Monday October 1st Class Notes

Topics
- The literal
- Work returned (APA Essay)
- Writing Lab

The Literal
~remember from our first class when we examined this? For example T is a symbol we recognize, add "he" and it becomes the word "The". The idea of slowing down and focusing on visual aspects of communication.

Observation and Meaning
We looked at several examples of observing symbols and understanding their meaning, for example hand dryers in the washrooms:
- the colour red, to grab attention. The warmth pops forward.
- "WD" included in the Word Dryer symbol.
- Hierarchy of text:
1st text - image in rectangle. Read from left to right. Stripped to bare essential elements. Angled to show motion.
2nd text - phone number. We understand it's meaning immediately and understand it is toll free thanks to acculturation.
3rd text - We understand this is their website. ".com" shows us it is a commercial website. For potential customers.

Start to recognize forms of communication.
Examples:
Do not enter sign --> Rectangular frame, bright colour, white symbol.
One way sign --> Black background, white border.
*Both are as simple and clear as possible

Our unconscious mind works with visual information even before reading text.
For example, we see a stop sign in Korea and it is in another language yet we understand it is a stop sign due to the color and shape.

In-class exercises
We did an in-class exercise where we examined different hazard signs. These signs have no text and we have to decode their meaning solely through their visualizations. We also did the same with airplane instruction manuals.

Batman Comic
We read a page from an old Batman comic and deciphered some understandings.
- 3rd person narrative is the voice outside of the picture
- examined spoken(said) and unspoken(thought) throughout the piece
- the lines and their arrangement throughout the comic give a significant amount of information. for example the stairs and motion
- logic (internal) showing thoughts coming from plane

Frieda Painting
In this piece we see echoes everywhere. Whether is be the eyes in the self portrait and monkey, the lease vs necklace or their faces.

The Bay in Toronto
We studied how when we look at the picture we see it is obviously an older image. By eliminating and examining the image with things like the awnings, the cars and the clothes our mind can estimate when the picture was take. Estimated to have been taken in the 1930's.

Levi's Commercial "America Go Forth" Journal Entry #1 Assigned
Take notes on the literal aspects of the video: what you hear and what you see.
Select a 10-20 second portion of the advertisement and describe what you see and hear.
NO INTERPRETATION.
Short document style
200 words

Here is a link for those of you trying to find the commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdW1CjbCNxw

DUE NEXT CLASS
Narrative Essay
Journal Entry #1