018.
Expression: Discusses the idea of perception as cognition, the connections between the functions of images and symbols and the concepts of abstraction.
Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking.. University of California Press. 1969.
Generative Visual Systems: Looks into the concepts of code as a graphic form/computer as a creative environment and data visualisation approaches like mapping emotions through data etc.
Richardson, Andrew. Data-driven Graphic Design: Creative Coding for Visual Communication. Fairchild Books. 2016.
Other readers
Other two books which I’ve considered putting in are “Semiotics of Visual Language” and “Overlooking the visual”.
“Sensory Arts and Design.” –Looks into the creative significance of senses and the technological approaches used to represent these methologies.
For the third book, I was looking for readers on the idea of representation, which is why I picked up “Sensory Arts and Design”. After reading the book, I feel that some concepts tie in with the “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision”. Since I’ve already included “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision” by Ellen Lupton,. I wanted to broaden up the range of readings hence I decided to leave out the “Sensory Arts and Design”– as compared to the “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision”, this seemed less relevant and useful to my topic, therefore I’ve decided to use “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision” as the primary reader instead.
“Semiotics of Visual Language”–Looks into the idea of visual language as a form of communication and representation.
I’ve also read up on concepts surrounding semiotics thinking it might help in the understanding of visual thinking etc “Semiotics of Visual Language” as it discusses the uses of semiotics through signs, symbols etc to represent and communicate ideas. I think this book presents relevant theories about representation through semiotics, which I have included as one of my keywords for the research area, however I don’t think it’ll be a major aspect of my research interest, so this reader will be a secondary resource for reference.
“Overlooking the visual”– Looks into the reconceptualisation of meaning through art, architecture, interaction.
I think this book provided a fresh perspective on the meaning of things, as it looks into current applications of art, design etc. and reevaluates its meanings and ideas behind them. However, I do find it quite architecture centric, hence it is not as relevant and useful to my research area.
CURATED KEY POINTS OF REFERENCES
Revisiting the compendium from previous semester after the break really put things into perspectives. I started by curating the case studies I had in my compendium, sifting through the different themes and narrowing down the case studies that I wanted to move forward with. I selected the case studies based on what kinds of subject matter or mediums used in these references that I’d like to learn more about.
Voices Online presents users with tools to build personalised icons representing their own complex online voice.
Iragui, Ines. Voices Online. 2021.
TBD uses dots to represent its brand theme and build the brand’s visual system.
TBD Advertising - Visual Identity System. 2017.
Type Voice is the first ever fontshop that generates personalised typefaces using a simple tool–voices.
Au, Justin. Makinson, Robyn. Rowson, Chris. Baumann, Bastien. Type Voice. 2017.
After sorting through the compendium, I realised that the three case studies–VoicesOnline, TBD and
TypeVoice–that I’ve presented in my slides all surround a common theme of identities, identities through
voice traits, identities of the brand and identity through sound. Another similarity was that these
three case studies all used mediums such as interfaces that possess generative functions, hence from
this I’ve also decided to move forward by looking at the interfaces as the medium of the design.
But I’m still trying to pin point exactly what the subject of the design should be?
CURRENT RESEARCH TOPIC
Generative Visual Systems
in Digital Spaces as
Forms of communication
Flexible identities
Visual languages
The sub-categories have changed
slightly
from the compendium,
it was originally– as forms of
SELF + BRAND
FORMS OF COMMUNICATION
FLEXIBLE + GENERATIVE IDENTITIES
After narrowing down on the case studies, I’ve adjusted the focus of the research topic surrounding the
key themes I’ve identified within the case studies as as starting point moving forward with my research.
Answering these three questions also helped me to restructure and go deeper into my research topic. It was provided good thought starter points for understanding my own topic as well.
Why is it interesting to you?
-Combined with the iterative nature of being generative, this allows visual systems to be
experimentive in its function, extending beyond the purpose of just being a set of standard
rules/guides for design.
-Visual systems become a way of visualising the unseeable, a method for communication and a form of
identity.
Why is this relevant to the field of design communication? why
is this important?
-Leverage on computation to enhance the
efficiency of design processes
-Open up new opportunities and ideas for design solutions
What are you seeking to do?
-Explore more possibilities of visual systems
for different functionalities
-Find out ways of conveying and enriching identities
by using systems as a visualisation method
-Look at intangible, abstract representations
through graphic forms